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!! :)