Li Outreach first 2 weeks

We've been here 2 weeks now. We're staying at the church in Li. We have 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms to split between the 10 of us. Luckily, me and Ashley get our own room. We've spent a lot of time teaching english at 2 schools. It's fun hanging out with kids. Some are very nice.
We had a big CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION at the church. We invited everyone we met to come. About 250 people showed up and ate food, sang songs, and then watched us do a few dramas, dances, and share what God has done in our lives. It was interesting.
We also got to lead the church service this week. The church has about 25 adults and 40 kids (many from an orphanage the pastor runs). Jonathan, Edna, and Jiew taught the adults. Instead of preaching, we asked the members to share their testimony. Surprisingly, people did. It was the first time the pastor had heard their testimonies. It was good to see that even though they don't have much knowledge or background of the Bible, God has still been working in their lives and answering prayers and showing himself to them.
Ashley, Megan, Amima, and Nu taught the youth (10-16 year olds). There was almost 30 of em, and it was hard to keep order. But some of them did want to be there and did listen as Ashley taught about God's Character.
Tim and Em taught the kids. It was a good experience for all of us. We think we will be leading church here for the next 5 weeks.

We've seen that the Christians here are committed, but they know very little. They are only taught on sunday and they don't meet together or talk with each other during the week. Some read teh Bible & pray, but they have trouble knowing how to do this. So, we have a great opportunity to help them grow in their faith and encourage them so that they can themselves reach out to the community.

We also went to a big Buddhist temple. It is weird to drive through a poor village to get to a huge beautiful temple. This place had many different buildings with statues, idols, incense, and monks everywhere. They painted many walls to tell different stories of the buddhist beliefs. They even preserved & displayed the body of a respected monk. To me, it reminds me of Acts 17, when Paul was in Athens. Read it & you'll know how I feel.