Walking Street and Unity

Walking street. When you hear that you would think it was a little market with random merchandise. Well it is a market but for a whole different reason. It is the largest, most well known Red Light District in Pattaya. Last night we prayer walked up and down the street. It wasn't what I expected. The bars were much more high class then the street we went to a couple of nights ago-the difference, This street is literally a tourist attraction. Families walk these streets taking pictures, men took their little boys to talk to prostitutes as if they were celebrities. It was horrible. I have never felt so heavy as I walked through a place. The minute I stepped off that street I felt I could breathe again. But those who were stuck there probably don't know what it's like to breathe fresh air. There were a lot of Eastern Europe girls. I would bet that most of them are being trafficked. I was so hard to walk right by them and not being able to do anything about it.

Moments like that makes me incredibly thankful for prayer. Although I couldn't physically help those trapped in that street I can intercede for them. I kept asking God is "where are you in this? All I can see is darkness!" He then reminded me "the light shines in darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." (John 1:5). Although the darkness seems so thick it can never put out Gods light.

Yesterday afternoon all the girls on the DTS got together to pray about unity.  We had a time of worship and then spent time washing each other's feet. I found that receiving the washing was more humbling than washing the others person feet. Before that we spent some of our lecture time going around telling each other we have each other's back and setting past wrongs right. God is going to do crazy things through our group! Please continue to be praying for the unity of our team, especially as outreach time approaches (only 4 weeks until we are in Cambodia!)

I am off to explore an island near Pattaya now and then we are heading back to Bangkok tonight

Pattaya and the Red Lights

We arrived in Pattaya! The first thing we did when we arrived was head to the beach :) Our living conditions are not as nice as our home but we feel like this is an introduction to ministry time. I thought I was going to have a hard time with the cold showers, ants everywhere thing but it really doesn't bother me that much. I am actually getting really excited about our outreach phase!

Yesterday lectures with John Robinson (read his book called 'Nobody's Child! He was an awesome testimony) were on evangelism. He himself was introduced to Christ when a couple came to him with a sandwich and sat down and talked to him about Jesus' live for him (john was homeless). Our leaders took some time at the end to pray the armor of God over us. So awesome!

After lecture we had a free afternoon so Santy, Val, Andi, Sarah and I went down the street to get lunch. There happened to be a fish eating tank (idk what you call it but it's a tank you put your feet in and little fish eat your dead skin) right next to is. The guy came over and offered us a huge discount so we said let's do it. I have never felt anything so ticklish in my life. We looked like total psychos as we screamed and laughed and carried on. It was great :) After that we headed down to the beach and had a blast trying to ride waves haha.

Last night we got to have dinner while watching the sunset. After that we headed to one of the many of Red Light District streets to do a prayer walk. I was with Rachael (my school leader) and Oy. This RLD is MUCH bigger then the one we went to in Chiang Mai. It made me a little sick seeing what was going on around me. We bought some roses to hand out to some of the girls and the response we got were incredible...some smiled, some looked confused, some looked completely shocked!

The song "God of this city" was written for Pattaya. And I found myself singing that as I walked down the street.

"Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.
You're the God of this City, you're the King of these people, you're The Lord of this nation. You're the Light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless."

Such an awesome song born in a place that seems so lost. I know Greater things are yet to come and be done in this city. Please be praying for Pattaya!

Bangkok International Tens [The world of rugby]

I survived BIT weekend!

Saturday: I co-led the Kids group on Saturday. We had 16 kids (Thai and Cambodian) from our Nak Suu program that were in our group. I led the group with my Thai roommate, Oy, and we had  helpers (1 Malaysian, 2 Cambodian, and 2 Russians). While it was fun it was also chaotic and very stressful. Not only did the kids not listen very well but I couldn't communicate with them and then I had a couple of kids get sick from dehydration and they wouldn't drink water! My helpers were absolutely wonderful but I also had a language barrier with some of them which was sometimes difficult. But at the end of the day we only had the players staying overnight with us (like 10 kids) and we just watched a movie and ate popcorn.

Sunday: I worked at the info table all day. I also got to watch all of the games for our Under 14s, Under 12s, Under 10s, Women's touch, and Men's rugby. I am officially a rugby fan! Seriously, lots of rugby players are giants. seriously. I couldn't how many times in one day I felt like an ant.

During the weekend we had a Russian DTS and 3 guys from Cambodia stay with us. It was hectic how many people were coming in and out of the house! The Russian DTS left this morning and while I loved having them here I am glad to have the house back to normal. Well after 3 hours of cleaning this morning it was back to normal haha. One thing we discovered after having the DTS stay with us is that we are really starting to feel like we are a family. I have really been blessed with a lot of great sisters :)

We leave for Pattaya tomorrow (we are there until Saturday). Our lecture topic is Evangelism and we will be ministering in the Red Light District and have volleyball games on the beach etc. I am excited :) After that only 4 weeks until we leave for outreach!

