Pictures from Christmas Day Party

University students who came to the Christmas Party

Nim, Me, and Beau (SPU students-non-believers)

Manow (unbeliever) and Me

Me, Twang, and Champ (unbelievers but Champ is seeking)

Christmas Day in Bangkok!

Christmas Day in Bangkok was unique but was a great blessing. I didn't have any presents to open because none of them had arrived in the mail yet but that's o.k. I actually slept in which is something I love doing when the opportunity arises. I left my apartment about 11:15 to walk to Tim and Jill's house (my co-workers) so I could be there by 12:00 to help Jill clean her house, cook, or do whatever she needed to help get ready for the party that evening. I love walking even though I sweat a lot because it is at least 90 degrees here every day.

I got to their house before 12:00 and started preparing food for that night. I cut up lots of pieces of chicken and then made a marinade to put them in for a few hours. I made frosting and frosted a cake. I cooked garlic pork and several other things. I really enjoyed cooking because it is something I rarely do since I don't have a stove/ove. n in my condo. The only problem is that I needed to leave by 3:30 so I could get home to take a shower and be back by 5:00 for the party. I wasn't able to get everything done but I did help as much as I could.

I walked half way back to my condo and then took a taxi because I was in a hurry. I quickly got a shower and got ready and then headed back to their house to help with anything else that needed to be done before guests arrived.

It ended up being a terrific party/night. We started eating around 6:30 and then sang Christmas songs and then Tim shared from the Bible and one Thai lady shared her testimony. There were about 50-60 people who came. I was really excited because several of the University students came and they heard the story of Christmas. One of the guy students (Champ) told me he got goosebumps listening to Tim tell the story. He told me he never knew Christmas was because of Jesus birthday.

Praise the Lord for the many unbelievers who came and heard! It was a great Christmas!

Christmas Service

Puy and Me (Puy is not a believer. She graduated from SPU this last semester. This is her 2nd Christmas to come to Canaan.) She has heard the Good News but has not responded yet. These are 2 students from the class that I help to teach on Monday nights at the BSC. This is the first time they have been to church and heard the story.

Ham, Nice, Puy (back) me, Piaw, and Ann (front) Ham and Puy non believers from SPU. I have discipled Piaw, Ann and Nice. All 3 have been baptized and are growing in their walk with God.

Pimjaay's friend, me and Pimjaay. First time for both of them to come to church and hear the Good News!

I am a little late to post about our Christmas service last Sunday (19th). It was a great service. There were about 70+ people that came which is pretty good for a small church that averages about 20-30 people on a weekly basis. There were at least 25 or more non-believers that came and several of them came to church for the first time!

I was a little sad because most of the University students that I invited could not come because they had mid-term exams on that day and the next day. Since Sunday is not a religious day here they have classes and exams on Sunday just like any other day of the week. I was really sad about that but God has a purpose in everything.

I was excited though because Pimjaay (a Thai teacher at ULS) came and she brought a friend. Pimjaay was one of my Thai teachers from almost 2 years ago. I love how God has brought her back into my life through the BSC.

It was a great day of celebrating Christmas together all day long like a big family! God is so good!

The next big outreach will be this Saturday (25th) at my supervisor's house. Students are available to come to this one so we are expecing even more people than at church.

Ler's Story

Ler (in the red shirt) and Joanna

Ler has been a Christian for about 3 or 4 years. I am not exactly sure. I put her picture here with Joanna because Joanna is the one who brought Ler to the Lord. Ler became a believer as a high school student and Joanna was her math teacher :) Now Ler is a University student and has become a very active member at Canaan church. Ler is currently being discipled on Sunday afternoons from 1:00-2:30 with a small group of ladies. One of the lessons was about Baptism and Ler wanted to be obedient and be baptized. Ler is the only one in her family that is a believer but she has openly shared her faith with her family.

I am most amazed at Ler's dedication to the Lord and her desire to grow in her walk with the Lord. She memorizes scripture every week and is faithful every Sunday to study a new lesson or to help teach an old lesson to a person that missed a previous week. She is a very valuable member of the church and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for her. She is a person that is very easy to train and lives what she teaches so I am praying that she will be used in 2011 in a mighty way on her college campus and to her family and friends.

P'Jib's story

Jill and P'Jib. Jill disciples P'Jib every Sunday afternoon from 1:00-2:30

P'Jib listening to the explanation of why we are baptized at the beach.

First I will explain why I wrote P'-- in Thailand if someone is older than you you should address them by saying P' and then their name. It is polite. At first I didn't like students and younger people calling me P'Ann but now I love it because it makes me Thai or at least almost Thai.

P'Jib has an exciting story too. She started coming to Canaan church years ago because her daughter (who is now in her late 20's) became a believer and would bring her mom to church with her. P'Jib came only to church when her daughter was in town. her daughter is a travel guide and is out of town a lot. P'Jib was not a believer at the time but she came whenever her daughter came. P'Jib had a lot of questions and began studying the Bible with Jill and became a Christian. Af first, she still only came to church when her daughter was in town because she lives far from church and doesn't know how to travel alone using the bus system.

