Blog Vacation

I know...it's hard to accept...but even I take vacations from my blog. So, off I go on a small trip to a nearby Asian country for the next five days. Many of you already think I live there since that country's name sounds so similar to Thailand. So, check back in next week!

Until then....Happy New Year! 2011 already?!

Light Service

Bought a lightbulb yesterday at the store. The clerk took the bulb out of the box and tested it first with her handy-dandy light bulb plug-in-tester-thingy! Wow. What service!

At The Mall...

Do you recognize this celebrity?
In person, he looks quite scary in this pose...Johnny Depp!

Every couple weeks, the new wax museum here puts up different wax replicas of celebrities. I thought this one really looked like Johnny Depp up close. :)

Men in Our Church

An answer to a long-standing prayer request...

Recently, the number of men has changed from being the minority to being the majority at many church events. What a blessing from the Lord! I "borrowed" this picture from a teammate who attended the men of the church's bowling outing (since I didn't go).

Pray alongside me that God will be raising up these men to be "sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and in steadfastness" as Paul describes what men as leaders of the church should be like in Titus 2:2. And pray for the men pictured that are not yet believers--that God will be working in their hearts to know Him as their Savior.

Rejoice!

I ran into one of our Thai team members today. She had just come back from home and shared with me such amazingly good news. Her mom prayed to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior alongside her daughter and is a Christian now! Please pray for her as she begins to read the Bible more and grow in her relationship with God. There is no church in her province, so pray for that too.

Many of our Thai teammates are home with their families right now. And at least half of their families are non-believers. Please pray for their time to share their hope with their families. Pray God raises up churches in each of their hometowns too so many to weekly join in the community of other believers to worship God!

Woohoo! Merry day after Christmas!

Party Pic

Our Christmas party last evening.

Best Christmas Here!

Truly, it was a precious Christmas here. Praise God for his blessings. I spent the night with two other single gals. After waking up and making some breakfast food together, we read the Christmas story. It was my first Christmas to sit and read the Christmas story aloud with other people. After each chapter, we sang a Christmas song too. What a special way to worship the Lord on this day.

After opening presents together, getting a good nap, we headed over to celebrate with the team. Playing a hilarious game of charades in two languages, we also ate pizza and enjoyed each other's company. One college guy there turned to me and said, "Everyone looks so happy!" I told him, "It's a special day for us. We are celebrating Jesus." I'm glad he could see that on our faces.

Merry Christmas everyone. Now that I've opened presents on Skype with my family, I will head to bed myself. 12 more minutes left of Christmas. I think I'll spend those thanking God for this day.

It Doesn't Feel like Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve in Thailand. My American housemate and I continue mentioning to each other this month, "But it doesn't feel like Christmas is coming." The kids are still heading to school each morning here. It's hot. If the sun is directly on me, I am sweating. In the stores, I struggle finding a card that says "Merry Christmas" on it, as I peruse through numerous "Happy New Year's" cards. Christmas songs are playing in the mall and singing about Jesus coming to Earth, yet I find it so contrasting since no one knows that.

Jerusalem was where the first Christmas started. I checked the weather there today. The high is 60 and the low is 41. And when Joseph and Mary came to town, no one knew it would be Christmas the next day either. Only God proclaimed the news with his angels and star. I pray God proclaims that news in this country too this Christmas Eve, and the years to come, until Thailand will all know tomorrow is the day we celebrate Jesus's birth. And though my Christmas will not feel the same, I do enjoy the meditating on God's gift in Jesus here too with our church and my close friends and teammates.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Finding the Way to Immigration

Yesterday I made my first trip to immigration alone. By public transportation, no less. There is a complex, amazing system of public transportation in Bangkok. You can get anywhere. But you have to know. There are no maps with directions besides the subway and skytrain. But the real public transportation involves vans, trucks with two-benches in the back, and motorcycle taxis. So, through word of mouth, I attempted to get across town!

On the way there, I prayed "Lord, please me know which van to get on. Please help someone understand my Thai. Please help me know where to get off." Amazingly enough as always, God directed my path. At the van stop, my Thai friend happened to be there and got me on the right van. Then God placed an immigration officer beside me on the van who would help me out the rest of the way. I was just so thankful. The way back involved three more forms of transportation, but I made it safely home.

A small stretch...but this did make me think of Joseph and Mary on their way to Jerusalem. I bet they were both praying for God to give them directions and a place to stay. God directed their path to the humble place where Jesus, our Humble Savior, was born. Praise God for caring for his people. Hallelujah!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Report Card

The test has been taken and I'm done with language school for the month. In three hours yesterday, I dictated a page of Thai, wrote two Bible stories (one about Jesus calming the storm and one about the Good Samaritan), as well as writing an essay about how God is our good Shepherd and Caregiver (all in Thai). The teacher has scored me 4 out of 4+ in my Thai language skills at this point--strengths being in comprehension and vocabulary the most. I can't remember the lowest scores, but I'm sure spelling and sentence structure were a bit lower. :)

Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord use these new language and cultural understandings to make his good news known to Thai people. And may he grow my weaknesses so they do not stop his message from being understood.

