Yut's baptism slide show

Banana Village revival

Rejoice with us!

We have a new brother in Christ! The man named Yut whom I mentioned in my prayer requests post from Monday was baptized yesterday evening.

Yut has been reading with Kat for the past 3 weeks. When he was younger, Yut had been a monk for a period of time, and he said that he saw many evil things in the temple where he lived that convinced him that Buddhism was not the truth. After his experience as a monk, Yut looked into Islam. He said it made sense to him, but there was nothing in his heart that told him that this was the truth. Then he began to read the Bible and to study with Kat, and he said that immediately his heart knew that this was the truth. He said the truth he found in the Bible was so exciting to him, that he couldn't stop talking about what he was reading in his Bible with everyone he knows. Pray that God will bless our new brother and strengthen him in Him in every way.

Focus

The other day Patinya asked me out of the blue, "Lydia, why are you here?"
Dozens of reasons and answers popped into my head, but the one that came out was: "Because I love God, and I have to tell other people about it."
"Good. Don't ever forget that." He said to me. It is easy to know why you're here when you first come and just as easy to forget it. That's what he said to me, and I took it to heart. It is so important to keep one's focus when on the mission field; when one's focus is right and with God, then the rest falls into place. I'm so glad Patinya made me vocalize my focus. To have it put into one brief sentence makes it easier to hold onto and to remind myself of it everyday.

Prayer Request

Praise that I am adjusting well to the Thai culture and life in Bangkok.

Request that as I begin giving English lessons this week that they will go well and that I'll click with my readers.

Request for a Thai man named Yut who is Kat's student. He is very close to becoming a Christian and is talking about some reservations that he has with one of the Thai Christians here.

Request for a girl named Thwo who is Aaron's student. She is hearing the gospel story for the first time and considering all it means; request that God will be in her thinking and that He will move her towards Him.

Week-end

This week-end Andy, Kat, me, and a hand full of other Christians from the Watchrapon church here traveled to Banana Village (a 10 hour drive to the North) on the Thailand-Laos border for a revival meeting. Christians from many villages in that area gathered for a week-end of lectures and fellowship.

It was good to travel outside of Bangkok and see and experience the different between the richness and industrialness of Bangkok and the poverty of the villages. The Christians at the revival were so welcoming to us and so happy to be all together.

One of my favorite parts of the revival was hearing from one Christian man there who asked to speak. He told the story of how he became a Christian 20 years ago, and how he didn't know how to read, and how he wished so much to be able to read the Bible. He prayed that God would send him a wife that could read so that she could read the Bible to him. God sent him a wife, but she could not read. God eventually answered his prayer though and made it so the man's children had the opportunity to learn to read, so now his children read the Bible to him, and to any of their neighbors that will come to listen.

Thursday

Thursday I met with the Andy and Kat and Aaron and we all got organized for me beginning to give English lessons next week. I am very excited to begin the English lessons. Right now I have 3 people I will be reading with. I sat in on a couple of the English lessons on Thursday, just to observe. It was so neat to see people considering the tremendousness of the gospel story for the first time.

That evening the whole team (the farangs (white people) and the Thais) all went out to The Great American Grill restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner and finished off 4 platters of barbecued ribs between us. It was very different from regular Thanksgiving, but so cool at the same time.

Wednesday 21

Went to the dept. of labor with PiYai first thing in the morning. It went really smoothly and didn't take too long. Hung out at RCC for a while after that and then went shopping with PiYai and PiNong for groceries for dinner (there's always a big dinner at RCC on Wednesday night before Wednesday evening worship). We went by an open air market to buy some of the food and that was a neat experience. I got to help cook a little too, which was great. Played some games and chatted with people who came in to RCC until dinner time, then we all ate, and then we had worship time.

In the evening when I got back to my apartment I got to talking with my room mate PiJon. We got onto talking about Christianity and spiritual things. PiJon is a Christians, but she still has a lot of questions and a lot of things she doesn't quite understand yet. I thank God for providing this opportunity for me to talk with her and I pray that He will put all the right words in my mouth to say to her. I look forward to having lots of conversations with her, and I hope through those that her faith will be strengthen and also that she will begin to learn how to grow her own faith (without having to rely solely on missionaries to be fed spiritually).

