A Month of Ministry Summed Up

Hello All!

I am currently at the Bangkok YWAM base in transit from Chiang Mai to Phuket and just wanted to give you a brief overview of the ministry and experiences I've had in the last month here in Thailand!

In this past month on outreach I have had the privilege of building a relationship with the kids at Abba House Foundation and the guys in New Life Annex/Freedom Christian Center and have truly come to love them as a sister, friend and daughter to some. Each one of them have come to these ministries and are learning the joy of living in the grace of God while experiencing His healing and restoration. Their hunger and passion for God's word and relationship with Him has been so humbling, especially after learning many of their stories. It has been such an incredible time and we all have become family in Christ with each other over the last month.

While staying there God opened the doors for my team and I to minister to places such as the men's prison, HIV/AIDS orphanage, men's drug rehab, crippled children's home, and the girl's drug rehab! We have heard how hard it is to get approved to enter these places and we can only give credit to the Lord for paving the way for us to go preach the gospel and testify of His love and mercy to these incredible people! At each place our team went in with prayer, not knowing what to expect, but leaving with hearts full of love and compassion for every soul we met.

Last night we had a going away party with NewLife and Abba House, and I can honestly say it was one the hardest goodbye's I've ever had to do. We treated everyone with a new food, introducing them to tacos, chunky tomato salsa, Mexican rice, and then concluding with brownies and ice-cream later in the night. After dinner, however we wanted to bless our NewLife brothers/fathers and give them one last example of Jesus' love for us. We explained the event in the Bible where Jesus puts himself lower than that of a household servant and washes the feet of the disciples. This is something that indeed resonates with their culture, the feet being the least of the body and by pointing your foot at someone it is considered a huge insult. So after telling the story we got down with tubs of soapy water and towels and asked to wash their feet, each of them being stunned and overwhelmed by the act. It was an honor to wash these men's feet.

By the time we'd finished most all of them were in tears, as were we, and the Abba House girls who were there watching. As we were wrapping up I put our team leader, Jaque, up and was preparing to wash her feet - the youngest of the NewLife guys, came running up with tears streaming down his face and literally pushed me away- taking her feet to the water himself. It was at this point that if anyone wasn't crying, they sure were then as the men, with their overwhelmed hearts took us and washed our feet in return, many of them going beyond what we had shown them and drying our feet with their shirts. They understand, and this overwhelmed us with emotion as brothers and sisters honored each other in the presence of God and of the young children watching the example set before them. Afterwards one of the young men got up and shared with great emotion how He'd never seen Jesus' exampled in that way and that it made a huge impact on his life; nearly all of the men followed and thanked us for pouring out everything we had for them. Watching a slide show to end the night I had one of the precious girls I taught English to on my lap and I couldn't help but praise God for allowing me to serve these incredible people.

This past month has taught me so much about God and His purpose for my life, through times of encouragement, challenge, exhaustion, and of walking with no other light than His hope. I truly can say that I have grown more into the person He created me to be, though I know it is a never ending process. What an honor it is to serve Him and share His love with people all around the world from all sorts of different backgrounds and life experiences! I am so overwhelmed with how much He loves me and can only praise Him for His unchanging love!

Now my team is on it's way to Phuket where we will be working with a ministry called SHE (Self Help and Empowerment) for the next month. SHE is a Christian charity committed to helping women and children at risk in Thailand, many of whom are trapped in the commercial sex trade. They help by providing employment, vocational training and counseling for women who want to help themselves out of this industry. We know this is going to be much different ministry than that of Abba House, and we are all entering into this next season in prayer, knowing it is going to be much more of a battle. In light of that I covet your prayers to cover our team of nine women as we allow God to shine through us as we build relationships and in some of the most spiritually oppressed places in Thailand.

I am so thankful to have such an incredible body of Christ following me through prayer and cannot tell you how much of a blessing it was to have all my outreach funds come in so miraculously! Thank you so much for your support as the Lord leads me around the world, spreading His Love to the unreached and the hard-hearted. It is such an honor to be used by the God of all as a vessel for His truth and I am so thankful for how you have helped me get here! May the Lord bless you and keep you!