Christmas is in just three days now. Merry Christmas to you all!

New Members!

"It makes all the work worth it, doesn't it to see friends join the church where they will be fed and nurtured!!!"
-retired missionary in response to my Facebook posting about the new members

One of my dearest friends here who has touched my heart for these past three years was baptized and became a Christian yesterday. She and her youngest daughter. The baptism brought tears to my eyes. (Pictured in the middle of the picture.) When I left last term, she wasn't a Christian. Her youngest daughter (pictured on the left) has prayed for her for a long time. Please rejoice with me for her new life in Christ.

In total, there were five baptisms yesterday as well as a total of seven new members joining our church. The group included three missionary children who stood up to express their personal faith in Christ, two college students, and two members of the Mahathai community (a mother and her daughter), and also two infant baptisms.

Please pray alongside of me that they will continue growing in their faith and understanding how to share the Gospel.

The Christmas Play

...brought to you by our campus ministry...and our HILARIOUS campus students.

The whole gang after getting all dressed up.
The angel, Gabriel
Mary and Joseph
The group being SO silly!

Friday's Christmas Party

Memories of our Christmas outreach party--the best party yet:
-Sitting with a college student who was at the office early. Asking him if he knows what Christmas is about, and getting to tell him.
-The college students dressing up to the Christmas play for everyone. The guy (from a previous post) that was scared to get in front of everyone, had the main role of Joseph! He did great.
-Being in charge of the "Soi Daw" which were stars on a tree. They paid like 15 cents and got a star. Depending on the number in the star, they got various prizes. Such a fun tradition of Thailand.
-Hearing Pat's strong voice inviting everyone to "accept the best gift of all this Christmas."
-Seeing an English student's mom for the first time since coming back to Thailand. She was so excited to see me, she started to cry!
-Many church members came and ALL of them brought neighbors and friends who didn't know Jesus!
-Sitting around kids, teenagers, college students, parents, and older folks all in the same packed church celebrating Jesus!
-After everyone left, our staff got in a prayer circle and praised God for his work that evening in many people's hearts.
-Once I got back home, I got a text message from a friend telling me how she got to share the Christmas story more while on the way home with her friend she had brought!

Praise God! Thanks for the prayers! One more Christmas party tomorrow after church!

What Not to Do on a Bus

Yesterday, I totally saw a Westerner shaving on the bus!! He pulled out his battery-powered, portable razor and shaved his scruf off! I was in shock. With the wind blowing through the windows, his miniscule whiskers must be blowing on everyone. How crazy! So please, when you visit me here in Thailand, try to shave first before getting on the bus!

Westerners' New Year's?

That's what my neighbor said she thought Christmas was about before she was a Christian. She thought it was just New Year's for Westerners. She thought that way since she was a kid. Most Thai people have a similar thought she said. Now that she's a Christian, she is thankful that she knows what Christmas really is, "The day we celebrate when Jesus came down to be a human and live with us." Loved that conversation. I pray that God opens many more eyes to what Christmas really is this month, and especially at our church's outreach party this Friday night. Please pray.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in Thai

One of the college students that's been hanging out a lot with our campus ministry group ended up riding on the same bus with me yesterday. He informed me that the University Christian Fellowship (the name of our campus ministry club at the local university) will be the actors in our Christmas play this year! They practice tomorrow and the big outreach Christmas party is Friday night at church.

The great thing is that he's never heard the Christmas story before. So, as he practices, he gets to hear about Jesus! Woohoo! I asked him who he wants to be in the play--listing off Joseph, wise men, shepherds... He said he's so nervous about being in a play, he'd just like to be a tree! :) I told him there are sheep too. Maybe that would be an easy role.

Pray for God to open many ears, eyes, and hearts during their Christmas play practice and during our Christmas party! Praise God for his work!

Ants!!

So, it starts off as the normal Ants vs. Melanie Saga. When I think the ants aren't interested in my towels anymore, they come and hide in them. And when I wrap myself in that towel, I am bitten! Agh! I'm usually too sleepy to hardly realize what that sensation is til I have at least 5 bites.

The saga continued when I got home however. The ants were still there. And as I looked further, they were gathered in front my door's threshold eating something. Eew, no! The poor gecko who was squeaking in my room last night is now nothing but a skeleton! Carnivorous red ants! Agh!

A Full Fellowship of Friends

You know, two years ago, Christmas here was just the missionaries. The Thai staff we had went home to visit their families. But now we have a whole church! Our Christmas parties involve so many folks desiring to celebrate Jesus's birth together. Praise God for this!

The women of the church have enjoyed some good times of fellowship lately. Last Sunday, the church elected me as the new coordinator of women, or something like that. So, I mostly be sure folks lead our gatherings each month. Pray God uses me for his glory and that I might delegate and encourage the women of our church to volunteer and serve! Praise God for the fellowship of believers.