Adapting

I feel like I am beginning to adapt and be able to operate on my own a little. Last night at RCC (the Christian Center where we give English lessons and hang out the rest of the time) we had a group English class followed by a short devo and I got to help a little with each (and it felt fantastic to be able to begin and help out a little). I was also able to take the public transportation home on my own yesterday evening and I have begun to be able to have some basic interaction with non-English speakers.

There is still lots and lots to be learned, but I feel like I have begun on a good foot and am well under way.

Additional Prayer Request

Today PiYai will be taking me to the Dept. of Labor to finish my work permit. Please pray that it will go smoothly.

Prayer Requests

Thanks for a safe trip

Thanks for all of the wonderful Christians here in Bangkok who have welcomed me so warmly and helped me through each day as I am learning to do everything the Thai way.

Request to be able to gain an ear for the way the Thai people speak English

Request to be able to get good sleep (which hasn't happened so far).

Request to be able to learn and adapt to the culture

My team

There are many people on the Bangkok team, and I have not met them all yet, but let me tell you some about the ones I have met.

Andy and Katherine Miller are wonderful, dedicated people who really know what they are doing in their work here. I am so glad they are my internship mentors; I know I will learn alot from them. They aren't kindred spirits, but they are good, reasonable people and I know we will get along well and work together well. They are 3 kids.

Aaron is around my age (a little younger I think), I know we will be glad to have the company of another person our age and that we will become good friends notwithstanding his being a Texan (if you know what I mean).

PiYai and PiNong are a young Thai couple who are absolutely precious people; they just radiate goodness.

P'Atinya (who may be my favorite team member) is a middle aged Thai man who is one of those people with a genuine spirit and who has a calming presence.

I am so thankful to God for each of these team mates; they are truly a good group of people to be working with.

First few days

Wow, I'm on such an information overload right now, so, so, so many new things in only a couple of days. In the last 48 hours I have met 2 dozen new people, learned a dozen Thai words and phrases, re-learned how to use a bathroom, how to sit, how to sleep, how to get from place to place, how much money is worth, what is good to eat (and what is just plain too spicy), how to make a joke, how to use my living space. Some more specific things I have learned are: they drive on the other side of the road, people tend to always eat out as it is very good and very cheap and most houses have no kitchen, breaded-fried banana is surprisingly yummy, you can find many American stores such as McDonalds, Toys R Us, and Starbucks here, showers and sinks only have one knob and that knob is cold, doing anything takes forever as Thai people do not believe in organizing anything, people are very friendly.

Everything is so wonderful and difficult all at once. I think the most frustrating thing right now is not being able to even understand people's English because of their heavy Thai accent, though I'm told that my ear will get used to it in time.

I think my favorite thing so far are my two Thai room mates: PiNuNing and PiJon. They are such wonderful, funny, and informative girls. I'm so glad to have them.

I've arrived

I've made it. Travel really was as smooth as possible. I made all of my connections smoothly, and all my bags were there when I got there. So, God has answered all of your safe travel prayers for me.

Departing tomorrow

I have spent a delightful time in York visiting with old friends, and profesors, and generally just enjoying some time off and to myself before everything begins.

I depart tomorrow and I believe the enormity of what is happening has begun to sink in, but only just. My mind is so full of thinking about finishing out the day, doing some repacking, seeing a few more friends, and knowing what a long and tiring trip I have ahead of me that I can't think much beyond that right now.

People keep asking me how I'm feeling about it, and I haven't been very good at answering that question. I think the real answer to the question is realistic: I feel like I have very realistic expectations and ideas about what is to come. I know that arriving in Thailand will be exciting, overwhelming, and difficult. I know that many wonderful, interesting, new, beautiful, difficult, unfamiliar, strange, confusing, and delightful things and experiences await me. I know I will sometimes enjoy things and sometimes get frustrated with things; I know I will love people there fiercely, and at the same time miss others that I have left behind desperately. And I also know that through all these different things and experiences and feelings I will have that God will guide me through a step at a time, and grow me and mold me in amazing ways, and I know that it will be wonderous to get to be there and watch Him work.
I look upon my arrival in Thailand with excited anticipation; I am so ready to do and to learn and to talk. But that is also tempered by knowing that I will not find things wonderful and perfect at every turn, and it is sobering to think what an important task I am about to attempt.

