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Monday, December 29, 2008
heading back to thailand
We've been enjoying our time here in Cambodia, and a few days in Vietnam as well. We are heading back to thailand tomorrow, and will be spending a few days in Bangkok. That should be interesting. I will update more later, with pictures and more stories! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and that you will have a happy new year. Remember the true REASON for this holiday season!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
In Cambodia! (until tomorrow:)
Well friends, it has been a while. I have been keeping pretty busy, at least away from internet for a couple of weeks. I am in Cambodia right now, but am heading to Vietnam tomorrow. I am on Christmas break, so we (Emily, Alison, Rob and I) went to an orphanage in Cambodia where our friend Holly was and will be sight-seeing from there. We are on our way to Vietnam, but must wait for our visas right now. (It feels pretty funny being a tourist;)
I had a great Thanksgiving, with lots of sticky rice (a few days before) and a visa trip to Burma on the day of. Fun, none-the-less, even though it was nothing like at home. We are planning on decorating for Christmas here in Cambodia, even though it is probably 80-90 degrees during the day and doesn't feel like Christmas. :D Well, I don't have any more time but I hope that you all have a great Christmas! Enjoy the snow and cold for me. :D God bless you all!
I had a great Thanksgiving, with lots of sticky rice (a few days before) and a visa trip to Burma on the day of. Fun, none-the-less, even though it was nothing like at home. We are planning on decorating for Christmas here in Cambodia, even though it is probably 80-90 degrees during the day and doesn't feel like Christmas. :D Well, I don't have any more time but I hope that you all have a great Christmas! Enjoy the snow and cold for me. :D God bless you all!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Puppies!
We have a mommy dog and three puppies that are adopted into our family now. This is one of them. At first this one was terrified of us, but now he is such a sweety! We have wone their hearts with lots of love and rice.
A Karen kitchen
The food that Emily and I made for the village church members. We had a little feast over at our house, then had worship, etc. They seemed to love the food. It was all cleaned up!
What is this? you may wonder! It is a whole bunch of chilis out drying in the sun, and rice in the other container! This is a typical Karen meal. You have to have the chili paste (Nam prick) or else the meal isn't complete! (I know that mom and nana would love it! Don't worry, I know how to make it for you when I get home. :D)
Hanging out!
Emily and I hanging out the back of a Songtel! This is the common mode of transportation in these areas!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Trekking!
The week before last, we had the amazing opportunity to go on a 3-day trekk. We thought that it was to be a 3-day elephant trekk, but it ended up being more like a 3-day backpacking trip with about 2 hours of an elephant ride. We started out on a boat going down the river between Thailand and Burma. (Ying & I getting to our boat)
The next morning, we left and headed out walking across many streams. After that, all of us with chacos got great big blisters! Lol, oh well. We made it back safe and sound.
The trail was quite intense the first day. We didn't realize we would be hiking 5-6 hours, so we had lots of stuff! Thankfully I had my chacos, (sandals) otherwise, I would have died in flipflops! We went up one hill that went up 1,000 meters, or about 3,000 feet! It doesn't seem that much, but it sure did then. :D We crossed over many bridges (and many bamboo sticks across the river). This was one of the nice bridges!
We saw a poisonous snake about 30 minutes into our trekk. It was so different than backpacking in the USA, because we would be hiking through the jungle, and then come out on someone's rice field!
We spent the first night in a small Karen village. We were able to do some health teaching and some hydrotherapy there as well. The next morning we left on our elephants. We only had 2 elephants for 5 of us! So, 3 of us rode on the big one.
I actually got to ride on its neck! Very prickly hair, though.
We spent the 2nd night in another Karen village, right next to a beautiful stream! This was the last picture taken with my camera before it went swimming! Thankfully it works now. :D
We spent the 2nd night in another Karen village, right next to a beautiful stream! This was the last picture taken with my camera before it went swimming! Thankfully it works now. :D We visited a little school, and hopefully will get to go back and teach there. They are open to having us, especially as foreigners, go and teach health & English. (we could also teach about the Christianity, too;) This was an adorable little girl at the school!
The next morning, we left and headed out walking across many streams. After that, all of us with chacos got great big blisters! Lol, oh well. We made it back safe and sound.
The most lasting part about the trip were the friendships we made, especially with our guide. Before we left, we had been praying especially for the Buddhists. This young man is Buddhist, and had a bitter taste about Christianity from an ex-girlfriend. We had prayer before leaving, before eating, etc. and that left a deep impression on him. Just in little things that have happened since the trekk, God has opened the doors for us to meet up with him again. We rented some motorcycles from him and after we were finished, the guys forgot to leave the keys (so he had to come get them); we've been able to go out to eat with him, and he suggested that we pray (before we mentioned it). He seems to be opening up and trusting us! I pray that God will continue to use us to reach him. He said that we were a special group. It is awesome to watch God working on his heart. God had a purpose for us on this trekk, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, our prayer is that our guide will get to know Him through our friendship. (Our group that went. Our guide is the one beside me, and the one in blue was a guide in training to this forest. The man in red in the back was from Belgium.)
