Summer in Thailand

Hello Everyone!! This is Dora! We apologize for not sending out a March blog update, but we thought since there is so much to report on, we would just send one blog to cover March and April! Sorry it’s a little long, but it’s been an exciting couple of months! The next blog will be at the end of May. Here’s what’s in store:

            Natalie!

            Academic Camp for Roi Et Students

            Visitors

            We’re Not in Kentucky Anymore!

            Goals

            Prayer Requests

           

Natalie!

            As you all know, on March 13, Natalie Paige made her debut! It’s hard to believe that she’s already a month old! It has been quite an adjustment for us, and it was pretty hard at first. THANK YOU to all who prayed for us and sent encouraging messages and emails. I can’t tell you how much your encouraging words meant to us both. The anxiety I was struggling with morphed into some depressive feelings for a couple of weeks, but that has all gone away now! Praise God! It was really great to have the students here for camp because I could go downstairs and talk with them or teach them music lessons and it would take my mind of any feelings of sadness that I had. We are still adjusting to how to live life with a child, but things are much better than they were. She’s a really sweet baby, and sleeps really well at night. God has truly blessed us. She loves “tummy time,” and is getting better and better about holding up her head. Every day she seems to do something new, and now she smiles and coos at us. She has a mobile with three stuffed bears, and it seems to be her favorite thing in the world. Every time we turn it on she smiles and “talks” to it! It’s so fun to watch. Thanks again for praying us through the toughest adjustment in our lives!

As many of you know, my parents had the opportunity to be here when Natalie was born. It was so amazing having them here! They got here on March 6^th , and we expected her to be born around the 8^th. Since she wasn’t born until the 13^th, we had a whole week to do a little bit of sightseeing around Bangkok. We did a LOT of walking to various parks, temples, restaurants, and markets. Then, they got to spend a whole week with their first grandchild! They were a huge help to us in our first week as parents, and we hated to see them go!

Here are a few pictures of her first month of life! Click here to see more!!

From Chris: Learning Parenthood-The First Big Baby Scare

I never knew I could be affected so deeply by the hurts and problems of someone so small.  About three weeks ago, we put Natalie down for a nap at about 7 PM so we could watch a movie on our day off. When I got her out of her crib to check on her at about 9:30, she had little ants all over the crux of her left eye. I was completely freaked out and started blowing them off as fast as I could. It turns out that the prolific ants in Thailand are attracted to baby tears. There is nothing we can do to stop the crazy onslaught of ants in a tropical country, so we just have to be very careful about how we take care of this little girl. The skin next to her eye got a little infected, so we took her to the doctor to get some antibiotic ointment. After freaking out over Natalie's sore next to her eye caused by ant bites, I broke down over the onsetting realization that there are so many life adjustments we have to make to keep our daughter safe in this new life of ours. This really is an incredibly daunting task, but we have an incredible God to lean on! 

Academic Camp for Roi Et Students

            Every March, the Muang Thai Church in Bangkok hosts a group of students from Roi Et at a month-long academic camp. Students study chemistry, physics, math, and art in the mornings with several university students from around Bangkok, and they study English in the afternoon with the group of us who teach up in Roi Et. In the past, there have been somewhere between 50 and 60 students attending camp, but this year there were only 27. At first I was a little discouraged that we had less students this time around, but it ended up being really great. Having a smaller group really allowed us to get to know the students much better and give them more individualized attention in English class, music lesson time, and in general “hang out” time. It’s been a super busy month with getting used to life with Natalie, trying to teach and minister to students, and Chris’ brother Hunter coming to visit, but we’ve had a blast!!

To see more pictures from camp, click here!!

             The theme of this year’s camp was “I Was Born to Be….” Each morning, the students listened to someone share about what it means to be a good child, a good student, a good teacher, a good friend, a good citizen, and a child of God. Throughout the camp, students were encouraged to think about the kind of person they currently are, and the kind of person that they want to be someday.

            The basic schedule of camp consists of the students waking up to eat breakfast, then spending an hour playing games, watching a skit, singing praise songs, and listening to a short teaching time. Chris faithfully got up every morning to go play guitar for the worship time with the students. We also helped teach during this morning session a few times. I taught one morning about what it means to be a good citizen of the world and I specifically focused on recycling. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a subject that is very close to my heart! I really felt like I was led to talk about how we can show love, justice, and mercy to other citizens of the world through how we treat the earth. 

            Chris spoke on another morning about what it means to be a child of God. He focused on the fact that no matter how much we try, we can never be a good friend, student, child, citizen, or teacher without the Holy Spirit. He shared about how faith in God and the help of the Holy Spirit working in us is what makes us a good friend, etc. There was a lot to share on this topic, so we carried it over to another day when we both taught together. We shared stories from our own lives and the lives of our friends about how God has empowered us all to be good friends, children, citizens, etc. We tried to communicate it well in Thai, and the students seemed pretty interested.

Teaching English: Games, Music, and All-Around Fun Times

            After the morning session, the students would go study chemistry, math, biology, physics, or art for three hours in the morning. After lunch they would go study English with either Chris, Lila, or another couple from a nearby college ministry. Chris taught the students in 10^th-12^th grade, while Lila taught the 7^th-9^th graders. Each day, they planned lessons out of the textbook series that we use to teach, but they would make them a lot more fun! Each part of every lesson came with a game in which students had to practice listening and speaking (and sometimes reading and writing). Some of the games that Chris had the students play included “Cops and Robbers,” “Swap, Steal, or Bust,” “Name That Country/Nationality,” and “I Have Never.” I won’t go into the explanations of these games, but they were really fun and gave the students lots of great practice in English (if you want an explanation, feel free to write us!). 

             Chris also discovered how much the kids loved to learn English praise songs, so he taught about 5 different songs over the course of the month. Each class, he would play them on his guitar for the students to sing along. It was a great language exercise as the students practiced listening comprehension skills when Chris explained the lyrics in English, and it spawned great spiritual discussions as Chris unpacked the more difficult concepts in Thai. The kids weren't satisfied with a day of English class if they didn't get to sing for at least 45 minutes, and they always sang so loud that I could hear them from our bedroom where I was staying with Natalie!

