Things we've been doing

OH what a week!

Haha, I feel like I say that every week :) Things are constantly changing here, but rarely do they go as planned. I think it fits me.

I wanted to share with you that I was able to go to the Prayer meeting last night. It was such a blessing to me. We had a short bible study -- Mary, the lady who came last week was there and we went over Matthew 1 with her. We asked her if she wanted to receive Christ but she says she is not quite ready. Please continue your prayers for her and for the others.

Speaking of praying, a huge prayer request we have for the school right now is that we are in a desperate need for English teachers for the upcoming school year. 


I went to the doctors last Tuesday -- and his recommendation was 2 more weeks with my cast on. Not because things weren't healing correctly, he just said it would be better that it was completely healed. Here is my X-Ray from the first day!

I must say -- I know this is probably pretty odd, but I really enjoy going to the doctor. It seems every time I go, I meet somebody new and we have a very pleasant conversation. I always get a good laugh too. As inconvenient as a broken leg is, it is okay.

 We have a new volunteer! She'll be here for 2 weeks painting murals!! Oh my, she is awesome. AND she is staying at our house! She did this mural in TWO DAYS. She is really helping to make our school a beautiful place. She's currently now working on a mural in our library.

Wow, I just think this is so awesome. It is so much better than before!! (THANKS INESSA)

Wanted to share a few things I've been doing. Here is the FINISHED van :)

Also I've been helping another ministry with some of their graphic design. It is called the River. I've helped them make some bookmarks and storefront redesign and also van and song-teaw designs. These are all simply mock-ups and probably not the final copies (in fact there have been several variations to the bookmark design already -- this was the original)

The current storefront:

The potential after storefront:


The River is a great ministry. Their focus is transforming communities. They have a church. As outreach they also have a hotel and coffeeshop. Several of the children who attend our school live at the River.


So you can see I've been busy :)







Mackenzie, Emma and I have begun Thai lessons -- it has been so beneficial already just to help us along. We are all three in different levels of our Thai knowledge, but we have lessons together so we can help each other.

I want so badly to know the language and be able to read it. I'm currently working on the textbook project (it's hobbling along, but we're beginning to have some real progress.) It would be so helpful to be able to read Thai especially for this project. Please pray for me.

Today, Inessa, Mackenzie and I got to go ride an elephant! It was super fun. Here are some pictures:

Can I just say "Whoah. I am in Thailand..?!!?"

Some Updates

I told a story a couple weeks ago about a boy at our school who prayed to become a Christian. I asked him what he did this weekend and he said, exactly like this: "Eat. Pray. Study. Games." Ha!

The Prayer meeting was positive. 2 Thais came, one of them was Nurse (The other one I'll call Mary). Nurse is very interested in Christianity, and is keen on enrolling her 2 kids at our school next year. They want to meet again this Friday. Continue to pray for these four, and keep the Friday prayer meeting in YOUR prayers (Friday morning 6am Central time): 

Nurse

June

Becky

Mary

Many people were praying for this prayer event. Thank you for your faithfulness. One of our friends here (a new Christian) was at home and felt really convicted all of a sudden to pray during the meeting. She began praying for all of these people, and she 'felt' that there was just something circling her house, something bad. She didn't know what it was but it was circling her house like a whirlwind or something. She was praying and all of a sudden her body just started shaking, (maybe like someone was shaking her? I don't know for sure) but she knew she had to continue praying and that she couldn't let this distract or stop her. She KEPT praying for about 10 minutes and her body just kept shaking. When she finished "in the name of Jesus, Amen." The shaking stopped and she was back to normal.

Please pray for her, that the Lord would keep her safe and protected. I was reminded of this verse:

6 xHumble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 ycasting all your anxieties on him, because zhe cares for you. 8 aBe sober-minded; bbe watchful. Your cadversary the devil dprowls around elike a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 fResist him,gfirm in your faith, knowing that hthe same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And iafter you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, jwho has called you to his keternal glory in Christ, will himself lrestore, mconfirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 nTo him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  (www.esvbible.org)

Spiritual warfare works differently here. In America, we are all just so convinced things like this don't happen -- that's one way the devil blinds us.

------------

A huge praise: THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING BILLS WERE PRIORITIZED! This is really great news. Wow.

----------

Human Trafficking in Nebraska

Human Trafficking in Nebraska

Hearing on Thursday 1:30 pm.
 |
 |
 |
V

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/new-bills-introduced-to-help-prevent-human-trafficking-issues-1.2700800#.TztmmU6PWNU

 ^
 |
 |

God is Moving into Hearts

Something that I keep hearing here is

"We've never seen this happen before!"

. Missionaries who have been here for awhile keep saying that, and they are referring to the way God is working in Thailand. Joel said to me a week ago "You get to be here to see all of the cool stuff happening!" Here is a true story of what happened in these past two weeks.

There is this beautiful woman. I am going to call her Faith (not her real name).

Faith, the mother of one of our students (Tina) was miraculously healed from breast cancer about a year and a half ago. From my understanding, she has been a Christian about 3 years by the grace of God. Prior to that, she had been trafficked into prostitution. She was pulled out and a group of women helped teach her how to bake, and now she has her own bakery.

Because of her miraculous recovery, she now prays for cancer victims.

WITHIN THESE PAST TWO WEEKS:

-Faith has a friend who is a nurse that is very interested in Christianity, but is not ready to give her life to Christ yet. But she keeps coming around and asking questions :) God is working on her. She asked Faith to come and pray for one of her patients (June) who is in the last stages of cancer. Faith and Joel (the director of our school) went and prayed. June has not been able to take chemo because her blood sugar (?) has been too high.

The next morning, Faith asked how she was doing, and June was scared! Her blood sugar had dropped to a level where chemo could begin (this is miraculous in itself--this had been impossible for quite some time). However, she said that all night she had been in pain and the demons told her in a dream to STAY AWAY from these two people who were praying, because they did NOT want our God to be in her!!!

!!
!!

Whoah. What is this woman waiting for? Jesus, thank you that you are obviously trying to get this woman's attention. YOU are the ultimate healer, you are the living water that gives eternal life. Do not let her fall away.

Faith and Joel will not give up on her, but are unsure of how to proceed because she is scared--they don't know that going to the hospital is the right option and are praying for clear direction from the Lord.

That is not all.

This past weekend there was another woman that Faith was praying for. We'll call her Becky. She said "Yeah, I've done the church thing. I went once. When they had the bread and wine, I had some wine, but the demons made me go outside and spit it out. They said I could not be a part of that."

Whatever your beliefs are about communion, make no mistake. It is a spiritual act that connects us with our Savior. It is not an empty tradition. How do you celebrate communion? With a thankful and humble heart or with glazed eyes and thoughts?

I'll worship my God
in every way I can
and not settle for silence
and limp hands,
but swaying hips
and a cry of thankfulness
for my God is good
all the time
and all the time
God is good.

So here are three women you can pray for specifically this week, as they have all been presented with the Gospel and need to make a choice:
the Nurse
June
Becky

Also, Faith is having a prayer meeting at her house. People WANT to come and have Faith pray for her. THIS IS NOT A COMMON THING IN THAILAND, it's rather unheard of actually. She has invited Joel and asked him to bring a few other people. Pray for the meeting. If the Lord wills, I would like to go and pray as well. This is Friday evening at 7:00 pm (Friday at 6:00 AM Central time for Nebraskans who want to be in prayer overseas)

Your prayers are heard, much louder than we can even understand. Do not give up.

This little girl is so sweet!! I love her.

I have this little New Testament that fits perfectly in my pocket, so I bring it with me wherever I go. I was reading it in the van last week and she saw it and wanted to read it herself -- she can read English surprisingly well for her age (considering she is also Thai). She asked me the next two days if she could read it! Of course, I said yes.

Yesterday she came to school with her own little Thai bible! Wow! Praise the Lord, He is just...so Good!!! Pray for this sweet little girl, that the word would take root in her heart.

What's been happening!

Odd sights you will never see in America

The library renovations continue! These are our NEW SHELVES! Built by Tony and Henry, wonderful people.

Here are their wives (left). They joined us last week and have been helping to re-catalouge everything with a better system. Rhoda (right) is from Scotland, she has really headed up the library renovation project. Currently, all of these people are buying primer so the painting can start TOMORROW!! Rhoda and I will go pick out a color scheme next chance we have. The air-conditioning went in yesterday, and we have a mural painter volunteering here for 2 weeks at the end of the month--we are going to have a brand new library! How exciting!

eh. It really did happen. Haha--I realized that nobody knows HOW I broke my leg--I simply stepped down a stair and landed on uneven ground. I was carrying a box of books and lost my balance--down I went! Picture compliments of Emma

One of our students (one of my FAVORITES) and Kruu Oi, she is the principal of the school. I just thought this was an awesome picture.

P.S.! Kenzie has been took most of the pictures on this post. She does such a good job!

Prayer Requests

1. For an English teacher for the upcoming year

2. For a bus-driver, husband and wife team that can also do school maintenance and the finances to support them.

3. For volunteers and finances to help renovate the school in order for us to renovate our classrooms to add grades Pre-K, and 7-9.

4. For a permanent artist and more writers to come on board for our textbook project!

5. Also for the textbook project, join me in praying for other Christian schools to take a part in the project. This is not *our* project, or the school's project, it is God's project. I'm praying that others would come on board. This is such a huge thing, with God's continued guidance we will be able to make a lasting change in the educational system here in Thailand. Can you imagine?

Here's a big one:
6. For the unification of Thai Christians.

Lots of things! God is big. Please join me in prayer for things things.

What an amazing God we serve.

I go to the hospital tomorrow to get a new cast put on. I'm praying my leg would be miraculously healed. THAT would be quite a testimony, eh?

Also, please continue to pray for the car accident and healing and forgiveness for the families of all parties. That would be a much deeper miracle.

--

Yesterday we went to a church called the River. It was very refreshing.

Please pray the Lord would guide our steps. I am also praying about a job opportunity that I learned about in Vietman/Laos that I really want to apply for. I am known for jumping too soon though, so I am sitting on this and asking for the Lords guidance.

Whew, what a week. I must say, I am glad to have a Saturday off in order to rest my muscles. Will get a new cast put on on Tuesday. Praying for fast healing. It isn't painful, but not being able to move is a struggle for me.

Regardless, I am able to serve the school still. Here is something I worked on last week:

This is NOT for real yet, just a mock-up. We're taking in the van next week to have the stickers put on.

And I started work on a new website. It is going to be really nice once it's finished.

We had a baby shower last week for the schools secretary Da! Here are some pictures:

The Baby's name is Diary because her Father is in the military, so they are separated. The Mom and Dad wrote letters back and forth to each other through a Diary.

Proud Mama!

Her Grandmother

In other news, I am so amazed at the work that goes on at this school. God is really at work here. Last week, one of the sweet sweet boys who lives with his Aunt and Uncle (his mother lives in Bangkok) prayed to receive Christ. He is a very intelligent youngster, bright and caring. I've heard the other teachers call him "Our little counselor" because he is compassionate. Last week one of our little boys got on the bus crying and he wouldn't tell us why, so "our little counselor" asked him for us at school and I'm sure gave him some words of encouragement while he was at it. Praise God! Please pray for him to grow up strong in the Lord, that he will continue to be a light wherever he is, a living testimony to God. He is doing very well at the school and with his Aunt and Uncle, but we are praying for him also because his mother wants him to move to Bangkok. Please just send up prayers for him--God will protect him wherever he is, but we want him to stay :(

Ooh! What a week!

Well, I DID break a bone. I fractured a bone in my right leg near the ankle joint. We went to the hospital and my leg is in a plaster cast right now until Tuesday. God willing, the swelling will have gone down by then and I can have a more permanent cast placed until my leg is healed. The plaster is heavy, so I am looking forward to a new cast. The doctors said it should take 4-6 weeks.

I've always imagined that breaking a leg would be severely painful, but it's really not that bad. It stinks not being able to move very easily, but Mackenzie and Emma have been very helpful in getting things for me that I need. The best thing is that I can still do most of the work I have been doing because most of my work is computer based anyway. Thanking God that is wasn't my *arm* that I broke, and praying for quick healing for my leg. Some of the fourth graders made me Get Well cards. They are so sweet.

Mackenzie's friend Zach passed away today. She is taking the day off to grieve. Please pray for all of the families during this difficult time. Here is something that was shared to me by a friend regarding Zach "My daughter said that our prayers were answered in a different way. I told her that maybe our unanswered prayers, were answered prayers for different families." Our prayers do not go unheard.




That's all for now. Things are busy here! I love every minute.

God Bless,
Amber