Kin Kaw, mai?
Literal translation: eat rice, yes? When people ask if you've eaten, that's what they say. As before mentioned, we got to harvest rice. Here are a few pics. Enjoy. :D
Fun fun!
This is how you do it: you grab a handful of rice, and take the scithe (sp?) and cut off the section! Not too hard. The hardest part is walking into the ankle-deep mud bare-footed. (with lots of leaches!)
The after affects-our dirty feet.
The rice field after we finished! Beautiful, yeah?
Fun fun!
This is how you do it: you grab a handful of rice, and take the scithe (sp?) and cut off the section! Not too hard. The hardest part is walking into the ankle-deep mud bare-footed. (with lots of leaches!)
The after affects-our dirty feet. The rice field after we finished! Beautiful, yeah?Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Harvest!
"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." (Matt. 9:37-38)
(unfortunately, the picture isn't of us, but later I'll post some)
These words have taken on a slight new meaning for me. As before mentioned, we went to help harvest rice yesterday! The experience was exciting, wading around in ankle-deep mud barefoot, with small leaches hanging around. The rice was a bit scratchy on the arms, the sun got hot, the bugs were flying around us, but we kept on grabbing and cutting the rice. As we talked about our day, the above verse came to mind. The harvest truly was ready! There are fields and fields full of ripe rice here, but there are only a few workers! Why aren't there more? Maybe because the work is hard, the bugs are annoying, the sun is hot, the leaches are disgusting, and the plants are scratchy! Friends, God's work is not always easy, not always fun! There may be days of discouragement, things that seem to take your energy right out of you. But this work must be done! Nothing is too difficult to do for one soul! Are you answering the call, "Here I am, Lord. Send me"?
(unfortunately, the picture isn't of us, but later I'll post some)
These words have taken on a slight new meaning for me. As before mentioned, we went to help harvest rice yesterday! The experience was exciting, wading around in ankle-deep mud barefoot, with small leaches hanging around. The rice was a bit scratchy on the arms, the sun got hot, the bugs were flying around us, but we kept on grabbing and cutting the rice. As we talked about our day, the above verse came to mind. The harvest truly was ready! There are fields and fields full of ripe rice here, but there are only a few workers! Why aren't there more? Maybe because the work is hard, the bugs are annoying, the sun is hot, the leaches are disgusting, and the plants are scratchy! Friends, God's work is not always easy, not always fun! There may be days of discouragement, things that seem to take your energy right out of you. But this work must be done! Nothing is too difficult to do for one soul! Are you answering the call, "Here I am, Lord. Send me"?
Hello from Mae Sarang!
This morning, a couple of the people here had to leave to go to Chiang Mai, and a couple more had to get their visas renewed in the city. So, we come down off of our beautiful little mountain into the polluted town. We have been staying in a small Karen village since Thursday. It is pretty primitive, but not as much as some places I have been. There IS electricity! but there is no phone service except up a huge hill. So we go and take a hike sometimes. :D We arrived here in the city and were informed that we would be staying in this city until tomorrow! I guess I wasn't too surprised. We don't have anything besides a purse with a jacket, camera, wallet, and a couple other necessities. (lol, like toilet paper, because here in Thailand, that is hard to find!) Anyways, that's how I get to check my e-mail!
We have been in a little Karen village that I can never remember the name of. We have been doing visitations, and meetings in the evenings. Yesterday was definitely out of the norm! We worked harvesting rice! I had always wondered what it would be like. Wow, was that ever exciting! I felt a bit unprepared, clothes-wise. I had only flip-flops (and skirts, lol). Well, we ended up taking our shoes off and walking around bare-foot in ankle-deep mud. Only a few of my friends ended up with little friends (called leaches) on their extremities! They were rather thrilled, to say the least. :D I will have to put some pics of this up later, since I have none with me now. We then went "jungle shopping". Ok, it was actually more like "compost-pile shopping". In the soy-bean fields, after the season is over, they leave all the left-over plants and that decomposes and little mushrooms grow. So, we went and picked hundreds of small and tiny mushrooms to eat. I must say that mushrooms are not as appealing to me as they were before. (digging under rotting soy-bean pods and cow patties. . . .) Lol, I know some of you already agree that mushrooms are not meant to be eaten. Anyways, it was quite the experience!
The village people are very sweet! They love inviting us over for meals, etc. One family invited us, and not knowing that we are vegetarian (at least in this program), they made us some fish (more like fish skeletons), and some chili sauce with canned fish, (some other REALLY hot chili sauce when they saw we were vegetarian) rice, and some steamed, bitter vegies! I did try to eat some of them, very hard though! Thankfully we had brought corn on the cob (so delicious!) and some other chili sauce. Another day, a man came running into our house at about 6:30-ish in the morning (after we had cooked breakfast) and invited us to come to his house for breakfast! We ran out, with a few noodles in hand, and followed him home. The food they fed us was VERY VERY salty! WOW! Ricky got sick from it and said that it reminded him of the salt flush we did to cleanse our systems. I do really appreciate the thought of these families, and the first family understood that we are vegetarians.