              Each weekend, the students would go sightseeing around Bangkok. The last Saturday of camp was Sports Day, in which the students participate in all kinds of crazy sports including Chair Ball (basketball on a grass field with people holding the baskets while standing on chairs), Water Balloon Volleyball, Dit Gup (they throw shows at each other to try to get everyone else out), Fear Factor (eat whatever is on the plate in front of you), etc.! It was a very fun day!

Music Lessons 

            Chris and I also spent a large part of our time teaching music lessons to the students in the evening. Chris taught guitar, saxophone, and flute, and I taught piano and violin. The music students are amazing!! They practice all the time and learn very quickly! We had already been teaching a few of these students in Roi Et, but several of them just started taking lessons at camp. We hope to continue teaching all of these students when we return to the northeast. It’s so fun to teach such motivated people!

 Wednesday Nights at Camp-Hearts and Hurts are Revealed

            Every Wednesday night at camp, the students were involved in a Bible study session. Each week, someone from the Muang Thai Church would come teach for about an hour, then the students would split into small groups to talk about the speaker’s topic and share a little bit about their lives. Each session ended with a prayer time. I participated in this time with students for three weeks. The first week, I facilitated one of the groups, which was really hard because they were speaking in both Thai and Issan. I don’t understand Issan at all, and the Thai words they were using were words that I’m not familiar with yet. The speaker that night had shared about forgiving others who had wronged you or someone close to you, and the students shared experiences they had when it was hard to forgive someone. It was hard on me because I really wanted to be able to understand them, but I couldn’t! One girl even started crying and I felt bad because I couldn't help.

             The next week, we combined two of the small groups so that I could help facilitate a group with our teammate Kat. This was much better! I actually did understand quite a bit more than I did the week before, and Kat helped fill in the gaps for me. On that night, the speaker had spoken about how we sometimes have something missing in our lives and we try to fill it with what the world has to offer when we should be filling it with Jesus. During the small group time, the students shared about what they felt was missing in their lives. One girl talked about how she needed money to help pay off her parents’ debt. Another girl talked about how she has no close friends, only acquaintances. Around 4 or 5 students spoke about how they long to know their parents. Many of you may remember us talking about how the majority of children in Issan live with their grandparents or other family members because their parents have to move to Bangkok or other large cities to find work. I have known this was the case for a while, but it really hit home when the students were talking about how much they struggle with this reality. One girl talked about how her father had visited her at the camp several times, and although she was grateful to see him, she felt like he was a stranger. She wanted to be able to connect, but found it hard to figure out what to say. Others talked about how they haven’t seen their parents in a year or longer, and they want to visit them but don’t have the opportunity. Most of them were very emotional about this fact. Please pray for these students. I don’t know what the solution is, but God does and I believe He hurts with these kids. 

            The last Wednesday night of the camp, Chris went to the meeting in my stead, and they were having a Candlelight Service in which they provided each student the opportunity to thank or apologize to any of their peers, teachers, or leaders. For Chris, it was one of the most affirming moments in our ministry in Thailand thus far. He had two girls thank him specifically for teaching them English, and another girl named Bow broke down crying and told him that she has always felt she was stupid and unable to learn, so she has never wanted to study English. However, she also said that she felt so affirmed and loved in Chris' English classes at camp that she now believes God has given her the ability and the desire to study! Thank God for the way He moves through us in unexpected ways!!! We truly are amazed at what He does! 

            During the camp I also had the opportunity to have several conversations with one of the girls in 11^th grade named Pam. She is a Christian and is struggling with what she wants to study after she gradates from high school. She talked about how she wants to do whatever God wants her to do, but she’s not sure what He’s telling her. I’m not sure that I offered much wisdom, but I felt like God gave me words to encourage her. She told me that she loved talking and hopes we can continue these conversations when we return to Roi Et. 

To see more pictures from camp, click here!!!

Visit from Hunter

            On March 30, Chris’ younger brother Hunter came to visit us for two weeks! It was so great to see him, and since he was here during the camp time, he had the opportunity to meet many of the students with whom we work. To say that the students loved him is an understatement!! They had so much fun trying to teach him Thai (and he learned quite a bit I might add) and practicing their English with him. He was a great sport--participating in their dancing time, English classes, and even eating some gross goo in the “Fear Factor” game during Sports Day! He was also great with Natalie, fitting nicely into his role as uncle. We took him to several places sightseeing, and he seemed to enjoy trying all of the wonderful food Thailand has to offer. It was a great visit!

TMS staff

            During the week before Natalie was born, several of the staff from The Mission Society came to Thailand to attend a conference. It was really great to see them, and we were thrilled that they were some of the first to meet Natalie!

We’re Not in Kentucky Anymore! 
Cultural Bloopers and Life Experiences


MK Robot

            One night we had the pleasure of going out to dinner with several of the staff of The Mission Society. We went to a restaurant called MK, which serves food that you cook at your own table in a hot soup pot. One of the most recent MK additions has been a green robot that travels around the restaurant and is controlled by a magnetic track on the floor. The robot will bring food to customers, or you can put your empty plates on a little tray that it holds. We had taken Natalie to the restaurant and she was sitting out in the walkway in her stroller. The robot never came to our table until we had already finished eating. It was trying to get by, but since Natalie was blocking its track, it proceeded to bump into her several times! Some of the waiters came running over to help, but instead of just turning the robot off, they all tried to move Natalie out of the way! We guess that was their way of telling us it was time for us to leave! 
 

Monitor Lizard Tries to Attack!!
            Last week was the Songkran festival in Thailand, in which Thai people celebrate the Thai New Year by having country-wide water fights. We just HAD to participate, so we all went down to Lumpini Park (the central park of Bangkok) and took shifts leaving the park to enter the blocked off street nearby to join the party. While Chris was taking his shift with Natalie in the park, a giant monitor lizard (about 4-5 feet long) climbed up the bank of the lake in front of them. Chris grabbed the camera in excitement because it's not often that the big lizards will come up so close to people. While he was shooting away, the lizard suddenly turned his head and his attention to where Natalie was lying on the mat. Immediately he started into a trot directly towards Chris and Natalie, and Chris had his first opportunity to protect his little girl! He scooped up Natalie, stood up tall, and made a bunch of noise to scare this modern dinosaur! Yay for Daddy instincts! We thank God AGAIN for His protection of our sweet daughter! We won't be laying her down on the ground in the park anymore!

