Bizarre Happenings in San Fernando!

Strange things keep happening here and in order to remember them all I keep a tab on my journal with the title: “Bizarre Happenings in San Fernando”. The team and I thought that it would be a good idea to share some of the items on our list for comedic relief 

• People sit down by the spring just to watch us wash our clothes 
• To avoid being a spectacle, we shower by flashlight at the spring before we go to bed. 
• Many people that we invite to bible study respond “later!” and we never see them again. 
• We have a bucket of water that somehow always stays filled. It’s either Kuya that we are staying with that is filling it or God is miraculously keeping it full… It’s very suspicious 
• Solution to any medical problem: Katinko 
• There’s always that one house that blares the radio during the day… we just happen to be living in it 
• Articles of clothing have mysteriously disappeared from our clothes line 
• We found a crab in our kitchen. A real crab 
• It is not uncommon to have thirty children following us at a time 
• Merienda: corn out of a can and graham cracker 
• Somehow Annie ended up calf-high in carabao poop on our way to baptize two women 
• Techno music and or love songs play as we fall asleep at night…

These are only a few of the bizarre happenings here. These moments keep us laughing but they do not sustain us.  Christ alone is our sustainer. He is what gets us through every moment! These funny moments sure do help, though!

An Update for the North Thai Girls

Your love is amazingSteady and unchangingYour love is a mountainFirm beneath my feet   


(this sticks out to me as I am surrounded by mountains in Thailand)
   
 This past week was our last week in our first village. We've spent three weeks here and I cannot possibly describe all of our experiences, they have been  indescribable to say the least. Just an update on everything. 
    We moved into Joy's home Monday evening. It was difficult to say goodbye to Ulm's family that we had been staying with. Khun Thii (the mom) began crying when we left and this broke my heart. They sent us off to Joy's with a huge amount of bananas and then we were off to our third host home. 
    I have a big announcement on Ulm. We found out Monday evening that she is so close to accepting Christ. She knows there is a God, but is fearful and currently weighing her options. Her aunt is the village headmaster's wife, so she has a lot of pressure on her. We hope to see her come to our worship services in the new village beginning Sunday. I desperately hope to see the whole family come to Christ.

      Earlier this week we also went off to deactivate a spirit house. There is a spirit house in the village that the people bring offerings to and such. This is a place where Satan has a huge stronghold. This whole experience was most definitely something that we had never done before. It was a process of commanding Satan to leave the place and I could truly see a lighter place once I opened my eyes; there was a great burden lifted off of us. 
     We have also had the great joy this week of teaching in a local school and going to their recital. We taught three english classes on wednesday to a little over 100 students. It was truly a great experience, Kari was able to give her testimony and we all passed out tracts to the students.

     On Thursday our supervisors did a study with us on a parable that meant a lot to me and I wanted to share it with you all. Turn to Matthew 13 and you will find the parable of the farmer sowing seed. This is important to  me bc all that we can do here is plant seeds. We are not always going to get the privilege of seeing fruit produced. God has his own timing in everything. If someone is ready for salvation then we get the amazing opportunity to partake in the harvest. It is truly an amazing opportunity that God includes us in the process at all. This is important to remember when we leave a village only seeing seeds planted, but no visible fruit.

    Our relationship with Ulm grew so much over the past few weeks. She is so precious and an amazing girl to get to know. Her sister came home from the university and came over to braid our hair into some amazing thai braids. Words cannot describe how much I love this family. 
    They even helped us make treat bags for our english kids. Funny story about that one: when you can't read Thai, cough drops might end up going into the goody bags haha. We had 8 kids in english class on saturday. I have to admit that it was a little discouraging bc our numbers had grown so high, but it all went really well. I was able to help with the little kids group this week bc none of the older kids showed up. Most of my older girls had to go to school. The gospel was presented to all of the kids at the end of english. These kids are so precious. 
   Later that afternoon we were sent for to go to the village headmaster's home-big deal! Khun Kim, the lady that has been having the dreams, was in a motorcycle accident friday night. A car ran her off of the road and she now has a black eye, scraped up elbow, and has hurt her leg to the point where she cant walk. We laid hands on her and prayed for her, it was all that we could do.

