Hello lovely people of Pennsylvania, Thailand, Africa, Wisconsin, Canada and Ohio or wherever else you may be from...we welcome you and invite you to join us here in Thailand for a new and exciting adventure I'd like to call, "Our Lives". Let's get started:

So now I remember why I didn't update the blog. I didn't know how to tell you guys about everything that's been happening here! GOD has certainly been moving in Ubon Ratchathani and we are so pumped for what He has in store for us next!  

Wednesday evening, that would be the 9th of January in the year of 2013-craziness I know! GASP! - we had our first session with Henry Madava. He is a pastor from Zimbabwe who lives in the Ukraine. He came to prepare the leaders and pastors here in Ubon for the “Jesus Festival” that will be happening in March. He came for three days and all three days were fantastic! ….that’s saying the least, every night was incredibly ridiculous and Jesus was totally in the place…It was Awesome!....So the first evening he talked about how we can determine where we end. I’ll just share some things from my notes:

   * We can’t change what we did ten years ago but we sure can decide what we will do in the next ten years.

   *Jesus came into this world; He changed this world. That’s why things have never been the same.

   *We don’t need to be a copy of our pastor. Your church doesn’t need to copy Pastor Henry’s church. The only One you need to copy is Jesus. Be an original. Be an original of God.

   *Change the situation in your city. GOD is the change. Create a heavenly atmosphere in your city.

That night, we had worship, his session, and lots of prayer. We ended singing together in one body, to the Lord. It was beautiful. We didn’t know what tomorrow’s message would hold, but! We knew Who would hold tomorrow! :D

                Thursday morning we went early to the Cultural Center at the nearby University where we were meeting and having the sessions to pray over…well…to pray over just about everything! I think if God has been teaching us anything, it’s mostly been about prayer. Bekah and I actually knew some of the songs they sang (the whole thing was in Thai except for Henry’s sessions; they had to be interpreted). We learned how to sing some old songs in Thai! It’s been great! I love singing in the first place so singing in a new language just puts a little extra excitement into my worship. Notes from that seminar:

   *Find out who you are in God, and be that person!

   *The most precious thing you can do is just to be with Jesus. Matthew 10:7-8 and Matthew 6 (I think).

   * Discover the gifts God has blessed you with and find ways to use them-He didn’t give them to you just to let them sit under the tree!

   *God is a strategic God; He knows the best time to do something; the best way to do something; the best place to do something; the best people to use to do something. So, let Him be God!

   *Make your strategies His strategies. He talked about five different strategies of the church-  1) The Prayer Strategy.  2) The Evangelistic Strategy.  3) The Pastoral Strategy  4) The Teaching/Training Strategy and 5) The Apostolic Strategy.

The parts that stuck out to me were the points under each strategy and what it meant to Train people. To be a Pastor. (If you want more notes on this stuff, feel free to ask either Bekah or me because we both took notes on it and would not mind sharing what God has been teaching us!) And! The part about being yourself!  That’s always good to hear!  :D

After the seminar, Bekah and I had to quickly eat and head on over to study Thai. We had to dig in to the language right after being pumped and rejuvenated by Pastor Henry….I had a bit of trouble with that but God got us both through it and I am very thankful for our teacher’s patience and Bekah’s understanding!  HE sure has blessed us!  

Thursday evening was known as the “Miracle Night”. It was promoted as so and, let me tell ya what! It sure was! Bekah had been sick and her hand had been sore, that was healed. We prayed for some ladies beside us, they were healed. Hearts were healed. Legs that had aches were no longer achy. It was amazing! We were Elisha’s. (Oh! The session that night was about powerful prayer and being Elisha’s in the city of Ubon. Knowing who we are. Being a terrorist to the Devil-yeah. I liked that little note! – We are the temples of the living God. Find your own strategy to go out into the world and tell others about Christ.) Instead of Pastor Henry praying over all the broken people, the people in the crowd prayed for each other. SNAP! The Holy Spirit was in that place. We sang lots of songs of praises to our Father in heaven. The Holy Spirit came upon some people. Definitely lots of emotions, experiences and power that night. I’ve never experienced God in such an amazing way. Bekah and I learned a lot and were empowered by what Jesus can do in our lives, through our lives and in the lives of others around us. (I don’t know if I’m making any sense here guys. I hope I am….If I’m not, just know that God was in that place and a revival is coming to Ubon Ratchathani! Look out world! ) :D    Yes, we’re excited. 

Friday morning was the last session, and it was about The Power of Vision. My notes:

   *We need to catch hold of the blueprint God has for our lives and put it to work. Make it happen!

   *God has a pattern for everything He wants to do in your life.

   *Movements and miracles start in your heart. Pray for your heart. That’s the only thing God sees anyway.

