The Great Taste of Saltwater

I have been so busy the past week that I haven't been able to make it to an Internet cafe for more than a few minutes until now...my apologies!

I'm on the island of Ko Samet right now and it is absolutely beautiful. We got here today after an 8 hour bus ride from Kantharalak followed by a 3 hour van ride and finally a 15 minute boat ride to the island. When we got off the boat, we had to wade up to the shore and as I stepped off I fell in, drenching myself and the bag that I'll be living from for the next few days. Haha, go figure. :) Everyone has been saying to me all day, "Remember that time in Thailand when you fell in the ocean?" Yup. That's me. :)

Anyways, it was pretty cloudy all day, but beautiful nonetheless, and we had tons of fun jumping into the crashing waves (and consequently swallowing a lot of saltwater). We are going snorkeling tomorrow, and it's nice to have a few days of relaxation after all the work we've done the past two weeks during our ministry. I miss it already, though.

We only spent 6 days in Kantharalak, and when we left it felt like we just got there. On the day we arrived, we returned to the waterfall that we all jumped off of last year. But we didn't jump this time around, because apparently 10 people have died in the last year from jumping off it. :/ Instead we swam under the waterfall and then walked a little way downstream where there were some rapids. A few of us decided to dive in and let the swirling current carry us over and around the sharp, slippery rocks...it was like white water rafting, minus the raft...but it was such a rush!

During our stay, we were able to teach at 4 different schools throughout the week (a primary school, a Khmer school, a high school, and a Catholic school where there were Thai nuns as teachers!) We spent one day painting the walls of the church and we also visited a fish farm and prayed with the family, as well as 2 cell groups/house churches. These few weeks have given me a chance to meet so many people and encounter so many of the things that people struggle with in Thailand. Since we weren't just at schools this year, I had the opportunity to witness the needs of the people here, not just the children, but the sick and the elderly, too. I listened to a schoolteacher tell me about a homeless woman who lives at the school and eats scraps from the children's lunch and sits in on classes to learn. I paid more attention to the strands of lights hung from storefronts after hours where prostitution takes place even in small villages like Kantharalak every night.

But I also saw hope. While we have been in Thailand, we have prayed over people and seen God heal them! We have seen not just children, but adults young and old, raise their hands after a salvation call. We have had the chance to help lay a foundation for a ministry in Chaiyaphum that will touch so many lives. Our friend Ram's vision for her YWAM base includes a children's home, a church, rice fields to provide jobs and food, and job training for women so that they can be spared from a life of prostitution.

I am once again amazed at the work God is doing in Thailand and in the lives of Thai people and I'm so grateful to have had the chance to be part of it once more. Again I am sad to leave the friends that I made and I truly do hope to return next year. Thailand is becoming like a second home to me, and I can't believe I'll be leaving here in just a couple of days...but soon I will be on my way home, where I hope I can bring back some of God's fire and spirit that is moving through Thailand and spread it around. :)

Let it Rain!

Sawatdee kha from an Internet cafe in Chaiyaphum! Or as we like to call it, Chaiy-a-BOOM!


Everyday I'm falling more in love with being here...eating dinner on a rice mat under the stars and sleeping beneath a mosquito net in a treehouse-like loft...I keep finding myself wishing that life in America could be as simple and laidback as it is here. I feel so at peace here; my soul can rest.

On Monday after leaving the Internet cafe, we found a huge crowd of children waiting for us back at the YWAM base, wanting us to play with them. We walked out onto this large field of dirt and they flocked to us, crowding in for a chance to hug us and hold our hands. A few of the girls stuck by me the entire time while we walked around or skipped or played games or sang songs. One of the girls kept having me bend down so she could kiss me on the cheek and she kept spelling "I L-O-V-E Y-O-U". The kids kept wanting us to sing, and we were running out of kids' songs, so another girl named Candice and I started singing praise songs while we walked around with them. One of the songs we sang was "Let it Rain."

Just moments later it was like the floodgates of heaven literally opened up and it downpoured. Most of the children cleared out pretty fast because of the rain, but we hot, sweaty Americans welcomed the drizzle. We started dancing around, singing at the top of our lungs, and then we started praying in the Spirit for those dear children, all while raindrops fell around us. We were drenched in the rain and in the Spirit, and it was amazing! Just another sign that God is already moving here in Thailand...and I can feel it!

It's been raining off and on ever since then, and we're surrounded by lots and lots of mud and puddles, but it hasn't stopped us from working on the building. In two days we've gotten the cement floor put down and the walls halfway up. Not bad for a dozen Americans who have never done this before! (Okay, okay...so the Thai people helped a little...) And just to clarify, the building that we're helping to put up will be the YWAM Chaiyaphum base. It will be used for offices, teaching English, and church services. Ram's vision for the YWAM ministry includes an orphanage, but there isn't one as of yet. I was under the impression that we would be working at an orphanage this week, and that's what I told some of you at home, but I was mistaken. But we are getting to play with lots of Thai kids and hopefully be a light to shine in the darkness.

