What are the Brittan's doing???

Yes, it has been a while since we have posted, and I will try to update everyone briefly on what's been going on here.

At the end of April we had another training with some men from another neighboring country. Our Father is always Faithful to show himself mightly. Two of the 14 participants came to know our Father, and their excitement has led to 6 more people in their village wanting to do the same thing. Also, many people were taught how to build their own FAITH (Food always in the home) garden in the surrounding villages. We are planning another training in July for more people from this area, so we are anticipating that our Father will lead in our training.

Strings are cut

The picture above was taken during a prayer time for the two men who prayed to know our Father. The white string bracelet is a symbol to all that he has been blessed by a monk for good luck, and it also wards off any bad spirits. Under this man's hand is the Holy Bible. God can cut the chains that bind!


The week after this training was complete, our family headed to Chiang Mai for the AG Community Development training and a bit of site seeing. Harry attended the conference, and he learned many new things about this area of work. We are so excited about what we will do next. Pattie and the kids went to the Chiang Mai zoo, Umbrella factory, and a few other sites in Chiang Mai. It was good for us to "play" a bit during this time.

Hattie and Harry feeding a giraffe

After we returned from the conference, we helped a local church hold an "English Camp" for about 30 children. This English camp was alot of fun. Activities ran from 8 am until 8 pm or so. The kids also slept at the church because most of them were from a neighboring country. The kids were so blessed by food, learning, and new friends. We were blessed to be a part of this time, because we had our first opportunity to work with children from close-by.

Shortly after the completion of the camp, our first group of volunteers came from the US. There were 7 college students from Kentucky BCM (formerly known as the BSU). These students helped us build a duck house with direction from our labor supervisor Willy, helped lead worship services at Grace International Church, and traveled to neighboring country to help follow-up from previous trainings. These students were a real blessing to our farm and to our family. The kids are still singing the songs they taught them. (Let's all do the Beaver song.....or......Pick Bananas) What fun!!!

First Volunteer Group in front of the duck house with Willy

Our volunteers left on the bus to Chiang Mai, and we were off the airport to pick up Harry's dad and stepmom (Harry and Pat aka Papa and Granny). This is the first time we have seen them since we left the states last year. It was a great time to visit with them and show them around Mae Sai. We tried to show them as many things here as we could in the 6 days they were here, and I think we did a pretty good job. We show them the Queen's Summer Villa, Golden Triangle, Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai, and we had a birthday party for Lil' Harry. Whew! Then we packed up and went to our FAMS meeting in Chiang Mai together. Harry's dad and step mom were volunteers to help with our meeting this very next week. What a blessing to have them included in this time. Granny worked in Nellie's room during the week, and Papa worked in Hattie's room. The week was a great success for everyone involved. Brentwood Baptist church brought over 100 volunteers to Thailand to help with things such as Praise and Worship, Study of God's word, children's program (VBS), doctor's clinic, and even a beautician. We were so blessed in many ways during this week. It was a time of relaxing and renewing. We had the chance to visit with many of the volunteers, and we had a chance to catch-up with many colleges that we work with. Pattie was personally blessed by getting a good hair-cut and color!! So many things to tell about, and I am trying to keep this short.

We left the hotel on Monday, and we headed to a team meeting in the same city. We spent the next 3 days singing praises, studying the Bible, and relaxing together. It was a great time to spend with our MY country team. Since we live so far from everyone, we also had a chance to meet some new team members that have joined our team. The women had an afternoon out to get a massage and drink tea together. What fun it was!! I enjoyed my massage, and it was fun to sit and chat with the ladies. During this team meeting, we also ate some great food. We had roast beef sandwiches that were outstanding, and we had a cook-out with burgers and hot dogs. The cookout was completed with brownies and homemade ice cream. Mmmmmmm!!

During this week, Hattie was off to Camp Buddy. This is a week long camp that gives her time to be with other friends just like here (on the field), and they get to BE KIDS all week! It is put on by the parents of the kids, and I have heard nothing but fun things about the week. Hattie said the food was great! The activities were really fun, and a slumber party for a week is an ideal situation for Hattie. Hattie is now trying to plan her birthday party to be an extension of camp. She can't figure out how to get all her friends to Mae Sai for a week long "Hattie's birthday" camp. (snicker snicker).

Whew!!! (If you are still with me....) We are now at home, and this week has been a great week of rest for us. We are preparing for a second volunteer group to come. This group is a family from one of our home churches....Prestonwood. We will have to give an update later in the week after they arrive on Sunday. Today we finishing up preparing for them to arrive.

What a busy time, but we are so blessed by all that we have been involved with. We are planning on refocusing our efforts back to language at this time. We really feel the need to focus on our language lessons, and we must also focus on our family. Emma is going to start a ballet class on July 7th! She is very excited.