Then one Sunday P'Jib appeared at church about 11:00 alone. She had taken the journey by bus alone. Now she comes faithfully every Sunday and most of the time alone. She even took the trip to the beach with us to be baptized and showed up at the church at 6:00 a.m. for the trip (alone). Another aspect of this story that just touches my heart is that P'Jib only has up to a high school education. She doesn't read well and is very slow to absorb things but she has been memorizing scripture every week! I am so excited for how God is working in her life and am touched by her faithfulness despite all of the obstacles she has to overcome.

She is a precious lady and I love telling her story because it touches my heart. 2 stories down 9 more to go.

Piaw's Story

This is Piaw. She is currently a student at Ramkhampaeng University here in Bangkok. Her story goes back before I ever thought about coming to Thailand. Piaw originally studied at a different University that had a summer ministry team. That was one of the Universities at the time along with SPU (where I am at now) that had American students there as a part of a summer team ministry. So, 3 summers ago Piaw became a Christian. After that she came to church from time to time but was never really discipled. My first year in Bangkok (2009-2010) she was coming to Canaan every once in a while so I really didn't know her very well. When I did see her I tried to get to know her more but the relationship was very surface level. One night God just put it on my heart to talk to her on facebook chat. I began asking her a few questions and asked her if she was involved in a Bible study group/cell group at the time and her answer was no. Then I asked her if she wanted to study the Bible and she said yes! That was in August (2010). Our first Bible study together was august 24th (which is my birthday). We have been meeting almost every week since then. I have seen God do some amazing things in her life. He is transforming her. Getting baptized was just one step in the growth. She has now been faithful at having her Quiet Time with God every day for 3 weeks straight! We continue to meet every week to study the Bible together. God is so good and His plan is perfect! Sometimes all we have to do is ask!

A Precious Picture

Yesterday was such an amazing day but it was also a tiring day. I was exhausted to wake up this morning and go to Sripatum but I had an appointment to study the Bible with Piaw (one of the girls who was baptized Monday) so I needed to get up and get going.

As I was walking into the University one of the students named Manow was calling me to meet up at the cold canteen (cafeteria). Manow always eats lunch with Piaw and me on Tuesday and she knows that we study the Bible in the afternoon. Manow actually went to camp this past summer so she has heard a lot of the Gospel. She doesn't show a strong desire to know more about the Bible but she does want to hang out with me so we will take that approach for now.

Anyway, let me get to the point where the title comes from--I was sitting at a table with Manow, Piaw, Oma, Aof, and Eric. We all ate lunch and talked. I was talking to Manow for a while about different things and I looked up and Aof, oma, and Piaw all had their Bibles open and were reading something together. What a precious picture. All 3 of them were baptized Monday showing their profession of faith and now they are at the Univ. campus reading their Bibles for the whole world to see!!! It is so exciting!! What a great witness to Manow and others sitting around.

Later in the afternoon I had a great Bible study with Piaw. I feel very blessed to be here and to be able to study God's Word with these new believers!

God's Hand at Work!

(Joe, Oma, Aof, Tong, Poon, Liw, Jib, Piaw, Annie, Pooky, and Ong)

Today was one of the highlights of my 2 years of serving here in Thailand! There are lots of highs and lows in the journey and today counts as being on top of cloud 9 :) Today was a Thai holiday so we headed off for the beach at 6:00 a.m. this morning to baptize 11 new Thai believers! We rented 2 vans and 1 family drove their car. There were over 30 people in all who went for the day.

This is actually the 3rd baptism that I have been a part of for Canaan Baptist Church since arriving here in January of 2009. This one was extra special to me though because I was able to play a role in some of the lives of those being baptized!

*3 students from Sripatum University who have become believers since this past summer were baptized. (Annie, Aof, Oma)

*2 students from other Universities in Bangkok were baptized also. (Liw and Piaw). I have been discipline Piaw for several months now and was able to teach her the lesson about baptism and immediately after that lesson wanted to be baptized.

*3 people that we met through our ministry at the BSC (Baptist Student Center) were baptized. (Pooky, Ong, Tong)

*3 people that came to Canaan through God's divine purpose were baptized also! (Poon, Joe, Jib)

I could write a long story about each of these people and how God has done a mighty work in their life! Each one is unique and amazing on how God brings people to HIMSELF!

Today is one of those days that I will never forget! It encourages me to keep pressing on because there will be fruit in His time.

There will be more stories and pictures to come from this awesome day!! Praise the Lord!

Christmas

I don't really know why but for some reason it just doesn't feel like the month of December and Christmas time. Although I live in Thailand - a Buddhist country that doesn't celebrate Christmas- there are decorations all around Bangkok. Every mall has a huge tree and lights are everywhere yet it still just doesn't feel like it. Maybe it's because it is 90 degrees every day and that kind of weather doesn't go with Christmas.

