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!