Busy, Busy, Busy!

First of all, we apologize that it's been a long time since we have updated our blog, but that is because we have been busy, busy, BUSY!  We are so thankful for how busy we have been because that means that we are making the most out of our remaining time here in Thailand.  We can't believe that we have only one more week of ministry!  The time has gone by so quickly and we are very sad to say goodbye to our friends who have been like family during our time here in Thailand.  During this last week we will try to make the most of every minute we have left here.  To keep you updated, here's what we've been doing lately....

Baan Pong

For the past month we have been working on the remodling of a new community center that will be opening in a town near Chiang Mai called, Baan Pong.  The community center is made possible by a vision from a church member at a house church in Baan Pong, our friend, Doi, who will be leading the community center, and Venture Expeditions.  We have been helping with the remodling by tearing down a wall, helping choose tile, painting, installing trim, and Scott using more of his construction management expertise.  It's been fun getting down and dirty and seeing the house transformed into a community center that will change the lives of many members in the community.  Please pray for Baan Pong especially because there has been some resistence from monks and people in the community.  There have been threats of protests once the community center is opened.  Please pray for the safety of the people working in the community center and that the relationships Doi has made with members of the community already at the school and government center will be strengthened, not weakened.

Before

After (with trim still needing to be done)

Before tearing down the wall

During tear down of the wall.

The wall is gone!

Before

After (the paint is now touched-up and goes down to the tile)

A church in Chiang Mai came and helped break up concrete and paint.  Before working, it's important to play games!  In Thailand, work needs to be fun!  Here, Derek, a volunteer from Evangel University, and Julie play a game where one person has to put on a helmet before being hit by a pillow.  Julie lost... she was too slow putting on the helmet.

Painting the windows.

TLC English: Quest 3

We are so thankful for more teachers at TLC English Center.  During the USA's summer months, 5 students from Evangel University came to serve in missions in Thailand.  We are also thankful for two volunteers from Venture Expeditions who have come to teach both at Baan Pong and TLC English Center as well as work in the coffee shop.  On June 20th, we had our 3rd Quest event.  For this Quest, we created an "Amazing Race" scavenger hunt.  Students and teachers were divided into teams and given tasks to complete before moving on the next leg of the race.  Everyone had tons of fun exploring the city together.  One team finished all the legs of the race and won a free certificate to go bowling the following Sunday.  At the end of the scavenger hunt, we spoke about how as people we are all searching for something and, as Christians, we find that the answer to our searching is a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The pastor of TLC also preached and students got into small groups lead by TLC church  members where students asked questions and church members shared their testimonies.  We had 4 students say they wanted to start coming to church and had more questions about Christianity.  Praise God that about 20 students were able to hear the Gospel.

Students hear Steve, a student from Evangel University, give his testimony as Prin translates Steve's testimony into Thai.

TLC English Classes

Right now we have 77 students studying at TLC English Center!  We are approaching our goal of finishing three curriculum books each for three different levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) as we start the final week of teaching at TLC.  It's been rewarding to see the teachers from Evangel and Venture Expeditions using the curriculum we created to teach their classes and focus on building relationships with the students without being stressed about creating their lessons from scratch.  Sadly, TLC English center is losing all their teachers at the end of this month as the students, Venture Expedition volunteers, and we return to America.  Please pray for TLC English center and that teachers will be called to teach at TLC English Center so we can provide classes and opportunities for TLC to build relationships with the large amount of students we have.

Scott with four of our students during a bowling event.

Happy Birthday to Scott and Lauren!  We had a Friday night birthday party for Scott and Lauren's birthday on July 2nd.

In June, we celebrated Nathan's 1st birthday!  We made the birthday cake!  We think he liked it...

Coming up....

English Camp

This weekend we will be hosting a TLC English Camp.  We have a total of 38 people attending (students and TLC church members).  The theme of the camp is "Pirates."  We have planned English activities and games around this theme and are excited about the fun times we will have with our students.  Pictures will be posted after this weekend!

We hiked up to Wat Suthep with Stephanie, Derek, and Tessa (Stephanie and Tessa came to Thailand through Venture Expeditions and Derek came with the Evangel University team).