I don't have plans to decorate my apartment mainly because if I buy decorations when the season is over I don't have anywhere to store it. I live in a 1 room condo with 1 wardrobe and some drawers for clothes. I live a pretty simple life with no space for extras. In some ways I think that is o.k.

The month of December is a huge ministry month. We are having several parties and Christmas celebrations to invite non-believers to and they will come because it is a party! I am excited about those events and sharing with people about the true meaning of Christmas.

Perceptions

I chose this title because living in a different culture people perceive many things so differently. Some things I have adapted to here in Thailand and other things I just can't understand how they perceive things that way.

One simple thing is how they perceive the size of a person. I am actually considered fat in Thailand compared to the Thai people. When I buy clothes on the street I often have to buy at least a medium and sometimes a large. I was so thankful to go back to America for a few weeks so I could have a change of perspective for a few days. In America, everything I bought needed to be a small or x-small so I was feeling quite good :) Almost everyone who saw me told me how good I looked and that was certainly a change from being told or thought of as fat. I have actually adapted to that difference in perception and it doesn't really bother me at all anymore.

The culture here is also very different in how they perceive education. Students copy a friend's homework and think nothing of it. My guess would be for about every 10 students 1 student does the work and the rest copy. The student that does the work doesn't mind and i don't think any of them view it as cheating or anything bad. The teachers that check the work obviously don't care either because at least 10 students have the exact same answer word for word. It really drives me crazy but I guess it works for this culture. Everyone does it and I really think it would be impossible to change their mindset about it. I like that in America students (overall) think for themselves and have lots of different ideas. Here it is like a mind of a robot. Everyone thinks/memorizes the same thing and nobody has any ideas especially outside of the box.

Thai people are very very very polite! They have a special greeting that you always do for those older than you to show respect and they have a special word that they end their statements with that doesn't have any meaning it is just polite. I really love that about Thailand. My 2 week visit to America was a real eye opener for me. Americans are not polite (overall). My perspective changed. I always thought America was a fairly polite country but after going back for 2 weeks I don't think so. Maybe my perception has just changed because I have been living in an overly polite culture for 2 years.

I could write about so many things but I think that is enough for one post. When you live in another culture your perception of people and things often change.

Graduation Adventure

So many things in my life always involve adventure. I love that God has a sense of humor and that He keeps my life exciting! Today was another one of those kinds of days. My day started at 5:30 a.m. when I had to get up and get ready to go to SPU's graduation. A group of us would meet at SPU at 7:30 this morning to go to the Impac Arena for the event. I should have said 7:00 because everyone didn't get there until 8:00 so we got a little bit of a late start. There were 8 of us so 4 people piled into 2 different taxis. One taxi had 3 guys and 1 girl and the other taxi had 4 girls. I was in the all girl taxi. We got in our taxis at the same time and started out on the same road. There was a major traffic jam because so many people were heading to the graduation this mornig. My taxi driver decided that he would turn to the left to go to the Arena but the other taxi kept going straight. This is where the adventure part begins. The other taxi with the 3 guys/1 girl who went straight of course arrived at the Arena within 15 minutes. My taxi was stuck in stand still traffic and it didn't look like we were making any progress. We decided that we would pay the taxi driver and get out and find a motorcycle taxi.

I should stress that when we got out of the taxi we were on a 3 lane highway (not moving) so we had to walk down an exit ramp onto another major highway. When we got to the other highway one motorcycle taxi came and we sent 2 of the girls on this taxi (that means the driver and 2 other people on a motorcycle taxi. I waited with another girl for the next motorcycle taxi to come but of couse none came so we started walking. We saw there were lots of them on the other side of 6 lanes of traffic so we walked until we reached a walking overpass. We climbed I don't know how many stairs and then finally got to the other side to get a motorcycle taxi.

I forgot to mention that both of us are wearing a dress so my Thai friend put her feet to the left side and I put my feet to the right side and we hung on the best we could. We got to the Arena within 5 minutes but were the last to arrive for pictures. These kind of things would never happen in America. That is what makes living in another culture so exciting- crazy things happen. I took a taxi, walked, rode a motorcylce taxi (3 people on one) and walked some more to get to a graduation.

Some of these situations you would have to see with your own eyes to truly believe and understand but trust me this kind of stuff happens often and it makes life fun!

Not by chance by divine appointment!

(Pimjaay is the lady in the middle of the photo in the black dress)

The world was not created by chance it was created by Divine appointment by the Almighty Creator (God). God has a purpose and reason for everything He created. I truly believe that everyone that God has put into my life has been by His divine appointment. I don't meet people by chance because I know God has a purpose in everything He does.

I could write about so many stories of how God crossed my path with someone but I am going to share the most recent one that happened today. First we have to go back almost 2 years ago when I first arrived in Thailand. Almost 2 years ago I was studying Thai at ULS (Union Language School). At that time I considered the students who I studied Thai with and the teachers who were Buddhist to be my present ministry. Several of the teachers really stuck out to me and one of them was a young lady named Pimjaay. She was not my teacher but she was young and I got to know her. I was able to be tutored by her for a few weeks at the end of my language training and remember talking to her about the Lord. She seemed open to hear but I never really got to share more with her.

