Wie-be TREKing

Home Sweet Home (?)

2008-06-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been almost two whole weeks since debrief ended and I came back to Coquitlam, finishing ten months away with the TREK program.

Debrief was amazing. It was great to reconnect with the other TREK teams, hear and share stories, and encourage one another. It was a good time of closure with my team. We also got some talks on how to come home and apply what we learned this year lovingly and productively.

The end of debrief for me looked a little different than I had planned however. I woke up Friday morning (the last day of debrief), with a pretty nasty case of the chicken pox, and ended up leaving early. I then spent a week essentially quarantined in my house, trying not to scratch, but I made it through, and am on the road to recovery, but if you haven't seen me around, this is probably why.

So, now that I'm home I'm looking forward to reconnecting with you all, going back to work (praise God for providing me with an incredible summer job), reconnecting at church and returning to Simon Fraser University in the fall.

I wanted to thank you all one final time for your faithfulness in supporting me. Your prayers made our time in Thailand effective, and surrounded our ministry. Your encouragement got me through the hard (and easy) days. I love you all, and really can't even begin to express my gratitude to you for partnering with me this year!

Sincerely,
Jillian

End of a phase...

2008-05-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well, today marks my last day in Thailand. Tomorrow my team and I get on a plane and fly for more than 24 hours, back to Vancouver, B.C. for two weeks of debrief. As I sort through the mess of emotions I am feeling currently, and anticipate the approaching jet lag, I would appreciate your prayers one more time.
We said our goodbyes last night to TLC, Team 2000 and the community we have been a part of for the last seven months. It was hard, leaving these people, not knowing if we would ever see them again. Pray that God will continue to move in that incredible place, and our friends would keep growing in their relationships with him. Pray for my friend Wow, probably my closest Thai friend, that as our team leaves, she would find friends to provide her with the support she needs, despite very difficult family circumstances.
We begin debrief phase the next morning after our flight. Pray that despite rather intense jet lage we will be able to process this experience, and learn to apply all the ways God has shaped us here at home.
Pray for safety as we and all the other TREKers (Panama, Germany, Mexico and Burkina Faso) fly home from our various locations.
Praise God for the way that our team has had closure in this last week, and for all the ways that we have learned and been shaped this year.
I look foreward to seeing all of you as I return to Canada.
Thanks for your prayer and support.

I should be sleeping...

2008-05-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it's about midnight here, and I'm just finishing up some prep work for a church camp our team leaves for tomorrow morning. Our team has had one week to plan a complete children's program for the kids of 4 churches in our area, who do not speak our language...and as I pull together the last details before I join my team in sleep, I was suddenly inspired to write here.

I've come to this point in my TREK experience, that I thought I would never reach, and yet has come far too quickly...the end. In two weeks I will board a plane and leave life as I have known it for the last seven months. I will re-enter my own culture, reacquaint myself with friends and family, and "get back to real life." That prospect both scares and thrills me. I'm not sure how I'll say goodbye to this incredible place, full of people I have come to know and love and look up to, how I'll take everything God has taught me and started to shape in me, and learn to apply it at home, how I'll even process this whole experience.

I would like to ask as our team ends our time here, that you will intercede for us, that we will end well.

The next two weeks will be busy. As I already said church camp begins tomorrow morning, and runs for the weekend. We will be doing the children's program, and our theme is the persecuted church, because we realized believers in all the countries surrounding Thailand experience persecution (not to mention some in Thailand). One lesson I am teaching is about praying for believer's around the world. I feel especially passionate about this lesson. Please pray that the kids will know the impact of their prayers around the world. Pray that as these children begin to intercede for the nations around them, that God will move powerfully, and that their faith will grow. Pray that as many, non Christians (including a few friends of mine, and our one student from English class and her family) come to church camp they will meet Jesus, and know the freedom that comes from relationship with him. Pray that this camp will have an eternal impact, and that it will be fun!

After we get back from church camp we will begin to plan a children's program for the MBMSI Thailand missionary retreat. All the MBMSI missionaries will be meeting for a four day retreat, and we are up for childcare. Pray that this will be a time of refreshment for the adults, and a time of fun for the kids. Pray that our team will have time to say our good byes to friends admist the planning.

And that brings us to our last week here- packing, wrapping up ministries, and final good byes (and probably a lot of tears). I appreciate so much your prayers for our team, as we go through this final stage of TREK.

2008-05-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems like one of those times that an update is in order.
Yesterday was my hardest day in Thailand so far. My team mate, room mate, friend and ministry partner Fauna returned to America. Because of complications with her Father's health she discerned it was best for her to be with her family at this time. It was an incredibly hard good bye. Please pray for Fauna and her family as they walk through this incredibly difficult time.

(to the left: a picture of Fauna's farewell at TLC)

After dropping Fauna off at the airport the reality of what her leaving meant for our team hit me. Our team has been functioning almost as 2 teams within a team. Fauna and I doing our main ministry in Bang Saen and Diana and Michelle focusing on ministry in Ang Sila. Therefore, I've spent pretty much 24 hours a day with Fauna for the last 6.5 months. Her leaving means essentially every part of my life will change. Our team had a meeting about what ministry would look like for me now that I am alone. Please pray for our team as we continue to seek God about what our last month of ministry will look like one team member short.
Another major change that happened yesterday was that my entire life was packed up into suitcases, bins and garbage bags and dumped at the church. We decided it wasn't good for me to live in my apartment alone, and to get my deposit back, I had to move out immediately. So, with the help of my team, Carmen (one of our missionary hosts) and 2 Thai friends we cleared out in less than an hour.

So, I will end with a request for prayer. Our whole team is in a time of transition, but any change that occurs will directly effect me. Please pray that as we decide on living arrangements, ministry roles and as we relearn how to function as a team, God will give us clarity about what to do, and that we will have an abundance of grace for one another.
As always, thank you so much for your continual support and prayers! I am so grateful.

