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.

This Week's Photos

Lunch with my morning students, except for one young lady. 

 

One of the tallest office buildings in our area, The Forum, where one of my students works.

My students' co-workers who gave me a warm welcome on the 33rd floor of the Forum.

The view toward the east. Our apartment building is the second in from the right of the green roofed buildings.

Cell Group

How do you hear God's voice?  I was invited to speak to the cell group on Sunday morning as well as lead worship.  Whew!  I prepared a message on how to hear God's voice, thinking that all of the new believers who had been coming to cell group would come on Sunday.  Guess what? None of them came.  Instead, four or five students who are not yet believers came.  I trust that God did something in spite of my lack of spontaneity.  What this situation did, however, was spur the leaders, Pat, Boom, Cathy, and Kate to meet together yesterday (with me) to discuss the cell group and who the target audience should be.  I'm thankful because it's another step toward unity among the leaders who are still getting to know each other and developing a vision for the ministry here.  I was very blessed as I prayed for each leader (except Kate, who had to leave early) and then as they prayed for me, speaking out words of encouragement from the Lord.

Christina is over her digestive problems and is now battling migraine headaches.  Please pray for her.  She has been asked to paint a large world map on the wall of Santisuk, as well as illustrate a book that is being translated from German to English to be published by Bridge, the publishing company that branched out to form Santisuk Rachada.  Pray that nothing would hinder her full involvement in service here.  

That's all for today.  Thanks for reading.

Pictures from the Neighborhood

The Street is the closest mall to where we live and the one with some of our favorite food.

This is a view from just outside our apartment building. I think this image shows the juxtaposition of two worlds: the nice new sky scrapers, and the old dirty shacks. In fact just on the other side of those bushes, there is a dirty, black water canal. 

3. We have a short walk (about five minutes) everyday from our apartment to the school and this is the Soi (alley/street) that we take to get there, with many shops and small restaurants (food stands) along it.

Yesterday we had a prayer meeting for teachers from the Santisuk branches, to pray for the ministry. These are the wonderful people who joined us. 

Badminton, An amazing Testimony, and Worship

We had a free day today and spent it with people from the large Santisuk English school. At 9:30 this morning, 19 people crammed into the church van and headed out to the badminton courts, a large building with about 10 courts. This is a favorite sport here and is played fast and furiously - except for beginners like me who were fortunate to do a couple of good volleys. The heat in the non-ventilated building got almost unbearable for me, but other than that we had a good time😉

Over lunch at the mall, we heard the moving testimony of Shane, a 20 year old Thai man who had a powerful experience with Jesus in 2013, was delivered from addictions, and became a totally sold out evangelist. He teaches children and teens at the school. He led his mother, an extremely devout Buddhist and high government employee, to Jesus and is cultivating a new relationship with his father. Please pray that his father would also come to know Jesus.

Our day ended with the Thai church service here at Santisuk.  This is a cell church so all of the members are actively invoved in the life of their cell group during the week, and actively involved with evangelism as they invite their friends to join them at cell group meetings. 

Here's some great news: Kate was able to borrow a keyboard for me to use to help lead worship for our Sunday cell groups and to play at the school during the week. Already I know of three students who are eager to have a chance to learn a bit about how to play piano - what fun! I can use it the rest of my stay here.