Today two exciting things happened:

1. WE RECEIVED A PACKAGE!!!! (Thanks Mom and Dad. We will have sugar to last us for quite some time, and the kids will love it too. Really, THANK YOU)

2. I made another friend! Her name is Alice. She is from Switzerland and spoke 4 languages, something I'm finding is quite common among Europeans/Asians-- I am struggling with 1 1/8 (the 1/8th being a probably too highly estimated amount of Thai that I know, but it's coming along!)

We spoke for a long time, because we were both waiting for a shop to open, so we chatted for about 3 hours, and it was nice. She is quite the historian! I learned a lot from her, and I got to listen to her cool accent!

We spent a significant portion of our time talking about religion. It was an interesting discussion about Jesus and aliens and giants.

You know, so many of the foreigners I have come across here in Thailand are *searching* for something, and they do not know what, but they have a lot of thoughts and ideas. I am finding a lot of false theologies and pseudo-Christian (cultish) grips on people, and a severe lack of knowledge of the word of God among people who are not Christian who claim to know the Bible. This makes me very sad, and makes me want to study the word even more. The biggest thing I have noticed regarding this is people have a tendency to read scripture and pick out the things that suit them, rather than take the Bible as a whole that points to Jesus in all things. 

I am so thankful to not be an aimless seeker. I am a daughter of God, redeemed from my wrongdoings by the blood of Christ. I have already found the meaning of life! Now it's focusing on the goal...

*********

Did I mention we have awesome neighbors? They took us on a tour :) There are a lot of pictures on facebook, but here are some highlights (compliments of Dtem and Dtoi *aka Kitichai*, they took all of the pictures):

Ice cream sandwiches. Please notice the normal looking BREAD
the ice cream is encompassed by.
Oh, Thailand. I love how literal you are.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil!

We went to another waterfall the following day with our friends Lucy and Jo (from Scotland, and the UK), but we didn't bring our camera! The waterfall was made out of limestone, and you could just climb right up it, hence the name "the sticky waterfalls". It really was amazing, not like anything I've seen or experienced in my entire life. 

Tomorrow: Zip-lining through the jungle. (We have a week off from school because it is a Thai holiday called SONG-KRAN, which I'll tell you more about when I have some pictures)

my friend IB

I have a very exciting story to share with you!

Yesterday was Good Friday, and it WAS a very good Friday indeed!

Mackenzie went to Lampang with our neighbors (we had Friday off of school). Emma and I were simply exhausted and wanted a restful day so we stayed home, although going with the neighbors anywhere is always really fun, we just needed a break (it's been a crazy couple of weeks). SO I decided to go visit a waterfall and read the Good Friday story from the Bible -- it was fantastic, and a good place to recharge and be with the Lord.(and, I was perfectly able to climb through some pretty treacherous terrain, thank you GOD for healing my leg!)

On my walk home, God had set up a divine appointment for me :) I was walking one way, and Ib, my new friend, was walking toward me. I was JUST about to cross the street to have some lunch at coffeshop across the street, and we met exactly there, Ib thought he recognized me, we started to chat and we decided to have coffee together.

He is a very kind, friendly man, but has gone through a rough time these past couple of years. He told me he is at a crossroads and in a crisis and is really seeking something but he did not know what-- he told me several times he was about to lose heart. He told me he was considering helping out and learning about Buddhism from the monks. Ib is a Christian, but has fallen away for quite sometime (it seemed to me) and shared with me he was really turned away by "Pharisitical Christians" (if you know what I mean). I shared with him my faith and -- Jesus is so good -- Ib said I must be an angel sent from God because what I was saying is exactly what he had needed to hear and that he had "forgotten all of the things I was saying". I am rather overwhelmed, and so grateful to have been used this way. God is so good. He sent me here from Nebraska to Thailand to share the gospel with a middle-aged man from Denmark over coffee (among other things, I'm sure) and I am so grateful that the Lord has taught me so much thus far and am excited for what is next.

Will you pray for Ib?

I gave him my Bible.
We are now Pen-pals.
I thoroughly enjoyed his company, he is a gem of a man.

God is...so good.

I also wanted to share with you that we went to visit a beautiful lady named Dang (which means the color Red!) and were able to give her 5 Bibles that people from her church were in need of:

Pii Dang has a desire for LIFE. She has MS but is dedicated to live and wants to serve the Lord for as long as she can. Please pray that the Lord would grant her healthy time. Also, she has a prayer request -- she is requesting more money from the government to help her pay for her medicine, but has not heard back in awhile. Please pray that the government would grant her request.

AND: My friend I mentioned in a previous post is currently in a communist country distributing bibles to those that need them. Pray for safety of this person and the people in this person's company. Thanks.

Amen.
And HAPPY EASTER TOMORROW!!!!

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

Bible Fund

Hi everyone!