I want to leave you all with a verse I stumbled upon while the Pastor was preaching on Sunday (it was in Thai, and I know we were in Colossians, but I wasn't sure where...)

"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God..." -Colossians 2:2

Greetings from Thailand!

Sawatdee kha!

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to blog since I've been in Thailand...we've been crazy busy! We arrived in Bangkok late Wednesday night and spend our first couple of days much like we did last year: orientation, a scavenger hunt, and a temple tour. Unfortunately we only had time to make it to two temples this time around. Plus at the Grand Palace those of us wearing gauchos weren't even allowed in! Still, it was beautiful. I love Bangkok: the architecture, the people, the busy-ness, even the smells...haha. But I was definitely ready to get on a bus Friday night and head to Chaiyaphum.

This village is so refreshing...it is so good to see Ram, Nan, Kunta and all of my friends again! The food is amazing (I even ate a fish eyeball and bee larvae), the markets are colorful, and the people are so loving and welcoming. They smile and clap at even our most pathetic attempts at Thai (mine's getting a little better though...)

On Saturday we went to a national park near Chaiyaphum where a rare flower grows, and it only grows here. It was sooo beautiful! Plus there were gorgeous views of the mountains and valleys of the north. On Sunday we went to a service at a local church, which is always exhilarating. The Spirit is always alive and moving in Thai worship, even if we can't understand a word of it. People were clapping and dancing even if the only instrument being played was the bongos. We shared a bit with the Thai people, introducing ourselves and performing a drama, and then we took communion with them. We also had a time of prayer for the Thai people in the church who were ill or hurting. After praying in the spirit for several minutes, we discovered that one woman whose shoulder had ached was no longer hurting, and another woman who had lost her hearing could hear again!! Khap khun Phra Jiaow (thank God!) Praise God! Miracles really can happen today, not just in Bible times, and I can't wait to see what other miracles and signs and wonders God has in store for the Thai people!

Today we taught English for the first time, and sadly, the only time this week. We'll teach again once we get to Kantharalak, but for the rest of this week we'll be working on a new building for YWAM Chaiyaphum that will be used for church services and teaching English. I'm so glad we are able to serve while we are here.

I typed this all really fast because we're at an Internet cafe and have to share computers so I apologize for any typos. But I thank you all for your continued prayers, and I will update you again as soon as I can.

Less than a week to go!!!

Wow, I haven't posted in a very long time! But since the number of days until I leave for Thailand is now a number that I can actually count to in Thai (six = hok) I figure it's time to give an update on my preparations for this trip. Because before you know it, I'll (hopefully) be blogging up a storm from various locations in Thailand (depending, of course, upon my access to the Internet).

The fundraising for this trip has gone extremely well--there have been numerous occasions where I was certain that God's hand was on the finances, because I received several anonymous donations which usually gave me just the amount that I needed to meet an upcoming deadline. I have had other opportunities to raise money as well, including the 30-hour famine, which opened my eyes to the poverty and hunger that exists in that part of the world. I was also able to speak at 2 churches and share about last year's trip with them, so I kind of got an idea for what it's like to be an itinerating missionary. Finally, some of the youth group helped me put together a car wash to raise money to shop for the things I need for the trip. I am so thankful to everyone who has supported me in any way--through anonymous donations, sponsorship, and giving of their time and effort to help me get to Thailand. May God bless all of you!!

The money is raised and I'm ready to go! We leave on July 14th again, and we fly from Detroit to Chicago to Tokyo, Japan (can't wait for that!) and we'll finally get into Bangkok around 11 p.m. on July 15th. After spending our first few days in the capital city for orientation, we plan to head north to Chiyaphum to spend a week at an orphanage there with our friend, Ram, and her husband. Then we travel back to the village we stayed in last year, Kantharalak, to spend a week teaching English and passing out Bibles. We have 2 ministry locations this year, and this trip is 3 weeks long, so we're going to need lots of prayer.

I want to leave you all with some specific things to pray for, since I want the whole team and the whole trip to be covered in prayer.

*Pray for boldness in witnessing for our team members

*Pray for God to do supernatural things through us

*Pray for the Thais' hearts to be open to the Gospel

*Pray for the health of our team members

*Pray for the safety of our team, especially in traveling

*Pray for unity on the team

*Pray for the 12 team members, that this trip would bring each of us closer in our relationship with God

*Pray that God's will be done in Thailand

Once again, I thank everyone who has supported me while I have prepared for this trip, whether financially or through prayer or volunteering to help at a car wash. You have all blessed my heart and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to return to a country and a people that I love so much.

First Team Meeting!

Yesterday I drove down to Grand Ledge for the first meeting of this year's Thailand team! It was awesome to meet the others that I will be sharing an amazing three weeks with this summer. There are sixteen people going, five leaders and eleven students, and seven of us that are going are returning from last year. We've got an awesome team, as proven by our ability to assemble a "human machine" -- in our case, a tank going through a car wash.


