Coming Home

Man, it has already been two months. Tonight we had our going away party at the church. I realized after tonight how much I am going to miss all the students!! A few of them shared with us about their experience this summer with us, and it was definitely the hardest part about leaving here. I will never forget these students, and I hope that you guys won't either. Please continue to pray for each and every student daily in your prayers! I am leaving our apartment here to go to the airport at 4:30am Thailand's Thursday.. so your guy's Wednesday night. My flight actually leaves at 8:35am Thailand time. I am excited about seeing everyone, and I look forward to sharing with you all about my summer in person! I love you all, and thank you soo much for all your prayers and support! I appreciate everything!! God is soo good, and I thank Him for sending me to Thailand to experience the joy in serving Him! See you guys soon! Pray for our team and myself as we travel home tomorrow! :)

Sorry It has Been Awhile! ;)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't update you guys in a long time. We have not been around computers much in the past week or so. I guess I should update you first on how our mini-retreat went last Thursday and Friday. So yeah, the mini-retreat did go well. It was different for all of us on the team though because since we are about to leave we were not the ones really over the retreat. They are trying to allow the Thai Christians to now start building that stronger relationship with the students now that we are leaving, and it was an amazing time to be able to sit back and participate during these two days. The messages were really good on the retreat, and it was really exciting to see all of the students bringing the bibles we gave them and reading them on their own. You can really see God working in the lives of these students and see Him revealing Himself more and more everyday to these students. Please just continue to pray that all of the students will continue seeking God wholeheartedly and that they will all give their lives to Christ someday soon! :) I can't wait to hear about God working in these students even after I return home!

So, after the mini-retreat ended on Friday we packed up Saturday to go to our upcountry trip in Northern Thailand. We left for upcountry at 7pm last Sunday because it was 12 hours away from Bangkok. The place we went to was called Nan. I have never seen a place as pretty as Nan. The mountains were beautiful, and we rode in the back of trucks up and down these mountains the entire week. So, we got to experience the scenery everyday in a magnificent way. I took some pictures to show everyone when I get home, but they truly cannot portray to you guys how beautiful it really was there! The week in Nan was kind of laid back. We dug a garden for some kids at this school place, played with the kids there, went and visited villages, played games and sang songs with students at different schools in the mountains. It was an amazing week and relaxing at the same time! :) We got back to Bangkok Saturday morning at 5 (Bangkok time and day).

It is crazy to think I only have 4 more days here in Thailand! :) These last few days we are going to be souveneir shopping and hanging out with students, so, it should be a lot of fun! I am really anxious to get home now though. I am so excited about seeing everyone!! My flight leaves Wednesday the 30th at 8:35pm your guy's time! So, please be praying for my team and my safe travel home! :) Thanks again for all your guy's prayers this summer!! I love you all and see you soon!

Prayer Changes Lives

So... we are down to only two more weeks, but we have a lot of important things left to do here in those few days. Today is our last day at the university, but tomorrow we leave to go on our mini retreat at 7am! I know early, but I am very very excited about it! On this mini retreat we don't really know what to expect, but I know God is going to do great things while we are there. We will be gone Thursday and Friday to a resort in some place an hour or so from Bangkok. Only ten students are going with us, and the ten students who are coming with us are the students who are truly seeking Christ. So, most of the students are some that I have discussed with you in my previous blogs. The whole purpose of this trip is to focus on God, so, please be praying for these two days specifically. Pray that God will open many doors and that we will just be obedient! Pray that those students who are coming, which are all so close, might come to know Christ these days or at least be a step closer to Him than they were before they came. We were told by the international missionary we are working with that these will probably be the days that these students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior because all of them are really close and seeking, and these days the Thai Christians are going to ask them if they want to make that final decision to become a child of God. This is a big deal and could be a life changing experience for these students, so, please be constantly in prayer for these next two days and these students! I know prayer changes things, and I want to see God move in a mighty way so please pray! :) I can't wait to see what God has in store.. it is going to be amazing! Thanks again for all your prayers and support! I love you guys! :)

Colossians 4:5-6

So, I am going to have to admit to you guys that after we got back from Pattaya I kind of felt like there was not much left to do. I know how could I ever possibly think that, but I truthfully felt like that was the ending of our trip. I suppose the reason for this is because all we had left was this full week of school that ends today and then two days of school next week. We leave for upcountry for the last week to hang out with kids in a different place!! God is faithful though and never stops using us in whatever situation we are in! I thank God for reminding me this and encouraging me throughout this trip. Now I should probably explain a little bit because you are all probably super confused. Haha!

