NEW BLOG

I have a new blog
Visit it at
www.lydia-taiforthesavior.blogspot.com




Why a New Blog?
My team decided to create a “Tai for the Savior” blog and have each of our individual blogs linked to it, a sort of collective ministry blog. The link above will direct you to my particular blog and my blog will link back to the main blog of Tai for the Savior and from there to all my team mates’ blogs so that you can browse them all and get a bigger picture of the ministry going on in Thailand

Up and coming

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have a new blog up and coming; please have some patience with me while I'm getting it set up.

Pat

We gained a new sister in Christ this past Wednesday night! Her name is Pat and she has been frequenting the English center for about 3 months now. Pat came to know Christ largely through our new Christians. It's what Pat saw and experienced in spending time with them that got her interested in studying the Bible and getting to know God.

You can view a video of the baptism on YouTube under "Pat's Baptism" or by following the link. (The person baptizing Pat is my team mate P'Yai. I am just out of the camera shot to the left).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSob4Kgz89c

All Request Hour

Ok, so what do you all out there who actually take some time out of your lives to read this blog want to hear about? Leave me a comment and let me know what you're interested in hearing about.

New Christians

We have 9 people in our new Christian group right now (people that have been baptized in the past year): Son, Yut, Thoe, Tak, Jeab, Poopay, Gie, Jan, and Nut. Working with them is one of my favorite parts of the ministry here. Four of them have university exams coming up which is a stressful experience in Thai schools, so they have all been studying hard and are anxious about taking their exams.

Thoe is soon to join the military (it's long to explain the military and draft systems in Thailand, but joining was not Thoe's choice). He'll be serving 2 years in a city about 12 hours away from Bangkok.

Gie is still looking for a job. She must find one soon or she'll have to go back to her home town, something which she does not want to do as she'd be leaving her friends and her Christian family behind.

The new Christians have still been finding time to hang out and help out at the English center though. Some of them are especially good with the new students and it is wonderful to have them working with me. One in particular I've gotten a chance to work with lately is Tak. We have come to be as good of friends as two girls who don't speak the same language could be. The two of us have come to find that we work well together in talking to new students and those who come to visit the RCC.

It is a wonderful thing to be part of the new Christians' lives and to be able to discuss life and their growing faiths with them. As many of the new Christians are girls, and so my team mates and I have been discussing some ideas to further minister and mentor them. We already have a monthly women's Bible study, but we wanted to do more. Right now we're trying out some mentoring groups in which each of my female team mates and I have a couple of the girls that we focus on and spend time with.

A new post

It's high time I wrote another entry as it's been near 3 weeks since my last post. This time I'll tell you a little about what's going on in the work just now, and then about some of our students.

Right now (aside from our usual English and Bible classes/studies) we are busy preparing for the upcoming LST team that will arrive the 18th. We've been passing out alot of fliers and putting up posters in our area and around the university to recruit readers for the LST team. Responses have been good so far, but we could take more students as the team coming is pretty big. Kat and I have been reading with several bnew students preping them to read with the upcoming team, so our reading schedules are pretty full just now.

Now about some of our students:

Nit and Nut are pretty new to RCC. Nit has been coming for about a month, and Nut (her twin sister) just for a couple of days. Nit was brought to RCC by her brother, Snap. Snap was an RCC member several months ago but started a job that kept him very busy nd away from RCC, however, when his sister, Nit, came to stay with him in Bangkok he brought her to RCC and told us to take care of her (shows that he knows he can trust the people of God),and so that is how Nit came to us and now she has started bringing her sister. Right now Kat is reading with Nit and I with Nut, They will both read with LST when that team comes. Their English is very minimal right now, so there isn't much discussion about God or Christianity right now. Much remains to be seen with these two girls.

Yohd has been reading with me for a coupe of months now. She's a sweet, quieter girl, and she's become friends with me (as much as possible, considering that neither of us are very good at the other's language yet). Yohd understands the passages we are reading from Luke very well and is talking in Thai with my team mate Tuli. I say talking because she has not officially agreed to study Bible yet, but she and Tuli are talking, so she's open. One big thing that must be overcome in her thiking, is that all religions are equaly valid.

Pan has been my reader for about a month now. Since we've been reading Luke, I've been able to see him slowly go from being interested only in English to being interested in the stories we are reading. He asks lots and lots of questions about what things mean and wants to know the bigger story surrounding the people in the stories, especialy the Old Testament people and events reffered to. Tuli has been talking with him a little recently trying to get him to study Bible in Thai, not sure where their discussions have gone so far, and there is a long way yet to go with Pan, but there's always steady progress seen in him.