BIT is almost here!

Life has been busy!
BIT (Bangkok International Tens), a huge rugby tournament, is this weekend so we have been spending a lot of the week preparing. I am leading, along with my Thai roommate Oy, the kids section. Our job to to oversee and help keep the Nak Suu kids who are not playing in the tournament entertained etc on Saturday at the tournament. I am heading up a team of 2 Russians and 2 Cambodians. This weekend will be lots of fun but also super intense (please be praying for cool overcast days like it was today!!)

This week our lecture topic is "Fear of God". Our speaker is from Madagascar and she said the place really is like the movie haha. It was an awesome week and I was stretched and challenged in many ways. I am not just saying that. This week has been tough because I had to make a lot of heart changes. I came to realize how much power the word "yes" holds. Sometimes, instead of saying "no" to our battles it's better to just say "yes" to Jesus...cause He fights our battles. "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, fools despise knowledge and instruction." Proverb 1:7

This week has been full of other activities. Yesterday a DTS from Russia arrived. They are staying with us over the weekend to help with BIT. We have lots of other volunteers coming in and out, it's a little overwhelming having so many people around. It had made living with 11 girls look like nothing! Today I had the privilege of going out to Mexican food with my friend Andi (from Texas). I managed to get us on the bus and on the taxi home without any issues (I had only been to this part of town once). I had my 1st scary taxi driver though. Let's just say that dude knew how to hit the gas pedal. After dinner a couple of girls and I went over to the girls staff house to watch Pride and Prejudice. And...Guess what?! I learned how to crotchet! Well, I am learning how to, can't say I am good enough to make anything worthwhile yet.

So yeah I have a busy weekend ahead of me and then after having Monday off we head to Pattaya for a week! So excited about this!

Prayer requests:
-everyone stays healthy this weekend. Please be praying that I will stay hydrated -
-pray that we will have good weather!
- we all keep positive attitudes
-be praying for our outreach week in Pattaya!

My week

This week went by fast! Our topic was World Issues so we heard from 3 different speakers on 3 subjects (refugees, orphans, and women). The orphans topic took a unique turn; the lady spoke of the importance of keeping kids with their families and saying no to orphanages. The reason for this is that most kids in orphanages here are single orphans (at least one living parent or relative) and their family member gave them up because of poverty. Poverty shouldn't be the reason for a family to be torn apart. On Tuesday we got to spend the lecture time researching our outreach locations and today we had presentations on world issue topics. I was in the refugee presentation group.

Everyone who had been feeling ill at the beginning of the week are all good and no else got sick! Tuesday night was a fun time of hanging out with the kiddos at Lights in the Community. Wednesday was German theme for Community night. We had spaghetti. Apparently spaghetti is a go-to meal for lots of nationalities. It had beef in the sauce!!!! I was so happy about having beef that I ate 4 plates of it. Kinda embarrassing. Last night was small groups; my group had a small campfire and had s'mores! It was fantastic :) LJ and Rene shared a bunch of gross, crazy, slightly scary outreach stories with us (they shared good stuff with us too). I am scared but excited about outreach! Today was Valentines Day and Thailand (and Ark) make a big deal
of the holiday. Our day didn't start until after 8 and the staff made us breakfast: pancakes, eggs, and bacon!! We even had brownies today!!! It was a good day :)

So for my struggle of the week:
At the beginning of the week it was announced that the Music DTS was going to practice in the afternoons so they needed people on the maintenance work duty (all music DTS was on this work duty). They announced who was moving over and that was the end of it...or so I thought. I was informed later on that I had been moved. I had a breakdown. I absolutely loved being on the Hospitality work duty (they plan bdays, make cards etc) and the last thing I wanted was to be moved to Maintenance!  But then God did a heart check on me. I realized that I needed to suck it up and do the job that God had laid before me with a grateful heart. I may not like the job but the question is:am I faithful to the work that God has for me? So I have come to realize that being on Maintenance will be a good character development time for me. With that I will give you my story from today:
Andi and I had to clean out the rubbish bins. The ones that all the inside trash goes into. These bins were, well...disgusting!! The whole time we were cleaning them Andi and I talked about things we are thankful for to keep us in good moods. Andi was cleaning out her bin when she realized what she thought was a clump of rice was moving...it was a pile of larva. Ugh! But I can say that those bins looking wonderfully clean now :)

God continues to work in me and I am so thankful for it!

No turning back

1. I have decided to follow Jesus;
   I have decided to follow Jesus;
   I have decided to follow Jesus;
   No turning back, no turning back.
2. Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
   Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
   Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
   No turning back, no turning back.
3. The world behind me, the cross before me;
   The world behind me, the cross before me;
   The world behind me, the cross before me;
   No turning back, no turning back.
4. Though none go with me, still I will follow;
   Though none go with me, still I will follow;
   Though none go with me, still I will follow;
   No turning back, no turning back.
5. Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
   Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
   Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
   No turning back, no turning back.