Love Always

Broken for the Injustice

I just want to cry. This morning we went to the Crippled Children’s Home here in Chiang Mai with the Abba House girls, the New Life men, an awareness team from Australia, and a group of supporters from America. With a team of just over 50 we spent but a few hours doing skits, playing games and overall just loving on the children there. Upon arriving I was “claimed” by a young boy whose foot had not grown properly. He came running up to me, almost crawling because of the disablement, and collapsed into my legs. Scooping him up on my hip I spent the next 2 hours with him wrapped around me or sitting on my lap. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand each other, all that mattered was that I held him close. That I cared enough to hold him, to not look at him with distain but with love and showing him how valuable he was.
He wasn’t the only one, another little boy with disfigured legs, a teenaged girl whose legs were but nubs, a young boy who was stuck in a wheel chair, many with a mental disability of sorts that just caused a disfigurement or inability to communicate properly. Each one was beautiful, each one with thoughts their own, all knew what joy it was to have someone touch them, someone to hold them and to treat them to an orange. Before we left one of the workers came to thank us for coming saying they do not often have visitors or treats from “outside” and asking us to come back. Following him a representative of the kids, in a wheel chair and unable to carry out normal body movement, thanked us as well saying how much they loved us.
This really got me. These kids are thrown out and considered worthless to their culture because of something they could not control. A problem in growth, a lazy eye, hands whose fingers didn’t grow, a clubbed foot, oversized head, anything and everything not “normal” gave reason for them to be illegitimate and cast aside. This breaks my heart. Most of them could speak, several of them were in line waiting for the phone and a chance to call out, their joy and the urgency that they desired us to hold them, or just to touch them and say hello – nothing else mattered but to be loved. They loved having their pictures taken and would ask for us to take them and then show them over and over again. As everyone sat together and watched the skits all I could think about was praying for each of them. So as the last hour passed the only thought and desire of my heart was for the healing of these kids. Not just physically, but that they would know the Father's embrace and how much He loves them.
They are worth God sending His ONLY son to die – just to give them life. Their value is priceless. He loves them just as much as He loves “normal” kids. And His heart’s desire is to be made known to them just how precious they are. My heart is crying for these kids and as we pulled away I couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming love God has for each of them.


After we came back, we were watching a movie with the girls here at Abba House and a scene came up that had a man saying something suggestive and then just going towards the main character - the way the girls reacted broke my heart. Even before the man went towards them they were all shaking their heads with fear for her. [not to worry, nothing actually happened in the movie] They shouldn't know the discomfort of that situation. These are 8-13 year old girls. This past week we've heard more of what each of these girls have gone through and the stories are hear wrenching. It stuns me how immoral and cruel people can be to children - The Lord will have justice. That is what can keep you going in a ministry like this, knowing that He will justify that which has happened to these jewels. Every time I hear more about the girls, the little boy that's here, the New Life guys or other stories the world becomes less appealing. I have found myself becoming homesick for heaven in the last couple weeks. The presence of His love the only thing fulfilling and spreading that glorious Love the only thing worthwhile. I long for Eden to be restored.


Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Love Always

Desiring to be made clean

This tuesday we had the opportunity to go minister to the men at the Chiang Mai Drug Rehab Center alongside the YWAM-Australia team that is still with us at Abba House Foundation. We left AHF at 8:30am and spent the next half hour in trucks to get there. Arriving at the center we found that i was much more remote than we'd expected and kind of like a retreat center out in the woods. We pulled up to all the men gathered in a small building with no windows, but rather metal window frames and wooden shutters. After we all introduced ourselves we spent some time playing a name game with the guys and then had a time of worship.This was really cool to get to share with them our passion for Christ through song - even though they had no idea what we were saying it was interesting to see the reactions within their eyes from the time we arrived to the time we finished worshiping together. Afterwards several people shared a testimony or Word and may I just say God's hand was All Over the people who spoke - from both teams - and the grace of God was proclaimed! Ben, one of the Australia team's leaders, preached the Gospel and then invited anyone who wanted prayer to come up and before He'd finished there were 3 guys who were standing in the middle of the room with Ben. After Ben wrapped it up we all got up and most of the other guys joined the 3 in the center as we laid hands and prayed for all of them!

