Not Quite the end of the Story

I'm so glad that Craig shared the update from Rick and Cooky- we were completely excited when we received that one!! I'm always humbled and amazed that God would choose to use us to do incredible things for His kingdom. He is SO good to us.
Looking back now, I'm still saying that it was a great trip! It was emotionally draining in ways I've never experienced. Realizing the emptiness of Buddhism was particularly hard- you can't even call it a "false hope"; it's not even that. It's more like a game of luck or chance. They go to worship different statues in the temples, pay their money to buy tokens or flowers or incense for the gods, the more devout (or desperate) might even go and serve as a monk in the temple for a few days- all in "hope" of finding favor with one of the thousands of gods. Their hope is about as sure as going to Las Vegas and saying "I'm going to play roulette for an hour- I HOPE I win!" We have to tell the world that they can find TRUE HOPE in Jesus alone...
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2
Thanks to all of you who prayed us to Thailand and back. You were a huge part of us sharing the hope of Jesus with the people of Pattaya- we, Jomtien Baptist Church, Pin, and countless others are grateful for your prayers and support in making this trip happen. None of us will ever be the same for it.

Wrappin Up- What God Is Doing!!

We have been home for 2 weeks, Doug, Tiffany and Sybil are immersed in school, and Jess and I in work. But we have heard some WONDERFUL news from those we worked with in Pattaya. Praise God for letting us be a part of it. Here is the text of an email we got from the missionaries we worked with:

"It is so hard to believe that your God could love someone who has done things as bad as me! I am a terrible sinner!”

Ms. Pin had been scraping out enough money for food for herself and her 3 children by working on the streets of Pattaya. For the past several years, she had been living the life of a “disposable plastic bag”, where people used her for their own purposes and then threw her in a rubbish heap to fend for herself.

She was hanging out near the beach in the Thailand tourist city of Pattaya when a strange looking group of 4 people approached her. One of the local Thai Christians, Maliwan, was with the volunteer group.

They sat down on the sidewalk and began explaining about the hope available to all of us sinners through an extraordinary God/Man named Jesus Christ. They used an “Evangecube” to explain the story. Pin was completely amazed at the possibility that this Creator God had prepared a way for her to escape the misery of guilt and shame in which she lived. This was hard to imagine! To Pin, God accepting her was like a King wading down into a mud pit and placing a scarlet robe around a mud-covered vagrant and taking them home to live in the palace!!

But as the good News of there being a real God who loved Pin was explained, Pin knew that it was true. In her desperate lostness and guilt, she believed and decided to commit her life to this true God and He became her personal Savior and Lord. Hard to imagine!

The team had met Pin during the course of distributing thousands of Gospel materials during the week. YOU had been praying for them and their local Thai Christian partners as they built relationships with employees in businesses by teaching them conversational English. YOU had been praying for them as they moved throughout the tourist city meeting people. YOU had been praying for them as they visited in Buddhist temples to dialogue with worshippers there to tell them about the living God.

Team Member, Tiffany, with new sister in Christ, Pin

YOU had been praying for Pin although you didn’t know her by name. The team that met her had no plans that morning to go down that particular street. They had made a spontaneous decision to stop as they were passing by on their way to another place. Hard to imagine, but through prayer, the Spirit of God directed the team to the soul that He intended for them to meet that day.

The afternoon after making her decision, Pin telephoned Maliwan and asked when she could come to study the Bible with her and learn more about her new-found Master. Maliwan explained that members of their local Thai church and the volunteers would be having fellowship together that evening and Pin should come too. She did.

That evening after some of the volunteers and Thai church members had shared about the impact that the week of serving God had had on them, Pin stood boldly to share her personal testimony of what God had done for her that day: “I am such a terrible sinner and have done such terrible things. I had no hope. I am so thankful that these people found me on the street today and told me how God loves me and will forgive me if I trust in Jesus Christ. It’s hard to imagine that you would accept me as part of your God-family.” Pin could not contain her emotions as she continued to share and she wept uncontrollably, “This is the best day of my life! I am so thankful to know that God loves me and forgives me.”

Pin came to worship on Sunday and brought a friend with her. She came again to the Wednesday night Bible study. So did 4 others who had received the materials that were distributed by the team and church members earlier that week. Two of those 4 decided to give their lives to Christ that night and entered into the Kingdom for all eternity. The other two are very interested as well, but want more time to consider this decision.

It’s hard to imagine but at another meeting this evening, Pastor Saeng and his wife Maliwan said that Pin had witnessed to the father of her children and had him call Saeng and Maliwan. They led him to the Lord over the telephone. Pray for him too as he begins a new life in Christ. He has been diagnosed as HIV positive, so needs your prayers in that regard too.

AL portion of our GA/AL team

Hard to imagine! So much fruit! We saw so many miracles of God’s orchestrating encounters and circumstances working to achieve our connecting with those who were receptive to hearing the Great News.

Ms. Jip is a new Thai believer who went out with the team every night. She had been so sick with fever one night while were distributing materials in the market that we insisted that she go home and go to bed. On our final night of fellowship Jip explained, “I came home from work and was very sick and wondered if I should go out with the team that night. I had to go because I knew they had come from the other side of the world to help us share God’s hope with our lost Thai neighbors. I could not stay at home in bed.

THANK YOU for praying for us all last week!!! It’s hard to imagine that the many miracles we saw would have happened without your prayers.

Without prayer, we don’t believe the team would have connected with Pin. Without prayer, Pin and the others who responded would not have been ready to believe and accept. Without prayer, Jip, Maliwan, Saeng and other church members who fell ill during the week would have not been able to have strength to continue on and work so hard. Without prayer, the team would not have been able to persevere having traveled the 25 hour trip to Thailand, and then working 14 hour days before returning home.

Please continue to pray for those that are still reading the books, watching the videos and hearing the voice of God’s Spirit encouraging them to call the telephone number stamped on every piece of material or visiting the church.

It would not happen without YOUR prayer support. We are so thankful for you!!!!

