Thanksgiving in Thailand...

I was able to celebrate this Thanksgiving in Thailand with three other cultures. It was a lot of fun to introduce the Scottish, the Filippino and the Thai teachers to our customary Thanksgiving dishes, like: turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. Imagine, this was some of their first Thanksgivings. My roommates and I had fun creating dishes from home with limited resource, mashing pototoes with jars, and coming up with creative substitutes for hard to come by ingredients. It was wonderful to share our traditions with the people we work with and just spend time fellowshipping together, and of course eating. : ) My favorite quote from Thanksgiving was one of the Thai teachers saying "I Miss Chilies." Apparently a meal without chilies is incomplete. Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving.
Da's first sip of Apple Cider...she didnt like it at all. : )Turkey on the other hand, was one of Da's favorite things. Mackhom is my Thai nephew : )

My heart overflows with gratitude

I am miss the Thanksgiving service at my home church this year, it is one of my favorite services, to just listen to each family praise the Lord for His faithfulness in their lives. So I want to share with all of you just some of the things I have to be thankful for this year...

- First and foremost, I am thankful for Jesus, and for His life and death and ressurection. I am thankful that out of the riches of God's mercy and grace, the Lord for the purpose of His will and His good pleasure, saw fit to open my eyes to Gospel. That in Love, He predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son. I am thankful that through Jesus death and ressurrection I can come before the throne of God in Confidence. That I, a sinner, can by God's grace, have a personal relationship with the King of Heaven. I am thankful that I have a Good Father, who gives good gifts to His children, and works all things together for the good of those who love Him. It is in Him that I am anything, and in Him that I have everything. I am thankful that He is living and active and at work within me! Thank You Lord for your work in my life, I cannot begin to tell of the blessings I have found in knowing you.

- Secondly, I am so thankful for each and every one of you. For you, reading this blog and showing interest in my life, thank you. THANK YOU for your prayers! Thank you for the encouragement you have sent me. Thank you for your financial support! You are enabling me to be here, and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. Thank YOU!

- God has blessed me with an incredible family. I am thankful that my parents raised me in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. I'm thankful for my sisters, their friendship and love. I'm thankful for the way that the Lord has blessed my family abundantly, with everything we need, and much, much more. Thankful for the good health He has given each of us. Really...my family, I am so thankful for them, their love and support and our close knit relationships. I am thankful for my family's example to me of what it means to love and serve the Lord. I cannot imagine a better family.

- I am thankful for my new little nephew, Lucas Weston Bailey : )

I am thankful for the friendships that the Lord has given me. God has blessed me with so many deep friendships, people who challenge me, encourage me, point me to Christ....and just share life and laughter with me.

- I am thankful for the new friendships that the Lord has blessed me with here in Thailand. God's grace has been abundant the house we live in. I am so thankful for the way that He has brought together each of my roommates. Truly it is amazing how well the 5 of us are able to share every part of our lives....His grace towards us, and in us, enabling us to show grace towards one another and love one another has been so great!

- I am thankful for Vinty, our household car, as old and tempermental as he can be, it is so good to have a car to share among us. There are so many other things here to be thankful for...even the simple things we take for granted...like a roof over our head, and a mattress to sleep on.

- I am thankful for the team of teachers that the Lord has brought to our school. I am thankful that the Lord is at work in the life of each person on this team. I am thankful for each of the Thai teachers, and am often amazed by their walk with the Lord.

- I am thankful the Lord's beautiful creation. The rice patties here and the ocean there...

- I am thankful that cool weather has finally come to Thailand! We all put on our sweaters for weather in the 70s and talk about how cold it is! : ) It's wonderful.

- I'm thankful for the school building we have ready for next year, it is a great building and a provision directly from the Lord's hands.

I cant begin to express all of the things I have to be thankful for or all of the blessings I have recieved from the Lord. The more I write...the less adequate I felt at highlighting all that the Lord is and all He has done. I feel increasingly aware of the things I take for granted. It is overwhelming the blessings I have recieved by His grace.

Thank you for being a part of what the Lord is doing here in me and through me.

Happy Thanksgiving To You!!

This weekend I was reminded of the brevity of life, and the need for the gospel.

