Mark and Viv return to their work in Thailand in July following a period of leave. They are tranzsend workers, seconded to SIL, and their home church is Otumoetai Baptist.

"We came to serve the Buddhist people of Thailand, and literacy and prayer are the avenues that have opened for us," says Mark. He works with the Summer Institute of Linguistics at Payap University's linguistics department teaching nationals and expatriates at a Masters level in subjects related to educational linguistics and literacy.

At a practical level, Mark has pioneered work with a strongly Buddhist, indigenous people group based at a school of nearly 500 children, three hours travel from Chiang Mai. The spoken language of this group has never been written. The school has invited Mark and Viv to help preserve their culture and language in writing. Seeing their language being valued is part of the key to helping these students, who are generally failing in their Thai language school work. With only 8000 speakers of the language left, it is a chance to restore value and self respect to the community before it disappears under the pressures of urbanisation and compulsory education in Thai.

Mark's work has also given him the privilege of becoming friends with Buddhist monks as he tries to understand how Buddhists view life and the problems and opportunities that exist for these people to accept the grace of Jesus Christ. God began to prepare Mark for this task even before he became a Christian, while he was studying world religions, and God continued to prepare both him and Viv through their study of Applied Linguistics and Theology, as well as their teaching and church leadership experiences.

Viv loves to see people deepen in their relationship with God. She is currently the Spiritual Life and Prayer co-ordinator for the 200+ adults in Mainland Southeast Asia's Summer Institute of Linguistics group. This involves encouraging spiritual vitality through organising retreats, prayer events for children and adults, and the spiritual component of the yearly SIL orientation and conference, as well as resourcing and meeting with individuals.