News!

Hey Guys!

Please forgive me I know it has been more than a little while since I have written last! I’ll spare you the excuses and start filling you in. For starters..I am now in Thailand with my team! We found out a few weeks into training who our teams were and where we were going. Once the teams were announced TREK training really began to take off. I haven’t ever experienced such a focused time of learning and seeking after God. I was time and again blessed and awed by the way He worked through the lives of TREK leadership, guest speakers, mentors and other TREKkers to teach me and show me things about myself. God also coaxed me to look inward and examine my heart.

A Bit About My Team

My team consists of Thomas VanWart (age 22), Sara Falk (age 21) and David Loewen (age 20), which makes me the youngest (at 19). Thomas is the team leader and is from Hillsboro, Kansas. He is just finishing a four year degree from Tabor Bible College and has quite significant travel and ministry experience. Sara was raised in Peru, where her parents were missionaries for 16 years. She is finishing her degree in cross-cultural Ministry from Bethany Bible College (Saskatchewan) and TREK is her internship. Dave is from Abbotsford and is doing his internship for his third year of Cross-Cultural Ministry as well. He has done TREK before and went to Thailand so is already well versed in the language and culture!

Thailand

Our overall time in Thailand is being split into three different cities. We are working with the MBMSI Missionaries of Team 2000, which consists of three families that have been here for about nine years. The team has since started three church plants in one larger area and we will be circulating among those church plants. We will be spending the first two months in AngSila with Ricky and Karen Sanchez. AngSila is a small fishing village with a quite distinct culture of it’s own. The church here has recently split from the larger and original church plant in Bang Saen. The Life Centre (TLC). Following our two months in AngSila will be two months in Chaochensao with Dave and Lousie Sinclair-Peters, and two months in Bang Saen with Andy and Carmen Owen. Our last few weeks will be spent doing various summer camp projects in the area.

We’re here, but what are we doing?

Our schedule since we have been here has been full and ever-changing. For the first few days the boys and Sara and I split and each took on a household of missionary children. Looking after Connor and Isaac Owen was a delight and a good way to adjust to Thai culture and get over jet-lag. We are now fully moved in to our homes in AngSila. Sara and I live in an apartment about two blocks away from the church. Our room has a small fridge and it’s own bathroom and is overall quite wonderful! The boys live just a few blocks away with a Thai family and are loving it. A lot of our energy since we have been here has gone into language study. We have Thai lessons four times a week. We are also teaching English in AngSila Church to church members and anyone else who wants to learn just as often. Language learning has been known to turn into boisterous and fun times of information exchange where the English-speakers try to figure out the best way to explain English words to Thais, and the Thai-speakers try to figure out the best way to explain Thai words to us North-Americans. There is also a baking class that has been started at the church for women (and men) in the community so last Tuesday Sara and I found ourselves teaching 7 or 8 Thais how to make brownies in the church propane oven! This week I am down on the schedule to teach an aerobics/exercise/dance class at the church to women in the community as well, so pray that all the moves I learned from my mom on sports day in elementary school will come back to me!! Our team is very involved in the weekly events at the church but is also involved with the Abundant Life Homes (ALH) which are orphanages started by the missionaries of Team 2000. There are two homes, one for girls and one for boys, each with a Thai woman living in the house and being a mother to the children. We teach the kids swimming lessons and do one overnight stay a week to give the moms some time off. Needless to say they are eventful evenings!

A Few Sweet Events

This past weekend our team got to spend Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening in a city called Pattaya about an hour and a half drive from where we are. Pattaya is one of the worst cities in the world as far as the sex trade goes and there are a couple ministry organizations set up there to work with prostitutes. Our team joined church members there for an event called Pattaya Praise. It was a weekend long praise and worship concert, part of which was held right downtown in a mall courtyard in the midst of all the nightlife. The boys from the ALH performed some unbelievable breakdancing and the girls performed some traditional Thai dances. The second evening the girls also performed a hiphop routine and Thomas, Dave, Sara and I learned the dance and performed it with them. Our team also had the opportunity to perform a DRIME (Disciples Ready In Mobile Evangelism) routine for the audience that we learned at TREK training. DRIME is a sort of drama/dance set to music that tells an evangelistic story. It was so wicked!

Today was actually a HUGE day for Christians in Thailand as it was the official opening of the Mennonite Brethren Foundation of Thailand. There was a huge celebration service at TLC in which everyone was involved. The Team 2000 missionaries were feeling quite grateful and excited for all that God has done in this nation.

A Few Things to Pray For

Pi Poi – This is my Thai teacher. She is a wonderful woman and is a fairly strict Buddhist. As we get to meet with her four times a week in the church for Thai lessons please pray that God will soften her heart and that we will be willing to allow Him to use us to show her His love and that we’ll get an opportunity to share the Gospel with her. Last night she cooked a wonderful dinner for us and she won’t accept much in the way of payment for Thai lessons so pray that we a shown ways to bless her.

Learning Thai—We are all striving to learn the language. Pray that God gives us ears for the tones and the ability to form all the strange sounds with our mouths. And with 72 characters a good memory would be a prayer request as well.

Thanks/Praise—We have been so well received and welcomed by everyone here and it is truly a blessing. Praise God for the generosity and hospitality of the Thai people and the solid relationships between us that have already begun. Also, there is so much vision and purpose here in Thailand and it is a joy to see the presence of God so strong in such a predominantly Buddhist nation.

Thanks for being patient with me, everyone. I will do my best to give more frequent and brief updates in the future. As always, email/facebook me if you want to know more about something or have any questions. I’d love to hear from you!

Carmen

cricard@pgonline.com

Picture (L to R): Me, Sara, David, Thomas