The women of the church got together for a Christmas gift exchange party! In the last year while I have been gone, God has called in so many new members of our church that love and serve our church so generously. Praise God!
Our team won the relay--popping a balloon, eating a dessert, drinking a full glass of water, and then wrapping a present the quickest and most beautifully the fastest!
Some of our staff and members at a goodbye party for a couple interns who left two months ago. What a happy picture!

Pay and Who Jesus Is

As we sat on the tile floor of the church, just finishing Sunday School, I helped Pay draw his Christmas tree on the white paper. While coloring, I wanted to talk with him about Christmas.

Melanie: What is the meaning of Christmas?
Pay: A Christmas tree
Melanie: Hmm...Who is Christmas about?
Pay: Jesus
Melanie: What did Jesus do?
Pay: He made Christmas trees.
Melanie: Hmm...Who is Jesus?
Pay: He is a "poo-sok-sit." Do you wanna go play a game now?

Pay does come regularly to kids' club in our neighborhood, yet he comes from a non-believing home. He doesn't come to our church except when we go pick him up. He's always eager to learn. As you can read, he has a lot still to learn.

I went and asked my Thai roommates afterwards to better explain to me who Pay said Jesus was. He used a word I've heard in Buddhism class at language school explaining things with supernatural powers that you worship. So, he explained Jesus as someone with supernatural powers that can be worshipped to receive what you want. My housemate explained a little to me saying that Buddhism doesn't really have God. So, that's what he understands so far. We need to follow up with him so he understands more about Jesus.

Please be praying for our children's ministry program. We go to their neighborhood on Thursday for a Christmas party for the kids. May God open their ears, hearts, and minds to understand Him!

You Know You are in Thailand when...

...your bus stops on the side of the highway to pick up a coconut!



The coconut seller just chopped off the top of a coconut, put in a straw, and handed it to him through the window. Then we just continued on our trip as he sipped out of his coconut!

Christmas Sightings

Strange but evident signs of Christmas in Thailand are here!

The mall near my language school looks more like they are decorating for Alice in Wonderland? The rabbits? What are they from?


A carved watermelon at a party for some of my fellow language students. One of the language teachers carves fruit for a hobby! She did this one in 45 minutes.
Ok, so me and one of my housemates have christmas-y toes! :)

Tough Song

We sang this song at the prayer meeting yesterday. The words have excellent meaning but are hard to hear because it is about suffering.

I asked the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace
might more of His salvation know
and seek more earnestly his face.

Twas He who taught me thus to pray
and He I trust had answered prayer
but it has been in such a way
as almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour
at once he'd answer my request
and by his love's constraining power
subdue my sins and give me rest

instead of this he made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart
and let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part

yea more with His own hand He seemed
intent to aggravate my woe
crossed all the fair designs I schemed
blasted my gourds and laid me low

Lord why is this I trembling cried
wild thou pursue thy worm to death?
tis in this way, the Lord replied
i answer prayer for grace and faith

these inward tirals I employ
from self and pride to set thee free
and break they schemes to earthly joy
that thou may'st find thy all in Me.

You Know its Hot When...

...letting your chocolate cakes (straight out of the oven) "cool" before icing them is just an impossible task.

...you sweat while decorating your house for Christmas.

I Once was a Buddhist Nun: Book Recommendation

When I wrote on my Facebook status that I was studying Buddhism in my language school, a Thai friend lent this book to me. I'm only halfway through, but Esther Baker's story of how she became a Christian is powerful. Her search for spiritual truth led her first to become a Buddhist nun. The Lord worked through many circumstances with his supernatural power to help her eyes open to Jesus.

Not only does the book supplement my studies and help me better understand the worldview of Thai Buddhism, but it encourages me in my own Christian faith. I love hearing stories of how God changes people's lives. "I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see." That quote from the song Amazing Grace is how God changes hearts. He opens our hearts up to all the love he has for us through Jesus. I recommend this book.

Please do help me out with other books along this genre. I want to help our team's library to include resources about the religions and worldviews of Thailand.

Thai Worship Song*

พระวิญญาณ ขององค์พระเจ้า
ประทานชีวีตใหม่แก่ฉัน
พระวิญญาณ ขององค์พระเจ้า
หลั่งไหลท่วมใจฉันทุกวัน

God's Holy Spirit
Give new life to me
God's Holy Spirit
Flood my heart everyday.

สายนํ้าที่ฉันไม่ต้องจ่ายราคา
สายนํ้าฉันปรารถนา
สายนํ้าที่ฉันรับการเปียนชีวา
นําพาคนบาปเป๊นไท

With water that has no price.
Water that is my desire.
Water that changes my life.
And carries sinful people to redemption.

*Each day in language class as we study the Thai Bible, we spend the first hour singing Thai worship songs, and taking turns leading the class in a devotional from the Bible and prayer. What good help! Here's one worship song our teacher taught us today. Forgive my sloppy translation (of course some of the beauty and meaning is lost in translation).