When I left language school I felt a burden for Pimjaay and put her on my prayer list. I prayed for her daily and knew that lots of missionaries would continue to go through language school there and that others would also share the Good News with her. I have gone back to visit ULS a few times here and there and invited her to my church Christmas service last year but she never came. I have not forgotten Pimjaay but my focus has been the University so I haven't been able to keep in contact with her much except for facebook from time to time.

Tonight that door reopened by God's design. I help P'Pom (my Thai friend) teach English at the BSC (Baptist Student Center) on Monday nights. I teach from 5:00-5:30 and then just hang out downstairs in the cafeteria area until P'Pom is finished at 6:30. Tonight I was walking around and I ran into Pimjaay. She is studying English at the BSC on Monday nights from 5:00-6:30. She seemed just as happy to see me as I was to see her. I asked her if she had eaten dinner and she said no so I invited her to eat with me in the cafeteria. I had actually already eaten but I was willing to order and eat again if it meant some fellowship with Pimjaay. P'Pom also joined us after she finished teaching. We ate and talked for about 45 minutes. We will plan to meet every Monday night to eat together.

I praise God for crossing our paths again. God has a purpose in everything He does and it was not by chance that I saw her tonight it was by divine appointment! I love divine appointments! Thank you God!!

Looking for FAT people in Thailand

I had to use this title because I knew that it would make people want to read. It's not at all what you think. FAT stands for FAITHFUL, AVAILABLE, TEACHABLE people :). I heard this acronoym the other day and it stuck with me. It is exactly what I'm looking for here. Looking for Thai Christians (old and new) who want to be trained and grow in their walk with the Lord so they can impact others. Finding someone with all 3 is not as easy as you might think.

This acronym is easy to remember -- My prayer request is Pray that God will bring me FAT people in Thailand :)

My wonderful parents

My sister and I wearing funny hats :)

My sister and my nieces Lillie & Hughes

The newest addition to our family "Miles"

The family in Michigan (Aunt Jan, Me, Molly/Miles, Aunt Jeanne, Aunt Joyce

and Grandpa and Grandma Nagy

Trip to America :)

I wanted to write about my trip and post some pictures before I forget about all of the fun things that I did. I actually sent a list of things that I wanted to eat when I was there to my mom a few weeks before I went and she came through on all of them and even beyond :)
MONDAY-After flying for over 30 hours I arrived in Myrtle Beach Monday night. I didn't have any trouble sleeping that first night and adjusted to the time change quickly.
TUESDAY-The next day I went and got a hair cut and shopped a little with my mom. Lunch that day was a delicious shrimp salad that I had at a fabulous restaurant on the ocean.
WEDNESDAY- Day with my dad. I had lunch with my mom and dad at a little restaurant in Conway and then Dad and I were off for the day. We went to see a movie (both of us cried), shopped a little, and then had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants "PF Chang's". It was a fun day!
THURSDAY- Fly to Michigan. I had to wake up early and catch a flight to see my family in Michigan. I was greeted at the airport by my grandparents and 2 aunts. We then drove so I could meet my cousin's new baby boy (Miles). He is adorable.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY- Spent both days in Brown City just hanging out with family. Another Aunt came to town so I got to see all of my aunts:) I am thankful that I have such a wonderful family!! My grandma cooked some of my favorite foods (lasagna, pecan rolls, cheesy potatoes)
SUNDAY- On a plane again flying to Georgia! My sister and mom picked me up at the Atlanta airport. We went to a great Mexican restaurant for dinner and then finished the drive to my sister's house.
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY- Spent 3 days just hanging out with my sister, mom, and 2 nieces. I didn't get to see my oldest niece Hughes as much because she is in 6th grade and very busy. I really enjoyed spending time with all of them and one night we even had smores out by the campfire.
THURSDAY- Drive back to Myrtle Beach. Mom and I woke up early and headed back to MB. We stopped in Savannah for lunch and walked all around for several hours. It was a fun day although my mom had to do all of the driving because I can't drive (my driver's license expired).
FRIDAY-Day with my Dad again :) We tried getting me a new driver's license but I didn't have any proof of residency so that was out. Dad and I had lunch at a great restaurant in Conway, test drove a car just because we wanted to do it, went shopping at the outlets (my dad was such a trooper), and ate salmon on the grill for supper.
SATURDAY- Helped clean a little and went on a journey to help dad buy new glasses at the mall. The highlight of the day was eating filet mignon on the grill!!! I did drive that day because my dad's pupils were huge. I was glad I remembered what side of the road to drive on since it's opposite of Thailand.
SUNDAY-Church- I shared with my parents' Sunday school class about Thailand. My cousin Jill and her husband Nathan came for lunch. My best friend Dana arrived in the evening just in time for pizza!
MONDAY-Great lunch at Abuelo's with parents & Dana. Dana and I went to the outlets again for more shopping:) This time Dana did most of the shopping but I had fun watching. Dinner was at a great Italian restaurant.
TUESDAY- Dana leaves to go back to DC in the morning and just a few hours later my mom and I leave for the airport to send me back to Thailand.