Rick and Cooky

About to leave!

Wow.. we are about to leave to go to the airport to get on our really long flights home!! None of us slept since we had to leave here at 3 in the morning!! We figured we would have plenty of time to sleep on the plane rides!! Anyways.. Friday was an amazing day!! God was all in it! Friday morning we randomly without planning decided to go and pass out literature on the beach! Well we passed out a lot of literature and also shared the salvation bracalet with a few people! There was this one lady I shared the salvation bracalet with along with Doug, Sybil, and Moliwan, and she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior! It was amazing.. thank God for that, he truly is wonderful! Well then Friday night we had fellowship with the Thais at the church! They cooked for us, and then we sang songs, shared testimonies, and took lots of pictures! It was an awesome time of worship and fellowship! The Thais sung songs in Korean, Thai, and Cambodian! I enjoyed it soo much, and it is awesome to know we can all worship God all over the world in so many different ways, cultures, and languages! Also, the testimonies shared by the Thai people were absolutely amazing and I will share that more with you guys when I come home! Well, Saturday morning we left Pattaya to come to Bangkok at 9 am! Bangkok is like New York City except for in Asia! Well I am sorry to have to run and stop so abruptly, but our van is here to carry us to the airport! Love you guys and say a prayer for us to have a safe trip back!!

So we're here at the Baptist guest house in Bangkok waiting for our Van to take us to the airport. Is been an incredible week. I know we've learned a lot about serving God. Since I let everyone see a little bit of our recreation I thought I take this opportunity it show a little bit of our ministry here in Thailand.As you probably know, Thailand is all up in some Buddhism. 97% of the country is Buddhist. So we spent some time at the temples.

We had som opportunites to witness to the Thais worshiping at the temple.
Here's Maliwan sharing with a lady at the temple.
We also did witnessing throughout the city. Wednesday night we went to Walking street, Pattaya's Bourbon Street.
After we talked to these ladies on Walking Street Sybil and Tiffany get them a couple of New Testaments.

Going home

We are at the end of our time here. We have traveled, prayed to Jesus at a popular shrine to a useless and powerless idol, and shopped in Bangkok today, and in an hour or two we'll get to the airport and start the long journey home. Thanks so much for your prayers. Our work has accomplished some good here, your prayers have accomplished some more, and God's gracious love for these people has accomplished a great deal. We are blessed to be a part of it and blessed by the support we have had from you. There have been over a thousand views of this blog this week- and hopefully well over a thousand prayers for the Thai people. Please keep praying for them, for us, and for God's worldwide mission that we all have the chance to be a part of.
Thank you so much.
God's rich blessings to you,
Craig

I agree- a very good day

Sybil is right, we ended this trip on a high note. Today has been exciting in so many ways! Craig and I spent the morning at the church preparing more materials for the church members to distribute later while our students went out with Maliwan. Then after lunch we had our final English class... my students did so well! I was teaching the waitresses in our hotel restaurant. Yesterday we worked on several phrases that might come up, and this morning at breakfast I was thrilled when one of them came to our table and asked, "May I take your plate?" Corny, I know, but we had worked hard on that one, and I was excited that she had carried it over into a realistic situation.
Tonight, the church hosted a goodbye dinner for us. We ate some yummy authentic Thai food and had an encouraging time of worship and testimonies with our Thai brothers and sisters. Pin, the woman who accepted Christ THIS AFTERNOON, also joined us and shared her moving story... pray for her as she begins her new life!! The church presented each of us with a Thai/English Bible that they had all signed- a beautiful gift, and likely all of our favorite souvenier. The week could not have ended better.
Tomorrow morning we'll head into Bangkok and have some time in the afternoon for a little shopping and sightseeing (if we finish shopping), and our van to the airport will pick us up at 2:30am tomorrow night. We've got two more long days ahead of us, but the journey was definitely worth it. I can't say how powerful your prayers for us have been- thank you so much!!
As for me personally, I've not got a full-on head cold or sinus infection or something like that, and only two doses of medicine left. Please pray that this will not cause my head to feel like it's exploding during the flight home! God has been good, and I know He will continue to sustain me all the way home. See you or talk to you soon!

what a wonderful day

God has truly blessed us on our last day in patalla, making us never want to leave (almost). this morning tiffany, doug, and i went out with MolyWan to the beach. we walked along and handed out packets filled with books, VCDs and magazines. However, MolyWan would not let us stop there. She encouraged us to share the salvation braclets with people. These braclets contain a black, red, white, green, and gold bead which each represent a different part of the change that comes about because of Christ. We each got a chance to share. One girl that Tiffany shared with (MolyWan translating) was Pin. After Tiffany shared, Pin prayed to receive Christ.

The goal of our team on this trip was to saturate this area with the story of Christ, so that no one in Patalla could say that they had never heard of Jesus. We were sowers, and we did not expect to be reapers, but God allowed us to see the joy of the harvest. I am sure that this one soul is only a small portion of what is to come. I pray that the Thai workers will be able to see an abundant harvest. Maybe they will send us word of the miracles that they see.

This afternoon, Craig and I taught English to a group at a local interior design shop. The staff there is amazingly talented. I told one of the architects that i was going to call him when i got ready to build a house. The company, Leewadee, does everything from architecture to paint colors and fabrics. the designs are amazing! I love being there in the shop and sharing with these men. Craig and I do get a little stumped sometimes when they want to know the name of some items, like yesterday they wanted to know about slab roofs and other architectual terms. Today we covered window treatments like venetian blinds and vertical blinds. they may be calling something the completely wrong name because of our teaching ;-) They are actually fairly good english speakers, especially the owner, mr. dick, who is a believer and a member at the local church.

it was sad to leave them today, knowing that i may never see them again. maybe i can come back someday!

tonight we are going to fellowship with the church, i believe that they are cooking an authentic thai meal for us (kind of scary?).

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Continue to pray for us as we travel tomorrow morning back to Bangkok and Sunday on the planes. The Georgia team will fly back to the states tomorrow morning, so remember them in your prayers as well.

Alex and Jon, thank for you emails!

Mom, DAD and Corey, love you so much! see you soon

Last day!

Man, time sure has flown.. I can't believe today is our last full day here in Pattaya! Tomorrow morning we leave to go spend a day in Bangkok before we come home on Sunday!! This experience has been amazing, words just can't describe it!! Just like Craig said, Moliwan and Sang are definitely a great encouragement to all of us! There love for the Lord is unbelievable!! I am really going to miss them and their church! I pray that hopefully God will send me back here to Thailand with Moliwan and Sang some other time!!
We just now got finished eating breakfast and are waiting to go to the church to stamp some more literature to pass out today! Oh by the way the watermelon here is awesome.. I love it!! yumm!! Anyways.. I am really not sure what is in store for today, but I know that tonight we are having dinner and fellowship with the church and their members who have been helping us all week! I am pretty excited about spending more time with them because they truly are Godly people and an encouragement to me!
Well last night we went to eat at the revolving tower restaurant! The food was ok, but the ice cream was pretty good!! haha! We actually did not get to tower jump off of the 52 story builiding because it closed down after we got through eating; I suppose because it was dark and windy! However, the view up there was absolutely beautiful. I wish I would have had my camera! We also passed out more literature last night in one of the church member's neighborhood! Many people were reading the literature as we passed it out to them!
Thanks to everyone and all their comments, you really don't know how much they mean to me.. I enjoy hearing from everyone everyday and sharing about my day with you guys! I know that all of your prayers has helped touch many lives here in Thailand!! Please continue to pray for the people here and Moliwan and Sang especially!! Love everyone.. and my mosquito bites are fine!! I have on bug spray right now as I am talking to you guys right now! Love you and miss you!

The Sharpest Knives

last night we were about to go to another market to hand out literature, and Doug was asked to pray for us. As he started I had the thought of praying along these lines: 'Lord, we may not be the sharpest knives in the drawer, but we are here, so please use us, and give us power to accomplish your work...' I occured to me as soon as I thought this that our Thai hosts actually are the 'sharpest knives in the drawer'. I have known in my life many good hearted believers who do well and try to live out the gospel and be who God created them to be, and I see myself in this light, but also in my life I have known maybe five people who seem to be completely unconcerned with themselves and completely focused on Jesus and on serving him. Our hosts here, a husband and wife named Saeng and Moliwan, pastor this church in Pattaya, and they are these kind of people. Pray for them please. They are inspirational and one of the best things for us about this trip is being able to meet them and watch them as they relate to their church and to all the people they meet.
Pray that we will be sharpened by being with them.

Thursday!!

Well today has been a sort of laid back fellowship day!! Our Alabama team got up early to go to Starbucks before meeting everyone else back at the church! Sybil and I ate a little too much sugar for breakfast; we were feeling it later on today! When we got to the church we helped stamp some more literature with the church's address on it, and then Moliwan and Sang had a surprise for us. The Georgia team left today at lunch, so, Moliwan and Sang surprised us with gifts. I was super excited about my gift... I got a authentic Thai purse that was made by Moliwan's mom... I absolutely love it!! Also, Moliwan made some keychains and they are soo cute!! I got a purple cross keychain!! Anyways.. we fellowshipped together, and since Cooky's (the missionary host in Thailand) birthday was yesterday Moliwan and Sang gave her a birthday cake. It was a wonderful time to get to spend time with each other and talk about the week so far and the experiences we have had this week! After leaving the church we all went to a local mall and ate and shopped around a little bit!! Then we had english classes, my favorite! I love my student; she is 17 years old and a sweetheart! I got a picture of all of our students with me and Jess so I can show them to everyone! Right now Jess and I are waiting for the whole group to get back from their english classes! Tonight for supper we are going to this tower restaurant, where you can see all of Pattaya, and then ride down this cable thing to the bottom.. it sounds pretty fun! Later on tonight we will pass out more literature.. so pray for us and for those who will receive the material!!
Oh yeah last night at walking street, I don't even know where to begin! It was a sight to see! It really broke my heart because everywhere you turned on the street were Go Go bars, and out in front of the stores promoting these places were these really young girls (girls that looked younger than me)! It was soo sad and I just pray for everyone of them! Also, you could just see all of the men who were using girls for prostitution!! It would make you cry to see it because it was everywbere you turned! Please pray especially for all of these people! However the good thing about last night was when Sybil witnessed to these ladies at a massage place! She talked with them for a good while and they seemed really interested! Pray for these ladies as well!! Anyways I am getting eaten alive by some mosquitos right now so I am going to go!! Love everyone and thanks for the prayers and comments!!

Thursday afternoon (3:45am your time)

It's been a good day so far... we spent the morning at Jomtein Baptist Church, helping them prepare more books & literature for distribution. It was also a time of fellowship- the part of our team from Georgia left this afternoon. After lunch, it was back to ESL for us: the hotel for Tiffany and me, the interior design office for Craig and Sybil, and a real estate office for Doug and our missionary host. I don't know about the rest of the group, but Tiffand & I had a great time with our "students"!!
Last night was an interesting experience on Walking Street. I heard someone compare it to Bourbon Street before we left to go there. In many ways, it was much tamer; in other ways, much worse. I saw things that I desperately want to forget, and fear I never will. Some of those images get burned in your mind- I don't want to paint that picture for you. Just pray for us to have guarded eyes and hearts, the hearts and eyes of Christ, as we go back there tonight. There is so much darkness and sadness in this city...
I want to take a quick minute to tell you about Sang and Maliwan. Sang is the pastor of Jomtein Baptist Church and Maliwan is his sweet wife. They are both from the northern hills of Thailand, and have been married just under a year. We've been working with them and their fellow church members all week- their passion is inspiring! The church is fairly small, but their spirit is huge! They are fervent when we go out to distribute books and material- fearless (and tireless!), it seems. They have been a living example this week of working dilligently for the Lord. Please pray for Sang and Maliwan, for their church, for the many seekers who attend their church (and have helped us this week!), and for energy to continue reaching out to the people we've made contact with this week.
A side note: today is my one-year anniversary of being hired at the BCM! I never would have guessed last year that I'd be hanging out with students in Thailand today, but I can't think of a better way to celebrate this milestone!! I can't say enough how much I love my job... thanks to all of the students at the BCM for letting me into your lives. You challenge and inspire me, and I love ya'll for that!
Pray that our last day in Pattaya will be productive tomorrow- Saturday morning we'll leave for Bangkok and spend half a day there before getting back on a plane early Sunday. Craziness!!! I love you guys- thanks for all the prayers and encouragement this week... keep it coming!

