John 13:34-35

Yesterday was the most awesome day I've had in Thailand so far. We have Bible study and Thai church in our apartment, and yesterday people just kept coming and coming. Our front room was overflowing with people. The lesson we taught was on Abraham and his faithfulness to follow God and the promise God made him about being the father of many nations. Words just kept flowing from our mouths and we shared the story of Jesus with the students who were present. We even had a translator, Thum, a Thai believer who speaks really good English. As we closed our 2 1/2 hour study (now you know I don't have a long attention span- 20 min and I'm gone. But I think I could have sat there another two hours and not worried about it!) with a song that we sang in Thai and in English, what wandered up to our front windows? An elephant! I know that may not seem like a big deal, but we have been wanting to see and ride elephants since we got here. I've never actually been that close to one before. It was so incredible.

After worship, a Korean missionary (whom we had never met before) invited us to eat an authentic "Thai style" dinner at a Christian dorm ten minutes down the road. There were 10 girls and 8 guys living in this house- and it was so encouraging to hear all of their stories. In the 3 1/2 weeks we've been in Thailand we have only met two Thai Christians- needless to say, it gets discouraging when we hear that only 1/10th of 1% of Thais are believers. I want to share two people's stories.

T, the guy who translated for us: He is a fourth year English major. When he was 10, he was walking down the street and found a tract (not commonly found in Thailand)so he asked his parents who Jesus was. They said they didn't know and told him to throw the tract away (he said he later found out they did know, but didn't want their son knowing anything about Christianity.) At 15, he started learning English with some American volunteers.They shared with him about Jesus, and he said that through months of reading the Bible and praying He discovered that Jesus was the way. Now he faced the issue of his parents. He didn't feel like he could tell them. He took an English Bible home with him and read a language he couldn't even speak very well just so they wouldn't find out what he was really reading.
Now this is the crazy part- last year, his mom had a dream in which she saw her son walking away from her- she called out his name but he wouldn't turn around. She woke up and said to her husband- I think T's become a Christian. And he nodded saying- I think I've known that for a while. He said that now, his parents have hidden his Bible, tried to burn it, and forbid him from attending Christian services (but that doesn't stop him.) Pray for him and the challenges that he faces everyday in just serving the Lord.

K: A fourth year student at MSU. As a young teenager he questioned why his family was Buddhist- he asked his grandparents who said: you are because your parents are, because we are, because our parents were, etc. But K kept questioning and searching for answers. When he was a freshman, he met some missionaries who told him about Jesus. But what stood out the most to him, was the love he saw radiating from these believers. He knew, at that moment, that he wanted to follow Jesus because of His love. In the four years that have passed, he has been able to lead his mother to Jesus also. WOW! I love this story because K said it was all about the love that he could see; it challenges me to really take John 13:35 to heart where Jesus says: "by this, all men shall know that you are My disciples- if you have love for one another."

Pray for K and T and C and the other Thai Christians who are battling darkness, Buddhism and unbelief.

Quick Update

We are in the middle of our second week of teaching, and the last two days have been so much cooler (and by cooler, I mean 90. But it's wonderful!) On Tuesdays and Thursdays we teach a conversational class to the professors, and it's always so good to talk to them- their English is exceptional. Well, yesterday before the class at 4 I was just thinking about how good it would be have a discussion on religion and beliefs. It's amazing how the Lord works. Not even five minutes in, the topic of Buddhism was brought up by one of the professors. He talked about how he was a monk for a short period of time (in Thailand, it's considered honorable for a mother if her son becomes a monk for a period of time- it can be as short as two weeks- most males are expected to do this for their mothers.) and how he ventured into the woods for deep meditation. They talked to us about the premise of Buddhism and how it's all about being "good" and finally getting to Heaven (not really sure what their idea of Heaven is...). Those who are not terribly bad (the bad ones go to Hell) but not perfect just get reincarnated and get to try it all over again.
I asked them if they thought they could be good enough to get to Heaven- and they all laughed and said no. They seem fairly content to just be reincarnated and try again. Then one of the professors asked us what we believed. We talked about Jesus and how for us, we know we can't be good enough- but we don't have to earn God's love or salvation to go to Heaven. It was interesting and really good to get to learn more about Buddhism- and even share a little bit with them.

Keep praying for us. The top floors of our house have been without running water for a few days (there is one bathroom downstairs that all six of us have been relying on. It's very chaotic in the mornings, and frustrating to walk down four flights of stairs in the middle of the night!)

Thank you for staying updated with my life- and for your prayers!

hmmm

Our students know who Lindsay Lohan and Tom Cruise are. But they have no idea who Jesus is...

Pictures!

Monday began our first day of teaching. It's intense, and the days are long, but it's so much fun. We are adjusting well to the heat and learning our way around the town and campus fairly well. I have tried to add some pictures- let's see if this works. :)





The team on our first day at the mission house before we left Bangkok.

Check out Rachel's blog: rachelgoestothailand.blogspot.com

God of This City!

sabaay dee mai kha? (how are you?)

