Weekend

So this past week marked our first month of being here. We are nearly a third of the way through our time here in Thailand; how is it possibly going this fast? 
Anyway,this was a really long weekend, but it was full of fun, learning, and, encouragement. Precaution: This may be a really long, confusing, entry.  But I’m going to try to be concise and get across my meanings with as few words as possible. First, what we did this weekend. Friday we got to go to a slum community and go to a cell group meeting that Pii Bei is trying to start. There were about 6 or 7 local people there, along with a baby and a little girl. They were either brand new Christians, or interested in Christianity, which was really cool to get to see. We had dinner with them, all sitting on the floor in a circle. It was just so “Thai”. I love how we get to see real life here; not many people are interested in putting on a show for us, they are just genuine. Anyway, during the devotional part, Pii Bei asked us to share with the group why we maintained a relationship with God when bad things happened. I was glad I had a second to think about it before I had to answer. It’s not that I doubt God, or my faith in Him. But I needed to come up with a short, concise, easily  translatable answer, within a few seconds. Jeremiah 29:11-13 popped in my head as I thought about this, and that’s pretty much what I based my answer around. I told them that I know that God has a plan for me, even if I don’t know exactly what that plan is. But He promised to be faithful, and I trust Him. I need to cling to the promise that God has a plan for my life, even when things aren’t going well, or if I’m not content with what’s going on. I have no idea if anyone even understood what I was saying, but I ended up really appreciating the question; it was a good reminder of why I still trust God. Why I still try to follow Him when bad stuff happens. I don’t want to have a relationship with Him in which I turn away every time something happens that seems bad. He is way too awesome, merciful, and loving for that. Anyway, we finished up the cell group, and took a couple of pictures with them, and then headed home. We ended up in a taxi with a guy who really wanted to talk, and Alan ended up getting the opportunity to witness to him the whole way home, which was really cool. On Saturday, we woke up super early, and went to help out at a school that was having an English camp. There were probably about 100 kids there, and they had 6 stations set up with different themes for learning English terms and sentences. I helped at the cooking station, where we made a lot of somtum (Papaya Salad). That was a lot of fun, and then we got to head over to Ekkamai 30, to do more English teaching where we have been going on Saturdays. There were 15 kids in this little tiny garage, so we split them up, and had a really good time teaching. We were in there for about 2 hours, and then headed over to Alan and Lynette’s for dinner and games and bedtime. Alan and Lynette gave the three of us the opportunity to ask anything we wanted about life as a missionary family, missionary wife, or female missionary. It was so cool to hear about how Lynette balanced ministry with family, and how she was able to be a fantastic mother to her kids, a loving wife, and also a helpmate to a missionary with a lot of energy. Such a cool lady. Then Sunday, yesterday, came along. We went to church, and had a lot of fun. I love how accepting the people are here; they are willing to have a good time with anyone who is willing to try to break the communication barrier. Then we went to the dedication of the new church building, where we toured the new building, and sang some songs, and then they did a really cool thing. They handed everybody a permanent marker, and asked the write a prayer, verse, prophesy, or blessing over the church on the sidewalk around the building. I wrote the blessing that God had Moses say over the Israelites in Numbers 4: 24-27 “The Lord bless and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. So He will put His name upon His people and He will bless them.” After that, we all walked back together, and hung out at the Johnson’s house for about an hour before heading over to Bandan for more English teaching. We were in that community for about 3 hours, then headed home at about 8. Needless to say, its been a long weekend; but very productive and quite enjoyable.


P.S. I've heard rumors that it's not letting anyone post comments. Trying to figure that one out. Sorry!