Christmas Update

A lot has happened since we last updated our blog (sorry)!  But that means that we've been busy!  Since our last update we have taught another English course, visited Myanmar and Laos do extend/renew our visas, had Thanksgiving with our students, told the Christmas story to our students at a TLC English Christmas party, went on a scavenger hunt around Chiang Mai, attended our friend's, Doi's, Christmas outreach in his village, visited Thoeng and their Christmas service, celebrated our 2nd anniversary, and invited some students and friends to our house Christmas evening to celebrate Christmas and enjoy a visit from TLC Christmas carolers.  Time is definitely going by quickly here in Thailand.  We realized recently that we are more then a third of the way finished with our MAPS assignment and only have 7 more months.  We have really enjoyed our time here so far.  God has definitely been answering prayers and blessing the ministry here in Chiang Mai.

More students signed up for our last English course at TLC.  We are enjoying getting to know our new students and building deeper relationships with our returning students.  We are also excited to see our students come to TLC Java when they don't have English class to study or hang out.  Good community is being built and many of our students are seeing TLC as a place to study, relax, and meet new friends.  During this English course we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with our students.  At our Thanksgiving party, students laughed hysterically as we played "Pin the Tail on the Turkey" and enjoyed chicken, mashed potatoes, and apple cider.  They also learned about why we celebrate Thanksgiving by reinacting the first Thanksgiving (which was fun to see).  Afterwards, we all shared what we were thankful for. 

During our Christmas party, students had a "snowball" fight, built gingerbread houses, sang Christmas carols, and learned about the real reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus.  Students also brought school and art supplies that TLC church members and English students will bring to an orphange on Saturday, January 9th.  TLC English classes are taking a break right now since students had midterms and many students are going home to celebrate the New Year.  However, during midterms, students could still be seen at TLC studying.  We encouraged students to come study at TLC during their week of midterms and we provided some snacks and soda for them to enjoy during the hours we would typically have English class.  It was so exciting to see students come and study at the coffee shop because it helps the students to see the church as a welcoming community in which they can become involved.

During the week of the students' midterms, we also had an assignment.  Lauren, our supervisor in charge of the English center, created a Scavenger Hunt for us to finally get to know the city we have been living in for four months.  We learned a lot about Chiang Mai and now feel more comfortable getting around the city.  A highlight video will soon follow and you can look forward to seeing that. :)

The weekend after our Chiang Mai Scavanger Hunt, we went 5 hours north of Chiang Mai to Thoeng.  There we helped our friend, Doi, with a Christmas outreach he had organized for his home village.  About 50 people attended the party, heard testimonies from local Thai pastors, heard about the Christmas story (some for the first time), and were blessed with hearing some traditonal Thai Christmas songs.  Those that attended had a great time and were talking about it days after the party occured.  While up North we also attended the Thoeng Christmas service (the church where we will beginning an English program in March).  During our visit more details fell into place for when we will teach English such as we found two places church members have offered us to stay for free.  We feel so blessed by this since we will be keeping our house in Chiang Mai and still paying rent for our house during the months we won't be in Chiang Mai.  The church has also begun arranging classes for us to teach throughout the days and weeks we will be in Thoeng.  We are very excited about working with the church in Thoeng. 

As we mentioned before, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary this year.  To celebrate, we took 3 nights to go relax in Southern Thailand on a beach in Phuket.  The weather and beach were beautiful!  We felt very blessed to spend our anniversary in such an amazing area.  It was a great place for us to reflect on the past two years of married life. 

We came back to Chiang Mai on Christmas day and celebrated Christmas with some friends and students we have grown close to.  One of our students/friends told us that he was very happy to be celebrating Christmas at his first ever Christmas party.  Some other firsts for some of our students/friends was putting up a Christmas tree and being visited by carolers from the church.  The carolers sang "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Feliz Navidad" by candlelight.  They did a great job and it is a Christmas we will always hold near and dear to our hearts.

Coming up we will be beginning another English course on January 5th.  Please pray that students will return so that we can continue to build relationships with them.  Julie's parents are also visiting from January 6th to February 8th.  We are looking forward to their visit and spending time with family.  Please also pray for our orphanage outreach with TLC church.  Please pray that the students will be excited about this opportunity and they will witness God's love through the members at TLC.  The next Saturday we will be having an opportunity for our students we are calling "Quest."  Quest is a time when we will be inviting our students to come and learn more about God and Christianity.  Please pray as we plan this event and that the students who are seeking to learn more about God and Christianity will take advantage of this opportunity. 

Thank you so much again for your prayers and encouragement!  God is definitely answering prayers and we feel so blessed as we are serving here in Thailand.  May God bless you and may you have a happy new year!