So, here it goes... last night was our last "cell group" for the summer, which is hard to believe since we still have 3 more weeks. It was completely amazing though. We did salvation bracelets with the students, and then afterwards we got into small groups to discuss a little more in detail and to give them a chance to ask questions. First off, many of the students who came last night were new students from camp that have not ever came to any of our events after school until last night. There were still the core group of students I have discussed with you in previous blogs that are seeking Christ wholeheartedly there as well. So, when we broke up into small groups many of the new students were opening up and asking lots of questions. Some of the students actually told us that they could feel God speaking to them and tugging at their hearts. They also said they get confused because they have heard so many different things that people say are "the truth," and they don't know which one to believe. We shared with them many verses and how we know that God is real and the only true God! Please pray for these students specifically that God will reveal Himself to them and make it clear to them that He is the only God and is alive and real even today! Also, one of the students that has been hanging out with the summer teams every year they come and has heard the gospel many times, opened up last night for the first time the whole summer. We all knew that she obviously had just hardened her heart towards God because nothing ever phased her when we discuss things with her until last night! God was defintely moving last night, and it was amazing. He definitely showed me that even though we only have one more week with the students that He still has great things in store for us. He is not done using us here in Thailand, and that excites me soo much! I woke up this morning with a competely new attitude, and I thank God for changing my heart in these last weeks!! Please just pray for all these students and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work on them until they come to know Christ someday! Pray for our team and myself as well that we will have a joy and excitement to finish serving strongly here for the Lord! :)

On a random note, I want to share with you guys a exciting personal experience I had this morning with God in my quite time! I woke up and prayed that God would continue to use us in any way and that doors would still be opened for us to share Him. Also, I prayed that He would give us the words to say and to be able to answer any questions the students that are seeking Christ may have so that they may come to know Him. Then afterwards I opened up to the chapter in Colossians I was at for my quite times, and chapter four was my quite time this morning. It was amazing how God speaks to us all and reminds us He hears our prayers and is always with us even when we forget it! In verses 2-6 I was like whoa because that was specifically my prayer this morning before I even opened my Bible! God is AMAZING and ALIVE! He still speaks to us everday if we just seek Him always!! I praise God for the encouragement and comfort He provided me this morning and for everyday that I have been here!!

Thanks you guys for all your prayers once again... you don't know how much that means to me!! I love you all!! Also, for all of you who wrote me letters before I came to open here, God has definitely spoken to me through all of your letters. Everyday I choose a letter to open randomly (but not really because God knows), and it always relates to something I am or have been going through. Thanks for being obedient to God in writing these letters for me because He is using them to encourage me daily!! Just wanted to let you guys know that!! I love you guys!

One Amazing Weekend! :)

Wow is all I can begin to say for this weekend! I have been procrastinating writing this blog because I don't even know how to describe this weekend at all! Words cannot explain it at all, but I am going to try my best!

So, first we didn't get to Pattaya until about 10pm on Friday night, which was the 4th of July here. We had American food (hamburgers and stuff) to celebrate 4th of July, and we were going to shoot fireworks. However, we weren't able to because it was too windy or something. It was a good night though. All of the students were really pumped about being there, which made me really excited as well! It was totally a different atmosphere than Bangkok, which was nice. We were staying in a huge open room with more than 30 girls to a room, and we slept on the floor. It was a lot of fun and kind of like a huge slumber party!

