The teams are arriving home Friday, August 1 and God has used the teams in great ways. It was great reading the updates and watching God at work in their lives and in the lives of those they ministered too.
If you are picking up your son/daughter by car, you can pick them up on August 2, at the hotel between 8AM and 11AM or at the airport between 8AM and 12PM. Below is the address to the hotel that debrief is conducted.
Debrief is the night before and parents are welcome to attend, but do realize that this is the last time they will be with their team and good-byes are hard for them. We have seen parents come and yes, your child is excited to see you, but they want to be with their team that they bonded with and will not see again. So don't go into it expecting too much.
Thanks for entrusting your child with our organization. We count it a privilege to have worked with you and your child.
Posted in A Trip Update by Adam Marshall on 7/29/2008
We're back from the beach, where we were tremendously blessed by our Father in Heaven. It's incredible to see His favor surround us. Thailand is (apparently) known for its beaches, but to be quite honest with you I didn't think it was anything extra-ordinary. Eric got stung by a jelly-fish, I got harpooned by a blow fish, the weather was overcast and rainy, and our hotel was renovating. Most people would have been disappointed, yet we all left feeling extremely blessed. Why? Because the sweet Spirit of the Lord met us there. It's so interesting... whether we are in the poor rice field village of Bon Choi, or the serine beaches of Thailand, God's Holy Spirit is the same. Now, don't get me wrong, the beach was truly breath-taking, the air-conditioned rooms and beds with sheets, western toilets, and the coolest swimming pool that I had ever seen were surely blessings. But what made our two days debriefing and relaxing at the beach special was our Lord Jesus. He met us all there, both corporately and individually. He is preparing us to return home.
Tonight we are back in Bangkok. As I am writing this, the team is either drinking Starbucks (yes they're everywhere!) and/or bowling. The next two days in Thailand will be certainly bitter-sweet. We are all becoming ready to return home, yet we wish to stay. Please pray for us and your beloved. We all know the difficulties of changing life seasons. Please have mercy on us when we come home and you wish to know EVERYTHING (I'm talking to my mom...) about our trip. There are so many things that we experienced both personally and as a team that will be truly impossible to explain, and will possibly takes months to debrief and digest. We will all return changed, for the better. Most have heard the voice of the Lord for new direction. Some will be changing things in their life. But please know that God is so good. He loves us all very much.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. It has truly been an amazing time with our Lord Jesus here in Thailand. It will be impossible to forget what happened here. But please have patients. You will see your beloved very, very soon.
Our last few week in Bon Choy. I don't know what to say so I'll show you in some pictures.
Last weekend was a big holiday here. Basically it involved something to do with the monks staying in the temples for three months, so the villages bring them food and gifts? Or something like that. All I know is to our team it meant odd thai pop music being blared throughout the village all night long.
That weekend we went to a traditional parade celebrating the monks.
We also went and visited some Hindu ruins for our solitude day. Nate, Sarah and I had some fun.
Our goodbyes started at the beginning of this week. For Eric and I, Sadao had a farewell party for us Wednesday afternoon, and then we were honored on Thursday with gifts and a ceremony in the morning. Wednesday and Thursday during the day we taught all our classes for the last time and said our goodbyes to our students.
Thursday evening and Friday night were spent saying goodbye to all our friends and family in the village. Thursday night we had a joint farewell/ Hunter's birthday party complete with cake!
We left early Friday morning to come back to Bangkok where we're staying in a beautiful hotel complete with electricity and yummy almost american food.
Posted in A Trip Update by Hunter Beezley on 7/19/2008
So...it's getting closer and closer to the day that we leave Buri Ram, and then shortly after that, leave Thiland alltogether. God has me in a weird place about that. I'm excited to see what He has in store for me when I go back home, but I cant stand the thought of leaving. The Lord has blessed me and Nikki's relationship with the teachers at Bon Samed schoo (it's actually spelled like that "schoo") I can see fruit that God is allowing to be produced in their lives and it makes me excited for two main reasons: 1. Because it proves that God IS planting seeds through us and 2. I'm so pumped when Angel will come back here in janurary and will be able to continue what we are starting. So, basically, saying goodbye will be difficult here and I'm not looking forward to it.
Today, we spent our morning in solitude. So, that means we got to go off on our own for a while and just spend time with the LORD and abide. For me, it was awesome. God let me just rest with Him and we all have needed rest; and also, I was able to see how God is building me up for so much bigger things and He's doing it through this trip in a bunch of different ways. He basically told me today that He is going to have me do something very difficult in the future. So, of course, I was freaking out and asking "when?! and "what is it?!" and "where?!". But God just basically said that I dont need to worry about it now and that I just need to focus on where He is leading me now. Which brings me to another thing God is teaching me and speaking to me about. Throughout this trip one of the biggest things God has revealed to me is where He is leading and what He is building me up to do. This is to go to the hard places-the hardest places that no one wants to go to but the places that God desires us to go. I could say so much more about that and explain it in much better detail but that would make one huge post so I wont. So, I'll save that for when I get home.