When we'd finished praying with them we had a time of just fellowshiping with them - we'd brought sodas and oranges. This was was much harder than we'd thought it would be since we only had 2 translators for the 20 of us. It was still a sweet time and many people were able to pray individually with several of the men there - so cool!

The desire that these men had to be cleaned of their addictions was inspiring. Of the few stories I got to hear from different ones, there was such testimony through their struggles. One of the men there was from Laos and had become a Christian here in Thailand while at the drug rehab center. He'd been here for just over a year if I remember correctly, and hopes to return to Laos to preach the gospel to his country - even though it is closed to Christianity. He was so passionate and driven to over come this addiction and to be closer to God it was truly inspiring and an honor to meet him. We had the chance to pray over him for a few minutes at the end and just encourage him in his calling - Praise the Lord!

It wasn't all fun and games however, there was some frustration with the way things were handled with the lack of translation, communication between leaders and us, and just general frustrations with being rushed out of there at the end. It made some of us more frustrated than others, however these things are not to be unexpected. Through it was a time of working together to talk through the situations and learn how to extend grace and forgiveness even when it is difficult and things feel unjust.

As in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. The master pardons the debt of his servant but the servant then turns and demands payment from all his debtors.

Lord, forgive me for ever not extending grace and forgiveness to another brother or sister - you set the example and I am so convicted by the way you love us.

Love Always

Doi Suthep will Fall

This was a tough week for me here in Thailand. Although it was full of absolutely incredible experiences, they were all very draining times of ministry. My health being affected as my body grew more tired throughout the week. None the less, it was a time of relying on His strength and learning more about what that looks like on a day-to-day basis on the missions field. In my weakness He is strong.

Monday is our "day off" here at Abba House, so we left in the morning to go up Doi Suthep mountain, on the peak of which a massive temple is located. It took about an hour to drive up there and it was truly something to behold.

While walking up the hundreds of steps towards the top the stairs were lined

with food vendors, performers, shanty shops, beggars and people selling offering items. All the way up they lined the steps and as I walked up I couldn't help imagine

that it must have been like that when Jesus walked into the temple to find it a place of gambling, stealing and cheating.

Once at the top we passed between 2 large Buddhist idols, those who went up to worship these all stopping to pray in front of them. A sign directed to foreigners to a desk where you pay to enter the temple, this was even more so distrurbing because we in no way wanted to participate in funding such idolatry of this temple. We had with us our driver, Goon, who took around the back way where we entered and proceeded to walk the grounds of this temple on top of the mountain. It was really hard to be up there spiritually, everywhere were idols, people praying, leaving offerings of money, food, items, flowers and little sculptures. In front of the main temple there were several groups of young children dressed up - dancing under the instruction of temple workers - with collection plates asking for money. This too made my heart burn for the people, already my spirit was very stirred and the only way I was able to stay up there was by praying constantly and calling for the Lord to destroy the place.

By the time we were ready to leave my spirit had had enough, my body was literally shaking in response even though I wasn't mentally fighting off any spiritual attacks, I would stand still and my legs be vibrating in such a way that you could see it. We returned to the main gate area and began to pray a little together - not 2 mins later an official came and told us that we needed to pay to enter the temple. We tried explaining that we'd already been through, but through the language barrier and and I dare give satan any credit, but so it was. We tried walking away but apparently the official got the money from Jacque, our leader.

