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.