Happy Birthday, King!

The whole country celebrated the King of Thailand's 83rd birthday today. It's kinda like the 4th of July in the US. We all went to the King's Park with a LOT of other Thai people to celebrate. My favorite part was once it had gotten dark, we lit candles, and we all sang the King's anthem together. Such unity and pride in their king. He loves his people and they love him!
A friend of mine of mine, me, and one of my housemates all wearing our pink shirts at the King's Park for his birthday. Pink symbolizes our wish that the king would have good health!
The King really knows how to throw his own birthday party! The fireworks were amazing!
Me, another friend, and my housemate enjoying the beautiful flowers they put out for the king's birthday.

Holiday Faces

Two of my housemates and I enjoying the Christmas tree at the nearby mall.

Funny faces with friends at the Thanksgiving dinner.

At the Police Station

While at my friend's house downtown, watching a Christmas movie...her American neighbor knocked on the door asking for help. Her house had been broken into while she was gone. I went to the police station with her to help translate. Then I helped her as they came back with us to the house to look around.

Praise God that I could understand the policemen even though they spoke fast. Praise God that nothing was stolen from the woman's house, it was just ransacked. I was able to tell her how she should thank God for how he protected her! I didn't know until later that the woman wasn't a Christian. Please pray God works in her life through this circumstance. It was a good learning experience for me too since I have never dealt with policemen here. By the end of the evening, the policemen were my best friends.

Just for your information, we dial "191" here for the police here.

Father's Day in Thailand

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the King of Thailand's birthday! He is turning 83 and the whole country celebrates (It's kinda like the 4th of July). There is such great love for the king here. Last night, on the TV, some video was shown of the king traveling around Thailand helping Thai people and spending time really talking with them. One of my friends turned to me and said, "The King really loves Thai people." My roommates and friend just stopped all they were doing to watch and admire him.

Since it's the King's birthday, its also Father's Day in Thailand! Here's a sweet picture of me and my dad the night before I left to come back here. Hope you all enjoy it! I love you, Dad!

So, please pray for the King of Thailand and the other fathers in Thailand this weekend. Would God work marvelously in their lives to show them He is the great Father of us all!

What Did I Just Translate?

Explanation of the Circumstances: I went to this awesome meeting called "The Beggar's Society" on Wednesday. The "Word Made Flesh" missionaries invited various missionaries and Thai folks to come. All folks there were interested in serving the poor in Bangkok. The gentleman that spoke was with "Urban Neighbors of Hope" based out of Australia. He wrote part of a book that follows the book The New Friars that I like so much. The night was mostly about the new monastic movement of living in slum communities--incarnational living.

Anyway, three of the Thai folks from my church attended, and they were the only Thai folks who couldn't understand English very well. I stepped into translate as much as I could. The hilarious speaker ended up talking about a "turd" that he found in his house once. (Oh, the adventures of life.) I had to translate that!! Can you believe it? I did successfully I believe, but that will go down in history as the wierdest translating moment. :)

More Good News!

1. One of the college-age guys has become a Christian! Praise God for him. He lives in the Mahathai community. I don't know the full story yet, but I look forward to sharing it when I know. Pray for his discipleship and growth in the Lord!

2. We've got a big membership class right now of folks hoping to join the church in two weeks. Please pray for these last couple weeks of preparation for them. May God protect them from evil and particularly show them the blessings of being part of a church. It will be most of their first times being members of a church!

3. The Mahathai community has decided to finally vote for a new community leader. Please pray for unity in that community as they vote. The vote is between two guys. Pray God guides and directs the hearts of the people to vote for someone that will care deeply for the community and unify it. I am also praying that God will bring His kingdom to Mahathai community. I pray that the the values of God's kingdom in heaven will come down and be valued in Mahathai community. Please pray alongside me for them!

Good News

My neighbor asked for a Bible!!!! He asked my neighbor across the street (who has become a Christian two yrs ago) for a Bible! We haven't talked with him much about Christianity, but as one of my roommates says, "He has observed our lives. Going out, coming in, going to church..." He saw the other neighbor reading the Bible the other day and asked if he could get one. Isn't that amazing? Please be praying for him, that Bible, the person who gives it to him and PRAISE GOD!

In Case You Missed My Face

Some fun girls I love hanging out with--this was at the Thanksgiving dinner.

My last language class on the field trip to see a Buddhist temple. Our teacher is the Thai one there on the right. The same folks are studying Bible with me this month. We're learning to pray right now using all the right respectful words.

Thankfulness

Forgive me for the lack of blog posting. The silence is due to lots of good things happening, a new language school module, and holidays really. For the sake of Thanksgiving and the need to stop and thank God--I will take each day of the next week sharing my thankfulness to God!

To begin with, last weekend was Loy Kratong. (Pictures will follow shortly.) Thai people send off small boats on waterways all over this country, worshipping the river goddess and praying she washes them of all their sins. What an opportunity to share with people about Jesus who has already conquered their sins and given them eternal life!