Anyways, our days started at 8am with breakfast. Then we played games all day with lunch and free time in between. Saturday night was definitely one AMAZING night! We sang some worship songs, and we actually ended the worship songs with "Saviour King." It is totally a wonderful song, and if you have never heard it you should go listen to it now! :) You could just feel God in the building, which was awesome to experience and know He was there amongst us! After the worship songs our team did the "Everything" skit, and it was amazing as well. God definitely shined through the skit, but during the beginning of the skit we all became kind of worried because they were cheering for things they shouldn't have been cheering for (like the drinking scences and the other scenes). We were scared they were misinterpreting the skit, and then we all just realized and began to pray that God was in control of the situation and that His will would be done no matter what! The students began to understand the skit more once they saw the demon/suicide scene because they got really really quite. So, overall the skit was wonderful and the Holy Spirit was definitely moving. After the skit we got into small groups to discuss the skit and share the gospel. It was amazing to see all the opportunities God opened up for us to share about Him. No one in my small group came to know Christ, but they were definitely intently listening and asking questions, which was exciting. The exciting news though is that about 8 students came to know Christ Saturday night! :) It was unbelievable!

God didn't stop there though! On Sunday night the Texas high school team did a skit, and before the night started we met as a group to pray about the night. It was an intense time of prayer, and we just knew God was going to do great things that night as well. After the skit we got into small groups to discuss it and share our testimonies and the gospel again! In my small group were all of the students whom we have gotten to share the gospel with at school I have been telling you about. In our small group we basically discussed from the creation all the way to Jesus dying for us. The students were asking some deep questions, which was exciting because they weren't surface level questions. They just wanted to understand the gospel and know more. We talked for at least 2 1/2 hours with them that night. It was really cool as well to see how we didn't just pick random groups to be in, but that God placed us in those groups specifically for His purpose. I definitely realized this more after we finished our discussion because the students asked many questions, and some of the questions they asked Jadelis and I got to share personal experiences that specifically related to us to help them understand the gospel more. It is awesome to know and actually get to SEE how God uses our life experiences and journeys to bring glory to His name! Wow, that is all I can say! :) None of the students came to know Christ, but I know they are soo close because you could see it in their faces and by the questions they were asking. It was just overall an amazing weekend! I would love to share more about this weekend with anyone when I get home because this blog doesn't describe it well enough!!

So, on a random note we did experience and see a lot of spiritual warfare this weekend. It was crazy, but we always just tried to constantly be in prayer. Satan is trying to stop the great things God is doing in this country, but through prayer we aren't going to allow it! Please pray with us about this and that Satan will not attack the students who are so close! Thanks for all your prayers! Please pray for the students who came to know Christ this weekend that they will just grow in Him daily. Also, continue to pray for the students who are so close that they will just take that last step to come to know Him! Pray that God would use us in whatever way He wants to reach others for Him. We as a team all need prayer to stay strong through the rest of this summer because it is coming to the end, and we are all growing tired! Pray that we will trust in the Lord to give us the strength that we need, and that we will remained focused the rest of the trip. Pray that we don't loose sight of our purpose here and that we don't think it is over! :) Thanks for all your prayers, and I love you guys! :)

Pattaya :)

Hey!! So, this week has been pretty slow because the students have mid terms. Today and Friday we have off because of their tests and to prepare for this weekend. We leave tomorrow afternoon (July 4th) to go to Pattaya for our english camp with about 200 something students. The cool thing is we will actually be staying in the Christian camp that is a part of Jomtien Baptist Church that I worked with the last time I came to Thailand for spring break. Therefore, I think I might get to see all of the people I worked with last time I came here, so, I am pretty excited about that as well.

Anyways, this weekend is going to be AMAZING, and I am really looking forward to it. The english camp is where we get the chance to share the gospel with all of the students in small groups. The whole weekend we will be playing different games and singing worship songs. The big night though is Saturday night; we are doing the "Everything"skit, and then getting in small groups to discuss it with the students. So, it is going to be a wonderful time! :)

Please keep our team and myself in your prayers specifically this weekend for strength and endurance both spiritually and physically because it is going to be an intense weekend. Also, pray that God will give us the right attitudes the whole time we are there, that when we feel so tired that His strength would shine through us during our weaknesses. Pray that God will give all of us the words to say and to guide our every step. Pray that we will remain completely focused on God while we are there and throughout the rest of the month. Also, please pray for all of the students who are coming that God would prepare their hearts for this weekend. Pray that He would soften and break all of their hearts for Jesus. Also pray that He would make the gospel easy for them to understand, so, that it will be simple to them. I know that is a lot, but I really think God is going to do amazing things this weekend, and I can't wait to share it with all of you guys! :) Thanks and I love you guys!! :)

"Better Things are Yet to Come, Better Things are Still to Be Done in This City"

Wow!! God is really moving here in Bangkok! It is amazing to see; everyday I say this is the best day I have had so far, and then the next day I say the same thing! However, somedays do seem kind of slow and long. Those days though God is preparing us for what is ahead in that week, and He is still using us in ways we don't realize even on those slow days!



