This week in Thailand has been very good for us. We have been able to build more relationships with students which is exciting. We got to hang out with Art and Nick some. Nick is in the top picture with me and we joined the English club which is really exciting ;) I get my own membership card and everything!

I also found out that Art has been going to a Morman church which is discouraging. Alot of people here will say that they are Christian but it really means Morman. Art did say that the Morman worship felt different from our Worship and Scott let him know that it is different and that the book they use is different from our Bible. I also found out that English club meetings are meeting during church which is why some of them haven't been coming. Please pray that they would change the meeting time.

We got to hang out with Art on Friday night and also with AK who has also been to a Morman church. It was really good to spend time with just two Thai students because we get to build deeper relationships with them. We had a lot of fun and played some games and even learned some games from them. This week has really just been good for building trust between us and the Thai students.

Please also pray for Keaw. He has been very homesick and so we made him a little care package with some food and a card. He said that he has never received anything like that before and that he was very "impressed" with us. This was very encouraging because we want to tell him about Jesus but we also want to show him the love that comes from knowing Jesus. I really hope he sees that in us. Please pray for his salvation. He calls us his sisters and we call him Bubba...I think he really does like us which is good :).

On Sunday we went to Thai church with a man named "Man" he is Valerie's hair dresser and he is a Christian. The 4th picture from the top is me in the back of Man's car with his son Mark. During Sunday school I began to pray that God would just open my ears and I would be able to understand Thai (I have been praying that since I got here - how cool would that be?) Anyway, as I was praying a man came and sat next to me and said "do you understand Thai?" and I said "no." And he said "well I will translate for you then." The Lord is so faithful! Also during church all of the songs were in Thai and I prayed that God would let them sing just one that I knew so I could sing along in English and the very next song was "How great is our God" by Chris Tomlin and we were all able to sing along. Thai church was really amazing. I had a translator so I was able to understand and the people are really excited about praising God. At home we all stand in our pews and sing...some people put their arms up but not many. At Thai church, I was the strange one because I was standing there with my arms by my side. There was a lot of freedom in that service that I hope we can have in the U.S. I am uploading a video of Thai Church right now...it is during worship - they have girls dance at the front during the songs...they love to sing and dance over here...especially the Christians because they can express their love for the Lord in that.

A few more things to pray for are:

Corinne - she is sick and has been in bed for several days. Scott and I went to the hospital with her and they said she has a bacterial infection in her small intestines. Please pray that she would get well very soon. They have given her some medicine so hopefully that will help. Pray that she would get healthy and that she would also be really aware of the Lord's hand in all of this.

Also, we are getting a new roommate tomorrow named Kristal. She will be the 7th in the apartment which is good. Please pray that she would adjust well and that we would all welcome her and make her feel at home.

Please also pray for the Thai christians...that they would be encouraged and be bold in their faith. We have met several and their stories are really amazing. They have to go against their families beliefs and expectations in order to live a life for Jesus. They are such an encouragement to all of us as we live out our faith.

Thank you for all of your prayers - I know this is a long list! I have loved your comments and emails they have really encouraged me and reminded me of the truth of God's love. Thank you!

Rachel

Praise Him!

Thank you so much for praying with me and the girls this week...God was so incredibly faithful! All of us have been encouraged in different ways this week. We started classes at old campus and I go there on Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Thursday we had our first real classes there and then we got to hang out with our Thai friend Nick. We went to the canteen and had iced coffee and we got to chat with him about family and friends for about an hour. It was so peaceful and just really lifted me up.

Then on Friday night we had Friday night fun night with the students at our apartment which was wonderful! I made them grilled jelly sandwiches which were a hit. We also played games and did Karoake...not to mention I found out that my nephew had been born...Praise Him! Friday was really awesome because we connected with some new students that we otherwise wouldn't have known. The 3rd and 4th picture are from friday...the 4th is all the Thai girls singing karoake.

