Eternal Joy

What a week this has been!  When Fleur said that India ministry was going to be full on she was NOT kidding! From Tuesday through Friday our whole team had some of the hardest manual labor any of us have experienced in a long time from 8am in the morning until 1pm or 2pm.  We laid the foundation for a church by shoveling up bricks, rocks and sand into buckets that we as a team lifted up and brought across the way to the land that needed to be leveled.  The first day was really fun just because it was so different than anything we had done thus far during outreach.  Yet as the week went on and each day we became more and more sore, we really had to search out God for his strength.  It is a good thing that as Christians our joy is not reliant on the circumstances we are in but should be consistent even when times get tough!  The next few days we continued to shove rock and then spread dirt by hand across the large area needed for building the church.  While shoveling we found many different bugs including a poisonous centipede as well as 3 different SNAKES (some enjoyed this find more than others).  We actually burnt one of the snakes that may or may not have been poisonous haha.  The ending product was great but I think that all of us will agree that our sore bodies are definitely happy for a little break!

After the manual labor each day we had a couple hours off in the afternoon to shower and rest and then around 5pm every day we were off again to more ministry.  On Tuesday we went to an orphanage where we did a performance much like the first one we did except because it was at night, we had to battle against random power outages.  This is something that India is very known for and not a rare experience.  The kids were VERY well behaved and loved to laugh and play with us!  The orphanage was such a blessing to visit and all of us agreed that even though we were tired and didn't get home until 10pm when we had dinner, we LOVED the  ministry we were involved with! 

Wednesday during the late afternoon we met the pastor of City Rock church here in Chennai with about 20 of his guys from church and just hung out and talked with them.  Though most of them were christian there were a few who were either Muslim or Hindu and one of the guys on our team Jason was able to share with a Muslim guy about the whole story of the Jesus.  Though he had hung out with these guys, he had never really heard or known who Jesus was.  At the end, Jason was able to tell one of the pastors who was a part of that church and they got him a Bible.  God is so good to allow us to have blessed interaction such as this!  After hanging out for a couple hours with these guys we traveled to a few different houses to pray for some of the boys families who either were not christian or just needed prayer.  What a blessing that JUST because we are white westerners, we have the ability to walk into a completely Hindu house and even though we are Christians we are welcomed with open arms and able to pray to God for their family!

Thursday was staff day which means that us students were in charge.  We went to another orphanage which was pretty small.  Only 22 kids ranging from ages 5 to 18 and did an hour and a half performance.  Again these kids were extremely well behaved and respected their "Aunties" (just a respectful word for women older than them).  The performance went great even though all of us were EXTREMELY tired and worn out from all the days of hard labor.  The skits were really funny and the kids loved the games.  We wish that we could have spent more time with all of them because of how well we connected with them!  Friday night we went to the beach to hang out and play sports with over 30 young adults who were from this City Rock church we have been doing ministry with.  It was fun to have made relationships and be able to see them again.  We all had such a good time playing soccer, volleyball, and Frisbee.  They were so willing to talk about what they believed and what a blessing that most of them spoke English very well!  Not all of the students were christian and actually a few of us were able to have conversations with non Christians telling them about our testimonies and how the Lord has affected our own lives. 

Saturday was a planning day and then Sunday we were told we needed to preach at a church which Solveig stepped up to the plate and preached wonderfully about the Holy Spirit.  Yet in India and Thailand we have found that we need to be extremely flexible!  Arriving at church we found out that we are supposed to have an hour long Sunday school for little kids as well!  I love that our team handled this with such grace!  Thanks to singing and dancing and bible stories we were able to pull it off!  Thank you Lord!  Then on Sunday night all of us girls were very excited to find out that we got to dress up in Saree's and go to the very first Indian Gospel Music Awards!  As you can tell by the pictures it was the first time most of us had worn make up in MONTHS and actually taken time to look decent!  Such a fun break from the manual labor and sweating we were used to!  All in all we were VERY tired this week, but also feel great about what the Lord enabled us to get done!  By his strength alone were we able to survive!  Very excited about this next week and seeing God's kingdom come!

Hello India!

