What if you didn't know the Good News?

In our spare time we made a little video of some of our pictures from Thailand and China to kind of give an idea of what the people there believe and how that is different from the Good News. Please check it out, I think you'll like it. Feel free to share it/use it with whoever you want. Let me know what you think. It's called, What if you didn't know the Good News? It's kind of based off of an idea from II Corinthians 5:17-6:2

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you."I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

We're Home

The last few months have been a crazy whirlwind of coming and going, filled with many good memories, happy hello's and sad goodbyes. We visited Kansas City and Hermann Missouri, getting to spend much time with Ashley's family for Thanksgiving. We then visited North Carolina for Christmas, and finally, after being homeless vagabonds for almost 2 months, we moved into a nice little apartment in Boulder Colorado on New Year's Eve, 2008. Please check out our pictures for more info.
We're settling in nicely at our home in Boulder. It was great to be reunited with all of our old clothes and things from our storage shed. We realized that we gave away a lot of stuff before we left, a few things we wish we would have kept. We've been reunited with many old friends and are starting to get caught up with all that's happened in the last 1.5 years. Friends are now marred, engaged, have babies, new jobs, and some friends have even moved away.
We're now looking for jobs and volunteer opportunities to keep us busy. We have been blessed with good job opportunities, even in this hard economic environment. In addition to looking for jobs, we're also cooking a lot of thai food for friends to try out and also trying to remember how to climb, run, bike, and breathe at altitude.

So, How's Re-entry to America?
This is a common question for us. We'll share a few stories from our reentry to the crazy american culture.
1. Taxi ride- a 10 minute taxi ride from the airport, in thailand would cost us $6. Here, it cost us $35.
2. After months of hearing family worry about all the dangers in Asia and hoping we will make it home safely, we made it (of course), only for Jonathan to get bitten by a spider in his first night in America. Apparently, a brown recluse made a home in their unused bed and didn't like his return.
3. After leaving America in great economic prospects, we came back to a failing economy. It was a little depressing to think about looking for a job in these times. Sometimes it caused us to worry/plan a little excessively, but God reminded us to "be anxious for nothing, but with everything through prayer let your requests be made known to Him, and the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6. We have found this to be true, to not get caught up in worrying about the future, but to just live each day trusting that He will provide our every need. And His peace has been comforting, allowing us to enjoy our free time here and use it to reconnect with friends and family.
4. COLD weather - After not wearing a jacket for the last year, we came back to below freezing temps in Missouri. This took a little time to get used to.
5. Saying Hello, in thailand we were trained to "Wai" every person we met (a little head bow with your hands together at your chest/nose), and we found this as a hard habit to get out of. Instead of waving or shaking hands or giving a hug, we often found ourselves doing an awkward "wai" which we tried to turn into a wave/shake/hug.
6. At Chipotle, for some reason Jonathan instinctively tried to speak thai to the cashier.
7. Thai Time - Even though we have no jobs, we still find a way to be late everywhere we go. It's just the thai way of doing things. Whatever you are doing now, whatever conversation you are in or work you are doing, is more important than getting to your next meeting on time. We're having trouble remembering that it's not the same in the US.
8. US sizes - Ashley felt much better shopping for clothes, realizing that she is no longer the biggest size that the store sells. It can be a little depressing to try on an XL in thailand and still need something larger.
9. Toilet Paper - In thailand, you throw your paper in the trash can, not in the toilet. This habit created us several dilemmas as we searched the stall for a trash can to no avail, and then realizing that we can just throw it in the toilet.
10. American Food - it's great, but so is thai food. After getting used to eating fresh food that is light and easy to digest, we had a few problems as our body tried to deal with a plate of cheesy lasagna or greasy pizza. Thai's don't eat much cheese or milk, so this took us a little time to get used to.
11. Dry climate - after moving to Colorado, Jonathan's lips were so dry they cracked and bled for 3-4 days. We both woke up early in the mornings with a throat so dry, we almost couldn't breathe.
12. Missing Friends - One thing that we hope to not get over, is a longing to see some of the friends we made in our time in Thailand. God truly blessed us with friends who looked after us, cared for us, and spent time with us. It would have been a much harder 1.5 years without those friends, and we hope to get to reconnect with them soon.

That's all. God Bless You all.