God gave me opportunities to hang out with a group of college students all weekend. I was able to share about Jesus in so many different ways to them. We went to the festival on Saturday and talked while we walked and played. Sunday, we went to a Christian concert about Thanksgiving. There, they saw God's people worshipping and heard about the agony Jesus went through on the cross for them. They had some good questions after that. Then as we went to the 2nd festival of the weekend, we were able to debrief even more on the bus! Please pray God works in their hearts! And pray he continues to give us words to explain Him to people here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tiny Tidbits

1. I won a big stuffed-animal frog for my golf skilz playing putt-putt during the recent Loy Kratong Festival. (More on that soon.)

2. Our church staff voted me as one of the emcees for our church Christmas party December 17th. Agh! (That's me screaming.)

3. After a visit to immigration today, I am an official alien. I did wear green for the occasion.

4. I passed my Buddhism module at language school, yet will NOT be furthering my study by becoming a monk.

5. I will be making deviled eggs for our team Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday and possibly banana pudding.

Language School Friends

A funny women's bathroom sign--do you see how the woman's legs and held together? Here's me and one friend from my language class.

Friends from language school out to celebrate one friend's birthday at Hard Rock Cafe. I'm second in on the right, but hard to see.

Mosquitos and Real Friends

New criteria for good friends after a prayer meeting tonight in Mahathai:

A real friend is someone who will haul off and slap you on the leg without warning in order to keep a mosquito from biting you.

A real friend is someone who will stop leading a prayer meeting long enough to tell you to slap your face fast before the mosquito gets you!


Really, I'm so thankful to have more energy tonight so I was able to visit Mahathai again. I miss all those folks. One of the older gentleman is out of the hospital and the people next door to him have a new baby. So much happens in a month. Please keep up the prayers for the people in Mahathai to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

Yee-What?

Here's another Thai lesson for you--

The word for "brand name" in Thai is "Yee-Haw!"

Isn't that great! :)

Gobbling Next Week?

Thanksgiving is around the corner, but of course no one celebrates here. In order to explain the holiday, I feel like I have to figure out how to say pilgrims and Native Americans in a politically correct way that would make Americans happy as well as a historically accurate way to make my history professors proud. So, I resort to not explaining it at all.

Amongst our team, we are asking one another what we're bringing to Thanksgiving dinner. Because our team celebrates it as "The Day to Thank God". I believe we've got someone to make the pumpkin pie which is all I care about! We try to attempt to make a dish that is traditional to each teammates' family meal. Then we'll be less homesick and enjoy fellowship-ing together. I enjoy heading over to my teammate's house to help her cook. So, next week is around the corner! My Thai teammates have been talking about mashed potatoes for a month now! They are also excited about this strange eating holiday of America's. :)

Bird at the Head

As I travel to and from language school each day, I pass by so much of the big city of Bangkok. I see many sides to the city--favorable and unfavorable. Yet, none as funny as a sight I saw last week.

A guy was walking down the street while a bird was flying toward him at the height of his head. The bird was flying straight for his face, so the guy had to duck! Thankfully the bird missed him and kept on flying. He laughed to himself thinking he was the only one who experienced that stubborn bird. But my bus was passing by at that exact moment, so I was able to see it too. I laughed so much the guys in the seat in front of me looked back at me. I was only sad they didn't get to see that crazy bird.

Mom's Better

Thanks for the prayers everyone. Mom is out of the hospital, with a visit of less than a day! She's still recovering at home. I am thankful for the Lord's mercy and faithfulness.

May this event help "my heart sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." -Psalm 30:12

Please do continue your prayers for her recovery and my family as they care for her.

My Least Favorite Email

I woke up at 5am for language school and got a message from my sister, "Call home as soon as you can." I was worried about what happened at home. I called and Mom's in the hospital. She has two blood clots in her lungs. Surgeries often cause blood clots in patients, and she had surgery last Friday. Thankfully, my mom recognized her shortness of breath quickly and headed to the hospital. She will be okay. I am so thankful God protected her and took care of her.

One of the difficulties as a missionary is being away from family, especially when emergencies happen. This morning, while praying about that, I was reminded of David's words--"I will fear no evil, for You are with me" Psalm 23:4. I must not fear what emergencies may happen with my family in the future, but remember the important part. God will be with us as our strength and support.

Please do keep my mom in your prayers as she heals from both her knee surgery and the blood clots in her lungs. Thanks.

Butter of the Peanut

Used an oven for the first time the other day to make 60 cookies for my language school. One of my classmates had a birthday and she wanted us to make cookies enough for the whole school! Fun idea so I invested Sunday evening. However, I FORGOT them on her birthday. So I was left with 60 cookies at my house. I decided to be an early Santa and take them around to my neighbors.