So, that's how I'm feeling (to put it as briefly as possible).

Pray God's traveling mercies upon me the next few days as I venture forth.

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Ps. 139:9-10

In York

God has delivered me safely to my destination once again as today I am in York NE. I drove up all day yesterday beginning at 6:30 am, and driving until 9:00pm. 14 and 1/2 hours is a very long time to be in one's own company, but I managed to mostly keep my mind busy with music and thinking and praying (and I am very surprised and proud of my car for making it).

Prayer

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my safe travel and for my visa paperwork to come through smoothly! God has answered all our prayers!

Prayer items:

Thanks that my visa has come through.

Thanks that I have made it safely as far as Stephenville TX, and am enjoying being with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece.

Request for a safe journey to York NE tomorrow.

Be With Me Lord (hymn of the day for me)

This morning as I was heading out to Dallas, I began to pray that God would see me through the day, keep me safe, and let it be that getting my visa would go smoothly. But as I prayed I felt guilty for asking God for things once again as He has been soo good and soo faithful to me of late I could hardly bear it. I felt bad for asking for more since I had already been blessed soo much, but then I thought to myself that I didn't dare not pray and ask for God to lead me on; I didn't dare to try and take one step without God. And that thought brought to my mind the hymn Be With Me Lord, which has been something of my hymn and prayer for the day:

Be with me Lord-- I cannot live without Thee,
I dare not try to take one step alone,
I cannot bear the loads of life unaided,
I need Thy strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me, Lord! No other gift or blessing
Thou couldst bestow could with this one compare--
A constant sense of Thy abiding presence,
Where'er I am, to feel that Thou art near.

The visa has come through! I went to Dallas today and got it finished. Thank God. I tried to also go by the LST offices in Bedford (which is somewhat on the way between Dallas and Stephenville), but my directions were not sufficient and after an hour and a half of driving up and down Airport Freeway without finding the office, I headed back to my brother and sister-in-law's house.

Looking back on the passed couple of days I'm kind of impressed with myself; there are lots of things I can do I didn't know I could, like:
Take care of a car (I put water in my radiator cause I was overheating, added a quart of oil cause I was low, and added air to my tires which were only at half the air pressure they were supposed to be at (yikes)).
Drive in big city, rush hour traffic when I don't even know where I'm going (which I did through Dallas twice and through which I discovered that intense classical music helps me drive).
I can go to a city I don't know all by myself and figure out where and how to get important documents processed (which is what I did with my visa today).
Not to say that these things were not accomplished without pointers from other people and lots of help from God, but it's still neat to find out that I have it in me to do all those things, and I thank God for having equiped me with the knowledge and gumption to do them; it is truly amazing how God makes you ready and then leads you through everything he puts before you to face.

There have been many snags with my visa, but God has been faithful, and each one has been overcome in time. It has worked out for me to be able to complete my visa paperwork in Dallas, and it has worked out that I don't need the medical form, which it would have taken me so long to obtain (I called the Dallas office and asked to make sure I really did need it, and it turned out that I didn't since I had an American passport and I had never been to a third world country), also there was part of my paperwork that was supposed to arrive to me by mail on wednesday so I could leave thursday and complete my visa at the Dallas office friday, but the papers did not arrive when I had expected; I didn't know where they were, but they turned up saturday (yesterday) and today (sunday) I am on my way to Dallas.

And so I am on my way to Dallas, my journey begins, and it is thrilling to be on the move once more with God going before me and the loving support of so many friends behind me.

Praise God for being so faithful and bringing me and blessing through this passed week during all my preparations to leave Searcy.

There is so much more to tell about this passed week, but time is short and I must hit the highway and so I shall leave it here.