When Hayden first left New Zealand, heading for England, he visited a number of Asian countries. Although he enjoyed these short visits, he never expected that one day God would give him a heart for any of these people groups.

In December 2001, he felt God saying to visit Thailand, to do some good for the world. He did not think that this was a good idea at the time, so did not go.

But in Christmas 2002, Hayden felt called by God to go 'somewhere' as a test of his willingness to serve. He prayed long and hard, but it did not seem to matter to God where he went. So based on what he thought God had said previously, he chose to go and serve God in Thailand during 2003.

The scripture that he went out with, and had been given to him numerous times during the previous year, was Luke 9:1-6.

His time in Thailand was a testing time, especially as he had very little finances, and even ended up living a lot cheaper than some of the Thai people in his area. He had no idea of what he would be doing either, but was instead left relying on God at every moment.

Hayden considered this trip a success as he learnt a lot about the Thai people, about God and the things he finds important when we choose to serve him, was able to serve and help a couple of organisations, and was able to encourage others serving God in Thailand.

Hayden left Thailand with the strong intent to return permanently within months, but upon returning to the UK, met Emily instead. Before marrying, we discussed our passions for God and how we wanted to serve him, and we realised that God was giving us both a new 'primary' ministry - our marriage, and that it would be wise for us both to let go of those other things we desired to do in God, and instead allow him to give us a joint heart for something.

So Thailand was no longer on Hayden's 'greatest desire' list. That was until we had been married nearly 1 year, and were trying to decide whether the UK or NZ would be our family home. Emily developed a passion for returning to the Asias and so we decided to return to Thailand with the intention of learning the language and culture.

We arrived in Thailand in April 2006, and have settled in to our new lives in Bangkok.

We have dreams for the future which include ministering to villages who have never heard the gospel, and using Thailand as an entry point to surrounding nations. But for now we feel that we should be working and learning the language & culture. We are slowly grasping hold of visions for the local area in which we have found ourselves, and are really looking forward to getting involved in some ministries while we are here in Bangkok.

For more information on what we are currently up to, please read our Blog.