What I saw today

All you readers who know and love Tiffany, Sybil, Doug, and Jess- I wish I could send you some of the memories I have of today that I will hold onto for a long time.

I saw Tiffany and Doug talking to two ladies at a Buddhist temple- they were there to pray and get brownie points with karma or whatever bogus thing Buddhism offers, and they got to have a long conversation with Doug and Tiffany about Jesus, and they got to be prayed for and cared about by Jesus' followers, and they heard some great things about the only real God.

I saw Sybil telling the gospel to three ladies sitting outside a massage parlor (perhaps a non shady one). She was helped by Madiwan, one of our Thai leaders, and she had this great big smile when she talked about Jesus that just had to be attractive to these ladies. Who wouldn't want to know a God so good that his followers talk about him like this?

At different times when we were in the middle of some of the most crass exploitation of people and some of the most degrading examples of what people can do with themselves and each other, I saw Jess, Sybil, Doug, and Tiffany (and our Thai and GA friends) laughing or smiling and in those mental snapshots I see the joy of their relationship with God shining more brightly than the darkness around us.

Our God is so good and I hope and pray he will multiply the work we have done here. The Thai Christians are meeting a lot of people when they are out with us, and we see a lot of people reading the booklets we are handing out. It is good.

By the way, the whole Thai beach resort town idea that we had in coming here was way overrated. We see a few truly lovely sights, but we see a ton of crowded streets, trashy bars, and the backs of the pickup trucks we ride around in (SongTow taxi= covered pickup with two hard benches in back). I've breathed in so much exhaust my tongue is grey. Bleachh! And the noise! Oy! Getting back to school next week will be quite restful compared to this.

On a lighter note- last night I met the world's most aggressive tailor. He tried to sell me a suit with more intensity than I have ever encountered. Ever. Anywhere. Like an Amway guy on steroids after an assertiveness training seminar. One hand shaking mine refusing to let go, one hand on my arm pushing me toward his shop. I thought- If we could get this guy to accept Jesus and make him an evangelist- this town would be Christian in a week! Alas, all he wants is to sell me a suit. And he wants that like a drowning man wants dry land, like a starving mouse wants cheese, or like a Bama fan wants a win against Auburn. crazy.

My favorite day so far!!

Today has been my absolute favorite so far!! We got up this morning, and I actually got up early enough to eat breakfast for once, and then we went to the camp to gather our materials to distribute this morning. We actually went to a temple today; it was an eye shocker for sure, and it just broke my heart to see it all! The temple is on top of this huge hill or mountain or something like that.. and when you first walk up you can see this huge golden buddha statue at the top of these stairs! Before we went up the stairs to look at everything and talk to people, at the bottom of the steps there were theses ladies selling birds to people to honor the Gods or something like that, it was a little unusual. Then we went up the stairs to look at the buddha statue, it is huge, when I get home I will definitely show you pictures because I took many of them while I was there! All in front of the buddha was offerings such as incense, water, figurines, and anything else you could ever think of, and all around the huge buddha statue in the middle was a bunch of little statues. We asked on little girl how they knew which statue to pray to, and she told us that you pray to the statue that has the day of the week you were born on (because the statues are labeled by days of the weeks). Also, inside a little builiding there were this family and kids who were shaking a can full of sticks that were numbered in front of some statues on a rug and after they threw a stick out of the can they went and chose a paper with the same number on it and it has their fortune or answer to a prayer on it (the papers were also written in english, so, we could tell that the answers on the sheets were pretty vague sort of like a horoscope so they can fit everyone's life). My favorite part of the entire temple was when we went into another building at the bottom of the stairs where many people were burning incense and giving offerings to a monk while he sprinkled them with water; while we were in there we talked to two ladies after they got through with their little ceremony. It was amazing.. God was all in it! We asked them all about what they were doing and about their gods, and then we told them about our one and only powerful loving God and his son! They listened intently to us, and you could see in their eyes that the holy spirit was speaking to their hearts as we spoke to them. While speaking with them we also gave them the salvation bracalet with the colorful beads on it, that represent sin, salvation, and so on, we explained to them what each one represented and they were so excited to hear about it. They made us put them on them right away! I just pray that the little we shared with them might change their lives forever.. please pray that God will speak to their hearts and bring them to the church here in Pattaya to learn more about God and his love! Also, while we were at the temple we got to see the monk sprinkle water and rub some kind of stuff on a motorcycle, which is supposed to keep them safe and away from any kind of harm or danger on the motorcycle! The whole experience at the temple totally broke my heart and made me realize how much darkness these people really are living in! I just pray that God will speak to their hearts and bring them out of this darkness and into his light! Please pray for these people right now as you are reading this!
Well after we left the temple we then went to eat at a seafood restaurant beside the ocean.. it was a really pretty location, but I did not eat one thing beside some rice and a smoothie! All they had was seafood, which those of you who know me no I do not eat seafood! haha!! They brought out an entire fish, with scales, eyes, and everything still on it!! It totally grossed me out, and then there was some kind of seafood mixed thing... there were squid or something with its tenacles and suction cup things on its legs still attached!! eww!! thats all I can say about that! haha! Needless to say I did not try any of that.. looking at it was hard enough! When we got back to the hotel Jess, Doug, and I went to KFC to eat normal food.. haha.. popcorn chicken.. my favorite! It was yummy and cooked.. with no eyes! LOL
Well after we ate we then split up into groups to teach english to the Thais and different areas... I came back to the hotel we are staying at to teach english! I really enjoyed this too! My Thai friend was 17 years old and she was really sweet and excited to learn English! It was a fun experience!
After this long day Sybil, Jess, and I went and relaxed in the pool for a little while. It felt great to cool off some! Now we are waiting to go out and pass out literature on walking street, which is mainly an area full of prostitutes, so, pray for them and for God to convict their hearts as we share with them!