2008-04-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, April is coming to a close, and I realized it has been over a month since I last updated my blog. Our team recently came back from a visa run to Cambodia, where things went far more smoothly than the last time we renewed. We were in and out of Cambodia in an hour, and because we left early in the morning were able to be back to Chonburi in time for a full day of ministry. On the drive home however, I started thinking about all the things I should catch my incredible supporters (you) up on.
So, the day after my last blog post, I was sleeping over in AngSila, the fishing village where 2 of my team mates live, to film a video clip for MBMSI, and unfortunately had a little accident, where the ceiling fan and my head became well acquainted. It resulted in a quick trip to the hospital, some of my hair shaved and eighteen stitches. Don't worry too much though, it's healing very well, my hairs growing back in quickly, and after two days of rest I was ready to be back to ministry.
On the my first day back up and around my team, and our good friend Uh-Oh traveled into Bangkok where we met a team from Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, that we were going to help host in their time here. With them we traveled to the Khumu villages in Northern Thailand. We ran kids programs, and traveled around the area, praying for the churches and for the Laotian church, which was just across the Mekong River. We lived in Bamboo huts, and it was incredible. For a long time the Khumu people have had no rights, they have been a people in slavery, not belonging to any nation, not being allowed to own land, and being mistreated. While we were in the North, an MBMSI foundation that has been in the making for years was finally passed, and through that foundation the Khumu people finally are able to own land. They are officially a people. In our time there I was reflecting on 1 Peter 2:9+ 10 and it became so much more impactful for me. As I saw a people group go from being nobody in the government's eyes, to having freedom, I understood in a new way the freedom that God has given us in relationship with him. God has made us a people through Jesus, we have received mercy.
After a week in the North, the MEI team came with us back to Bang Saen, where we ran a kids club at our churchs: TLC and AngSila Friendship Centre. It was cool to see a bunch of new kids come out, as well as some that had attended our English classes throughout the year. We had a great time, and had the oppertunity to share about Jesus, to many children. Please pray for all the children that heard about Jesus in these two weeks and were connected to the church. Pray that they will come back, and we will be able to introduce them to a relationship with Jesus.
At the end of the week MEI flew home, we said our goodbyes, and packed our bags again. We were off to Phanat Nicom, the province next to Chonburi (where I live), to help out Ajaan (Pastor) Somchai and his wife P' Aun with their church plant and English centre. I have to be honest, before we left I was pretty wiped out. I was dreading another week away from home jam packed full of ministry. But, in our team's time in Phanat Nicom, God met me. It was an incredible week of mutual encouragement. We spent our days from morning until evening teaching English, and building bridges to the church, and after that we spent a lot of time with Ajaan Somchai and P' Aun hearing their story, and how God called them to this incredibly difficult city. The church there has grown slowly. There is a lot of people that are set against the church, but they have been faithful and God is using them to touch lives. I was so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of what they were doing, and God gave me a deep burden to pray for the city, as well as direction about how to pray, as he showed me the darkness and religious confusion go deep. Despite our busyness I was refreshed in my personal devotional times, and in our times of fellowship. I came back feeling rested, despite a hectic week. Please pray for Ajaan Somchai and P' Aun, pray that they will continue to have perseverance in Phanat Nicom, pray that God will touch lives through them, pray that people will see the truth and turn to him!
When we came back there was a youth camp going on at TLC, a three day lock in, where everybody had a great time; from playing volleyball with water balloons to learning about spiritual gifts. Our team was not incredibly involved in the weekend, but it was exciting to be around the church, and connect with some of the youth. On the last night of the camp, they shared the gospel, and all of the students who were not already Christians except for 2 accepted Christ! How amazing! One of the boys that accepted Christ was one of my youth English students. It's been so exciting to see this young man- Taay- go from shyly attending class to someone who knows Jesus, and is excited to spend all his free time at the church, connecting to what is going on here. Pray that his relationship with Jesus will deepen, and he will connect with the boys his age at the church.
The following week our team spent prepping for an intense three week English class we were going to teach to raise money for the Pastor of the church- Ajaan Buratat, who's wife recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Ajaan Buratat is an incredible leader in the church, and we were hoping to bless him, by raising enough money through this English course to purchase his family a car, as currently they only have a motorcycle for their family of 4. Unfortunately when this week arrived, and it was time to start the English class we only had one student register. As a team we were incredibly disappointed, because we put a lot of work into this class, but more importantly because we were not able to give our friend and Pastor any money, as we had hoped. But, God is the ultimate provider, and so we are trusting him to provide for Ajaan Buratat.
After a week of intense prep, we were ready for something lighter. That came with the arrival of Song Kraan. I've never seen anything quite like it in my life. It was five days of a national water fight, where the streets are packed. It seems like everyone has a truck, with the back full of people and garbage cans full of ice cold water all throwing it at each other (see picture to the right). And to top it all off, everybody is dressed in brightly coloured flowered shirts. It was a great opportunity to finish our prep, and also spend time with our friends, who all had the time of work (it's Thai New Years, so everything shuts down). As we threw water on everyone we saw, we also got to connect with the people around us! The holiday also began with a ceremony to bless the elders in the community, and we were able to walk around AngSila and pray for all the elders in the village, including two ladies in a Chinese temple! (The picture to the left is a, b ceremony to bless some of the elders at TLC.)
Well, as soon as Song Kraan ended I had some very special guests fly in...my family. For the last week, well still going about ministry, I was blessed so much to get to show my Mom and Dad and sister exactly what it is I do. I was so encouraged, and reminded what a gift it is to have a family like mine, who love Jesus, and are excited right along with me about what God is doing in Thailand.
I just want to finish with one fairly urgent prayer request. Yesterday, after I said good bye to my family, I went and rejoined my room mate and team mate Fauna. She had just gotten off the phone with her family, and had found out some rather hard news about her Father's health. Then this morning she got news from home that her Dad was in the hospital. Please pray for Fauna as she processes this. Pray for wisdom for her as she decides how to move forward. Pray for peace and for comfort for her, as she is far away from her family in this time. Pray for our team, that we will be able to come around her and support her, and we will know how to be an encouragement to her.
As always, thank you so much for your prayers, support and encouragement. I am so deeply grateful. May God bless you all.

Confirmation of a Miracle

2008-03-15T04:28:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday my blood tests came back, and praise God, they were all normal! What a great God, Jehovah Rapha- the God who heals.

Please pray for me, as I continue to share the story of how God has worked in my life. As I begin to share with the Thai people around me, pray God will bring himself glory, and that lives will be touched.

Next door to TLC there is an Internet cafe, that is owned by a lady that attended one of my adult English classes. For the last few months Fauna (my room mate) and I have really purposed to build a relationship with her, stopping to chat with her every day. Yesterday Fauna had the opportunity to tell her about my blood tests, and about the God who healed me. She was very open to the conversation, and was asking what it is that TLC does. Please pray that we will be able to continue to foster this relationship, and that eventually this lady will come to faith in Jesus. Also, please pray for more opportunities like this one, to share the gospel with the people around us.

Here on the Storm...

2008-02-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

For the last month or so Mark 4:35-41 has been a significant passage for our team. We came across it in a team time, and it became a real encouragement for us, and something we felt strongly about sharing with the people of Angsila. Recently, it became a bit more personal for me. Read it...

Mark 4:35-41

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's cross to the other side of the lake." He was already in the boat, so they started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they woke him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you even care that we are going to drown?" When he woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, "Quiet down!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. And he asked them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have faith in me?" And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, "Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey him?"

For a long time I wondered at Jesus' rebuke of the disciples, why after they almost died is he asking them why they were afraid? Don't they have a right to be afraid? I didn't really understand how it was a matter of faith.

About a week ago, I went to Pattaya for a worship night. It was a great time, there were lots of Thai bands as well as bands visiting from Canada and the States. It was a great encouragement to see something so glorifying to God happen in a city where so much sin and darkness occurs with such frequency.

At one point two men from Canada played, and after, before they left the stage, one of them started prophesying. He stated specific three incredibly specific medical conditions, and proceeded to say that people with those conditions were present and God wanted to heal those people. I don't know if all of you know this, but in the last couple years I have had some medical issues with no resolution, and since being in Thailand, they have caused me a significant amount of pain and fatigue. Anyhow, one of the medical conditions he talked about was wijth out a doubt mine.

My team leader Diana was sitting next to me and she leaned over and said "Jill, that's you." I knew it was me of course, but this medical issue has been something that has caused me a lot of confusion, I've been prayed for before, and God has chosen not to heal me. I wasn't sure I wanted prayer, I wasn't sure I could handle the disappointment of God not healing me. I believed God could heal me, but I lacked faith that he would. So I stayed in my seat, and didn't go up for prayer. Shortly after though, my Thai language teacher went up for prayer, and my team member Fauna and I ended up going over and praying for him. Then Fauna leaned over and said "Jill, you know that blood condition, the person he was talking about, that's you." At that point I was feeling pretty convicted about my lack of faith, so with some encouragement from Fauna and Diana, I went up to the man that had been prophesying and told him that I thought I was one of the sick people he was talking about.

He and another girl proceeded to anoint me with oil and pray for me. Like I said, people have prayed for me before, and nothing has changed, but this time I can't really explain it, but I felt different. There was no way to tell immediately if God healed me, but somehow in my heart I knew he did.

But I am a doubter. And, I've never wanted to look like a fool, so I was hesitant to tell anybody. What if God didn't heal me, what if it didn't work? I would look stupid. I decided I needed blood tests to absolutely confirm that I was healed, so the next day I talked to Carmen, one of the missionaries we work with here, and asked her if she would take me, and she gladly agreed, already giving God praise for this miracle. Then I called my family, and told them about the night. After that came an influx of emails, praising God for his ability to heal. All these people just accepted it. I felt really convicted. I realized I was more concerned with how I might look than with giving God glory for the work he did.

So while I still went for blood tests for confirmation, from that point forward I've been trusting God that he did heal me, and praising him for that, looking back at the storm that was just calmed, in awe, saying of Jesus "Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey him?"

Another Saturday Night.

2008-02-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday night, well it was eventful. For the last week I've been living in Angsila, the fishing village where Michelle and Diana live; in an attempt to increase unity and understanding in our team we implimented what we refer to as "The Switch," which basically just means we are rotating through living in all possible locations with all possible team members. So, for the last week Michelle and I have been living together. So, this Saturday I got the priviledge of attending cell group for the second time.

The night started out fairly averagely, with contained chaos. Adults chatting, kids running around like maniacs, people eating, people practicing playing musical instruments, and about a million other things happening also. When people finally all made it to their chairs, the youth band led us in some worship, we played a game, and the adult band was up. My friend Waw was on bass. A couple songs in I looked up and noticed that Waw was no longer playing, and asked Michelle if she had noticed when Waw had left. Apparently her mother had come with a large stick and demanded that she leave. Waw's family has never been okay with her being a Christian, even though Jesus has changed her life dramatically (rescuing her from gang involvement and a hot temper). Recently it has become overt, her Mother becoming violent and preventing her from attending church or church events. Immediately after noticing Waw was gone, Michelle and I spent some time interceeding for her, specifically asking for her protection, that God would bind her mother's hands and not allow phyiscal, emotional or spiritual harm to come to her, and that God would give her grace to respond to her Mother with love.

The night continued with a short testamony, and then a prayer time. Recently we feel like the Angsila church has been under attack, with many members falling away, and going through incredibly hard times. A vision team (a group of pastors and buisnessmen here for a couple of weeks to see all the various ministries going on and consider involvement on some level) happened to be there so, we surrounded the people of Angsila Church, layed hands on them and prayed for them. At the same time in the next room P' Ping and P' Somsak (2 of the church leadership) were having a conversation with a lady named P' Den, the sister of another church member, who was considering becoming a Christian.

A little bit later, when cell group was over, and people were starting to return home, Michelle and I were asked to come and pray for P'Den. For years she's been oppressed by a deamon at night, that has caused her to do attrocious things, and she said if God could keep that deamon away for one night she would believe in him. So we prayed with her, for her protection, knowing that God has more than enough power to protect her. When we finished praying, she said in her head she heard a voice saying "no, you don't believe this you are a Buddhist, no, you are a Buddhist," and that her response was to think "no, I believe in Jesus." So, P' Ping and P' Somsak continued to talk with her, and asked that we continue to pray for them. Twenty minutes later we were called back into the room to sing Happy Birthday, and welcome P' Den into the family of believers. She believed in the saving power of Jesus. It was truely a celebration.

(to the left: P' Den and P'Dan)

Later that night Waw came back and told us that her mother had not laid a hand on her that night, that God had truely bound her mother's hands. So...if you are ever doubting God answers prayers, please stop, and remember that God not only can but DOES hear us, and not only can but DOES answer.

So, in saying that I would that you would join us in prayer. Pray for P'Den as she begins her relationship with Jesus, that she would really experience the freedom Jesus offers from her past life. Pray for P'Dan, that this will an encouragement in her faith, as she has struggled recently. Pray for Waw that she will continue to be strong in her faith despite this persecution, that she will cling to Jesus, and that she will have wisdom in dealing with her family. Pray that God will continue to reveal himself to the people of Angsila and that he will be glorified.

Thank you so much for your continual support, prayers and love. I'm so blessed to know that I have such a strong network of people around me! I love you all.

A Visa Run, With A Twist

2008-01-30T07:53:00.000-08:00

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4:19

I woke up this morning with that verse bouncing around in my brain, and I definitely experienced it today. As a matter of fact, our team’s whole visa run to Malaysia has been God showing us the truth in that verse.

It started a few days ago, on Saturday morning at about 3:00 am. We drove from Bang Saen (where I live) to Bangkok International Airport to fly into Malaysia. Our visa’s expired that day, so even though the Thai embassy in Malaysia isn’t open on weekends, we needed to be out of Thailand within the day. We arrived at the airport a couple of hours before our flight left, and checked in quickly, then we proceeded to customs. Here we saw the largest lines I’ve ever seen in an airport in my life, and a whole convention of monks showed up- probably close to 100 of them. Being a Buddhist country the monks were quickly moved to the front of the line. After being in line for about an hour and barely moving, we started to be a bit concerned. Time was ticking away and we started to count down the time until we had to be at our flight…45 minutes, 40, half an hour, 20 minutes… at this point we got anxious, we realized we weren’t going to make our flight. In desperation I whispered a prayer “Jesus, could you maybe delay our flight, so we can make it, either that or could you make this line disappear?” Well there were no vanishing people, but when Fauna went to ask a staff member to see if there was any way we could be moved forward in line so that we wouldn’t miss our flight she told us not to worry- our flight had been delayed. Thank you Jesus! From that point forward we felt confident we would make our flight, although we were unsure of how long the delay would be. Sure enough, a few minutes later another line opened up, and our team was through with passports stamped in fifteen minutes heading towards security (by heading I mean running- think The Amazing Race, in a super intense moment, that was our team). When we made it to security everybody was telling us to hurry up as the checked our bags. In one final sprint we made it to our gate and onto our plane. As soon as we were seated and buckled in, the plane took off.

At this point I thought that the stress was over. Our team successfully made it to the guest house where we were staying; spent a day at the beach where our biggest worry was a jellyfish sting to my foot; and had some sweet devotional times together.

However the stress began again on Monday morning, when our visas were back on our minds. We woke up early to be at the Thai embassy for opening, filled out our paperwork with no problem, got in line and handed them in to be processed and were told to come back the next day (today) at 2:00 to pick them up. Well, seems like it went pretty smoothly, except for the fact that we were scheduled to fly from Penang to Kuala Lampur at 12:20. We freaked out a bit. We asked if there was any way we could get them early and were told “No.” We asked if there was any way that we could check if they were ready early and were told “No.” We asked if we could come in the morning and just sit and wait incase they were possibly ready early. To this the man replied, “There is no way they will be ready, it is impossible, but you can come at 11:30 to check if you really want.” We thanked him and left.

At this point we thought it would probably be good to contact Dave, the missionary we report to in Thailand, and let him know what was going on, see if had any suggestions, and see if he could contact the individual who was supposed to pick up at the airport the following day, just incase we weren’t there. Well unfortunately none of our cell phones work outside of Thailand, and none of the payphones within a block radius of our place worked- go figure. So, we decided to try to use Skype. We packed up my laptop and headed to Starbucks where we knew they had wireless internet, and to be perfectly honest we were all needed coffee at this point. Well, we got there, turned on my computer, and realized it had absolutely no battery, and my power cord couldn’t plug into Malaysian outlets. Just when we were about to give up hope I realized a man sitting not far away from me was using the same laptop I have. After a little small talk and a quick request, my laptop was charging, and Diana was chatting with Dave about our situation.

So this morning we woke up early again. Immediately I had that verse, Philippians 4:19 running through my head over and over and over. We spent some time as a team praying, and headed to the embassy, with all our luggage, for opening, even though the man said it was impossible. The other three girls went in to check if our visas were ready, I waited on the sidewalk with a bunch of suitcases, and kept praying. A few minutes after the girls left I became aware that my prayers had gotten to the point where they sounded a bit like this “please, please, please, God we really need them, ppppplllllllleeeeeeaaaaaaaassssseeeeee give us our visas.” Well after I realized what I sounded like I heard God say to me “Jillian, come on, do you really think I don’t know what you need?” I realized that yes, God already knew exactly what I needed, and I realized I needed to trust that God was going to follow through and supply that need, so from that point forward I decided instead to spend my time praising God for being a God that sees our needs, who has the power to meet them. It was freeing, the worry melted away and was replaced with peace.

Good thing, because we didn’t get our visas right away. The team came back to let me know they told us we could check back again at 11:30. So we sat there, for hours, reading, listening to music, journaling, and talking to a Muslim man from Egypt named Muhammad who was also having visa problems. We realized that there was nothing that we could do. At 11:00 Diana went in again to check if our visas were ready, and the others of us prayed together one more time that God would give us our visas. A few minutes later we were wishing Muhammad the best, and piling into a cab on our way to the airport. I felt like my heart was going to explode I was so thankful and blown away at how God is looking after all the details of our lives. These last days really reminded me that God cares about our EVERY need. He cared enough to die on a cross and forgive our sins, so that we can have a relationship with him, and he cares enough to provide visas and flight connections for four girls all alone across the world. “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

Back to Life

2008-01-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone, as has New Years. Both were full seasons for us here in Thailand, we had the opportunity to celebrate Jesus birth many times, with outreaches and parties both in the church and outside of it. Praise God, hundreds of people who had never heard the name of Jesus, were told about the God who came to earth in baby size skin, to grow up and die for their sins. Please pray that this truth will impact their lives.

This week we started up all of our regular ministries again, and life is back in full swing. On Thursday, as always Fauna and I had the opportunity to go with Louise to Bethel Church, one of our favorite ministries. This week came with a few twists. We headed out for the two hour drive in, unusually excited, because a friend from home had given Louise $50 (roughly 2000 baht) to purchase children’s tables for Bethel. Up until this point we have just been doing crafts and playing games on the floor with them. When we got to the store where we intended to purchase the tables, much to our disappointment we found the store closed. We headed across the street to try another store. Here’s where things get exciting. As they looked at the tables Louise and P’ Nat (a Thai lady who comes to Bethel each week also) were talking to the salesman, who actually just happened to be the owner of the store. Well, that man just happened to be a Christian, a pastor actually of a church, that just happened to be next door, that we were totally unaware was there. This man, Ajan Wichai was such an encouragement to us. He gave us seven tables for the price of four. We were so blessed. But he didn’t stop there, as we talked about cell group, that regularly has about four adults, he decided to donate 20 chairs, and told us to believe in faith that God would bring 20 people to cell group. We were so encouraged. Then, we were looking at new linoleum flooring for the church, since the old stuff was mismatched and torn. I’ve been praying since Christmas that God would provide a way to get flooring for Bethel. We didn’t have the funds to buy it, but there is a team coming next month that we thought might be able to put it in as a part of their ministry here. Well, God and Ajan Wichai had different plans. He told us he was going to donate the flooring also, and install it for us! (The Picture is P' Nat, Ajan Wichai, P' Bank his son and Louise)

I wish you could have seen the looks on the children’s faces as we unloaded the van. They were so excited. It was chaos. We unloaded, and immediately the children were sitting around the tables, colouring and playing games. They were so loud Fauna could hear them from two blocks away when she went to buy water for snack time. What a good God we love, a God who blesses us so beyond our expectations. A God who hears and answers our prayers. A God who allowed us to make a connection with another church in the area. I was blown away.

