Hello All! I just moved my blog over to Blogspot today! www.megan-mylifeasithappens.blogspot.com

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Wow, I cannot believe that a whole month has gone by since the last time I posted anything! Eeks!

I’m just gonna start out by saying that the month of August was an awesome and quite the emotional month. It is very hard for me to put into words every thought and emotion that has been rolling around in my heart since I’ve been here. I specifically had set the month of August to pray about what the next step is for my life. I felt desperate to hear from the Lord. Am I supposed to stay here in Thailand longer, or should I listen to this, sometimes almost overwhelming, homesickness and take that as a sign that am I to go home? And if that’s the case, then what? I really believed He would show me by the end of the month…but, before I get into that part any further I want to share what else happened this last month -

Tyndale Stubenrauch’s 1st and Chase Garsee’s 17th birthdays were celebrated. I love both of those boys dearly!

Tyndale with his lovely mama, Mary Beth, on his birthday!

Chase and me on his birthday  ”showing off our farmer’s tans”.

The Stubenrachs, the Garsees, and myself all went about fifteen hours north to a place called Korat. There, we met up with a few other great missionary families to have some fellowship and ministry time together. It was wonderful! So refreshing for everyone. The Lord was gracious to bless us with His presence the whole week we were together. Plus I made some great new friends, especially Margaret, who is such a godly young woman and fellow horse lover .

In the evenings a group of us went out to pass out tracts and evangelize. We had a lot of great responses! But, specifically, a certain man was born-again. Praise God, na (Translation: Right?!) ?! We spent a week in Korat and then on the way back down towards home, we spent another week in Bangkok so the Stuben’s and Garsees could meet with their social workers to work out adoption details for adopting their Thai sons. Bangkok is huge and it feels like there’s no room to breath . But, we had fun together hanging out and having some down time, aside from some of the stress of adoption issues. One day, Colton (18) & Chase(17) Garsee (my newest brothers ) and I spent literally TEN hours in one mall and we still had not seen every store by the end of the day! We had fun but, needless to say, we were pretty tired that night. Well, I guess not tired enough, cause if I remember correctly we still stayed up pretty late : ) .

Now, to get back into what God is doing in my heart…. While in Bangkok we stayed at a Baptist Guest House for missionaries. One morning, while washing dishes in the kitchen, the Lord confirmed in my heart that I am supposed to stay in Thailand longer. After wrestling so much between my love for being here and homesickness, I am excited to have peace and confidance that this is what I am supposed to do. Thank you so much to everyone who has been seeking the Lord along with me about this. I love you all so much and I appreciate your support more than I can say! I cannot give an exact length of time that I will be here, because that part is still up in the air for me (not God), but, I do know that I will be here for at least a total of a year. It is going to be interesting to see how it feels for my Dad to come in October and leave without me, but, I am thankful that God’s grace is and will be  sufficient.

So, that’s what has been going on around here! I hope everthing I wrote made sense . God bless!!!

The Hoars, Lavornes, Stubenrauchs, Garsees, Barron, Freddy, and Me! A great bunch of people on fire for God!!

Wow, time sure does fly! I really did intend on posting more  :) 

My time here has been going very well so far, and though challenges will probably arise at some point, I can only expect that it’s going to get better being here. Last week I started language class with my Thai teacher, Fon. She’s great! And I also learned how to ride the songthaew! Wow, talk about God getting me out of my comfort zone.  A songthaew is the local transportation system. I guess you could think of them as being mini buses that get you where you want to go . They usually cost 12 baht ($0.35 USD)  a ride. So Tuesdays-Fridays  that is what I ride to and from class. And for any friends and family out there, I have been assured many times that it is very safe! 

(Google picture of a songthaew)

 It has been nice to finally get somewhat of a schedule down.   Sundays we’re at the church from 10:00am to about 2:00pm. Mondays is our relaxing day to basically do anything we want to do. Then, Tuesdays-Fridays from 10:00am t0 12:00pm I watch Brian and Mary Beth’s children, Mercy and Micah, while MB does homeschool with their oldest, Asia. Then we eat lunch together. At 1:30pm I leave for language class which lasts till 3:30pm. When I come home, I then do my Bible courses till about 5:30. We usually eat dinner around 6:30 just depending on what’s going on that evening.

Wednesday nights we have team prayer which has been so encouraging. The team here really values the necessity of coming together as fellow believers in Christ to fellowship and pray for one another.