Family,
Hey!! Man today was amazing; it was my favorite day by far! I enjoyed seeing the way they worship becuase it made me realize how much in spiritual darkness they really are. It felt so good to share with those ladies about God's love for them and about how amazing our God really is! Anyways... I love ya'll so much and miss you and the babies!! Shasta, that is soo funny about Hunter.. I can just see him doing that right now! haha! Give them kisses for me! Corey, you just think you are that good.. haha!! jk.. love ya! Mom, I have enjoyed reading your cards everyday, they make me smile!! :) I will probably try to call you in a little bit or when we get done tonight later on! Grandmother, grandaddy, and Aunt Pam- I love you all and keep praying for us! Can't wait to tell you all about it in person and show you pictures.. thanks for the cards as well.. I enjoy opening them every morning!! They are an encouragement for me! Love everyone of you and miss you all!!

Church family,
Love you all too.. just keep praying ( I know you are)! God is doing amazing things here.. I can feel it and see it, everynight it has gotten better! Christy thanks for the comment and tell Kalee I love her too.. give her and mckenna a hug for me!

Josie!
Hey girl!! I was soo excited to see your comment!! I miss you girl..gah!! haha! it is amazing here.. I am having a wonderful time! Today was an awesome day and God was all in it!! The opportunities to share about God was unbelievable! Keep praying and thanks for all the prayers already!! Love you girl.. can't wait to see you when I get back to Birmingham!!

Temple

This morning, around eleven o'clock, the group went up to one of the Buddhist temples, which sit at a high point in the city. The ritualistic nature of the place was obvious the moment we exited the Song Tao (two-rowed truck). Ladies and children sold birds at the gate, which you could let go to earn "merit." Monks blessed motorcycles to make them "safe". A huge statue of Buddha covered in gold sat at the top of a long fight of stairs, which were flanked by a dragons tail. Buddha's for each day of the week circled the larger one.

At the bottom of the stairs, people bought flowers to set on the altar, ensense to burn, or gifts for the monks. Some of the group members talked with people at the temple about what they were doing and why they were doing it. One girl told us that she had come there to gain "luck". Many others just hoped that this would work. Some said that they prayed to God as well as their gods, just hoping that one of them would grant them the "luck" that they sought. Of course, God is the one true God, and what he grants is not luck at all. We just prayed that the futility of their rituals would be evident to them.

Being their today made me realize that alot of what we do back home is ritualistic.

Pray that we, as well as the Thais, will replace ritual with worship!

Guys back home, love you lots and thank you for your prayers. Tonight we are going to "Walking Streets," an open prostitute area in the city. Please pray for the people that we will encounter and that our faith and strength will remain strong.

Love you love you

What we are doing: literature distribution

Well, all my google instructions are appearing in Japanese on this computer. so I'm hoping I post this using gueswork on the buttons.
Much of our work here has been handing out booklets and video cds with members of the local church. This does several worthwhile things: it sets a precedent of outreach for the local believers and helps them make connections and advertize their church, and it puts material containig the good news of the gospel in a lot of people's hands.
A word on what we are handing out: in my history, the closest thing related to this is handing out tracts, something I've never cared for for several reasons, first it seems like a way to weasel out of actually talking to people (something I admit I am often tempted to do), and the tracts themselves I have seen are often shallow and crass. They focus on getting to Heaven and avoiding hell, sometimes using second rate comic book images to bluntly make their case. They rarely include what to me is the essence of the gospel- abundant life (John 10:10)- life involved in God's transforming mission in the world; working for justice and peace and holiness and goodness to bring about God's kingdom on earth (thy Kingdom come, thy will be done).
Yet here, what we are handing out to people is better. It is books and video cd's full of testimonies of well known Thai people (cultural and political figures) who know Jesus telling what difference knowing God has made in thier lives. It is completely Thai and so completely culturally relevant, it is relational, focused on knowing Jesus, and it is focused on what difference knowing him makes here and now, not just after death. I'd be happy to read something like this and I'm happy to give it to others to read. We offer them and say "Pome high kuhn. Dee Mok!" or I'd like to give you this, it's good!"
Unlike the tracts I grew up with, people seem to enjoy getting these. Walking up the street or through the market afterwards we see people holding on to them and many people reading them. Very few are thrown away. It's good. Each has contact info for the church here.
PLEASE PRAY that the hundreds of people we are giving these to will read and consider the worth of life with Jesus. That this introduction to knowing him will spark interest, curiosity, and desire, and that the holy spirit will draw Thais to himself through this outreach, and that he will encourage the Thai believers to continue the habit of this kind of outreach.
Thanks.
We are tired from the walking and the heat, pray for our stamina.
Thanks,
Craig

Tuesday morning

Hey ya'll! I'm the one from our team who got to get up early for the Thai Bible study, so I didn't stay up last night to write a post. But I guess you can hear from everyone else what kind of day we had. The cool thing about all we've done- even the elephant riding and crazy zoo- have been in pursuit of contacts the local church already has with seekers, spending time around them and patronizing their places of work. So yes, it's fun, but not without purpose!
The team I was with last night passed out most of our stuff to "bar girls", ie: prostitutes. Pattaya (the city where we are) is best known for the sex industry, and this city is a haven for sexual tourists. It's heart wrenching to see these young girls and guys out on the streets, and even more disturbing to see the older men who are out soliciting them. Pray that our hearts and eyes will be protected as we try to be lights in a very dark place!!!
I'm not really sure what today will hold after the Bible study... I think I, Tiffany, and Doug will be hanging around our hotel and teaching ESL to some of the employees while the rest of our team goes out to a few other places for ESL classes. Ask God to use us in a mighty way today- whatever we do. Love & miss ya'll!!!

