A Few Pics from Thailand Vacation

Summer time Fun

The following pictures are from our last week in Big-D city and from our time in Kathmandu. For our full update please send us a private message requesting to be added to our monthly newsletter that we send out by email.

Thanks for stopping by to see our pictures!

Liam Gideon In Pictures

Most of you are aware that our new addition, Liam Gideon Boyd, arrived one week ago. We are happy and blessed by our new addition and wanted to share just a few photos from his first few days of life.

 

 

 

 

Life in BIG-D City

Partners in ministry, we wanted to write a brief update to let you guys know what has been going on in our lives as we are embracing some of the transitions that overseas life can bring. April finished out as a busy month that had many positive things happen as you can read here, but it also brought some disappointments. Due to some unforeseen circumstances the team from our sending church had to cancel their trip to work with us. We decided to push forward with a training we had planned the team to assist us with anyway and the day of the training it also got cancelled. Both were big disappointments to us, but we have learned by now that things rarely go as planned overseas and you just have to trust God in all of it.

At the end of April we travelled to the BIG D-City where we are waiting the arrival of baby Boyd #2. Our travel here went smooth and we were able to catch up with three different set of friends during our first two days here. A bittersweet moment was spending the afternoon with our good friends from our church that were leaving the country because of a potential heart condition with their baby that is due sometime in July. We love these dear friends and were blessed to be able to spend a short amount of time with them and pray for them as they headed back to the US. The wife tends to go into early labor, which is not good, especially for this pregnancy, so please join us in praying that she will make it to at least 37 weeks and for the health of this baby boy.

We have transitioned well and gotten settled into our temporary place, which we are extremely blessed to have. The first couple of weeks have been full of medical appointments for Andrea and getting dental and vision checked here as we do not have a place we feel comfortable going to in our city.

Although it is difficult to be away from our direct work for six to eight weeks, we are thankful that we have good national partners that are continuing the work in our absence. The time away has allowed us to reflect and remember that the work does not rely on us as the outsiders anyway, which is encouraging as this was one of our goals from the beginning. And as you can see in the pictures we are taken advantage of what this city has to offer that we cannot find in our home city.

We want to thank all of you for praying for our long-term volunteer Gloria who is coming out as she has purchased her ticket and will arrive on the 15th. She will be a big help in both serving our family and our ministry.

Thank you all for remembering us this past month. God is moving here even when we don't see it and as a partner in ministry you play a bigger role in that then you will ever realize.

In the next month please lift us up in the following ways:

• Arrival of Baby #2 (Name will be revealed after the birth)
• Transitions as a family (Especially Elliot as he becomes a big brother)
• The work in our area as we are away.
• For our good friends that had to transition back to the US for an unknown amount of time.

*Andrea requested no big belly pictures of her be posted.

Big Things Happening and Transitions Coming

Family, friends, and partners in ministry, the past month has proven to be one of the busiest this year, but it just shows that God is continuing to work here amongst His people. March was filled with planning for three trainings, one being a large conference with over 600 people. At the end of the month we were able to celebrate Maundy Thursday as a family where we shared the Lord's table together. On Good Friday we attended a house church where we again reflected on the death of Christ in our place, and on Easter Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of Christ with some of our close friends in our city.

Matt finished up two trainings at the end of March and although they did not go as planned, God did some great things by providing some new men to invest in and some testimony of a handful of people that went under the water this month. Although we always celebrate individuals going from death to life, there is much more to be done. At the start of April Matt along with our team leader and a few others led a conference for the language group Matt is focusing on. This conference was most likely the first time that this many believers from this language group met together. The mission of the conference is to see at least one church planted in every village that speaks this language. Thank you to those of you who have given special gift money to help make an event like this possible and please join us in praying that this mission will be fulfilled.

Andrea is getting into the last stage of pregnancy so she is spending much more time at home, although she weekly meets with other ladies she has formed relationships with over the last year. Please continue to pray for Andrea as she gets closer to her delivery date and as we have an active two year old who does not understand why mommy cannot do everything for him that she did a few months ago. In two weeks we will travel to the BIG city to wait for baby #2 to arrive and to get all the necessary paper work done at the embassy.

During the next two weeks we are preparing to welcome a team from our sending church, the Summit. This will be a small team that will assist our work here and travel with us to the Big City. We are thankful for groups like this that come to serve us and serve alongside of us. If any of you are ever interest in coming out to work with us or lead a team from your church, please send us a personal message an we can make this happen.