So, I want to update you on what has happened since my last blog. I get excited every time I talk about this situation! :) So, I am very very excited to share this with you all! One of the students my roommate and I shared with the other day, that asked us the question about how can Jesus blood cover our sins, has been seeking more and more everyday about God!! So, we shared with him on Wednesday. Then Thursday night he came to our "cell group" thing, where we share something about the gospel and sing worship songs. On last Thursday night one girl from our team shared her testimony, and then when she finished we broke up into smaller groups to share what the most important thing in our life is or what makes us the happiest. So, the student was actually in my small group, and there were two other Christians in my group. We all shared our testimonies and shared scriptures that have encouraged us in our walk with Christ, while they shared with us about things that made them happiest. So, now comes one of the exciting things... after we all shared in our group the student completely opened up to us. He shared some really personal things with us, and we talked with him for a while. He told us he wanted to know more about Jesus, and that he was actually staying with some of the Thai Christians to ask them some questions. We were all really excited about that because he is really seeking out Christ, and that makes me very happy! Oh but that is not all!! We didn't see him on Friday at school because he was hanging out with some of the Thai Christians, but we saw him at the birthday party we had at the church for a girl on our team. When we saw him he was sitting outside reading a tract or something from the Passion of Christ movie, and he also had the movie itself. I was like oh my gosh!! He came to church with us on Sunday, and he said that he was going to come to everything everyday!! Please pray for this student specifically because I really feel like he is sooo close to coming to know Christ!! Pray that God makes the gospel simple to him that he may understand it! I am really excited to see what God is going to do in his life maybe even before we leave!! :)

So, that was the exciting news of last week and now! However, I have more good news (I know it's amazing how God is working here)!! So, today some of our team and myself was in the song and game room here at school playing games with students while listening to some worship music, and a student we just met today asked us who was singing the song. Laura told him that it was Chris Tomlin, and then he said he had never heard of him before. So, Laura told him that he was singing about God and Jesus, and she asked him if he knew who Jesus was. He told her he didn't, so, Laura asked him if wanted to know. The student said he did want to know more about Jesus, so, we got the opportunity to share who Jesus was in general. However, the student had to go to class, so, we didn't get to share the gospel with him completely. Please pray that he will come back to find out more about Jesus, and that he will not be able to think about anything else until he does! Also, pray that whoever he asks about Jesus that God will give them the words to say, and that they are obedient to God.

God amazes me in how He uses such small things (like a song) to open up doors to share the gospel with students! He truly is an amazing and wonderful God!! I praise and thank Him that He allows me to be a part of sharing the gospel with someone, even though He does not need me to accomplish anything for His kingdom!! Please pray that God continues to give me the strength and endurance to finish out this month strong! Pray that I will not lose focus on Him! Also, pray for our english camp this weekend at Pattaya. About two hundred students are coming, and it is going to be amazing! We are doing the "Everything" skit, and then doing small groups afterwards to discuss it and share the gospel with the students!! Please pray for this weekend and for us as we prepare for it, both spiritually and physically!! Thanks and I love you guys!! God is faithful, wonderful, and worthy to be praised!! :)

