Thailand pics

Here's some pics from Thailand.

Summer, me and Marilyn after our hairwashing

Buddhist monks in a Buddhist temple

The famous and giant reclining Buddah

Idol worship, live and in person. As you can see the aspect of Buddhism was everywhere in Thai culture

Young Buddhist priests on the streets of Bangkok.

Sqautty-potties run rampant in Thailand.

Some of my favorite signs.

This little kid glued himself to Summer's side

Me and Pastor John

More to come soon....

Still loving life in Thailand

Our journey continues in Thailand. We've know gone from Bangkok to Phuket (pronounced Poo-ket, for some who may have been wondering) to Trang, and now we are back in Bangkok. We have just one more full day here now and will head back for the US on Friday.

I can't believe our time here is almost over, but we've had some incredible experiences while we were here. The Lord is definitely giving me a burden for the country of Thailand. I was reading in my Bible while I was here one day after visiting the ministry SHE in Hosea chapter 11, which talks about the Lord's love for Israel. Vs. 8 says, "My heart is changed within me, all my compassion is aroused." This is how I feel for the women we got to work with here in Thailand and the Phuket area in particular. I feel as if all the compassion within me has been aroused for the ladies here. I know that I want to return to this place. Please keep me in your prayers as I feel this burden.

Pray for traveling mercies and for more divine appointments as our time here is wrapping up. We have one more ministry site that we are going to tomorrow. Our plane leaves at 8:30 am Friday morning (Thai time) which is 8:30pm Thursday night EST so pray accordingly. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and one more thing... I ate a bug today... not on accident, but on purpose... and it really wasn't that bad... so I'm starting to think maybe this country has gotten to me. :)

thailand update

We are in Thailand, made it safe and sound and are having a good time, though we are extremely exhausted. It's 9:00pm on Wednesday and we got into the country late last night after 30 hours of traveling and a twelve hour time difference, got about 5 hours of sleep and have been going all day with orientation and stuff. Tomorrow we are doing the tourist thing here in Bangkok - touring Buddhist temples. Then early Fri morning we fly to Phuket (about a twelve hour drive, but we found a cheap one way flight that will only be an hour.) We will be working with SHE ministries there, which is the girls rescued from the sex trade. We're there for about 3 days, then go to Trange for about three days (a four to five hour drive from there) where we will be working with the village churches. We stay there about 3 days as well, and then take a twelve hour bus or 14 hour train ride back to Bangkok (we're not sure which one yet - I'm pulling for the train becuase you can lay down to sleep.) That puts us back early next Thurday morning. We will check out two other sites in Bangkok on Thursday and then fly back to the US Friday. We will most likely be out of internet/cell phone range while out of Bangkok but we don't know that yet for sure. Just wanted to update you when I could. :) One fun thing we did today was the girls went to a Thai salon and had our hair washed and dried for 60 bhat (less than $2 USD). If I could do that for that cheap in the US I think I might never wash my own hair again! :)

Keep praying as the Lord opens doors for us with these amazing people!

Thai time

It's official.................

In less than 14 hours we will depart for Thailand...

We won't arrive there until late on Tuesday night...

We'll get back super late on the 21st...

I need your prayers. :)

Thailand

Well its been a really long time since I've updated anything on here. I'm leaving for Thailand on Monday and will be there for almost two weeks!!! I'm so excited about the trip! The other big news around here is that last weekend I got to move out of the basement and into the upstairs of the Global Infusion house. No more dirty cold basement on an airmattress, now I have a big normal bed and plenty of space! :) I need your prayers now though because we need two more rooommates here to help us offset the costs and we haven't been able to find anyone yet. If we don't find anyone soon, we'll have to find a new place to live, and I'd rather not have to move AGAIN if at all possible. That's all for now. I'll post more frequently (jenna) and will update about Thailand soon too.

Keep praying!

My new home...living in sacrifice

Well, I officially got moved to Knoxville last week. I'm not gonna lie, it has been an emotional experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing and I feel certain that this is where the Lord wants me. However, being in the will of God is sometimes one of the most difficult places to reside. It's not always fun here. It means a whole lot of sacrifice. I don't generally think we are all that good at sacrificing - I know I'm not. It's that whole flesh vs. spirit thing popping up again...

Bearing a cross daily is not about keeping us happy and comfortable. Yet it's necessary. We receive an amazing free gift of salvation, but to paint it as a costless gift is incorrect. Though we can freely receive it, it requires much in return. Not as a form of payment, but as a reflection of what was given to us. I think this is a message that is often neglected to be given. Our salvation is not a thing to receive, say a half-hearted "thanks" for, and settle into a comfortable life of relaxation and "buying our time" until glory. That makes a mockery of the gift we've been given and spits in the face of the Savior who paid the ultimate sacrifice ON OUR BEHALF. How dare we look into His hand without ever getting to know His face?

Lord, please teach us more of what it means to sacrifice for You. We are a selfish body in need of a wake up call. We repent for disrespecting your precious gift to us. Help us to be more like you and to embrace the cross we've been called to carry.

Juarez Week 3

One of the little girls at the Tarahumarah Indian compund.






Our competent and always serious Global Infusion staff members. :)



Week 3 Miami team






Construction projects - the making of a septic system.



Hanging out with the Tarahumarah's at the park









My construction team, after we had demolished the roof behind us.



Balloon animals at the VBS.













The view in Juarez



VBS kids















Our construction team hanging out on another roof. We were quite the competent roofing team. :)



Praying for a family we had done construction for.









The church we did our VBS site at.

Juarez Week 2

We must have crossed the border about 20 times during our second week. We were without any teams coming in, and so we helped our contact take food back and forth from Texas to Juarez to help the community members who are in need.



We worked many hours in a warehouse moving food to take back to Juarez.





We set up this shelving and loaded all these boxes onto it...more sliced jalapenos, black beans, and rice than I've ever seen on one place! :)



On our free day, they took us to the desert of New Mexico to shoot guns - my first time ever!



Look at that form...



This was our "near arrest" day, when Matt was being held hostage by the Mexican authorities. If you look real close you can see him down in that grate.



Waiting for him to be released.



Oh no, Matt! What's gonna happen?



I got bored and started trying to be artsy.



Oh, the sweet taste of freedom!





I think lugging all that heavy food back and forth took its toll on the vans. This was like breakdown number 7.



We found this tarantula while waiting on the side of the road.



Hannah, Summer, Danielle and I



Summer, the other GI intern who I'm moving in with in Knoxville.



One last view of our large Mexican flag.