Interesting day!

Hey! Wow today was a different day.. that is the best way to put it. First, thanks to everyone who left me a comment.. they are so encouraging and I look forward to reading them every night when I get back to the room! When we got up this morning we went to the Church here in Pattaya and put some stickers with the address and phone number of the church on literature because we had used the other ones up already! Then after that Molywan, the lady whose husband is the pastor at the church here in Pattaya, took us to some zoo about an hour from here. We wrote on a song tau, which is a truck with seats in the bed of it, all the way there.. it took forever to get there, but on the way back he was driving like a 100 so we got back pretty fast! Anyways.. this zoo was pretty interesting. There was this pig who nursed tigers, which was supposed to make the tigers more tame (lets just say that was an awkard sight to see), and then there were these pigs that had on tiger costumes laying with a tiger. The entire zoo was quite different.. and funny to see! However Molywan was very excited to take us there, so, we really did enjoy it! After the zoo we went and ate a Thai restaurant. The food was pretty good (I just ate the chicken and rice.. didn't venture out too much). After eating we then came back to the hotel to get ready to go back out and pass out literature. Tonight was a much better night as far as passing out literature went.. there were a lot more people who accepted the literature from us. They were very interested in it, and when we gave it to them they immediately began to read it. When there were other people around them they asked us for some as well! Also, there were a few people who began to ask questions about how to become a Christian, and our host missionary, who can speak Thai, talked to them and invited them to come to the church in Pattaya! It was really an amazing night.. God truly was in this place and touching people's hearts! Continue to pray for every single person who received the literature tonight and for those who will be receiving it in the days to come! Well thats about it, and I am kind of tired, so, I am going to go now!!

Mom, Dad, Shasta, Corey, Grandmother, Grandaddy, and Aunt Pam,
I love you all, and thanks for all the prayers!! I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home.. miss you all!! Shasta give Hunter and Tristan another kiss for me!! love ya!!

Church family,
Love you all, and thanks for the prayers and comments.. they are extremely encouraging! I look forward to reading them everyday! I can't wait to share with you guys in person about this wonderful experience! Keeps praying.. love ya!

Tuesday

Hey guys! what a day! this morning doug, geraldine, and i went with Rick to the local bible study where we had the opportunity to share a few songs, testimonies, and bible stories with them. they facilitate their own services, and it is really amazing to see them worship in their own way.

After that we did some work around the church before heading off to the zoo. The zoo, however, was not what you are probably thinking. It contained crocodiles, elephants, tigers, and pigs, which all performed taks that were very, very unnatural. For instance, the baby tigers were placed in the pin with sows to feed, supposedly this would make them more tame. Baby pigs were dressed in tiger "pajamas" and put into the cage with tigers to feed. Not sure the purpose of this, perhaps to make the pigs less tame?

Tonight after dinner, we passed literature out along the street. It was so sad to see those along the street at the bars, attempting to sell themselves. When we payed attention to them by asking their name, giving them braclets and necklaces, or just handing them a booklet, their eyes seemed to light up. They were so excited that someone besides an old man was paying attention to them. Please pray, in particular, for Mala--a young girl who had just moved to the area and was scared of what she may encounter there. We shared with her that friends were available at the local church who would love her with the love of Christ! She had tears in her eyes as she walked away.

Tomorrow holds more adventures; can't wait to see what God has for us! Pray!
Mom and Dad, love you guys! love you love you!

First day!

Hey!! Man today was pretty amazing, but really hot outside!! When we got up this morning I was well rested considering the fact that I finally got to lay flat, instead of my neck being cramped like on the plane! We met our Georgia crew and our host missionaries this morning.. they are really nice! They took us to a little restaurant at some hotel in Pattaya, the food was really good just a little spicy.. everytime I took a bite of food I had to drink about 3 glasses of water! haha! The cashew nut chicken was the best, and of course the fresh pineapple milkshake was pretty awesome as well! Well after that we went and rode elephants.. which was pretty amazing too!! Truly a once in a lifetime experience! I even got picked up by the elephant's trunk.. pretty cool, huh? After that we came back to the hotel and got a shower because it was pretty hot outside! So, tonight we went and passed out literature at a market!! We were taught a saying in Thai to tell the people as we passed out the literature to them!! As we passed it out some didn't take them and some did.. it was a little discouraging, but I know that we did what God wanted us to and he will take care of the rest.. Please pray that as those people read about God and Jesus and their love for us that they will truly be moved by the holy spirit, and pray that our team will not become discouraged as we witness and some turn it down! This is kind of funny, as we told them a phrase in Thai while passing out literature.. some laughed.. I suppose because our southern accent doesn't go well with Thai! haha! Anyways... Miranda and Christy thanks for the comment and for the prayers.. I appreciate more than you know!! I am looking forward to what tomorrow has in store for us!!

Monday night...

Everyone else went out in search of Pizza Hut after a hot night's work, but I decided to hang around the hotel with a couple of pepto bismal's. The "treat" I tasted in the market wasn't exactly my new favorite food, and it's definitely not sitting as well as breakfast! (I tried some sort of coconut pudding with corn in it, and I think it was maybe fried?!?! Yes, I'm totally serious!) Anyway....
We did some literature distribution in a local market tonight. We were received well by some, not so much by others. Pray that we won't get discouraged when people are not receptive. Regardless of our experiences, God promises that His Word will not return void and I know that we were an encouragement to the Thai christians that we worked with tonight.
It's good to be back in a foreign culture.
Keep sending the love & prayers! More tomorrow night...

Just a few pictures from the day's events (and a valuable life lesson)

So while the rest of you have been sleeping we've been having quite the action packed afternoon.

