Gone Fishing - Two Days of Activity

The days are beginning to run together, so processing what we did on what day is getting more difficult, and all food is beginning to taste like fish. Friday morning was mostly prep work for the first leg of the Youth Camp tonight. We were unsure as to how much response we would get, so we thought we would “drum up some business.” We went to the Secondary School in Leong Nok Tha (the community near Ban Yea). This campus is huge! They have over 2500 students in 7th-12th grade. We just showed up and headed to the English department. The teachers were gracious and welcomed us in. Some of our team chatted with teachers while the rest of us mingled with students. Most were nervous around us, some were openly friendly, but all were courteous and acted happy to see us. We made some contacts and invited those we spoke with to come out, plus we received an invite to go back to the secondary school to do some conversational English with the classes. That was a new addition to our agenda, and will be fun.

The afternoon included final preparation for the camp plus visiting with the area missionary, Tony. He has been a joy to visit with as he is near my age and we have much in common. Friday night camp was fun. We had around 45-50 kids show up, most of whom we spoke with at school earlier. As I have mentioned, I am a pretty structured person, but this camp is very fluid. Kids were still very shy during ESL exercises, and most have had very little conversational English, so there was a lot of giggles and silence. So, I just showed off the pics of my girls and beautiful wife which seemed to break down barriers.

Rojena, again was pretty amazing. He really connects well with the kids and speaks their heart language. Even though we have some folks that speak the language, we are still farang. Just about all of the kids, made indication that they were interested in receiving Christ, but these are teens and likely to follow the crowd. The experienced folks say the conversions are not likely genuine unless they want to be baptized which is a huge step. Most feel that this is just the foreigners' religion and they are being polite. We will see how many come tomorrow.

Shooting from the Hip and Playing the Fifth Wheel

Today had an early start... a little early for my taste. My body, although in need of sleep, seems to think it is time to wake at odd hours. I woke at a little before 4am. I don't know if it is jet lag or what, but I was wide awake at 4am.

Today was a busy day with a lot of interaction with many people from the village, Ban Yea. First, we visited the local public school to do a few English games with the kids. They were very gracious. We show up know little of what to expect, and so I feel a little awkward waiting to be told what to do by the “experienced” folks. As our team was introduced, the kids were fascinated with me being a singer, so I was the first up. I sang a short song, and then taught them “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” The kids seemed to have fun as did I. Then I was asked to do some other English-learning games. None of this I was really prepared for, but I enjoyed it none the less. I felt useful.

Later in the day, we went by the village to look around, prayer walk, and begin building interest in the coming evening Christmas party. We walk around saying hello to a very gracious people who were always quick to stop what they were doing, smile and “Sa-wa-dee” right back their hellos. We also walked through the local Wat (which is a Buddhist temple). Later, we hosted a Christmas party for the villagers. We had a large number of folks show up for the festivities. Pastor Rojena, a local pastor that we have been working with for follow up was in charge. He really did a great job interacting with the kids. The folks that showed up enjoyed gifts, music, dancing (by the “Farong” (foreigners aka the white Americans) although with snippets from the Jesus film sprinkled with testimonies from other locals. Woven through the whole evening was the Gospel. I felt a little like a fifth wheel- a little unneeded, but I did have fun building interest by handing out candy to the kids. I was quickly identified as the candy man.

Please pray that the seeds planted tonight will grow and produce fruit.

Happy Birthday to me...

How many people get to go to Thailand for their birthday, how cool is that? After some much needed (albeit short) rest. We had breakfast in Bangkok this morning, lunch on the road by a lake at the foot of a mountain (very tasty!) and dinner waiting on us when we arrived at our lodging. It has been a cool birthday.

I decided to spend the entire two weeks in the book of Acts, I was reading chapter 12 this morning and found a verse that really reinforced what I spoke of in my post above. Peter is in a jam, rather he is in jail. The Lord does an amazing escape and rescue of Peter that is the stuff sci-fi movies are made of, and here is this amazing verses 5, “...but the church was praying earnestly to God for him.”

Church keep up those prayers, we have got some big time battle to do here and the battle is not ours, the battle belongs to the Lord. Larry & On had a conversation with the local monk who the way they described him is the like the Don on Godfather. He controls many things, and he specifically told them they don't need us, they don't need God, “I am god!” Pray for this head man, pray that God will break strong holds. Thank you for your prayers thus far.

