He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Easter morning I was part of a large celebration at the main Santisuk school including all of the branch schools.  One of the students committed his life to Jesus after the sermon.  Praise God!  It was a good time to see Cathy for the last time and I was surprised by an offer from Pat, the manager of our branch, who invited me to spend the afternoon and evening with her.  It was only my second time since being here that I've ridden in someone's car (not a taxi).  We visited a gigantic book fair where her company, Bridge Communications, had a booth.  Her husband is a worship leader at a large Full Gospel church, and we visited there and enjoyed a youth worship service where her son Bond sang.  Bond recently returned from finishing four years at IHOP University in Kansas City.  He said he's still having a bit of reverse culture shock, getting used to the crowds in Bangkok.

Train Ride and Market Day - March 25

Last Sunday, our cell group and other students enjoyed an outing to Amphawa floating market.  I didn't see the floating part of the market, where the sellers are in boats, but my friends said there were quite a few of them.  We had a 10 minute train ride right through the market.  The market is actually located on the train tracks, so when the train come through, the people move just far enough away from the slow-moving train so they're not hit by it, and the sellers take up their awnings.  As soon as the train goes by, they put them back over the tracks.  It looks like huge leaves falling onto the tracks.

       

I enjoyed the park where Boom and I saw the process to make coconut candy and syrup -  much like our maple sugar process. 

     

We stopped and prayed at these beautiful flowers.  The others had fun browsing through the market.  Everyone was thrilled when one of the guys said he had brought his drone to take pictures.  They all enjoyed the long photo shoot when each person got into the boat and the drone took their pictures.

   

Oh yeah, I had a birthday last Friday

Last Friday, my friends surprised me with not one but two birthday cakes and a beautiful dinner at a terrace restaurant with all of my favorite foods, including my new favorite vegetable - morning glories!

      

      

A Day at the Beach

Yesterday, I got a huge gift - a day at the beach with Kate and two new friends, one from Wisconsin and one from Bangkok.  God blessed us with beautiful, sunny, breezy weather.

  

The shot on the right was one Kate took of the same beach on a calm day.

The beach was south of Pattaya, with beautiful fine sand and evergreens for shade.  We saw a large monkey in the tree right next to us who attracted quite a crowd.  I don't think he was thrilled about that, as he tried to grab at a man who was teasing him with a banana.

Healing and Jesus for my New Friends

It's about time I catch you up on my week.
- My Health has slowly but steadily improved, and I'm only coughing about three times a day now.  Pain in my ear has greatly diminished - praise God, and thanks for your prayers!
- Healing Prayer - After a talk with Boom and praying for Nam, our secretary at the school, the Lord led me to offer to do healing prayer with her. I asked her the next day and she agreed to do it.  On Wednesday, we did a two hour session with Boom translating and seemed to have some breakthrough, but there's a lot remaining to be done.  Please pray for Nam, that she would get the help she needs and that God would complete the healing.


Nam on Market Day

- Questions about Jesus - In my morning class with three students, Nut asked why Jesus had to die and I was able to explain the Gospel more clearly to them.  Pray for those seeds to grow in Nut and Koi, and for Thip to grow stronger in her faith.
- What Happened at the Fall - One thing I love about teaching is that when we get to the Bible lesson, the Lord always surprises me by bringing out themes that show that God's word has answers to the human condition.  In the level 3 class in the evening, we've been discussing the first chapters of Genesis, creation and the fall.  On Thursday, we discussed all that man lost when he chose to disobey God and eat the fruit - basically all that makes man distinct from animals - all that makes man to live in the image of God. Revelation came as we discussed and I could see the students receiving it.
Here's most of my evening class at KFC after class last week:



