Dear Friends,

As we write this newsletter, Christmas has passed and the New Year is fast approaching. This January 1st is the one-year mark for us in this newest endeavor in mission. There are a few highlights that we would like to share with you:

1. Our arrival in Chiang Mai was marked by God’s abundant blessing of friends, housing, and a caring community, as well as opportunities for growth in our faith through language studies, unfamiliar social expectations, a strangely different church environment, and general cultural adjustments. In all these matters God proved himself eminently gracious, not so much in meeting our needs as we perceived them to be as much as in what turned out, more importantly, to be our actual needs. At the end of our first year we can genuinely express our joy in experiencing God’s abundant provision.

2. During our first six months here our sense of peace was continually attacked by worries of Glen’s mother’s health and well-being, and uncertainty about the healthy development of our children’s faith and education. God provided abundantly again in providing two trips back to the States (one for the entire family) to be with Glen’s family during his mother’s illness and subsequent death, and in the formation of friendships and schooling for our children, which seem to be clearly in line with God’s will.

3. Opportunities to travel, to see with new eyes, and to experience God’s work in a myriad of different cultural settings have been a part of our time here and will continue to be so. We have traveled to the Myanmar (Burmese)/Laotian border. We have seen work done amongst the many hill tribes in northern Thailand. We continue to be amazed at the challenge of evangelism in a Thai society that is largely animistically Buddhist and yet celebrate the small progress we have been able to make amongst those who are able to come to terms with their own spiritual needs and hunger.

In light of this past, the future holds nothing but the continuing promise of God’s abundant provision. And so we’d like to share with you our goals for the coming year:

1. To secure funding for the provision of a vehicle in order to carry out our work in a more consistent, effective, and cost efficient manner. (To date we have secured pledges of $5700.) For any who would feel God beckoning them to help, contributions may be sent to: Central Receiving Service, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Write the ECO number on the subject line (ECO #048548) of the check and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover letter to the Office of Global Education and International Leadership Development at the same address.

2. The development of a "Moms in Touch" prayer group for mothers of children attending Grace International School who live on the north end of Chiang Mai. This is a group of moms who covenant to gather together one day a week to pray for the teachers, the administrators, and the children of a particular school. It is a program begun in America, which has spread internationally. Carol has been asked to develop this group on our end of town. (The school currently has four other groups in other parts of town.)

3. To lay the groundwork for the development of a greatly expanded volunteer ministry with the Church of Christ in Thailand. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would like to develop a Young Adult Volunteer site here in Thailand that would seek one-year placements for young Americans (18-30 years old) in positions of service and faith development. We have also begun discussions for a similar possibility with the World Mission Initiative/New Wilmington Missionary conference folks for the placement of seminarians. We celebrate this desire and pray for God’s grace to bring it about.

4. To complete the visitation of all the 24 schools under Glen’s responsibility in order to assess their ability to support and provide the appropriate teaching environment for the Christian Volunteers in Thailand program. We also pray for the provision of volunteer teachers. Volunteerism in these types of programs seems to be ebbing in the States, and we pray that congregations and individuals will perceive the call to help in this endeavor.

5. To have the opportunity to continue our ministry of hospitality to PC(USA) tourists (including our own families). We are excited about several opportunities we have had this year to entertain members (and friends) of the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida, and the newly elected moderator of the Pittsburgh Presbytery. We are expecting Carol’s parents in late February/early March and hope to see Glen’s dad in late April/early May.

6. To continue to develop church partnerships as a means of interpreting the work we are doing to the broader Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constituency.

This is a broadly inclusive and large undertaking for which we will need a great deal of prayer and support. If you are interested in knowing more about any of these programs please do not hesitate to contact us. We remain in prayer for our many established partner congregations and individuals and would consider it an honor to count you among those.

Peace and Grace for the New Year,

Glen, Carol, Zach, Natalie, Jacob, and Caleb Hallead

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 171