Just to let you know, ovens are not common here so homemade cookies are a big treat. I offered folks one of each kind--chocolate chip and peanut butter. Most also are not familiar with peanut butter since that's only imported here. So, I tried to explain it in Thai by using the noun first and then the describing word..."It's like butter from a peanut?" Umm...that makes no sense. I wonder why some looked at me so weird. Hopefully they liked them. It was fun and hopefully led to deepening relationships with my neighbors!

More of Her Testimony

I shared my neighbor's testimony of how she came to believe in Jesus with many of you at churches during my time in the US. In brief, the Lord was opening Uum's heart to Himself long before we lived across the street from her. But through our relationship, she was able to ask questions about God, receive His Word, and God opened her heart to know Him.

A big moment for her that sparked the conversation was receiving a testimonial book from someone about Christianity around Christmas time. I always thought some other Christians walked by and gave it to her. Yet, she told me the other day, that book was just laying on her table of her store when she opened up one morning. Inside, a Thai superstar shared his story of life as a drug addict, and how he discovered that God was the only power that could give him strength to quit. She still has that booklet and reads it often.

Now I have the honor of sitting at Uum's shop eating pork and rice and watching her share God's love with all those who eat and pass by. Praise God for her witness and testimony. Pray the Lord brings His good news to her whole family as well.

Singing in the Traffic

This morning as I walked up to the bus stop to head off to language school...I heard his deep voice bellowing above the busy traffic. The singing policeman! He just makes my day! He's out there directing traffic at 6am with a smile on his face and a song on his heart. If I had to make a list of tourist attractions for my small neighborhood--he would be one of them. :)

New Thai Word*

*Parents--I will be using a couple words in this post that may have a bad influence on your children . Just a warning, since I try to keep my blog kid-friendly and mother-approved.

Day 11 of Thai language class was one of the funniest days yet. We are still studying Buddhism. Today, we learned the word อเวจี, which means "the worst, scariest part of hell." While reading it aloud however, my classmate cracked up because it is read as "a wedgie."

We three, all Americans, were transported back to childhood days and started laughing. For those unaware of the meaning of "wedgie" in English--is is a bullying method practiced by grabbing someone's underwear and pulling them up til it is very uncomfortable for the person. My classmate said, "Yes, the word goes right along with the definition." (I'll let you figure that last part out yourself.) Either way, we will not be forgetting that word too easily and it will entertain us for the next few classes.

The Ant Killer

I am known as the ant killer in my language class. One of the first days of class, ants kept crawling on my desk and getting on me. I smooshed one and flicked another. In Buddhism, killing living things is against the rules. I was the example that day of someone breaking a rule. (Only the strictest Buddhists follow that rule that closely.) He JOKED and said I'd get bad karma. Since then, me and my red ants have been the example everyday in class for breaking rules of Buddhism. :)

Tonight, I found a cockroach on my bed! Thankfully, one of my most amazing housemates killed it with a 5 ft pole. Can't wait to tell the teacher about that. :)

Buddhism: My Top 10

Top 10 Most Interesting Things I learned about Thai Buddhism*:
1. Buddha was a Indian prince who desired to find an answer to the suffering in the world. He did not want to be worshipped as a god. He just thought he had found answers to true happiness.
2. The base is if you do good, you receive good. If you do bad, you receive bad. No one can help you. You must do it all yourself.
3. The five pillars of Buddhism involve not drinking, not lying, not having extramarital affairs, not stealing, and not killing animals. Most Buddhists cannot follow all of these.
4. Buddha's followers did write down Buddha's teachings, yet Thai Buddhism is not solely based on his words.
5. They believe in reincarnation meaning your actions in this life can affect your next life.
6. Nirvana, the ultimate goal of Buddhism, means escaping the cycle of reincarnation into nothingness. You no longer exist.
7. To be a true Buddhism, you would desire to escape the world entirely--from all good and evil. You would achieve having no feelings at all.
8. Many monks' teaching now also includes selling Buddhist amulets and monk images to people telling them these images will keep them from sinning.
9. Thai Buddhists have incorporated beliefs about ghosts, heaven and hell in their post-death thoughts. Therefore, you could die, become a ghost, then be sent to hell, then heaven, and then on to your next life.
10. Heaven and hell, according to their thoughts, include levels relating to what you've done wrong. You only stay there a definitive time period not forever.

*These are in no particular order. Just some thoughts from my first 10 days of class. I do not mean to be hurtful in any way. I could be wrong about many of these things since I am neither a Thai or a Buddhist. However, this is purely to share some of my learning.

I passed my midterm test in this Buddhism class. My teacher says I know enough of Buddhism now to be a monk. (He was joking with me.) I however will not be pursuing that career path. I need Jesus!

Why Wai?

You may be doing a lot of shaking hands or waving lately due to your popularity. Over here in Thailand, we "wai" a lot. That is what this gesture is called, and its how we greet people and say goodbye. Here I am imitating the statue behind me. Thought you'd like to see life these days....