- People to Pray For - As I've gotten together with my students and Jessie's students for dinner, my heart has ached for those who are enmeshed in the culture of materialism and media that dominates their lives.  Please pray for Book, a high-level conceptual graphic designer at an ad agency.  He seemed open to the Gospel when I talked to him, but actually told Boom and Jessie he's not at all interested in learning more about God.  To him, appearances seem to be much more important than anything else.  His girlfriend, White, however, is very interested in the things of God.  Pray for her to come to Christ and to influence Book.  Here's a picture of them:

A New Adventure in Bangkok

Thursday, 1:00 pm
I'm sitting in the waiting room of the ENT clinic at Bangkok Hospital, because my infection has very clearly shown itself to me as a sinus infection. It hasn't gone away with one round of antibiotics (here they can be purchased over the counter). As this month has progressed, I've realized that this infection really started in mid-January and, except for three weeks in February when the symptoms almost cleared up (except for a dull ache in my right ear), it has continued.

This hospital is well known for excellent care and English-speaking staff - and the cost is much less than a doctor - especially a specialist - in the US. Since I've repeatedly suffered from sinus infections during the past 10 years or so, it's a good time and place for me to get some answers and hopefully some good treatment.

Here's a shot looking up toward the Ear Nose and Throat specialist's office. This is one of the best-known hospitals in Asia.  In fact, a woman I met here from Maldives said it's one of the main hospitals for wealthy people from Arab-speaking countries.  Of course, it's more expensive than an average Thai hospital as well -  but much cheaper than an American one!                                                                                     

I got a CT scan on Thursday but it was too late in the day to get the results so I had to go back Friday - my 60th birthday!!

Friday, 10:30 am:
The results: a deviated septum in my right nostril has been causing all of the infection problems.  I've started taking the antibiotics and other medications, but I'm also using these results as fuel for prayer, because in the past few months, God has totally healed me of 35 years of back pain and 18 years of headaches.  I'm glorifying Him here because I've had no headaches since being in Thailand, and when I was here in 2016, I had them every day! God, our Father heals!

When I finished my morning with the ENT doctor, I was greeted by these wonderful classical musicians at the foot of the escalator.

Students and Teachers

I'm having lots of trouble posting photos.  I tried to re-do this one and wiped out the whole post!  I'll summarize it here.  I met with Boom, my friend with an amazing evangelism ministry here at Santisuk.  We were energized to work as a team reaching my students for Christ.  The Lord also uses Boom mightily in healing gifts and words of knowledge.  Here's a fun picture of her from my first day here in 2016.

My 10:00 am class has three students, Koi, Thip, and Nut.  Thip comes from a Christian (baptist) home, and we've had good talks about wholehearted commitment to Christ.  I've also been able to share the whole Gospel message with this wonderful small group of people.  Koi's brother is a religion professor for Buddhist monks in a monastery in northern Thailand.

  

My evening class (7:00-9:00 pm) has 11 wonderful women as students.  We've been talking about the creation days in our lessons and on Thursday had a discussion about Creation/ID vs. Evolution. The Thai people have no creation story but learn about evolution in school.
Here are my students hard at work.

Praise and Pomelo

Sunday was the only time I led worship at cell group, since we'll be gone the next two Sundays, so it was a special opportunity for me.  We had an intimate group of 6 people, and God did powerful things.  As He came upon us mightily with His love and peace during worship, I opened my eyes and saw that one person was weeping.  She explained how powerfully the words to one of the songs had ministered to her, "My sin was great, your love was greater."  As the morning progressed, she received and also gave a great deal to the group with her vulnerability.  We had a rich time of praying for one another and speaking words of encouragement over each other.

After lunch and games, I went home to attack my huge pomelo - my favorite tropical fruit.  It tastes like a sweet grapefruit, but is a bit of work to get into the luscious fruit.  Here are the stages of peeling a pomelo.

1.  Cut the outer peel in sections.

2.  Peel the thick outer shell away and begin to separate the sections.

3.  Carefully cut the thick membranes and pry out the delicious fruit.

My Weak(ness), cont.

