June 24th- June 30th

Thank you all for the prayers that you have lifted up for us this past week. We are so grateful for your commitment to prayer and to us. This week has been a fun time of learning for us. On Sunday, Sarah and I worshipped at Mekong Church Nonprassert and John went with the team from Lighthouse to Mekong Church Natan. It was my first time to meet with the Ladies Sunday School Class that I got to teach when I was here last year. Even though we don't speak the same language we are bonding together as sisters in Christ and the LORD let us enjoy our kinship that morning. Two ladies from the class, Weepa and Lumiai are expecting. Weepa's due date is in 2 weeks and Lumiai's is this week so please keep them in your prayers. At the worship service, Sarah and I had know idea what anyone was talking about but we know that the LORD does. It is an amazing thing to see God from their eyes... He is so much bigger than we tend to give Him credit for. On Monday, Sarah and I taught at school in the morning and that afternoon we worked with the team from Lighthouse. We were able to pass out Bibles in a village and share our testimonies with some of the people that we met. John and I got to speak to a man who had previously read some literature about Jesus. He told us that he held to two religions, Christianity and Buddhism. Jay(pastor of Mekong Church Posai) shared with him from the New Testament and he tried to show him as best he could that no one can serve to masters. As John and I stood there it was obvious to us that you cannot serve buddha and Jesus but the Lord reminded me to not think to highly of myself because how often am I just like this man. I don't bow my knee to buddha but I am too often found kneeling to the world. Idols are easily hidden in America and that day I was reminded to search out the idols in my life and destroy them. Please keep this man in your prayers; please pray that God would break down the lies that are built up in his mind and that the LORD would give us all an undivided heart. Sarah also met a buddhist woman named Pren-Jit. She was able to spend some time with her and the lady really bonded to her. We are suppose to go visit her again this week so please keep her salvation in your prayers also. That afternoon, we planted a field of rice. Its harder than it sounds. Knee deep mud, no shoes, bent over for hours... that pretty sums it up. We had a blast! On Tuesday, we took a trip aross the river to the country next to us. We went to take some books to our friends. I have to admit all of us were a little apprehensive at first but God is the one who walks with us and is our protector. The backpacks were heavy and the sun was hot. But God blessed us that day and 221 books made it safely to a land where people need hope. We would have to say that the major difference between Thailand and this country is that the people there don't smile. They are in desperate need of hope and unfailing Love. Please pray for our friends in this country; pray that the eyes of their oppressors would be blinded when the need to be blinded and that they would see when they need to see; pray for the presecuted; pray for living conditions that they have to endure; pray for the spread of real Hope and that salvation would spring up from the ground. On Wednesday, we woke up to take the first hot shower in about a month in our hotel. So praise the LORD! We continued our time across the river. We visited some more groups of our friends and played with some of the children. We also got to see a breathtaking waterfall. In the afternoon we crossed back into Thailand and drove back to Nonprassert. On Thursday the Lighthouse team had to go back to America. :( it was a sad afternoon. We really miss their sweet spirit and we miss having some more english speakers around. That afternoon we got to go to the Lotus and eat at KFC! It was a little comfort from home that we needed. Friday was a day to get back to normal, we returned to school and construction work. Today, Saturday, was a day of relaxation. There was a birthday party tonight for Ethan, Jay's son, who turned 4, and there was also a cookout for the radio station. We had a great time playing with all the kids and spending time with our new friends. It's at times like these that we really feel like we are a part of the family here. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our blogs and to pray for us. Your prayers will have eternal impact for the Kingdom and we are so thankful for them. Sarah and I will be updating every Saturday night so please check back next week. We love you all!

Until He comes...

Erin

Thailand 07 : : Video

Here is a video link to see a little of what God did in Thailand during the 2 week trip. Continue to pray for the summer team as John, Erin, & Sarah continue to serve, teach, and eat crickets for God's glory.

Thailand 07 Video

Our First Week June 17th-23rd

This was our first week without the team being here. Sunday we went to Mekong Church Natan. This is Tom's church and Neville was preaching a series so we decided to go so we could hear a sermon in english. Tom asked if one of us would share our testimony so we decided that I would do it. Monday, Erin and I taught in the school while John did construction. We didn't realize that we would be real teachers with papers to grade but that is what we are doing. It gets easier everyday and if nothing else we are having fun with the kids. John has been helping Tom with some work around his church. Tuesday night, Neville and Christine asked us to come and have dinner with them at their house. We enjoyed it so much! It was a great time of encouragement for us. Christine made some chicken macaroni that was so good. We loved eating something besides thai food. They also played Days of Elijah for us and it reminded us of Longview. Wednesday, John did more construction and Muai asked Erin and myself to go with her to Ubon to pick up a team that was coming in from Nashville. They are from Lighthouse Church, where Tom and Chan are from. Thursday, we taught in the schools and John did more work. We taught the team some songs that we did in Khao Lak so they could do them with us on Friday. Friday, we went to a school about 30 minutes away from Non Prassert to promote the radio station around here and to help in the schools, we split up into 3 rooms. Some of us went into the Bible room and shared the Gospel, some of the group did music and then the rest of us went into an english room. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. We have had some down time which has been very refreshing. There is a library on the compound that has a lot of christian books. We have spent a lot of time reading and meditating on the word. It has been so nice to spend so much time with the Lord and to re-focus. We are getting used to the food, heat, insects and cold showers. Continue to pray for us as we minister alongside the families that live here. We are so thankful to be here. Until He Comes...Sarah

Sunday Ministry

Today we awoke in Ubon after a late night of church planting and a 2 hour drive. We headed to Non-Prassert. Non Prassert is were the ministry of the Mercy Foundation and Mekong Evangelical Church (Baptist) are located. The service began at 10am and we arrived sharply at 10:10. We walked in to a room of about 200 believers (of less then 5 years) worshiping with nothing being held back. It was an awesome service. We shared the drama, sang, and preached. They fed us a great spread of food (mostly identifiable but all good).

