Phuket ministry

Our team arrived in Phuket almost a week ago and have started our ministry at SHE. SHE focuses on reaching out to bar girls. Since many of the women lack education and employment opportunities, it’s very difficult for them to find well-paying jobs. Therefore, many Thai women turn to prostitution. SHE offers these women other employment options such as learning to make jewelry, bakery goods, and cards. SHE is currently working on constructing another facility where women can further their English, receive job training, and also obtain a solid foundation on the word of God. Therefore, our work here varies from manual labor for their future facility to reaching out to the bar girls.

We will be going out to the bars 2 or 3 nights a week to hang out and build relationships with the girls who are working in the bars. Our team is going to an area of Phuket that SHE has never gone before. Last Friday night, we walked along the streets and mapped out the area; writing down streets and names of bars and praying as we walked. A large part of our ministry will be focused on prayer - the areas of Phuket where these bars are located are very spiritually dark places. There is so much evil and the devil has a foothold in the lives of so many people here. But SHE has seen major changes in the past 4 or 5 years since they've been praying through these streets. We know that God is the one who is going to change and move in hearts - we can't do it on our own.

Last night was our team's first night of going into the bars and talking to the girls. We split up into 3 groups and my group visited 2 bars. The girls were very open and friendly and we had some good conversations with them. We will be going out again tomorrow night and are hoping to reconnect with them and maybe get the chance to invite them to hang out sometime during the day.

I'm inviting you to partner with my team and I in prayer. We know this is so important, especially with what we will be involved in here in Phuket. Pray for:

- Safety - we are being very careful as we go into these bars but please pray for God's protection over everyone on our team. Pray that we will be aware of our surroundings even as we interact with the girls.

- Unity for our team - we don't want anything to get between us because we really need to be united in what we are doing here.

- That we will see the girls as Jesus sees them - beautiful, valuable, and precious to Him. And that we will also have hearts for the men here who have come to buy sex - God loves them too and longs for them to know Him.

- Good connections with the girls; that we will be able to build some good relationships during our time here.

- That these women will desire to leave the bars and try to find some other type of employment through SHE. Pray that they will have soft hearts and will be open to Jesus and will respond to His call on their lives.

Thank you for your prayers!

Farewell, Abba House! We love you!

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:13-14)

Foot washing. There’s something powerful about the act of washing someone’s feet. It is an incredible expression of love and humility.

On our last night at Abba House, after a delicious meal of Mexican food, we gathered together with the Abba House kids and New Life/FCC guys. Jacque shared about how Jesus washed His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. And then she asked the New Life/FCC guys if we could wash their feet.

Many of the men were moved to tears as we washed their feet and prayed over them. The Abba House girls were all watching and some of them were also crying as they saw this unforgettable scene.

What happened next was beautiful. As Marisa was about to wash Jacque’s feet, Tom and Boy stepped in and took over. Jacque has become a mother to these young men who have not experienced a mother’s love before. She has poured into them and encouraged them and loved on them. Now they wanted to bless her by washing her feet. Tom and Boy wept as they washed her feet and Jacque wept as her feet were washed. And many more of us were crying as we witnessed this act of humility and love.

The foot washing didn’t end there. Our entire team was soon seated in chairs, having our feet washed by the men whose feet we had just washed. We had dried the men’s feet with towels, but they dried our feet with the shirts that they wore. I watched this beautiful scene with tears in my eyes until it was my turn to have my feet washed. Lek (my English student) was sitting in front of me, ready to wash my feet. As he was about to start, 10-year old Laa (the only boy at Abba House and also one of my English students) came and joined him and they began to wash my feet together. It was amazing to see this young boy following the example of these men. And as if that wasn’t enough, I also felt Gift’s little arms wrapped around me from behind my chair. By this time, the tears were definitely flowing…

When they finished, I hugged Lek and then turned to hug Laa. I honestly did not expect Laa to be so sad to see us leave. But Laa just wept in my arms as I hugged him for a long time.

The foot washing continued as some of the girls washed our feet, we washed some of their feet, and they washed each other’s feet. I think that most people in the room were crying by this time. There was lots of hugging and praying and words of encouragement being spoken. Many of the guys and a few of the girls got up to share with us about how we had impacted their lives and how they were going to miss us.

I sat with the girls from my English class and laughed and cried together with them. We enjoyed ice-cream sundaes together, a slide show that Marisa had compiled, and even a special rap performance by Tom!

At the end of the night, Abbie and I walked our English class girls back to their room. I said good night to Sophia and Sih and hugged and kissed them goodbye. And then I walked over to Gift’s room to do the same to her. As I was leaving her room and going down the stairs, Gift came to the door and called out my name. I turned around. “I love you,” she told me. Her last words to me.

