I love being in Thailand. The longer I am here, the fonder my heart grows for the people.  The Thais need Jesus!!!  But, there is a specific group of thais that I would like to write about….the prostitutes. I have a challenge for you tonight. Later this evening a large group of us consisting of Christina and me, a visiting team from South Africa and Bible School students will be heading to the streets to minister to the prostitutes. This will be a brand new experience for all of us.

So this is my challenge to you…Please pray for us while we are out. We will be gone from 8 o’clock pm (3 hours from now) to probably 10:00 or 11:00. If you could stand with us in prayer for those few hours it would be appreciated so much. And it would be even more encouraging if you could leave a comment on this post letting me know that you will be praying. That way I can let our group know. Also, I know that I don’t need to mention this, but, please don’t just pray for us, but pray for the women we will be talking with. Pray that they would realize that they can be set free in Jesus’ name! That there is hope for them!

Thank you so much!

It is now October and in Thailand this month  marks the time for the “great” Vegetarian Festival of 2009. Or in other words, marks one of the darkest spiritual times of the year in the country.

The Vegetarian Festival a.k.a. the Gin Jay Festival is celebrated by Buddhists of Chinese descent and is started with the raising of a pole at Chinese temples around the country which signal the nine gods (I’m not sure what these gods are) to come down to earth. This event is a very colorful and dramatic celebration which takes place during the first nine days of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The 9-day event is usually in late September or early October. During this time, devout Chinese Buddhists dress in white clothes, convert to vegetarians and observe a certain list of ten rules in order to purify their minds and bodies. Besides a strict vegetarian diet and temple offering, some other “(demonic) highlights” of the festival include acts of self -mortification such as climbing knife – blade ladders, walking on hot coals, a ritual of bridge – crossing and a street – procession in which mediums dressed in pink and are in a state of trance have their cheeks pierced and bodies spiked with various types of sharp objects. I will also mention that Brian said all of this is done without any bloodshed.

To me, all of this information makes me want to pray more and harder for the Thail people and for our team. Satan is always on the attack. I have already been experiencing some fear and both, Mary Beth and I, have been experiencing bad dreams. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but, Brian says things like these usually happen even more during this time of the year as results from such strong demonic forces around us. But, we know that we are children of the Most High God and we will not give in to these attacks. Please pray for us!

Hey Ya’ll!

I just went to Malaysia with Brian and Mary Beth last week to get a new visa so that I can stay in Thailand longer. We had a great time together! I kept forgetting to take pictures while I was there, but, I did take some of the beautiful view I had from my hotel room. Check them out ! ~ From the Land of Smiles

Khorat Pictures Part One !! – From the Land of Smiles

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! Today marks 1 month and 12 days that I have been here in Thailand already, and, I can honestly say that everything is going very well. I can’t imagine being anywhere else at this moment in time. God has been so good to open my heart and show me things that I have never seen or experienced before.

Quite a bit has been happening here in the last couple of weeks. On the 11th and 12th, a few groups of students from one of the schools in Hat Yai came to our house to interview me for an English project. Long story short, It ended up that most of their questions were about Jesus and how to have a relationship with Him! And because there were a few groups from the same class, the Gospel was shared with their class probably 3 or 4 times!

Then, on the 14th, the team took the Bible students from Hat Yai on a retreat to the Pruett family’s house in Naratiwat. It was so much fun! I was able to reconnect with some of the students that Dad and I had met in January and hung out with them for a few days. It was an encouraging time together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  I also got to help Mrs. Pruett at their coffee shop which was opened a few months ago. That was also a lot of fun.

On the 17th, I went to a village with the Garsee family, called Ow Luk (at least that’s how I think it’s spelled). Being with Garsees and in Ow Luk was also a really neat experience. One evening we went to a rubber tree farm to show the Jesus Film to about 60 people. After the movie, we prayed for some people who needed healing in their bodies and guess what….they were healed!! And not only that, 22 people raised their hands to accept Christ as their Savior!  We just kept thanking the Lord because it was nothing that we did that could have turned their hearts towards Him.

Well, those are the biggest things that have been happening around here lately. I’m still taking Thai and doing outreach and helping Mary Beth with her children. And tomorrow morning I start teaching Sunday school class at church!

I’m sorry there are no pictures this time. I can’t find my camera cord!

And Oh! Did I mention that I just got back from learning how to drive a motor scooter???   God bless!

www.megan-picturesfromthailand.blogspot.com 

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! 

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! And I apologize to those of you that I promised to email updates to. For some reason I have been able to receive emails, but, not able to send any :/ . 

Last week the Stubenrauchs took the opportunity to go on a rare vacation while Mary Beth’s mother is here. We had  so much fun! We were by the ocean, which was a first for me, and it was beautiful! God’s artistic hand in everything continually amazes me. We didn’t do a lot except eat, swim, and sleep Haha! Actually, it was a very refreshing time for me. There were times that I could feel the Lord’s presence. To look at pictures of our time on the island click HERE. 

Tomorrow I start taking Thai language lessons with a woman nearby!  I’m pretty excited. My prayer is that I will learn the language quickly so I can communicate more with the people around me. Especially the two little girls that live in the house that I share with Christina and P’Thak.

Everything is going great here. I was able to talk with my parents and brothers this morning and last night. It was so good to hear their voices.

MB, Mrs. Clark(MB’s mom), and I just returned from going to the local gym to workout. The treadmill I went on just about took everything out of me, I think .  Well, maybe it wasn’t the treadmill so much, but, the fact that Thais don’t think it’s good for you to have air conditioning going when you exercise :/.  

I posted some pictures of my room! Actually, these are before photos because I got some new things to put in it yesterday but haven’t taken any more pics yet.  -

www.megan-picturesfromthailand.blogspot.com

Hello from Thailand!!! I am officially here . Wow, what a great journey to a great place filled with great people.  It feels so good to be back with Brian & Mary Beth (MB) and their family again.  Tonight we had a very nice fellowship, worship, and prayer time with the Garsee family and Christina (fellow single girl ) I truly believe that the presence of the Lord was and is with us. It was encouraging to be with everyone.

 I haven’t really taken any pictures yet, but, I hope to start tomorrow. I did put one up of my little friend though – www.megan-picturesfromthailand.blogspot.com .

Thank you every one again for your prayers! I apologize if this post was poorly written, but, I am struggling with heavy jet lag at the moment.  

And oh, did I mention that it’s very hot here????…and that I have no air conditioning in my room? Thank the Lord for fans!!