I have actually not even seen a chair since I have been in that village. I have seen a couple little stools, but that's it. They always sit on the floor (even in church) and they eat with their hands! They also sleep on the floor, with only a bamboo mat (or a little fatter mat if you are lucky, which we aren't;). Eating with my hands is taking a little to get used to. Sleeping on the floor is kind of hard, with a little back-pain now and again. The sitting on the floor is the one I think I'll never get quite used to! My legs are getting less and less comfortable with it! Every time I lower myself to the floor, it takes less time for my seated position to get painful! Lol, I feel like I'm getting old!
It is a very simple way of life, but I really enjoy it! They don't have many distractions, but they do have electricity and so TV is a big distraction. We really need to pray for these villages, because, despite the fact that they don't have a lot of open devil-possession the Hmong villages we were at, they are quite lukewarm and sleeping. I know the Lord has big plans for them, and we need to continue working and praying. Thank you all for your prayers!
We have been in a little Karen village that I can never remember the name of. We have been doing visitations, and meetings in the evenings. Yesterday was definitely out of the norm! We worked harvesting rice! I had always wondered what it would be like. Wow, was that ever exciting! I felt a bit unprepared, clothes-wise. I had only flip-flops (and skirts, lol). Well, we ended up taking our shoes off and walking around bare-foot in ankle-deep mud. Only a few of my friends ended up with little friends (called leaches) on their extremities! They were rather thrilled, to say the least. :D I will have to put some pics of this up later, since I have none with me now. We then went "jungle shopping". Ok, it was actually more like "compost-pile shopping". In the soy-bean fields, after the season is over, they leave all the left-over plants and that decomposes and little mushrooms grow. So, we went and picked hundreds of small and tiny mushrooms to eat. I must say that mushrooms are not as appealing to me as they were before. (digging under rotting soy-bean pods and cow patties. . . .) Lol, I know some of you already agree that mushrooms are not meant to be eaten. Anyways, it was quite the experience!
The village people are very sweet! They love inviting us over for meals, etc. One family invited us, and not knowing that we are vegetarian (at least in this program), they made us some fish (more like fish skeletons), and some chili sauce with canned fish, (some other REALLY hot chili sauce when they saw we were vegetarian) rice, and some steamed, bitter vegies! I did try to eat some of them, very hard though! Thankfully we had brought corn on the cob (so delicious!) and some other chili sauce. Another day, a man came running into our house at about 6:30-ish in the morning (after we had cooked breakfast) and invited us to come to his house for breakfast! We ran out, with a few noodles in hand, and followed him home. The food they fed us was VERY VERY salty! WOW! Ricky got sick from it and said that it reminded him of the salt flush we did to cleanse our systems. I do really appreciate the thought of these families, and the first family understood that we are vegetarians.
I have actually not even seen a chair since I have been in that village. I have seen a couple little stools, but that's it. They always sit on the floor (even in church) and they eat with their hands! They also sleep on the floor, with only a bamboo mat (or a little fatter mat if you are lucky, which we aren't;). Eating with my hands is taking a little to get used to. Sleeping on the floor is kind of hard, with a little back-pain now and again. The sitting on the floor is the one I think I'll never get quite used to! My legs are getting less and less comfortable with it! Every time I lower myself to the floor, it takes less time for my seated position to get painful! Lol, I feel like I'm getting old!
It is a very simple way of life, but I really enjoy it! They don't have many distractions, but they do have electricity and so TV is a big distraction. We really need to pray for these villages, because, despite the fact that they don't have a lot of open devil-possession the Hmong villages we were at, they are quite lukewarm and sleeping. I know the Lord has big plans for them, and we need to continue working and praying. Thank you all for your prayers!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
UPDATE!
Just a small update: we are leaving tomorrow @ 9:00 am. We will be going as one group (minus a few that went down to Bangkok) to a village many hours north of here. We will possibly be there until December. (notice: possibly) :D We will have phone service sometimes but not at other times, which I'm not sure exactly what that means. Have a great rest of the year! I will be praying for you! God bless.
Waiting!
Well, this blog wont be too exciting because not much has been happening around the center these days. We have been recovering from colds and sicknesses; resting up; cooking; pulling lots of weeds from flower patches, aloe-vera patches, and gardens; doing landscape work; playing soccer, ultimate frizby, and basketball (well knock-out and PIG) in skirts (a fun experience); and checking e-mail. It has been nice to get a small break to catch up on sleep, etc. It has been a bit long, and I'm about bored and ready to go back out into the villages and get busy.
I think that we will be going out in the next day or two, possibly tomorrow, but we still do not know for sure. I just wanted to write one last time before leaving, since I don't know how many weeks (or months) it will be before I'll get to write again!