Basically, all that was to say that the LORD is doing some coool stuff here in Thailand and He's speaking a lot! so keep all that in prayer, we need it.
In other news...Today we had planned to watch Lord Of The Rings as a special treat and most of us were really excited. We even planned to eat popcorn!!!!!!
However, we put the VCD in and found out that it was only in Thai, not english.
So, no movie, no popcorn, no awesome movie night.
But I think we'll live....
Oh, yeah. I cant forget, our awesome celebration of the 4th of July! We got to scare the whole villia ge with some amazing fireworks or as the locals call it Flower-Fire (but actually in Thai. not english).
So, I have for you a special treat of our first of four explosions. Here you go...............
PS: my Birthday is next thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE EXCITED*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thailand has been rough at times. It is unbearably hot here... and getting hotter. We have no air conditioning, limited fans, and lots of sweaty americans. All we ever eat is rice. I'm not sure I will ever again choose to eat rice. There are creatures literally everywhere. Mosquitos in our rooms, scorpians in our beds, land crabs under the couch, and water buffalos in the front yard. We've been sleeping on the floor for about 2 months now, and my back is wanting a real bed.
Thailand has certainly been rough. We've worked hard, sweated, cried out for these people and seen little results. The culture and the intense devotion to religion has made it hard to bring Christ into this region. Thailand defines the term "unchurched." We have met few people who know the name Jesus, the term christian, or even understand the basis of our religion. When we are engaged in ministry, we literally have to start from the beginning, explaining a God who is personal, who you can actually pray to, who isn't made or gold and found in some temple. Our work here has resulted in fruit, but it's small. We won't return home with stories of conversions or miracles, because our job here has simply been to create a foundation. Create a foundation for the work that Praung is doing here, create a foundation for a church to rise, create a foundation simply for questions.
But despite all the strugles, Thailand has stolen my heart.
Every night on the floor, every bug, every frusteration has been worth it. It has been hard, but the harder it has gotten, the more I value the results we've seen. The questions from the teachers, the simple act of picking up a bible, the request for prayer, each little result represents hours of prayers, weeks of struggle. And it is beautiful. It is beautiful to see God work in ways that are small in comparison to our expectations, small in comparison to our american worldview, but complete miracles nonetheless.
Our VBS programs have been built around simply teaching the children that there is a God who loves them and believes that they are special. Like I said before, it is a challenge to even teach of a God, a god who loves and is alive. Their understanding of our idea of religion is so small that we can't even use bible verses because they don't understand a God that speaks through a book. So our job here is simply to teach love. To show the children love, teach them that God loves, and hope that they can make the connection between our feeble attempts at loving them, and a God who loves unconditionally. We aren't trying for conversions...if one child walks away simply with an understanding that they are loved, our mission is complete here.
The same can be said for the schools. We're simply teaching english, usually with no translator. We aren't sharing the gospel. we are just attempting to show each child that they are valued, that we value their futures, and that we think they are capable to succeed. In an area where girls are heading to the bars each day, just this simple lesson is essential.
What I'm trying to say, as scattered as it may be, is that my heart is broken for this country.
Like I said, Thailand has been hard, harder than I ever could have imagined, but the blessings God had poured upon our team and upon the thai people here are even more incredible that I could have even imagined too. Our time here has been well spent. God is working and continues to work here in Thailand.
Our team is doing wonderfully-as of today everyone has returned to complete health. Our team has truely become a family, depending on each other, learning, laughing, and sleeping side by side. I am already dreading leaving them.
As of today our team has less than a week left of ministry. We leave Friday morning for debrief. As we enter our last week of teaching, VBS, and in general ministry, we ask for prayer that we will remain healthy, energized, and passionate about our community here. We're all sad about leaving, but excited to spend a week debriefing as a team and pouring into each other before we leave for home.
"Tonight, I met a woman more noble than I could ever hope to be.
She only has one leg because she lost the other in some kind of accident three years ago. I don't know the extent of the accident or what happened exactly, only that it was enough of a traumatization to take her leg and leave her with huge scars all over the rest of her body.
She lives in the most make-shift of shelters that I have ever seen with eight children- some, her own grandchildren; some, no relation to her at all- because their parents either can't or simply won't take care of them themselves.
Most of their mothers work in the bars in Bangkok. Most of their fathers are nowhere to be found.
They have very little rice for every meal and only a few of the children get to go to school because that is all she can afford.
This woman makes some of the most beautiful silk I have ever seen.
Prang and I bought some from her tonight. Most likely the entire sum of what we gave to her for it will go towards food for the family alone because of the number of mouths to feed and the dire need of their circumstance.