WOW! So, I had my 22nd birthday in Thailand. That was fun. We waited until midnight and then it started to rain, so we ran out on our balcony and danced under the stars. Then, celebratory birthday hot dogs... which weren't so much fun. During the day we went to see our landlady and when my supervisor told her it was my birthday, she gave me a silk scarf as a present. It touched me so much. All of the people here are so generous and go completely out of their way to make us all feel at home. Later, Scott and Valerie took us to a nice restaurant and surprised me with a birthday cake that Valerie and Charlotte had made. It was a wonderful way to celebrate away from home. Let's backtrack one night:
On the 2nd, some our Thai students, Aoy, Art, and Ninja (yes, Ninja) invited us to see Narnia in Thai. It was amazing- I'd seen it in English twice and felt so cool that I could keep up with the plot (although I only understood about three words.) After, they helped us get home and went with us to eat. We had some brief but good conversations about Buddhism and their beliefs.
Yesterday, we were sent out alone. It was slightly scary, but we made it. We walked down about a block and found a bakery, then caught the songtow (PT) to the somthi (mall) to buy groceries. Which came to 1,124 dollars. Okay, baht. Which is cheap :)
Today we went back to the university to sign students up for English classes that we will start teaching next week. (So far we have almost 100 interested students. yay!) It's exciting- they are friendly and so adorable. I love saying sawatdeekha and bowing. The students yesterday bought us food and snacks just to try, and random strangers will give us fruit. The lady who does our laundry is so nice and well, it seems everyone in this town knows who we are and where we live (which is a little creepy, but we don't feel threatened.) The people look at us like we are celebrities, which can be unnerving, but I think that not many of them have seen white people in person before.
God is amazing and I love, love, LOVE the girls on my team. They are so cool and laid back and up for anything. Rachel ate congealed blood (yes, I have it on video! ew) Danette and Beth allowed a lady at our favorite restaurant (we call it starbaht for its excellent iced coffee) to fix her favorite thing on the menu. Thai food has mostly agreed with me, although I am getting a little tired of rice.
Please continue to pray for us. Tomorrow we have the day free to explore the city a little and in the evening we will be having some students over to eat and play games or whatever they want to do. On Sunday we will be leading an English Bible study followed by Thai church. Monday, our classes at the new campus start. I still feel slightly overwhelmed and in over my head, but the Lord is so faithful and I am not alone.
Here are some of the students we have met so far (I'm giving you their nicknames because their names are so hard to say- and spell :)
Pat (G), Art (B), Art(II) (B) Aoy (G), Nick (B), Ninja (B), Mimi (G), Dream (G), Puy (G), Tiw (B), and Nuup (B).
Pray that these students will see Jesus so brightly in us that they will want to know about Him.


One last note:
We have been singing and praying a song over the city. It was written in Bangkok spur of the moment. Chris Tomlin covers it. It's called God of This City. Here are the lyrics. Pray is over where you are and where we are. Love y'all.

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
For there is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In MAHASARAKHAM!
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for you and love for you
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Here I Am!

Thai me up!

God has already done amazing things in two days. There is so much to tell you, but I will keep it short. I am writing this from an internet cafe three doors down from our apartment. Our apartment is four stories high with a roof that overlooks the city. It is so cute! The downside is that there is no air conditioning, and it is hot hot hot!! The intense heat awoke myself and the two girl (Danette & Rachel) with whom I share a room at 1 a.m. This, however, provided us the opportunity to eat ritz crackers and laugh and tell stories by flashlight. We finally crashed again around 3 a.m. We are so jet-lagged!!
The toilets are interesting to figure out, and I must confess, I miss American bathroooms. I won't go into the gory details, but let's just say, the toilets don't exactly flush in our house... :)

One story I must share! On the ten hour airplane flight from San Francisco into Japan Danette and I sat next to a Japanese student who was studying English in San Diego. Before the plane even took off, the Lord gave us the opportunity to share the gospel with this student. We asked him who he thought God was, and he admitted he had no concept. After sharing about the Bible, God and Jesus, salvation, Heaven and Hell, we asked him what he thought. He was amazed- no one had ever shared this with him before. And it made sense to him. Pray for him and that he will get a Bible in Japanese and find a church so that he may learn about
Jesus and join us in Heaven.

In the two days we have been here, I have already experienced so much.
I am now fluent in Thai. Or, I wish I was. There are five tones, each which changes the meaning of one single word. I can say "thank you,"(kop khun kha) "hello & goodbye"(sa wat dee kha) "excuse me/sorry" (katouet kha) and I can order my favorite dishes, which so far are gow payt guy (chicken fried rice), qweuy tuow (noodles & meatballs) and gow payt guung (shrimp fried rice.) and the cafe yen ban (blended mocha coffees) are up there with starbucks! I have eaten with chopsticks, shopped in the market, learned basic Thai money (31 baht per $) and showered in a room (yes, the showers are not separate from the bathrooms. It's all one big room - as Scott, our supervisor said, "the idea is to get the whole room as wet as possible.)

Today the Thai students gave us all nicknames. Mine is Ying Lek, which means "little girl." It's the most literal translation they could find for my real name which is "virtuous maiden." So now I can say "chan choo ying lek kha." and also "sookong"- which means shopping. Obviously the most important word! ;-)

Well I love you guys and will update whenever I can. Keep praying for us and for our students. I give you the "wai" and say "sa wat dee kha!!"

*flush a toilet in my honor* :)