Whew!  You can see from the last post what my main problem has been.  Although that was the busiest day so far, I seem to move in busy -ness rather than in the Spirit. (I'm sure my husband is nodding right now!) On Thursday night, as I stumbled into my room, coughing and feverish, I cried out to the Lord to change me.  I don't want to live this way.  I want margins in my life so I can give out life to others.

As I rested these past two days, I received much wisdom and I hope, change for my future here and in Minnesota. Here are the scriptures the Lord has been speaking to me from:
John 14:10, 12, Jn 16:13-15 - He wants to speak through me and do his works through me
Romans 8:10 - He has made my spirit alive - so I need to live with the Holy Spirit leading my spirit
2 Cor. 2:14 - He manifests the sweet aroma of Christ through my life
2 Cor. 5:14, 17-19, 20-21  - He wants his love to control me and he has made me new, completely new! He enables me to bring reconciliation with Him to others. That's what it means to be an ambassador for Christ.
1 John 2:27 - His anointing for all of this is in me!

My Weak ....I mean, My Week

It seems four days have gone by already since my last post.  I'll start at the end of the week, where I am right now - in my room where I've been for two days.  I slept 36 of the last 48 hours because my sickness worsened.  Fortunately, we don't have classes on Fridays, so I spent the day sleeping.  Today I finally got up at 11:30.  I feel that this time has been a reset and a clear message to me. Let me explain.

On Thursday, here's what my day looked like:

6:30  Wake up and exercises

7:00  Treadmill walk upstairs in the exercise room

8:00  Start laundry, breakfast, then prayer

9:15  Hang laundry

9:40  Walk to Santisuk

10:00  Teach class (by the way, all 3 students finally showed up on Thursday!)

12:00  Out to lunch with Thip - she wants to hang out a lot since she has a lot of time on her hands this month. I'm happy about the opportunity to speak into her life.

1:30  Shop for food and walk home in 90+ degrees.

2:30  Visit a bit with Jessie at home

3:30  Free time

4:45  Walk to school with Jessie for a meeting with Kate (our last training)

I was feeling quite weak by that time so I asked Kate to help me find some bubble tea - not really what I needed!!  That ended up being a long walk before our 5:00 meeting.

6:00  Hang out and play games with students before class
7:00  Class
9:00  Out to dinner with some of my level 3 students

Rest Day and First Day of Classes

Yesterday was mostly a rest day - with a little more teacher training thrown in.  Kate, Jessie, and I took public transportation - subway and elevated train - to a couple of huge, elegant malls in the evening.  One of them had a theme for each floor based on a city in the world. Here's a sample from the Istanbul floor.

Another one had a beautiful hanging garden and another walkway with indoor tropical gardens.  Here are Jessie (L) and Kate (R) outside of that mall.

I taught my my first class at 10:00 this morning - to ONE student!  There were only three registered for this level 1 class, and the other two didn't show up.  Since we have a two-hour class and Thip, my student who showed up is quite good at English, we finished the class material in about an hour and had another hour to visit.

She told me she was raised in a Baptist home - very unusual for Thailand. Actually, only less than 1% of the population are Christians.  We talked about needing to make a commitment to Christ as an adult even though she was raised in a Christian home.  She said it's very difficult to walk out the Christian faith when she has no community support other than church on Sundays.  She also said she hasn't been reading her Bible, so I asked whether she wanted to learn a simple method of studying the Bible.  We studied the short passage from today's lesson, Luke 5:17-20 using the Inductive Bible Study method (my favorite). She was very interested.  I'm hoping to connect her with Boom, the staff woman who's committed to following up on students.

Another thing I was able to share with Thip is the healing power of God that I've experienced in recent months - something she's never been exposed to.  I'm excited to continue our conversations.

Teacher Training and Cell Group

Sorry, I haven't been able to post photos since I've been here in Bangkok. Jessie said the Seoul airport had upgraded wifi because of the Olympics, so I posted the photo there with no problem.

