June 4 - Sunday

Rise and Shine... Its Sunday Morning already. This morning we had a combined church service at the Mercy Church Nonprassert. Many of the daughter churches (6) of Mekong Evangelical Church came here to worship with us. We helped out by teaching sunday schools and helping in worship. I got to teach the ladies class and it was awesome... althought speaking through a translator is a bit difficult. Dave preached and our little praise team sang "days of Elijah"... no one understood what we were singing but it reminded us of Longview. It was such an awesome experience to worship with the Thai people... they are amazing. When they make a decision to follow Christ its not like in America... They are persecuted in their communities, disowned from their families, they are pretty much seen as not even Thai anymore. To follow Christ is not just a decision and a prayer but a willingness to surrender to His Lordship. This may seem simple but its not. Jesus warned His followers to count the cost. Here that means helping them deal with potential ostracism and isolation and even physical persecution. What Paul wrote about persecution as a Christian definately applies here... the darkness has such a hold on this land and it is such a blessing to be able to help this little camp of Light spread throughout the people here.

Before our fellowship dinner that night we got to go on a boat ride down the Mekong river, which is about 500m from our dorms. and by boat i mean canoes and engines on the back. We also rock climbed on a island inbetween Thailand and Laos... i feel down about a millions times. The boys enjoyed cliff jumping into the river as you can see from the picture... it was lots of fun.

Chan's brother Jay recieved his Thai (dual US and Thai)citizenship which was a major praise as it shows people that you can be a Christian and a Thai citizen. To celebrate he slayed the fattened calf (we saw the nice cow before the boat ride) for our feast. We had a celebration with the leaders of the churches and their families and presented them with the gifts and supplies we brought (computers, teaching supplies, clothes, etc.).
- Until He comes- Erin