Our last night at Abba House was sad but it was beautiful. We couldn’t have had a better night. God’s presence was so real in that room.

Abba House, you captured our hearts. We didn’t want to leave you. We will not forget you. You are missed. We love you.

Sad faces...L

Happy faces! J

face painting

An ordinary Saturday afternoon at Abba House.

The plan: paint the Abba House girls' faces.

The end result: a YWAM all-girls team with facial hair (painted on, of course) and many other interesting things on our faces.

It turned out way better than what we had planned - and a whole lot funnier!

We love Abba House!

i ♥ acrostics

Those of you who know me well are aware of my love for acrostic poems and may have even received an acrostic poem from me in the past. If not, you can look forward to perhaps being given one in the future!

So I decided to make an acrostic to describe the New Life guys to you. There are actually two programs that the guys are in: one is Freedom Christian Center (for guys who have come out of prison) and the other is New Life (for guys who have either come out of drug rehab or off the streets). They all live together with Pastor Ed who is mentoring and discipling them.

This acrostic is about all of the guys but I just entitled it ‘NEW LIFE GUYS’ otherwise it would be way too long. Hope you enjoy learning a bit more about these incredible men of God!

N New in Christ. Their lives have been transformed by Jesus. It’s hard for me to imagine them as ex-convicts because their hearts are so changed – God has done an amazing work in each of their lives.

E Eager to learn. The progress that they have made in learning English has been encouraging to see and I’m so proud of them.

W Warm-hearted. I see incredible gentleness and kindness in these men, especially when they are around the Abba House kids.

L Liberated. They have been set free in Christ!

I Industrious. They work hard around the Abba House yard every day. Sometimes, from up in our room, I hear Sit saying, “Thank you, Jesus!” and Boy singing worship songs as they work.

F Fun. They are such a joy to be around and we have so much fun hanging out with, dancing, and worshipping with them.

E Entertaining. These guys make us laugh! Their antics always bring a smile to our faces!

G Generous. They often buy snacks and for us when people come around selling food. (Sometimes the flavours and textures of the food aren’t what we are used to, but we always appreciate the gesture and it’s fun to try new things! J )

U Unique. In a country that is majority Buddhist, these guys stand out as different because of the decision that they have made to follow Jesus Christ.

Y Yearning for more. Hungry to grow and wanting to truly leave behind all addictions and to resist the temptations of their former way of life.

S Servant-hearted. Their willingness to serve was evident during the time that we spent with them in the village. They loaded and unloaded our luggage, washed dishes, played with kids, sang songs, and performed skits.

Here are some pictures from our worship time together yesterday:

Our team with all the New Life/FCC guys

I’m going to miss spending my afternoons with these amazing guys! We never expected to be working with men during our outreach but God has really given us hearts for them and we have grown to truly love and care about them. God has an incredible plan for each of their lives!

Introducing...my English class!

I have the most amazing students ever...want to meet them?

Sih is 11 years old. This girl is so beautiful and full of grace (and she’s incredibly smart)! Sih showers me and Abbie with hugs and kisses everytime she sees us. Her arms are always wide open and ready for a hug. She loves singing and playing guitar and getting head massages.

Sophia is 8 years old. She has a contagious laugh and loves to play! She's always trying to climb up somebody and get into their arms or get them to give her a piggyback ride. She is very active...but when she gets tired, she's always ready for a cuddle!

Patcha is 11 years old. She is such a tomboy and loves to run and play and bike around the Abba House yard. Sometimes it’s hard to tell how she’s feeling and it has been difficult to get close to her. But Patcha is very smart and good at English and is great at drawing pictures!

Laa is 10 years old and is the only boy at Abba House. He loves his roommate Dave, who is from the U.S. and is living here for a year. Laa is always quick to answer questions in English class (sometimes we even have to tell him not to speak because he tells everybody else the answers!) Once after class, he carried my bag for me back to the room – what a gentleman!

Gift is 9 years old. When I first met her, she was very quiet and it was difficult to get her to engage in English class. She just wrote in her notebook and didn’t want to answer any questions. But within a week, Gift had totally warmed up to us! Now me and Gift love to make silly faces together and have special faces that we make for each other. Last night we discovered that we have the same birthday! AAA! We were SO excited! Birthday buddies!

It has been so fun for me and Abbie to teach and play with these five amazing kids. In class, we love to play games and sing songs and play with animal puppets! Since they've been at school all day, we try to make learning English fun for them. And after English, the fun continues as we chase them around the yard - we have learned lots of Thai games from the kids. Our times with them usually end with lying under the stars and singing together or tickling their backs.