Quest 4

On Saturday, July 17th we will be having another Quest!  We will invite students to come learn about Christianity as we play games and explore the 10 levels of the beautiful Mae Sa Valley Waterfall! Please pray that students will come interested to learn more about Chrisitianity and that God will prepare their hearts for this event. 

One of the waterfalls at Mae Sa Valley Waterfall

Baan Pong Finishing Touches

As with any construction project, it seems neverending so please pray that we will find the time to help finish the final touches we have planned to do at the community center in Baan Pong.  During this final week we hope to install trim and fnish other final touches to the work we have done at the house.

Scott and Doi at Scott's birthday party at TLC

See you later, not goodbye

Our last church service at TLC will be on Sunday, July 18th.  We already feel a sadness for leaving Thailand and the friends we have made here and expect it to be quite an emotional day.  But, we like to say, "see you later, not goodbye" because we definitely want to come back.  Right now we are praying about when and to what extent we would return.  To help us with the transition back to the USA we are thankful for our friends Dave and Heidi who have come to help during our last two weeks teaching and who will be traveling with us around Southeast Asia before we return to the states on August 1st.  We are very thankful for their support and joining us in Thailand!

Heidi and Dave as we explored Mae Sa Valley Waterfall to prepare for Quest

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS!  Our time here in Thailand could  not have been so successful without you!  We really have felt blessed during our time here in Thailand!  Thank you!

No More Curfew

Last night was the last night citizens of Chiang Mai and other provinces needed to be home by 9pm as a result of the violence in Bangkok.  After our last post, the violence has calmed down.  Many protestors have returned home and a clean-up in Bangkok has begun.  The Prime Minister announced that he will not hold early elections like some people expected, but would first like to see that the violence would stop before considering the protestors request for an early election.  For more information on what is happening, you can read the following article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100523/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_politics.  This situation is not resolved yet.  Please continue to pray for Thailand and that these past couple of days will not just be the eye before the storm. 

Today we attended our first TLC church service since moving back into our house in Chiang Mai.  We were very excited to see everyone we had missed during our time in Thoeng.  Scott gave a testimony, in Thai,  about the Quest we had in Thoeng.  Everyone was very impressed with how his Thai has developed since being away.

This week we will be teaching our last week of Java Talk.  We will be showing the movie, "The Ultimate Gift."  Check out the trailer for the movie below.



In June, TLC English Center will be teaching our regular English curriculum.  Many students will be returning from summer internships and living at home for the summer.  Please pray that we will be able to strengthen the relationships we have already established.  Also pray that we will be able to build new realtionships as new students hear about and come to learn English at TLC.  In June, a team from the US will be coming to help teach at TLC.  Please keep them in your prayers as well and that they will develop relationships with the students and show the students the love God has for them.  In addition, pray that they will arrive here safely and be kept safe during their time here in Thailand.

Back in Chiang Mai

We were welcomed into Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon by a heavy downpour of rain.  Usually, we would be excited about such a rainstorm, but we were not considering all of our belongings were packed in the back of the truck with no shelter from the rain.  Moving back into our home in Chiang Mai was a little wetter than we would have liked, but laughed at the irony.  We were thinking of coming back to Chiang Mai on Saturday, but stayed in Thoeng one extra day since the pastor of the church told us that the church would like to give us a gift on Sunday.  It was nice to see the church members before leaving and also say thank you to them for allowing us to come and help.  The ironic thing is, that part of their gift to us were some nice towels.  They must have known that it would rain on us coming home.

Yesterday, we taught our first English classes back in Chiang Mai at TLC English Center.  This will be the last Java Talk course of the summer since students will be returning to study at the university in June.  For this Java Talk course our focus is discussing movies.  During the two week course we will be watching two movies, our first movie is Secondhand Lions, that have a motivational moral message.  Each day, we will watch about 30 minutes of the movie and discuss related questions.  The first day of Java Talk went well and the students expressed their excitement for the course.  We are also teaching an advanced class at 5:00pm using our conversational English curriculum.  The students in this class are all new students to us and we look forward to getting to know them.