Well we have made it to India!  Lots and lots of traveling getting us to this point.  Thailand was so amazing and we could not have been more blessed with the accomodations that Pastor Sanguin's family offered us!  It was very difficult to say goodbye but we will all hold them close to our hearts!

As for India, though most of us were culture shocked the second we stepped off the plane, we are now very excited and getting more accostomed to the Indian way of life (very different than the Thai life we had become a little used to)!  The Indian people are awesome and full of life.  Not only do they look full of life with their amazing colored punjabis and saris but their vibrant personalities match their outfits!  We are so blessed to have such an amazing place to live while we are here and the family has been nothing but hospitable and loving towards us!  The first few days our main contact Joshua gave us some time to recooperate and get ready for ministry.  Our first ministry was working with an orphanage.  What an introduction to the Indian culture through these kids who were SO full of life and wanting anyone and everyone's attention.  We played games and they played jokes on us like asking for a high five and then taking it away before we got there (one of their favorite jokes) haha.  After playing we did a performance that had games, songs, and skits with some basic messages.  The performance looked similar to that of Thailand but these kids were MUCH louder and needed to be active!  When we said we were playing freeze dance there was NO hesitation and they never wanted to quit! They all had a very Balliwood type of dancing and all of us westerners tried our best to join in!

Later that night, we were blessed enough to be asked to speak and run a bible study at a house in a poor part of Chennai.  What a blessing to get to share things that we have learned as well as experience the life and passion that the Indian people have with the Holy Spirit.  Today being Sunday, we got to go to a church and not only be a part of but also preach, sing and do our savior drama in front of the whole church.  One of the many things that is very different in Indian churches compared to most western churches is that Indian people love to sing!  I think we worshipped for a FULL hour straight and no one was tired.  Clapping hands with an Intense Love for Jesus!  That night Cari preached at an English speaking church (So weird to not have a translator) and we did our Savior Drama and a few songs!  Basically the whole team is doing great so far and we cannot wait to see all that God has in store for us these next few weeks! 

Our team would love continued prayer for sickness as it has still been happening within our team and just strength as we continue to treck on through this journey.  God is our strength and we feel your prayers every day!  God bless you all!  

See you soon Thailand!

It is amazing to see the affects of prayer!  This last week was our very last week here in Thailand and all of us were just really feeling like we needed to dive into more prayer for a deeper connection with the people we were ministering to even though there was an extreme Language difference.  One day in the back of the pastor's truck we all sat for a little over an hour and just prayed and gave our relationships with the people in ministry into God's hands (we all were laughing because we felt like God was saying "Finally!  IT is about time!" haha).  The day after this happened an extreme change in the connection with people changed!  God is so good and merciful even when we as humans seem to not even get the simple things!

This week started off with our day off (every Monday is our day off) and BOY did we have an adventure!  We got to RIDE ELEPHANTS in THAILAND!  We all agreed that it was one of the most amazing experiences ever!  Pastor took us up into the hills where there was this one hill tribe that was actually almost all christian and they ran this elephant riding business.  We all got to ride for an hour through the hills and rice fields.  Breath taking beauty all around us and we were even allowed to ride on the head of the elephant for a little while instead of just having to stay on the chairs on their back the whole time!  We all felt so blessed to have this opportunity!  Tons of pictures!  After that we headed to the hill tribe pastors house where he had a HUGE anaconda snake!  Of course our whole team had to hold this as well because we were now accomplished elephant riders, how could we turn down a GIANT snake?  This tribe of people were amazing individuals who really displayed God's character!  Needless to say this was a DAY TO REMEMBER!

Tuesday and Wednesday we taught and ran an English camp for about 40, 13-18 year olds who were a part of a center where Ying worked (the pastor's wife who we are living with).  We got to teach things like verbs, nouns, adjectives, common phrases, and penmanship.  These kids were so eager to learn and really did remember tons of information we through at them!  Most of us had never experienced teaching but truly felt blessed at seeing the kids progress in their understanding of English.  We felt such a strong connection with these kids and were able to get many of the kids emails and of course they always said "Facebook Facebook" haha so we had to give them our names for that!  We are probably going to have like 80 friend requests by the time we get home, but oh well it is worth it!  By the end of the camp they had all made Thank You Notes for all of us for teaching them English.