One of our Thai teachers, who has become a close friend to us, uncle died. Our friend asked us to come and help out at the funeral. There wasn't a whole lot we could do, but observe, help stick stickers on pens that would be given to the guests, and bag up sticky rice. We tried to help the monk fold banana leaves that would be made into a boat that is be floated down the river. But apparently there is a correct way to fold them and our American hands arent as skilled as they need to be. The wake/funeral is a three day event that takes place at someone's house, this particular house was in the country, alongside a rice patty, with chickens wandering around. Friends and family come to remember the one who has passed away, which they do by eating and drinking together. No one was grieving or showed any signs of saddness, except for those who masked it by whisky and alcohol. From what I can gather from the limited Thai I know, and the rough translation done by those who know a little more Thai, each night a monk will come and pray. The friends and family stay all night long to eat and drink together. The final night of the funeral, the man who died, and all of his things will be burned up. There are many more parts to the ceremony, but I couldnt really understand them, and I am only beginning to understand the Buddist beliefs behind these ceremonies.

The point is, all but three of the people at that funeral believed that this man who died would be rewarded based on the good things he did. The vast majority of people here believe that. In Buddhism, the karma from a person's life comes back into the world in the life of another. The belief is that you are born in debt and you die in debt, but that you should strive to outweigh the bad things you do with good works. This is a belief that is held throughout the world, whether or not it includes reincarnation. The thing that makes Christianity unique, is that it isnt about the good things we do, but instead Resting in the Finished Work of CHRIST. That is our hope, that is our salvation.

Pray for the family that has lost a loved one that they may find the freedom of knowing Christ.

Prayer Focus

This week we are having a prayer focus at school. We are having prayer at school each morning from 4a.m. to 8 a.m. Pray for us during this time, 4-8pm your time. Pray for the Lord's presence, that He would make Himself known to us, that we might praise Him, glorify Him, see Him at work and join Him in it.

Thank you for your prayers....

What is a Wat?

Missionaries have been coming to Thailand for the past 200 years, and still only 1-5%(statistics vary) of the population are Christians. The country is steeped in Buddhism and superstition. Everyday, I see monks, some are just young boys, 12 years old at the most, walking down the street in their orange robes. As we drive to school we pass many Wats, spirit houses, shrines and idols. I can feel the lostness all around me, I can see idol worship all around me. There is a darkness here that is somewhat hard to describe, I feel it especially when I went to see some of the Wats, the temples for Buddha where the monks live, or when I see these young boys serving as monks to bring good Karma to their families. People spend so much money and effort working to gain positive Karma. They build beautiful idols and temples for gods who cannot hear, see or save them. Here are some pictures of these temples...may they penetrate your heart and burden you to pray for the people of Thailand.

Pray that the people of Thailand will come to know and worship the one True God, the one God who hears and saves. I hope that one day these temples will be abandoned and these images destroyed as people turn to Jesus and find salvation in Him.

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is a Buddhist festival in Thailand that takes place from Nov. 1-3. Taking place in the ritual is very simple. Buddhists build a small boat out of banana leaves, a flowers, candles and coins, which they float down river. The boat floating away is supposed to stand as a symbol for getting rid of bad luck, evil spirits, failures and past sins. Floating the boat is not only supposed to get rid of the bad things in ones life but also to bring good luck and favor from the river goddess. The whole city erupts for this festival. Each night there is a huge parade, that lasts over 2 hours. People are setting of fireworks everywhere. It is almost like New Year's Eve. People also set of lanterns which have the same symbolism as the boats. One of the Thai teachers, Kruu Oy brought us to the festival. Here are some pictures from the parade and the festival. The Parade.......

above: people are releasing their boats, to get rid of their sins and bad luck.

above: this is not a riot... this is a bridge where many people go to set off their fireworks...there is no crowd control no warning...people set off fireworks wherever they want to, right in the middle of a crowd....its mass chaos..

above: we set off our own lanterns...

or at least attempted too...

Going to the festival was a very heavy reminder of the lost souls in this country. 95% of the people here truly believe that floating their boats down the river or sending up a lantern will rid them of their sins. All these people live in fear of evil spirits and uncertainty of whether or not their sins will leave them with this boat they send out. What kind of hope is this?

Pray that they might know Christ, the true atonement for all sins, our Savior.

School Clean-up

Here are some pictures of cleaning up the school....to give you an idea of what we've been doing. the mice from inside my classroom^
lots of cobwebs^
lots of junk^
Be, Gay and Da

lots of dust

The finished product