Goodbye Thailand, Hello USA

Hello from Hermann, Missouri. After many tears and sad goodbyes to many friends who feel like family to us, we left Thailand on Nov. 7. We were in Thailand for 1 year and 3 months and are amazed at how much has happened. Please check out our pictures for more info as well.

• We completed a YWAM Discipleship Training School, growing in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and experiencing and learning many unique things.
• We worked at the Lopburi Youth House, reaching out to students aged 14-22 with the love of Jesus Christ in many different ways.
• We visited beautiful waterfalls, climbed, biked, motorbiked, took 12 hour trains and buses, and slept in a Buddhist temple as we explored all of Thailand and even visited Laos and China.
• We taught English and we learned Thai language.
• We experienced it all, fun times, hard times, challenging personal growth, seeing God working in our lives and in those around us. Through it all we have seen that He is truly faithful to those who follow Him and that every step of faith we took was rewarded by Him. We want to encourage you to seek Him with all your heart and to trust Him with all your ways. Even in these hard economic times, to remember that He gives strength to all who hope in Him. Now is a good time to remember that it is God who we trust, not money.
  
  

Last week we visited Ashley’s Dad in Kansas City. We cooked lots of food, cleaned the kitchen, ran and climbed together, and prayed together. Even in this very difficult time for them, God has blessed them in many ways. We continue to pray that He will provide strength for each day.
Now we are visiting Ashley’s Mom for Thanksgiving. It is great to be reunited with family and to share our stories from Thailand and catch up on all that we missed.
On December 8 we will visit Jonathan’s family in North Carolina.
As for what we’ll do next, we know that we should live each day as Christ’s Ambassadors, sharing Christ’s love with those around us. We are also reminded to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests to God. And let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ.” Phillipians 4:6
We pray that you have a blessed Thanksgiving. Click here for pics of our time in the USA, and here for our pics of our going away party in thailand

Climbing and Kwan's wedding in Chiang Mai

After Chiang Rai we went to Chiang Mai to visit some old friends and vacation a little before leaving Thailand. We stayed at our friend Emi's Lighthouse Guesthouse, a great Christian environment in a good location. Anyone visiting Chiang Mai should check her out.

Climbing!!!

We finally got to go climbing in Chiang Mai at the famous Crazy Horse area. Our friends Carolyn and Charles came along with us. We were not disappointed as the area had enough easy climbs for us to play on for the day, and also had a nice quiet and friendly environment with beautiful views. It was great to get out in the wilderness again.

Kwan and Jeremiah's wedding

We met Kwan during our YWAM DTS. She is from a Lisu village in Chiang Dao (Northern Thailand) near the border of Burma. The Lisu culture is very different than thai culture, often leaving us feeling out of place as white faces who speak a little thai, but no Lisu or Burmese or Northern Thai. It was a lively atmosphere as the family and friends gathered to prepare for the ceremony and to prepare food for the HUGE wedding feast. Hope you enjoy our pictures and say a prayer for Kwan and Jeremiah as they start their lfe together, that God will guide them and bless their relationship with love and perseverance. They are both talented and hard working with a desire to worship God with their lives, but they come from poor families with little opportunity.

Pain in the Butt (mtn biking with Art) and other adventures.

This last week has been a whirlwind as we went to bangkok for our friend Em's engagement party and then came to Chiang Rai to visit Art and the New Generation Ministry. Many stories to tell, but little time. We'll pick just a few, including mountain biking for the first time in a long time on uncomfortable bikes which has a tendency to cause a problem in the bottom area. Make sure to check out our pictures also.

Em's Engagement!!!
Our friend Em surprised us by bringing his girlfriend Kluay to Lopburi to meet us, and then inviting us to his engagement party the next weekend. Engagement party's in thailand are almost as big as the wedding.
The ceremony, in true THAI Style, took hours to prepare for and then lasted only a few minutes. We spent Sunday night making decorations, food, preparing the room. Then we woke at 5:30 am and ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant with Em's family and friends and waited around until 9am for the ceremony to start. Loud firecrackers started the ceremony, and Em led his family and friends into the building where Kluay's family and friends were waiting. Em presented the Dowry and other gifts to the family, the parents said a few blessings, and then it was picture time.
Ceremony - 15 minutes
Pictures - 45 minutes
Preparations- Hours
We did get to meet 1 of Em's friends (Klong) who is a strong Christian and is very good about encouraging and teaching Em in his faith. It was very cool to see these 2 young men standing strong in a world with values very different from theirs. They are truly a light in their world. Please keep Em and Kluay in your prayers, that their relationship will be blessed and that Kluay's relationship with God will continue to grow and continue to impact her life.