2 Months!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have now been in Thailand for an official 2 months! How crazy! Does it feel like that long? Actually, it feels like I've been here longer since I'm returning to the same place and I just jumped right back in here.

Here's a good quote to make you smile and remind us all to find joy in the blessings God has given us...wherever we are!

I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud and I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and I want my everyday to make God's belly laugh, glad that He gave life to someone who loves the gift. [Cold Tangerines]

I don't think clean white sheets, my own car, or tangerines are so readily available here in Thailand, but you get the gist of this quote. A good friend of mine quoted it from the book Cold Tangerines.

Flooding in Rural Thailand

Please be praying for those affected by large amounts of flooding in rural Thailand. Farmland is completely destroyed and farmers' whole rice crops are gone. As I watch the news, I see lack of hope and great despair on many faces. Pray God activates his church in the midst of this tragedy. For one story on the flooding, follow this link.

Two Repeats

For those of you that have tracked my blog for 3 years, these will just be reminders. Yet they are so picturesque of Thailand that I must share them with you again!

I went strollin around King's Park today in the abnormally cool weather and spotted a monitor lizard in the water. Yes, we have these lizards chillin' at the nearby park. Isn't that awesome? (The photo wasn't taken by me because I didn't have my camera. I borrowed it from another internet site.)
Do you see the bumper sticker on this car? This story was told to me two different times, and its so interesting, I relay it on to you. So, the story goes...the owner of this car had some bad mishap like a car accident. So, he went to the Buddhist temple and asked the monk why he was having such bad luck with his car. The monk asked him what color it was. The guy said his car was blue. The monk responded, "well, that explains it, RED is your lucky color! Go buy a red car." The guy doesn't want to buy a red car so he just buys a red bumper sticker that says, "This car is red." He thinks the bumper sticker will give him good luck. (Thank you, Jane, for the picture!)

Foreign yet the Same

I have never taken a philosophy class, partly because it wasn't needed for my major and partly because I had no particular interest. Yet as I study the Buddhist religion in my language class this month, I feel that I am in a philosophy class. I am trying to get my mind to step into another world of thought that has existed since about the time Jesus came to Earth.

God provided me with such a wonderful conversation a couple days ago. A new friend and I talked about religion together. I was able to use a lot of my new vocabulary to ask him questions about Buddhism and his way of thinking. He in turn, very curiously, asked me about Christianity. Amazingly enough, we understood each other most the time while speaking in Thai.

Please pray the Lord helps me to understand this Thai worldview in such a way as to speak his truth into it. Though Jesus may be a foreign idea to these people, He will bring such hope and light into their lives! We are all still people with the same needs--needs to be loved and rescued from our efforts to reach righteousness on our own. Thank you for your prayers.

Church Retreat!

Wow, what an amazing retreat. Really, I think this was my favorite one yet! The theme of the retreat was, "Love God's Word, Love God's World." We learned about how to approach the Bible as well as how to be active Christians in our society. There's a lot of pics below, with praises to go with each.

If you haven't heard yet, there's some huge flooding problems in rural Thailand. We stopped on the way to the retreat center to help prepare emergency packages for the flood victims.

Our gang of 70 or so people at the church retreat! What an amazing bunch of people. God grew the relationships amongst the church members and established great connections among the visitors. Praise God!
The bus ride to and from included techno Thai music as well as Lady Gaga. The thing to do is stand in the back of the bus and dance. I embraced the culture and did just that--making some good friends in the process. We must remember--be all things to all people in order to win some. :) And who wouldn't want to dance on a bus while it passed rice fields and palm trees?
Melanie and Katie as karaoke stars singing Bohemian Rhapsody. I think we left the small audience in shock but we had fun.
Another amazing answer to prayer--this whole group of fun, karaoke-singing, stylish college guys came! Praise God for how he is showing them who he is.
One small bit of the awesome waterfall we visited. I am pictured with Jane, who I am so glad was able to come to the retreat. Pray God continues showing his love in her life. (This would also be where my toe jammed a rock and hurt itself.)
And for you history buffs like myself, here is the Bridge over the River Kwae--a subject of a movie and numerous books. WW2 prisoners of the Japanese were forced to build this bridge resulting in many deaths as well. The book I read however, also discusses how amazingly God worked in the prisoner camp.

Clumsy and Beautiful

Thai people have a funny idiom about how only beautiful people are clumsy. Well, today, my pain in the toe shows you what they have to say about me. (Heehee!)

While playing in the waterfall yesterday, I jammed it pretty good on a rock. It's the middle toe on my right foot. It's turning pretty shades of pink and purple right now. Please pray for quick healing and no complications. May I have wisdom to know how to care for it. Thanks for your prayers!

(Yes, I have broken the big toe and little toe on the same foot before, so I have some previous experience with this pain and recovery process.)

Besides this mishap, the church retreat was awesome! Pictures and stories will be coming soon.

Upcoming Church Retreat!

Please pray for our upcoming church retreat! We have about 70 people leaving tomorrow through Monday. We will be headed to Kanchanaburi, which is a more mountainous area East of Bangkok.