As some of you may know already, Thailand is experiencing politcal unrest.  Demonstartions in Bangkok by a group called "red shirts" that began peaceful have become more violent as the military has been fighting back with live ammunition.  The red shirts are protesting for a dissolution of Parliament and calling for new elections since the red shirt's political party was not able to participate in the previous elections due to corruption charges.  So far negotations have not been successful and the violence continues.  Some reports say that the number of casualties have reached 35 people, but the actual number is not clear.  Please join us in prayer that the violence does not continue to get worse and a solution is in the not to distant future.  Please also pray that through all the chaos, people will turn to Jesus and see the peace and love He offers.

Thoeng Quest

On Saturday, we invited our students to come with us to a waterfall in Phu Sang.  We told our students to come if they would like to learn more about Jesus.  When we had planed this event, we didn't have too many students and though maybe 4 would come.  However, God blessed us the week after we decided to have this event with more students and a total of 33 students came to the waterfall to play games, swim, and hear about Jesus.

Some of our students at Phu Sang Waterfall

This was our first time planning a Quest event on our own, so we were a bit nervous.  We told students we would buy them lunch as well (when we thought we would have only 4 students) and had to make sure we followed through on what we said.  We were able to feed all the students for less than $30 (and we had leftovers)!  Praise God for Five Star Chicken, a local chicken stand.

We were also worried about how we would be able to watch so many students.  We were thankful that a few parents came to help supervise the children.  From Thoeng, we drove a total of 16 people in our truck to the waterfall.  We laughed about the things we could do that day that we could have never down in America.

We fit 8 students in the back...

5 students in the cab...

and 3 adults up front... we were thankful our friend, Kae, could come help.  She was a HUGE help, expecially since she helped translate for us.

The other 17 students met us at the waterfall.  After some time for lunch and playing in the waterfall, we gathered the students together to play some English cames with the theme of needing to search for something.  We later explained that, as people, we are searching for answers and, as a Christian, the answer for us is a relationship with Jesus.  Scott then led worship, one Thai song and one English song.  This was his first time leading a Thai worship song!  He did a wonderful job!  After singing, Ajarn Sawang, the pastor of a Assembly of God church in Phu Sang, shared the gospel message.  About 15 of the students there already had a relationship with Jesus, but 18 were not Christians.  Some heard the gospel message for the first time and responded by saying they would like to come to church or have questions and would like to talk to someone more about Christianity.  We are going giving these names to the pastors in Phu Sang and Thoeng so that they can follow-up with these student requests.  Please pray that they will continue to seek God and develop a relationship with Jesus.

Some of our students picnicking with their family.

Leading games...

Julie and Jinny... Jinny will be heading to the university on Saturday.  She was one of the students who was interested in finding out more about Christianity.  Please pray for her and that she will continue to seek God.

Students play by the waterfall.

It was a hot day, the students really enjoyed cooling off in the water. :)

We will be in Thoeng for one more week teaching at our house, the church, and one more time in Phu Sang.  We are thankful for how God has blessed us here with the provision of many students and the students' interest in Christianity.

On Sunday, we will be heading back to Chiang Mai and teaching the last Java Talk course for the summer.  Our students will soon be returning to school and regular classes will be beginning in June.

Please be in prayer for Scott's family.  Scott's cousin, Catherine, passed away on Tuesday afternoon.  She had been battling cancer for 5 years.  Please pray that God will provide the comfort and strength that his family needs during this difficult time.

Scott, Aunt Nancy, Catherine, and Uncle Glen during a visit to Mason City in 2007.

In other news, yesterday we purchased our plane tickets back to the states.  We will be arriving in Chicago on August 1st at 4:00pm.  Please pray about our future.  Julie is currently looking for a job as a special education teacher.  Job vacancies are scarse, but she did apply for two high school positions and hopes to hear from them soon.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support!  We love you all and feel very blessed to have such supportive family and friends.

Quest 2

This weekend we took a trip back to Chiang Mai. TLC English Center had 30 students this course and decided to do another Quest, a day when students are invited to play games, sing songs, and learn about Christianity. This time, 15 students said they were interested in attending. We were so excited to see so many students interested in Quest. We had the weekend free and decided to take the opportunity to help as well as meet the new students and see some of our old ones.