Akha Christian Youth Camp
In Chiang Rai, we got to see the yearly ACY camp which had 750 Akha Youth age 15-22 join. We taught English for an hour to 60+ students, and then sat back and watched this camp completely run by Akha men and women volunteering their time and money to reach their own people. It was a great sight, and amazing to see how well they put together a camp for so many people.

Pain in the Butt
Art also took us bike riding in the mountains near Chiang Rai. We rented 3 mountain bikes for the journey and loaded up a bag of snacks and water and set off into the unknown. The bikes were good, except that it felt like driving a tank and the seat had no padding whatsoever.
The trail at the start was great, it was a dirt road used by motorbikes over steep mountains with several stream crossings through beautiful rice fields and villages. Some hills were very steep and long, causing Art to throw up from exhaustion (not the first time Jonathan has caused a friend to throw up while bike riding). Several areas were very technical too, negotiating through rocks and mud and sticks. It made us miss Colorado.
We stopped for lunch at a small Akha village where Art quickly made friends who brought us out food and water. Their food was much better than what we brought, and they forced us to eat it, so we did and we gave them our food to eat later. We had a wonderful time resting, eating, talking, joking, and comparing "farang" (western) culture with the Akha culture. 2 old Akha ladies, when hearing we were riding bikes, exclaimed, "those farang are CRAZY".
Then, we decided on a shortcut the villagers told us about, which was very fun. It led us on the edge of cliffs, through the woods, and through at least 20 stream crossings. It was a awesome bike ride, but, left us with very sore butts.

New Generation Ministry
We also had a great time staying at the New Generation Ministry house for the week. We were very encouraged by what we saw and heard about how the ministry is going. We know many of you have supported the ministry with prayer and finances, and he wants to say a big THANK YOU for it all. The ministry is serving it's purpose to disciple young Akha men, give them opportunity to study at school, and train them up as leaders. We are very excited by what we see, and will update the New Generation Website with more info. God is truly blessing these kids through your support and prayers. And, if any of you are considering supporting a ministry, this is a great opportunity where your money will definitely be used wisely.

For Example, to pay for 5 students and 2 staff, the monthly expenses right now is around $300 including food for breakfast & dinner, rent, and utilities. The students are responsible to pay for their own lunch and school fees.

They cook and eat food together, play soccer, and then meet nightly to study the Bible, pray together, and worship God. God is blessing there relationships and is giving Art many opportunities to speak truth into their lives and to train them into leaders of the Akha community.

Invision Global Network
While at Art's house, we also met Tim and Cindy, 2 people from the US with an interisting vision ad mission. It was wonderful getting to exchange stories with them and hear about what they are doing. Anyone interested in organizing a short life changing mission trip with a group of friends or church members should check out there website. They have a very interesting and unique perspective on short term mission trips and how to take what you learn in a far away place and bring it home and allow it to change your life in a way that is honoring to God.

English Camp 48 hour Road Trip.

PARTY BUS!!!
How did we get here? we're sitting on a bus filled with 16-17 year old thai students who are dancing like there's no tomorrow, disco lights are flashing, and tecno music is blaring out the speakers. We've slept a total of 8 hours in the last 2 days, and now students expect US to DANCE?!?!? As we stop at a bus stop for a break, the music keeps blaring and students jump out into the parking lot to continue the party. This is crazy, and, how did we get here?

Well, as foreigners with white faces (farang) and English as our first language, we got the great opportunity this week to "volunteer" to go to help with "English camp" with 85 students from Chai Nat. Wearily, we accepted this great opportunity to be a part of Thai culture we had yet not seen, and left home at 2pm on tuesday for the 4 hour journey to Chai Nat.
After meeting the other teachers in Chai Nat and still having no idea of what exactly we would be doing on this trip, we loaded up onto 2 buses at 9pm for the overnight 10 hr bus ride to Chiang Mai. As it turned out, "English Camp" was really a 48 hour road trip with very little time for english or sleep. We went to Chiang Mai University for breakfast, stopped and "payed respects" at a temple, drove up to a temple on top of the famous Doi Suthep mountain, then did a short 30 minute English activity. We drove back down the mountain, stopped a fresh market to buy snacks, then drove to a souvenir "handicraft" market, then on to a umbrella making factory, and lastly, to the Lamphun University of Buddhism for dinner, activities, and to sleep. We had a nice dinner, watched dance performances by a local school, our students, and then participitated in a hip hop dance by the teachers.
Jonathan stayed up late singing songs with students (who Love singing) and sharing about his beliefs in the God who created us, the world, and loved us so much that He came to save us from our rebellion against Him. Then Jonathan went to the guy teachers room to sleep with the buddha (our room had a big gold buddha statue in it), thankful that Jesus is with him wherever he goes, and again asking, "how did we get here".
Students woke up starting at 4am (thai students apparently don't need to sleep), ate breakfast at 6am, did a 45 minute english worksheet (which most students copied later on the way home), and then set off for home with a hourly temple, market, or gas station stop on the way.

