Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
week one in ubon
hello everyone! sorry its bee such a long time since our last update! we have been going through a week of transition with moving to Ubon and being here for the holidays! yes, we are here in Ubon safe, sound and settled into our new and improved apartment/room (pictures to coming soon). I'm just going to do an overview of the important things that have happened in the past 2 weeks.
last week was our last week of language school and in Bangkok. during the week we (of course) studied Thai for the majority of the time. we also met some new friends that we made who lived on the same floor as us in our old apartment building. their names were New and Nay and they are a lot of fun! we got to practice our Thai with them and they got to practice their english with us. we also taught them how to play dutch blitz! they cheated most of the time but thats okay, we still had fun. Tom and candice also had a christmas party the night we left on the train to come to Ubon and we invited both of them to come. New came, (nay had to study for an exam that night) it was his first ever christmas party and he said that he had a lot of fun! that was very exciting. that night (friday dec. 21) we took the night train (13 hour ride) from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani!
Sunday was he first time we met everyone in the house church here in Ubon. there are 6 people (not including kris and silk) who attend church here. that week about half of silk's family was staying at their house as well so the church was basically doubled with karla and i here, and Kris's mom, Nan, who has been staying here since November. the house church is very laid back and contemporary and lots of fun! the majority of the people who attend are in their 20's which is really cool because we can connect with them very well. they took us right in and befriended us right away! we really felt like we fit in right away. we spent the rest of the day with the people from the church fellowshipping, watching a movie, playing games, and packaging cookies! in the evening we went christmas caroling and handed out cookies to the community. that was fun!
Tuesday was Christmas and we spent it at Kris and Silk's house with Silk's family and Nan. it was a day full of lots of food and relaxation and christmas music! even though we didn't get to spend it with out families it was a nice day and cool to see what Christmas is like on the opposite side of the world. both of us got to Skype in with our families on their Christmas morning (night for us). it was a huge blessing to be able to see everyone on Christmas!
Thursday we went into one of the villages we will be working with, went to a school, and did an "english program" which gave us a chance to teach on Christmas and what it's all about! the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun to interact with the kids! on the way home we got to feed wild monkeys! that was a lot of fun. there was probably 100 of them. they were cute!
friday night and saturday was a seminar called "season of praise" all of the churches in Ubon came together for a seminar on inner healing. friday night was a night a worship and each church did a little section of it. saturday there was 4 sessions on rejection; shame, guilt, and condemnation; rejection; and the lies of the devil/dreams that have been torn. each session was taught by someone different (a group from Singapore came to teach) and then at the end of each session everyone went up to the front and got prayed over by their ministry team. it was a powerful experience. the evening was another evening of worship and prayer for Ubon and foot washing for the leaders of the churches. it was a God filled day and very powerful but very long!
today we had church and because the house church is so small, we can do things like have our service on a dock over the river! it was beautiful. we also had lunch and hung out for a little while. this afternoon we made cookies and relaxed for awhile
once again, sorry this post is sort of late! thanks for reading. we promise we will have a post next week. thanks for your continuous prayers and support as we continue this journey! tune in next week!
last week was our last week of language school and in Bangkok. during the week we (of course) studied Thai for the majority of the time. we also met some new friends that we made who lived on the same floor as us in our old apartment building. their names were New and Nay and they are a lot of fun! we got to practice our Thai with them and they got to practice their english with us. we also taught them how to play dutch blitz! they cheated most of the time but thats okay, we still had fun. Tom and candice also had a christmas party the night we left on the train to come to Ubon and we invited both of them to come. New came, (nay had to study for an exam that night) it was his first ever christmas party and he said that he had a lot of fun! that was very exciting. that night (friday dec. 21) we took the night train (13 hour ride) from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani!
Sunday was he first time we met everyone in the house church here in Ubon. there are 6 people (not including kris and silk) who attend church here. that week about half of silk's family was staying at their house as well so the church was basically doubled with karla and i here, and Kris's mom, Nan, who has been staying here since November. the house church is very laid back and contemporary and lots of fun! the majority of the people who attend are in their 20's which is really cool because we can connect with them very well. they took us right in and befriended us right away! we really felt like we fit in right away. we spent the rest of the day with the people from the church fellowshipping, watching a movie, playing games, and packaging cookies! in the evening we went christmas caroling and handed out cookies to the community. that was fun!
Tuesday was Christmas and we spent it at Kris and Silk's house with Silk's family and Nan. it was a day full of lots of food and relaxation and christmas music! even though we didn't get to spend it with out families it was a nice day and cool to see what Christmas is like on the opposite side of the world. both of us got to Skype in with our families on their Christmas morning (night for us). it was a huge blessing to be able to see everyone on Christmas!