After eating some amazing Thai food (prepared by our new friend Maliwan) with Pastor Rick, Cooky, Pastor Sang, Maliwan, and the team from Georgia, we all loaded up and went to a near by Elephant farm.
We got to meet a lot of local Thai people, share some literature, and ride a few elephants. In a few minutes all of us are going to be heading out to the market to do some street ministry. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and moral support. Since we can't all enjoy the little life lessons taht merging cultures afford, here some that will hope brighten your morning, just a little.

Test Video

Finally...

So, you already know we're here thanks to everyone else's posts!! Yay!! Can I just say- that was a loooooong trip!! But worth it! We made it with no problems and all our luggage, and I'm grateful for that.
Today we get to take it easy, adjusting to the culture and the heat. Our initiation will be an elephant ride this afternoon! I'm kind of looking forward to that!!
I dove right in and went for the Thai breakfast (instead of eggs & french toast)... fried rice, some kind of beef & onions, chicken stir-fry of some sort. Nothing unlike what you'd find in a Chinese restaurant at home. The coconut milk wasn't that extraordinary, but the pineapple just hit the spot! And I'm excited to be back in a country that sells Coke Lite (as opposed to the normal american diet coke!)
Pray for us... pray that we'll have stomachs of steel, restful nights, energy for the extremely hot days, hearts and minds of Jesus. Pray that the glory of the Lord would emanate from us in a way that people can't help but notice. Pray that we'll see things through God's eyes. Pray for us, that whenever we open our mouths, words may be given us so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which we are ambassadors in chains. Pray that we will declare it fearlessly, as we should! (ephesians 6:19-20)
We love ya'll, and are thankful to have you on our team!!!

We are here!

Hey everyone! We made it here about 3:30 pm ya'lls time and 3:30 am here!! The last plane ride to Bangkok seemed short for me because I slept the entire time until we went to land! The lights coming into Bangkok from the plane was really pretty, when we actually landed and got out at the airport I couldn't believe we were actually in Thailand!! It was an amazing feeling!! We all found our luggage pretty quickly, and then we exhanged our money for baht at the airport. After that we found our driver who was holding up a sign that said Craig Hawkins on it.. I thought that was pretty cool (i guess I never thought about how the driver was going to find us). haha!! The two hour drive here seemed pretty long to me because at that point I really wasn't sleepy because I had slept on the entire flight! All the way here on the van I was looking at everything around us... the roads were extremely bumpy and rough all the way here! When we finally made it to Pattaya I was super excited!! It amazed me how many people were out walking around on the streets at like 2 in the morning, and everywhere you turned there was a motorcycle! Well we finally made it here to the hotel and checked in and everything! When we finally got to our rooms we tried to turn on the lights, but we were not able to turn them on until the busboy came to our room! To turn on the lights you have to stick your key in this slot or other wise your lights will not come on.. it was pretty cool!! Also, our missionary host, Rick and Cooky, had us presents sitting on our hotel room table with our names on it when we came in. We got these really cool hats from here, a cute purse (which I was really looking forward to getting a purse so I was pretty excited), and a huge fan (I haven't opened it yet because I can't figure out how to open it.. haha). Once we got settled in and put some of our stuff up we went straight to bed and set our clock for 9:30 this morning which would be 9:30 pm at home! Well right now we are down stairs using the hotel's internet and it is 2 bahts per minute!! Well again thanks everyone for praying for us and continue to pray that God will use us in marvelous ways and help us to be bold for him! I hope that Coldwater Baptist Church had a good service this morning I was thinking about ya'll on the flight at 10:30 pm here because I realized you guys were in the middle of service! Again thank everyone in my church family for your prayers and help getting me this far, you may never know how much I really appreciate you guys and love everyone of you!

Mom and dad,
Hey, man I can't believe I am really here.. I already miss you guys! It is amazing here so far even though we really haven't done anything yet. I am about to go upstairs and try to call you guys before I get a shower, hopefully I will get in touch with you guys (I am sure you guys are awake because it is only 10pm at home)! I was really excited to see that you had already commented me (actually I was surprised you wrote me on the internet.. haha-- good job mom)! haha! Well, I really can't tell you about any experiences here because we haven't done anything yet, but I can't wait to tell you all about them! The plane rides were really fun, and I had the window seat everytime so I got to enjoy the view! It was amazing! Well I love you both, and miss you guys.. hope to talk to you in just a little bit!! Keep praying for me.. and oh yeah thanks for everything.. I wouldn't be here without you and dad!! love you both!

Shasta, Corey, Tristan, and Hunter,
Hey I love you guys so much! and I miss my babies!! Make sure you give both of them a kiss for me right now!! I can't wait to see everyone already.. I miss everyone!! Well I sent everyone a postcard from Tokyo, hopefully you will get it before I come home but I doubt it!! Well I love you guys.. and talk to you soon hopefully~!

Coldwater Baptist Church,
hey, i am here!! It was an amazing flight!! Thanks again for everything and keep us in your prayers!! Thought about you last night at 10:30 on the plane, when you were in service, I hope it was great!

Tokyo

We are sitting down stairs at a little computer that cost 100 yen every ten minutes, so we must type FAST. It is so strange being in a foreign country. All of the televisions are playing sumo wrestling, which Jess is not very fond of. The layover is only about 1 hr and 30 minutes though, so we will be boarding again soon. The time in the air has made me a little shaky on the ground, i feel like everything is still moving.

Although the second flight from Detroit to here was long, we got a lot of good rest. We also saw some beautiful parts of God's creation, the mountains and glaciers of Alaska and the sunset over Tokyo.

The people here are really friendly, even at McDonalds. All of the workers have on matching outfits, and the women airport workers reminded us of girl scouts. Well, fifteen minutes until boarding, so I will go.