   *Give birth to the vision of God. Different people are given different visions. You are responsible to make the vision God has given you come to pass and be accomplished.

   *Don’t give up on the vision God has given you. But, when He gives it to you. Do it then. HE gives you visions in season. If you wait to try to do the vision God showed you for three years, the season may be over. You must act when He tells you to act!

                We prayed, worshipped, learned, grew, talked, ate and left. But oh my. Is God still stirring up our hearts. The rest of Friday we didn’t do much. Kinda just processed everything. That was nice.

                We helped some missionaries sell some of the things in their house and organize their belongings on Saturday morning. The rest of the day was very relaxed. We met up with a friend for lunch. Saturday was children’s day so there were kids Everywhere! Lots of people out and about! Lots of fun things going on-dances and music. Why doesn’t Pennsylvania have a kid’s day? I have no idea but I’m pretty sure Bekah and I will institute that when we get home (was that the right word? I have no idea!)

                Sunday morning we had our house church and everyone shared what they learned at the seminars. Then we went to a local mall and ate with everywhere. I love how relaxed and simple the church is. Very loving and compassionate people who deeply care for one another. It’s a great privilege to be a part of it! Makes me miss my church. (Shout out to the Table: Love you guys!) 

                Midday Monday (Tiang in Thai) was spent at the zoo with some university students-some old friends and new friends-that was fun! There were lions and tigers (no bears) OH MY! Turtles, snakes, bunnies (pff) and deer (never seen one of those before!) There were antelope and a giraffe (EEEEKKK) and some ostriches too! We rode around in this little bus thing while the guy in the front talked about the zoo and animals (in Thai of course so Bekah and I understood about 0.045% of what he was saying. We just looked at all the animals basically. So! That was fun! Good mix into our day of resting, reading, journaling, singing, eating, sleeping, thinking, etc.   Nighttime called and we answered gladly.

 

                Teaching the preschoolers at a local School on Tuesday was fun! We taught them red, yellow and blue and played Twister-kind of-we called out a color and had the kids put their hands on that color. The boys had one mat, the girls had another. The boys basically launched their bodies onto the mat while the girls thoughtfully decided which color was blue and then gracefully placed their fingertips onto the correct color. Nice. After that, we had our own learning time-Time for some Thai Tutors to teach us! Sweet. We played badminton with two new university friends that went with us to the zoo and an old friend. That was wonderful because Bekah and I actually had game this time! :D    YEAH! We sure showed them that Americans can actually play a sport! It was great (if you did not read before, the last time we played badminton, they smoked us….it was awful).

                That day that usually falls in the middle of the week that some people like to call “Wednesday” ….yeah….that day came next. We had a Team Meeting at Kris and Silk’s house for a few hours. That was splendid! I love those things! I wish we could do them every morning. We sing. Pray. Discus what God is teaching us. Share prayer requests and praises and then discus Intercessory Prayer and then of course! Sing again! After that we just chilled there, journaling.

 Then, Kris and Silk took Bekah and I out to a Vietnamese restaurant and stuffed out faces with yumminess. There was a flat rice triangle-crepe but not really, super thin thing-that you put fresh veggies, meat and sauce onto and then gently place into your mouth. That was delicious! We also tried a rice noodle –y thing that had pork and vegetables cooked in it. Um, a taco type thing with delicious sweet sauce and…was that it? Yeah! We shared a bunch of dishes together. We were very grateful to Kris and Silk for helping us explore and open up our eyes to the endless possibilities of yumminess that they have here in Thailand!

             We had a house church prayer meeting that evening. Nice! Did I say I love those guys? I love those guys. God’s working through each and every one of them and its cool to watch it all unfold the past couple of weeks!

                We went to Muang Ubon School Thursday morning and helped teach English to 4^th and 5^th graders. Adults may be quiet here, but kids here are not quiet. Not even a little bit. So! You’re always awake when you help out at the Elementary School! That was fun. Bekah really enjoyed that. (Last week I went by myself when she was sick so I knew that I already liked it. Sometimes it can be a lot but the kids are always excited to see foreigners so you definitely feel welcomed! )  We had lunch. Thai class and then watched a movie in our room.

                Today is Friday. We had a Pastors Prayer Meeting (How cool is it that Bekah and I are not even pastors and yet we can go to these things where they only speak in Thai?!?! Super cool! I mean, I feel special! ) We sang and prayed. A lot. It was all good though! Not understanding the language can be a bit draining though since we don’t know what’s happening but we can usually figure out most of it. NOW! Now we’re about to go out to eat.

                Hope you guys are enjoying reading these things! I like writing them, although I don’t know how easy they are to read. Thanks for your continuous love and support the past couple of months. We love you guys!