On Sunday, we packed the vans and trucks to make a trip to Bua Tong Waterfall near Chiang Mai. There were many people there picknicking and cooling off in the waterfall, but we managed to find a shady area to lay down our mats and keep our belongings as we climbed and played in the waterfall.

After enjoying the waterfall, the students gathered back on the mats. We played a few Engilsh games with the theme of seaching for something. After, our friend, Prin, led worship songs and then the pastor of TLC, King, shared about having Jesus in your life. Then, his wife, Apple, also gave a testimony. Many seeds were planted that day in students who had never heard the gospel message. Please pray that they fall on fertile soil.

Prin leads worship at Bua Tong Waterfall

P. King shares the gospel message with students from TLC English Center.

Thoeng Round 2

On our drive to Thoeng.

We packed some of our belongings in the back of the truck and drove 4 hours northeast to Thoeng once again. In the middle of the hot and dry season, God decided to play Song Kran too and it began to rain.  We were worried many of our things would be soaked, but we lucked out.  We moved back into the same house we stayed in before and were glad to see the house had not been carried away by ants.

Some of the animals that come to our house are welcome... some are not!

At the stoplight in Thoeng.

Scenes from the market.

Thai farm truck

This past week we have been teaching at a school in Thoeng called Kittikhunthoengvittaya.  Kittikhun is a Thai word meaning grace.  There are about 300 1st through 6th grade students attending the school's summer camp.  In the morning, the students are in the classroom learning different subjects including Engish.  Scott is teaching the students in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes.  Julie is teaching the students in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classes.  We teach a new group every hour from 9 until 12 and each group has about 50 students.  At first, the number seemed overwhelming, but we have had some help from the Thai teachers at the school.  We are so thankful for their help in classroom management and translating when the students do not understand us.  After lunch, the students rotate between swimming lessons in the school's pool, cooking lessons, music lessons, or art lessons.  When the students leave at 3pm, the pool is open to the public.  The director of the school invited us to come swim there as well.  In this heat, we are glad to take a dip.  It's also nice to get to interact some more with our students.  When we frist get there, we try to get some exercise by doing laps, but students tell us, "Enough!  No more swimming!  Play with us!" 

Kittikunthoengvittaya School

We also will be teaching at a new house church on Saturdays and in Phu Sang, a city near Thoeng, every Friday.  This past Friday, we went to Phu Sang to teach.  Julie had two younger students and Scott had 5 older high school students.  The owner of the house where we are teaching invites many of the children in her village to church each week and is now inviting them to learn English as well.  Some weeks she brings as many as 20 people to church! 

The students in Phu Sang.

A mechanical buffalo used for farming.

We recently heard news back in Chiang Mai that a English student at TLC has recently decided to become a Christian.  Praise God!  Please continue to pray for all of our students!  Thank you again for all your support and prayers!

Opportunity to Serve

Our friend/boss, Lauren, made this website to recruit people to teach English at TLC Center.  Volunteers to teach English are needed when we leave at the end of July.  Check it out and pray about it!

http://opportunitytoserve.wordpress.com/

Song Kran Holiday

Sawatdii pii mai! 

(Happy New Year!)

We returned to Chiang Mai for a couple weeks around the Thai New Year, Song Kran. For the first couple of days we had to go to Laos once again to get a new visa. We took an overnight bus ride to the border of Laos and Thailand. We then stayed overnight in Vientienne after turning in our papers to obtain a new visa. The next night we boarded an overnight bus once again back to Chiang Mai. We were very tired by the end due to lack of sleep, but remained healthy this time. We made sure to take a lot of vitamins and wore face masks while on the bus. We are happy that this was our last trip to Vientienne and we got a visa that will last until we will be returning to the USA in August.

We also helped teach another session of Java Talk at TLC. One night during class we had fun working on the importance of how to give clear directions by making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Many of our students had never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before so it was definitely a new experience. We had our friend, Doi, eat one. When we told him about what it was he asked, "You mean you mix the peanut butter with the jelly? Gross!!" Later he made Scott eat a fish eyeball and said, "I ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwich so you need to eat this." Some how to us, it didn't seem like a fair comparison.

