Saturday, July 26, 2008

good things

I am amazed at all of the great things that have taken place here in Thailand --especially in the last week. I was expecting us to really just attempt to understand a little bit of culture and language while we were here. I really did not think that we would be able to do too much serious ministry because of language difficulties; however, some really exciting things have happened.
All of our college age interns have done an awesome job of making relationships and hanging out with different university students. One of the guys that they have been hanging out with went on a retreat with some other Thai Christians and decided to follow the Lord. He also is going to move into the ministry dorm --Praise God.
The intern girls and I also had and amazing time of ministry with the dorm girls that we live with the other night. We went to their regular small group meeting and had worship. I then shared some of my testimony, and we all shared how the girls had been a blessing to us. We then had a time of praying for them and washing their feet. It was amazing how the Spirit of God was moving there. We really did not even do that much, but girls were weeping and praying for one another. The presence of God there was astounding. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have been able to minister to Christians and non-Christians while we have been here. I have been impressed over and over again with the Thai Christians that we are working with and with our interns. Thank you all for praying for us while we have been here. We have been safe and we have had a great time (I also have survived living in a tiny room with all three kids and pushing a stroller with a child hanging on each side down busy Bangkok streets). Remember us on Monday night and Tuesday while we make the 26 hour journey back to VA.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Superheroes

As well as imagining my life with a chimpanzee, as a child, I often used to fantasize about being a superhero -- what can I say, I had an active imagination. Little did I know that, my baby would have superhero strength and abilities.
Today I took the kids to the mall to paint a plaster of paris piggy bank. Of course the baby insisted on doing his own and holding a paintbrush while screaming, "mine, mine, mine," if I attempted to help him. My daughter actually has some artistic ability and was carefully painting hers, so when the boys were done throwing paint on theirs, I let my son walk while I pushed the baby in the stroller. I stopped the stroller a couple of feet from a fan ,and we watched my daughter painting, while enjoying some cool air. Then all of the sudden the metal frame went flying off of the fan, and the plastic blade broke apart, scattering over the floor. Then I realized what had taken place, somehow my baby, while being strapped in to the stroller, in a nano-second stretched himself up to the fan and stuck his finger in, and somehow this caused the fan to fall apart all over the floor. At this point, I checked my son and saw that the whole commotion had only caused a slight scrape on his finger. I was amazed, he had speed like the flash, the ability to stretch like rubber man and supernatural strength like the hulk. Unfortunately, the lady who owned the fan was not as impressed with my baby's super powers. Instead she started talking and talking to me in Thai and pointing. I gathered that she expected me to pay for fan blade. So, I just pulled out the biggest bill that I had and attempted to apologize in Thai.
It was not quite the family event that I had planned, but at least Jordan's piggy bank turned out nice. -- I'll post a picture later.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

it is not as easy as it looks






I am posting a few pictures of elephant riding. If you look at my face in one of them, I hope that you can see the pure grit and determination that I have to keep from falling right off of the elephant and taking my son and daughter with me. I have never really ridden any animal, but let me tell you, an elephant is not a smooth ride. It feels like standing on rope bridge in the middle of an earthquake, and having a baby on your back does not make it any easier.
It was a great day though. The team got to take a break from missionary interviews and enjoy some of the things that Chiang Mai has to offer.

The dream is over

All of my childhood, I had one huge desire --a chimpanzee named Marvin. Every birthday and Christmas I was sure that I was going to get a chimpanzee. I would lie awake at night on Christmas Eve and imagine waking up in the morning to my chimpanzee, Marvin-- I was even sure that I could here him chattering early in the morning. After badgering and begging my father forever for a chimpanzee, he finally told me that I could get one for a present when I graduated from college. I then continued for a few years to tell everyone that I was going to get chimpanzee named Marvin when I graduated from college.
Well, I can finally tell you with certainty I no longer want a chimpanzee. Yesterday, we went to the animal safari. My kids and I were taking a leisurely walk around the animal lake. They had these cool, little islands with animals on them. Then my heart skipped a beat as I saw the sign for the chimpanzee island. I looked over at the island, but he was resting under some bushes. When he noticed we were there, he came out of hiding. I was excited because I was sure that he wanted to wave at us and see us. As I was admiring him, he lifted up his hand, I held my breath because I was positive he was going to wave at us. As he opened his hand, a piece of wood with nails hanging out of it flew out of his hand and whizzed by my head with speed and strength that would make major league pitchers envious. -- A chimpanzee attempted to take my life at the Chiang Mai safari.
So, I guess my dad can be relieved --he no longer is in debt to me for a chimpanzee.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Loving others

As I have mentioned before, we have very little space in our room where we are staying. The kids and I usually stay back when my husband goes off with the rest of the team, but I can't be stuck in our room, and if the baby is napping we have to be somewhere else. I usually take the two older kids downstairs to a community room and attempt to do some schoolwork with my daughter. The downstairs room is accessible from the street and open on three sides. A mentally handicapped woman and her daughter live very near the base and often come around. Any of you who have been around an 18-month old (especially mine), understand that the morning nap is coveted time. You don't want to talk to anyone. I always think it will be a time when I can relax and hang out with the older two. However, as soon as I get downstairs with the two older kids and sit down with my drink, the lady and her daughter see my kids downstairs and come over. Not only do you not want to talk to anyone during the morning nap time, you really don't want to attempt to communicate in a language that you can't speak. I caught myself feeling so negative when she came over the other day. Fortunately the Lord convicted me very quickly and showed me His heart and love for her. This is exactly the type of person that Jesus wants me to love and serve. As the Bible says, "Whatever you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me." It is a privilege to be able to love her and mumble a few words of Thai with her, give her a pair of earrings that I am making, teach Jordan to share her colors with the daughter, eat our snacks with them. I can actually serve and love Jesus by loving her.
It is so easy to get annoyed because we have a schedule, we have our time, we want a break from people, we are at the end of our patience with our kids, etc. It is sometimes difficult to push beyond those annoyances and our selfishness to love other people, but it is always so much more rewarding to love others and Jesus