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." 2 Corinth. 4:5

God never ceases to amaze me everyday!! :) I have prayed that God would open up opportunities for our team to share the gospel with students and that he would give us the words to say. Many people from our team have had the chance to share the gospel with students, and today my roommate and I had the same opportunity!! It was amazing!! Two students were hanging out with us in the song and game room at school, and we were singing some worship songs. Earlier today Vicki (my roommate) was singing the song "One Way" with them, and they told her they loved that song. Vicki asked them if they knew what it meant, and they told her sort of. She shared with them a little bit about how Jesus is the only way to get to God. So, that was the first door God opened up, and then later on today we were all singing together again. We came back to the same song, and during that song God laid verse John 14:6 on my heart ("Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.") This same verse is in the song, so, after the song ended God led me to show them that verse in the bible and how those words were from Jesus. From there God just totally took over because I was unbelievably nervous and had no idea what to say or where it was heading from there. So, on this trip I borrowed one of Nick's smaller bibles because I don't have a small bible to carry around with me. Before I left Nick showed me in his bible where he has the plan of salvation outlined starting at John 3:16. So, after sharing with them John 14:6 God led me to start at John 3:16. I have a English/Thai bible that I got last time I was in Thailand, so, after I read the verse in English Vicki showed them where the verse was at in Thai for them to read. I feel like nothing I said made sense, but God was completely in control. Nick has shared with me an encouraging verse since I have been hear from Isaiah 55:11, "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So, this verse reminds me that even though I feel like nothing I said made sense that His will was accomplished still, and that is definitely reassuring! After we went through the whole plan of salvation with them we asked them if they understood or had any questions. They both said that they had heard about Jesus recently (I think through a Thai Christian here with us this week), but now it seemed clearer! So, that was definitely exciting to hear that they are getting to know and understand God more and more!! They asked us one question, and it was how does Jesus blood cover our sins and make us perfect in God's sight? We tried to explain it to them, but they didn't really understand. So, we went and got a Thai Christian to come explain it better and in Thai. We shared Galatians 2:20-21 in hopes to help explain Christ death a little and how it effects us. They said they wanted to learn more about God and wanted us to pray with them!! So, that was awesome, and we actually prayed with them today before they left!! Please pray for both of these students and for all the conversations and questions they will have with our team and the Thai Christians. I pray that they will come to know Christ someday! :) Pray that God will make the gospel simple and clear to them, and that they will not be able to sleep or think about anything else until they come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior!! :)

God Answers Prayers! :)

Well this week was another really busy week! :) Only one more week of June left; it's crazy! I have some really exciting news. I have been praying really hard about God either drawing me to a student to build a relationship with or that if that was not His will for me that He would give me a peace and comfort in knowing that I was still being used for His kingdom even though I may not have any idea how and that I would not become discouraged.

So, on Thursday my morning did not start off to well. I was pretty homesick and really discouraged about not really having a Thai student I was connecting with, so, it sort of was like I had nothing to look forward to every night when we hung out. I know this sounds awful, but this is how I have been feeling the past couple of days! However, all of this changed after I had my class on Thursday at 10:30am. I had talked to Nick before that, and I told him to pray for my class and a student in my class whom I felt like God was drawing me to the week before. I just really didn't know how to get her to come hang out with us and stuff because the week before she never came to anything we were doing that week. Ready for the amazing part? Well when I went into the class she just started talking to me, and I just asked her if she and some of her friends would like to come and eat with me after class. She said yes!! I was super excited, and I just praised and thanked God at that moment for answering my prayer! :) Her and about 5 other students came to eat with me! It was amazing! This girl can speak really good english, so, we had some good getting to know each other conversations. She was really excited about us getting to hang out and stuff. So, I invited her and the students to come to our cell group (kind of a time where we sing worship songs and somehow incorporate the gospel in), and her and two other students came!! It was amazing, and they had so much fun! When they left they told me that hanging out with all of us made them really happy, excited, and wonderful! That made me excited because I know that that feeling they were experiencing was nothing any of our team had done, but instead it was Christ's love and joy reaching out to them through us!! :)

That was all on Thursday! I would have to say that has been the most amazing day I have had so far since being here! :) So, last night we had a swimming party at our apartments and all three students came back again as well as many other students!! God really encouraged our whole team this week because we were seriously all become discouraged because none of the students were coming consistently to our activities, so, we were never getting to know them any better up until after Thursday! Oh yeah another amazing thing happened last night while they were hanging out at our apartment! My roommate and I have bible verses on our walls that have encouraged us while we have been here or that are just encouraging verses in general. So, last night that same girl in my class and two other students from my class were in my room with me waiting on a girl to change into her swimsuit, and one of my students asked me what the note cards on my wall were for! I was nervous, but God spoke through me anyways. I just told her that those were words from God that came from my bible that encourage me, and that those verses were like God speaking to me to give me a comfort and peace when I needed it! I didn't say much, but that was definitely a starting point and totally a God moment!! I was extremely excited and can't wait to see how God is going to use me in my relationship these students! :) Please pray for God to give me the words to say and for me to be obedient when God calls me to do something. Also pray for all of these students that God would continue to soften their hearts and open their hearts up to come to know the one true God.