Saturday, my friend Cathy, who now directs the large Santisuk school, had an all-day teacher training.  Guess what?  All but 1 of the 10 or so new teachers are from Minnesota!!  Wooddale Church has a large group here at the large school.

Yesterday was Sunday "cell group" , the weekly church meeting at Santisuk Rachada.  We had communion and instead of bread and juice, guess what the elements were?  Sticky rice and water!  I don't think God was hindered in any way!  There were three newer young women there and the teaching was done by a Spirit-filled man and his wife.  He did an excellent job of speaking about Passover to explain the history of communion, and then expounding on Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice from Hebrews 10:1,2.  He later had a word of knowledge and I was able to pray for Fei, who responded to the Word. I'm going to attempt to post a photo again.

That's Jessie, my housemate just to the right of me.

Arrived

I arrived safely - and quite tired, after 24 hours en route - at 10:45 last night.  Because of delays with de-planing and immigration, I finally joined up with Jessie and Joe, who met me at the airport, at around midnight.  We took a taxi to my condo which I'm sharing with Jessie, a house-mate also from Minnesota.  She's been teaching English to kindergartners in Seoul, Korea for the past 4 years. Here's our place.  Jessie has her own room, and there's also a little kitchenette off the living room/dining room space.  It's quite comfy.

We had lunch with Kate, the director of the school, and later I was able to share with Pat, Kate, and Jessie about the healings I've received during our revival meetings.   We marveled at the Lord's goodness.

On the Journey

I'm in Seoul now, waiting for my last of three flights to Bangkok in a couple of hours.  This trip has gone more smoothly and better than any trans-Pacific flight I've ever had, thanks to having the best seat in a brand new plane from Detroit to Seoul.

During the long flight, I was reviewing my journal from the past couple of months in which God has done so many amazing things in my life.  I took all of them through the whole Sozo process to be sure there's completion.  Some of what He was doing: breaking off perfectionism, healing me of a long-standing block in my marriage, helping me repent of fear of man, and much more.  It was a powerful time for me.

Back to Bangkok

This Wednesday, March 7, I'll be heading back to Bangkok to join some of my favorite people teaching English at Santisuk, Rachada.  Here's a short video showing you around the school:  https://vimeo.com/228533135
I'll be there until April 6.

Thanks to all of you who are part of my support and prayer team!

This time, Christina will be here in Minnesota finishing her Art degree at the U of M. Although I wasn't able to gather a team to go with me,  I know God has excellent things in store for me and those I get to know.  He loves each one SO much more than we'll ever know.

During the past few months I've been experiencing the Father's love, healing, and deliverance through the nightly revival services being held at my church, Josiah Center. (See youtube.com/josiahcenter)  I can't help being excited as I get to introduce people who have never heard to our loving Father God and His Son, Jesus. God has healed me of a lifelong back condition and of goiter, not to mention tons of inner healing He's done. As I lead my English classes in reading about Jesus' miracles, I have much more to give them than even the words of Scripture, as powerful as they are. I am a testimony of the miracle working power of God.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was talking to Father about this trip, I sensed that He wanted me to purchase a piano keyboard in Bangkok to donate to the language school so I could continue my morning worship and prayer time that I do at Josiah Center.  When I wrote to the Santisuk staff asking them to set aside a small prayer room, Pat replied, "No, we want you to worship every day right in the main lobby."  I'm thrilled that, as of today, God has provided the money for me to purchase the keyboard.

So, enjoy the blog on this second time around.  May the Lord bless you as you read and pray!

Fruit

In closing, I have to share two comments I received from students in their final essays last week.

 Qiang, a young Chinese/Thai tour guide who's studying English as his third language wrote:

"For the past four years, I've been living alone in Bangkok and have struggled with loneliness.  Sometimes it was very bad.  But now that I'm at Santisuk, I've made new friends and feel like I belong."

