Picky Cows and the Gift of Tongues

Update from the Leffler Family in Thailand

“Chop ma-muang,” our stout eighty-year-old neighbor grinned from under his cowboy hat as our five-year-old daughter gave one of his cows a cucumber. He often pickets [ties up] his cows across the street from our house, and we have gotten to know him as he cares for them each day. The cow mouthed the vegetable for a moment, then let it fall to the ground in obvious disinterest. “Chop ma-muang,” our neighbor chuckled again. His cows prefer mangoes. Don’t we all; I smiled to myself. It’s hard to imagine he’s eighty years old as we see him hauling downed trees out of the forest, pushing his hand cart with six full 5-gallon buckets of water for his cows, and working all day in the sizzling heat of the dry season.

We are thankful to have found a quiet home to rent in the countryside near Chiang Mai, where we can live while focusing on language learning during our first months here in Thailand. Our dear old neighbor and his animals have brightened many days for our children. Although we were able to understand that his cows prefer mangoes over cucumbers, most of the words he says are still unintelligible to us. He speaks no English, so much of our communication is limited to gestures and smiles.

The Thai people are such loving, gentle, and friendly people— especially towards children— and we look forward to the day we can communicate with them in their own language. Thai words and sentences have begun infiltrating our family worships, mealtimes, and daily lives as we try to practice what we learn in our language classes.

We would be so grateful if you would join us in prayer for the gift of tongues, whether God chooses to give it miraculously or through a lot of hard work. And please pray for our neighbor and all the other lovely people we meet as we go about daily life here. Our hope and prayer is that as we learn to speak their language, they will catch a glimpse of the goodness of God and will someday learn to speak the language of heaven.

If you would like to read more updates from the Lefflers, you can read their blog here.

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