Songkran (April 12-15)

It was the Songkran holiday last week, an even though the holiday officially only lasts four days, everyone took the whole week off. Songkran is the Thai new year, and it is celebrated with a water festival, what that means is that the entire country has a four day long water fight (this holiday also conveniently takes place during the hottest week of the year). Traditionally people throw water on each other to cleanse from the old year, and they also smear power on each other to "refresh" from the old year; but in all actuallity the holiday is just for fun. Everyone is game during this holiday, all of your friends and family, and even complete strangers, everyone will crowd into the streets and play. This holiday was such a fun experience (and definitely one of my new favorite holidays). It was a great time to relax and play during an otherwise miserably hot time of year.

Trip to the South (March 29 - April 5)

Saturday the 29th a group of us from the RCC (some team members, some old Christians, and some students who are not Christians yet) drove down to Pangnga (in the South of Thailand); many call this village Tsunamy Village because when the 2004 tsunami hit SE Asia, 70% of all those who were in that village at that time were killed. We went down to see the ocean when we arrived there; there was a tsunami memorial at that beach that we visited. It was a walk way and on one side a wall with the names of everyone the tsunami killed in that village, and on the other side a huge wave, the size of the tsunami wave that hit that beach. It was really neat. We stayed the with the church there that night and worshiped with them in the morning. We had lunch with them, and then, before leaving, we stopped at the work of one of the church member there. He works with an organization that is helping rebuilding in the area. They had just built a new building and they wanted us to pray over it and the work there.

We then drove to Krabpi and had Sunday evening worship there and dinner, and then we hung around roasting and eating cashews with the church members. We slept in the church building there and in the morning drove to Chang . . . a something, I forget the name of the village, but I shall refer to it as Arnon's village (cause that's the name of the student that we went to visit there). When we got to Arnon's village we ate and then were taken for a hike to see a waterfall. It was beautful. That day, and throughout the next 5 days we were there, we kept meeting Arnon's family members; there were so many (he is the youngest of six and he has so many aunts and uncles he couldn't count them; he tried, but they're too many). We stayed with one of Arnon's aunt and uncle for the next 4 days. His whole family are rubber tree farmers. And I'd have to say that a rubber tree field is one of the more beautiful things I've seen in nature, really, they're really pretty trees. While there we took several hikes, to see waterfalls. Took motorcycle rides to the nearest town the buy things at the market, went to visit many of Arnon's relatives and neighbors, played lots and lots of cards, and ate, and ate, and ate.

My Thai definitely got better on this trip, as there weren't alot of English speakers around and as the Southern dialect is very quick; it's made my ear better.

We also visited a couple of temples in the south. I hadn't gotten to go to one before. Before hand I tried to imagine what I would feel going into a pagan place of worship and seeing people worshiping idols. I couldn't quite decide how I would feel about it, but when I went there, I was surprised to find that I felt nothing. I didn't feel angry, sad, creeped, or anything. It didn't feel like a place of worship at all; it didn't feel sacred; it felt empty, like nothing, and all that I saw people around me doing to please their gods looked like nothing more than an empty ritual or dance, which I now suppose is exactly what I ought to have felt. The only pang of sadness I had was when all those who came with us payed their respects to the idols and prayed and bowed to them and Arnon with them, to see him devote himself to an image was so sad to see, as I love him and want him to be my brother and come to love and give himself to a God that is alive and real and will not disappoint him.

Friday evening the whole family took us down to the train station to see us off. I'm glad to say we really did manage to make a good impression on them (even if at first they didn't understand us too much). I'm so glad they liked us, as that was one of our purposes for the trip, to get closer with Arnon, but also to show his family that Christians are good people, so that they might be open to Arnon studying about Christianity and possibly becoming Christian some day.

Pictures

Nothing terribly interesting has happend this week for me to write about, so here are some pics from the past month for your viewing enjoyment.

Village English

RCC staff and members have started an English ministry in the slum village near the Watcharapon church (where we once helped with a Children's Day event). We are hoping to get the Watcharapon members involved in this outreach project in their own area.