Once we'd made it back down we got some lunch and then headed back down the mountain. On the way we stopped at a few waterfalls which was really nice. Of all His creations in nature, waterfalls are perhaps one of my favorites as far as being in awe of His creation and seeing them is such a reminder to me of His love. This is because as much as I can sit in awe of these powerful forces of nature, created by God, and so beautiful- I am reminded at how He looks upon me, saying I am more beautiful than those, the power He has granted me through His son's name is so great that in it I could command the water to change directions and it would without hesitation. He has always used this particular way of communicating to me through nature and so having the driver stop to show us the falls was such a God thing! At the last water fall we got to hike up close to it, and climbing higher and closer on my own, I was able to just worship God as loud as I wanted and not think about anything else. Spending the time there to really think about the country's strongholds and just pray into them further while marveling at the beauty of God's creation was such a relief and a gift to be able to rest in Him after encountering such a disturbance at Doi Suthep.

1 Corinth 10:20-22

"I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

Deuteronomy 9:16 & 26-29

"And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you...And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness." For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’ "

O Lord, that those who go and worship and give offerings to demons at Doi Suthep would come to know their sin and repent for such idolatry. Have mercy on Your people! May the temple fall lower than the highest waterfall - beyond the places that any human can reach - and upon the Rock of that mountain let the marvel of Your creation flow abundantly so that all might see and know Your Glory!

Love Always

A year of favor and blessing from day 1

January 1st of 2011!!!

We wake up early and together, with YWAM-Australia, pile into the AHF van and truck to start a year of serving the Lord - beginning with an HIV/AIDS children's home!

Nikki''s Place: Agape Home is an orphanage for children that opened in May 1996 as a response to the plight of children impacted by the spread of HIV/AIDS across Thailand. All of the children who go to the Agape Home to live are, or are at risk of being, HIV positive. Many of them have already lost their parents to AIDS, and there are no other options for their care. They have a nursery for the babies and a Preschool where the children ages three to five attend school daily and are cared for by the staff and volunteers. These are the kids we get to spend the first day of the year with - just playing around and loving on!

On our way there we all were bubbling with excitement and anticipation, not really knowing what we were about to face, but looking forward to it none-the-less. Upon arriving there were no kids outside and we sat in the pagoda waiting and praying for what was about to happen. While we were waiting a little girl probably 4 years old came out the door, caught eyes with me and hurtled herself into my lap. I am nearly moved to tears just by her desire to be held. Scooping her into my arms I hold her close, nearly moved to tears just by the love that was transferred through touch.

A few minutes later her nanny came to take her away as 30 kids show up and sit before us. All of them staring with wide eyes, pointing and laughing at a few of us as we made faces at them - waiting for the Home's staff to clear things with ours... some of the boys in front of me were playing a hand game where you race to get your fingers into this pretzel or a knot the fastest. I was intrigued and let them teach me how to get one finger wrapped around the other, this one over, the other one under and then these finger tips touching that one while your thumb sticks out straight - it took a good deal of practice and some pain, but eventually they found my attempted playing acceptable. With only about 30 kids to play with, we all got "picked" and spent the rest of the day being a personal playmate with one or two kids.

One of the little boys I'd been playing the Finger-Knot-Race with, named Lachan, picked me and whisked me away to the play ground where we adventured for the following hour. Lachan, a young boy about 6 years old, had an IronMan mask that he carried everywhere! And if he wasn't wearing it, I was carrying it for him- such a privilege! ;) He loved to "fly" like IronMan and would have me "fly" him to every piece of jungle gym equipment. It was so much fun with kids and friends everywhere playing on the lawn, in the mini club house, on the jungle gym, giving piggy-back rides, swinging them around and playing a large game of duck, duck, goose. After an hour or so we gathered them all together and did some sack races, singing and distributed oranges to everyone. Sitting in the grass with Lachan on my lap and another little boy so close he was practically on me too, eating oranges and being completely in love with the kids I reflected on the life of Christ. How He held the child in His lap in Matt 9:36-37 saying, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

An older boy came by with a little baggie of pills for my boys, and as Lachan stuffed his little bag into his pocket I came back to the reality of why he was sitting in my lap at Agape Home. Again I am nearly moved to tears, feeling that the life of this little boy in my lap has been anything but easy and feeling God's compassion and love for him even more. As he finished his orange in my embrace I sat interceding for him - broken with the thought of his condition and ever thankful for Christ's example and His promise.

