Focus on how far you have come not how far you have to go

This title fits me in so many ways. The one thing I think of first is the Thai language. Am I a fluent Thai speaker?? No way, not even close! Do I understand the message at church on Sunday morning? Nope, not really. Can I read Thai? A little bit but I'm very slow that it's not really useful for anything. So, you may be thinking to yourself or wanting to ask me about now--what can you do or what do you know??

I arrived in Thailand a little over 2 years ago and didn't really know one word in Thai. Now I know lots of Thai words. I don't always know how to put the words in the correct order to make a sentence but I do have lots of Thai vocabulary floating around in my brain.

I don't understand everything I hear but I do understand a lot of what I hear and I do know immediately whether someone is speaking Thai or not. A lot of Asian people look the same but as soon as I hear someone start to speak I know they are speaking Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or some other language that is not Thai.

I can not read Thai well and I don't even know all of the rules for writing but I can follow along on Sunday mornings when they sing. I can't always sing along because I read slow but I can find where they are in the song pretty accurately.

I can not understand most of the message on Sunday mornings but I can listen and understand all scripture references given and when I read it in English it makes it easier to follow the message.

I definitely have a long long long long long way to go in finding success with the Thai language but if I look back to where I began I really have come a long way. I am certainly not gifted in learning other languages but God brought me here anyways so I will keep trying to learn this very difficult language and take joy in the little steps of success.

Looking Back ...... Bus experiences

I took some time tonight to glance back at my posts when I first arrived in Thailand. All those things that were so new and strange to me then are now old and normal. I still really love living in a big city. I haven't driven a car in over 2 years and I don't mind a bit. I forget that it was something I used to do every day in my life in America. I love taking public transportation. It made me laugh when I read my past post about my first bus riding experience. I ride the bus every day now and it really is quite simple to use. I just memorize the bus numbers to go to certain locations. I can read a little Thai but by the time I can figure out what it says the bus is already gone so i don't rely on my reading skills to take the right bus.

I actually have a funny story to tell about my reading skills and riding the bus. A few weeks ago I was at the bus stop near one of the malls with Eric. Eric can't read Thai at all. Bus number 24 was coming and I could read that it said in Thai it would go to Victory Monument. I told Eric we could take that bus because it says victory monument. I've never been on that bus before and it's not one of the memorized numbers but hey I can read Thai and it says it goes there. We got on the bus and Eric even asked the lady if the bus went to Victory Monument (guess he didn't trust my Thai reading skills) and she confirmed that it did. I was so proud of myself until we got to the major intersection and it turned left. uh oh in order to go to where we live you have to go straight. Well the bus does go to Victory Monument but it takes a different route and it won't be passing by our home. We had to get off that bus and change to another bus in order to get home. So much for reading skills. I guess I should stick with the memorized numbers :)

Answered Prayers

Brownie Party photo from February 5th. The major praise in this photo is that Koy (girl on the far left) who just recently became a believer brought 3 of her friends who study with her at nursing school with her to the party. The other 3 are all non-believers. This was a great praise. I had just met Nan and Jae at the BSC that week and invited them to come to the party and they came! The other praise is that Nice (a Thai Christian) did an excellent job at visiting with them and helping to take care of them.

Great Praise that 4 students from SPU came to help prepare the brownies and also brought 2 friends from another University with them. They are all non-believers.

The Lord answered this prayer in a mighty way. Joanna (in the middle) is a Thai believer from my church. I asked her to help me on Thursday nights with my Bible/English class because it's important that the students truly understand what I am teaching so she helps to translate in Thai when they don't understand me. Joanna is faithful to come and help me and also faithful to be a friend to these young ladies and other people who study with me.

My Bible/English class at the BSC. This class started out with 1 student and then 2 students and now I have 4-5 students on a regular basis by the 5th week of teaching! In this photo from Left to Right is Jae, Nan, Tock, and Koy. There is also a lady named Kuan that has come 2 times.

God is working in mighty ways and I am so thankful. This Thursday will be the 7th week at the BSC of teaching the Bible/English class. This week will be my last class this term. We will have 1 week off and then will start the next 7 week term. All 4 of them in the photo have said they will continue coming on Thursday night. I am praying for me to be able to continue teaching them and also to get some new students to make up another class.

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Monday is my day off so today I am just relaxing at my apartment. We had a small valentine's party at church yesterday so I will include a few photos.

Unworthy but Thankful and Greatly Blessed

I think this title is fitting because it describes me in so many ways. I am unworthy of God's love but He loves me anyway even though He knows my every thought. I am unworthy to serve Him but He uses me anyway despite my many imperfections. I am unworthy of so many things yet God wants us to find our WORTH in HIM and HIM ALONE.

I am learning every day to just be willing to be a servant and God will use me accordingly. I am learning to continue to persevere and to be a prayer warrior (not there yet but learning) in seeking God's Hand in everything I do.

I am unworthy but feel so greatly blessed and I want to share a few of those great blessings with you!

1. Tonight for my Thursday night Bible/English class I had 5 non-believers join my class to hear about how Jesus chose His 12 disciples and then how He taught them to share His message and how Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. They all were hearing these stories for the first time!!

2. Aajaan Lek met this past Tuesday (feb. 8) to study God's Word. She is still not consistent in meeting with us weekly but she has students that she is sharing the Good News with weekly!

3. The outreach event that was held this past Saturday was one of the best turn-outs in the 2 years of me being here. We had 17 non-believers come (9 of them coming for the first time to Canaan). 9 Thai Christians also came and several of them did an excellent job at interacting with the non-believers.

I am thankful and Greatly Blessed to be here in Thailand for such a time as this.

Accountability in 2011

February is here and we are now 1 month into 2011. I want to take a few minutes to reflect on the past month to see if anything is different and if I am sticking to my goals. Everyone needs goals and we also need accountability. It helps us to stay on the course that was set before us and it also helps us to strive to reach something.

There are lots of things that are different this year. I am now spending 2 days a week at Chulalongkorn Univeristy and 2 days a week at Sripatum University and also teaching an English/Bible class at the BSC. I started this a little bit in 2010 but am now in the official routine.
CHULA NEWS
* I now have 1 lady who works at Chula meeting me every Wednesday from 11:00-12:00 (during her lunch time) to study English. I decided I would use the Chronological Bible storying (starting with the story of Jesus birth) for teaching her English. Today (Febuary 2nd) we studied story 90 & 91 which was about Jesus being born and many coming to worship Him. She really enjoyed the stories and is excited to study story 92 next week. I am praying for her eyes to be opened as we read these stories each week and also that others who are around us may have an interest to join our study. We meet in an open area in a canteen. There are many others students and workers all around us.
*I also have a new student contact at Chula named Oon. We have met 1 time at Chula and plan to meet each week.
BSC NEWS
*I've had 2 students each week for my Bible/English class. 1 of them is a new Christian and the other is not a Christian. I would really like to have more students for this free class. I am praying for God to show me new ways to advertise/recruit for this class.
*I am at the BSC on Wed, Thurs, and Friday evenings. I am averaging about 5-10 new contacts a week within those 3 nights. I really need wisdom on following up with them and trying to get them to come to something at church.


This is getting long so I will close for now. So far in 2011 things are looking up but lots more work is required to improve these ministries.