Tanoy wrote that she once had a very mean English teacher in grade school and since that time, she didn't try to learn English anymore.  Two months ago, she decided she wants to work as an au pair in America, so she enrolled at Santisuk.  Since then, she says she's been so encouraged and has found that learning English is such fun.  She has much more confidence to speak.

Pray for Tanoy and Qiang, who are continuing their studies this month, along with three of my other students.  (Total enrollment in July is 22).  Pray that their teachers and new friends will draw them to Jesus.

MORE GOOD RETURNS on your investment:
Thank you to all of you who supported us through prayer and financially in this work in Thailand. Because of your generosity, we had more money than we needed. On the Tuesday before we left, I followed up with Pat about the cost of 30 Bibles in the language of our prisoner friends in IDC. Guess what? The amount she told me was exactly the amount of extra US dollars I still had. I was pleased to tell her when I gave her the money that our friends at home were purchasing the Bibles. Please pray that they would arrive soon and get into the hands of the 84+ believers in the immigration prison. They will have to be brought in one or two at a time.

We praise God for all of the fruit of this trip in our lives and the lives of our new Thai friends. Please keep them in your prayers - and keep an open heart before the Lord about going with us to Thailand on our next trip.  Stay tuned for more information! Right now, it's possible that I (Mary) will organize a group to go in January of 2017.

Some Final Photos

Christina's last artistic endeavor before she left - lots of quotes about language and love.

Working with Fai, a very talented young musician who's studying accounting but wants to study music.  Pray that Fai would come to know Jesus.

             Christina's finished work.

                 Cathy, our dear friend - and the main reason we got to Santisuk!  Thanks, Cathy!

The cell group surprised Christina with a birthday party on our bike trip on July 3rd.

Whirlwind Weekend

Whew!  It's hard to believe it's already Tuesday and I haven't written since last Thursday.  The weekend flew by with sightseeing and parties.  Here goes:

Friday, we joined two students at a large market that had thousands of beads for sale.  Christina was in jewelry-maker's heaven!  She purchased some great looking stone beads and is excited to make them into necklaces and bracelets.  The market was about two miles long, stretching through what appeared to be an alleyway in the midst of the city.  Little by little, we were approaching the Grand Palace, which is where we ended up at 50 minutes before closing - enough time to get a good look at the amazing detail that makes up the many temple and palace buildings.  Take a look at some incredible photos by googling "Grand Palace Bangkok."  Most of the temple buildings are completely covered in tiny 1" diamond-shaped pieces of glass or porcelain.  We ended the day by fitting and purchasing a beautiful opal ring for Christina's 20th birthday, which was Sunday - at an incredible price, thanks to Pat's sister, who runs the family jewelry business.

Saturday, we were up at the crack of dawn, headed with 20 other students and staff to our first ever Santisuk English Center Rachada day trip.  We went to a busy but nice beach south of Pattaya, where we had been years ago for AC Conferences.  The highlight of the day was a cooking contest, in which the four Americans had to make a traditional Thai salad dish.  There was even a good-natured judge for the occasion - a cook from one of the many food stands near the beach. My team lost the contest but had a great time joining in the fun.  There was also a banana boat ride for us and a nice swim for Christina and me after the driver dumped us for the second time and we decided to swim in to shore instead of trying to get back on!

Sunday, Christina's birthday brought us out on the road once again to a special cell group activity - biking on the shore of the Chaophraya river at Phra Pradaeng, a peninsula with a 10 mile loop for bikes made mostly of concrete with a railing on only one side and a 4-5' drop into the muddy water on the other!  It wouldn't have been so hair raising, except that our rental bikes were either wobbly or had flat tires or both.  Add to that the fact that, although I think they're prohibited on the bike path, motorbike drivers were zooming along with their bikes on the path with the many weekend cyclists. Christina was surprised by a beautiful cake following lunch at a restaurant, and her favorite dessert in a cafe on the bike trail - mangoes and sticky rice.