Gathering everyone for a photo I gave Lachan the last piggy-back ride and held up his IronMan mask for him. Swinging him down from the jungle gym we ran back to the pavilion and before I knew it I was back in the van with my teammates driving away from Agape Home. While most of the girls told about their kids and funny moments they all had, all I could do was pray for those children, my heart broken for the injustice of their situation and how much God loves each one of them. He is so good, and I am pulled into a greater love for Him just knowing that He loves them more than I ever could, and His desire for justice for these children is greater than mine.

When we arrive back at Abba House we spend the afternoon playing with the girls and then crash into bed exhausted. Sweet restful sleep in a bed, with a roof overhead, walls closing out the pests of night, blankets to warm, and friends surrounding.

Lord, thank you for your favor. For your blessings. And for allowing me to take part in blessing others just by being a vessel. I am so honored that You chose me and cannot fully express what love captivates my heart for You.

So begins the first day of a new year.

The year 2011.

Love Always

New Years with new friends

This week we were joined by another YWAM team from Sunny Coast Australia!

We are still doing Bible studies and teaching English to the NewLife guys 4 days a week, but this week we had a few breaks because the Australia team took over for us for the few days they were here. On Thursday, since they were doing the NewLife guys our team got the chance to go to the girl's school and perform the Christmas Story skit to about 100 Thai boys and girls!

It is so crazy thinking about what a blessing it is to be welcomed into a public school (that is predominantly Buddhist) and given free reign to preach the gospel, perform the Christmas story, sing worship songs with the children there and then pass out packets with Bible story cartoons and tracks to every single one of them! This was one of our biggest shocks of the day - in America it is becoming so taboo to be invited to do any of those things with Elementary/Middle school children in public schools - and our nation was "built on Christianity." But here in Thailand, where under 1% are Christians and the majority being either Buddhist or Muslim, we are welcomed into the schools; given the freedom to do whatever we want for 2 hours, are fed lunch and then thanked by the kids, teachers and school officials over and over. Even if they don't realize it, their hearts are crying out for the Lord God - who can give them meaning, purpose, and a love like no other. T

he Lord has heard every soul. These people are so precious and my heart is broken for their resilience, for even though they welcomed us so warmly, the ties to cultural and family ritual are so strong. There is an hour of "studies" a day when kids go to this golden temple built at the entrance of the school to deliver their offerings with prayers... most of the Abba House girls attend here and face much mockery and persecution for not joining in. Never the less the time spent at the school was incredible!

New Years weekend was spent enjoying some rest until the afternoon when we played games again and hung out with everyone. Our team prepared spaghetti for dinner for everyone - the first time any of the kids had every tried it! As much as I love the the rice and vegetable dinners we have here, it was a good change for the palette. We all meet at 7 for chapel and the Australia team takes over the service with worship and a message from one of their team leaders, Ben. We have several hours to go till midnight yet, so we split it up so that the 3 hours are split between ABF, YWAM-Kona, and YWAM-Australia. Each team doing anything from games, skits, and dances. We also get a late night snack that consists of meatballs (with spicy sauce if you can handle it lol) and fruit! So good! The countdown starts at 30 seconds till as we wrap up a dance party and then we all erupt into cheering, hugs, glad tidings and huge smiles. Everyone goes outside and we pull out the 3 lanterns we bought for the occasion. Together we light the 3 and send them up in prayers over each other, the year to come, and for the people of Thailand! Such an incredible time watching these beacons of light float up into the sky, joining the Thousands of others in peppering the darkness with stars of light.

Lord, light up the hearts of the people of Thailand, show them the hope of faith and the grace of Your unwavering Love!

Love Always

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