Holiday Season

Since we are in the middle of what most of us refer to as the holiday season I thought it would be fun to share some of my memories from holiday's in other countries. This post is going to be long, but it's mostly pictures.

Thanksgiving in The Bahamas:

Some dishes were "American style" but most were Bahamian 

A great turnout! With plenty of food.

The week of Thanksgiving there was a devastating fire in a Haitian neighborhood so we opened our dinner to anyone who wanted to come. We sent a bus to pick them up and had a really good turnout.

Some of our guests enjoying the food

The language is different but gathering to eat is universal.

Awesome friends and workers!!

Thanksgiving in Thailand

We had amazing cooks!

Thanksgiving is not a holiday that is typically celebrated in Thailand so we had some challenges with getting ingredients for some of our dishes. For instance, we didn't think we were going to be able to have mashed potatoes because we couldn't find potatoes (seriously). It turned into a joke, we sent word out and one family might have 3 and another had 5. We told everyone to bring their potatoes and there were enough gathered to have a huge pot.

No turkey, but it was still good :-) 

Another challenge ended up being meat, initially we couldn't find enough. Brian went on a quest and finally found a place that had 3 cooked chickens and some ham.

Story time for the kids

Missionary families networked together and we had a huge Thanksgiving feast.

Everybody is ready to eat.

Christmas in Thailand

I was able to go home for Christmas but I got to see a lot of the preparation. Most of my time there I was in Khon Kaen.

Decorations in Khon Kaen

Decoration outside of the mall in Khon Kaen

Creed is excited about Christmas

We were able to go to Korat for several days to visit friends there.

The mall there had a winter wonderland on the top floor, it had an ice skating ring and a snow area for the kids to play in. It was cool because they had a snow machine so "fresh snow" was falling.

This was the play area

Not a good view of the skating ring, but it's there

From there we visited friends in Bangkok.

The Garsee family tree

Families combined in Bangkok we had 10 kids to keep up with, so I didn't get many pictures at the mall. If you have a chance look up the mall in Bangkok, it was the biggest shopping mall I have ever been in.

After getting to visit with friends that I hadn't seen in years we headed back to Khon Kaen.

Part of our Christmas celebration was going to the movies

We had a mini (or pre) Christmas celebration before I headed back home, I love this family.

Marybeth and her beautiful daughters

I'm sure I have more pictures from other areas but these were the one's I could find. I've been to some amazing places and I'm thankful that the Lord has given me the opportunities to go. Everywhere I've been I have always been able to get back home for Christmas. Last year I didn't think I was going to make it but everything worked out and I was so grateful.

My first sight of the US, coming home from Thailand

This year will be my first time to be away from family on Christmas … I'm still processing that.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Cor. 12:9)

As always I appreciate all prayers and words of encouragement. I'm thankful to be able to follow the calling that God has placed on my life. If you would like to contribute towards either my schooling or a vehicle I have two easy ways to give. If you need a record of your giving for tax reasons you can give through my church by downloading the Givelify App on your phone. Once you have the app on your phone search churches, Orchard Church 763 Battlefield Pkwy. Ft Oglethorpe, GA 30742.

Once you register the church will have a link with my name on it just follow that and my church will forward the funds to me.

Another way is to give through PayPal, just follow this link PayPal.me/THittle

Remember giving through PayPal is not tax deductible.