This passed Sunday was our first Sunday there. We plan to go every Sunday afternoon for a few hours to teach English and play games. We divided our students into four age groups since we have everything from 4 year-olds to adults. We have one American, one Thai translator, and several helpers from each group. I get to lead the 4-6 years old class. This passed Sunday we had a class of about 20. The kids are so precious. My helpers were great, and we had lots of fun, though it was very hot; we teach in the village school house, so we had some shade, but that's about it.

Thank God for blessing us with this outreach opportunity, and pray for that we will find the time and people to keep it going, and that we will be able to get the Watcharapon church members involved.

Tak and Gie

Gie and Tak were baptized on the 27th of February and 7th of March!

God is so good. He has given us one new sister each week for the passed four weeks: Jeab, Poopay, Gie, and Tak.

With these new additions to the new-Christian-group and the young women that have been added to the RCC through the recent LST efforts, we have quite a large group of women to minister to right now. Pray that God will give us wisdom and ideas to grow in our women's ministry.

LST Team

We have a 5-member LST team working with us at the RCC right now; they will be here for two weeks. Each of them will be reading with 3-5 readers every day. Hopefully, once the team's time here is done, a number of their students will want to continue reading with us and frequenting the RCC. It's great having the help and being able to bring more people in. Everyone in the LST team is enthusiastic and lots of fun.

One thing I had not expected in all this is the something of reverse-culture-shock I am experiencing being around so many Americans. I hadn't realized how unused to Americans I had become, and how much I have changed culturaly in so short a time.

Spiritual Camp

This passed week-end was spiritual camp (an RCC camp geared toward our readers who are seriously considering Christianity). We traveled to the mountains on Thailand's border with Burma (a beautiful, though COLD, location). We had lots of class time, small group time, and also game times. It was a crazy fun and uplifting time for all of us. Please pray for Tak, Gie, and Aow, the 3 readers whom we focused on at the camp. Tak and Gie especially are thinking very seriously about following Christ. One realy neat thing we got to all do at camp was share and hear everyone's stories about how they came to be part of RCC and something of their spiritual journeys.

A new sister!

We have gained another sister in Christ. Her name is Poopay. Poopay was an English student at the center various months ago, but had stopped reading one on one; she continued though having some Bible studies and often came to Wednesday evening worship. Poopay has believe in God for some time, but said she didn't want to get baptized against her family's wishes. However, this passed Wednesday she chose to dedicate her life to God and be baptized! Keep our new sister in your prayers as she begins her walk with God.

Rejoice with us

Jeab was baptized late this passed Wednesday night!

For some months now Jeab has believed in God, but she had been putting off dedicating her life to God and being baptized. Our whole team had been encouraging her to act upon her faith and praying for her so fervently, and at last she has chosen to take that final step and begin a new life in God!

Saving me from my own foolishness.

Have you ever thanked God for not doing something you had asked Him to do? Have you ever thanked Him for not giving you the opportunity to say something you had intended to say or to make something you had intended to do not work out? Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel so strongly and deeply how very foolish you are and how very wise God is?

These things are, of course, ones I have experienced recently. I have been dealing for weeks now with a challenging and complicated situation. One that I really had no idea what to do about and hardly even understood what I thought or felt about. I prayed to God continually for wisdom and to guide my every thought and feeling and action pertaining to this situation. In all my prayers, however, I never head any answers. I felt as though God was leaving me to act according to my own best judgment. But not so. He was acting; He was answering my prayers, just in an entirely different manner than I had expected. He kept me from saying and doing many things I had decided to in this situation. He kept me from it until I discovered enough information about all that was going on to understand that the things I had meant to say and do would have been very foolish indeed. He asnwered my prayers for wisdom by saving me from my own foolishness.

Prayer Requests

-- For two new readers I've gained the passed couple of weeks: Way and Dam. Both of them are very interested in learning more about God and have great understanding about what they are reading with me from Luke. Pray that God will put the right words in my mouth to say to them, and that He will continue to bring their thoughts and hearts closer to Him.

-- For our Spiritual Camp that is coming up near the end of the month. Pray for our preparations and as we invite students to come, that they will want to go.

-- For all of my team mates as they go about their ministry here, that God will strengthen and bless them every day. And thanksgiving for what a blessing they are to me.

-- For me that God will grant me wisdom, strength, steadfastness, and grace in all of my work and relationships with people here.

New Christian Camp

This passed week-end we had a New Christian camp in an effort to remain connected to those readers that have become Christian (and so do not study with us any more) and to continue to grow their relationship with God. All in all, I'd have to say it was a fantastic week-end!