We also did a lesson on muscles, body parts, and exercise. To conclude the lesson Julie lead a short 15 minute yoga session. Some other highlights were making a variety of salsas during a Friday night party, reading and writing poetry, role playing a jungle survivor interview, and discussing music. We had a total of  8 students this session, the majority all new students! Most of our students have returned home for the summer session or are working so it is definitely exciting to be able to continue to have classes, especially with the opportunities to build new relationships.

People around the moat in Chiang Mai celebrate Song Kran!  You definitely get wet!

Eating dinner along the beach of Chalong Bay in Phuket.

After helping teach Java Talk at TLC, we had a week break for the Song Kran holiday. Scott's mom, Janet, and aunt, Nancy, were able to come and experience the fun! The first few days were spent beside the beach in Phuket before returning to Chiang Mai to celebrate Song Kran. What has now turned into being a country-wide water fight originated from the Thai Buddhist tradition of sprinkling holy water on elders and Buddha statues to symbolize spiritual cleansing. Many Thais come to Chiang Mai to participate in the water fights here. The moat surrounding the city is filled with people in the backs of trucks and standing along the moat with buckets of water being poured on each passerby. This feels good during the hottest days we have experienced in Thailand so far. However, we didn't really appreciate the water that was cooled off by ice. Even when the temperature is 105 degrees, ice cold water being poured down your back is more uncomfortable than refreshing. To celebrate, we loaded our truck with bins of water and members of TLC church and headed to the moat. We had so much fun being out in the water fights and we think Janet and Nancy enjoyed the entertainment from the safety inside of the truck.

Scott and Pong refilling the buckets.

The elephants celebrate Song Kran too!

We also were able to show Janet and Nancy a nearby elephant camp called Mae Sa Elephant Camp. They enjoyed the interaction with the elephants, especially an adorable 2 month old elephant, and the show that displays the elephants playing soccer, painting pictures, and various other talents. We concluded the stay at the elephant camp by going for an elephant ride to a nearby hilltribe village. On the way back from the village, Janet and Nancy were able to experience Song Kran. In the remote mountainous area, Song Kran celebrators could be found splashing any open-aired taxi or motorbike with a bucket of water. Yes, we got a bucket of water splashed at us as we passed by in our open-aired taxi on the way back to the elephant camp from the village.

Scott's mom and Scott riding an elephant.  Nancy and Julie aren't far behind.

A two month old elephant.

An elephant artist.

A woman at the Karen Long Neck village makes a scarf.

A church in the village.

A man at the village next door, a Lishu village, plays a unique woodwind instrument.

Janet and Nancy left to go back to the USA last night and are in the air now on their way to Chicago. We really enjoyed their visit and were sad to see them go. We think they enjoyed their trip, despite the heat.

We had a Thai BBQ the night before they left.

This morning we had to clean and pack some belongings to get ready to go back to Thoeng, a small town about 4 hours northeast of Chiang Mai. We taught their for four weeks before our Song Kran Holiday break. We will be returning to teach for four more weeks. We are hoping to continue to help the newly planted church in the town grow by offering English classes as a community outreach. Please be praying that we can continue to work together with the church to help the members begin to develop relationships with more members of the community.

Thank you so much for your continued support. We are continuing to feel blessed here in Thailand. Each day we are working hard to make sure that we work for God by showing His love and blessing to others.

Prayer Requests:

• Scott's cousin, Catherine, was recently told by doctor's that she would have 2 to 4 weeks to live. Catherine has been battling cancer for the past 5 years when doctors originally gave here 1 year to live. It has been about 2 weeks since she received the news. Please pray for healing and strength for Catherine and Catherine's family and friends.
• We are seeking direction on what to do in the upcoming years, seeking careers and how to serve in the USA or continuing to serve in Thailand. Please pray that we will continue to lift our worries and anxieties to God as well as continue to have faith that by seeking God we will be given clarity.
• Please pray that our time in Thoeng will be fruitful and the English outreach will be successful.
• Please pray for the country of Thailand as they are experiencing political unrest.
• Please pray for our students at TLC who are home, working, or studying during the summer session. Please pray that they will remain safe and relationships can continue to be built with them when they return to school at the end of May.
• Please pray for our new students at TLC and for Lauren who is teaching the summer sessions at TLC.