Josiah's Birthday....Visiting Home...In Christ Alone

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
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What a morning!  I was visited this morning by a wonderful veteran on the field here in Thailand.  Her and her husband have been here for 31 years!!!!  They speak Thai fluently! They just moved into our old house a street away – so now we’re practically neighbors!  It’s wonderful that God has brought another missionary couple into Hat Yai – and it’s incredible that they are so experienced.  

So that was a neat start to the day and then I plopped down to check my e-mails and I had quite a few NON-JUNK e-mails (  You know I really didn’t even think about Josiah’s birthday being on Easter until the day before his birthday!  Wow!   This Sunday we visited a church called Hat Yai City Church because Clinton was going to be speaking at it.  It was really neat – that was the first church service in a year and (almost) a half that I had heard in English and understood everything that they said – unfortunately I understood because they had a translator.  

Many Thai people came forward to get things right with God.  Including a woman named Pii On.   We have been sharing with her for months now and she will just cry and cry but yet she has not given her life wholly to God yet.  She did throw out her idols though!!!  Which is a huge deal!  Anyway, Pii On went up to the front and I followed behind her.  Once we got to the front she was prayed for and I just continued to pray for her.  Pretty soon I was holding her like a baby.  She was weeping.  She has so much pain that she still holds onto.  Please be praying for Pii On.

After church and lunch I returned home to get ready for Josiah’s birthday party.  Katherine and I had gone to the store and bought some fun stuff for games at his party.  We wanted to try to make his birthday party fun for more than just the kids.  So we had 3 games.  Kinda like baby shower games.  One game was this: everyone received a clothes pin put on their clothes when they walked in the door…then I instructed everyone that they could not say the following words: 4 years old, cake, fun, present, balloon.  If someone heard you say them then they could take your clothes pin….and at the end of the night whoever has the most clothes pins wins a small prize (a bag of candy).

The second game was guessing how many m&m’s were in a jar that we had.  The prize was the jar of m&m’s of  course (because they are expensive here it’s a great prize) and then the last game was a question game.  I asked 10 questions about Josiah and whoever answered the most questions correctly won.  I decided I would post the questions for you family members out there…

1.  What color are Josiah’s eyes?  Blue
2.  What’s Josiah’s favorite song?  One Little Slip (from the movie Chicken Little).  Josiah saw this movie one time and for days afterward he was singing “Won Wittle Swip…Won Wittle Swip”  He just loves it.  Before that his favorite was “You are Holy” by Michael W. Smith.  
3.  What’s Josiah’s favorite color?  Blue
4.  What’s Josiah’s favorite food?  Spaghetti
5.  Who does Josiah like to pretend to be?  Sonic
6.  Who is Josiah’s favorite superhero?  Spiderman
7.  What song does Josiah sing before going to bed?  Goodnight Sweetheart (the Platters)
8.  When does Josiah get to go to Chuckie Cheese? (there is no chuckie cheese in Thailand by the way…What we call chuckie cheese is a playland we found here at the top of one of the big malls here.  It even has a mouse on the sign…although it does not compare to Chuckie Cheese)  When he fills up his tooth brushing chart
9.   How does Josiah say the following names: MaryBeth, Brian, Phon.  MawyBeff, Bwian and Phone
10.  I honestly can’t remember what the other question was!!!!!  I’ll throw in another one: What is Josiah’s current memory verse?  “I can do all things through Jesus who makes me strong”

It was a wonderful party and Josiah had a great time.  Now…a little bit about the HOT TOPIC of the month:

Visiting Home…

Here’s the deal…to clarify…We have been given $2,100 from Liberty Lighthouse Church.  That was enough 4 days ago to get us home BUT gas prices have apparently gone up so everywhere I check it now costs at least $774 dollars (taxes and all that stuff included) a ticket.  And get this!!!  We have to pay for JUDE!  I never though we would have to pay for Jude – he would be in my lap!!!  Anyway, each airline I talk to says that we have to pay $150 for him.  So the total now is $2,500 to get us home for a visit.

But here’s the other catch.   We have to make plans to be able to raise another $2,500 to be able to get back to Thailand!!!  On top of having to have the money to pay our bills here while we’re gone…and eat while we’re in the states.  Anyway, our God is capable of taking care of this.  Please keep us in your prayers about this.

Other than all the excitement about maybe getting to visit…everything is going as normal.  John is steadily going out to the villages everyday…they are heading farther and farther south which means more and more Muslim.  They attempted to go into a Mosque the other day but were quickly and brashly told to get out.  Soon they will begin showing the movie about the truth of Jesus again…the bulb in the projector went out and it cost $500 dollars to replace!!!!!  So needless to say the projector was out of commission for a little bit.  The bulb has been replaced now though!  Thank God!

Well, it’s time to make lunch, homeschool Josiah, and I’ve got to prepare for Chase’s computer lesson @ 4pm and study Thai for our Thai lesson with Phon @ 5pm.  Thanks for reading…I want to leave you with this song that has been blessing me so much.

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand