.

I will share a story with you, a story of a sweet sweet girl named Chin (pronounced "Shin"). She is an M5 student (equivalent to a junior in high school).

I first met her at our "Happy Camp" last Saturday. I had previously led a scavenger hunt with them, so when Chin and her friends had finished lunch, they immediately swarmed over and surrounded me while I was still eating. There were at least 10 of them (10 vs 1) and were all very patient with me as they watched me eat slowly--trying to endure the spiciness of my noodle soup. So Chin, who sat next to me, picked up my cup and refilled it with more ice water (treat #1). They were very interested in me and asked me maaany questions...about America, my age, my nationality/ethnicity, my relationship status, Caleb's relationship status, how I liked Thai food & music, if I had free time to hang out with them later, and even asked me to smile for one of them. After I finally finished eating, Chin passed out a few of her snacks to her friends and gave the last one to me (treat #2).

It was then time to rejoin everyone for our second session of "Happy Camp." But it took a while for all the students to come back together because there was an ice cream man in front of the school! Naturally, most of the students (and us teachers) bought ice cream because it was so hot! When Chin came around to the ice cream man, she asked me if I wanted any. But with a smile I shook my hand and said, "No, thank you." I sat down next to some other students with Uncle Peter, waiting to get started again. Five minutes later, Chin came up to me with two ice cream bars...she sat down next to me again and gave me her second ice cream (treat #3)! And it was one of my favorite ice cream bars, too!

With that, I am reminded of all the students who I've met here...how friendly, open, and interested they are in us.

PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!

Hey everyone! So in exactly 5 hours, we will beginning our evangalistic program at the school. In LA time that should be around 1am. So it's fast approaching and we're all getting a little anxious. If you happen to still be awake at that time, then by all means PLEASE PLEASE PRAY AT THAT TIME!!!!

Pray For:
1. Open hearts from the students
2. Caleb's testimony
3. Lillian as she talks about the 4 spiritual laws
4. Our performances:
-Lifehouse's Everything Skit
-Body Worship to Unchanging, Chris Tomlin
5. For our hearts to continue to trust in God and really be focused on Him throughout the event


May all the glory be to God forever and ever!!! If we succeed in even bringing one person to know God, then our mission's trip will be counted as a success, so PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASE PRAY!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!

Hot Hot Hot!

All the nice gloomy rainy weather has disappeared. Now all that's left is the regular flaming hot Thailand weather. It's more than half way through the mission's trip and you can tell all the little things are taking its toll. Bug bites are always a bring down. Since it's humid here, laundry doesn't dry quite the same, so everything smells like mildew (gym locker room). The hot heat is especially draining in church attire (teaching attire). Riding in the back of the truck is fun, unless there are thousands of birds above you or if it is raining super hard.

But Yahweh Yireh or Jehovah Jireh. The LORD will provide...

"In the chaos, in confusion
I know You’re Sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will"
-"None but Jesus" by Hillsong United


-Josh

Prayer Party!

Hello friends, this will be a quick post since we have English Corner... now! Haha. Here are our team's individual prayer requests:

1. ALEX- time management to use the last four days of school effectively; also for boldness, courage, and faith
2. ALISA- presenting Bridge to Life at English Corner tomorrow; also pray for strength and renewal
3. CALEB- giving testimony at the Evangelistic Party on Thursday, pray for the right words to stay and good preparation
   
4. DORIS-to build good relationships
   
5. GREG-to finish out this week strong, and looking for opportunities to share or build relationships
   
6. JOSH- ENERGY. No hesitation
   
7. KARA-Jump at opportunities to share with the kids I've connected with
   
8. LORRAINE- have wisdom/guidance to lead more deep spiritual conversations with students; energy
   
9. NOR- wisdom to lead, patience to wait on God's timing, and focus on the task at hand (and not being anxious)
   
10. SONNY- be more personal with students
    
11. STEPHANIE-to share the gospel with a couple of students I've become close with; pray for no more bug bites!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! We are starting our last week here, so pray that God will continue to use us effectively! Kup koon ka! :)

bugs can't bring me down

hello hello !

I can't believe the first week of teaching is officially over now! Only being able to see these students once in class makes it very hard to believe that we will only be here a little longer.

From the very first day the bugs have been on a rampage eating their heart's out on American blood, and the itchy bites that they have left behind can get very distracting at times. However, God has been very faithful and even bug bites can't hold us back from interacting with the students and wanting to know them more. I was very blessed yesterday to be able to get to know some of the M5 girls during English Corner afterschool, and their willingness to talk to me and get to know me was so encouraging after a week of feeling like I wasn't getting through to any of them. I was able to share that God's love for me was the best gift and further explaining the meaning of my name "kara: God's mercy".

Time to go meet with the director now. Until next time frands


Kara

So at our meeting last night...

The Lue family got extremely scared of ONE jin-jook (lizard) above them. A baby one landed on greg and for the rest of the night, they were paranoid enough to go through the rest of our debriefing with the most cost effective umbrella over their heads.

Greetings loved ones, let's take a journey

I know a place, where the grass is really greener!!! But in all honesty, it's probably because it rains here ALL THE TIME. We've been getting rain atleast 4x a day which is ridiculous because I'm not talking about a slight drizzle here and there, it's is literally raining, and sometimes pouring. However, it is a nice change to previous years because it is keeping the weather nice and cool, although sometimes humid. And it has been fun riding in the back of Peter's pick up truck with umbrellas open and wind/rain blowing everywhere. This crazy ride has currently taken the lives of 3 umbrellas.

The biggest difference however would have to be the school we are teaching at. This school is pretty unorganized when it comes to scheduling, so everything has been kind of up in the air as far as classes go. We can never seem to get on the same page as the teachers, so that is definitely something to be praying for! We want to be a Christ like example to them, as well as the students, and so far we don't seem to be making too much progress with them.

Continue to pray for our afterschool program, and for this upcoming Saturday when we do our "Happy Camp" English day. We rarely get to see our students, so this will be a good oportunity! That's it for now ttyl! :D