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Happy Birthday to Me!

5/26/2011

Elllo, ello!!
So blogging is not my forte, hence why this is my second post, so just bear with me here as I take you through our last couple days. So, starting with Tuesday...Tuesday was a very, very special day, because it was my birthday!! We began our morning with a time of worship and prayer with all the church leaders in Chacheongsao. We all really appreciated this time as we were able to worship and praise God, read the word and pray in three different languages. It is amazing to see that even though many of us spoke different languages, we still felt united in God. Later on in the day we went to teach English in the park to children. This is the third week of us doing it and it finally started to feel like we were developing relationships with the children. Although my relationship with the children may seem semi abusive as they love to chase and hit me. It is really unfair as 20 of them will be after me and as I am fighting off one I am getting attacked by three others from behind. It is so exhausting, I realized that children really don't tire easily. So, after that we hung out at Dave and Louise's. Sarah, their daughter Cici and I all thought it was a good idea to jump on the trampoline during a lightening storm, it was a pretty decent time and thankfully there were no casualties. Then to end off the night we went to the Burmese church and the congregation and us ate my bday cake, which was lovely. All the Burmese people sang happy birthday to me in English which was really cute and they also all prayed for me out loud at the same time, which was super crazy and awesome and probs the highlight of my birthday.

On WEDNESDAY, we had the morning off and chilled. I ran, and nearly died from the heat and the rest of the team read..I think. Then, we taught english at the park again, where I was chased yet again. However, there were a few less children chasing me as Sarah distracted them all with coloring books. Oh, also one of the kids gave us some doughnuts at English and just as Bethany was about to take one Cara realized there was a gecko in the box, icky right? So, after the park, we ate TACO's, which was super super yummy and awesome. We devoured them quickly so we wouldn't miss the prayer meeting. The prayer meeting was great as we spent time praying for the Church, it's members and the community surrounding it.

TODAY, we woke up early and had a lovely american style breakfast with Dave and Sandy. It was really great hearing Dave speak as he has so much wisdom to share with us. So, between the great conversation and the American food it was a really great breakfast. After that we gardened for 55 hours which was great and grabbed some food at the market. And I am now currently sitting in our room waiting for our english lesson to start. So thats all for now!

Later gator's,
Kiara

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Oh Pattaya!

5/24/2011

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Pattaya just before the sun set

During our trip to Bangkok on Friday we asked one of our new Thai friends for advice on beaches to visit near our beloved adopted home of Chachoengsao. Pattaya was the city that was suggested to us and so we asked Sandy and Dave for their advice. They told us that the area was a tourist beach spot during the day but by night there were areas that were flooded with foreign and local males due to the nightlife and prostitution that Pattaya is known for as well; so don't miss the last bus back to Cachoengsao! With the intention of enjoying the beach and beauty by day and heading home long before the nightlife began, we boarded an overly crowded bus bright and early Monday morning and began a 2 1/2 hour trip to Pattaya.

When we finally got to Pattaya, we were beyond excited to see the ocean. However, we were very distracted by the ridiculously high number of foreign males that were at the beach. Everywhere we walked there was a Westerner; there were so many men, but no Western females to be found. Suddenly the ocean seemed less exciting to me and I struggled to express the emotions I was feeling as we passed white male after white male. Still as I write this, I don't know how to feel about Pattaya. Part of me is struck with sadness - sadness for the females who sell their bodies, sadness for the men who travel to this area to fulfill their sexual desire through the purchasing of sexual services. Another part of me feels disgust as so many of the men we passed looked like our fathers, brothers, uncles, and Grandfathers that we all know and love back at home. And yet another part of me is struck with shame, as I knew I was judging every man I passed by, making the assumption that they were there for the nightlife and letting their assumed struggle affect me emotionally.

As a team we discussed how easy it is to judge or assume and how obvious the sin and struggles of others is in Pattaya. Yet we all have sin and struggle in our lives. It doesn't matter whether we are a man or woman in Pattaya or in Canada. It doesn't matter whether we are a Christian or a Non Christian; we all stumble and fall and give in to struggles and sins we know are not healthy, we know do not bring joy to our lives or the lives of those around us and we know our struggle and sin does not bring glory to God.

As I am writing this on our blog, a particular Chapter comes to mind....

John 8: 1-12
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

The Bible was written so very long ago, yet it applies this very day. How can I judge the men I passed by, how can I condemn anyone for their sin and their struggle? I can't. You can't. No one can. We all have free will to make our own decisions on a daily basis. We are all tempted and we have all stumbled. But I am reminded, that when I look to the light of the world, when I follow Jesus and I ask for help and guidance, He will lead me.

Jesus says in John 14: 12-14
12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Please pray for the city of Pattaya. Pray that their hearts will yearn for something more and that they will come to know and look to the strength of our God. Please pray for me and for my team as well. That we will not rely on our own strength to conquer our own personal battles, but that we will look to Jesus. And please pray for yourself, so that throughout your own journey, you too will know the strength and the power that can only come from the Holy Spirit.
Cara xo

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To Bangkok!

5/20/2011

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Temple at the Grand Palace in Bangkok!