<- This picture is Fauna and I ripping up the old flooring!! We found a few poisonous creatures under it, a scorpion, and the biggest spider I've seen in my life.

Moving into the Second Month

2007-12-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I've officially been sweating buckets for a whole month now. It's pretty incredible how fast time is passing as we build relationships, do ministry and experience this vastly different culture.

Yesterday, December fifth, was a national holiday here in Thailand- the King's birthday. Everybody gets the day off (except us, we still taught English...because we always teach English) and wears bright yellow shirts, and celebrates the King who they LOVE. We went to a market in the evening and there was a concert and fireworks in the King's honour, and at one point everybody busted out yellow candles and stood perfectly still for the King's song. It was quite the experience.

I learned something interesting this week- that the word for God and the word for king in Thai are the same thing. Prajow. So, if you want to tell somebody about "Prajow" you need to clarify who you are talking about, the King, Buddha, a false god, or the God of Christianity. So, in introducing who you talk about you explain you are telling them about the God who created the world, or the God who forgives our sins, or Jesus who is God. It's caused me to think a lot, about God's character, and who this God, that I want to tell Thailand about is. This week for the first time we used the bible as a text book in our adult English class. We taught about the God who has the power to heal. Please pray that our students will continue to attend our class, and that they will learn about more than just English, but also about Jesus, and that their hearts will be soft to the truth. We had a mixed reception to using scripture.

Teaching people scripture though, has become increasingly important to me. The more I read the bible, the more I see that it is the absolute truth. My personal devotional times here have been incredible lately. It seems like every time I open my bible God is speaking some new truth into my life, that is absolutely applicable to the situation I am in. One thing that God has been speaking to me about is my attitude towards the ministries I am involved in. Sometimes it can feel like all I do here is teach English and prepare to teach English, but as I've been reading through 1 Corinthians, the verses 9:19-23 got stuck in my head...by that I mean I actually can't stop thinking about them, it seems like in everything I do they come back to me. Paul is talking about being all things to all people, in order that he might win some for the gospel. I realized being all things for all people includes being an English teacher for those who want to learn English. When my motivation shifted from getting through English classes to loving people, and serving them, in the hope that I can share Jesus love with them, somehow prepping English classes became something that is less tedious and dull, and I am learning to love. My attitude sometimes still isn't perfect, but I can see God is shaping me so that I will glorify him more, in everything I do.

One ministry I continue to LOVE is going to Checheongsaow to a church called Bethel. It is a cell church with four members in the adult Bible study, and this last week we had thirty children at the program for "dek dek" (kids). This week we a man named Matthias who was here for two weeks come with us. He taught the kids to play hockey and for the first time (in two years) we targeted young men, and realized that if there was some ministry at the church for them, they would come. Please join us as we pray that God will raise up somebody to start a ministry to the teenage boys at Bethel, and be a strong male role model for them.
(The picture to the left is Matthias teaching this boy to hold a hockey stick-they'd never played before)

At Bethel this week I had the opportunity to give a man named P' Lud a bible. P' Lud became a Christian just over a month ago, and he has been such an encouragement to me. In the first two weeks he was a Christian he read half of Matthew, and has continued to soak up scripture, and apply it to his life. Unfortunately, he only had the New Testament, and didn't have money to buy a whole Bible. Please pray for P' Lud as he wants to attend church and fellowship and grow in his new faith, but work is incredibly hard to come by in this area, and as a painter, sometimes his only jobs come on Sundays. Pray that God will supply all of his needs, both spiritually and physically.
(The picture to the right is the Bethel cell group)

Well, the time has come for me to sleep...but Thank You again for all your love and support and prayers. I am so encouraged by everybody at home. I love you all!

A Quick Post From a Tired TREKer

2007-11-20T02:48:00.001-08:00

Well, life keeps trucking on here in Thailand, and it seems like every day we become more and more busy. Don't get me wrong, my life is full, but I LOVE IT, however it can start to wear on you. Fortunately Jesus is about rest and refreshment, and even when it feels like I have nothing left to give, God meets me in that place, and gives me the strength to keep going.

One day I had a to do list as long as my arm (well, not really, but it was substantial) and I was almost at my breaking point. Our team had things to do and places to be, and one of our host missionaries, Ricky, came up to myself and another girl on my team, Fauna, and asked us to spend about an hour entertaining a man from Miami he had met at a pastor's conference who was just in Thailand for the afternoon. Well, my initial response was that I had a thousand and one things to get done, and I didn't have time, but because TREK sends us out on assignment to "learn and serve", I figured the appropriate response to say out loud was "of course we'll do that, we'd love to." So, a few minutes later we were at a coffee shop, talking with a man from Miami who we had never met before in our lives. I left the coffee shop about an hour later ready to take on anything. This man spent the time listening to our stories, and sharing his own, asking us what God was teaching us, and really listening and getting excited with us. This man, who I had never met before and will probably never meet again, showed me Jesus love in such a real way. He reminded me that I serve a God who is interested in what I think, and cares how I feel, and wants to meet me where I am at. Cop Coon Prajow (Thank you God)!!

Then another week or so passed, and yesterday arrived. Yesterday was our first day of teaching English in a formal setting. We went to an elementary school in a city called Ang Sila (where Michelle and Diana live). We will spend a few hours there every Tuesday teaching grade five and six students English, and the principal has requested we teach him as well. The principal is a lovely man, and we really enjoyed meeting with him. Please pray that as we teach both him and his students and build relationships that we will have the opportunity to invite him to church where somebody who speaks his language can share the gospel with him, and that as we get to know him, we will be able to share the gospel with him through how we treat him, his students and each other. (The picture above is a few of the students from the school!)

After our English classes there, I once again was stressing, because that evening I was teaching an adult English class that still needed a bit more prep, and then the next day I had two more English classes, one with youth, one with adults that still needed prep, and we had a scheduled worship time with Team 2000, and I had a meeting about Youth English to prep for. I had already missed my Thai lesson in the morning and there just didn't seem like there could ever be enough hours in the day to get everything done.

