Christmas with the Thai

Christmas day was spent cooking and playing with the Abba House girls and the New Life guys all day! We woke up fairly early to begin cooking a turkey we had bought as a treat for everyone, and mashed potatoes - enough for about 40 people! At noon we had lunch and thenseparated into teams to compete throughout the day! I was on the"Shepherd" teamwith 3 NLA (New Life) guys and 4 AHF (abba house) girls, and then myselfand another girl from my team. The games included all sorts of "field day" events including water balloon fights/tosses, volley ball, sack races and a game of bowling with water balloons and different sized coke/water bottles and cans. It was a full day with tons of laughter and a welcomed shower before dinner. Dinner was a mongolian family meat feast style! It was so good!After dinner we had a piñata which took about 20 people beating tearing at it before it busted to reveal tons of Thai candies.

Then we all gathered up in the chapel to sing a few Christmas songs - some in Thai and some in English - and listen to a reading of the Christmas Story. Afterwards we had a few more games and performed a few skits. The NLA guys did a Fantastic job telling the Christmas story; their wise-men looked pretty legit! Gift exchanging was done by drawing numbers and then we concluded with a dance party! This Christmas was all about the Lord's gifts - the gift of grace to be in relationship with Him, the gift of life that He has given all of us, and the gift of communities where we can gather together no matter where we're from and celebrate Him together. A Christmas to remember for the rest of my life I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving that I was able to spend it with these amazing Thai people!

Love Always

~Christmas Eve~

We get up early with butterflies in our stomachs and prayers upon our lips. All putting on our matching apparel of YWAM team shirt, jeans and closed-toed shoes we gather around the truck, check that everyone has their passport and then pile in the back, what exactly is about to happen, we're not sure. This morning we go the the Chiang Mai men's prison to speak.

We arrive at the prison with Pastor Ed, to see about a hundred families waiting in line with bags of food, gifts and somber faces. Waiting for the chance to see and deliver their Christmas gifts to fathers, husbands, sons, grandfathers, and brothers. We go sit in a quiet bench area and wait for paper work to be processed and clearance to enter the prison. After about 20 minutes the man in charge finally reports that it is time and we enter through a series of gates to the first security stop. Here we get our "number tags," are checked for any carried items, and then proceed through bars to another security point where we go through metal detectors. After this we are rushed through the prison courtyard, up a flight of stairs and into what would be the library, but is now seating over 100 Thai men - all awaiting our presentation.

This Christmas was one to remember for the rest of my life.

The time spent speaking at the prison was such a sweet and special time of blessing many brothers in Christ on the eve of our Savior's birth! With Pastor Ed translating the men gathered started with prayer, then onto worshiping our Lord, and then each one of our team got up to share a brief testimony of God in our lives. It was amazing and the only thing unaccounted for was the fact that Pastor Ed had invited 9 women to speak. By the time it reached myself, going second to last- he looked at me to say, "It's short right? You and Ivy only have 10 mins between the two of you." Luckily for him my testimony was quick to tell the grace of His blessings upon my life and Ivy following to wrap up what we all had said with a few short words and we finished "on time" - at least for Pastor Ed. As he closed it all out we needed no translator to understand what he said as all the men began to laugh, Pastor Ed motioning towards us - you ask women to share "briefly" and you better expect to be there overtime. Something that was so cool about this time of sharing was that when we started there were ten rows of ten men but as we shared men would walk by and then sit down, adding to rows and making more, so that by the time we were finished there was hardly any space left!

Upon leaving we learned that of the original one-hundred gathered, only thirty of them were non-believers and that they had chosen to come and listen! In the past 4 years that Pastor Ed has been doing ministry in this prison he said the numbers have gone from 30 to around 600 Christians! Wow! In a country were under 1% of the 67,089,50o people in Thailand are Christian, the rest being majority Buddhist, this is an incredible number change! (population statistics from the CIA world fact book)

After the prison we went to the mall for lunch and then returned to Abba House to join the NewLife guys in a time of sharing favorite Bible verses and what they meant to us. It was so cool to hear the passion for God from these men after spending several hours where many of them had spent several years! Instead of breaking up for English class we combined to teach a few Christmas carols such as Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and the first verse of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer for laughs. Then everyone went home to prepare to gather later that evening to go caroling through Chiang Mai, Thailand!

(our SongTao carried about 20 people: 10 inside the bed, 3 on the back, 2-3 on top and 4 in the cabin)

The experience was incredible as I learned so much about the hospitality of Thai Christians! There were almost 50 of us all together. 10 YWAMers, 11 NewLife guys, 21 AHF kids, 5 ABH staff and another family of 3 who joined us. The concept of caroling here in Thailand is carried out much differently than back in the states. Here is how it is done Thai style- you sneak up to the house and then everyone yells, "Merry Christmas!" Francis and Tom start playing their guitars and we sing a couple carols - in Thai. The lights of the house still off and not a sound or move coming from within - when we finish singing Pastor Ed says a prayer of blessing and we together everyone closes, "AMEN and Merry Christmas!" At which point the lights fly on, doors open, kids run out and families joyfully welcome you into their home where they give refreshments and sweet treats. But because there are so few Christmas celebrating people here we had to go to the houses where we knew the believers, so we spent quite a bit of time in the trucks being farried all through the different districts within Chiang Mai, repeating the caroling ritual at each location.