Keep all the previous prayer requests in your prayers as well please!! I love you guys and miss you!! Thanks for the prayers!! God is amazing and definitely answers prayers!! What an awesome God we love and serve!! :)

Romans 10:14-15

Well Monday was pretty much awesome! A few of us got the chance to share the gospel with some students, and it was amazing! I am pretty sure it was the first time they had heard about Jesus Christ before, so, please just be in prayer that God will work in their hearts that they may ask more questions and stuff. So, the way it happened was pretty cool. On the university we have different stations set up by the faculty, such as english through song and games, english by movie, and english through internet. A few of my team members and myself was in the song and games station. We decided to play hangman, and one of our team members wrote Jesus as the word to guess. One girl in the room guessed it after a few letters because she said she was Catholic. So, after that we decided we could do more words that were about Christ and the gospel. We did salvation in hopes that they would ask questions or something. So, after they guessed all the letters they had no idea what the word meant, and they asked us to define it. This is the cool part; when they asked us to define the word we just laid out the whole gospel right there for them. It was totally amazing how God used us in that moment through such a silly nonsense game! I just pray that God's words will change their hearts, and that they will become more curious about the wonderful God who loves them all! Please pray specifically for these students!

Last night was really cool as well. At about 8:30pm all of the summer mission teams went on the roof of our apartments and just had a time of worship and prayer together. It was really a renewing and refreshing and a time when we gave thanks to God for all that He is for us and has done for us, as well as crying out to Him in prayer for this city and the students we will be hanging out with. We just sang some amazing worship songs and prayed and read scriptures when felt led to. It felt amazing to be able to have a time of worship together as a team to come together as one in Christ to praise the God we all love and to be able to pray for Thailand all together!

So, this week has been really really good so far! :) I look forward to seeing what God has planned for the rest of the week and summer!

Some prayer requests:
-continue to pray for the Thai students who are Christians but their families are not (A and O specifically)
-pray for the P. Lek and his health issues previously mentioned
-pray for the Thai Christians we are working with that God will continue to strengthen them and that He would use us to encourage them as much as they encourage us
-pray that myself and our team will remained focused on God always and that we are obedient to what He is calling us to do
- pray for me personally that if it is God's will He will place a student in my path to build a relationship with over the summer-- if this is not God's will for me while I am here pray that I do not become discouraged and that I remember that God will use me in whatever way He wants and that I will trust Him completely to know that He will guide me always
-also pray for our english camp that is coming up July 4-7 at Pattaya.. this is the weekend where we are going to do the "Everything" skit and share the gospel to everyone hopefully.. please pray that God will lead many students who are seeking Him without even knowing it to attend this camp.. pray that God leads us as a team in preparing for this weekend! :)

I love you all and thanks so much! Miss you!

Our God is amazing! :)

So, we have almost officially been away from home for about two weeks now! It has been amazing so far, and we have had a blast getting to know and hang out with students. The last week definitely flew by because we were extremely busy and always on the go, but I wouldn't have it any other way! So, now I am going to try to catch you up on all the things we have been doing in the past week!

First, Friday night we had a birthday party at the church for some of the Arkansas students who have birthdays in June. We invited our Thai friends to come to the church with us, and a lot of students actually came so it was a great time to get to know them better. We just hung out, sang worship songs, ate some food, and then had some American birthday cake (which was by far my favorite food we had.. haha). All the students are really amazing and love taking pictures with us and talking to us!

Then on Saturday we went to the Grand Palace, which is a temple or place of worship for Buddhists, and we invited students from Friday night to come with us. We were surprised at how many students showed up, so, that was pretty cool. At the Grand Palace it was definitely not a very exciting experience. It was really hard to see all these people so devoted and worshipping something that is not even real. As I walked around looking at all the man made statues and buildings that were beautiful with gold and shiny stuff all over it, my heart just broke for this nation who truly lives in a darkness, and they have no clue. All I could do the whole time I was there was pray for these people, especially in the building where there was an emerald buddha. You could not take pictures, talk, or point your feet in the building with the emerald buddha. When we went in there and saw all these people on their knees bowing and worshipping this huge golden statue I just began to pray that these people would somehow come to know the one true God who loves them so much! Please just pray in general for this nation and specifically that these people would hear about Jesus Christ somehow and that God would begin to work in there hearts.