 Thursday evenings I go with Christina and one of the Bible students to minister to a group of children across the train tracks. The kids are so sweet and are in desperate need of attention and love. We teach them new songs, read them Bible stories, pray with them and do other things like color and such, but it just depends. As far as I know, every week looks a little bit different.  

So, anyway, that is how my days have been looking like so far. I’m sure it’s due to change . Flexibility is key. God bless! 

Well, today is the day I will be saying goodbye to my family. Wow, I knew it was going to be hard, but, I didn’t think it would be this hard. Around two o’clock or so they will be taking me to Mrs. Clark’s (Marybeth’s mom) house to spend the night with her since she is much closer to the airport than we are. In the morning she and I  will be taking off to officially be on our way to Thailand! I am so excited .  But, for the moment, I am feeling like I could cry at the drop of a hat and go to sleep at any moment. Overall though, I believe God had given us all a lot of grace.  I feel so blessed to have a family like mine.

So, my other neat news?  My braces were taken off today!!! Yay!

Only one week to go till the big day…

So many emotions are whirling inside of me the more I realize that the day of departure is coming closer and closer.  I feel excitement, anticipation, joy, thrill, sadness, a pinch of stress, and a butterfly or two in my stomach.  I praise God for this opportunity of a life time that He is giving me. I don’t feel deserving of it. What have I done to deserve such trust? I am deeply humbled. I can only hope and pray that I will represent Him well. 

   I want to publicly thank all those who have committed to praying for me while I am away and also to those who have generously given their financial gifts to help make this trip even possible. There are not words enough to describe my gratitude to you.  

 I look forward to sharing with everyone my experiences and what I believe the Lord is speaking to me. May He bless you abundantly! 

Love,

Megan

On Monday, we left for a place called cleftRock to get away as a family so Dad and John could unwind from their most recent trip to Sudan and also to kind of prepare for my upcoming trip to Thailand. cleftRock is a retreat center for pastors and missionaries and their families. It is a wonderful, beautiful, and peaceful place set back deep into the woods. We had a great time together taking walks, listening to the birds, praying, eating junk food, playing games and of course, taking pictures . Below are some of the over 100 photos my brother, John, and I shot while on a walk together.  I took most of them because, well, I was a little bit hoggish with the camera that day . But we had a very special brother – sister time together. 

If you like any of the pictures we would really appreciate that you do not use them without our permission. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them! God bless! 

The house we stayed in

This was the perfect name for our little hideaway 

John took this close up of the Iris – It was one of the only Iris’ there still in bloom

John wanted to take a shot of the parking sign He has a good eye cause I certainly wouldn’t have thought of it! 

I really like this pic of a fence that John took too

I took this one

John took this great picture

cleftRock was started by a couple who wanted to give pastors and missionaries a place to find rest, counsel, and quiet. Their own son was a missionary along with his wife and children in South America. Back in 2003 he was killed by guerilla rebels. His parents brought his body back to cleftRock to be buried at his favorite spot on the property. The next few photos are of his grave site and of the place surrounding it that was made for people to come to think and reflect. His family is still serving as  missionaries in South America. 

I’m going to be away from the computer for a few days while our family is on a mini vacation/retreat together. When we come back home, hopefully I’ll be back with lots of photos from this week and the surprise Mother’s Day trip to New York my mom and I took while Dad and John were in Sudan:) . God bless, and Happy Memorial Day! Please remember in the midst of your family gatherings to give honor to all the men and women who gave their lives or are still fighting for our country.

Progress Report! – Right now I am working on getting my visa application out so I can actually get into Thailand. I am praying that it goes through smoothly and without a hitch. I am also praying that they will grant my request for two visas instead of just one because one is only good for 60 days or something. If I am able to get two, the process of trying to stay longer will not be as much of a hassle.

Prayer Need – In the past few days I have been chatting with the family I  will be staying with, and I have found out that they have opened their home to two young Thai girls (ages 10 and 9). These girls come from a very sad home situation. Their father is a drug addict, their mother is a prostitute, their grandfather is a alcoholic and the grandmother is so old and feeble that she can barely move. They also have several younger siblings that have no clothes and their playground is a dump. The youngest is a year old. 

The Lord has softened the parents hearts enough to allow the two oldest girls to leave so they can finally go to school. They had their first day yesterday!  It is everyone’s prayer that these girls will be able to lead a new life and come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. Not to mention that is our prayer for the whole family. It would be wonderful to see God free them all from the life that they are currently leading. 