What happened to privacy?

            While at Lumpini Park, it was time for me to nurse Natalie. I went into a bathroom to sit on a bench, and I covered up with a nursing cover. Things were going well until a lady came into the bathroom and stared at me for about ten minutes. Even though I was covered up, I felt pretty awkward. I was trying to make conversation, but she really seemed more interested in staring at me than talking. I thought this was weird enough, but then another lady came in. She took the invasion of my privacy one step further by walking over and actually pulling the cover off of me so that she could see Natalie!! Needless to say, I felt pretty violated! The second lady talked to me about Natalie and only stayed for about two minutes, but I was thoroughly uncomfortable the entire time! They were both older women and I was trying to be respectful, but it was quite difficult!

Goals for the Next Few Months

            One goal for when we return to Roi Et is to really dive back into our language study. I personally feel like my language skills have slipped somewhat, especially since I had Natalie. We are planning on asking another teacher at Suksasongkroh to help us with language weekly, and will continue to rely on our teammate Kat to help us as well. We really want to be fluent in this language, and although we have come a long way, we still have so far to go!

            Another goal is discipleship. We are starting to think of ways in which we can get more teenagers involved with the activities at the English language center and the church, and we are praying that God sends us more students who are interested in diving deeper into their faith. 

            Last, we want to try to better connect with the adults both at Suksasongkroh and in the village of Banon. We are praying that God will reveal ways for us to make more friends among the teachers with whom we work.

Prayer Requests:

• Chris is currently in Belgium attending a leadership conference with The Mission Society. Please pray that God reveals to him how we can better serve the Thai people and the other missionaries here, and that he would have a safe trip back to Thailand.
• Please pray that God will show us how to foster better relationships with the students we serve in Roi Et. The camp was a great time to build upon the relationships we already had, and we would love to become even closer to our students. Also pray that God will reveal students that we can start discipling.
• I am still working on my masters degree, but I’m almost finished! I just have a few pieces of my final project to finish, but it is still quite a bit of work. Please pray that I can make the time to do my work, and that I will pass this final project and receive my degree!
• Two of our friends, Justin and Amanda Camblin, will be coming to Thailand in May to help us kick off the new school year with our students. Please pray that they have safe travel and that their time here is meaningful.
• As I said before, please pray for all of the students we serve and the struggles in their lives. Pray for one girl in particular. I won’t mention her name for confidentiality, but she is really struggling with the Christian faith. She has been resistant for a long time, and she seems to be on the brink of giving her life to Christ. Please pray that God would eliminate anything that could hinder her from making a decision.

Thanks to You All for Our New Ministry Truck!

            As you know, we purchased the new (used) ministry truck back in February. We are now getting ready to buy a CarryBoy top for the truck bed so that we can transport students to church during the rainy season! Thanks again for all your prayers and financial support. That truck is already a huge blessing to us, and will be well used in Roi Et.

Thank you!!

As always, thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Like I said before, we have really needed it this past two months, and the effects of your prayers have definitely been felt. You all are amazing, and are such a blessing to us!

Hello everyone, this blog is coming from the extremely pregnant lady who is hoping she will be interrupted at any minute in this writing with the beginning of labor. I’m going to mix things up a bit with our “We Ain’t in Kentucky Anymore” story section up front. Enjoy!

We Ain’t in Kentucky Anymore!

Water Pails on Motorcycles           

Before we came back to Bangkok, we had some friends visit us in Roi Et for a day. They also work in Issan, and they were in Roi Et for a conference, so they stayed with us for a night. The night they stayed, we actually ran out of water in the tank located behind our house, though there was still water in other buildings at our school. Chris took a couple of buckets to go fill up at another building across campus, and as he was walking back, another teacher saw him. The teacher ran and jumped on his motorcyle and proceeded to pick Chris and his two very full buckets up! Chris rode all the way across campus trying to balance himself and two buckets of water on the back of a motorcycle!

           

Overweight Americans!

My parents arrived just a couple of days ago. We are staying in a hotel with them close to the hospital where we will have Natalie (if she ever decides to come out!). The first night, as the four of us got in the elevator to go up to our rooms, the elevator started beeping. It’s a pretty small elevator and apparently it was past its weight capacity. So, my loving parents and husband decided it was best if the pregnant lady gets off the elevator so that they could ride up together!! I was definitely (not) feeling the love!!

Jesus and Taksin

            We had a unforgettable trip back to Roi Et from Bangkok in late January after putting Chris’ parents on their plane headed back to the states. We got a late start to the bus station (because we did not have our car by that time) and realized that all the decent buses for Roi Et left in the early morning or late and night. So we bought a ticket that cost less than half of our normal Bangkok-Roi Et ticket (which should have told us something) and we hopped on a 1 PM bus. Not two minutes after we got on, a crazy-looking, longhaired Thai man came stumbling on the bus with a beer in one hand and a red shirt in the other.  When he saw us, the only white people on the bus, he made a beeline for us! Then he pulled his shirt up over his head to show us a giant tattooed cross on the left side of his chest. He yelled “Christian,” pointing to his left peck, and then pulled up his shirt farther to reveal a Taksin face tattoo (the red shirt party leader in Thailand)!  Between yelling (literally) “Jesus” and “Taksin” he proceeded to “entertain” us with drunken ramblings for the entire 8-½ hour trip. Chris kindly asked him to stop for a while so we could sleep, but finally we resorted to faking sleep in order to give our ears a momentary rest from deciphering drunk Thai. We pray God forgives us (we gave it all we had)!

Blessings in Banon

Helping Students to Understand English

            On Saturday mornings, we both teach an English class in Roi Et consisting of only about 5-6 students. However, the last day before coming back to Bangkok, our class was only 2 students because the others were studying for final exams, so we taught that class about giving directions. We worked on saying sentences such as, “The movie theater is across from the pharmacy,” or “The shoe store is on the corner of Main and Fifth Street.” We had the students ask each other how to find certain buildings, then had them act out how to get there using a map. After practicing for a while, one of our students, Am, started smiling and laughing, and told her classmate in Thai, “I finally understand this now!” It made this whole past teaching term worthwhile!! We felt like it was an affirmation from God that teaching English is as valuable a part of this ministry as anything else.