Sunday was the most amazing day yet here in Maha Sarakham. I told you that last week we only had one thai student and I was really discouraged by that but this week....whoa...Praise Him ;) we had 12 Thai people, one Korean, one Malaysian, and 6 Americans. A mixed group for sure. Scott and Valerie were not here this week for Worship and so it was up to us to put church together. Ruth told the story of Abraham and how God told him to leave his country and his father's home and go to the land he would give to him (Canaan). God also told him that he would have a son at the age of 75. I told you about my friend Keaw and I asked you all to pray for him...he came to church along with 3 of his friends. His response to the story was...well that is an interesting story but it is impossible. We were then able to share about Jesus and salvation and how everything is possible with God...he can even raise people from the dead...including himself! One student there named Khowee...had a lot of questions and took a Thai Bible with him. Please pray for him that he would read it and understand the truth. I played guitar on Sunday which always makes me a little nervous but I played really well...it was as if the Lord was doing it instead of me and all of the girls on the team contributed in different ways to the discussion of the gospel...the Spirit was really at work. When we were finishing Beth played the last song which was Jesus lover of my soul...a really beautiful song:

Jesus lover of my soul
Jesus I will never let you go
You've taken me from the miry clay
You've set my feet upon the rock and now I know

I love you, I need you
though my world may fall i'll never let you go
my savior, my closest friend
I will worship you until the very end.

This song is incredible and we decided to sing it first in English then in Thai and then in both at the same time. During the beginning an Elephant suddenly came to our front door...he was shaking his head and stomping his feet as if he were dancing and praising God right along with us. Creation knows God even if people do not. I tried to video tape it but it didn't work because I also wanted to sing and so I messed up the video. That moment was so amazing and the whole room was just filled with the Lord's spirit. This is the first elephant we have seen in Thailand...Mahasarakham is not known for elephants and so we haven't seen any nor did we expect to see any in this town. The Lord is so faithful and he just romances us and shows us his love at every turn. I wish I had the video to share but I do have one picture...it is the first one...look closely to see the elephant and all of the people who attended church worhsipping the Lord.

I hope this encourages all of you like it does me. I asked you to pray for church attendance and also for these people and the Lord has answered with amazing love. Thank you so much!!! Please keep praying for these people...especially Keaw, Khowee, and Vaew and Beer (yes beer) who also came to church. There were also 5 children that came with Valerie's hair dresser who is a Christian, one of them is his son but the others were just friends....they sang their little hearts out to the Lord but I doubt they even knew it. One other name that comes to mind is our friend Goon (which means shrimp)...he owns the internet cafe that we often go to on the weekends and he shows us so much love. He has a really cute dog that he lets me play with since I don't have mine here with me...her name means "forgettable." Pray that we would find a way to share the gospel with him...he speaks English pretty well but it is hard to bring up the gospel with him randomly.

Thank you for your prayers...the Lord has really been answering ;)

Rachel

Please pray ;)

Hey again,

The last week here has been kind of difficult for me spiritually and I have decided to share it with you all because I could really use some prayer over these issues. I love being here and I love all the girls on my team but I have been discouraged about where I fit in and how God is going to use me here. When I came here I felt like I had certain gifts that God would be able to use and it seems that in almost every situation those gifts have been of no use to me so I am in very unfamiliar territory. Also, all of the girls that I live with are amazing girls and they are so talented and are really great at getting to know people and make friendships. I have been a little frustrated at times with God because I want him to use me here to my fullest potential and I feel that I have not been up to par.

This morning, though, I realized that I just need to quit complaining (I am a huge whiner and I know it) and I need to be willing to do the tasks that God has set before me whether I think I am good enough to complete them or not. It isn't me that is strong and able to do them anyway it is the Lord and if he wants to use me he will and all I have to do is try. He is definitely faithful to me. I guess I just need some prayer about confidence and about the gifts God has given me.