Because the oldest children are no longer at home, there is the concern that the other children are not being taken care of at all. The 10 year old had pretty much become their mother because the real mother is barely ever home. 

When you think about this family, could you please lift them up in prayer? This is just one family out of so many in Thailand that need Jesus.  Please also pray that the Lord will give the Stubenrauchs and Pii Thak (single Thai women that I will be sharing a house with) wisdom and discernment with these girls. I would also appreciate prayer because i have learned that I will be with these girls a lot and I really want to be a good example to them of Christ and as a sister and friend. Thank you!

Here are pictures of my apron as promised! Please feel to once again let me know what you think. I appreciate any help I can get .

My trusty “not-so-happy-to-do-this” helper/model, Jeremiah!

Papa and Amma left this morning. I wish they could have stayed longer, but, I am very thankful for the few days we did have with them.

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday while we celebrated Amma’s birthday.

Papa and Me

P.S. $1500 has been raised for the 1200 people in the Displaced Peoples Camp in Sudan!

Praise the Lord that Matthew is feeling quite a bit better. He’s still having breathing treatments, but his smile is back and he’s not coughing near as bad as before.

Jeremiah ,on the other hand, also has RSV now  . He got it about three days ago. He too is taking breathing treatments. Yesterday he wouldn’t/couldn’t eat or drink anything because his throat was hurting him so bad. And the night before last he actually ended up “sleeping” with me in my room in the basement because he was waking up so often coughing, which in turn would make him start crying because he was scared and didn’t want to be alone. We both got about four hours of broken sleep that night.

My poor little brothers have been through it this week. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers! Including my father because he is heading into Sudan as I write this. God bless!

 This is the letter I will be sending out this week in hopes of raising support for my trip . It is subject to change a little bit before I send it out though.

I just wanted to let you know how things are moving along! If you read it, you’ll notice that a date has been set for my departure!

March 23, 2009

Dear ____________,

   As you may already know, earlier this year my father and I took a trip to Hat Yai, southern Thailand. We visited our very good missionary friends Brian and Mary Beth Stubenrauch, their family, and the team they are working with. Our time with them was a wonderful and growing experience. I quickly grew attached to the Thai people, the country, and the whole team. The Lord also really drew me to Himself and I felt that He may have been using our trip as a tool to reopen desires I had in my heart, when I was a little girl, to be a missionary.

   I am writing this letter to you to inform you that the Stubenrauchs and the team have offered me an open door to come back to Thailand to serve with them and to give me an on-the-field experience.

   After many weeks of prayer, thought, fasting, and seeking counsel from my parents and others, I do believe the Lord is leading me to return for an extended stay. It is my prayer that by going back, He will continue to speak to me and show me if foreign missions is truly the direction He wants me to be heading. For it is my sole desire to hear His voice and obey Him.

I would like to ask you to please keep my family and me in your prayers as we make this transition in our lives. I will be leaving on June 9th and I have committed to staying until September (by the end of this time I/we will decide if the Lord is leading me to stay longer). This will be the longest and farthest I have ever been away from my family.  And, I also want to ask you to please pray about the possibility of financially supporting me for this trip.  It is my goal to raise all the money I will need for the time I will be gone by May 20^th or sooner if possible.  Below is a list of the needs I have and the estimated cost for each:

Plane ticket- $2,000 +/-

3 months rent, food, electric bills, emergency, etc. – $2,500- $3,000

Computer (So I can communicate with my family via email/webcam and also keep up with the GRN Kid’s Corner newsletter) - $1,060

Motor scooter- $800-$1,500 (I may be able to purchase a used one)

Approx. Total: $6,360-$7,560

 If you are unable to financially support me at this time, I completely understand; it is your prayers that I covet and appreciate the most.

 If you would like to receive email updates from me while I am away, I have inserted a small slip of paper with this letter that you can fill out with your information. Some space has also been made for you, if you so choose, to be able to write down any prayer needs you may have that I can be praying for, and, an envelope has been included for your convenience.

Thank you so much for believing in the call of God on my life and for your love and support. You mean more to me than I can ever say! May the Lord bless you!

Love in Christ,

Megan Zurowski

Please write your check out to:

Global Response Network

memo: Megan’s Thailand Trip

GRN’s address:

402 Coomer St.

Somerset, KY 42503