Thursday we went into one of the villages we will be working with, went to a school, and did an "english program" which gave us a chance to teach on Christmas and what it's all about! the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun to interact with the kids! on the way home we got to feed wild monkeys! that was a lot of fun. there was probably 100 of them. they were cute!
friday night and saturday was a seminar called "season of praise" all of the churches in Ubon came together for a seminar on inner healing. friday night was a night a worship and each church did a little section of it. saturday there was 4 sessions on rejection; shame, guilt, and condemnation; rejection; and the lies of the devil/dreams that have been torn. each session was taught by someone different (a group from Singapore came to teach) and then at the end of each session everyone went up to the front and got prayed over by their ministry team. it was a powerful experience. the evening was another evening of worship and prayer for Ubon and foot washing for the leaders of the churches. it was a God filled day and very powerful but very long!
today we had church and because the house church is so small, we can do things like have our service on a dock over the river! it was beautiful. we also had lunch and hung out for a little while. this afternoon we made cookies and relaxed for awhile
once again, sorry this post is sort of late! thanks for reading. we promise we will have a post next week. thanks for your continuous prayers and support as we continue this journey! tune in next week!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
meeting Meriam
Meriam
while Karla and I were at the airport in germany during our 14 hour layover we went to McDonalds to get some food. We were sitting there and talking about something that I can't remember (but it had to do with Christ) and this lady named Meriam walked up and said "do you mind if i talk to you about Jesus Christ?" of course Karla and i were super excited about this and asked her to sit down with us. We asked her if she over heard us talking about God and she replied "No, I was not listening to your conversation, I just like talking about Jesus and felt like God was telling me to come talk to you!" We told her we liked to talk about Jesus too and we were actually on our way to Thailand to do some work serving Jesus there! She automatically got very excited and started telling us about her life and especially what has been going on the past few weeks. She is from Namibia, Africa (close to South Africa) and lived there until she went to university in England. Her family was pretty broken when she was young, and she lived with her aunt, and then her grandmother for awhile. Her aunt had 2 other kids that she was more focused on than Meriam so she felt unwanted and unloved a lot. She said that she has always been pretty independent because of that. In England she partied a lot and had a boyfriend who she thought she would marry. She would go to clubs and men would fight over her so they could dance with her. Even though she wasn't really living the "Christian life" she would pray while she was at the club that none of the men would hurt her or try to shoot her. Eventually, Meriam found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her with multiple woman. She broke up with him and became extremely depressed. It took about a year for her to get over the pain of her now ex-boyfriend cheating on her and it was extremely hard for her to forgive him. After so much depression and anger and not being fulfilled with partying and being "of the world" she knew that God was the only thing that she could turn to and not be disappointed by. She gave dating up to The Lord and promised she would wait for the right person to come along. It was at that time that she fully handed her life to Christ and told God that she will go where he takes her no matter what and serve him no matter the circumstance. After she graduated with a masters degree in business administration, she went back home to Africa. She felt like God was telling her she should go live in Canada not too long after that so she moved to Toronto and had been living there until yesterday. She went into Canada without a visa and claiming that she was a refugee, so they allowed her in. She was living in a homeless shelter for awhile until she could get a job and on her feet again. She lived there for a year. For awhile she was talking about her 16 year old brother who is also an avid follower of christ. She told a story about how he was sitting in the park one day waiting for their mother to get off of work and there were prostitutes to the side of him. He decided that he was going to share Christ with him. She said he felt satan trying to tear him down and tell him that he would be rejected. Then he thought to himself "I would rather be rejected while trying to share Christ than not having the boldness to do it at all" he went and asked them if he could share with them about Jesus and they all agreed and every one of them accepted christ that day! Wow, God is good. After a year of her living in they started questioning her and didn't have any proof that she really was a refugee so the police hand cuffed her and took her into a detention center (she described it as just like a jail or worse). It was an old hotel so there was 3 twin size beds and a small tv in each room. There were bars on the windows and they weren't allowed to close their door to the room or the bathroom. They were only allowed outside for 15 minutes a day. She was in the detention center for 2 weeks (November 14-27) and never really understood why. She never did anything wrong, but she never tried to argue against the police. The whole time she was in the detention center she was sharing the love of jesus with other people living there. People would ask her why she was in the detention center because she was a Christian and she didn't have a reason to be there. She told them she believed she was there because she was supposed to talk to people like them about God. On November 27 she had to go to court and try to argue that she was a refugee, but they did not believe her and told her they were deporting her back to Africa. Through all of this she was completely at peace with everything even though they were interrogating and basically harassing her. She was at peace because she knew that God was with her and he has a plan for everything. They hand cuffed her and escorted her to the Toronto airport and into her seat on the plane to Frankfurt. When she arrived in Frankfurt they escorted her out and told her to stay in the terminal and meet them back at their office at 7pm. That is when she came McDonald's and sat down and then saw us! It's amazing how God works in so many different ways. Before i talked to her i was feeling very sad and scared of being away from family and friends and home in general for so long. Meriam had absolutely no idea what was going through my head or how i was feeling before she talked with us. She felt God telling her she should talk to us and she obeyed, thats all! She explained how as long as she has the Bible with her, she can do ANYTHING because God is everywhere with her. He is protecting her and everyone else and he will not hand us something we can't handle without his help. amazing!
