Piaw has returned

Praise God that Piaw has come back to Bangkok. She arrived about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday so was not able to come to church. I talked to her a little on Sunday evening but am really praying and asking God for wisdom in how to talk to her. She has gone back to her old ways of living in a lot of areas during this month away. Pray that she will desire to return to church, God's Word, and weekly Bible studies.

I am so very thankful that she has returned and know that God can do anything and can work in her life and change her heart to be focused on Him.

Thanks to all who prayed and keep praying!!

God answers prayers in amazing ways!

Today was such an amazing day in so many ways. Jill and I finally got to study the Bible with Aajaan Lek after 2 months of not studying. We were able to meet for about 2 hours today and it went so well. There are 2 reasons why this is so amazing. The first reason is because we used to meet with Aajaan Lek on Monday's and we had a limited amount of time so we were always rushed. Also, my schedule changed recently and my day off is now Monday. However, I was willing to go out to SPU every Monday to study the Bible with her on my day off (Aajaan Lek never knew that was my day off) but last week she told me Tuesday would be better now. Wow- that is great!!! Now I can have my day off and on Tuesday she doesn't have any more classes so we meet to study around 3:00 and we don't have to rush to finish because she doesn't have to be anywhere.

My prayer is that today was just the beginning of some wonderful fellowship times on Tuesday afternoons. God is so good and answers prayers above and beyond anything I can ever imagine!

Pressing on and feeling encouraged this week!

The things that I wrote about in my previous post is all still the same but this week has been much better in many ways.

On Monday Aajaan Lek did not show up to study the Bible but Jill and I had a wonderful time sharing from our hearts and praying for each other during this 2 hour time slot. I did see Aajaan Lek at SPU on Tuesday and was able to talk to her for a while. I'm not giving up on her because God keeps crossing our paths and I see a desire in her just not the full commitment yet.

Tuesday was a great day at SPU. I saw many students and met several new ones also. Today I was on the bus heading to Chula and P'Thai ( a lady that I know that works at Chula) called me and asked me if I had time to eat lunch with her. That was a real blessing. I got to go to one of the canteens at Chula and had a friend to eat with today. She wants to eat lunch with me every Wednesday so that is a start.

Today I also had to do my yearly evaluation with my supervisor. You have to first evaluate yourself and then you meet with your supervisor and they evaluate you also. I was very encouraged after meeting with him today. If you only look at results it doesn't always look like you are doing much but he reassured me that he sees me doing a lot of things and that he sees my heart in everything I do.

I'm just going to press on and watch God work. He always does amazing things more than I could ever imagine.

STRUGGLES

I wouldn't be honest on my blog if I always wrote about all the great things happening here. God is doing some amazing things and I am thankful to be a part of it. I know that God wants me to be here another year because HE clearly opened the door for me to stay (not many people got that opportunity). I am just trying to cling to knowing He has a plan for me to stay and it must be a great one.

This past week was a struggle. It really didn't all just happen within a week but I think many things continue to mount and then one day you just realize you are being buried by struggles and are trying to find a way to dig yourself out of them. Right now is one of those times. I will list a few of those struggles in hopes that some of you that read will lift them up in prayer.

1. Piaw- the young lady that was baptized recently and that I have discipled for about 4 months is currently in southern thailand. I don't know all the details but she went there for the holidays to be with some friends (that are not good influences) and has not returned. That means 3 things. She has been out of church and Bible study for over a month now and she didn't take her Bible with her so she hasn't read God's Word. She communicates with me very little and I am heart broken. Please pray that she will return soon and that she will return to church and Bible study. I used to study the Bible with her every Tuesday so pray that we will return to that soon. The life she lived and friends she hung out with before coming to Christ were very rough.

2. The little church that I am a part of here lacks many things. I do love the people and the community feel of a small church. Recently several people have left the church (and they are people that were quite involved) so this will take it's toll on the church. My prayer for Canaan is that 20 Thai's would rise up at this church and be faithful to come and lead this church. Right now there are about 20-30 people on an average that come to church each Sunday but the faces change on a weekly basis and many people stroll into church 1/2 through the service and some just in time for lunch. There are only about 5-10 Thai faces that remain the same. I am praying for 20 faithful (almost every week) Thai believers and then the other 10-20 faces can add to that number. There are lots of other needs too but let's start here.

3. I have felt discouraged about discipling Thai believers lately. Discipling is actually my favorite thing to do. I love it and I actually think I am fairly good at it (not bragging- I just feel like it is one of the gifts God has given me). One thing I have seen in the past 2 years is that Thai people don't like to make commitments and especially if it means work like memorizing God's Word, setting a goal each week to grow in their walk with God and a goal to share in some way with others. It is like pulling teeth sometimes to get Thai people to set a goal and then to see them follow through with it. If I look back on my past 2 years of discipling many different Thai believers I have only had one person that studied with me faithfully for 4 months straight every week (and that was Piaw). Please pray for the following.

Aajaan Lek (professor Lek at Sripatum University)- She became a believer this past summer but has been on and off to be discipled. She is still in the picture but it has been almost 2 months since we met last. The typical routine with her is we meet for 2 weeks in a row and then she cancels for about 3-4 weeks and then she reappears. As long as she is holding on we will continue to hold our end strong too. We are scheduled to meet with her every Monday so pray for Mondays that she will come and that it can become routine!!

Nice and Ann- These are 2 young ladies that graduated from Sripatum University just a few months ago. Both of them don't have work yet so they have lots of free time. They do come to church faithfully every Sunday but are not part of a cell group/Bible study. I have discipled these girls many times in the past but it is hard to keep a routine with them. My hearts desire is to meet with them again every week but I want them to pursue it. I want them to feel a need to have something more than just church on Sunday and to be challenged to grow otherwise it is just my goal for them and not their goal and their hearts aren't it.

That's all I will write about for now but there are so many more things I could add to it. Please pray and look for a future post of how God answers it.

New Year for New Beginnings

2011 is here! I have now been living in Thailand for 2 full years! Wow- where did the time go? Every year seems to go by faster than the one before. It seems like just about the time I get the hang of things the time is up and it's on to the next journey in life. I am thankful that I get at least 1 more year here in Thailand (and maybe more if God leads).

As the New Year (2011) arrives so do new beginnings. I am excited to see what God has in store. There are several new beginnings that will start for me next week. One of them is that I will be teaching a Bible/English class on Thursday nights at the BSC (Baptist Student Center). I have taught many English classes before but this class is a BIBLE/English class so I get to teach the Word of God which is what I came here to do! I will be teaching one class from 5:00-6:30 and another class from 7:00-8:30. I have no idea how many students I will have but I'm excited. Most of the students are likely to be non-christians. Some of them may even be coming just because they want to learn English but God's Word never returns void so hearts will be changed for sure.

The other new beginning is that I will begin targeting another University here in Bangkok. For the past 2 years I have been doing the majority of my work at SPU (Sripatum University). There has been some fruit from that work and I will continue to target SPU, but only 2 days a week now. Another missionary young guy (Eric) and Thai friend P'Pom will continue to target SPU 5 days a week.

I will enter new territory at Chulalonghorn University. It is the number 1 University here in Thailand. It is a very prestigious school and there are many reasons why I feel lead to target here. I will not explain them now though. I already have a few contacts at Chula but will basically be starting a whole new work. I am a little nervous but mostly excited! I am praying for God to open a door for me to have a connection to work in some department at the University. I will only be going there 2 days a week so I just want to offer free tutoring services or something that will give me an identity on the campus.

I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for 2011! Happy New Year to all and may you all be blessed with some new beginnings this year.