The 2 weeks flew by but I enjoyed every second of it! It was hard for me to take it all in a lot of the time. I am so very thankful for the wonderful family that God has given me. I got to see so many of them because they were willing to drive extra miles just to see me. I am also thankful for a dear best friend (Dana) who drove so many extra hours just to come and spend a few days with me. I am very very blessed!

I came back with lots of new clothes and some great gifts for my Thai friends. Pictures will be in the next post.

Life of Flexibility

I work hard to be a flexible person. After going on so many misssions trips and living in several different countries I think I am pretty good at being flexible. I have REALLY learned how to be flexible living in Thailand. There is a saying here "Thai time" and it is what it means. People here are on Thai time not on the time of a regular clock. There are always a few exceptions (the wonderful people who make an appointment with you and come on time) but those are the minority. I am still almost always on time but have learned to always bring work with me so that I can accomplish something while I wait for the other person to arrive.

The other area of my life where I have to be flexible is my schedule. When you work with Univ. students the schedule is always changing! I had just gotten into an excellent routine with teaching some English classes at SPU, tutoring some students, discipling some new believers, and even weekly lunch dates with students. Last week that all ended because last week and this week are exam week and tomorrow will be the end of the term (semester). It all seemed to be going so perfect and then it ends.

The positive side is that I can look forward to a new term (semester) with a new schedule! I get to teach new classes which means new students. I get to tutor (hopefully the old students) and some new students. I am praying daily for God to make an even better schedule for me this next term so I can do even more with building relationships with previous students and to meet new students.

I like routine (I guess it is the teacher in me) but change can be good too. i will enjoy my 2 week vacation in America with family and friends and then will return to a whole new schedule. If I want to make the most of my time here in Thailand I have to live a life of flexibility!!

My Heart Language

My title today means so very much to me but some of you may think what does that mean??? Every day I leave my condo and journey out into a world that speaks a different language. I do understand the language somewhat but it takes work. I have to concentrate on what someone is saying and then translate in my mind into my own heart language and then by that time it is too late to reply and someone is talking about something else. Welcome to my life!!

I have heard so many times when you just understand Thai and don't translate the language to your own then you have success! I wonder if that day will ever come. I know that trying to translate Thai into English doesn't work well anyways, because the word order doesn't make sense and some words simply just don't translate! I know it but it doesn't stop me from trying. It makes us feel more comfortable when we can understand it 100% in our own heart language.

After saying all that it makes such a clear picture of how Thai's will understand the Gospel so much more if it is presented in their heart language! Students want to study English and I can offer that--I'm an expert in that (or at least they think I am). I use that benefit to often share the Gospel with students by having them read C2C (Creation to Christ) story in English or even studying the Bible in English with students. I also always give the students the story or study written in Thai so they can read it and understand it more, but I know they would get so much more out of it if it was taught in Thai!

At this time I just don't have the ability to teach the Bible in Thai. I wish I did with all my heart but it's just not possible. But everyone has to start somewhere so my starting point is that I am memorizing in Thai all of the Bible verses that go with the Evangecube. Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 4:25, Romans 10:9, and Ephesians 2:8-9. So far I can say Romans 3:23 in Thai and am learning Romans 5:8. It is not an easy task but I'm praying that God will give me the ability to do it and not give up!

I love to sing praise songs, read the Bible, share, and listen to messages in my heart language! I miss several of those things a lot of times. Then I remember why I am here in Thailand--to share the Good News of Jesus with the Thai people and how better to share then in their HEART LANGUAGE (THAI)! I have a long way to go to get there but there is a starting point for everything and I am on my way!

Writer's Block

I feel like I should post something since it has been over a week but I can't think of anything to write about this week. I guess I will tell you about chicken feet. One of the things that Thai people eat (and some say it is delicious) is chicken feet. I have been to a lot of countries and seen and tasted some really strange things but I have never seen anyone eat chicken feet. It is a very common food here. The other day I was at the University and one of the girls that I was eating with had 4 chicken feet in her bowl. I asked her if she was going to eat them and she said yes. I took a picture of it before she ate it which is above. She offered to share the chicken feet with me but I politely declined. I don't plan on eating chicken feet!! There are quite a few other things that they eat here also that I don't care to ever try if I can avoid it. After viewing the picture of the chicken feet do I have any takers?????

God never ceases to Amaze me!!

O.k. so just yesterday I gave you some updates on my life/work here in Thailand. One of my heartbreaks is for a student (Kwang), who became a believer this past summer but has recently cut off communication and I can't ever find her on campus. I decided a week ago that I can't keep trying to figure out why she has cut me off and just began praying for her and the situation.