Yesterday was church! Church worship was amazing once again! We actually sang all songs in English, and we sang one of my favorite songs "Enough." There were a lot of students that hung out with us over the weekend that came to church for the first time yesterday, so, that was definitely amazing! The really cool part was that yesterday was probably the first time many of them had ever heard about Jesus Christ and how He died for us and rose again so that we could spend an eternity with Him in heaven. The sermon was from Luke 12:22-34 about not worrying because God is our provider and comforter always. Towards the end of the sermon the guy speaking basically went through the whole story about how Jesus died for us so that we could be saved, so, my prayer is that God will continue to work in the heart of those students who were there yesterday hearing the gospel for the first time. Many of the students after church asked people from our team more questions about God and stuff, so, please just pray that the holy spirit continues to change their hearts and that they will continue to ask questions. Also, pray that when they ask questions that everyone of us will boldly proclaim the gospel and that we will remember that God will speak through us because it is not of ourselves.

Also, please pray for the Thai Christians in general whose parents are not Christians because they have a hard time in that situation. Pray that God would use them to reach their parents and friends who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Also, just pray that God would continue to strengthen these students and give them the peace and comfort they need in these tough situations at home. Pray that we as a team will encourage them as well! Thanks again for everyones' prayers. I love you guys and miss you all!! :)

Teaching

So, this week has been a good week so far. I had Tuesday off, but we hung out with some Thais at the mall that night. It was fun, and we got to know some people better. A few of them actually shared with us that they always hang out with the summer teams every year, but they are not Christians. They said that they just enjoy hanging out with us because they love the way it feels. I just pray that they realize that what they are feeling is actually God's love for all of us! Please pray for all the students we will be hanging out with that they will see Christ love in us and nothing more than that. Please also pray that we as Christians will listen to God and know when to speak and when not to speak.

Yesterday (Wednesday here) was a lot of fun as well. My part of the team came to the university on Wednesday. We didn't really do much in the morning because none of our actual normal teaching schedules will start until next week. However, after lunch we passed out brochures to let students know we will be on campus all week to help them with their English. The funny part though was that here on campus they are having like freshman orientation, which they call Freshy Day, and they make the freshmen do like chants and dances. So, they got all of us to get in the middle of a huge circle of Thais to learn a dance while they chanted around us. It was so much fun even though the dances were ridiculously stupid! We really enjoyed it, and the best part is that the students loved the fact that we did it!! Definitely way too much fun! :)

So, now on to today's (Thursday) good news. We are actually still on campus right now at the moment just chilling until Thai students come to hang out with us. Anyways, this morning was Remington and my first time to meet our class and teach. We were supposed to just introduce ourselves today, but it turned out that we had to teach today as well. It was cool though even though there were a lot of awkard silence moments when we weren't really sure what to do. The teachers are laid back and kind of just let us do whatever, so, it is a little nerve racking. The students are amazing though, so, I am very very excited about getting to know them better. I really pray that many of them will come hang out with us outside of the classroom some. There is one girl in particular that I would love for you guys to pray for. We will just call her P or something like that. She just stood out to me today. She can speak really good English, and she just talked to us a lot today. I invited her to hang out with us off campus, so, I pray that she does. Please pray that when or if she comes to hang out that God will begin to intervene in the relationship she and I will hopefully build. Pray that God will use me in whatever way He pleases, and that he gives me the words to say when talking with her.

Tonight we are having like sort of a mini bible study that we invited students to, so, I hope that some will show up. We are going to be having these every Thursday nights, so, please pray for us on that night specifically because that will be one main time we will be sharing Christ and singing worship songs together as a group. Please keep all of our team including myself in your prayers. Many of us are homesick and missing people, especially at night when we go to bed with nothing to keep our minds occupied. We know that God is our comforter and that He is always with us, so, please pray that we will be constantly reminded of that during these times! Pray that our team remains focused on God's plan for us this summer, and that we will obediently reach out to the students God is drawing to Him.