Preaching in Banon

            We recently taught at the church in Banon again, in Thai! We were asked to lead one Sunday, and we decided to talk about choices. We started off the service with the “Would You Rather?” game (one of our favorites). We had two students (the contestants) leave the room, and presented seven “Would You Rather?” questions to the rest of the students. These students voted on how they thought their friends would answer. Some of the questions included, “Would you rather be rich and ugly or beautiful and poor?” “Would you rather have a lot of friends that don’t know you that well, or just a few that know you intimately?” and “Would you rather be invisible or be able to read others’ minds?” After the students voted on how they thought their friends would answer, the “contestants” were invited back into the room to answer each question. If they answered in the way the audience predicted they would, they got a point.

After the game, we talked about how everyone we know constantly has to make choices in life. We then went on to talk about how God the Father and Jesus faced choices as well. We taught about the fact that God had to decide if He would rather keep his Son in heaven, or send Him to die. We also taught about how Jesus had many choices, the biggest being to die or not. We ended the service talking about how each one of the students had a choice as well: live a life in which they could know Jesus, or not. We approached this last choice as a positive one. We used Isaiah 43: 1-7 to talk about how God wants us to choose Him and how He gives us the utmost joy when we do. Here is the passage:

1 But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-- 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."

            It was a lot of work to prepare this lesson in Thai, but our teammate Kat helped us (quite a bit). The preparation time is so good for our language comprehension!

 A Miracle (MUST READ)

            One of our team members, Kat, teaches middle school students at one of the schools in Roi Et. One of her students, a 13-year-old girl, recently had been having troubles. She was skipping school, and was not coming home to stay with her mom. A couple of weeks ago, Kat got a call from the girl’s mom saying that the girl had not been home in a couple of days. We prayed for her and asked God to bring her back. A couple of days later, Kat got a call from another student, one of the girl’s friends. It turns out that the girl, under the influence of peer pressure from an older friend, traveled all the way to Bangkok with this friend. Once there, her friend betrayed her and sold her to someone who wanted to sell her into sexual slavery. For two days, the girl was guarded in an apartment of someone she didn’t know. Miraculously, after the second day, her guard left the apartment to get some food, and left her cell phone. The student grabbed the cell phone and called her dad who lives in Bangkok to ask him what she should do. Her dad told her to run out of the apartment and read the street signs to him so he could figure out where she was. She did, and her dad came to pick her up. The student is now safely back in Roi Et with her mother. As you can probably assume, this is almost unheard of when someone is kidnapped to be sold as a sex slave. God was definitely working in this student’s life! Praise God!!

Back to Bangkok and Baby Time

Teaching in Bangkok

            Since being back in Bangkok the last couple of weeks, we have both been asked to share at the adult prayer meeting held at the church each Wednesday night. We prepared a short message in Thai. Chris’ message was about being amazed by God. He talked about looking around in the mundane of our daily lives to allow God to show us how wonderful He is. My message was about remembering God, and I based it on several texts in the Old Testament, both about Israel remembering and forgetting God, and the accompanying blessings and consequences. 

More Prayer Miracles: Our Good Friend Boot

            Some of you that have seen the video we made last summer may remember Boot. She gave her testimony about what God was doing in her life and the life of her husband, Kampon. We were told that Kampon left Bangkok to visit his mother who was sick in a different province in October, and when his mother died, he decided to stay in that province. Well, it turns out that he found another wife and called Boot in January to tell her he wasn’t coming back. Chris and I were at the church the day she found out and we tried to console her the best we could. She kept asking us why he would find another wife when she tried to be the best wife she could, and when he had a 6-year old son. We didn’t have an answer for her. She asked us to pray that God would bring Kampon back and restore their marriage. Honestly, I told Boot I would pray that Kampon would come back, but I really didn’t want to pray for this. I thought that Boot deserves a more honest man and that she probably would be better off without Kampon. However, we did pray for him to come back because we told Boot we would. About two weeks ago, Boot got another call from Kampon. Apparently, he and his new wife had both had a change of heart. They both started to feel like what they had done was wrong, and Kampon decided to come back to Boot. They still have a long way to go in fixing their relationship, but Kampon is back in Bangkok with Boot now. Praise God that He knows more about relationships than we do and He can restore them!! Please pray for Boot and Kampon.

Dora’s thoughts on church and life in Thailand

            For a long time, I had troubles when I attended church in Thailand. The services are great, but I always felt like I don’t fit in, or I don’t have a role, or I don’t understand the language well enough, or whatever. Recently, as I sat in a church service in Bangkok, I had the most amazing feeling. For the first time since living in Thailand, I felt like I really love it at this church and I realized that I love living in Thailand. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many days throughout this past year where I have enjoyed being here, but there have also been some days where I have not. In church that day, I felt like I really love it here and if we were forced to return to the States right now, I would definitely be sad. I do miss our friends and family back home, but I know that Thailand is where God wants us to be right now, and He has really given me a great love for this country and the Thai people. I’m not saying that I still won’t have some hard days, but I am certain that I want to live here for a long time. We, of course, have no idea what the future holds, but I am thankful for the peace and love God has granted me for our new home.

We love you all! Please pray for a speedy birth for Natalie Paige! We look forward to sending pictures soon!

Looking back on Christmas time in Roi Et

First of all, we want to thank all of you that have been so generous in helping us with our truck fund!  We are getting very close to the funds necessary to get a truck for the ministry thanks to you!  If you are interested in knowing more about this project, please check out the next post on this blog.

Also, thank all of you who blessed us in so many different ways over the Christmas season.  We have never felt more loved than we do now!  Now, to the blog...