I hope that you all have a great next couple months. I will think of you all on Thanksgiving, but will probably not have the "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. It's rather difficult to cook Thanksgiving pies without an oven. :D Yeah, that's one thing that is not common here. I have seen all of 3 ovens since I came to Thailand (one at a little home bakery, one at a Canadian family's house, and one at Pastor Phamor's house). We can still have mashed potatoes without an oven, though.
Until next time folks, may God bless you all! Keep in touch, and I will do my best as I am able and have e-mail. :D With love from Thailand. . . .
P.S. We're just about to have a meeting and find out what's happening! Exciting. Maybe I'll have a chance to update before we go. :D
I think that we will be going out in the next day or two, possibly tomorrow, but we still do not know for sure. I just wanted to write one last time before leaving, since I don't know how many weeks (or months) it will be before I'll get to write again!
I hope that you all have a great next couple months. I will think of you all on Thanksgiving, but will probably not have the "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. It's rather difficult to cook Thanksgiving pies without an oven. :D Yeah, that's one thing that is not common here. I have seen all of 3 ovens since I came to Thailand (one at a little home bakery, one at a Canadian family's house, and one at Pastor Phamor's house). We can still have mashed potatoes without an oven, though.
Until next time folks, may God bless you all! Keep in touch, and I will do my best as I am able and have e-mail. :D With love from Thailand. . . .
P.S. We're just about to have a meeting and find out what's happening! Exciting. Maybe I'll have a chance to update before we go. :D
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
pics
Part of our group on a mountain above Buakjan village. So beautiful! It is practically a panoramic view of the mountains!
pics
Walking down a very rutted road to visit some villagers at their work (a rose-garden). It was great exercise! On the way there, a couple of my friends screamed and jumped back, and right in front of us was a bright green snake, a small but poisonous one! It was exciting. :D
pics
Melissa and I in our the girls' room. This first village of Panakok, we were very spoiled! We had a huge room for 4 girls, we had a hot shower and a washing machine!
pics
Two adorable little Hmong children. (they remind me of Mongolian people, probably because their ancestors have come to Thailand from Mongolia, China, etc.)
What next?
Well, within this next week (probably) we will be splitting up into three groups and going to different villages all over Thailand! We will be doing more of the same-type of stuff with medical work and meetings in the evenings. One very exciting thing is that the village where my group is going, we will not even have phone service, unless we climb a tree! Lol, that sounds exciting to me. My group is Mew, Mam, Rob, and I. L-R (back row): Me, Mam, Jerun; L-R (front row): Mew, Ying.
(back): Rob, (2nd row L-R): Ricky, Michael, Me, Wut; (front) Bee, Emily, Mew, Melissa. This was my group in the last village, (minus Jen) in Panakok (sp?). . . .
We will be staying here at the "ranch" for a few days, because some people are sick and need to get well before we go and teach about health. :D While we are here, we will be doing exciting things like shopping (since we wont be able to do much of that for possibly as long as 2 months!), doing laundry, re-packing, checking e-mail, etc. It will be nice to have a little rest-up. Would love to hear from you all! I miss you and immensely enjoy getting comments and e-mails! God bless you all.
P.S. I have no idea when I will be posting again. Once we go out into the villages, there is no set date that we will be returning. It is possible that we will go to another village after a week, or that we might remain in one village until Christmas break (around the 15th of December)! So, bye bye for now! Keep us in your prayers.
(back): Rob, (2nd row L-R): Ricky, Michael, Me, Wut; (front) Bee, Emily, Mew, Melissa. This was my group in the last village, (minus Jen) in Panakok (sp?). . . .
We will be staying here at the "ranch" for a few days, because some people are sick and need to get well before we go and teach about health. :D While we are here, we will be doing exciting things like shopping (since we wont be able to do much of that for possibly as long as 2 months!), doing laundry, re-packing, checking e-mail, etc. It will be nice to have a little rest-up. Would love to hear from you all! I miss you and immensely enjoy getting comments and e-mails! God bless you all.
P.S. I have no idea when I will be posting again. Once we go out into the villages, there is no set date that we will be returning. It is possible that we will go to another village after a week, or that we might remain in one village until Christmas break (around the 15th of December)! So, bye bye for now! Keep us in your prayers.
For We Wrestle Not. . . . part II
This week we were in a small village called Buakjan (sp?). We joined the rest of the group there and would go out daily to minister to surrounding villages. We met many people and treated many diseases, but the one case that has changed my life the most was this lady in the picture. She came to us first with complaints of numb hands and painful arms. She said that a few years ago she had woke up in the night with horrible pain. (the translator said tendon pain, but it was more like nerve pain.) She would now have intense pain when she got startled, and her hands were frequently numb. We checked her blood pressure, which was a bit high.