Projects of Love

Today, Christina finished her beautiful world map, which you'll see in her photo post later today or tomorrow.  How exciting to make such a useful contribution to Santisuk Rachada, as short termers and students can visualize where they live in relation to each other.  The other book project was given to another artist, who specializes in the type of art the project requires.  I have a project to continue my involvement in Rachada this summer after I return home.  The cell group here needs a new song book, and I've volunteered to help Boom put one together.  Next week, I'll be recording Thai Christian songs to include in the book.

Two days ago, I was asking God to let me see breakthroughs among my students and those of other teachers.  Cathy had mentioned that she's very encouraged to see the openness to the Gospel among so many of the students, and I know it's due in large part to the prayers of so many.  Later that day, I gave a piano lesson to Fai, a girl in the Pre-English class that Jessie teaches.  A week before, I had eaten lunch with her and Jessie and mentioned that we would be getting a keyboard at Rachada.  She excitedly told me that she had taken some piano lessons and plays clarinet, flute, and saxophone as well.  She had wanted to major in music at the University, but her father didn't want her to, so she went with an accounting major.  Her love is music, and we've had a couple of lessons. She learns very quickly.

After the lesson on Tuesday, she began telling me that she'll graduate in May and plans to go to New York to "find herself".  (When I asked Christina where she might have picked up that phrase, she said it sounded suspiciously like the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song!!) During the course of our conversation, I was able to share with her how Jesus guides my life as I trust Him, and how, even though I have problems, He always makes them work out for good.  I asked Boom to explain to her in Thai about the Bible, and how God speaks to us through it, which she did.  Please pray for Fai, that the seeds that were planted will grow.  Today, she gave Christina and me a gift of pomelo, one of my favorite fruits.

Yesterday, I heard a most amazing testimony.  One of Kate's former students, Khem (sounds like "came"), who now tutors her in Thai, told Boom and me about three supernatural incidents from her life.  One was a dream in which Jesus appeared to her as a bright light and spoke to her, "I am listening to you.  You can tell me anything."  In another dream, God warned her about one of her friends who was in trouble and about the need to "keep evil out" of her life and the school, which the director of her school acted on by calling a day of prayer in their school.  The last was when she attended a women's Christian conference and the main speaker called her out of the audience and said, "You feel so small, but God will use you for great things."  My response was, "Wow!  How soon after you saw Jesus in a dream did you give your life to him?" She replied that she's not yet a believer.  Boom talked with her and said that Khem is determined that she will only say "Yes" to Jesus when she can give him 100%.  I thank God for Kate and the other faithful  believers and friends God has placed in her life.  Please pray for Khem, that God's good purposes for her will be fulfilled, and that she will soon surrender to Jesus.

Believers in the Fire

Friday I (Mary) had a very special opportunity.  Cathy took me and a couple from California who are teaching at the main Santisuk school to the local detention center (prison). We brought them food and other items, including three of Christina's handmade bracelets for the teenage girls in the family we visited. Because of our concern for the safety of the people involved, I won't share details here, but please email me at marygjmc@gmail.com if you want more details.  All I will say is that I was personally VERY blessed to see the glowing faces of Christians who are suffering for their faith - and to hear the testimony of a pastor there who said that the believers among this people group in prison number 84!  He begged us for Bibles in their native language, which Pat later said she'd try to get for them.  Here's a link to a BBC article with video footage similar to what we encountered at IDC:  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35654804 You can also read this World Magazine article for more information about this situation: 
https://world.wng.org/2016/01/life_in_the_shadows#.VsjF0m8cIFg.twitter

Yesterday was our first full day off since we've been here.  Our highlight was going to a large city park on the subway line.  Today was a cell group meeting in the morning, followed by a trip to a large weekend market.  When we got back, we swam with some Thai friends in the pool here at our apartments, and it started pouring rain - just like it has been doing just about every day during this rainy season. It cooled us off after our day in the sun at the market.