    We had to leave the village Sunday and words simply cannot describe the goodbyes. Before we left, Ulm's family was provided with a Bible and all of their hearts seem so open now. They were the hardest family to say goodbye to. Khun Thii started bawling and pulled me into a hug-I lost it! People do not typically show emotion here. This completely broke my heart. One of our girls Giv( we went to her bday party) never stopped crying. How do you say goodbye to people who havent came to know Christ yet? 
    Words simply cannot describe the moment and I trust that God has a plan and that Rung. can further the ministry here along with our supervisors, and without us. It is a moment that I will definitely not forget. Right now we are leaving from our vacation and I will update you all on the amazing vacation on next week's update. Thank you all for reading these, and if you notice the titles-they are all songs that stick out to me during that week. Love you all!

                  ~Morgan

Not just a good life.

The dinner last night with the English teacher and the family went well. She walked us around the village. Basically her entire family and extended family lives within a block of each other. She and her mother both said that their house is our house and that we are welcome back anytime. Kelly shared a good bit about Christ and that He is the only one that can save us. We are hoping to continue to reach out to her and her family while we are here. A. John Mnit taught her older sister, who they said is a Christian, when she was younger. If anything we hope to build the bridge from their family to the dorm/church we stay at.

Today, we when to the coffee shop in the rain to spend more time with Jang. Kelly and I both pray that us continuing to come despite the rain was a testament that God wants to have a relationship with her. We continue to invite her to the dorm to learn and speak English with her but she keeps telling us "when I have free time." Please pray that the Holy Spirit would work on her heart. She has studied about Jesus in school and all she knows about Buddhism is what she has been told by her mother. Pray that she would want to know the Truth! Buddha himself said that there will be another "Phra" to come that will save them from their sins.

We are made in the image of God so we desire to worship something. Whether that is God, money, sports, etc. We worship something with our lives and how we live our lives shows what we worship! Lord, I don't want to live a "good" life and never tell anyone or give praise to you for everything in my life. Otherwise I am living to bring glory to myself when credit is due to You!

A Parable Applied

     In the book of Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower. Our field supervisors came earlier this week to encourage us with this passage. The sower spreads the seed; that is their purpose, just as it is our purpose as Christians on earth to spread the gospel. 
    The hardest burden to bear in this role is not being able to control what kind of ground the seed falls on. Some hear the message, but turn away because they do not understand. Some recieve the message with joy, but soon get discouraged because of persecutions and hardships and stumble. Some seeds take root, but have a hard time growing because of distractions. Some seeds take root and grow. 
    Aom is a young 17 year old lady who we have spent much time with lately, and who has recieved the message of the gospel with understanding, a flicker of hope, and much fear... fear of what others may think or say. It is kind of easy to stand up for your faith where I am from. 
    It is much different here. We were reminded of this fact when we appeared at a local elephant show, and the performance was ceremonially dedicated to the spirits. The darkness is indeed all around us. Aom also holds a high place in spiritual society because she is closely related to the village headman. Their family takes special part in appeasement ceremonies at the local spirit house. This is the same family in which Kim is a member of. She is suffering persecutions and pressures as a Christian because of her role as the village headman's wife. 
    This week Kim suffered from a motorcycle wreck that left her in much pain. The Lord led us to her house at the right time so that we were able to lay our hands on her and pray for her protection and strength. We were also able to visit the spirit house earlier this week. It was powerful moment that none of us had ever experienced. Upon the suggestion of our supervisors to "deactivate" the spirit house, we set out to do just that. We used the power that the Lord has given us in 2 Corinthians 10:4 to demolish this stronghold that the evil one has over this family. Please continue your prayers on behalf of the souls of these people. Jesus loves them too!
     This past week both began and ended with tears. It started  as we moved out of Aom's house and into the home of Rungnapah's brother, sister in law, and pregnant neice, Joy. Aom's mom, Khun Thee is the sweetest of ladies, and was such a mother to us while we lived in her home. The whole family helped us load the truck. Khun Thee began crying, and ran upstairs to cover her emotion. People in this culture do not usually express their emotions strongly, instead they try to "save face." 
    The hardest part of the week was leaving this village, and knowing that we would not be coming back. We said our final goodbyes on Sunday. Many of the kids came to the worship service, and afterwards we had lunch with everyone, and Aom's parents came. We were able to present Khun Thee, Khun Loun, Aom, and Nay with a family Bible which they were happy to recieve. We know that God has a plan for this family. They have recieved the gospel with interest... please keep them in your prayers. 
     What came next was something I never expected and cannot hope to explain. We began to say our goodbyes, and Khun Thee began crying again... soon, all of the kids present were crying, including the older ones in my class. Remember, it is not customary for them to show emotion like this! They all gave us hugs and gave us their cards that had been handmade. At that moment, I didn't want to leave. "They are still lost and headed to hell, and I am leaving" ... that was all I could think of. The seed I've recieved I have sown. I have been a part of sharing Christ's love with these people, through both actions and words, that is all I can hope to do. Pray for the harvest.