Sunday afternnoon we loaded the bus and headed for another village Don-He. This is a village that actually had a church about five years ago but the leadership left and the church all but folded. There was one family that continued to pray for God to bring a church to their village. They even had a church building that had been built years ago. We set a huge stage up and had a blowout service. This village has about 700 homes and the largest Buddha Statue you have ever seen. There has been a guy in training at the seminary here at Mekong Bible Seminary that has been discipled over the last 4 years and will be Pastoring the plant. We had a massive turnout with a similar service clearly storying through God's plan of creation, the fall, crucifixion, and restoration of man. Each person who came got there first Bible.

Saturday Nights Ministry

Wow! the last two days have been a whirl-wind of ministry. The ministry in the Non-Jik was incredible. This village has several 100 homes. We had a meal for the community and then a service. During the service our team participated in several fun songs to get people involved and give them a chance to laugh at the funny farong (Americans/foreigners). Our team shared the drama once again and then after the scene of the crucifixion David preached with Chansamone translating. After sharing with them the good news of a Creator God who has made a way for us to be restored to Him through Jesus. the drama team ended the service with the resurrection and restoration scenes. The service was very effective at laying a foundation for future evangelism and giving the believers a starting point to begin sharing Christ with their friends and neighbors. One lady said, "we have NEVER had anyone come to our village and talk about God." After the service we laid hands on the planting team and prayed for them as they begin this venture. The implications of this ministry are huge as they are just a few miles from the Cambodia border.
One funny note is that we Farong we quite mesmerized by the giant geckos devouring the bugs on the illuminated wall behind the stage. We are talking 10-12 inches long and heads 2 inches wide.

Ministry in Ubon Ratchachani

We arrived in Ubon Ratchachani via Bangkok yesterday (friday). Ubon is a province in Northeast Thailand. The ministry here is a amazing. This morning we awoke early ate breakfast and headed over to a property recently purchased for Mekong Church Ubon. The church was begun about ten years ago. Chansamone was teaching English at Ubon University and launched the church with University students. The first Convert was Pu who is now the Pastor of the Church. They are in the process of building a 300 seat worship building and we had the privledge of helping to pour 7 of the foundational columns.

This afternoon and evening we will be working in a village called Non Jik to help launch a new church. There are atleast 1000 people living in this village. There has never been a Church in this village. This is the home village of Pu (the pastor of the Ubon Church). Pu's father became a Cristian and then other families followed. They have been traveling back to Ubon 2 hours for the last 2 yrs. Since Pu followed Christ 10 years ago several Non Jik families have also believed and the time is ripe for a church plant. We will be doing a Drama depicting creation, the fall of man, the crucifiction of Jesus, and resurection and salvation of man. David will be preaching and we will be singing.

Sunday we will worship in Non Prasert, were the mother Church is located. Directly after church we will drive to another village in the Lueng Nokta District (another 2 hours away).

tsunami orphans

The last several days we traveled to a local school where we met with orphans who have been adopted by relatives/friends after the tsunami. We sang songs, played frisbee, and blew bubbles. Dave shared the gospel to the orphans and their families. He explained the importance of the bondage that sin brings as well as repentance, which brings so much freedom and life. Tom, Suwanne, Suay, and Muay have been insturmental in the rebuilding of lives, and houses after the devastating wave. We are learning some Thai words and also getting used to the heat! We took a ferry ride today to go and see some of the houses that Mercy Foundation built after the tsunami. So far this has been a great trip. We have enjoyed getting to know Tom and the others.

Sunday @ Khao Lak

We arrived in Bangkok on saturday with all but 4 bags (which have been returned, save 1). Caught a connecting flight on AirAsia to Phuket. Dinner and some shopping for supplies at the Lotus (walmart + foodcourt= thai mall). We finished our journey of about 40 hours in Khao lak. This is the sight of much of the Tsunami damage. As we drove into town we desended from a hill with a resort from much many of the videos that captured the devestating wave were taken.
Today (sunday), we had breakfast and worshiped the King of the Universe. We are presently getting ready to visit with 60 Tsunami Orphans to share with them the love and hope of Jesus.
We are also prayful for our church home Longview as it is 1:42pm here and 1:42am in MS. As you awaken this morning we attest and affirm that the Lord's Mercies are new every morning. We pray for the service at Longview that Jesus is lifted high.
David

all together

We are finally all together (except for Levi who is already in Bangkok). We are about to board the plane for Bangkok. We'll check in soon.

Arrival in Hong Kong

We are in Hong Kong. Well.......atleast 9 of us. 4 of us got bumped in LA and put on a later flight about 1.5 hours. Don't weep for them too quick, they got first class on their flight. We should all meet back up in Hong Kong and be together on our flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok. Other exciting events included Sarah losing her boarding pass from gate screening to the gate (like 200 steps). And Ashley leaving her bag at the screening check point (causing some sprinting by the gate agent to recover the bag). Overall God has been gracious to us and worked out the challenges. Keep Praying for His Sovereign hand to guide us.