Of the group going, we have church members, church visitors, believers, and non-believers. Please pray God works to grow his Kingdom through this retreat!

My New Black Hair!

It all started when one of my former Thai language teachers said, "Melanie, you're Thai people already. All you need to do is change your hair color." Then I talked to my friend, Leah, on Skype about it and she sent me the hairdye. Now, as you see, the experiment has begun.

Here's the question you ask: "Melanie, why have you dyed your hair black?"
Answer: Many reasons really....
1. Fun
2. An experiment on if I'll get less stares if I don't look so different.
3. Hudson Taylor: My favorite biography and also the first missionary to change his appearance to mimic the people he was ministering to. He was also the first white person most of China had seen, so it was very helpful to shave his head except the top part, dye it black, and braid it.

Either way, its temporary. Reactions start tomorrow--when I go to language school and then Saturday-Monday at our church's retreat!

First Class Down

Today marks the end of my first module back at language school. Wow, that went fast. None of the folks in my class will be able to continue studying, so I sent up a prayer for classmates. The Lord answered that prayer within the day. (Yet again, I was surprised by his response, though I shouldn't be. He is after all, in all, over all, and through all.) The school's allowed me to jump ahead to the Buddhist religion module which will allow me to study with two other American missionaries.

This next module is supposedly a lot harder with bigger vocabulary and longer stories though. It's like skipping a grade level. So, please pray the Lord helps me along as I start Friday. The module will last 20 days. I wonder if there's another hidden reason God wants me to learn the info in this module sooner than usual. I am looking forward to understanding the national religion better. Thanks for your prayers.

Dog on the Bus

At one bus stop on the way to language school, a dog got on our bus too! The bus fare-collector tried to get him off but he wouldn't budge. Guess what they did? They just let the dog stay on the bus! He rode with me the whole 45 minutes I was there and I got off before him! What a funny spectacle. It reminds me of a quote from "You've Got Mail."

"Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are."
-Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail

The Powder Game

Our team played a great game tonight during our goodbye party for two of our interns. Really, the great part of the game was what happens when you lose. When you lose, the person beside you has to put powder all over your face and hair! Of course I lost and now I am a big cloud of white powder! Time for a shower! But doesn't that sound like fun?

The Buddhist Amulets

My homework is often used as a medium for God's glory to be shown to people. Yes, that is a weird sentence, but it is true and I am grateful. Through my microfinance homework in the USA, I met my Thai friends who helped me with my language as well as provided good opportunities to talk about the Gospel together. Now here I am with my Thai homework...
Last week, one story was about the Buddhist amulet necklaces. Most Buddhist wear a necklace around their neck with either a picture of Buddha or another monk on it. The amulet gives them power of some sort or another. I'm still growing in my understanding. My homework that night was to ask questions about the necklaces and Buddhism to Thai people (to help me in my Thai). I went to Mahathai and asked Noke for help (the middle woman pictured above). She replied that the Buddhist necklace is the same as we Christians wearing cross necklaces. So often, I receive this reply, "Oh, this thing we do as Buddhists is just like that thing you do as Christians." It's not the same! My friend Kieow stepped in to help explain that we don't believe the cross has any powers by hanging it around our neck. We believe God is in our heart--She explained it something like that.

Please pray for all of us to be clear in our presentations of the Gospel as we introduce Jesus to Thai people. I see so many confusions with those that have any experience with Christianity (which are few). Please pray God grows me in my understanding and ability to explain what I believe to Thai people.

Sweet Som-O

Last week, Som-O took my hand and walked around Mahathai with me as I said hello to people before our weekly prayer meeting. Som-O then told me she couldn't make it to the prayer meeting this week. So, I knelt down and asked her how I could pray for her. My conversations with Som-O have been some of my most dear conversations while in Thailand. She shares straight from her heart with me. As always, she asks for prayer for her parents, their arguing, her father's gambling habit, and alcoholism. So, right there by the road, we pray together. With my hand on her shoulder, I ask God to be her Father, protector, and show her his great power.

As we finish, her friend Mai walks over curious at what we're doing. Som-o explains to her that we're praying. I ask her if we can pray for her too. Som-O lets her know the kinds of things we can pray for. Mai shares that she'd like to pray for her grandmother to stop smoking and drinking. So, the three of us together pray again for Mai. Afterwards, Som-O shares her struggles that she hasn't seen God answer our prayers for her father. I remind her that God has brought her mother to church regularly now. We can trust him that in time, our other prayers will be answered in some way as well. Please pray God works in these girls' hearts and they become amazing Christian women.

Tang and Mote's Wedding

My favorite part of the wedding--the parade taking the groom to the bride's house.
What a Thai wedding looks like.
Beautiful Thai style fancy outfits.
All the girls who live in our house.
Yu and I
Tang and Pramote grinning at each other at the reception.
Our group as wedding singers singing a silly song at their reception.