Hello, Chris here!  What an incredible December we had!  Forgive us for not writing sooner, but we have not even been in on place long enough over the past month and a half to put our thoughts together.  We are settled back in for the next three weeks at our school home in Roi Et, after which we are leaving for Bangkok to prepare for the birth of Natalie Paige Barbee!!  Thank you, as always for your prayers for the two of us, as now we are asking you to add a third to that prayer list!  We are looking forward to meeting her around the 8^th of March, and we promise to send pictures as soon as we have them! 

So, get ready to join us in reliving our crazy Christmas season! 

The Banon, Roi Et Christmas Party:

We had an incredible Christmas party at the center in Banon.  Honestly, not much has stressed us out more this year than planning this Christmas party, because we have seen pictures of the event from years past, and were very sure we would not be able to plan something as fun, meaningful or memorable.  However, we had many of our outer village schools cancel our teaching appointments the previous week (praise God!) so we had time to thoroughly prepare.  In the past this event has become a time for all the students who normally just see us once a week for English class to come together and encounter the true meaning of the Christmas season.  We also extend the love of Christ to them through gift giving.

We decorated the outside and inside of the ministry center, and brought the students over from all the different villages in two groups: Saturday night was all middle/high school students and adults while Sunday morning was all children.  We all ate dinner together in the courtyard before the party started.  I played guitar for a Christmas carol sing-along in Thai (sadly, I still sing all the carols in my head in English to be able to play guitar in-time) and Dora taught about the meaning of the Christmas tree.  She taught that the ornaments served as a means of remembering the birth of Christ and of thankfulness, so we had the students all take an ornament down from the tree and write what they were thankful to God for.  Dora and I played trombone and saxophone while they were writing, and we were truly shocked with how long they took thinking of what they were thankful for.   We really pray that when life gets rough for our students (as it so often is) that they can look at these ornaments and remember the blessings of God in their life. 

During the Christmas party, Mot, a Thai Christian college student that grew up in this ministry, lead an incredible skit that captured the awe of the birth of Christ while still being very funny and VERY Thai (as you can see from the picture above-these are the dancing angels that came to meet Mary!).  

Then, we had a small “band” of instrumental students Dora and I have taught play “Away in the Manger,” followed by Dr. Nantachai sharing the significance of gift giving in the Christian Christmas tradition.  We gave out gifts, both given by Samaritian’s Purse and a church in Canada, to all the students.  It was an amazing time, and I think the best part was watching the faces of those children light up as many of them opened their first Christmas present. 

Teaching on the Birth of Jesus:

            

While the Christmas party was for all our students around the province, we also had an incredible opportunity to share about Christmas at our home school (probably a greater opportunity than we would ever have had teaching in the public schools in the states!).  Coming into December, the director of the English program at our home school asked us if we would teach about Christmas to our classes.  At first we were both quite apathetic, because we assumed she wanted us to teach about the Western secular Christmas traditions that are ritually celebrated here in Thailand as well:  Where Santa came from, reindeer, why the Christmas tree, etc.   But, to our surprise, she asked us to teach on the history and story of Christmas.   That is one invitation we did NOT want to miss!!! 

We began teaching only after clearing up the fact that Christmas was in fact a celebration of the birth of Christ Jesus, and not Santa Clause, and the fact that Jesus was actually born in Asia and not America!  Through pictures and two languages we taught the story of the birth of Christ.  We did vocabulary, fill in the missing word activity sheets, and word searches, but the most exciting part was fielding the questions about Jesus’ birth, life, and death, in a Thai Government-run boarding school!  Questions included, “Why did people kill Jesus—did he steal something?” and, “How could his death affect me?”

We are continuing to learn more and more that these seeds planted in the lives of these Esarn youth really grow!  They grow VERY slowly, but as they take root, they don’t easily let go! God always opens incredible doors when people are ready and willing to hear the life-changing story of Jesus.  Please pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to continue to bring answers, reassurance and hope into the lives of our Thai students.    

Christmas in our new home:

We prepared for Christmas season in our new home in Roi Et with a small tree that we found at our local Macro store, a lot of great Christmas music, and our stone Nativity set from Kenya.  It made a great conversation piece throughout the season, especially with the little children who had never seen a nativity before.  But our most memorable conversation was with one 3^rd grade boy who looked at the little carving of a face sticking out from a sheet (intended to be the sleeping baby Jesus) and asked, “Why is that person sick?  He sure has a lot of visitors!”  Thank God for the innocence of young Thai hearts and the opportunity to share about an incredible baby laying in a manger over 2000 years ago.    

A season of visitors:

It was truly a season of visitors of us.  First, we had Jason and Christine Blaikie, our good friends who have been serving as missionaries in Bangkok, come spend a week with us in Roi Et in early December.  We were quite overwhelmed to see the attention their 6 month old baby, Aaliyah, got from all the students.  Just a sign of what is to come!

Then we had our moms visit for two weeks surrounding Christmas.  They helped us decorate the bedroom for Natalie Paige (WHO IS DUE IN 42 SHORT DAYS!!!!) in Roi Et, while watching us help lead the Christmas celebration at our home school.  Then we traveled to Elephant Island for a much needed week of rest.  Next, we were visited by my dad and step mom last week for just one week.  We traveled up to the north, the mountainous region of Thailand, for the very first time.  I have now ridden an elephant in the mountains and on an island, so I would say I’m pretty much a professional.   Both visits were an incredible encouragement to us, both in that we miss our families so much, and in that our parents were very complementary of our conversational abilities in Thai.  We so often feel defeated by looking forward to the overwhelming amount of language we do not understand, so our parents were truly a God-sent encouragement. 

Answered prayers:

Two weeks ago we were coming back from renewing our visas in Laos (an experience we ALWAYS dread, because no matter what, we always do something wrong!) and we met one Australian girl with four Thai guys.   We often see one or two farang (white) men with many Thai women hanging out, but never the other way around.  They approached us while we waited to receive our visas and told us they were with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and were doing worship ministry in the Esarn region of Thailand also!  While I thought the situation was quite unique, my attention was not sparked by their work in music ministry, at least not initially.  The four offered to help take us back across the border and to the bus terminal in Thailand, and on the road they cranked up their stereo.  It was Esarn music for sure, but after listening for a minute we realized it was worship music!!!   It was Esarn-original Christ-centric worship music!  One of our prayers since before we ever moved to Thailand was that we would one day watch the Esarn people taking joy in Christ in their own language with their own music!  We have nothing against the Thai people translating and using Western worship songs that connect with their hearts as well, but how much more joy do the people of northeast Thailand have when they worship with songs that are birthed out of the prayerful meditation of their own people.  Praise be to God for this YWAM team that they are making this vision a reality in Esarn.  I know this will not be our last meeting!   