Travel Woes or WooHoo's?

I tend to be an organizer and like having the answers to most logistics lined up. However, I learned in my youth ministry years that trying to have your ducks in a row is fine, unless you become obsessed with straight ducks. But, sometimes your ducks get kicked out of line.

Our trip started with an hour delay on a stuffy plane due to icy wings, the plane was packed (so little room to get up and stretch on a long 14 hour first leg of our flight), I had had little sleep earlier that week prior (all sorts of reasons), we finally arrive 22 hours later in Bangkok, only to learn the luggage for three of us (mine included) was nowhere to be found, and the 8+ hours van ride to our final destination in northeast was... well a little interesting. My first response is “oh, man not another thing!” However, the Lord gently reminded me of a verse in Hebrews, “Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus...” (Hebrews 12:2)

He is in control of all of this trip, and that we are not only for God to do a work through us, but also in us. There is no way we can do this without God. He is the changer of hearts! Pray that He changes lots of of hearts this trip... including ours!

Sweet-Suite and Bitter-Sweet Goodbyes

1/5/09
It has been amazing how God has worked in providing the means for our trip. I love Hotwire.com! We got a sweet deal on a suite at DFW airport – less than $60! It was really nice being able to sleep to 5AM instead of 3AM in order to make our flight and get to kiss the girls goodbye. Passage through the gate was uneventful.

Of course pray for all the girls, but please especially pray for Melody, this trip absence. She has taken this a little harder than expected, but I told her this morning, that as much as she loves her Daddy, God loves the Isaan more, and because of that His Son Jesus had to leave for a while. Of course, as a six year old she mainly understands that her Daddy was gone, but I saw in her eyes, that she did understand. Pray that the light comes on for the Isaan.

Final Preparations... Pray, Pray, Pray

The first part of our team left for Thailand today. Please pray for Larry & On as they travel. They will begin the groundwork logistics necessary for our work while there. Also, continue to pray that God would prepare the hearts of those we come in contact with next week, as well as, our own that God would do His work in us and that we would receive whatever comes our way with joy.

We have already begun to see some resistance and interferences before we have even left. Our pastor and team leader, made a quick run with our youth and others to do a short missions construction project on a new orphanage in Mexico. He had to be flown back due to a severe stomach bug he was getting before he left. Pray for his strength to return to make the flight on Monday. We have seen political turmoil in Bangkok that shut down the airport we fly in to. Prayers went up and that is history, but me thinks that our trip will yield much fruit or the enemy wouldn't be working so hard to thwart us.

One more thing, please pray for our exchange student from Thailand. Polly got word from her mom that her grandmother was sick. She over-medicated herself and is now in the hospital. Perhaps our team can connect with her and minister to her while passing through Bangkok.

I have begun my mental preparation for packing and such, and find myself a little anxious mostly about the flight itself. It will be the longest flight I have ever made. almost 24 hours in air-- yuck. The rest of the trip I have little or no concern about... I am guessing mostly because I know so little, I don't even know what to "worry" about. In this case, ignorance is bliss. This will also be the longest I have been away from my family, I know I will miss them dearly, perhaps I can do some creative packing?

I am taking my laptop, so I will try to post often... assuming I will have Internet access. I may have to post several days at one time. Ah, yet another unknown... Thank you for your prayers.

Quick Isaan Facts of Interest

Thought you might like to get to know the people you are praying for a little more. I gleaned these tidbits from the IMB missionary's newsletter:

a. 18 million Isaan people , less than .5% Christian (mostly folk Buddhist)

b. Over 80% of Isaan are rural farmers, and Isaan is the poorest region of Thailand. While more of the Isaan in the cities are university educated, they along with most Isaan would rather learn orally as opposed to study something from a book. Pray for wisdom and workers to start multiplying Isaan churches.

c. The American military flew their bombing raids from air force bases in the Isaan region during the Vietnam War. Americans are still respected by Isaan/Thailand because of this.

As our team has met this month, we continue to discuss the challenge of sharing the gospel with a predominately oral learning / story-telling culture. Please pray that as we continue to prepare the wordless gospel skits, that our actions will be clearly understood. Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of those we will be with. Right now in the midst of much political angst, God has been harvesting many souls within this people.

One final note, thanks to God and His generous people, the funds I need have been provided. Thank you!