For our last class, we had a little party! We ate some snacks, took lots of pictures and some videos, and played games (hide-and-seek-in-the-dark). Here are a few more pictures of our class together - we like to get a little crazy!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

Joy

“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5

Joy is beautiful. She is eight years old and is the youngest girl at Abba House. With her darker skin, she looks almost Indian because she is from southern Thailand. Her mischievous eyes reveal her playful, fun-loving personality. She is quick to laugh. She is silly. She is quieter and more shy during English class but she comes alive when we play games. She loves to be tickled…and to tickle (she knows how ticklish I am so she always gets me back J)! She is a cuddler. She loves holding hands. She loves piggyback rides. She loves hugs.

It’s hard for me to understand why anyone wouldn’t want this incredible little girl? She has captured my heart and I’m finding it difficult to comprehend how I’m going to say good-bye to her in just one week. I heard her story this past weekend and wanted to share it with you.

Joy has experienced a lot of rejection in her life. At a young age, her mother brought her to a Buddhist monastery and left her there. It’s much more common for Thai boys to grow up in monasteries and girls rarely live in this environment. Because of this, Joy was frequently picked on and bullied by the boys. She longed to run away and escape their abusive treatment.

Eventually Joy did run away from the monastery. But she had nowhere to go so she lived on the streets. I have no idea how long she lived on the streets but it scares me to think about what she experienced out there and what could have happened to her.

Thankfully, Joy was rescued and brought to Abba House a year ago. She was seven years old at the time. Her hair was infested with lice. They tried everything to get the lice out of her hair but finally had to shave her head to completely get rid of it!

Now Joy has been given the love and care that she needs and is thriving at Abba House. But she still experiences hurt and pain and rejection. Many of the girls receive phone calls each week from their mothers, but Joy’s mother has only called her two or three times during the year that she has been here. Sometimes this makes her sad and she cries because she wonders why her mother never calls her.

Francis (he and his wife Nid are house parents to the girls) told me Joy’s story this weekend on the way to the village. It broke my heart. When we got back from the village this weekend, most of the kids were inside but Joy was playing outside. When I got out of the song tao, I saw her and opened my arms wide. She lit up and immediately came running. She jumped into my arms and I spun her around. She held onto me and neither of us wanted to let go. Now that I know her story, I hold on a little tighter and a little longer. I don’t let go so quickly when she comes and sits on my lap and hugs me.

Joy has experienced a lot of injustice in her life and she is so hungry for love and affection. Even though it’s so hard for me to think about how she’s been hurt and abused by so many people, I see the grace and love of God so clearly as I look at her life. He loved Joy so much that He rescued her and brought her to Abba House. Before she was bullied, but now she is accepted and has lots of friends to play with. Before she was living on the streets, but now she has a home and a bed to sleep in each night. Before she was abandoned by her mother and had no one to care for her, but now she has a family. Before she didn’t know Jesus, but now she knows and loves Him deeply.

Joy isn’t her real name but I chose to use this name because I see such incredible joy in the way that she lives her life. There was a time of sadness and rejection in her life, but now this is a time of joy! She is alive and healthy and loved. And even though I’m leaving Abba House and won’t be here to take care of Joy, I know that God is protecting her, caring for her, and loving her in a far better way than I ever could. He knows what she needs. God loves her so much more than I do. Joy is His precious daughter and He knows her by name. She is in His hands.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are Mine!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they will not overflow you

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,

Nor will the flame burn you.

For I am the Lord your God.” (Isaiah 43:1-3)

Me and Abba House girls making funny faces!

Weekend in the village

This weekend we went to a village in the mountains of northern Thailand along with the New Life guys (New Life is the name of the program for the guys that come to Abba House). We had an incredible time and were so blessed by the people that we met there!

We left at around 9:30 on Friday morning and it was about a four or five hour drive to the village. It was our leader Jacque’s birthday so we surprised her with a birthday party along the way. We even had cake and candles! The last part of our drive up the mountain was a little bumpy and dusty. But we figured out a way to protect ourselves from the dust by wrapping our faces with scarves and putting on sunglasses!

It was so beautiful up in the mountains - the view was amazing! When we first arrived, we explored a bit and walked through some of the village. We were even invited into someone’s home and had the opportunity to pray for them!

The church where we stayed

During our time in the village, we participated in a few church services (Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning). We did skits, shared testimonies, sang songs, and Marissa shared the message on Saturday night. I really enjoyed the worship times in the church as everyone was jumping and dancing as they praised the Lord! It was so fun and the people were so full of joy!