Thursday was a nice break from waking up early in the morning because are ministry was at night.  During the morning we took time to plan and have team time where we got to pray for each other and worship and pray.  This is a much needed time in the week because of how much you are constantly pouring out, we have made such an emphasis on daily quiet time so that we are not trying to pour out of our own strength.  Christ is the only one that can sustain us!  That night we went to this Community Center for women in a more rural area.  This tribe had only 2 Christians in the WHOLE VILLAGE!  When we got there, the building was right next door to a Buddhist temple with monks walking around everywhere.  Many of us felt the heaviness of Buddhism at every corner of this town, but God was so protecting of us!  We got to do a performance for them including a gospel message.  The pastor did not want us to do an altar call because they were very focused on a long term relational ministry with this community center.  The performance went well and many of us felt that the Savior drama we did was the best it had ever been!  After the performance we did this "work out" with the woman, which consisted of dancing in a circle for about an hour.  You would be surprised how tired all of us were after this experience!  After dancing the only christian in town had ALL of us over for supper and cooked us a FEAST!  We were all amazed at how this one little lady could produce so much food for us!  I will tell you one thing, Thai people really have the whole serving others and treating others as better than yourself DOWN!  They are amazing hospitable people that don't even eat until after their guests are done!  We are continually blessed!  Please keep this christian lady in your prayers as she has no community but is still looking to further God's kingdom!

Friday and Saturday we taught and ran another English camp in the hills at this Compassion center where the kids who are supported by Compassion sponsors gathered.  There were probably 80 kids ranging from age 8 to 20.  Though there were so many children, they were extremely well behaved and the leaders of this center were truly inspiring individuals!  We taught all kinds of things like verbs, parts of the bodies, days of the week, colors, games, songs, hygiene and many more.  The second day a group of us were even able to help clip the kids finger nails and wash lice out of their hair (we are all praying that we ourselves don't have it).  This camp ran extremely smooth even though it was from 8am to 4pm God gave us the needed energy to keep up with these little fire crackers!  They were all eager to be loved on and often members of our team had kids literally hanging on them.  At the end of the two days we were able to pray with them and challenge them more with believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  When Pastor Sanguin gave the altar call for who wanted to accept Christ nearly all of them raised their head (though I think most of them had already accepted Christ but just wanted to do it again).  They are such a blessing to us and all agree that if you are thinking about supporting a child, Compassion is the one to do it with!  They really place God at the center and take SUCH good care of these kids!

Sunday (today) is our last day of ministry where we are in charge of running pastor Sanguin's church and then are going to a family's house who wanted to bless us with lunch.  Then we are just cleaning up and getting ready to head back to Bangkok.  It is amazing how fast this time has gone and all of us are EXTREMELY sad t leave the Sanguin family and Thailand!  We have loved it and have had our eyes opened.  These next few days we will be doing HEAPS of traveling so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we start this adventure towards India.  Sickness is subsiding so thank you so much for your prayers for that!  Unity in the team has been awesome!  Please pray for our team as we are going to be making a HUGE culture change from Thailand to India.  Pray that God would continue to be present with us in ministry and prepare the hearts of those we are going to meet.  Please pray for the Sanguin family and their church here in Chang Rai.  They have blessed us above and beyond and I pray that they would feel just as blessed by us and that God would let their ministry flourish!  Thank you so much for all of the prayer and support we receive from all of you who read on a daily basis.  We are sooo grateful!

Adventures of Week 2!

Wow!  Another week already finished!  These days and weeks seem to be flying by with amazing speed!  After the first week of jumping from Hill top tribe to hill top tribe we were all thankful to be sleeping in the same place for a couple of nights in a row.  We all have such amazing memories from those hill top tribes and the people that we were able to minister to!  Keep them in your thoughts and prayers that God would keep meeting them where they are at.  Even though they have little to nothing (often not even electricity or running water) they are so content and joyful with what the Lord HAS provided for them (They are the most hospitable people you will ever meet)!