So, this is Meriam's story from my (Bekah) perspective! amazing right? this is just an overview of what we talked to her about. we went into a lot more detail with her, hence why we talked for about 4 hours! We exchanged email addresses with her and decided to keep in touch as we both continue our journeys! i have heard from her once and she is home, safe and sound! if you think about it, please pray for her while you are praying for us! thanks for reading! tune in next week to hear how Ubon is!
while Karla and I were at the airport in germany during our 14 hour layover we went to McDonalds to get some food. We were sitting there and talking about something that I can't remember (but it had to do with Christ) and this lady named Meriam walked up and said "do you mind if i talk to you about Jesus Christ?" of course Karla and i were super excited about this and asked her to sit down with us. We asked her if she over heard us talking about God and she replied "No, I was not listening to your conversation, I just like talking about Jesus and felt like God was telling me to come talk to you!" We told her we liked to talk about Jesus too and we were actually on our way to Thailand to do some work serving Jesus there! She automatically got very excited and started telling us about her life and especially what has been going on the past few weeks. She is from Namibia, Africa (close to South Africa) and lived there until she went to university in England. Her family was pretty broken when she was young, and she lived with her aunt, and then her grandmother for awhile. Her aunt had 2 other kids that she was more focused on than Meriam so she felt unwanted and unloved a lot. She said that she has always been pretty independent because of that. In England she partied a lot and had a boyfriend who she thought she would marry. She would go to clubs and men would fight over her so they could dance with her. Even though she wasn't really living the "Christian life" she would pray while she was at the club that none of the men would hurt her or try to shoot her. Eventually, Meriam found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her with multiple woman. She broke up with him and became extremely depressed. It took about a year for her to get over the pain of her now ex-boyfriend cheating on her and it was extremely hard for her to forgive him. After so much depression and anger and not being fulfilled with partying and being "of the world" she knew that God was the only thing that she could turn to and not be disappointed by. She gave dating up to The Lord and promised she would wait for the right person to come along. It was at that time that she fully handed her life to Christ and told God that she will go where he takes her no matter what and serve him no matter the circumstance. After she graduated with a masters degree in business administration, she went back home to Africa. She felt like God was telling her she should go live in Canada not too long after that so she moved to Toronto and had been living there until yesterday. She went into Canada without a visa and claiming that she was a refugee, so they allowed her in. She was living in a homeless shelter for awhile until she could get a job and on her feet again. She lived there for a year. For awhile she was talking about her 16 year old brother who is also an avid follower of christ. She told a story about how he was sitting in the park one day waiting for their mother to get off of work and there were prostitutes to the side of him. He decided that he was going to share Christ with him. She said he felt satan trying to tear him down and tell him that he would be rejected. Then he thought to himself "I would rather be rejected while trying to share Christ than not having the boldness to do it at all" he went and asked them if he could share with them about Jesus and they all agreed and every one of them accepted christ that day! Wow, God is good. After a year of her living in they started questioning her and didn't have any proof that she really was a refugee so the police hand cuffed her and took her into a detention center (she described it as just like a jail or worse). It was an old hotel so there was 3 twin size beds and a small tv in each room. There were bars on the windows and they weren't allowed to close their door to the room or the bathroom. They were only allowed outside for 15 minutes a day. She was in the detention center for 2 weeks (November 14-27) and never really understood why. She never did anything wrong, but she never tried to argue against the police. The whole time she was in the detention center she was sharing the love of jesus with other people living there. People would ask her why she was in the detention center because she was a Christian and she didn't have a reason to be there. She told them she believed she was there because she was supposed to talk to people like them about God. On November 27 she had to go to court and try to argue that she was a refugee, but they did not believe her and told her they were deporting her back to Africa. Through all of this she was completely at peace with everything even though they were interrogating and basically harassing her. She was at peace because she knew that God was with her and he has a plan for everything. They hand cuffed her and escorted her to the Toronto airport and into her seat on the plane to Frankfurt. When she arrived in Frankfurt they escorted her out and told her to stay in the terminal and meet them back at their office at 7pm. That is when she came McDonald's and sat down and then saw us! It's amazing how God works in so many different ways. Before i talked to her i was feeling very sad and scared of being away from family and friends and home in general for so long. Meriam had absolutely no idea what was going through my head or how i was feeling before she talked with us. She felt God telling her she should talk to us and she obeyed, thats all! She explained how as long as she has the Bible with her, she can do ANYTHING because God is everywhere with her. He is protecting her and everyone else and he will not hand us something we can't handle without his help. amazing!
