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!