Mom, Dad, and Corey, I miss you guys already. LOVE YOU.\
WJBC, i pray that you have a wOnderful serice in the morning
Continue praying diligently. God has great things planned. Pray EspEciAllY that we wiLl get the rest we nEed toNight

in Tokyo

Hey.. we are now in Tokyo waiting for our last flight!! The flight here was a really long one, but it was beautiful!! We got here about an hour or two ago, and realized there were computers downstairs we could get on the internet! I can't wait to get to Thailand finally, we only have a five or six hour flight left! Oh yeah mom if you are reading this call 1800-487-7646 and let me know the Thailand international number to call you from the calling card because I left it at home, just post the number on the blog, and I will call you when I get a chance!! Love you!! Well my time is running out got to go!! Keep praying for us!!

Tiffany

So here we are in Tokyo. Drinking tiny cokes, eating cheeseburgers so greasy they shine and trying to figure out how to update the blog when all the instructions are in Japanese.

Only a six hour plane ride and a two and a half hour van ride to go.

We leave today!!

Oh my gosh.. I can't believe we are leaving in about 5 hours. (yeah I know you are probably wondering why I am awake, but I actually just finished packing about an hour ago)! I will get plenty of sleep on the plane! Man all this time I have been waiting for today and now it is finally here! Oh by the way.. my passport came in today.. thanks to everyone who was praying for me! God is soo wonderful.. he always answers our prayers, and I am so glad we are able to trust and depend on God when we are in doubt! He is soo much bigger than what we sometimes make him out to be... I pray that starting today God will constantly remind me of how great and BIG he really is!! I pray that he will touch the hearts of the Thai people we will be witnessing to and that he will help each one of us to be courageous and bold for him and that we will be willing to follow him wherever he leads us throughout this trip! I feel blessed to know that God has allowed me to play a part in his great plan for the world! Thanks to everyone who is praying for us!!

So it's getting down to the wire and, hey, I like living on the edge. I guess that why I waited till 11:25 the night before we leave to post on the blog.

Our Trip: who we are and what it's about

We are three students and two staff from UAB's Baptist Campus Ministries- a Christian ministry that seeks to grow disciples on UAB's campus. We are Tiffany, Sybil, and Doug (students) and Jess and Craig (staff). We are excited and we are hopeful. We believe God has given us this opportunity and called us to it.
We will be spending Monday through Saturday in Pattaya Thailand (not actually in Bangkok, but a 2 hour drive south on the coast). Pattaya is a resort town most known for tourism and the sex trade. Over 90% of the Thai people there are Buddhist. We will work this week with a team of 4 from Cumming Baptist church in Georgia, and with the Kuters, an IMB missionary couple, and with a Thai Christian church. We will teach some basic ESL classes to build connections between the church and the students who come, and to have chances to share the gospel, and we will hand out literature in the streets, in the market places, and in the slums, and we will pray to Jesus the Lord in temples built for people to worship Buddha. We will pray that God will lead us to people who are ready to believe and that we can tell about Him.
I am praying and hoping that we will be of good service to our friends in the Thai church, that our work and presence will bless and honor them. I pray that we will learn from and be inspired by their faith and that God will use us to bless their faith in some way. I have read recently that the Church in the West should go forward into this century seeing itself as a servant of the Church in the East, and this is the attitude that I hold and encourage. God is working is so many Eastern nations and His church is growing in many places. We are privileged to go and help. Pray for us that we be confident and bold and gracious, that we work and pray hard and give the very best of who God has made us to these people in Pattaya. Thank you! Jesus came to give the Best Life possible (John 10:10). May the people we meet hear and believe!

Soo close!!

Wow... we leave in two days... I can't believe it. Well God sure is amazing.. he allowed my sister to have her baby yesterday at 5:33 pm. He answered my prayers because I wanted to be able to see him before I left, and I thank God for allowing me to see him, so, I could be focused on God and serving him in Thailand! The bad news is my passport still did not come in today, but my mom called once again while we were at the hospital, and they said that it had been FedExed today and would definitely be here tomorrow.. that was a blessing because we were going to have to pay money to get it here by tomorrow, but continue to pray that it will arrive for sure tomorrow! I know it will all work out because God is in control!!

I am overwhelmed right now though, between trying to spend time with my nephew, waiting for my passport, and of course trying to pack! Man I really need to start packing, but I just seem to continue to be putting it off. Guess that is what I will be doing all day tomorrow!! It's almost here, I can't wait... I am ready to see God work not only in the Thai people's lives but as well as ours!! Continue to keep us in your prayers!! Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me and our team...

Almost Here

Only two more full days on the mainland! I can't believe that it is here already. It seems like we have been preparing for so long. Now it is finally here, and it feels like it came too fast. I just keep thinking of all the things I should have done. I should have learned all those Bible verses, I should have prayed more, I should have asked more people to pray, and I should have done more of my schoolwork beforehand so it would not all be piling up! However, I know that God will take what I have done and use it for His glory.
I am so ready for God to use us in Thailand, but He is using us in Birmingham too. GO GOD! That is what I have been shouting all week as I have watched Him work in my life.

To my church family, you are absolutely amazing! I have only read a few of the notes, but they have uplifted me. They will be like little doses of home during the trip. I appreciate all that you have done. The support has been amazing. I know that I am truly loved. Continue to pray!

Passport Update

The bad news is... Tiffany's passport didn't arrive today, as promised by the woman at the passport authority on Friday.
The good news is... Our God is WAY bigger than the US Postal Service, and this is no surprise to Him. He is able.
Pray with us that her passport will arrive tomorrow!!!!

Three days?!? What?!?!

I cannot believe how fast the time is flying!! Mostly I can't believe how soon we're leaving. If I think about everything I need to do before Saturday morning I'll probably cry. (It's a long list!) So I just won't think about it!
Instead, I'm trying to think about Jesus. He is, after all, the reason why we're going. Pray for me that I'll stay focused on Him. That's the main thing.

Passport!!

Well.. I called my mom this morning, and she told me that she called about the status of my passport again this morning. The lady told her that my passport would definitely be here by March 6, which is this Tuesday. That makes me be a little more relieved, but I am still kind of nervous about it not being here on time because that is cutting it close to the day we leave!! But will everyone please pray that it will be here on time and maybe even earlier so I can stop stressing out about it!! Thanks!!