We are also excited that sometime in May Andrea's best friend Gloria is going to join our team for six months. She will serve us in many ways as we embrace the transitions of our family growing and we already have many ministry opportunities lined up for her in our city. Thank you to those who have assisted her in getting here and if any of you would like to help her during her time here let us know.

In the coming weeks please remember us in the following ways:

• Arrival of baby #2
• Many transitions
• Obedience of the believers from our focus group
• Arrival of six month volunteer Gloria

March Madness

Partners in ministry, we want to fill you in on the past month of life and ministry. At the beginning of February we were able to spend the weekend in big D-city for some medical purposes, but also to visit with our campus pastor Daniel Simmons and some other friends from our sending church, the Summit. The time with them was enjoyable and encouraging as we were able to share life with them for a few days. We especially want to send a shout out of thank you to the individuals that sent goodies over with the team.

Matt was able to finish up his capstone project for his M.Div this month, so you could say that he is "mastered," although he knows his journey in ministry is just getting started. And though he said he was going to take a break from any further degrees, he is already looking for his next class to finish a second masters degree in the next year.

In addition to finishing up school work, Matt has also been able to meet with some of his guys from his discipleship group in order to further develop them as leaders and church planters. Due to some unforeseen circumstances the last training with his entire group was cancelled, but will be taking place at the end of this weekend. Please continue to lift up these men of God as they push back darkness in one of the darkest places of the world.

Andrea has continued to stay busy with her ministry involvement this last month as there have been more short-term teams come through to assist in the work she is involved with than one can count. She is currently spending a few days in the capital of our state where she is interviewing students at two different Spanish schools as she is finding translators for Spanish speaking teams. God has really opened the doors for Spanish speakers here and now he is providing translators from our own state.

Last week we had the privilege to  celebrate Elliot's second birthday with a mix of close foreign friends and some close national friends. The party was a big success, thanks to Andrea for all of her hard work to make it extra special. Now that we are officially parents of a two-year old, we need all of the prayer that you can send our way!

Moving forward we are making plans for a very busy spring. We thank you all for your continued prayer and support and ask that you would remember us this next month in the following ways:

• Opportunities to share during the Easter season.
• Matt's training this week and two more within the next month.
• Continued energy and health for Andrea as she is now 7 months pregnant.
• Elliot's allergy issues.

*If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter written by Andrea please send us your email address or leave it in the comment section below.

Boyd Family Update

Friends, family, and partners is ministry we wanted to let you know that 2013 has started off extremely busy, but it has also been a great start. To start out the new year we spent two weeks in Taipei, Taiwan for Matt to finish up his final two courses for his M.Div. He is currently finishing up his final writing assignment and although he will not walk to graduate until we are stateside, as a family we are proud of him and all of the other guys in his international church planting cohort.

The time in Taipei was also refreshing as we were with 15 other families that are serving internationally. Andrea was able to spend time with all of the other wives where they were able to study God's Word, fellowship, and shed a few tears. You do not fully realize how much you need to step outside of your current state sometimes until you actually get the opportunity. Elliot also enjoyed his time of playing with all of the other children and we want to express our gratitude to the volunteers that came out the first week and provided free childcare as a blessing to us all.

Returning from Taiwan we hit reverse culture shock as Taipei is a very modern city and perhaps the cleanest that we have ever been to visit. We hit the ground running by playing catch up on our life in S. Asia. Matt started organizing his next training and also took up some local opportunities to teach in a church that is in a nearby village. It is amazing how God will bring different leaders into Matt's life that our desperately desiring assistance in the equipping of their people to be sent out on mission.

Andrea is progressing along in her pregnancy and in case you missed our announcement, we found out that baby number two is going to be a boy! We are very excited as a family and Andrea grew up with four men in her house so she is fully prepared for three. She is continuing to disciple women in the red light district and teach one rescued lady art as a possible way to generate future income. God continues to deepen friendships with neighbors and we ask that you would pray with us for one particular lady as she is reading the Bible and asking many questions.

Please continue to pray for us as we desire to be very strategic in 2013 in our ministry here. Matt is working on fully developing his intense discipleship group of church planters, and at the same time working towards the goal of working through his close national partners so that the work never depends on him. We are excited to see the people of S. Asia continue to respond to the gospel and make disciples of them that will continue to advance the Kingdom of God here.

Thank you for your prayer and support, we ask that you remember us in the following ways:

• Friend of Andrea's asking questions about Jesus.
• Matt's development of his discipleship group and national partners.
• To be strategic in 2013.
• Elliot's allergies.