It has been quite a week! There has been a wonderful team here from Antioch church in Texas. Most of them are Baylor students - but they are an awesome group...it's been a blessing to get to know each one of them. This week John and I have been staying busy going out with this team and just taking care of business :)
I took a group of 8 women out to minister to the prostitutes the day before yesterday and it was good. I would say it was awesome but no one came to know Jesus...although there was a LOT of seeds planted. These women are so hardened up - we really have to depend on God's working power to move in their hearts.
John has been going out throughout the week passing out tracts and spending time with the team and studying language. God has really been opening up doors...it seems like everytime John turns around he has someone wanting to "hang out" with him and get to know him better. I know you would think that that happens all the time but the Thai's don't hardly ever go past the cordial hello and normal questions. When it comes to having Thai friends it has been a hard thing. John's language is picking up so much that it is really helping! Thank you GOD!
One of the members of the team snapped this shot of John with some of the kids from tin shack village in Hat Yai. The children were following them while they tracted in the city. The children in Thailand just steal my heart. There is such a need for Christian orphanages here...there are so many children who need love.
Most of the children are taken in by someone (besides the Burmese who are left to fend for themselves) in there family or village but they are not loved. Most of them are given enough money for some snacks and sent to the game shop.
These children are so hungry for someone to show them love. When we were out ministering to the prostitutes a little boy came running out and I asked her if it was her child and she said yes...he came out of the "kareoke bar/prostitution house" and I then asked her how old he was and she could not remember!
I also saw to adorable children that I saw last time I was there...their mother works there and they sell flowers while their mother works all hours of the night. They carry around little roses and sell them for 10 baht a piece.
The little boy, Nawng Swooaywat, was so excited to see us and he started rummaging through the tracts in our hands to see if we had any that he had not collected as if they were trading cards! He then continued to ask if we had any more VCD's about Jesus.
His little sister was so shy...one of the girls on the team bought flowers from her and then tried to give her one back...and I translated and told her that "She is beautiful to Jesus...Jesus loves you..." and she didn't know what to do when that kindness was shown to her.
What a precious girl...speaking of precious...the other day our electricity went out for a while and Josiah comes in the door and says "Mommy, can we just find that plant and kill it?" I asked him what plant he was talking about...and he said "The plant that takes away your power.." I assumed he was talking about some thing on Veggie Tales...like the Rumer Weed...and continued to tell him it wasn't real.
He then got very frustrated and said "But momma, it is real! I know it is...you told me about it and I know it's real...it takes the power away...that bad plant..." I was at loss for words...I had NO CLUE what he was talking about and he so desperately wanted me to find this plant and kill it so we could have our power back...and then it hit me like a ton of bricks!!
A POWER PLANT! The electricity comes from a power plant...when I talked to him about it he said..."YEAH MOmmy! I told you already...the plant that takes the power" I love him so much! I just LOVE MY CHILDREN! Not because they do cute things like that or are so HANDSOME but just because they ARE. They are our children and are wonderful blessings.
I'm reading a book right now called "Keeping our Children's Hearts" and it is really rocking my world. I got to the part about whether not our hearts are turned toward our children and what that statement really means and I had to just stop reading for a while and let that soak in.
Are your hearts turned toward your children? Of course, your heart is turned toward God first but in the bible it says that He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and turn the hearts of the children to the fathers.
This is a huge deal in parenting. God had really been speaking to me about my heart and I'm really excited. Another thing I am excited about is a neat thing that God put on my heart. I was emailing with my NEW found most AWESOMEST friend through email ever...and we were just emailing back and forth about discipline and she shared how she desired so much to get up in the morning and spend time with God.
I usually spend my time with the Lord at night but I've always wanted to do it in the morning so...I challenged her to a 21 Day Rise with God Quest! We are holding each other accountable to rise in the morning and meet with God.
We want to extend this Quest to everyone...so:
I hereby challenge you...to a 21 Day Rise With God Quest. Your quest, should you choose to accept it, would be that we rise at a predetermined set time to meet with our God without FAIL and without COMPROMISE to see change in our lives and the lives of our families.
So...do you accept? Why 21 days you ask? Well...someone once told me (don't know if it's true) that it takes 21 days to break or make a habit...so there it is. My wonderful hubby has made an awesome graphic for this and if you choose to join in you can display this logo on your blog or website to get the news out.
We are officially starting this for everyone on Monday, August the 6th. I hope you join in! I will soon have a Mr. Linky up so that everyone can put up a link if you are going to go on this quest with us!
I pray you accept the challenge and draw closer to Him!
Thanks for reading!
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