We're Not in Kentucky anymore; 

Language mistakes and other noteworthy moments:

• We were walking down the street in Laos two weeks ago waiting for our visas and a Lao man said to his friend (quite loudly, we might add!) ‘Farang tong muenkan!’  Translation “White people get pregnant too!”  How funny is that!!! 

• As we closed our first year in Thailand the language mistakes continue.  These are all simple words to confuse, but they sure did get big laughs!

1. Dora tried to complement a girl on her shirt, but instead of saying “I like your shirt,” she said, “I like your tiger.”  Shirt and tiger are the same word in Thai but use different tones.  It gives a new meaning to “Don’t use that tone with me young lady!”
2. I tried to tell our fellow teachers at our home school that Dora’s mother is a nurse (phayabaan), but instead I said, “Dora’s mom is a hospital (roong phayabaan)!”  Who ever heard of naming a hospital ‘the building of the nurses?’
3. Dora was explaining our travel plans to the beach for vacation to our fellow teachers and instead of saying we are taking a van (rot tuu) to the beach, she said we are traveling on a refrigerator (tuu yen) to the beach.  I’m sure glad we rented a car for that trip.  We would have had major road rash after a trip on the refrigerator!

 Pictures from the Sports day in December at our home school, Suksaasongkhrah:

I don't want to make you read any more.  This is quite long enough!

Thank you for reading along with us.  We love you all and are so grateful for your support.  Thank so many of you for thinking of us in so many special ways over Christmas.  We are blessed to be your friends!  God bless you all!

Fund Raising for a Truck!

Hey everybody!  We are trying to raise funds for a new truck to help take students around to and from our English/Ministry center in Roi Et.  We are short a vehicle and the old truck we are driving is not sufficient for traveling the long distance between our home and the center.  Please check it out and let us know if you can help!

For a HIGH RESOLUTION version of this video, 

please check this link:

https://files.me.com/vandee158/oswz2u

Let us know if you have difficulty viewing the video with this link.  Thank you all for your support and love, and God bless you!

Back in Roi Et from a Month in Bangkok

Hello everyone!! This is Dora writing this time around, as I have finally finished the bulk of my Masters work for this term (although I still have one test to take). We pray that you all are well and had a great Thanksgiving! Sorry about the long entry (again)! We’re going to work on this “being succinct” thing!

Please note that we have posted a video right below this blog entry about fundraising for a new ministry truck. Please see the video for more details!

A Teaser of what is to come….

            Bible Camp in Bangkok

            Lessons on Folk Buddhism

            Thanksgiving

            Busy-ness in Roi Et

            We’re not in Kentucky anymore!

            Praises and Prayer Requests

           

Bible Camp in Bangkok

            For one week in October, we had students from Roi Et come down to Bangkok to study the Bible. In the past, the ministry has only had about 12-15 students for the Bible camp, but this year there were 37, with only a few claiming to be believers! The theme of the week was “Knowing God,” and we treated it as an opportunity to teach students about some of the various characteristics of God. The basic schedule of the camp was as follows:

                        8:00-9:00 a.m. Exercise time, Skit (illustrating some characteristic of God), worship songs, a little bit of share time

                        9:00-12:00 p.m. Teaching time (each morning a different person involved in Muang Thai Church came in to teach)

                        1:00-4:00 p.m. Hang out time (this is the time we took to work on building relationships with the students—each day we did some kind of activity such as going to the movies, the zoo, historical sites, or just hanging out at the church)

                        4:00-6:00 p.m. Cleaning time, dinner

                        7:00-9:00 p.m. Short teaching session, small group share time

            Some of the topics covered throughout the week by various teachers included hearing the voice of God, sin and forgiveness, God as protector, the return of Christ (focus on eternal life), God in our relationships, purity in relationships, God as a loving father, balance in life, etc. Chris and I were given the opportunity to teach one of the 3-hour morning sessions and we taught about God being a protector. Specifically, we taught about the Ten Commandments and why God gives us laws and how they protect us. We talked about natural laws (such as gravity) and how if we try to break them, there will be dangerous consequences. We also looked at governmental laws and rules in games, focusing on how laws/rules keep us safe and help us to have fun. We had students write out rules that their parents gave them when they were younger, and then we had them think of rules that they would give their children and why.

            We then went through all Ten Commandments and asked the students why they think God gave us these rules. We specifically focused on the fact that God gives us rules for three reasons: 1) To protect us from harm; 2) To protect us from broken relationships with others; and 3) To protect us from a broken relationship with God Himself. We had students talk in their small groups about how breaking each commandment can either harm us, harm our relationships with others, or harm our relationship with God. 

            During our teaching time, we had students design their own game with whatever rules they wanted to make up to illustrate that rules are needed to make games fun. We also had them get into groups and build protective coverings for two eggs using newspaper, straw, and tape. Then, the students dropped the protected eggs from the roof of the church. This exercise was to illustrate the way that God uses His laws to build protection around our lives. When problems come (the dropping of the eggs off the roof), we already have protection from God (and God’s protection is 1,000s of times stronger than our straws and newspapers). We highlighted the fact that problems will inevitably come, but we have the promise that not only is God with us, he has promised to protect us.

            Finally, we talked about even though God gave us the rules, He knew that we could not follow them on our own. We went on to talk about Jesus’ sacrifice and how He is the ultimate protection sent from God. We also talked about how students could respond to God’s gift of protection in that they can ask Him to restore our relationships with others, restore our relationship with Him, heal our hurts and wounds, and protect us from harm.

 At the zoo

Chris ice skating with some of the guys

             All five of the Roi Et team, including Chris and I, Eak and Kat (both Thai), and Lila (another American who came to work here 2 months ago) each had our own small group of students that we shared with at the end of each day. This was a very eye-opening time for us. Each evening, we would spend about 45 minutes to an hour talking with students about whatever was taught about that day. Chris, Lila, and I had to have some Thai student leaders help us with our groups because our language is still not good enough to understand what students are saying when they’re talking about their struggles/beliefs.

