June 7 - Wednesday

Today, we took part in the chapel service for the Mercy Christian school. All of the students filed into the church sanctuary with their special Wednesday uniforms on. They sat on the floor in perfect rows and sang Thai, Christian songs. David and some of the others from our team and the team from Iowa taught the students the song "Our God is So Big" in English. The students really enjoyed the song and put their hearts into the hand motions. After the songs, David had volunteers come up on stage and act out the story of Shadrack, Meshack, and Abed-Nego as he told it. This story really hits home here in Thailand where idol worship is a huge focus. Several of the volunteers were quite the actors. It was precious and a great message to share with these students. It was a great reminder that God is the only true GOD and that when we choose to follow HIM, we can overcome the most difficult of circumstances.

After chapel, we taught English classes at the school. The students are so respectful and excited to learn English. Many of them have been captivated by our "white" skin, which has been fun to watch. We also continued to practice Christian songs with them in English.

We all split into teams again and went out evangelizing in the villages. We went to rural areas today and presented Bibles to the people. The Gideon Bibles that we are using makes evangelizing without a translator possible, b/c they are half English and half Thai. I have been able to read and point out verses in English and then have them read the same verses in Thai. The locals seem to be more receptive to the Word when an American presents it to them. As Kelley has already posted, receiving Christ in Thailand is a very difficult decision, b/c it affects every aspect of your lifestyle. By God's grace, I was fortunate enough to witness an older Thai lady surrender her life to Jesus. Apparently, she had been seeking the Truth and had heard about Jesus on Christian t.v. She was so overwhelmed and gave her heart to Christ after asking questions and reading the Bible we presented to her. She finally found the only ONE who could fill the void in her life! PRAISE the LORD!!! It was amazing. Evangelizing here in Thailand has been a challenge to me. I realize how serious deciding to follow Christ is and should be. It is not just fire insurance or a free ride through life (as many in our culture treat it) and should not be a decision that is made in haste. We as AMerican Christians should allow Christ to affect every aspect of our lives as well, and we should stand out as "different" even in our own culture! Thanks for all the prayers! God is definitely at work here!

In HIS grip~ Audie=)