We drove 4 hours out of Bangkok to the South to a beach. He had to hike all our things and food and camping gear for the week-end over a mountain to get to the area of the beach we were to camp at (a great way to start the week-end).

The week-end was filled with devotionals, small group times, meals cooked over the fire, hiking, swimming, sleeping (ok, so not so much filled with that), team-building activities, prayer, and talking.

The theme of the camp was "freedon in Christ" and all week-end long we talked about being slaves to sin, becoming free from sin, and how Christ takes our sins away. I have to admit it was as much of a growing experience for me as it was for most of the campers. I definitely felt stretched by God. As a group leader I knew that those in my group would only open up and share as much as I did, so I really had to put myself out there and share many things and be very personal (much more so than I am generally wont to do). It was such an amazing experience not only to get to watch God at work, but also to get to help with it (I suppose that might be considered what being a missionary is all about).

Prayer Requests

-- For New Christian Camp that will be this friday through sunday.

-- For three new readers that I have begun reading with this week: Gung, Way, and Joy.

-- Thanksgiving for my team. God continues to bless and strengthen me through them.

-- For personal strength and wisdom and grace to meet all the challenges God blesses me with every day.

This passed week in odds and ends (forgive the disconectedness)

Saturday my team and some of the Christians from the church visited one of the poor neighborhoods in Bangkok. It was Children's Day and the work place of one of the church members was hosting a Children's Day event for the kids of that neighborhood and we went to help watch and play with the kids. It was great fun. Alot of those kids hadn't seen white people much before and were very excited to see us and talk with us and play with some.

Sunday worship was very encouraging to me. I appreciate the woman who translates for me (Ann) so much. She is a very very good interpreter. Also Sunday I finished writting my lesson for Wednesday evening women's class and was very glad to have it done.

Monday (even though it was day off) I hung out at RCC with the people who live there. I played ping-pong most of the day (which I have become pretty good at in the passed two weeks. I've had good teachers) and I got to cook Italian food for dinner.

Tuesday I gained two new readers, and so my schedule is becoming quite full and busy now. I want to ask prayers for one of my new readers. Her name is Way and she is definitely interested in Christianity. I'm trying to get her to set up having a Bible study in Thai with one of my Thai team mates. Also Tueday, Thai language class was very hard. It was about classifiers. In Thai every noun has a classifier so when I memorize vocabulary I have to learn two Thai words for every one English noun (it's a little hard to explain). I'm actually feeling pretty good about my Thai learning right now. I've gotten to the point where I can usually understand the topic that people are discussing, maybe not what they are saying about the topic, but at least the topic.

Wednesday I gave my lesson to the women during evening worship, and I felt it went pretty well (especially considering that public speaking is not my gift). I got a lot of good feed back, so I thank God that he was able to speak through me despite my deficiencies.

I have been reading a book about Buddhism that one of my team mates recommended to me. It has been good to learn more about the religion that is pushed on most Thais. From what I learned in my reading this week, I think that Buddhism is a very lonely religion. Buddhism teaches that each person must work to gain their own salvation and that no one can help them; it's entirely up to them. Salvation is a very individualistic matter and others are not needed and may even hinder obtaining salvation.

Construction at RCC

As RCC has been closed for the New Year, we took the opportunity to do some construction. We put two walls and two doors in on the fifth floor (buildings here are very tall and skinny) so that those who live at RCC can move up to that floor from the 4th floor which has now become the office floor. There was also some touch-up painting and repainting we did on all the floors. We had originally scheduled two days to do this work, and it turned out to take 6. But we have completed it at last.

In the evening of construction days, when we were done working for the day, we took to playing ping pong (the table for it has always been here, but we had not had room for it until we re-arranged things). I started out being rather dreadful at it, but have gotten much better over the passed week. Due to the passed week's construction and subsequent ping pong playing there are several of us here with very sore backs and shoulders.

This time of our readers being away has been a good time to spend with some of the newer Christians (whom we don't always have as much time as we'd like with).

Sawadee bpe mai! Happy New Year!

New Years is something of a major holiday in Thailand. Many of our RCC frequenters returned to their home towns for the holiday. Those who remained in Bangkok had a big New Year's Eve party at the church building complete with gifts, a talent show, and lots and lots of food. The party was themed "back to school", and everyone dressed up accordingly. It was a great New Years.