this past month

Whoofta!

Things have been *so* *so* busy.

For those of you who have sent me messages that I have not responded to, and people I have not called, I sincerely apologize, thank you for your grace. I have a week off  from summer school starting Friday. You will be my priority :)

As for this past month, what a whirlwind!

We went to Laos (had a few minor problems with the Visa situation, but it should be okay). Visited our lovely relatives, whom I already miss (I will post some pictures of this soon and tell you more about them, because I love them), and then we got back and started summer school the very next day.

I put together a portfolio and resume last week (thanks Dad) because I am applying for a job in Laos --I'll tell you more about it as time transpires :)

Summer school is a tough one for me -- I love love love these kids and being with them is a blessing, but I am really struggling with this whole *teaching groups of kids* thing. Please pray for me. I've cried a lot. It is embarrassing, and I know the kids have noticed. Apparently God has a purpose in it. This is certainly *not* in my comfort zone.

One little boy, his name is Poom and here is his picture (Shayne I hope you don't mind! Pat emailed it and I swiped it!).

He is really funny, and we all love having him around. God loves him so much. On the very first day of summer school we noticed something wasn't quite right because he fell asleep nearly right away in the morning of the first class and it took way too long to wake him up. It happened again a few days later, and his breathing was really labored. We called Pooms parents and they came and we told him he needed to go to the hospital. I heard there was a lot of crying -- when they were told he was falling asleep, they said "he always does that!" He has been to the doctor several times, but apparently he was mis-diagnosed. God had a purpose in sending Poom to our school. He was sent to a better hospital and he went into surgery. He has been in ICU the past week, but is home today. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God.

There are so many kids here that need a lot of love.

Tomorrow we have a big meeting regarding our textbook project. It is a textbook integrating Christianity into Thai Social Studies. It is a project that God has placed specifically on Joel's heart (our director of the school) and I am confident the Lord will continue to orchestrate the project. I have done all the design work thus far, and we are going to present it to a group of representatives from Thai schools in Chiang Mai tomorrow. The meeting will be about "How should we do Christian ministry in our schools?" and hopefully people will want to come on board and help us with our textbook, because right now we are shorthanded.

Last night Pat, Dream and I went to a store and bought bibles. $300 were donated to the bible fund I mentioned in the previous post, and $150 was donated to Pat, so we were able to buy 25 bibles (about $15/piece)!!!! That night, I went a long with them to Mae Wang, a village, and joined them in a bible study with people from that community. We were blessed to give out 2 of the first bibles to two young girls who asked for a Bible a couple of weeks ago. They are not Christians yet, please pray for them. Their names are Prae and Fai.

Many of the bibles will be given out next week, because somebody I know will be going into a communist country soon to give them to people who cannot get them. Please pray for this person's safety and God's guiding hand.

The Bible is the living word of God. It is such a precious gift. Sweet as honey. Sharper than a double-edged sword. Please do not underestimate yours, and if you have not read it yet, please do.

Okay! I need SLEEP!

Oh yeah, and my leg is doing great! Thank God. I can walk nearly normally, I can put all of my weight on it, and am beginning to be able to jog a teeny bit (not very quickly, and only for a few paces, like, to catch toddlers about to walk into dangerous territory...). Am really looking forward to running again.

Goodnight, I love you all.
Amber