The pastor of the church, Pastor Ed, and Dave - there was double translation because they speak a different language in this village

On Saturday, we played with kids all day! Around 100 kids gathered at the church and we split them up into four groups so that it was easier to handle. The New Life guys and us rotated the groups so they all got to have fun doing different activities. There was singing, lots of games (‘duck, duck, goose’, relay races, soccer, musical chairs, etc), and face painting! We gathered all the kids together at different times to all sing together and to tell them some Bible stories. I got to be the narrator as my team acted out Noah’s ark, the Christmas story, and the Good Shepherd!

Playing games with kids

While in the village, we stayed with the pastor and his family and they were so welcoming and hospitable to us. They prepared delicious food for us each meal and gave us a great place to stay. It was inspiring to see their hearts to serve those around them and to reach out in their community.

We also had an amazing time hanging out with the New Life guys! God has done such an incredible work in each of their lives. They also performed skits and songs and helped out with the kids – they were totally involved in the ministry right along with us. It was really a missions trip for them and it was cool to see how they came alive in that setting and their love for Jesus shone through in all that they did.

New Life guys doing a skit

Please pray for all the people that came to the church services and the kids that we spent the day with on Saturday. Pray that they will continually be reminded of what they heard and that they will truly know the love of Jesus. Pray also that the New Life guys will continue to grow in their relationships with Jesus. There are a lot of temptations from their former way of living so it’s not an easy thing for them to follow Jesus - pray that they will stand firm in their faith.

P.S. We had to get up early today and go to the immigration office to get a visa extension since we initially only got 60 day visas. We had no problems and got a 30 day extension so we are good to go! Thank you, Jesus!

Fun times with my wonderful team!

Happy New Year!

“From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” (John 1:16)

This morning I was thinking about how much God has blessed me over the past year and even just in the past week! Another week in Thailand has flown by and we had an amazing time celebrating the new year along with another YWAM team from Australia and the Abba House kids!

Some of the blessings of this week:

1. Sharing the love of Christ with 150 kids

We went to the kids’ school on Thursday morning and had the opportunity to play with about 150 kids and tell them about our Saviour! We sang songs, played games with them, did a Christmas skit, and Ivy shared with them about Jesus. This is pretty incredible since Thailand is only about 1% Christian – pray that these seeds will produce fruit and that these children will be drawn to Jesus.

2. Rich times in God’s word!

On Wednesday, I shared during the Bible study time that we have each day with the guys here. I spent a lot of time preparing and spoke from Ephesians 2:1-10 about who we are in Christ – alive, raised up, and seated with Christ! Through this time of preparation, God has given me an incredible hunger to know Him more through really studying His word so I’ve been digging into the book of Ephesians and it’s been amazing! God’s word is alive!

3. Great internet connection

That sounds lame but it is seriously a blessing! It is helpful in communicating to friends and family, updating my blog, researching ideas for English lessons, studying the Bible, and googling random things that I NEED to know right at that moment! Thank You, Jesus, for internet!

4. Worship!

On New Years Eve, a few of us girls had been talking about how we missed Monday night ministry nights in Hawaii. Ministry night is always an amazing time of worship and focusing in on Jesus – and we always come away from it with increased passion and excitement about how God is moving! God knew how much we needed that so on the same day that we were talking about it, He blessed us with an incredible time of worship. That night, we had a worship service at Abba House and the music time was led by two of the guys from the YWAM Australia team. It was exactly what we needed when we needed it – God is SO good! He knows us and loves us so wonderfully. :)

5. Agape House

Our team and the Australia team headed over to Agape house (a home for kids with HIV/AIDS) today. I spent the morning hanging out with a beautiful little girl named Miley – we had so much fun together with piggyback rides, playing on the swing set and see-saw, a game of ‘duck, duck, goose’, and letting Miley style my hair (it was an interesting look…but I’m not sure that it really suited me).

6. Amazing, fun, crazy team

My team is such a blessing! They are so fun and crazy and we are always laughing at/with each other! We make up random songs and dances and raps together and have quickly been learning and picking up each other’s mannerisms and sayings. “Do you know what I mean?” (Marissa) “Ice-cream?... What?... Who said that?” (Abbie) “Oh mamachkee!” (Gulya)

7. Cuddling with kids

Oh my! Between going to the school and Agape house and being with the kids at Abba house, I’ve had so much good cuddle time this past week! I love running around and playing with all the kids, but I also love just holding their hands or sitting with them in my lap and tickling their backs (or bellies – lots of laughs!).

I am so blessed! God is so good! I am overwhelmed by how He has blessed us in so many ways both physically and spiritually.

Since yesterday, this line from a song has been stuck in my head: "Let us fall more in love with You." This is my prayer for myself in this next year and also for you: that you would fall more deeply and passionately in love with Jesus in 2011. He has blessed us abundantly and is so worthy of our worship and devotion and love!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Happy New Year!