I could usually always find Kwang on Monday sitting in the cold canteen (cafeteria) on campus sitting with her friend Yui. They always sat in the same place every Monday but for the last 3 weeks they have not been there. I was so disappointed when I went this Monday and yet again no Kwang, so last night (Monday night the 13th) I just prayed and asked God if it was His will for me to see her that He would cross our paths on the campus.

Today I went to SPU to follow my usual routine. Every Tuesday I eat lunch in the hot canteen (cafeteria) with a group of girls who are not believers, but they love spending time with me. I usually always meet them by 10:30 but was running late because I was talking to someone else on campus so May-one of the students in this group called me to ask me if I was coming so I hurried along the way to meet them. I sat there for a few minutes talking to them while they ate and decided I wanted something to drink so I went to get a glass of strawberry juice at one of the stands in the hot canteen. I walked up to order my drink and didn't see at first the student standing next to me paying for her drink and then as I looked up and she looked at me I realized it was KWANG! She politely said hello and I greeted her also for a minute and then we parted ways because she had friends waiting and I had friends waiting.

I hurried back to the table of girls that I was sitting with and thankfully today was a day where Jill (one of my co-workers) was there also and told Jill that I saw Kwang sitting on the other side and sent Jill over to talk to her. Jill is my supervisor's wife (she has 8 children) so she is like a mom figure to Kwang and other SPU students. I needed to stay with May and this group because I had an appointment with them so I sent Jill. I sat with the group of girls until 11:30 when they had to go to class and then I walked over to join Jill and Kwang and Kwang's friends.

Not only did I see Kwang today and her roommate Yui (whom I already knew) I also got to meet 3 more friends of Kwang's. What an amazing answer to prayer and ever above and beyond what I ever could have imagined.

We serve a God who crosses the paths of 2 people buying drinks when it is His will. nothing happens by chance--it is all by purpose. It was also another reminder of sometimes we have not because we ask not. Keep praying for Kwang- today was just the first step in the right direction to restoring a relationship with her!

The countdown to my visit to America!!!

I have been terrible at updating my blog lately. I should be better at it because I can't tell about everything that has happened since I last wrote or you would be reading a novel. I guess I could include some highlights :)

1. We have another new believer at Canaan Baptist Church. A lady named Poon became a believer about 3 weeks ago. She is being discipled every Sunday morning before church starts.

2. 1 University student who became a believer in the summer of 2008 has recently been coming back to church faithfully. I am discipling her every Tuesday and watching her grow--it is exciting!

3. 1 believer at Canaan (who was once a leader at the church/before I arrived) has recently come back to church after being away for almost 2 or more years. I have been blessed with building a friendship with her and watching God work in her life. There is still a long road ahead but Praise the Lord for the first few steps she has taken in the right direction.

4. I am continually meeting new students at Sripatum University every week. On an average I meet about 7-10 new students per week and most of them are through my current contacts which makes it easier to meet up with them again.

5. I just recently started a Bible study at church on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 for all of the girls at my church who don't have a cell group/Bible study group. The first study had 4 girls (which is pretty good considering the church as a whole only has about 20-30 people).

6. I am helping to disciple Aajaan (professor) Lek at SPU every Thursday morning and am loving it. Jill and I are training her how to share her faith with others and she is doing it! A. Lek has been sharing with family, neighbors, and some of her students.

There are always some discouraging things too that need prayer.

1. Kwang ( a new believer at SPU) started studying the Bible weekly with P'Pom and me for about 1 month and then told P'Pom that she couldn't study this month and now she has no contact with us. She stopped coming to church and has cut off all communication. Please be in prayer for Kwang. It is heartbreaking. Pray also for Kwang's roommate Yui who is not a believer. Pray that Kwang will share the Good News with Yui and that Yui will have an open heart to receive it.

2. Pray for Canaan Baptist Church. I love my little church here but we definitely need a lot of prayer. We average about 20-30 people on a weekly basis (about 10-15 of them faithful believers and the rest are floaters. It seems like we have about the same number of people every week but other than the few faithfuls the faces change. Pray for the believers to desire to have fellowship with other believers weekly.

3. Pray for my Thai language!!! I understand a lot more but can speak very little. I am working on memorizing Bible verses in Thai also so I can share the Good News with others in their Heart Language. I often think of all of the things I could do if I only spoke the language fluently or at least almost fluently.

Now I will finally write about what the title of this blog post means!!! I will be going to America for 2 weeks next month to see my family and can't wait!!! Since time flies here in Bangkok I am sure it will be here quickly. I am looking forward to so many things about coming back to America even if it is just for 2 short weeks.

My birthday photos!

Eating at Greyhound Cafe with my friends :)

Cheers using cake :) Fun idea! One piece of cake for 8 people. you have to be creative.

Making no-baked cookies at Canaan on Sunday. me, pook, nice, and Piaw- (nat in the background)

Making fried chicken using my grandma's recipe :) (pook, may, som, tom, daw)

My Birthday :)

Wow- why do the years pass by so quickly??? I have spent several birthdays in several different countries. This is my 2nd b-day in Thailand :) I feel very blessed to be here and know that I am right where God wants me to be for such a time as this.

