April 2026 Newsletter
- Dallas Vaughn
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
When I was young, April felt like it took forever to end. May was the end of the school year, which meant summer break. So waiting for April to get out of the way felt like an unpleasant trip to a government-run agency. Now, it hardly feels that way, and sometimes the months fly by with no mercy. In a way, this month felt like that. That’s one reason I love writing these newsletters. It reminds me to slow down and record the little ways God has moved each month.
For example, I often meet new people on walks. I don’t know why. I don’t set out to. It just happens. This past month, the air in Northern Thailand was horrible. It’s hard to understand if you’ve never experienced it, but every year, there’s a “burning season” that happens around Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. Because we live between mountain ranges, the smoke gets stuck here, and the air quality becomes toxic. This year it lasted for an entire month.
My habit is normally to walk outside, but because I could feel my lungs barking at me every time I took a breath as I walked outside, and I was put off by the sight of a completely red sun as it was enveloped by smog, I decided to walk inside the nearby Big C instead (a department store that I assume got inspiration from the American K-Mart when choosing a name). I would go each day and simply walk down aisles to get my steps in. I worried the employees would start noticing and giving me the side eye for not buying anything.
One day, an employee walked up to me, and my first thought was “uh oh, he’s going to ask me to leave.” Instead, he told me he was a student and he’s learning English, so he always tries to introduce himself to westerners. We had a good conversation about mindset and diligence, and added each other on Instagram. I saw him a week later and asked how he was doing. He said “I saw you’re a Christian. I went to pray at your church. Your wife is a musician.” I was shocked. “You went to Baan Athitaan!?,” I asked. He said, “Yes, I’m a Buddhist, but my friend is a Christian and he took me.”
I’m always amazed at the crazy ways God works in and through our lives. Pray for that guy. He’s 21, and he asked if we could hang out sometime because he really wants to improve his English, and he said he feels like he can learn a lot from me. We’ve talked about lifting weights and work (I know the way to a young man’s heart), but haven’t talked about the gospel, so pray that conversation can happen sometime soon.
Here are some other things that happened this month:
Liz’s Vocal Seminars
Liz taught 4 weeks of vocal seminars for our worship leaders at Baan Athitaan Church this month on Saturdays!
Grace Language School
The Thai schools have been on break, so our Saturday ESL classes for kids have too, but we just started them back. I love investing in these kids! (Please also continue to pray for the kids in our neighborhood we have in our house on a weekly basis.)
A Short Video
I was asked by one of our partner churches to record a video they could play for a missions event. I thought this would be a good one to share with you. It’s still hard for me to believe that we are coming up on 10 years in Thailand.
Easter
On Easter Sunday, the kids did a special choir song, we had some more baptisms at Baan Athitaan Church, and Liz & Boum did a special song together (it was Boum’s first time on piano!).
One of my favorite memories from Easter was when Mary Ella got so excited about all the decorations and sat next to me in church and said “daddy, I wish every Sunday was Easter!”
Liz Leading Worship
Liz worked on a special song for Easter with Boum, one of the Thai staff, who she has been helping for the last few months with both piano and vocals. She has also had the opportunity to jump back into leading worship more regularly. Theo still can’t be in the meeting space when she’s leading because he likes to scream “mama!” the whole time, so I do my part by spending time with him outside on those Sundays so Liz can lead 😅.
Violin Recital
One of our neighbors is a fellow American missionary and works with university students here in Chiang Rai. She is also a violinist and put on a camp for some of the students recently. We attended their recital, and while the students are just learning how to play, I wanted to share a short clip from our friend and a Thai musician and teacher she worked with.
Songkran Water Festival
Songkran is a giant water festival held here in Thailand (and some other parts of Southeast Asia) to bring in the new year on the traditional calendar. This was the first time Mary Ella was old enough to engage in the communal aquatic skylarking, and she had a blast.
Prayer Requests:
Liz & Theo have to go down to Bangkok tomorrow as of the writing of this. It’s a long story, but if you’ve followed our newsletters, you know a bit about the dental drama she has been through. Please pray for their trip, that this will be the end of the Invisalign treatments, and then that she will be able to get a bone graft and implants soon enough.
I have a close friend whose mom just passed away. He is an only child and he already lost his dad a few years ago, so please pray for him.
I have been asked to come speak at an event in Louisville, Kentucky in May. I’m excited for it, but it’s a lot of travel time. I will only be in America for about 3 days, then I’ll turn around and fly 30 hours again to come back to Thailand!
THANKS FOR BEING PART OF THE TEAM!
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