So, this is Meriam's story from my (Bekah) perspective! amazing right? this is just an overview of what we talked to her about. we went into a lot more detail with her, hence why we talked for about 4 hours! We exchanged email addresses with her and decided to keep in touch as we both continue our journeys! i have heard from her once and she is home, safe and sound! if you think about it, please pray for her while you are praying for us! thanks for reading! tune in next week to hear how Ubon is!
hello everyone! another week has passed and our time in Bangkok is coming to an end soon! in less than a week we will be Ubon bound and we are so excited!
this week was another week filled with school, studying, and not too much else. we learned more about food and how to order it, and we began learning how to tell directions to someone, how to tell time, and how to barter for things! classes are definitely starting to get harder and faster paced. We are beginning to be able to listen in on other people's conversations in thai and pick up at least the topic of what they are talking about, so that is rewarding! saturday we were supposed to have a double lesson, but our teacher took us to the floating market instead of the second lesson. that was lots of fun! we are definitely going to miss her a lot. today (sunday) was a day full of rest, relaxation, and fun! we played dutch blitz a lot with some friends, it was nice to get a small taste of home!
while karla and i were in the Frankfurt, Germany airport on the way to Thailand (we had a 14 hour layover. at the time we were in mcdonalds eating) a lady named Merium came up and asked us if she could talk to us about Jesus Christ! we excitedly said yes and she sat down and ended up talking to us for about 4 hours! she has an amazing, and extremely encouraging life story. i am going to post another post entitled "meeting meriam" please read about it! shes a wonderful Woman of God!
this week was another week filled with school, studying, and not too much else. we learned more about food and how to order it, and we began learning how to tell directions to someone, how to tell time, and how to barter for things! classes are definitely starting to get harder and faster paced. We are beginning to be able to listen in on other people's conversations in thai and pick up at least the topic of what they are talking about, so that is rewarding! saturday we were supposed to have a double lesson, but our teacher took us to the floating market instead of the second lesson. that was lots of fun! we are definitely going to miss her a lot. today (sunday) was a day full of rest, relaxation, and fun! we played dutch blitz a lot with some friends, it was nice to get a small taste of home!
while karla and i were in the Frankfurt, Germany airport on the way to Thailand (we had a 14 hour layover. at the time we were in mcdonalds eating) a lady named Merium came up and asked us if she could talk to us about Jesus Christ! we excitedly said yes and she sat down and ended up talking to us for about 4 hours! she has an amazing, and extremely encouraging life story. i am going to post another post entitled "meeting meriam" please read about it! shes a wonderful Woman of God!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Hello to the Americans in....America.
We are coming at you here from humid, hot, moisty-aired (yes, humid) Thailand. And its December....its hot...and its December? How!? I do not know. But I hope your December is cold and frosty and snowy!
So, we hung out with Kris and her mom, who is super cute, the first couple of days. That was fun to tour around who knew the languge and could order us food! NOW! We've been in Thai Lanuage School for like a week. We know how to order food ourselves and how to greet people! WOW! Super cool. We've been learning a lot about the culture and even about ourselves! We definitely stick out here though and in Thai the word for foreigner is "farang". We hear that almost every day! :D
We've been slowly getting to know the other girls here with us. Our roommate, Sarah is super cool! We really love her! :D Basically, we wake up. Go down the five flights of stairs (we're on the top floor which is somewhat annoying but it has a great view!) and then onto the street. We get breakfasts at 7-Eleven since they're pretty much on every corner here. School-it takes about an hour and half to get there some days because of traffic. But we eat from street vendors then learn. Afterwards we go the long way back (we have school from 1-3pm with 10 minute breaks every 50 minutes) and then eat from street vendors here as well. SUPER INTERESTING FOOD HERE! Come and try them out! There are these great crape-things here with banana and chocolate...makes a nice dessert! YUM! And there's a lady here with smoothie/slushy things and she puts a milky-ish liquid, sugar, and cocoa in. Blends it. Then adds Oreos-no more...no less....perfect amount! It is soo yummy! :D Then, we just chill at night. Study....well...some of us study. Devotions and quiet time are in the mornings and evenings-different people do it at different times-and we talk and get to know each other more. We have fun. But, it's not like New York when you can run around like freaks. People here are very calm...so....Bekah and I are....adjusting?? Trying...to adjust...we're....were getting there! haha
So! Here's to another week of Lanuage School with our really nice teacher! She just laughs at how much we fail at Thai. haha! We have fun! We're secretly her favorites...she even said so!
