In with the New (Preg Update)

Quite a bit has changed! We want to hear what all is new with you too, so please update us when you finish reading this post 🙂

What’s up with Jonathan

We started school in-person for the first time here in Bangkok! The traditions, events, hoopla, and bonding that were missed have been in full swing! We are more connected than ever to students, colleagues, friends, and our community. 

Jonathan has taken on a couple of new roles this fall and is enjoying the opportunity to serve in new ways. As the chair of the Art Department Curriculum Team, he has been facilitating the monthly professional development meetings and supporting his fellow art teachers. His colleagues are awesome and always bursting with creative ideas and new initiatives. 

He is also the faculty sponsor for one of the Student Ministry committees and supports those student leaders in hosting a monthly “Live Action Friday” event. The first two evening events had about 70 students show up to play games, eat pizza, build community, and hear an encouraging message. Finally, he was paired with a group of 9th-grade boys to lead in a LifeGroup each Tuesday. It is off to a pretty good start, but he looks forward to gaining the level of trust and comfort Lyndsey’s group has after 2.5 years together!

Lyndsey’s Shifting Roles

Before detailing my 3 current/consistent nutrition/ministry roles, I wanted to summarize all Imagine Thailand and I accomplished for women of reproductive age, children of all ages, and God’s Kingdom in the first two years (even despite many many COVID complications):

• collaborated with colleagues and leaders in Mae Sot on nutrition education
• researched market food availability on-the-ground
• developed qualitative interview guides and conducted interviews with young mothers in Mae Sot
• started a nutrition education social media account and posts easy to implement tips 2-4x/week
• advised orphanage/boarding-school “parents” on affordable and adequate nutrition
• developed and conducted nutrition education workshops
• had nutrition videos translated to Burmese and shared with children of all ages
• created engaging activities to solidify new knowledge from nutrition videos
• developed activity charts and had them translated to Burmese
• recommended nutritious foods for Mae Sot locals to increase nourishment within budget

I’m excited to share with you my three most consistent nutrition/ministry engagements:

1. Weekly discussions with a LifeGroup of 11th-grade girls (for the 3rd year, since their freshmen year), encouraging them to make their health and nutrition a priority, recognize their worth as daughters of Christ (and encouraging those who are not there yet). I am also still substitute teaching, primarily math and science. 
2. Women’s Wellness Workshops within my local (Bangna, Bangkok) community, encouraging teen girls and mothers that they can nourish themselves and their families well, affordably and conveniently. My upcoming workshop will focus on: 
   • Removing moral words from how we speak of specific foods and our bodies, 
   • All foods nourish some aspect of your being, 
   • Nutrient-dense foods are an efficient use of money and stomach space. 
   • Together we will create nutrient-dense school snacks for each woman to bring home (along with recipe cards) to her family, ready for the week of lunch boxes!
   • If you are a woman of reproductive age near Bangna, get hyped for this semester’s event 😉
3. A nutrition education social media account, @preg.nutrition on Instagram, bringing important information on intake around pregnancy/lactation and useful shopping/preparation skills to the eyes/ears of women of reproductive age in Thailand and beyond

Thank you for taking the time to read about the shifts that have taken place with where I serve, with whom I work, and the women I aim to encourage. I love where God has me and the work He allows me to do for His Kingdom. Thank you for your prayer, encouragement, and financial support of this work. If you would like to join in, please add us to your “others” prayer list, let us know what you think of our work and share about your involvements, and/or set up a monthly gift of any amount via PayPal or Lyndsey’s sending organization AO on the donate tab of this site. We appreciate, love and miss you!