We proceeded to give her hands and arms a massage as the Thai girls chatted with her. The more they talked to her, the more we realized that this was not an ordinary nerve problem. This woman was a spirit worshiper, but not only a worshiper, she was a spirit medium. As they talked to her, she would say how the spirits would hurt her sometimes, but then would praise the spirits and say how great they were. One spirit told her that they live in Heaven, so that is what she believes. Come to find out, she had been involved in spirit worship since the age of 13. Then she became "Christian" (Catholic). Later she married a man who worshiped spirits and she then became a spirit medium. Pi Mam, one of the Thai girls, told her that our God could heal her, but that she had to commit to Him and pray to Him.
As I sat there massaging her, I could see the battle going on for her soul! Her eyes would soften as she heard about the Lord, but then she would stiffen up and start praising the spirits again. She wouldn't let us cut the spirit strings off her arms. We had prayer with her, realizing our helplessness in this situation! We could do no more. She wouldn't give up her spirits!
As we were walking away, Melissa wanted to take a video of her, so we went back and talked to her some more. We prayed with her again and sang "What a Friend we have in Jesus"and left. This was a very emotional time for some of us, seeing the battle for her life. I was so sad as we departed because I felt we were leaving her forever! I just kept praying that God would work on her heart, and not let the Devil win this battle!
THE END. . . . I thought! Sabbath, part of the group went back to that village to do church service and check on some of the people we had visited. This lady came to one of the meetings and they were able to study the Bible with her! It excited my heart to hear how the Holy Spirit kept working on this lady! They proceeded to study with her about what spiritualism really is! No obvious decision was made up front, but just the fact that she was happy to come to a place where the Lord's name was praised says a lot.
This story is the most apparent demonstration of the Great Controversy that I have ever witnessed with my own eyes! There is a battle going on for YOU and ME. It is usually more discrete in Western Cultures, but does that mean that it isn't happening? No way! It is happening all around us! Will we surrender to the Lord? If it is not His Holy Spirit that is with us, then it is the evil spirit. Praise the Lord that He does not give us up to the Devil without a huge battle for our lives! He will continue to fight until WE have closed our hearts to Him. The Great Controversy is quickly coming to a close. The decision is up to you.
We proceeded to give her hands and arms a massage as the Thai girls chatted with her. The more they talked to her, the more we realized that this was not an ordinary nerve problem. This woman was a spirit worshiper, but not only a worshiper, she was a spirit medium. As they talked to her, she would say how the spirits would hurt her sometimes, but then would praise the spirits and say how great they were. One spirit told her that they live in Heaven, so that is what she believes. Come to find out, she had been involved in spirit worship since the age of 13. Then she became "Christian" (Catholic). Later she married a man who worshiped spirits and she then became a spirit medium. Pi Mam, one of the Thai girls, told her that our God could heal her, but that she had to commit to Him and pray to Him.
As I sat there massaging her, I could see the battle going on for her soul! Her eyes would soften as she heard about the Lord, but then she would stiffen up and start praising the spirits again. She wouldn't let us cut the spirit strings off her arms. We had prayer with her, realizing our helplessness in this situation! We could do no more. She wouldn't give up her spirits!
As we were walking away, Melissa wanted to take a video of her, so we went back and talked to her some more. We prayed with her again and sang "What a Friend we have in Jesus"and left. This was a very emotional time for some of us, seeing the battle for her life. I was so sad as we departed because I felt we were leaving her forever! I just kept praying that God would work on her heart, and not let the Devil win this battle!
THE END. . . . I thought! Sabbath, part of the group went back to that village to do church service and check on some of the people we had visited. This lady came to one of the meetings and they were able to study the Bible with her! It excited my heart to hear how the Holy Spirit kept working on this lady! They proceeded to study with her about what spiritualism really is! No obvious decision was made up front, but just the fact that she was happy to come to a place where the Lord's name was praised says a lot.
This story is the most apparent demonstration of the Great Controversy that I have ever witnessed with my own eyes! There is a battle going on for YOU and ME. It is usually more discrete in Western Cultures, but does that mean that it isn't happening? No way! It is happening all around us! Will we surrender to the Lord? If it is not His Holy Spirit that is with us, then it is the evil spirit. Praise the Lord that He does not give us up to the Devil without a huge battle for our lives! He will continue to fight until WE have closed our hearts to Him. The Great Controversy is quickly coming to a close. The decision is up to you.
Monday, October 13, 2008
New Phone!
Yay, I'm so excited! I finally broke down and got a phone. I wasn't planning on it, but plans change. :D I decided I could actually save money by buying a phone. Anyways, if any of you would like my phone number, just e-mail me. I don't want to post it up here. My e-mail is phoebeeller@southern.edu. God bless you all!
For We Wrestle Not . . . .
This past week we were at a beautiful Hmong village up in the mountains! Emily and I overlooking the breathtaking valley.
We were able to do some visitations. The most common diseases we saw were high blood pressure and gout. We were able to help them with natural remedies and a lot of education on drinking water, etc.