Also last night as we were praying as a team God reminded me of all the ways that he has been romancing me since I have been here and just trying to show me that he loves me...and I of course have just been complaining to him about using me here. I have said this before but the nick name given to me is Kai mook and God just reminded me again last night that that name was a precious gift from him directly to me. There is no way that my Thai friends could have known how special that name would be and there is no coincidence big enough to explain it away. That name really was a present to me from God to remind me that he loves me. I also began to think about the special people I have begun to make friendships with such as Mate who spent the summer in Wyoming and Keaw (his name means green which is my favorite color). Both of these people seem drawn to me and enjoy talking to me and it is completely the Lord's doing and not mine. The connections with them are also from the Lord - as silly as it sounds to say that the Lord would bring someone with the name green to me because it is my favorite color I believe that it is true. The Lord is faithful and he wants me to know that he loves me and he has plans for me. His romance is amazing. The Lord has really been opening my eyes since I have been here and actually been helping me understand him. Several times I have had small glimpses of a scene in my head as I have been praying and I have asked the Lord for discernment and received it. The Lord is working no matter how much I complain about how he is going to use me. If you could just pray with me that I would stop thinking about myself and start thinking about these people and serving them to the best of my ability however weak that may be I would appreciate it. Please keep Mate, Keaw, Ninja, Aoy, Art, Jan, Pat, Nong, Noof, AK, Nick, and countless others in your prayers that would be amazing. If you are all praying for them along with us I know the Lord will not deny us. Please pray that our ministry here would be enhanced and that we would be able to be more confident in making friendships and in inviting people to hang out with us.

One praise is that our Friday night fun night went really well. We had 13 students over to our apartment on Friday to practice English and mostly just to hang out. One student, AK (pronounced A. K.) came in and immediately sat down with me and asked me what Worship meant. I of course was overwhelmed but was able to tell him what it is and then Corinne sat down with us and she was able to share the gospel with him. I really think that he is searching and while he was unable to come to church on Sunday I am hoping he will come this Sunday. Please pray that he would. I also got to have some good relationship building conversation that night with a guy named BigM and a girl named Pat. BigM didn't tell me what he believes but I do know that Pat is of the Bahai faith. Please pray for our friendships with them.

On Sunday I lead the Bible story which was from Genesis 2 and 3 about the fall of man. I feel like the Lord really used it to build us up as a body but only one Thai person came to that and her name is Pum. She is not a Christian so I hope that even though I didn't see any change in her on Sunday we will be able to share with her throughout the summer. Sunday was discouraging for me but I am praying that more Thai people will come next week!! I really hope that they do. They need the word so badly.

We also went to teach the little kids yesterday which was really fun. We taught them about the parts of the body and were able to sing head shoulders knees and toes with them as well as Father Abraham and the Hokey pokey. It was good fun. They are really cute.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your willingness to pray for me. It is really amazing the amount of people who have said that they will pray. I just want to cry and praise the Lord for it. love you all ;)

Rachel

Quick update

So I just got to add pictures!! yay! the first one is of our classes...I just wanted to show you what we are doing all day. The next few are of the kids that we get to teach at the village school. We are going to go every Monday! The kids are so cute and there is one little girl who followed me around while I was there...In the picture with me and the kids she is the one closest to me. Also the last picture is of the Thai students at our apartment the night it rained so hard. They are our "core group" I guess you would say that we have been getting to hang out with. I love them already! that is all for now! ;)

Rachel

First week of class

Classes have finally started and are going well. It is very strange to be the teacher especially when the students can hardly understand me. Our first class had only two students but it was very good practice for them. Our second class had only one student and Beth and I taught her personally and I felt that she really learned alot (her name is Mai). Our third class which was on Tuesday had about 13 and that class went incredibly well and really got us excited about what we are doing here. Today however was a rollercoaster of classes. Our first class was a lot of freshman and they were very VERY shy. We try to have a lot of interactive activities that will get them to speak and be able to practice but they just didn't want to be involved. I was the one introducing the class and I led the first excercise and I was literally like please nod your head if you understand....no response....raise your hand if you understand...no response just blank stares...ridiculous. They finally did loosen up a little bit but the section I led was excruciating. Then our 2 other classes had 20 to 30 students and they were very active and willing to participate. I even met a girl named Mate that spent a summer in Wyoming which I of course love and we got a chance to talk and get to know each other because of that connection.

God has been really good about bringing about connections that you would never expect. Beth was buying bananas the other day from a street vendor and was having trouble communicating and then BAM the girl started speaking german (she learned German in school) and Beth is a german minor and it was just like the haze lifted and they could understand one another. Beth's dad's response was that only God can bring a girl who is a german minor to Thailand to witness to a Thai woman in German..only God would care that much. Which is so powerful and awesome.