The birthday celebrations started on Sunday Aug. 22nd. I invited many students from Sripatum University, the Baptist Student Center, and people from church. I helped to cook no-baked cookies, rice, and fried chicken (using my grandma's recipe) for the party. It is Thai tradition that the person who has the birthday buys the dinner--not a tradition that I like but I am willing to take part in it. Some of my Thai friends helped to cook the cookies and chicken at church. My friend Jill cooked 2 cakes and brought ice cream also. The food was delicious. There were about 50 or more people.

The 2nd day of celebrations were on Monday Aug. 23rd. I worked at SPU during the day like normal but in the evening I went with 8 friends for a special dinner at "Greyhound Cafe". It is a nice restaurant that serves a variety of different kinds of food. We then ate some cookies and all 8 of us shared a piece of cake that they bought me for my b-day.

Today on my actual birthday I worked all day at SPU and then I went to dinner with my friend Ning. We ate Thai food at a new restaurant that we just found. It was delicous and cheap! Ning also bought cake so we had some cake after eating dinner.

I've definitely had enough cake to last me for a while! Now I need to exercise! I feel very blessed and thank God for a wonderful 35 years!

Picture updates on life in BKK!

Orchid Festival at Siam Paragon Mall with P'Pom and Ning

Dusit Zoo in Bangkok

Hanging out at the arcade in the mall.

Some of my favorite SPU students (fon, me, ham, nice, and ann)

Gift, May, Me, Kan, Puy (SPU students at Canaan)

Me and Kwang. She accepted Christ this summer:)

Som, Me, Holly, Anny, Kwang, Linsey (Som and Anny are seekers)

Ann and Ann :) She is a believer from SPU.

Beer, Me, and Beau (students at SPU who went to camp this summer and heard the Word of God for the first time. )

Where to Begin?

August is here and I am not sure where the time went. 19 American students rolled in here in June and rolled out at the end of July and everything seems like a big blur. It was an amazing 2 months as our contacts at SPU (Sripatum University) and the BSC (Baptist Student Center) grew in large amounts. We saw 1 professor and 1 student at Sripatum come to Christ this summer and we have many many seekers! Praise the Lord!

Thailand is on a different season pattern so it is not summer here. It is actually the rainy season but since it is hot year round it feels like summer all of the time. The SPU students just took their mid term exams this week so they are half way through the semester. I will begin helping to teach 3 classes at SPU. I will help on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. I will go into 3 different classes and help students work on conversation and do activities with them for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The rest of the time I spend on campus tutoring students in English, discipling new believers, and studying the Bible with seekers. There are lots of great things happening here.

I will try to be better at updating my blog so keep reading :) Pictures to come!

My first Thai Christian wedding. Picture with SPU students (Nice, Ann, Ham, and me)

Aajaan Lek (professor at SPU) received Christ last 2 Sundays ago. Ning, Aajaan Lek, and me

Fon (spu student), me, and Fon's cousin at a Friday night event at Canaan Baptist Church.

New contacts (Freshman students at SPU) went on the trip to Ayutthaya. (O, Me, Pie, and Bo)

My Crazy Life!!

Almost one month later and I am finally going to make a new blog post. I need to do it more often because I almost forgot my password--yikes! Things are great here in the "Land of Smiles" but extremely busy. I am working 7 days a week but most of it is lots of fun. The new term started at Sripatum University on June 14th. I am on the campus every day Monday- Friday along with 14 American students that we have joining our work for the summer months. We also have 5 American students working at the BSC (Baptist Student Center). That makes 19 American students total!!

One thing I realized when the American students arrived is that I am a little bit Thai now :) I am not used to people speaking really loud and asking questions every 2 minutes such as: (Where are we going, How much is it, What are we doing now, Is there a reason why we are standing here, etc, etc, etc,) I am exhausted at the end of the day after attempting to translate either Thai into English or English into Thai. In the past I always had a plan for almost everything but since living in Thailand I have realized that PLANS don't work with Thai people. I am learning daily that when you enter another culture you have to adapt to the way life works for them.

I have met so many new students at SPU this past month that I couldn't match up all of the faces with names. We went on a "Field trip" last Saturday to Ayutthaya (the ancient city) and we had about 51 Thai people go on the trip. God is at work and it is exciting. I will include some pictures in the next post.

I will try to be better to update again soon.

Pictures from field trip to Vimanmet Mansion

Ann and I at Vimanmet Mansion

P'Pom, Ann, Nok, me, Ann
Khing, Cat

Most of the group at Vimanmet Mansion

Me and Joanna with the BSC students buying hair bows.

Getting back to normal life and getting busy (in a good way)

I am happy to report that things are fairly back to normal here in Bangkok!! Praise the Lord! I am now able to travel anywhere in the city that I want to go and can take the handy sky train or subway to get there!!