This is a QUICK QUICK update, but I just spoke with my friend Pat -- he says he knows of 5 people who need Thai Bibles. Anybody want to donate to a Bible fund?  The money comes to me, I give it Pat, he buys the Bibles and gives them to the people that need them. If so, you can just mail a check to my home address (which I don't want to post here. Send me a message on Facebook? If you're reading this, you probably know how to get a hold of me...but if not, leave a comment)

Also, please pray for
1) Summer School that starts up tomorrow
2) A group of boys from the detention center are being baptized on Tuesday! Pray for them.

THanks! Love ya all --

In Christ,
Amber

A Baptism

One of our little girls, Naam-fone, was baptized today :) :) :)

It was very special day. We went to a big waterfall.

This is Naam-fone!

This is the view out her back door! (So beautiful)

"I want to be baptized because..."

Love this picture! *taken by Brittany Gray

Whew!

HI everyone!

This has been -- a long past week and a half! Working with the textbook project (especially last week) we have made some ground. The Lesson 1 draft is done and ready for presentation! I am hoping to get Lesson 2 done by Friday (but that may be pushing it quite a bit.) It is so exciting to see some progress in this.

Please continue to pray for the Friday night prayer group, as 2 Thai women are seeking.

Also, if you remember, a few weeks ago I posted about a women who was being terrified by the demons. She is a cancer patient, and was unable to take treatment (but is now able to). She is from the mountains, so she comes to Chiang Mai for treatment and stays with some relatives or something are neighbors to "Hope". God told Hope to go to her neighbors house a few weeks ago, and that is how she met "June". Hope and some other believers prayed for June, and that night she had nightmares and the demons told her to stay away from those Christian people. Now June is scared of Hope because she is afraid of the demons. Last week, God told Hope to go to her neighbors house again, but she didn't know why or that June was back in the area. She went and when she got to the house and walked in, June turned to her relatives and said "why did you invite her over!" and they said "We didn't tell her you were here!". Hope said, "God told me to come, so I had to come".Please continue to pray for this situation, as God is obviously directing and leading it and wants this women in His eternal kingdom!!! June is still scared. And pray for Hope that the Lord would give her guidance and wisdom in showing Christs love to a women who is sincerely afraid of her.

Also, we have one sweet little girl from our school who will be BAPTIZED on Saturday!!!!!!!!! :D Her name is Naam-fone. 

The school year is coming to a close, we finish on Friday :(
Next week Mackenzie, Emma and I travel to UDON to VISIT OUR RELATIVES (can't wait!) and then head up to Laos (about 2 hours away) in order to renew our Visa's. Please pray a blessing on our family, and a blessing on our travels. I am really excited. Most of the plans are up in the air right now though, which is pretty much Thai style, but I am a little nervous about things going smoothly with the Visa process -- I am praying it will go smoothly so we don't have to cut short our time with family (we need to be back to Chiang Mai to help teach Summer School), so would appreciate your prayers regarding that front. Will tell you more about summer school soon.

Here are some pictures from today! We did class pictures. Mom and Dad, can I say you rock? It's really hard to get a group of kids to smile and pay attention. Kudos to you. These pictures are mostly the silly ones. I think if you click on them they will be bigger.

Ha -- this is one of my favorites. James -- our monkey.

Last weekend we were quite blessed, a few days after my cast was removed (thank you Jesus for healing my leg!), Mackenzie, Emma and I went swimming (great ankle rehab!). THEN Emma wanted to get her hair cut, so we went to the beauty parlor, and Mackenzie got her hair cut too. The lady decided to give us all rides to go and get Thai massages (also, surprisingly, great ankle rehab!). Then THOSE ladies decided to DRIVE US HOME. We probably wouldn't've been able to do all of that without their kindness. And all of this cost us less than $8. It really was quite a blessing. We still are talking about it. Here are some pictures from the swimming:

BeAUTIful EMMA

ALSO I just need to say, we have the *best* neighbors in the entire world. They really are such wonderful people, we are so blessed and glad to know them, they are like family.

They take us to places like THIS

(Kenzie took most of these, BTW)

Want to send out some quick prayer requests:

1. For the textbook project, that God would continue to orchestrate and lead (and bring more people on board)
2. For the kids and their year end tests
3. For our wonderful neighbors
4. For the Friday prayer meetings (I've been attending these past 3 weeks -- I love it.) Pray for Pohn and Daeng.
5. I shared a story about a little boy who accepted Christ a couple of weeks ago. His mother wants him to move to Bangkok with her (he is currently living with his Christian Aunt and Uncle). He does not want to go. She does not want him to be a Christian. Pray for this little boy.

Also, my cast came off on Tuesday, I am slowly limping around. Pray for a fast recovery. Moved back into my room tonight, life feels organized again.

Good night! (or, er, morning!)