Last Sunday I was in charge of worship which always makes me a little nervous because I am not all that great at playing guitar. On top of that though, I lost my voice recently due to sinus problems and so I couldn't sing and had to rely on Beth who sings beautifully to be my voice and carry the tune. It was really hard to play along without singing, especially when the group started singing in Thai and needless to say I messed up alot. It was ok though I really wasn't embarassed or anything I was more just frustrated that I couldn't play these easy songs that I play perfectly all the time in front of the group. But then, that night about 7 or 8 of our Thai friends came over to our apartment. They told us they would be at worship with us but they never showed up so what did God do...he made rain ;). It started raining really hard and they weren't able to leave for a couple of hours because all they have are motorscooters. During that time we were able to play Christian music with them and also sing in Thai (p.s. at that time I did play perfectly...even through the Thai songs...God is so faithful). We also got to play some games with them and just really bond and grow some closer relationships. We had worship even though they had decided to miss our worship service earlier that day.

Tonight we went with those same friends to a Thai beauty pageant where all the guys and girls that were in the program wore traditional Thai clothing and there were traditional dances. It was really really cool and we really enjoyed some more time to get closer to these students. My prayer is that they would really open up to us while we are here and expose the parts of themselves that are vulnerable and hurting and broken. While people seem ok, almost everyone is hurting in some way and I know that is true of these people who don't even know the one that created them. I hope that we will be able to encourage them in their brokenness and be able to point them to the Lord and show them how he can heal us all. I also want to ask you all to pray for me because on Sunday I am leading the English bible study. I am going to tell the story of the fall of Adam and Eve and lead some discussion and I just want to do a good job and have good questions that will really make people think. I also don't want to be nervous...which I will say, I am not yet. I hoped I would be able to share some more pictures but I can't yet...hopefully I will be able to in the next couple of days. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words. ;)

Rachel

Thailand...wow

Hey guys,

I have been here almost a week which seems strange...I feel like I have been here forever already. We have been getting to meet alot of Thai students which has been really great. I actually went and saw Prince Caspian (the 2nd Narnia movie) in Thai..no subtitles or anything with several of our friends. It was pretty great. I could understand a few lines but mostly I just remembered what they were saying because I had already seen it in English. It was still good though ;)

After the movie the thai students helped us get a tuk tuk which is a motor scooter type thing with a cart thing attached to the back that has seats (great description I know ;) and then they drove in front in their motorscooter to show the driver where we lived. They are the sweetest people I have ever met...they really want to take care of us and make sure we get what we need. It is definitely the Lord using them to make sure we don't end up in Cambodia or something.

We took our first song tow by ourselves the other day which is a truck that has seats in the bed but they are raised and it is more like a bus..it has railing and a roof and everything so it is safer than I make it sound (that is for my mom and dad ;). We got where we needed to go and back home which was amazing and really encouraing. It was pretty funny though because the driver stopped in front of our apartment without us even saying anything to him...I guess everyone on our street knows we are here and where we live...they call us farangs which means foriegners and they only use it for white people. The people are really kind and they just smile all the time. Thailand actually means "land of smiles" so i guess it makes sense.

Some of our best buds so far are Art, ninja, Aoy, nick, noop, pat, mimee, dream, and mint. They all help us get around and help us order food although we are getting better at that now that we have started knowing the names of our favorite dishes. They love practicing English and we have actually had some pretty good conversations with them already. Beth and I spoke to ninja over dinner one night and talked alot about what his beliefs are. It seems that even though these people claim to be buddhist they are actually animists. which means they believe in spirits and they like to give sacrifices to the spirits in these little spirit houses that are everywhere. Ninja actually prays to Buddha but if you learn about buddhism you learn that they don't really believe in a god and that Buddha never claimed to be a god. I think the Thais pretty much just believe whatever fits them best and they call themselves buddhists. It is interesting and hopefully we will get to have more conversations like that one we had with Ninja.

That is about it for now, Our classes start on monday which is a little scary because a lot of students have already signed up to come. I hope we can do a good job and make it fun. Sanook (fun) is very important to the thai people even in class. Please just pray that we would prepare good lessons that help us get to know the students and that we would be bold in making friendships and not shy away from talking to them just because we don't speak much thai. Also just that we would be spiritually rejuvenated because being in a place with no christians is definetely draining.

I really appreciate all of your prayers and I have loved reading your comments to me...they have been so special. Thank you so much. You are all amazing!

I will post again soon hopefully ;)

~Rachel aka Kai-mook