Tonight, I met a woman more noble than I could ever hope to be and it was my humble honour to be in her presence.
Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen."
I am starting to understand more of what I am doing here.
I am starting to understand better my role in this world.
I am starting to understand that I understand everything and nothing at the same time.
That woman was in need. No one would even begin to argue with that.
But the thing that she was lacking is not the thing that most people would assume by simply glancing at her situation or choosing to make a charity case of it.
More than being in need of the money that we gave her, this woman was in need of the dignity that is found in finally being noticed.
The confidence that comes with someone saying to her that what she is doing is not in vain and that it is indeed lovely.
And that she is indeed lovely- her heart as well as her hands and what they create.
And it is this kind of life that is changed in such a way the speaks the loudest of restoration. Especially to those closest to her, in this case, her children.
Maybe her daughters would come home, seeing that there is value in hard work and that there is hard work to be done here and that it is rewarding.
Maybe they would get themselves out of the hell that is the bars in Bangkok.
Maybe they would learn to value and love themselves and, in turn, learn to value and love their children.
Maybe, over time, because of people like this woman and Prang and her sisters and their dedication and compassion and love, this village could be changed.
Maybe this country could be changed.
Maybe this slavery could be stopped.
Maybe these captives could be freed.
Two questions had been posed to me not so long ago by whatever source you wish to call it... conscience, thoughts, Holy Spirit (I will call it the latter)... and they are questions I hadn't really completely understood at the time, but have been wrestling with non-stop since that night that I wrote about above.
You see, we cry and cry and cry for God to come to the oppressed and to set the captives free. We call to Him to come down and meet us and them in our darkness. But the part that we seem to have missed is the part where we agree to work for it... in our waiting. We do His will in the knowledge of faith that He will come and join us and complete the task.
He has asked me, in the same way that He asks all of us:
Will you suffer with them?
Will you suffer for them?
Poverty is captivity.
Poverty is a robbery.
Not of money, but rather of dignity.
Of love.
Of hope.
Of restoration.
And not just for those that are in it... but also for those of us that refuse to run to their resuce as well because we miss out on the beauty of being one.
What am I doing with my time on earth if not setting captives free?
"To loose the bonds of wickedness..."
"To undo the straps of the yoke..."
"To let the oppressed go free..."
Will I suffer with them?
Will I suffer for them?
I pray that my answer will be yes. And not just now as these visions and truths are fresh. But that it will always be yes even after I have left this place and these realities are back on the other side of the world. I pray that I will always remember them and always respect them enough to live my life in such a way that honours them, even from afar.
I pray that I will always continue to fight back the darkness and set the captives free, for it is within our obedience that He comes and rescues. It is within our hands that His healing touch is found. And it is from our lips that His life-giving words come. If we allow it.
Posted in A Trip Update by Eric Shaffer on 7/12/2008
First off, it definitely doesn't feel like we've been here a month. We only have two more weeks of teaching! I am sad. These kids are amazing.
Courtney and I have a special bond with the Matheome 2/1 class. They're 8th graders, and they just love learning. She knows all the girls' names and I know all the boys' (which are really darn hard to say), and we're trying to each know the whole class. There's just somthing about these kids that draws on our hearts. They like to learn. They respect us, not just think we're cool because we're white. They're trying hard, they laugh, they play, they listen. Teaching that class is basically how life is supposed to be: Stress free, fun, and productive.
Keep praying for God to move in the teacher at our school. We had a good chat with one about the Bible, how it was written, and a little bit about Jesus, but the convo got cut way short because we had to go teach. To put things in perspective: He had heard about Jesus: born of Mary at Christmas and died on a cross. Nothing about His life, nothing about why He died, never heard of Judaism per se, though had heard of Noah and a flood. So, keep praying. Like woah. He did seem genuinly interested in learning more, though.
Everyone who we talk to wonders why the heck we came to Thailand to teach for free. They all ask us if we're looking for a Thai girlfriend / wife. We are quick to say no no no no no ("mai mai mai mai mai") and they are very confused. It never would have occured to me before that just simply coming and serving, helping in anyway we can, would have such an impact on a community. The teacher we eat lunch with has confirmed with Courtney and I several times that our team is from all different states from around the US, we didn't know each other before coming to Thailand, and that other people in America are paying for us to be here. It's hard for her to comprehend. She knows we are Christians, and that Jesus is truly the only reason any of us are here. So please pray for wisdom and guidance in how to approach this subject (aka the gospel, aka why we came here in the first place) with her and the other teachers.
