July 2018 Prayer Letter

Written by Karl Dahlfred on 05 July 2018.

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Dear Friends & Family,

Greetings from Thailand! I know you probably thought we were in Scotland, and a month ago, you would have been correct! The whole family is now in Thailand for the summer so that I (Karl) can do research at the Payap University Archives in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand), and then we’ll be back in Scotland in the fall. God has graciously provided for us car to borrow and a house to live in, which we are subletting from a missionary family who is back in their home country for a few months.

Hills of Chiang Mai seen from airport

Research and Travel (LOTS!)

For me, this is a busy time of research and travel, starting from the beginning of May up through the end of August. In May, I was in Philadelphia for 3 weeks to examine and collect old mission documents at the Presbyterian Historical Society. Three weeks was a long time to be away from the family, but it was a productive time of research and I was able to gather a lot of relevant documents. Thank God for smartphone cameras and Evernote!

After Philadelphia, I was home in Scotland for 3 weeks and then off to Thailand where I renewed my Thai missionary visa and Thai driver’s license, did a wee bit of research at the Payap Archives, and taught a couple sections of the Perspectives Course on the World Christian Movement at Bangkok Bible Seminary. If you are not familiar with Perspectives, it is a course developed many years ago by missions advocate and scholar Ralph Winter, for the purpose of educating and mobilizing Christians for involvement in world missions. I myself took the course 20 years ago when I was in my last year of college and found it very helpful in getting the big picture of what world missions was about and how I might be involved in God’s work around the world. For that reason, I was really glad to have the chance to teach sessions 6 and 7 (the history sections) of Perspectives for Thai seminary students and church leaders. I was also very glad to chat with 2 of my former students (a married couple with a young child) who are actively applying to do mission work in Japan. Its great to see those I’ve taught go on to minister not only in Thailand, but around the world.

Family Glad to Be Back in Thailand

After Perspectives and the OMF Thailand annual conference, I picked up Sun and the kids from the airport in Bangkok. I’ve been back to Thailand a handful of times since we left in January 2017 but this is the first time the rest of the family has been back. They were really glad to see “home” again, especially the kids. Joshua was longing for warmer weather and they were all looking forward to Thai food, especially sticky rice. The first week of July, we’re at OMF’s holiday home near the beach, which is where we always used to go on vacation, and of which the kids have fond memories. After that, we drive up to Chiang Mai until Sun and the kids fly back to Scotland in early August. Karl will stay on for another 3 weeks after they leave and then return to Scotland at the end of August. That means more time apart, but hopefully I will be able to finish gathering the docs I need and not need to go back to this archive again.

Oh! Did I mention that I passed my first-year board review at the University of Edinburgh? I did! So that means I am approved to continue my research. Yeah!

Thanks for remembering us in prayer - for studies, life, family, and mission.

by Christ’s grace,

Karl & Sun Dahlfred

PRAYER POINTS