We arrived at the last home ten after midnight -the caroling ritual plays out again and then we are welcomed in by Nid's parents! (Francis' wife, and staff here at Abba House) Her parents were amazing and had a small warm meal prepared for us and we shared many stories, blessings and an invitation for my team to return for dinner in the future

Finally arriving home to Abba House at 1am we all were exhausted, but so full of God's love and blessings, and thinking about His incredible gift to us. This night was worth every ounce of energy, of singing, of joyful laughter, of standing in the cold, of praying for the families who welcomed us in, so worth holding the sleepy-eyed 8 year old named Sophia as we sang "christmas pen we la" - All for the Glory of the God who made me, sent His only son to Save me from separation from Him- though I turned my eyes from His, and For Him who has Loved me the same since the first moment He thought me into existence. Gloria, in Excelsis Deo! Amen!

Love Always

New Life and the Abba House Foundation

After the first week at Abba House Foundation I feel like I've been with these people for ages. This week leading up to Christmas was wonderful!

On Monday we started the routine of being an AH volunteer! We are own our own as a team until 1pm when we join the men from NewLife here. There are 11 Thai men aged 17-51 that are in the NewLife half-way home. They are coming out of either prison or drug rehab and have given their hearts to the Lord. The NewLife guys come to Abba House every day and work on the grounds, building, cleaning, and improving the campus, share lunch together and then spend the afternoons with us as we teach. we spend the afternoons with. At 1pm we join them in an open-air classroom and 2 from the team share a "testimony" aka: mini-Bible study on a verse and application time -with our wonderful friend and translator working along side us for the time. On my day I spoke on the Greatest Commandment- Loving God with our WHOLE Hearts and ended up teaching for 45mins as the Lord led me through His Word. Just in the process of preparing each day's studies we have been learning and growing so much.

Afterwards Dave, a guy from Michigan who is a volunteer here, and Francis, who along with his wife are on staff, join us in in worship - both in Thai and in English depending on the song. This week we taught a few Christmas songs in English and had them teach us a few Thai Christmas songs as well! After an hour of worship we split into 3 groups and teach English until 4-4:15pm. I teach the advanced class with teammates Ivy and Allysha. We have 5 guys in our class and each one of them I have come to dearly love and admire in this last week. Pi'Dave is the oldest of all the men at 51, and spent 13 years in prison. (Pi' is put in front of their names to distinguish that they are elder to you in the Thai culture) He is very good at English and is such a grandpa, taking care to help the other guys and translating even a bit for us as we try to teach more difficult words and lessons. Pi'Veerawot is the next oldest, having spent 17 years in prison - part of that time pastoring his fellow inmates after he came to know the Lord and and having just been released a few months ago. His testimony is truly amazing and in brief he had people sent to kill him several times while in prison because of his faith, each time the Lord protecting him. He too can communicate with us fairly well. Veerawot is a sweetheart and within him is a very deep well that I can hardly wait to learn more from. Throughout the week there were many times when I felt that he saw me in a way many people do not, and we'd often end up smiling at each other from across the room. Pi'Chon is in late 30's-40's (i think) and has the most difficult time learning English, knowing very little himself, but too much to be in a lower level class. Chon is the handy-man though and has been so nice to help us out by helping flip the breaker when we got in the first night (did someone forget the international voltage change? haha), making ladders to get on our very tall bunk beds, finding out why our water stopped working over Christmas and many other things! He truly has a servant heart. Next is Moo, a young man in his early 20's whose "purpose" is to spread the Word of the Lord. His passion and drive is unbridled and I admire his heart so much. He is very good at English and often it is Dave and Moo who are translating instructions/ clarifying word meanings between the guys and us. And our youngest pupil, Tom, is Mr.Musicbox. He is pretty good at communicating, but it is still very difficult for him. He is so funny and very talented - always rapping, playing the drums, piano, or guitar, or listening to his headphones and loving the grooves.
We spent the week of lessons learning "communicating directions" - how to give/understand directions to and from places in town. A very useful tool, the guys can now verbally give and/or write directions in English, which we are hoping to get use from in the next few weeks as well! haha