            On the evening that one of the teachers taught about hearing from God, we asked students what they thought about actually hearing God’s voice and asked them if anyone had ever hear from God. Two students in my group shared about how they had heard from God before, but the majority of my group expressed that they are actually afraid to hear from God. In general, most Issan people have a deep belief and fear of spirits. They have specific names for various ghosts and how they could possibly harm people. In fact, whenever Chris and I take walks around our school’s campus at night past the students’ dorms, students are always asking us why we are out walking in the dark. Aren’t we scared of ghosts? Anyway, the students expressed that they felt like hearing from God would be as scary as hearing from a ghost and that they would rather not even ask God to speak. It was a great opportunity to talk about how God protects us from evil spirits and that He only wants good for us, not harm or fear. We talked about how God speaks out of love for us. One student (a believer) shared about how she prays out loud to Jesus whenever she feels like there is a ghost around her.

Students singing a worship song at the camp

            On another night, we asked students to share about what they thought of eternal life, and whether or not they believed in it. This was after one of the teachers taught on the return on Christ and how we can all have eternal life through Him if we just accept Him. Only one student in my group said they believed in eternal life. Everyone else expressed that they believed that when you die, you are either just dead, or you are reincarnated. The hope that can be found in Christ seemed to be quite the foreign concept to them. As we have come to learn that most Thai people really don’t have hope for an eternal life (and a joy to live in NOW), our hearts have really started to break for the Thai people even more! We know that we cannot force them to believe in Jesus, and no matter how much we talk about Him, nothing will change in them unless the Holy Spirit does His work. Please pray that God will reveal Himself to these students so that they can find what they’re missing!

            The second-to-last night of the camp included a foot washing/giving thanks ceremony, and then a goodbye party on the last night. The foot washing ceremony was a powerful time during which all of the teachers (including Dr. Nantachai, our mentor) went around and washed the feet of each student. The students said before that they didn’t want us to do it because they felt embarrassed, but many students were very emotional during the time that we washed their feet. After we washed their feet, the students were given the opportunity to thank Drs. Nantachai and Ubolwan for what they’ve done for them. This was also an emotional and powerful time.

Students thanking the Mejudhons

            On the last night, we had a fun party for the students. Students had been broken up into grouped the whole week, and at the party, everyone dressed in crazy costumes and performed skits. The teachers did the same, as you can see below!

Chris, Eak, and I  

Please check out the pictures from the Bible Camp here!!!!

            

Lessons on Folk Buddhism

            Our Roi Et team does devotions together every Thursday and Friday morning. One morning we were talking about eternal life and I expressed to Kat what some of the students had said about not believing in life after death, and I assumed most Buddhists didn’t believe in heaven or hell. Kat then began to tell us that many Buddhists do believe in heaven in hell, they just don’t believe that people can stay there permanently. She expressed that people believe that the only people that can stay in heaven permanently are Buddha himself and a few really devout monks. Everyone else only has a limited time to stay there. Most people believe that you earn merit during your life by performing good deeds and if you’re a good enough person, then you can go to heaven. However, you only stay in heaven for as long as your merit “holds out.” Your family can earn merit for you to stay in heaven longer, but if they don’t do enough good deeds, you have to return to earth and be reincarnated. The same is true for hell—you will not stay there forever because if your family earns merit for you, you will be taken out of hell and reincarnated on Earth. This was a very eye-opening conversation for us, and it just made it more real for us that there is no hope in the folk Buddhism that the majority of the Thai believe. The more I learn about this hopelessness, the more I realize how unbelievably ridiculous (in a good way) the gift of God through Christ really is! I mean, I’ve thought about it before, but I’ve been taught about Jesus my whole life. For someone who’s never heard of the gift of Christ and the incredible hope He offers, it must be the most exciting, hard-to-believe concept ever! The more I try to see life through their eyes, the more and more grateful I am for Jesus. I pray that I will always be in awe of the hope with have in Christ and not take it for granted.

           

Thanksgiving

            God has blessed Chris and I so much this past year! I realize that Thanksgiving has come and gone for all of you, but I still wanted to include a thanksgiving section. Here are a few things we’re thankful for:

1)    Being given the opportunity to live and work in a country and culture that is foreign to us

Even though it is sometimes (often) difficult, we are learning so much about ourselves and how we interact. It is also amazing begin to see the world through completely different eyes. Although we definitely have hard days, we really love living in Thailand and consider ourselves blessed that we have been given this opportunity.

2)    Skype!

How blessed we are that we weren’t missionaries 50 (or even 10) years ago, when Skype didn’t exist! We do miss actually being in the same location as our family and friends, but I can’t imagine not being able to talk to you all on a semi-regular basis. Being able to see and hear our loved ones in real time is one of our biggest blessings!

3)    Care packages, letters, emails, and Facebook messages

It seems almost daily that we get an email, a paper letter, a Facebook message, or a package from one of you! These communications are extremely encouraging to us, and they help us to feel like we’re still connected to all of you back in the States. We understand that you all lead busy lives, and we appreciate you thinking of us and letting us know that you care!

4)    Warm weather all year long

As I write this, it’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., and I am sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt in a room with fans on, and I’m still hot! I’m not complaining though, I’ve never been a fan of cold weather!

5)    The forgiveness, understanding, and generosity of the Thai people

We are constantly making language and cultural mistakes, and I know we offend people on a regular basis (I can’t imagine how many times we’ve offended people and haven’t even realized it)! However, the Thai are so willing to help us with our language, to correct us when they see or hear us do something wrong culturally, and in general have a great attitude about us being here. Also, the teachers, staff, and students at the school where we live are always going out of their way to do something for us. Some of them go to the local market and buy sticky rice and mango for us just because they know we like it, they constantly are making sure we have enough food and a full glass of water at meals, they rake our yard and sweep our driveway, and use every means to help us if we ever have a problem. It’s sometimes frustrating to us because we want to serve them, but they’re too busy serving us all the time!