Things are also getting very busy here. This week 17 American Univ. students arrived to work with us in the Thai Univeristy ministry for the next 8 weeks. 2 more students will arrive this week. We have a total of 19 American students working with us for 8 weeks- Praise the Lord that through all the turmoil that has gone on here in Bangkok that these students still felt God calling them to come here. We have more students this year than last year.

The past 3-4 weeks have been very busy here. I am still continuing to disciple Nice and Ann (2 SPU students that are Christians) and now on a different day I disciple Pook (Thai girl who is a Christian that spent some time walking away from God and wants to come back to Him). I cherish these times with the Thai believers and love studying God's Word with them.

I am also keeping very busy with the students at the BSC (Baptist Student Center). I have been teaching there 2 nights a week (4 different classes). I also go to the BSC on Friday nights for Friday Night Live. Just this past Saturday we took a field trip with some students from the BSC to Vimanmek Mansion here in Bangkok. It was a great day just to spend time with the students and to get to know them more. Some of them have even started coming to Canaan on Sunday also!

The next 8 weeks are going to very busy but exciting! I will try to update as often as I can so keep reading :)

Pictures of Central World then and now

The pictures didn't go up in the order I wanted them to but overall you can get the idea of the damage done to Central World. The last 2 pictures were taken this past Christmas and the other pictures were taken this past week. Central World was only 1 of the 30+ buildings that were burned last Wed. night early Thursday morning.

I will miss Central World.

Protests, Violence, Death, Destruction, and Great Sadness

My heart is heavy as I write this blog post. I have been spending every evening in my apartment because we continue to have a curfew each night. The curfew is 9:00 p.m. but everything closes around 6 or 7 p.m. so all of the workers can be home on time. The quiet streets often leave you with an eerie feeling.

The protests started here in Bangkok in the month of March. Most of us thought they would protest for a week maybe 2 and then go home (most of them are from the Northern part of Thailand). That would have been a blessing but instead the protestors stayed for almost 2 months. One problem with them staying for 2 months is that many hotels, malls, and other businesses had to close during that time.

There have been clashes at times and some deaths but this past week was the worst. Many of us were ready for the government to move in and send the protestors home, but none of us could have even imagined such destruction.

Wednesday- May 19th started like a fairly normal day for me. I went to church (a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment) to help paint. There were about 10 of us painting, laughing, and having fun. The cell phones started ringing about 3:00 that afternoon telling us that we needed to get home right away because the army was moving in and things were not going as planned and there was a curfew for all people in Bangkok to be home by 8:00 p.m.. We all cleaned up quickly and headed home. I stopped to buy food on my way home and one student (Nice) would also come to stay at my apartment.

About 9:00 p.m. Wed. night Nice and I stood out on my 8th floor balcony and the streets were empty and it was very quiet and the sky was filled with smoke. We weren't sure exactly what was on fire but we knew it was something big because smoke was everywhere and you could smell it. We were watching the news non stop and looking at things on the internet to get the latest information. It was the scariest night I've had here in Bangkok.

I can still only watch the news and look at the internet for the latest information because it isn't safe to go into those areas yet. I am very thankful that I live in an area of the city that was untouched by all of this destruction. I live only a few miles from some of it but every mile counts in this situation :)

This next week I plan to go and visit some of these areas that were damaged by fire and where many lives were lost. These are areas that I have walked many times before to shop, eat, watch movies, and hang out with friends. I will update with pictures soon.

Please pray for Thailand and for a peaceful resolution to come soon. I promise you that Thai people are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Pray that many people may come to know the True and Living God through this situation.

Great News amongst Difficult Times

This past week I received some great news-a major answer to prayer! I get to stay an extra year in Thailand! I am so excited and know that it came from God. I had asked for a one year extension quite a while back and was told that it just wasn't possible but that I could stay 3 extra months. I was happy that at least they would give me 3 extra months and knew at that time my tentative departure time would be January 2011 and wondered what the next step would be. Just this past week my supervisor called me with the news that I would now be able to stay an extra year. It was a big surprise for me but I know God already knew the plan He had for me.
I feel like the work has just gotten started in many ways and am so excited that I get to stay here longer to see it blossom!

I am sure many of you have also seen the news reports about the violence here in Bangkok. I am thankful to be living far enough away from most of it. Please continue to pray for peace in Thailand.

Easter Blessings

Som and Jao- 2 young ladies who came for Easter.

Aajaan Lek- Professor at Sripatum Univ. who came for the Easter service.

2 high school students have been coming to church to study English for several years and both of them brought their mothers to church for the Easter service.

Muy, Puy, and King are all University students that came to church for the first time.

Ann, me, and Ham (students at Sripatum University)

This post is really late but better late than never :) The Easter service at Canaan was such a blessing. We gave out invitations inviting many people and at least 15-20 people came that have never heard the story of Jesus before. The most amazing part of it all is that on Easter day many people stayed at home because of the protests taking place in Bangkok yet our church had a full house- Praise the Lord!

Please continue to pray for peace in Thailand. It has been over 1 month since the protestors arrived and they are still here.