So we headed off to our worship time, and it was exactly what I needed. Andy (one of our host missionaries) read to us from 2 Timothy 2:8-13 (I would encourage you all to spend some time meditating on it), and asked us to think about the first three words "Remember Jesus Christ" and then asked the simple question, why would Paul need to remind Timothy, a pastor, to remember Jesus. That hit me, you see, I find it so easy to get caught up in planning a good English class, or a good kids club, or even a good bible study, and I find it so easy to loose sight of Jesus in all of that. The purpose of everything I'm doing here is ultimately to introduce people to the God that gives abundant life. Such a simple lesson, but I feel like I need to learn it over and over.

Later in our worship time we wrote acrostic poems about life with Jesus. I'm a little embarrassed to do this, but I'm going to share mine with you...please be gracious and remember that poetry is not my area of expertise.

C- Completion (he who has begun a good work in you will carry it through to completion- God is not done with you yet, no matter where you are at!)
H- Healer (Jesus is a physical healer, spiritual healer, emotional healer, healer of relationships, and the list goes on and on. I've really learned this lesson since TREK started in September, and God keeps showing me more and more aspects of life in which he heals)
R- Rock (Jesus never changes, even when I'm across the world in a different culture, he is the same yesterday, today and forever.)
I- Immeasurable greatness of his power (see Ephesians 1:19- we have access in Jesus to the power that raised him from the dead...all I can say is WOW)
S- Solid (going along with the Rock theme, God doesn't shift, we can completely trust him, and build our lives around him, because he's not going to change, that is an incredibly freeing truth for me)
T- Terrific :) (because life with Jesus is Terrific!!!!)

Everybody in the room came up with different words, but they all contained so much truth. It was cool to be reminded that Jesus meets us where we are at, and that there are so many aspects to his character that become especially significant to us at different points in our lives. Try it out- write an a little acrostic poem about what Jesus is teaching you, or what is significant to you about his character right now, and then share it with somebody (for example, ME) and encourage them!!!

I love you all...

Week Song (two)

2007-11-09T19:23:00.001-08:00

Well, we have made it through two weeks, and this is starting to feel like "real life."
On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go for a little tour of Burapa University, a place where Fauna and I will likely be starting some sort of ministry. There are thousands of students and we're excited to see how we can connect, then in the evening we got a chance to go out for dinner with two exchange students from China studying here- Annie and Egg, we went out for noodle soup, and then to a place called a Milk Shop, where they serve...milk. We didn't fully understand the conse We've gotten to know quite a few exchange students, who are starting to connect with the church. Egg was baptized a few weeks ago, and we are praying for opportunities to introduce the rest of them to Jesus! A lot of our ministry so far has been just connecting with people, which I love.
Wednesday we went to Ang Sila, a fishing village really close to Bang Saen, where Michelle and Diana (two of my team members) are living now, and got some orientation about Ang Sila specifically, and about Thailand in general. We learned some useful tips about Thai hospitality, which can look different than ours, for example if you offer somebody something they will always refuse, so even if you've asked if they want a cup of water, or coffee twenty times and they said no, you still need to give it to them to honour them, or if somebody wants something they will never tell you directly, instead they will mention that they like that, or they will bring up the thing they want in conversation. We are starting to learn but that is defintely going to take some getting used to.
Thursday I had the oppertunity to go to a place called Chachoengsaow, which is one of the least reached area's in all of Thailand. I went with Louise (from team 2000), Nitra (another short termmer who has been here for seven months now), P' Nat (a national) and Fauna (another member of our team). Louise, Nitra and P' Nat have been going for a few months consistently, running a bible study and a kids club, and God has started to do some pretty incredible things. In the last few months, fifteen children have accepted Jesus (PRAISE GOD- this is the next generation) and the cell- group has grown to about 6 adults. This week another man accepted the Lord! We are praying that God will give him complete freedom, as many people in this city who have initially made decisions for the Lord have fallen back into lives of drug abuse, sexual immorality and witch craft. My team will be starting an outreach through this church aimed at students, teaching ESL, PLEASE PRAY for us, as there has been spiritual, emotional and physical attacks on Nitra, Louise and P' Nat each time the go there, because God is breaking strongholds, and Satan is not happy about that. The spiritual warfare is intense. This video is the kids from Chechengsaow singing
Friday we had the opportunity to go to Pattaya for a worship night. Pattaya is another dark place in Thailand. It's a tourist city with a population of about 100000, where there are about 50000 tourists at any given time, from all around the world, most of whom are there for the sex trade. The premise of this night (part of a weekend put on by YWAM (I think)), was to bring people from all over the world to Pattaya for the purpose of glorifying God, to bring light to this dark place. It was great, lots of people from TLC and Ang Sila came and we had an incredible time of worship together, and of connecting with new people. Our team even got to take some Thai friends out to Subway for their first sandwiches EVER, it was quite the experience!
Then on Saturday Diana and Michelle packed their suitcases and moved to The Friendship Centre in Ang Sila, where they will stay for the next seven months, and I worked on English lessons- we teach our first class on Tuesday and after that we teach at least seven a week, we're starting to feel pretty nervous about that. Please pray for our team as we are living in two separate locations, well we feel our ministries in both respective places are important, it's difficult to be split up, and we really want to stay unified as a group!
Again I just want to tell you all how much I appreciate your encouragement and prayers, it's so great to know that being out here on the field we aren't doing this alone! So thank you!

Welcome to Thailand

2007-11-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

It’s officially been one week since our team packed into a van, left the Mark Centre and headed to YVR to catch a flight that would take us around the world. Travel itself was an adventure! We had a thirteen hour flight to Taipei and then a seven hour layover there, and then another three and a half hours to Bangkok. After a brief meeting with two of our host missionaries Dave and Louise, our team was loaded into another van and sent off to find the OMF home in Bangkok- alone. Fortunately Dave had given the driver good directions, because we definitely could not communicate very effectively. After a few wrong turns, stopping for directions a few times, backing up on the highway and a couple of U-turns we finally arrived! Here we met Andy Owen, another one of our missionary hosts who helped get our very jet-lagged team and all our luggage up to our room! Let me tell you, I was certainly thankful to see my bed that night.

The next three days we spent at the OMF home with Andy’s wife Carmen and their two boys, having a bit of orientation. They gave us lots of time to sleep and rest, to get used to the heat and humidity and 13 hour difference in time. We also had team time and bible study, as well as some fun trips out to the hair dresser and for Thai massage. Carmen encouraged us to explore the area, and view the culture, and keep a journal about the differences that we noticed.