As for this week we FINALLY had our complete team with us here in Thailand!  Praise the Lord for instant unity and no weird feelings of being separated.  Since Monday is always our day off I will start with Tuesday, which was our first full day of ministry together this week.  Tuesday we had most of the day off to prepare for that night when we were traveling to yet another tribe about 30 minutes from our house, except this time was a really neat opportunity because it wasn't just us encouraging a church but we were doing a performance for a group of non-Christians!  As we drove up we were greeted by children and pigs and chickens as well as the loving women of the tribe.  They set out large rice bag mats which we would soon find out was our stage.  It was a simple performance with a few dramas and testimonies.  At the end we did what we call, "The Savior Drama" and then Solveig shared a gospel message after.  At the end we asked if anyone would like to accept Christ into their hearts.  FIVE adults and a couple children raised their hands!  What a blessing!  We were able to pray with them all as well as pray for some of the individuals with illness.  Thank you Lord for your provision!

The next day the staff took their first staff day, leaving us students to take ownership of ministry.  Pastor Sanguin took us to the local hospital where we were each placed into groups of 3 Thai and then one of us students.  Each group was designated a different floor of the hospital.  We would then knock on each door and ask if we could pray for them.  Even through the language barrier all of us agreed that it was such a special time.  A few of us even had situations where the patients knew a little English and we were able to talk to them.  With all of the groups combined we were able to pray for 146 ROOMS throughout the day!  The hospital staff was incredibly welcoming and were ecstatic to have us there.  I think we felt just as blessed as they did!

Most of Thursday was spent traveling between houses of individuals in Pastor Sanguin's church who though were Christians either worked on Sundays in the rice fields or lived to far away to make ti to service.  We prayed for each individual and just spent time letting them know how much they still meant to the church!  One of the families made a huge impact on us in the sense that there was one girl in the family who said she was christian yet her family was not.  When we got there the girl wasn't even there but the family welcomed us with open arms.  They showered us with gifts of their rice and bananas (which are INCREDIBLE!) and allowed us to pray for them.  Even though they are not Christians their hearts to serve and to bring the Kingdom were amazing!  We will continue to pray a blessing over this family!

Friday was an early morning for us all.  The family that we are staying with have a son named Prom who is in Kindergarten and part of our agenda today was to go to his school and do a performance for over 200 kids.  We did funny performances like "The Doctor Skit", we performed David and Goliath and the Savior drama.  The kids were a great audience and so fun to perform in front of!  After that we had what Bethany has designated an "outreach moment" haha.  These moments are those awkward moments on the trip where you just have to laugh.  After the school we headed to the same hospital we had prayed before.  When we got there they had told us that we were supposed to do some dramas right in the middle of the waiting room.  Now this in itself is a little awkward but bearable.  Well it gets worse!  All of our dramas have background music, but we were informed that we needed to perform all of these dramas without music or talking and without anyone telling people in the waiting room what was going on.  We did about 4 performances and then just had to laugh after each one and trust that God had a plan and will follow through.  Quite the experience!

Saturday, we performed and helped out with a Woman's Retreat for a local church.  We did dramas and testimonies and worship songs throughout the day and just encouraged the local church.  We were at this retreat from 8am til about 1:30pm and then Pastor decided to bless us with a little bit of site seeing!  We went to this temple called the "White Temple" which is incredibly appropriate and looks much like the castle out of the movie Narnia.  It was definitely an interesting place.  It was sooo beautiful on the outside yet when we walked in it was very strange to see that the walls were all decorated with superheros and movie characters and demonic figures and many other strange things... haha.  After taking a few pictures there we went to a waterfall that was close by.  It was about a 45 minute hike in straight RED MUD haha and it was such a beautiful jungle walk.  Tons of bamboo and palm tree and just green everywhere you looked!  When we finally got to the waterfall it was WELL worth it!  We all stood at the bottom and got SOAKED with the water that sprayed off of the falls.  We were seriously feet from the waterfall.  Not many of us have ever experienced anything like this.  Amazing!

All in all this week was an incredible time of ministry and fun!  We are looking forward to this next week which is our LAST week in Thailand!  Can you believe it?  Then off to India!  God has provided so much for us throughout this trip!  Especially through Pastor Sanguin and his family!  We could not be more blessed by this family, please pray that God would continue to bless their lives.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  We feel them every day!  A few requests would just be for sickness that has been going around our team (colds nothing serious), for strength for this final push in Thailand, that whatever ministry we are helping with this week God would use us to bring the kingdom.  Thank you so much!