We had the fun privilege of passing out literature with a bunch of little children.
We conducted health seminars and Bible lessons in the evening as well. Our whole group is split up into two groups. My group is: Emily, Rob, Ricky, Melissa, Jen, Mew, and I. It is sad to not be with the rest of the group. We did get to see them a couple times this week! That was great fun. It is interesting with the scheduling here, or lack thereof. We usually don't know what is happening until the day before, or more like the day of, as mentioned before. I pray that God will help me to be flexible, but that we will be organized in a flexible type of way so that we can get things accomplished. That was a bit challenging for at this village. We were planning on staying there another week, until Sabbath morning, we found out we were leaving the next day.
So, here we are back at the "ranch" (the name recently given to our center in Chiang Mai). We arrived last night and are leaving again today. We were planning on going to a village way up in the mountains that just got electricity in the last year! Today, plans have changed again. We will be going to the place where the other part of our group is at. There are some things happening there that really need prayer! They have been dealing with some spiritualism things. A devil-possessed man, a monk trying to convince them all to come to a temple for a massage lesson (with much chanting, etc. involved), and when they were praying last night until 11:00, one of the girls heard moaning, crying, dogs howling, etc. until they stopped praying. Whenever the prayer would stop, the noise would stop, too. There are also some other things going on. Satan is working very hard at that village! Please keep us in your prayers as we head there to work for the Lord! I pray that our faith will be strengthened and most importantly, that God's name will be honored!
Ephesians 6:12-13: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
We were able to do some visitations. The most common diseases we saw were high blood pressure and gout. We were able to help them with natural remedies and a lot of education on drinking water, etc.
We had the fun privilege of passing out literature with a bunch of little children.
We conducted health seminars and Bible lessons in the evening as well. Our whole group is split up into two groups. My group is: Emily, Rob, Ricky, Melissa, Jen, Mew, and I. It is sad to not be with the rest of the group. We did get to see them a couple times this week! That was great fun. It is interesting with the scheduling here, or lack thereof. We usually don't know what is happening until the day before, or more like the day of, as mentioned before. I pray that God will help me to be flexible, but that we will be organized in a flexible type of way so that we can get things accomplished. That was a bit challenging for at this village. We were planning on staying there another week, until Sabbath morning, we found out we were leaving the next day.
So, here we are back at the "ranch" (the name recently given to our center in Chiang Mai). We arrived last night and are leaving again today. We were planning on going to a village way up in the mountains that just got electricity in the last year! Today, plans have changed again. We will be going to the place where the other part of our group is at. There are some things happening there that really need prayer! They have been dealing with some spiritualism things. A devil-possessed man, a monk trying to convince them all to come to a temple for a massage lesson (with much chanting, etc. involved), and when they were praying last night until 11:00, one of the girls heard moaning, crying, dogs howling, etc. until they stopped praying. Whenever the prayer would stop, the noise would stop, too. There are also some other things going on. Satan is working very hard at that village! Please keep us in your prayers as we head there to work for the Lord! I pray that our faith will be strengthened and most importantly, that God's name will be honored!
Ephesians 6:12-13: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Trust. . . .
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
This verse has started to take on new meaning in my life. Especially as I do not know what is happening in my life from one minute to the next! God is teaching me to trust Him with EVERYTHING. We need to trust like a little child, completely resting in the arms of Jesus! Soon we may not know where our next meal will come from. How will we trust Him then, if we haven't learned to now?
Well, tomorrow, the plan is to go out to a Mong village (a tribe from China, I think) for one week (or maybe 1 month;) and then from there, possibly go to another village, or come back to Chiang Mai, or who knows what we'll do! This plan changed today once already, so it could change again! In that village, we will be visiting people in their houses, assessing their physical and their spiritual health, helping them with natural remedies as much as possible, and then in the evenings, we will be conducting some meetings! I'm not sure exactly what those will be over yet, we are still working on some details of that, but there will be two sections, one on health, and the other about the Bible. This is not very detailed, but that is about all I know for now. We will find out more when we get to the villages and assess what they need!
Time is running out! We can't trust our own plans and our own work to accomplish anything. God bless you until we meet again! (Even if it is only on e-mail in who knows how many months!) I really like this quote: who is working in your life?
When man works, man works.
When man prays, God works!
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
This verse has started to take on new meaning in my life. Especially as I do not know what is happening in my life from one minute to the next! God is teaching me to trust Him with EVERYTHING. We need to trust like a little child, completely resting in the arms of Jesus! Soon we may not know where our next meal will come from. How will we trust Him then, if we haven't learned to now?
Well, tomorrow, the plan is to go out to a Mong village (a tribe from China, I think) for one week (or maybe 1 month;) and then from there, possibly go to another village, or come back to Chiang Mai, or who knows what we'll do! This plan changed today once already, so it could change again! In that village, we will be visiting people in their houses, assessing their physical and their spiritual health, helping them with natural remedies as much as possible, and then in the evenings, we will be conducting some meetings! I'm not sure exactly what those will be over yet, we are still working on some details of that, but there will be two sections, one on health, and the other about the Bible. This is not very detailed, but that is about all I know for now. We will find out more when we get to the villages and assess what they need!