Thanks again for all of your prayers!! I love you all and miss you!! Keep praying for everyone I mentioned in the previous blog as well, especially A and P. Lek!!

Getting Started...

Hey everyone!! We have been here for almost a week and finally getting started with everything!! The first few days here we didn't do much, but it was good because we had some good team bonding time. Everyone on the team is great!! I love my roomie. She and I feel like we have already known each other forever! We have gotten to have some good talks together, which has been really cool!

Well right now in Bangkok it is almost 5pm. So, most of you are asleep back home! We got back from the university a few hours ago. Today was our first day to go to the University where we will be teaching English. The campus is beautiful. Anyways, basically we just toured the campus and found out our teaching schedule and stuff today. It is kind of crazy because we are actually considered teachers on the campus. So, that is sort of scary and nerve racking at the same time. All of the teachers and stuff seem really nice, so, that is a good thing. The rest of this week we will just be sitting in on our class and introducing ourselves. So, we really start teaching and stuff next week. Hopefully though this week we will be able to get to know some of the students, so, we can start hanging out with them and stuff. I am ready to start hanging out with the students really bad, even though I am really nervous about the initial step of getting to know them.

On another note, yesterday was the first church service we have been to. It definitely was pretty much AMAZING! There were a ton of Thai college and high students there. I am not really sure how many of them are Christians though. However, there were a good many that I talked to there that were Christians, and it was really cool to get to talk to them and get to know them better. My favorite part of the whole service was the worship. It is truly an unbelievable feeling to be in a room full of other believers who are worshipping the same God I worship but in a totally different language. It was really neat to look around during worship to see all the Thais worshipping God wholeheartedly and to think that even though I have no idea what they were saying our God hears and understands every word of praise that comes from their mouths! Even though I could not understand a word of any of the songs I truly could feel the presence of God in that place! It was amazing!! :)

Well that is about all we have done so far. I look forward to seeing what else God has in store for us this summer and to see how he is going to use us this summer. I do have some prayer request though. First, please pray for A (we are just going to call him that) because he is a Christian and has been coming to the church for about 3 years. However, he has had to lie to his parents the whole time because they are Chinese but also very strict Buddhists. So, please keep him in your prayers and pray that God uses him to reach his family as well. Also, please pray for the pastor we are working with named Pi Lek because he has a thyroid problem or something caused by things from his past, and this disease causes him to be very tired a lot of the time. Also, please just pray for our time that we stay as one in the body of Christ, and that we will share Christ BOLDLY to others WITHOUT FEAR! A lot of us are nervous, so, please pray for us!! Thanks again for everyones prayers!! I love you guys and miss you all!!

Getting Started...

Hey everyone!! We have been here for almost a week and finally getting started with everything!! The first few days here we didn't do much, but it was good because we had some good team bonding time. Everyone on the team is great!! I love my roomie. She and I feel like we have already known each other forever! We have gotten to have some good talks together, which has been really cool!

Finally Here

Wow!! I am finally here after way too long on airplanes!! We all had good flights and made it here safely with no problems. Right now I am at the internet cafe because I am not sure if we have internet in the hotel or not. Anyways.. today we are just going to chill and rest a little. Then tomorrow we are going to do the same until our orientation that is at 5pm. Thanks again for everyone's prayers and support! Please just continue to pray for us all while we are here, that God would use us in great ways and that we will be obedient to Him always. Pray for the students we will be interacting with and spending lots of time with as well!! Personally I need prayers for comfort and that God will help me to remain focused. I am sure everyone is asleep right now back home, so, hope this blog finds everyone well. Hope you all have a wonderful day! Love you guys!!

So much to do and not enough time! :)

Man, June 3rd has come fast. I am not really sure where the month of May has gone. I am full of many emotions right now at this moment. I am excited about leaving tomorrow and about the journey God has prepared for me in Thailand this summer; however, right now I am kind of stressing out because I have so much left to do (like finish packing, getting a few things still, and finishing my nursing application and scholarship stuff to turn in before I leave). Through all of this right now though I know God is still in control and that everything is going to be ok, and tomorrow I will be flying off to Thailand with no worries! :) Please pray for me right now though as I continue to prepare and pack for this trip and flight tomorrow! Thanks for everyone's prayers, support, and encouragement! I love you guys!