Let me tell you a little bit about what I noticed. First of all, everybody in Thailand loves and respects their king, they hold him in such high reverence that they don’t even talk about him! They have monuments and life size pictures (like the one on the right), and buildings painted with him on almost every block. Twice a day in public places the king’s song is played- and people stop what they are doing in respect. Another thing that I saw was that in every shop there is a spirit house, where people invite the spirits to bless their business, and they offer it food and drink every day. We also see Buddhist monks all over the place, and we learned that every Thai male at some point is supposed to become a monk for a short period of time to secure his parents “salvation.” The spiritual deception here is incredible. Please join me in praying for this nation, that they will see the truth that is found only in Jesus!

After our time at OMF we loaded up into another van and headed to Bang Saen, our final location for the next seven months. We finally saw TLC church and got to meet some of the people we will be working with. It’s been exhausting meeting everybody, there are so many names and faces to remember. We haven’t started the ministries that we will be working in yet, but we are starting to get a feel for what life will be like here.

On Thursday we visited the Abundant Life Home, and went with Karen (another of our missionary hosts- there are six in total) to pick up the children from school. In total there are six boys in the boys home and three girls in the girls home. We will likely go to these homes on Friday and Saturday nights to give the house moms time off. After that P’ Ganiga, the house mom in the boys home took us for a tour of Ang Sila, a fishing village where two of our team members, Michelle and Diana will be living (the picture on the left is in Ang Sila). Please pray for them as life there will be difficult, it is a poorer community and they lack a lot of the comforts that we are used to, and are definitely relinquishing many rights to live there. Pray that God will honour that, and help them form many relationships, and will give them safety.

On Friday I had the opportunity to go to the Bang Saen hospital with another short-term worker here named Nitra, and sit in on an English class that she teaches, which our team will take over when she leaves in December. I loved it. The format of the class that she uses, is she goes over an English worksheet with them, or teaches them a new grammatical tool, or set of vocabulary, and then they read through a section of the Purpose Driven Life together in English, and she sends home the same section in Thai for them to read during the week. I really see now how English teaching will be a way for building relationship with people, since you spend the whole time talking. Please pray for me as I step into these sort of roles, that I will be able to effectively build relationships that go beyond just teaching a language.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to our first church event- the TLC high school and college group. They met at Andy and Carmen’s, where they sang (in Thai), played games (explained in Thai), shared testimonies (in Thai) and studied the bible (in Thai). In case you didn’t get it in the last sentence there was definitely a language barrier, but somehow with our nit-noy (little bit) of Thai, and many people’s ability to speak some English we got by and had a great time, I’m looking forward to connecting with this group of young people. Later that day we had the opportunity to attend the English service at TLC, another neat community I’m looking forward to connecting with.

Well, it’s Sunday now, and I’m babysitting in a little bit, and then should get ready for service (which doesn’t start until 4:00). I miss you all, and can’t tell you how much I appreciate your prayers and emails of encouragement. Please continue to pray for my team as we really start to jump into ministry in this next week, as well as begin some language study!

Freaking Out

2007-10-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Training is flying by. When I left home two months in Abbotsford seemed like it was going to last forever, now I find myself with six days left at the Mark Centre, and the last couple of months seem like a bit of a blur. Today I woke up and realized in a week from now I will be in a plane that is going to take me half way across the world, and suddenly my stomach felt like there was something in it that didn't belong there. I realized I am incredibly nervous!! For almost eight months I am leaving everything familiar to me, from food to ettiquite, and going to a country completely foreign to me. I knew that all along, but suddenly it became a bit more of a reality. Don't get me wrong, I am still so excited, I feel like this is where God wants me to be, but right now that's a little bit tainted with nerves. Earlier this week my team met with the team TREK sent to Chonburi last year, and they were very helpful to us, they shared with us some of their experiences, what their roles in ministry were, what their experience with the culture had been, and some of what they enjoyed and didn't enjoy. While I know that my experience will be different than theirs, it was helpful to hear a little bit. Please pray for our team as week pack up and prepare to leave this week. We feel incredibly ill-informed about what we will be doing this next year, and that makes the idea of packing up and flying away a bit daunting! Pray that we will continue to grow in our excitement and that we will be ready for what God will do in and through us!

Oh, and on Friday (the day before I leave) there will be a commissioning service at Columbia Bible College at 7:00pm in the chapel. It would be great if you could join us!

LIFE

2007-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

As the date for my flight to Thailand steadily approaches (I'll be there two weeks from yesterday), I find myself wondering where all my time goes. The purpose of TREK training is "to encounter Jesus," so they remove us from the daily grind, and place us in beautiful accommodations, and bring in fabulous speakers to encourage us in our walks with God, and still I find myself caught up in whirlwind of life. Don't get me wrong though, I'm LOVING it, I just wish I knew how to take moments and savor them more fully.
Thanksgiving weekend I had the opportunity to go home for three days, for the first time since TREK began. It was incredible. I had some amazing times visiting with my family and friends, and was commissioned by my church. (the picture to the right is me and my family at Willingdon) I also had the opportunity to reconcile with a friend whom I hadn't spoken with in several years. I was sent back to the Mark Centre feeling so utterly blessed, and so full. God blew my mind that weekend with how good he is.
This last week at the Mark Centre has been less intense than past weeks. Part of our training is participating in work duties, however in past weeks because of the way scheduling has worked out with speakers, it hasn't worked out for us to do them, this week we made up for that. We went to a hazelnut orchard- owned by the people who own the Mark Centre- and raked hazelnuts off the ground. Another day we went to the gleaners (a big warehouse where you prepare vegetables for soup mix that is dehydrated and sent around the world- the picture to the left is us sorting tomatoes), and we did work around the Mark Centre, raking leaves and landscaping. It was really nice to spend some time with the TREKers outside of session, just serving together.
We also had some awesome speakers come in and talk to us about several topics, but one that stood out to me was the topic of Cross Cultural Scenarios. We talked about the differences between "hot" and "cold" cultures. Canada is a typical cold culture, and while there are many different aspects of this, one that stuck out to me was our obsession with time. In hot cultures, like Thailand, they tend to do this less. I realized that this is going to take some serious adjusting for me to get used to. Coming from a place where schedules are valued, it will be an interesting shift to go someplace where people think nothing of it if you come half an hour late to a previously arranged appointment. But, at the same time, I'm ecstatic to learn from these people- who take time to stop in the streets and chat, who value relationship, who take life as it comes- about how to not be stressed about time, maybe I can learn from them about moments, about how to enjoy moments for all they are worth!
I'd like to leave you with a verse that I've been meditating on for the last week
John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I almost forgot, I need you to pray PLEASE; the leader of our Mexico team, Ying, is an amazing girl who came here from Thailand to participate in TREK, however, because she has a Thai passport there are some issues in getting her a Visa, at this point for her to get a Mexican Visa will take a miracle, but we serve a God who is capable of anything, so I ask that you would join us in asking God to work this out!