So, here we are, sitting in a bus with flashing disco lights and loud tecno music. We can either try to sleep, or we can try to bond with the students and take this once in a lifetime opportunity to party on the english camp bus. What would you do? Check out our pictures to see what WE did.

Chayaphum and Floods in Lopburi

We visited our friend Ram in Chayaphum last weekend and had a great time. She was a staff of our DTS and is now trying to start a YWAM ministry in her village. It was eye-opening to see where Ram came from in simple living conditions and as 1 of 2 christian families in the whole village. The people are poor, living off of their rice fields, gardening, raising cattle, and fishing. It was humbling to see a family with so few possessions but such true inner joy and peace coming from their trust and dependence on God.

We were truly blessed in our time with them. For more info look at our pictures. You'll see Ram's family and home and even her dad sitting on their newly built toilet.

Food and Floods in Lopburi

Also, this month we continued working at the Lopburi Youth House. We made food and snacks together. We also had a big flood in Lopburi that came up to the roof of some people's homes. We paddled a boat to bring food to Peung's Grandma. You have to see these pictures as well.

Laos trip

Last week we had a whirlwind trip to Laos to renew our visa. The best way to check it out is to view our pics here. We sipped wine, danced aerobics, renewed our thai visa, and toured around vientiane for 2 days and then spent 2 days adventuring in Vang Viang. Vang Viang is a beautiful place, rivaling any place we've been before. We were able to communicate with locals as well, because Lao language is similar to thai.
The people were very friendly and laid back (except the drunk westerners) despite the poverty. The infrastructure in Laos is comparable to Thailand 50 years ago.
Check out our pictures for more info.

Olympic Camp

We'll write a short play by play account of the camp first, and then a few testimonies from the camp.

Friday 5:30pm, the bus showed up at the Lopburi Youth House. We threw our stuff inside, loaded up the bus as quickly as possible, locked up the Youth House, and then headed off to Nakhon Sawan for the camp. Students immediately started singing songs and getting to know new friends. Praise God that it seemed like no student was left out.

Friday 7:30 pm, arrive at the camp, register, find our rooms, have a fun opening ceremony with games. Praise God that students who initially seemed anxious to come to a Christian Camp figured out that they would have fun as well. Then we separated into groups for the first of 4 Bible Studies.

Friday 1am Bedtime.

Saturday 7:30am Staff Meeting, then breakfast, a Silly Song, then Bible Study.

Saturday 11am Workshop time, students got to choose from 10 workshops, like sports, craftmaking, Photography, etc.

12:30 pm Lunch

1:30 pm Workshop #2

3:00 pm Camp Olympics- Students divided into 10 "countries", and competed in several events such as: Tie your legs together relay race, Balloon Stomp, indoor soccer, gymnastic water relay race, water balloon volleyball. The winners of the beautiful gold medals and gold chocolate bars were: China.

6:00pm Delicious Dinner with sticky rice and chicken and Som Tam.

7:30 pm Song, skit, and then a Bible Study in small groups. Afterwards, a time of question and answer with the camp "GURUS". Praise God that many serious questions were asked about the Christian faith.

10:00pm Irish dance time, then an outdoor BBQ with live music playing. Students really enjoyed their time this evening, and we heard of many good conversations that happened between students and Christian student leaders.

2:00 am Most students and staff didn't go to bed until around 2am

Sunday 7:30 am Staff meeting, breakfast, workshop #3.

Sunday 11:00 am Skit, Bible study in small groups.

12:00 pm Students choose 1 of 4 groups to join. 1. I am a christian already 2. I am ready to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and saviour. 3. I want to know more about Jesus Christ and the Christian life. 4. I had fun but am not really interested in Jesus Christ.