Prayer Requests:

• As always, pray for our team... for strength to endure. We will be moving to a new place soon, and it will be very different... pray that we are able to make an impact there
• Pray for our guy team: Luke and Jamie
• Pray for that little community outside of Wang Nua. We will never forget their faces; pray that they grow in curiosity and that God would draw them close to Him
• Pray for Rungnapah and her ministry in that community
• Pray for spiritual strongholds to be broken in that community, and the one we are headed to.
• Pray for the students we were able to reach out to.
• Pray for Aom and her family

N Thai Update

"Wherever I go, the King goes. Wherever the King goes, 
His Kingdom comes. 
Wherever His kingdom comes, the powers to be must submit!"

                Last Tuesday we moved into our second host home. The family here is really so sweet and they say that we are just like their own kids. They have two children Ulm, their 17 year old daughter, and Nai their son. Ulm has begun to call us her sisters which is so great! She is truly such a blessing to us. One of the first things that we did in this home was pray over it. It was definitely a moving experience. God taught me through this experience that He fills the heavens and the earth-He most certainly can fill these host homes. We have been praying desperately for this family's hearts to be opened. 
               God has truly been at work this week. We were invited to our first birthday party last week for a girl named Giv-she turned 13. She is actually one of our English students. Her family let us pray over her and then we all joined around to eat cake and mango. In Thailand the day simply is not complete without mango. It was truly an honor that we were invited to the party. 

           On the way back from visiting one of the local schools we noticed a ceremony (funeral) going on and Ulm took us up to it. The man that the ceremony was for was in his late 30s and passed away because of an auto accident. It really began to hit home with me that this was a man in my village, though I had never met him. He never came to know Jesus as far as we all know. This was a Buddhist ceremony that we were at. There was a monk inside the home reading sutras while people were burning incense. We did all that we could do by helping the family with food preparation. Every day is a day that we could be sharing the gospel. We do not know God's timing on anything or any life in this village. This has created a greater passion within me to be intentional each day with sharing God with this community, and we only have one week left in this specific village.

          God has truly been at work this week. Rung's dad said he has begun to take notice of  how we are living and how different we are from the village. This is progress and I loved hearing that maybe something is changing within him. We went to borrow a Thai Christian film on Thursday and put it in Kari's (the team leader) purse. That night some of the girls from the neighboring Catholic home joined with our host family to learn to make bracelets. This movie sparked the interest in Nai and he asked to watch the Jesus film. We showed that Saturday night and the gospel was shared with our host family the same night. I have to admit that I was a little sad that nothing miraculous came out of the family watching the movie, but God has His own timing through everything. We walked in Sunday to find Nai watching the Jesus film on his own. I really do believe that the hearts of Ulm and Nai are being opened.

          Friday we went to Ulm's high school for half of the day. We went to class and participated in a teacher english camp.  Absolutely every student wanted to say hello. This means kids shouting hello over balconies, out windows, down stairs, and in the hallways. We were even surrounded by a whole group of girls for the entire day. We had the amazing chance to be able to pass out tracts and simply speak to a bunch of students. I loved being able to go to their school. 

        We had 17 kids in english class this week! I had four girls in my group this week and I love simply being able to practice conversation with them. Ulm even came to english class with us and was in my class! I hope to go through salvation colors with them next week. 

I hope you all have a great week!

   Love in Christ,

      ~Morgan