No turning back. That has been on my heart since the beginning of my trip. "The cross before me, the world behind me; no turning back". We sang this song in worship today right after a song that repeated "I want more of you, God". I sang that from the bottom of my heart. God has been challenging me a lot in the last month (I have officially been in Thailand for a month!) and while it has been difficult I wouldn't trade these challenges for anything. I know I am going to come back home a different person, especially in my hunger for seeking God :) 

As for my weekend-it was pretty good. I taught English at Nak Suu again. This time I was teaching solo and to a group of teen boys. I was really nervous about it but it went well and I once again realized how much I enjoy working with teens. Saturday night I went to church-it had a college group feel to it. It takes almost an hour to get to this church (finally got to see a different part of Bangkok!)  and on the way home I was in charge of giving the directions to the cab driver. I was able to give the directions all in Thai and he understood me! Granted all I had to say in Thai was "Central Mall, go straight, 2 overpass, and then a handful of turn left and turn right".  But still, I felt accomplished :) I am also almost completely able to communicate with the Nak Suu kids during registration in Thai. While I can say the important phrases and they understand me,  I am still having a hard time understanding them. Sunday was a wonderfully relaxing day (besides the grocery shopping, it's so difficult to get anywhere here). So yeah now Monday is here and our 5th week begins! Our topic is world issues. Today Mr. Steve Good spoke about Refugees. I encourage you to look up refugee stats. We have approx 15.4 million refugees in our world today! That's just refugees for forceabily displaced people it's approx 45.2 million! Please be in prayer for the refugees. 

Another prayer request:

Team members are getting sick again. This time it's all different things: 2 with colds, 2 major nausea, 1 fever. Please be praying for healing and that no one else gets sick! 

Blessings :)

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, and remain with you, this day and forevermore.
 

 Our speaker, Mandy from New Zealand, recited this blessing over us after she gave her last lecture. Awesome blessing huh? :)

 

Mandy is an incredible speaker and I absolutely loved lecture time this whole week! I am growing so much in my relationship with God, my roots are becoming deeper and stronger. During worship today God was telling me "Your life will never be the same again" and I am so happy to hear that! At this point, I still don't know what my next step will be after I get home. So many options come to mind! But I am okay with that, I know God has the ultimate plan and I am going to love it cause it will be an amazing adventure :) Another prayer that has been on my heart is "Break my heart of what breaks Yours, God". I think its pretty cool that the blessing went right along with my prayer :)

 

As for other happenings, the days are really busy with morning exercise, class, work duties, and evening activities. I am starting to feel more comfortable using my basic Thai to "talk" to the kids at "Lights in the Community" on Tuesday nights. Here are some of the sweet kids (we are doing a tiger pose in the first picture):

 For Community Night our theme was China in honor of Chinese New Year. It's always great not having to eat Thai food! Thursday night was small group! We made dinner, BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes! So good! Tonight I had the house to myself for a couple of hours. It was wonderful having a quiet house. Tomorrow morning I have Nak Suu. I am a little nervous because I am teaching a group of 10-14 year old boys English by myself (we have a bigger group coming this week). Prayer appreciated!! While I love my weeks I really do look forward to not having an arranged schedule (and not having to get up at 5:45 am) on the weekends. I am so thankful for the weekend! :)

 

My Outreach Locations!!

My outreach locations...
DRUM ROLL please!!

CAMBODIA
March 29-April 18

THAILAND (for a kids camp)
April 19-28

DARJEELING, INDIA
April 29-May 25

MALAYSIA
May 26-June 6

Then back to Thailand until My graduation on June 11th!

I am so excited!! Darjeeling is in the border of Nepal and Bhutan and is in the mountains so the weather should be really nice! We don't know what type of ministry we will be doing yet but I do know that we get to wear traditional Indian clothing, which is pretty cool :) I am so ecstatic!! :D

We also get to go on a mini outreach to Pattaya, Thailand for a week at the end of this month! We will be reaching out to the prostitutes there. Cool story: The song "God of this City" (made famous by Chris Tomlin but written by Blue Tree) was written in Pattaya. The band ministered in the Red light district and was invited to play worship music in a bar. They did a set and then started playing freely and God gave them the song "God of this City". I think it's awesome that I get to be in the city the song was meant for!!  

This weeks lectures have been amazing...our topic is Intercession and Spiritual Warfare! I love getting so see how powerful my Savior is and how much He wants to me to be a part in praying for others! There is no one like our God :)

Nak Suu Pictures

 Teaching English with Amanda

 Love these girls...(side note: I look so white in this picture!)

 This kid made his own armor #creative

 This is Kanye, the 2nd son of my DTS leaders.

He has got to be the most observant and funniest kids alive.