Indeed I forgot my camera today (we go to the main city of Buriram for our posts internet), otherwise I'd put up some cool pics of the necklaces and letters the students at one school made us. Back story: Each of us teach at certain schools Mon-Thurs. Friday we all go to two other schools together. Yesterday was our last friday teaching (next Friday is a Buddhist festival / holiday thing, which name escapes me at the moment), so the students at those schools loaded our necks and arms with hand-made dandelion pretty things, and beads, and flowers, and such. They also made letters for us (and the ones for Nikki and I even had our nams on them [Nikki and I taught together at that school last week and apparently left a good impression on the kids]). It was so adorable. I seriously almost cried.
I am rushed to finish quickly, so:
prayer requests:
1. Our team needs physical energy like woah.
2. Holy Spirit friendship increase.
I wrote this as I watched Adam teach earlier this afternoon.
I hope it accurately communicates the state of all of our hearts to you:
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Today, I want to listen.
Today, I want to explore.
Today, I want to laugh with beautiful children.
Today, I want to tell everyone I see how much I love them.
Today, I want to sweat.
Today, I want to spend myself.
Today, I want to bring healing.
Today, I want to be healed.
Today, I want to draw things that move people.
Today, I want to write things that change the world.
Today, I want to cry.
Today, I want to shout for joy.
Today, I want to see myself honestly.
Today, I want to be part of something bigger than me.
Today, I want to be inspired.
Today, I want to communicate love like never before.
Today, my heart is bursting!
Love is abundant... I see it everywhere!
In their smiles; in their broken English words.
In their kindness of their eyes.
I feel it in this room.
I feel it from across the ocean.
I feel it radiating from the hearts of the children that run to us, and dance with us, and wake us gently on Saturday mornings.
I am content, but restless.
I want to fight for love.
"Good enough" is not good enough.
I want rescue.
I want renewal.
I want hope to light their eyes.
I want truth to set them free.
Today, I want to give love and live love and be love.
Today, I want to observe and be.
Today, I want to serve and be silent.
Today, I want to sit and smile.
Today, I want to listen and learn.
Today, I want to dance and embrace.
Today, I want to live and love.
Simply live, love, and be.
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Everything is wonderful here, Dear Ones.
We can literally feel your prayers at given moments and they strengthen us so so much!
Emotionally and spiritually, we are all going pretty strong; but physically, we are starting to get a little weak. Please keep our bodies, inside and out, in your prayers. We need lots and lots of energy and rest!
Thank you for all of your love, prayers, and encouragement. I was serious when I wrote that your love is felt from across the ocean! Pray for us to have favour with the people we come into contact with- verbal and non verbal. Pray for the Spirit to guide our speech and invade our conversations. Pray for our feet to be securely fitted with the Gospel of Peace to take it with us everywhere we go. And most importantly, pray for us to have unity with each other and to be sanctified in the Truth of Christ.
May we learn was it means to abide in Him and to lead others in the search for the Source of our abundant joy and satisfaction.
Posted in A Trip Update by Adam Marshall on 7/3/2008
As I write this post, the team is starting a VBS program. I am going to miss our opening song that we sing. You should hear Hunter sing our rendition of "Jesus loves me this I know..." it'll make you smile... a lot.
Yes, today marks that we are half way through the trip, and I think I speak for the team when I say that it is going by away too quickly. The Lord has been blessing us with many beautiful relationships that will be very hard to say goodbye. Jamie and I have been spending every Monday-Thursday at a high school that is around 7 km away. We have fallen in love with the English teachers and they have fallen in love with us. Everyday the Lord reveals more of Himself to these teachers. One in particular, Surachai (he wants us to call him Peter), is Buhhdist but he knows that Jamie and myself are Christians (actually, they all know that we are Christians). I wish I could give justice to the conversations that we have had with him about the Truth, but every day, Jesus seems to illuminate more light to him. Today, he told Jamie that she and I are not like "normal" missionaries, in a good way. I'm not sure how many missionaries that he has seen, but there is genuineness in his desire to get to know who we are and why we believe in Christ. Please pray for him, as well as the other relationships that we all have.
As for the team, we are all doing well. Please pray that we have a restful weekend. We are all tired and need rest. Jamie needs our prayers for her stomach, it has been acting up. Nothing serious, it's just annoying. Nikki is getting over a cold, so please pray for her and for her body to rest. Thank you all for the prayers. We all need them. That's about it. Everyone is doing fine and is in love with Jesus... so yeah, we're doing good :-)
Thailand has been rough at times. It is unbearably hot here... and getting hotter. We have no air conditioning, limited fans, and lots of sweaty americans. All we ever eat is rice. I'm not sure I will ever again choose to eat rice. There are creatures literally everywhere. Mosquitos in our rooms, scorpians in our beds, land crabs under the couch, and water buffalos in the front yard. We've been sleeping on the floor for about 2 months now, and my back is wanting a real bed. 
What I'm trying to say, as scattered as it may be, is that my heart is broken for this country. 
Poverty is captivity.