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).