Time is running out! We can't trust our own plans and our own work to accomplish anything. God bless you until we meet again! (Even if it is only on e-mail in who knows how many months!) I really like this quote: who is working in your life?
When man works, man works.
When man prays, God works!
Friday, September 26, 2008
My life? I think not!
Well friends,
The training is almost over, and it has been a crazy week! I have learned a whole lot, but I am praising the Lord that it is almost Sabbath! I think that my life will change a bit in the next few days. Tomorrow night I am going to Laos to get my visa renewed! I can't believe I have been here for almost 3 months already. Crazy, crazy.
Lol, this is kind of how I feel right now!
Ok, ok, maybe this is an exaggeration, but I do feel quite crazy, because very soon we are all being split into groups and going out into villages! They haven't told us for sure who will be in our group and where we will be going. It is actually very exciting, but a bit scary, especially not knowing. I will return from Laos probably on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday we are OUT! Tuesday we will be enlightened a bit as to what our life holds for the next month or two, as we will be stying in one place that long. Plans? Yes, they are already made. Can I be enlightened? No, because things might change in the next few days.
Matthew 6:34--Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Lord, this is not my life. I do not have control and help me not to want control! I am Yours and my future is in Your hands.
I feel much better now!
I don't know when I will be able to write again. If you don't hear from me in a couple months, it is because I am out in the jungles somewhere with no internet! I will write when I can. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks.
The training is almost over, and it has been a crazy week! I have learned a whole lot, but I am praising the Lord that it is almost Sabbath! I think that my life will change a bit in the next few days. Tomorrow night I am going to Laos to get my visa renewed! I can't believe I have been here for almost 3 months already. Crazy, crazy.
Lol, this is kind of how I feel right now!
Ok, ok, maybe this is an exaggeration, but I do feel quite crazy, because very soon we are all being split into groups and going out into villages! They haven't told us for sure who will be in our group and where we will be going. It is actually very exciting, but a bit scary, especially not knowing. I will return from Laos probably on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday we are OUT! Tuesday we will be enlightened a bit as to what our life holds for the next month or two, as we will be stying in one place that long. Plans? Yes, they are already made. Can I be enlightened? No, because things might change in the next few days.
Matthew 6:34--Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Lord, this is not my life. I do not have control and help me not to want control! I am Yours and my future is in Your hands.
I feel much better now!
I don't know when I will be able to write again. If you don't hear from me in a couple months, it is because I am out in the jungles somewhere with no internet! I will write when I can. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Food? What's that?? (lessons while fasting)
Yay, tomorrow we actually get to eat normal food! This sure has been an interesting past 5 days! Thankfully we have been able to eat fruit on Sabbath and "rice porridge" today with more fruit. (That was kind of interesting, just rice, water, and salt). It is a nice feeling to have fully accomplished a 5-day fast! I have learned some very interesting things while on my fast. These last few months that I have been here in Thailand, I have had a hard time with the food. I haven't had a hard time eating the food, but the difference in flavors has been messing with my taste-buds and appetite! I have not been getting much fruit (because they like to eat rice for breakfast & lunch & supper) and they don't usually eat very much fruit. I don't know exactly the reason, but I have been having a hard time not eating too much! Lol, that sounds crazy, I know.
I was reading my Bible one morning and came across these verses: Luke 12:22-23, 31: And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
I have recently realized that self-control is not what I need to overcome the sins in my life. It is full surrender to the Lord that will help me accomplish that. We cannot do it on our own. It is ONLY through the Lord's power that we can overcome. Thankfully, God has given us a promise: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He will hold true to that promise! Praise the Lord I will be able to eat tomorrow. :D Lol, hopefully, with His help, not too much!
I was reading my Bible one morning and came across these verses: Luke 12:22-23, 31: And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
I have recently realized that self-control is not what I need to overcome the sins in my life. It is full surrender to the Lord that will help me accomplish that. We cannot do it on our own. It is ONLY through the Lord's power that we can overcome. Thankfully, God has given us a promise: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He will hold true to that promise! Praise the Lord I will be able to eat tomorrow. :D Lol, hopefully, with His help, not too much!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Way to Fast (or Too Slow)
Especially here in Thailand, everything is about food! Greeting people, you don't usually ask them how they are doing, but you ask them, "kin kaow" (have you eaten rice)? Recently, my days have included many food activities. I help cook breakfast, lunch, and supper, help eat breakfast, lunch and supper, and help clean-up breakfast, lunch, and supper. I have also been helping at a bakeryThat takes a lot of time out of my day, but I enjoy it.