We spent the day bonding as a team, talking about Thailand, and praying for the nation. We also discussed a few fundraising opportunities, one of which is right around the corner.

On March 28-29, our team is going to have a "30-hour famine". We'll get together at the church in Grand Ledge and fast for 30 hours. We'll probably spend that time in prayer for our trip and for Thailand and doing other team bonding stuff. I'll be taking pledges from sponsors per hour that I go without food during the fast, and it can be any amount, because it adds up. A quarter per hour adds up to $7.50, and every little bit helps!

If anyone is able to help in any way with finances for this trip and feels that God is calling them to do so, please let me know, and I can tell you about all of our fundraising opportunities. Above all, the best way to support this trip is through your prayers. Please pray for our team--for boldness, for faith, for health, for unity, for our finances--and pray for the nation of Thailand as well, that God will start changing lives now and breaking the holds of Buddhism, poverty, malnutrition, disease, and the sex industry. Once again we will be traveling to some of the most unreached areas of Thailand, spending a week at an orphanage in Chaiyaphum and a week in Kantharalak, where we did our ministry last year. God is going to do incredible things this summer, and I am so excited, especially after meeting everybody!

Where God guides, he provides

It's been six months and seven days since I returned from Thailand, and not a day goes by where I don't think about those two weeks. Everywhere I go, something reminds me of the people I met and the experiences I had and how much I didn't want to come home at the end of those two weeks. While we were in Thailand, the trip leaders mentioned a return trip in summer 2009, and we all said we were going to come back.

I kept telling myself that for a while after we were back in the States, but I was hesitant to tell other people. When I would talk about my experiences and tell stories, people would nod enthusiastically and get excited for me. Then if I mentioned the possibility of going back to Thailand, they just looked at me like I was crazy. I began to wonder if I was being unrealistic or even selfish. It was such a blessing to go to Thailand last summer - who am I to ask for such a blessing two years in a row? And was it really God's will, or just mine?

And so I began to have my doubts, even when the application for this year's trip came in the mail. I still got right to work filling it out and I started finding out the details about the upcoming trip, and I was excited. But still, in the back of my mind was a voice telling me that I was being unreasonable for wanting to go back.

Then came Monday, January 12. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did - from the car battery dying and the jumper cables not working to the heater breaking down for the third time this winter. The icing on the cake was the news from the heating company that a new boiler would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of three grand.

I don't know of anyone who just has three grand lying around, so I started racking my brain trying to figure out how our family could come up with that money, and all I could think of were things we would have to give up...and Thailand immediately came to my mind. How could I justify spending two thousand on a trip when our family didn't have heat? That would be selfish.

Before I went to sleep that night, I tossed and turned for a while, unable to rest. So I cried out to God, and I prayed, of course, for our family to get heat back, but I also prayed about Thailand. I realized that either this was a sign from him that the trip was a definite "no" but another possibility also entered my mind...maybe Satan was trying to attack me and my family by sabotaging our heat and financial situation because of Thailand and the incredible things he knows will happen there. I finally fell asleep, discontented but hopeful still, just praying that God would give me a definite sign--and even if the answer was no, I decided that I would be obedient.

Shortly after I got home from school the very next day, my youth pastor stopped by to visit. She wanted to tell me that after our family's heat problems had been put on the church prayer chain, and when one couple heard about how much the boiler was going to cost, they immediately thought of my Thailand trip (and how they knew I was planning to go back, I'm still not sure, since I hadn't told anyone it was a definite). Anyway, this couple asked my youth pastor if they could pay for the deposit that I needed to send in with my application. She told them the amount that I needed, but just in case, they decided to send double that amount. My youth pastor had also talked to her father, my former pastor, who now pastors a church in Grand Rapids and he wants me to come speak at their church about Thailand and then take up a special offering for this year's trip.

As if that wasn't enough of a sign, within the week, a friend of the family was able to hook up new heaters for us that were a lot cheaper and are a lot more energy efficient. I am just amazed at how God can answer prayer and turn things around and work things out when we trust him and give ourselves to his will. It's rare that the answer to prayer comes the very next day, but in this case, it did. And I am trusting that where God guides, He provides. Since he is guiding me back to Thailand through the way he orchestrated my deposit, I trust that he will provide a way for me to go. And I can't wait to see what happens this summer!

More Memories

Since I just discovered how to add video to a blog, here are clips of moments we captured while in Thailand that I feel are worth sharing.


Performing the step routine at our assembly program at a school in Kantharalak.


Students at Ram 2 University singing the worship song "All in All" in Thai.


A view of the streets of Bangkok from the back of a tuk tuk, which was definitely the best way to get around!



Our interpreter, Taan, reciting the official name of Bangkok: at 65 syllables or so, it's the longest city name in the world!