           

All the students at the Bible Camp

Busy-ness in Roi Et

            This past month, we have been helping several students prepare for singing and English contests. Many of the teenagers at the school where we live came to our house asking for English songs that they could sing in a contest at the end of November. We played many (many) songs for them to hear, and when each student found one they liked, we wrote down the lyrics and helped them rehearse the song. We have been working with about 10 students to get ready for the contest. On top of that, we helped a couple of students get ready for an English-speaking contest. These students were required to do activities such as looking at a picture of a beach or a city and describing it in English, listening to a native English speaker describe a scene, the drawing it (such as a kitchen with people in it, etc.), and taking a written test in which they had to correct words that were written incorrectly, either misspelled or grammatically incorrect.

            Also, since we have returned from Bangkok, we have lost two team members that were very integral in planning the worship services. One of them had to go train to be a soldier for several months, and the other is a drama major at a university and has been working on a show the past couple of weeks. She will return soon, but this past few weeks, Lila, Kat, Chris, and I have had to do all of the planning for the Sunday morning worship service. This includes planning out and working on the worship songs we will sing (and writing out all the words on boards), planning and directing the skit (every Sunday morning the students participate in a skit highlighting whatever will be taught about that day), planning the order of service, deciding who will do what, etc. Also, with two staff being gone, Lila and I have had to take over one of the Sunday school classes on our own. This class is actually a combination of what used to be an acting class and a science class. Since we don’t feel comfortable teaching science or acting, we have treated it as an English class. On Sunday mornings, we teach other subjects rather than just the Bible, but we weave in the teachings of the Bible in our lesson. Lila and I have taught the English class the last three weeks and we have taught the Christmas song “Away in a Manger” in English to get the students ready for the Christmas party we will be having on December 12. We have also used Twister as a teaching tool (students must tell others “Put your left foot on a green spot”), taught politeness words in English and had the students make up skits in which they had to use the English words, and played Simon Says and Mother, May I? (students must say, "Take 3 steps forward," etc.). It’s been a fun time, and this week we plan on continuing with the third verse of “Away in a Manger” and teaching a Bible story, then having the students practice English words.

 Lila and I with our Twister Game 

 The teenage Bible study time at the ministry center

           

We’re not in Kentucky anymore!

            Never in Kentucky would the music teacher at our home school come knock on our door at 6 AM to buy some saxophone reeds from Chris. We woke up to the guy knocking downstairs and yelling, “Chris! Chris!”

            We have learned a lot more about the Thai culture in the last month or so. One cultural difference between America and Thailand involves the use of the phrase “No problem.” For the most part, when someone is cooking a meal in America, and another person asks to help, when the cook says, “No problem, I’ve got it” it means, “I don’t need/want your help.” As an American, I have asked several Thai people to help them with various tasks, and when they say “Mai ben rai,” (no problem) I take that as “No, I don’t need you to help.” In my quest to try to be polite, I have then just stayed out of their way. In the past month, however, I have learned that I have been offending some Thai people. When they say “No problem,” they really expect you to help, but they are trying to be polite to you by saying, “don’t worry about it.” When I realized this, I felt terrible because who knows how many people think I’m the rudest person! The reverse is also true—often students want to help me carry my teaching supplies to and from my classroom. Often my supplies just consist of one book and a marker, but they still want to carry these things for me across campus! When I say “Mai ben rai,” they take my stuff anyway, because they probably think I want them to help, even though I’m saying I don’t. Oh well, it’s a good opportunity to talk with them!           

Praises

            Chris and I taught at church this past week for the first time completely in Thai! We have taught at church several times since we have been in Thailand, but it’s always been a mixture between Thai and English, or completely in English with a translator. Sunday was the first time we taught together and both of us only spoke in Thai! Kat helped us the night before, but we did it! We’re pretty excited about it! We taught about the faithfulness of God and told the story of Hosea. We only spoke for about 25 minutes, but we felt it was quite an accomplishment!

             Recently, Chris, Lila, and Kat traveled to some new schools in our area to tell them about a Christmas party we will be having on December 12. One of the schools is greatly influenced by a local monk. The monk himself told the students that they should go study with us at the ministry center; just make sure they don’t become Christians. This is a school that the Muang Thai foundation used to teach at, but the monk previously had forbidden any more Christian teachers from coming there. Praise God that He is changing hearts! Please pray that some of the students from that school do come and study with us, and that the Holy Spirit speaks to them. 

            Students have seemed to be more comfortable with us in general, and every evening that we’re at our house, we have little kids coming over to play games, read books, or just hang out. The teenagers have seemed to be more comfortable as well! 

            Our baby is doing great! She moves all the time now, and at every checkup; the doctor says everything is progressing exactly as it should! It’s hard to believe I’m six months pregnant already!

Prayer Requests

Some students shared with the staff during the camp that they struggle with depression. There is one girl in particular who seems to really struggle more than others. Please pray that she and the others can come to know the joy of Christ and be healed from the despair of depression.

As I mentioned earlier, we have had students over at our house to work on English songs, prepare for English contests, or just to hang out. Last week, one of the teachers at the school where we live who is the head of one of the girls’ dorms, came to our house and told the students to go home and stop bothering us. The next day, one of the students said that that teacher told them that they couldn’t come over to our house anymore. We talked to the director of the English department here at the school and made it clear that the students are not a bother to us and that we enjoy helping them. The director said she would write a letter giving the specific students permission to come to our house. Please pray that this works and that the students are not scared to come over anymore.

During the course of helping students with English songs, one girl shared with me about how much she missed her mom. She told me that her mom got remarried 3 or 4 years ago and moved to Switzerland with her new husband. She has not seen or talked to her mom since then. The girl is about 15 or 16 years old, and my heart just broke for her, as she seemed pretty heartbroken about the whole situation. Please pray for her.

Here's a picture of me at 24 weeks!!

We love all of you! God Bless!!           

Our Truck Fundraising video

Hey everybody!  We are trying to raise funds for a new truck to help take students around to and from our English/Ministry center in Roi Et.  We are short a vehicle and the old truck we are driving is not sufficient for traveling the long distance between our home and the center.  Please check it out and let us know if you can help!