These last 2 days seem to have dragged by! I don't know if any of you have done a 5-day fast before, but it is amazing what a difference it makes on how your day goes! The first day (the 17th) was only water, which was the hardest. It went by sooooo slowly! I don't know why it's called a fast. :D I felt a bit tired and week, but it actually wasn't too bad. I did feel pretty hungry at different times during the day, but I drank LOTS of water!
Not only is this a fast, it is a "cleansing fast"! So, today, we started out our day at about 5:45 am with a "salt-water flush"! That was sure an experience. We were supposed to drink one liter of that water, so I tried my best. It was worse than drinking sea-water, it was sooooo salty! I tried putting lime in it before I started, but I couldn't even taste the lime! We didn't realize that the boy who made the salt-water for us put WAY too much salt in it, at least twice as much as was necessary. That was found out when I was about 1/2 finished. Then, I was told I didn't have to finish it. Some people vomited, some had lots of diarrhea, some had horrible headaches! I didn't vomit or have a terrible headache, but I did have the diarrhea! It was very crazy, but it sure has helped to "cleanse" me! Then, today we have been able to drink coconut water as well as normal water! Praise the Lord for coconuts! That has helped to give us more energy so that we can work and walk and think. I have fallen in love with coconuts since I have gotten here! They are soooo awesome. The only problem is that we can't eat the coconut meat, but oh well. :D At least we have something besides water.
Tomorrow, we have only coconut water, Sabbath we have citrus fruit and the coconut meat, Sunday we will have rice-porridge, and Monday is back to normal Thai food!
This has been an interesting experience, and these last two days have gone pretty slowly, but it is helping my body to be healthier. I have not been extremely hungry yet, but my stomach has been wondering what's happening. It seems to make my mind clearer, and hopefully will continue to. I will have to update you all sometime. It is a great experience!
On Tuesday, the last three people came to join our group! Emily Yoder, Brian Castellanos, and Alison Deacon all flew in. I'm so glad that the group is all together now, except there might be a couple more coming in December of January! Lol, Emily and Brian brought me some stuff from my family. I was so excited to get the nuts from Emily from my parents but I had to put them away because the next day was the fast! Then, just today, Brian got his luggage and gave me some stuff from Shama, and it was soooo tempting to eat it! Lol, thanks so much, I did feel very special, though!
Well, it's getting late and I need to sleep! Those of you at SAU, enjoy SEYC! We are praying for you all. Oh yes, there are some friends here that have blogs, and I have them linked to mine with Thailand after them. So check them out, too! God bless you all as you start your day.
These last 2 days seem to have dragged by! I don't know if any of you have done a 5-day fast before, but it is amazing what a difference it makes on how your day goes! The first day (the 17th) was only water, which was the hardest. It went by sooooo slowly! I don't know why it's called a fast. :D I felt a bit tired and week, but it actually wasn't too bad. I did feel pretty hungry at different times during the day, but I drank LOTS of water!
Not only is this a fast, it is a "cleansing fast"! So, today, we started out our day at about 5:45 am with a "salt-water flush"! That was sure an experience. We were supposed to drink one liter of that water, so I tried my best. It was worse than drinking sea-water, it was sooooo salty! I tried putting lime in it before I started, but I couldn't even taste the lime! We didn't realize that the boy who made the salt-water for us put WAY too much salt in it, at least twice as much as was necessary. That was found out when I was about 1/2 finished. Then, I was told I didn't have to finish it. Some people vomited, some had lots of diarrhea, some had horrible headaches! I didn't vomit or have a terrible headache, but I did have the diarrhea! It was very crazy, but it sure has helped to "cleanse" me! Then, today we have been able to drink coconut water as well as normal water! Praise the Lord for coconuts! That has helped to give us more energy so that we can work and walk and think. I have fallen in love with coconuts since I have gotten here! They are soooo awesome. The only problem is that we can't eat the coconut meat, but oh well. :D At least we have something besides water.
Tomorrow, we have only coconut water, Sabbath we have citrus fruit and the coconut meat, Sunday we will have rice-porridge, and Monday is back to normal Thai food!
This has been an interesting experience, and these last two days have gone pretty slowly, but it is helping my body to be healthier. I have not been extremely hungry yet, but my stomach has been wondering what's happening. It seems to make my mind clearer, and hopefully will continue to. I will have to update you all sometime. It is a great experience!
On Tuesday, the last three people came to join our group! Emily Yoder, Brian Castellanos, and Alison Deacon all flew in. I'm so glad that the group is all together now, except there might be a couple more coming in December of January! Lol, Emily and Brian brought me some stuff from my family. I was so excited to get the nuts from Emily from my parents but I had to put them away because the next day was the fast! Then, just today, Brian got his luggage and gave me some stuff from Shama, and it was soooo tempting to eat it! Lol, thanks so much, I did feel very special, though!
Well, it's getting late and I need to sleep! Those of you at SAU, enjoy SEYC! We are praying for you all. Oh yes, there are some friends here that have blogs, and I have them linked to mine with Thailand after them. So check them out, too! God bless you all as you start your day.
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