Oh! NOTE: If anyone comes to Thailand! DO NOT SAY THE WORD "KEY". In Thai it means....a turd. okay! LESSON OF THE DAY...complete. Thank you...we learned that one really fast :/ whoopsy! haha Lots of good stories!
I hope you all have a wonderful day. So long from us girlies in Thailand!
We are coming at you here from humid, hot, moisty-aired (yes, humid) Thailand. And its December....its hot...and its December? How!? I do not know. But I hope your December is cold and frosty and snowy!
So, we hung out with Kris and her mom, who is super cute, the first couple of days. That was fun to tour around who knew the languge and could order us food! NOW! We've been in Thai Lanuage School for like a week. We know how to order food ourselves and how to greet people! WOW! Super cool. We've been learning a lot about the culture and even about ourselves! We definitely stick out here though and in Thai the word for foreigner is "farang". We hear that almost every day! :D
We've been slowly getting to know the other girls here with us. Our roommate, Sarah is super cool! We really love her! :D Basically, we wake up. Go down the five flights of stairs (we're on the top floor which is somewhat annoying but it has a great view!) and then onto the street. We get breakfasts at 7-Eleven since they're pretty much on every corner here. School-it takes about an hour and half to get there some days because of traffic. But we eat from street vendors then learn. Afterwards we go the long way back (we have school from 1-3pm with 10 minute breaks every 50 minutes) and then eat from street vendors here as well. SUPER INTERESTING FOOD HERE! Come and try them out! There are these great crape-things here with banana and chocolate...makes a nice dessert! YUM! And there's a lady here with smoothie/slushy things and she puts a milky-ish liquid, sugar, and cocoa in. Blends it. Then adds Oreos-no more...no less....perfect amount! It is soo yummy! :D Then, we just chill at night. Study....well...some of us study. Devotions and quiet time are in the mornings and evenings-different people do it at different times-and we talk and get to know each other more. We have fun. But, it's not like New York when you can run around like freaks. People here are very calm...so....Bekah and I are....adjusting?? Trying...to adjust...we're....were getting there! haha
So! Here's to another week of Lanuage School with our really nice teacher! She just laughs at how much we fail at Thai. haha! We have fun! We're secretly her favorites...she even said so!
Oh! NOTE: If anyone comes to Thailand! DO NOT SAY THE WORD "KEY". In Thai it means....a turd. okay! LESSON OF THE DAY...complete. Thank you...we learned that one really fast :/ whoopsy! haha Lots of good stories!
I hope you all have a wonderful day. So long from us girlies in Thailand!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
STEPping into bangkok
Blog
Hello everyone! We have made it safely to Thailand! We arrived in Bangkok on Thursday evening and have been adjusting and settling in since. We have done a lot of sight seeing. Getting used to the time difference is definitely tough, but we are pushing through. It's also very hot and very humid here. Way different than December in Pennsylvania! Today we are starting intensive language school! We are here with a team called REACH and will be studying the Thai language with them, and our room mate, Sarah, who is by herself with RMM. It has been fun to transition and meet some new people who will also be spending a good amount of time in Thailand as well. The REACH team will live here in Bangkok for 6 months. Sarah will also be living in Ubon about an hour from where Karla and I will be. So far things are going well! We are excited to learn how to communicate with people soon! Thanks for your prayers and support!
Hello everyone! We have made it safely to Thailand! We arrived in Bangkok on Thursday evening and have been adjusting and settling in since. We have done a lot of sight seeing. Getting used to the time difference is definitely tough, but we are pushing through. It's also very hot and very humid here. Way different than December in Pennsylvania! Today we are starting intensive language school! We are here with a team called REACH and will be studying the Thai language with them, and our room mate, Sarah, who is by herself with RMM. It has been fun to transition and meet some new people who will also be spending a good amount of time in Thailand as well. The REACH team will live here in Bangkok for 6 months. Sarah will also be living in Ubon about an hour from where Karla and I will be. So far things are going well! We are excited to learn how to communicate with people soon! Thanks for your prayers and support!
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