The Amazing TREK

2007-09-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well, not long after being put into teams, they decided to test our endurance, and we participated in an activity called "The Amazing TREK," that our fabulous interns spent a TON of time putting together for us. This activity is designed to help us learn how our team will function in stressful situations, and to teach us to function without relying on the people around us, because in Thailand, they aren't always going to be there.

Our team had an interesting experience...they say it was the most similar to what will really happen on missions- because pretty much everything went wrong! The day started with incessant banging on the door, and then SonJa (one of our interns) announcing "It is five o'clock and the Amazing TREK has begun, be downstairs in five minutes to begin." So the frenzy began, we ran around trying to get ready, unfortunately my team being all girls took to long and we missed the first challenge!

The second challenge we definitely participated in however, we searched all over the Mark Centre property in the dark for team bandannas...unfortunately ours were dark blue, so they took us two hours to find, and we actually never found them all, they just took pity on us and let us come in from the cold! Even the people who hid them couldn't find it. After we did really well with the next few clues, racing around Abbotsford, until we had to find a house in a residential area for breakfast, you see, all the teams were supposed to have a map, but they forgot to give us one. Eventually we found the house, and headed in a delicious breakfast of rice, little herrings with no heads, and two litres of coke.

We were on track with the other teams and feeling good! However, for the next clue we had to find another house...and we ended up in somebody's garden for half an hour before we realized it was the wrong place. We walked to the correct house, where we found a large pile of hay, in which there was a needle. I don't know how many of you have looked for a needle in a hay stack but it really is impossible. After half an hour they let us leave, needle-less. Only one team actually found theirs.

After this we had a photo scavenger hunt, went and got a picture developed, and had to trade our picture for our next clue. Well, the only problem with that was the place we traded in our picture, a car in the mall parking lot, and all the direction we had to find it was the license plate number. We ended up running around the ENTIRE parking lot, and not finding it. Then we had to do it again! Eventually however we got there, and got our next clue, which sent us to the fire hall.

The fire hall was my favorite of the challenges, we dressed up in full gear and participated in an obstacle course that firefighters do in training. We ran with heavy buckets of water, sprayed things down with the big hose, and ran up the fire hall, and then lifted a weight up the side of the building. I was really proud of all the girls on our team, they were champs, working so hard, and working up a good sweat.

After a few more activities, it was time for lunch, and they sent us to the Sikh temple. It was a good experience to be in a place as a team where we really stood out, and were unfamiliar with proper conduct. We had to be really careful to be respectful in everything we did, because we were definitely being watched.

After lunch things went downhill for our team. Our clue was to go to the Swaan's backyard, where we had been earlier in training. Our driver gave us a map which we followed, unfortunately we weren't supposed to have that map yet, and we had detoured half an hour out of the way, to Yarrow, another city!! This is where the challenge really began. We needed to get back to our original location, with no map, no cell phone, and a phonebook for the wrong city. Our team really banded together, and with several phone calls, lots of ideas, and asking quite a few people for directions we made it to a gas station in Abbotsford, and from there we were allowed to call Luke (the TREK director) for directions.

The challenge in the Swaan's pool involved walking across planks of wood, to a canoe and back, without tipping. Our team dominated at it, even though we arrived two and a half hours after the other teams. We were re-engergized and full of enthusiasm.

Our next task ironically took us back to Yarrow- but at least we knew where we were going. In Yarrow we arrived at the home of a lady we had never met, who we serenaded on her balcony. She in turn gave us our final clue "Team Thailand you've arrived to late, I'm sorry but you've missed your date. So stand up and take a bow, you can head back to the Mark Centre now." We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to finish the race, but the reality of it was that we were proud of ourselves for the obsitcals we had overcome, and we had a good time doing it.

Later that evening we had a time for debriefing as a team about the event. It was incredible how much we had learned about each other in such a short time, and we were able to talk about how we could support each other more effectively and what we loved about each other. It was a great day- but everybody was happy to go to bed.

the adventure begins...

2007-09-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Three weeks have flown by here at TREK.

Arriving here on the first Sunday was perhaps one of the most nerve wracking experience of my life! Thankfully sixteen of the other trekkers are pretty great people, and we all clicked right from the beginning, and it didn't take any time to get started. On Monday night we read through the entire book of Mark with Steve Klassen- an incredible man who runs the Mark Centre where we are staying.

After barely settling in we headed out right away on Tuesday to Whistler for a retreat where we looked into the topic of worship, and dived into getting to knowing each other, and participated in some fun activities. (The picture on the left is of me and some other trekkers participating in a photo scavenger hunt). I came back on Thursday loving the people on our team and pumped to get going on the rest of TREK.

The rest of week one and all of week two were spent in sessions discussing various topics. We had talks on hearing God's voice, prophesy, relinquishing our rights, and many other things. I've been in information overload, but slowly I'm processing all the information that's coming in.

This last week we went on a silent retreat, we left on Tuesday and participated in complete silence until Thursday afternoon. It was time to listen to God, and spend some time totally focused on him. I really realized how much we miss out on in our culture, running from one activity to another, with all the hustle and bustle around us. It was refreshing to get away, with no agenda and spend time in prayer, reading my bible, journalling and taking long naps. I really got to communicate with God, and hear some things from him. Once again it gave me a lot to think about and process, but I left totally refreshed and excited for what God is going to do this year.

Yesterday was the day everybody had been waiting for since TREK began. The day when teams were announced. And I am headed off to...drum roll please...THAILAND. I'm going with a team of all girls, who I am really excited to get to know. We had our first team time last night, where we shared testimonies, were honest about our feelings about the impending trip, and bonded over Starbucks and Quizno's.

So...I hope all of you are doing incredibly well, and want to hear from everybody. If you have time send me an email and let me know what's going on in your lives- jill.wiebe@gmail.com!

I also have some prayer requests!! First of all, everybody around here is pretty overwhelmed, finding out teams was an emotional experience, and now begins the process of applying for visas(I started my application today!), learning about the language and culture, and getting to know each other better. You can pray for us for good rest. Also, you can pray that we will start getting a hold on the Thai language; one of the hardest languages in the world to learn (they say it takes up to twenty years before you can be fluent). Also you can pray that as my team researches Thailand, gets in touch with the missionaries there and starts preparing to leave, God will birth in us a deep love for this nation, and that we will be ready to go and SERVE.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!