Praise God that 3 students chose to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Praise God that the majority of students wanted to know more about Jesus and the Christian Life. Pray that they will continue to learn and seek God, and that they will continue to have opportunity to learn about God's love for them.

1:00pm Lunch

1:30 pm Closing Ceremony speech by Johnny. Praise God that he was able to clearly summarize the gospel and that students were listening closely to his words.

3:00 pm - clear out your room and load up the bus as quickly as possible.

A few short Testimonies:

Pang: Pang has been coming to the Lopburi Youth House regularly for 2 months now and has heard several testimonies, been to church several times, sat in on the weekly Bible Studies, and joined us all in singing worship songs. She was drawn to the Youth House because she could tell people here cared about her because we looked in her eyes when she talked. She told us of how alone she felt at home and school, and how her parents didn't seem to care about her. Slowly she has started see Christ's unconditional love for her. At the camp, she was able to clearly study the gospel message of our sin and separation from God, and Jesus' love for us and desire to have relationship with us. Pang chose to make Jesus her Saviour and to follow him. Please keep her in your prayers.

Nam: Nam, age 17, has been a Christian for 2 years now, and has obvious leadership and fruit of Christ's work in her life. Through the witness of her life and the change in her life since becoming a christian, her mother is also a christian now. Nam was a Bible Study leader for the first time at the camp. She said it was a great experience and very challenging. She was so excited to be able to serve God in this way. Her group had 1 other Christian and 3 non-Christians. She said they asked many tough questions, but she was still glad to be their leader. Some students even thought she was staff because of her maturity.

Students from Polytechnic School: A teacher from Polytechnic School arranged for 11 students to come to camp. We were at first a little worried because we did not know them and students from this school are not the most obedient. We were pleasantly surprised that they got along well with other students, enjoyed their time, and several showed that Christ was working in their hearts and minds as well. Ball is saying he wants to be a Christian and a Buddhist (this is a step in the right direction, even though he's not there yet). Others also enjoyed the Bible Studies and are open to learning more. They all left smiling and hoping to see us again.

Nice and his friends from Kai Narai: Nice is a great witness at his school. He was able to convince a group of 8 students and 1 teacher to come to camp with us. He organized all their paperwork, and even wrote an official letter to the school director asking for permission for the students to go. Several of these students had good conversations with staff about the Christian Faith and show that God did use this camp to work in their hearts. Pray that he continues this work and continues to connect them with Christians.

OLYMPICS Evangelistic Camp

On August 15-17 we will have a big evangelistic student camp in Nakhon Sawan with a theme of the Olympics. The official name is Huang A Yai, which is a sort of play on words for big circle, Take Care, and it's hard to explain but students like the name.
We hope to have around 120 high school and college students come to the camp for around $8/person. We'll have several competitions, opening and closing ceremonies, and we'll use the colors of the Olympics to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will have 5 Bible Studies, each on one color of the 5 circles.
The rings of the Olympics are Green, Blue, Black, Red, and Yellow.
Green represents God is the creator of everything.
Blue represents God reigns over everything, He is the Ruler of the world.

Black represents man's sin and rebellion from God.
Red represents God's love for us, shown by sending His son Jesus, who died on the cross so that our sins may be washed clean. Red also represents Jesus blood, shed as a sacrifice once for all of us.
Yellow represents our new life as children of the King, and the promise of eternal life in heaven with streets of gold.

Other activities will be a campfire with music and performances by students, a BBQ dinner, singing worship songs together, and time in workshops. In the workshops, students get to choose from several different activities including: sports, making crafts, learning english, etc.
Please keep this in your prayers over the next 2 weeks.
1. The staff, to complete all of our preparations and to still have energy to love the students at camp. That we will have wisdom in all the last second preparations. That we will show God's love through our lives and our words.
2. The Christian students, to grow closer with God and have a bigger understanding of His love for us. Also, to be encouraged/set on fire by the big community of christian students. Pray for them to be bold in sharing their faith with non-christian students at the camp. Also pray for the student leaders who will lead the small group Bible Studies.
3. The Non-Christian students, that their hearts will open up to the Gospel and that they will let go of the things that hold them back from following Jesus. There are several students from each Youth House that have heard the gospel and have interest, but pray that God will use this time to convict them of their need for Jesus Christ to be their personal Savior.