Infertility? - Part 2
3 months ago
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!
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