At 4:30pm the guys go back to the New Life house, about 3 miles from here. And the girls get back from school! There are 18 girls aging 8-15 with 2 in their early 20's who live here at AHF with us. And there is also, little Laa, a 10 year old boy who lives here in the guy's dorm with Dave. These are "at risk" kids whose mothers are prostitutes, who have been in the sex slave trade, or are orphans. Splitting into 2 groups, we all share a dinner made by the amazing Famai - our cook and now a dear friend of mine. Then after dinner we have an hour off while the kids do chores and then we then get into our small groups and teach the girls English - this we've found is much more difficult to communicate - but really fun just the same. Co-leading with Catherine, our small group has Bee2, Ked, Nay, and Ya - ages 11 and 13. (I'll post a picture of them soon!) Each and every one of them is so full of joy and an eagerness to learn, I can not imagine how anyone would every wish to inflict pain on any of them. Many of them have heart wrenching stories but an incredible testimony of God's love prevailing in each one of their lives, now being taken care of here in the folds of AHF. I am so honored to be here and will tell more stories soon! Including Christmas spent with Abba House Foundation!

Love Always

North to Chiang Mai

Sawadee Kha!

(Hello)

We made it safely into the Abba House Foundation at 2am this morning (it's 10:30pm on fri now)!!
It's a little outdated, but you can visit their site at http://www.abbahousefoundation.com/index.html to get a better idea of who I am working with here in Chiang Mai.

This morning we met with Joyce Moore, who started Abba House Foundation with her husband, David, 8 years ago! How they started this and their story is so inspiring and good to hear, I feel like she'll have much to pour into us while we are here.
Our time at the foundation is going to be very busy- our days are planned out, to the hour, between 11am-7pm. We will be teaching english primarily at 3 different levels to the men here (i think they are aged 16- 28ish? idk exactly- it's hard to judge ages here)

After meeting with her she took us to a mall here in Chiang Mai to eat lunch and purchase food for the next week.
Nuntakarn, aka "O," is our translator - she is a Precious young woman from Chiang Rai who did her DTS in Montana in January of last year. She and I have been getting to know each other all day and are already best of friends! :) After the mall we came back and met with the guys living here on campus - they are all so sweet! We played several name games and laughed so hard with everyone trying to memorize each other's names! So funny! We'll post video/pictures of it later.

We had dinner with the girls in their house and while it was very difficult to communicate it was so much fun and SO exciting to get to eat with them!!! We had a church service after dinner and at one point it was open to a time of thanking God for something that happened during the week (family sharing time) and the kids had a representative get up and tell us how excited and thankful they were that God brought us here to spend Christmas and New years with them- apparently they all were trying to see us this morning when they left for school but we were fast asleep since we got in at 2am. precious :) But we did get to say hello when they got off the bus today!

This weekend we have off and then start on Monday - after hanging out with the kids and guys here I am BEYOND excited to spend the next month with them!!! I love them all so much already and we've only but spent a day together! I can already tell that I'm going to be stretched out of my comfort zone while here. And while I'm squirming at the stretch I'm looking forward to the outcome- it is good.

Love Always

Sawadee Kha!

After 29 hours of traveling we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand this morning!

The trip itself began at 4 am Monday morning for both the Thailand and Cambodia teams. We gathered together to say farewell to the Togo and Haiti teams then loaded into vans and began our flight in Kona, Hawaii. In Honolulu I had my first experience with customs, and from there we flew on Chinese Airlines 10 hours to Tokyo, Japan. After spending 3 months in warm Hawaii the 50 degree weather of both Tokyo and Taipei (where we spent a 5 hr layover) was shocking and had all of us wrapped in scarves, sweaters, and sleeping bags during the wait. Finally the terminal filled and we all piled into another HUGE plane for a 4hr flight to Bangkok, Thailand! And I'll just go ahead to say that whenever it's available- I highly suggest Chinese Airlines, the service and comfort was wonderful, and if you are fluent in Chinese it'd be even more so I'm sure haha! We finally arrived in Bangkok at 1am, Wednesday the 15th where we were greeted by a fellow YWAMer and taken to the Nancy Ross Training Center (YWAM, bangkok) where we slept without interruption for several hours! -such a blessing!

This morning we got up for orientation and were given a briefing on the cultural norms, taboos and given a quick language lesson before going to lunch and then exploring the area for several hours. I've heard from so many about the delicious food here in Thailand, but I can truly give testament to it now - We feasted at this little restaurant called the Turtle Shoppe and as good as it looks it was even better!


We spent the day exploring the area and enjoying a little time to recoup, still with the Cambodia team, and enjoyed a "scavenger hunt" where we had to explore the area, going to a mall, the 7-11, exchange money, find the post office, and venture into the market place. It was quite an amazing experience and full of new clothes, foods, peoples, sights and smells. Something to comment on are the temples and shrines set up all around where the people leave offerings and gifts to appease the idfferent gods. Idolatry here is rampant and I'll post again on the topic, and some pictures, later.

Our team will part w ays with the Cambodia team here in about and hour as we are jumping on a bus for 8 hours to Chiang Mai! Many more pictures and stories to come! So until next time, May He Bless you and Keep you in His loving embrace!

Love Always