This week has been amazing. We are now officially recovered from jet lag and are getting used to the Thai culture... and obviously becoming fluent in speaking Thai and Burmese.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to Bangkok for part of the day. We actually found ourselves missing Chachoengsao throughout our day whenever someone asked us where we were from. Upon hearing "Chachoengsao" people would just ask "What? Why?" and we would instantly begin defending our beloved town of Chachoengsao... the greatest city in all of Thailand (Biased much?). In Bangkok we took the Sky Train, Taxi's and the Water Taxi. It was incredible to see what a big city looks like in Thailand. We headed to the Grand Palace and were in awe of the marvelous temples and buildings that were built for the King. We met a Thai friend named "Palm Tree" (at least that's what we called him) and he toured us around the site. He spoke English well and I think he was excited to test out his English skills on 4 eager Canadians. After that we had to quickly take the transits back to the airport. But, if you are unfamiliar with Thai culture "quickly" just doesn't exist. Our way home ended up taking twice as long as we anticipated. Thankfully Dave was able to cover the first half of our English lesson until we arrived back at the Hope Center.

Today we are having a "Sandy" day! She has been our incredible host (and Mom) to us for the past 2 weeks, so we are excited to see what she has planned for the day!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. If you could pray for Palm Tree and Nathan (two Thai's that we met in Bangkok) that they would continue to consider a life for the Lord. Out of the million people that live in Bangkok (less than 1% being Christian) we met 2 people, both with Christian roots. Sandy told us that those encounters are called divine appointments that would help them affirm their relationship with God. How exciting is that! It makes me smile just thinking about it. Thanks again for praying!

Love you all,
Bethany

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Mingalabah

5/17/2011

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Mingalabah (Hello in Burmese),

How is everyone doing back at home? I hope you are enjoying the nice weather (hopefully it's nice weather) and not sweating profusely like we are!

The past couple of days have been very busy and great! On Monday night and Tuesday night there was an evangelism outreach in two local markets. Like Sarah said, it is some sort of Buddhist holiday so the markets were packed with people (great evangelism opportunity). On Monday we were actually able to hand out tracks (pamphlets) to the market venders, customers and also people around the market. I am terribly awkward when it comes to evangelism, so I knew I would have to rely on God for the courage and strength to reach out to the Thai people. It was an incredible time for me to experience God visibly working through me, pointing out certain people that He wanted me to hand a track to. It was very humbling to only rely on "Patdowlacoon" (God loves you in Thai) and our smiles to represent God's love. Please pray for the people that have read those tracks that they would feel God's love and want to pursue a relationship with Him!

Last night we were lucky enough to join the Burmese people in their weekly Tuesday night worship. I would often find myself standing there with my jaw wide open in awe because of the incredible deep passion that they had for God while they worshiped. The Burmese have illegally immigrated into Thailand because of the devastating massacre that were happening in Burma (Mynamar). These people are the lowest of the low, they have absolutely nothing and are looked down at by the Thai population. They may look like they have nothing, but they have everything through Christ! It was definitely an eye-opener for me and I look forward to learning much more from them in the next 3 weeks (and then of course sharing it with you).

Thanks for all the support everyone! We are continually being challenged and would much appreciate your prayer support.

Lots and lots of love,
Bethany

Worship at the Bermese Church on Tuesday night!

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pray pray pray

5/17/2011

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Hi all! Just thought I would throw up a quick update before going to bed! All is well and the past couple days have been a whirlwind of activity! The 2 outreachs have gone well. It was really neat for me to see people being healed from their pain and sickness as well as coming to Christ! We went on a tour of the temple today, which was eye opening! Its a Buddhist holiday right now, so it was quite crowded! It was extremely sobering to see the complete hopelessness that Buddhism offers. Pray pray pray for the Thai people that they would find their hope in Jesus! Could you also please pray for us individually I know I am fighting exhaustion and just being emotionally tired! I don't doubt the other girls are dealing with stuff too :) Thank you all for the tremendous support and love that each one of you have given! I love reading the encouraging comments and getting incredible feedback! Until next time....

Lots of Love,
Sarah

The Buddhist temple in Chachoernsao

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Finally.... :)

5/15/2011

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SOOO finally I have found time to sit down and blog about the past couple days! I want to first thank our WONDERFUL host, Sandy, who has been a mother to us! She has been so understanding to our adjusting, which has not been easy!
The food has been interesting! The fruit amazing!!!! It was tons of fun going to the market on Friday and picking up our own fruit and catching a Took-Took (taxi/motorcycle... picture to follow) home. That morning we had an awesome team time in city park, which is beautiful! We are going to try and go there in the morning as much as possible and do our devos!
We added another ESL class on Thursday and Friday. This one is at the Hope Center, and we are hoping to get more adults/teens. Thursdays class, we had 10 people! It was amazing! One of the guys, who works at the neighboring garage, was amazing! None of us expected it. It was encouraging to see everyone come back on Friday for class!
Thursday, we also went to the grocery store to grab some breakfast food. It is a mini mall! Its amazing, believe it or not we found a DQ and a KFC!!! Yah American food!! lol We also managed to find a pizza place, which we ate at 2 nights in a row! (so much for Thai food) lol But really the food has been great! A lot of rice and chicken though. My fav so far is the Pad Thai, the stuff we have at home just doesn't compare. It is SO good here! We had Burmese food on Sunday, which was also really good! The Burmese people had made us a meal after our English class.
The English classes have gone really well! It has been a real blessing to see the Thai people come back and gradually learning more and more. The relationships that we have been building give us such an opportunity to share the gospel. Sunday, we got an amazing idea from Louise to teach them English by teaching them a song. So we have used a worship song and we have written out the lyrics and we will be teaching all three of our classes the song! So not only will we be teaching English, but also about Jesus!!!!!!! WOOOO :) I have been really enjoying watching Cara, Bethany and Kiara teach. Each of them have such a gift of teaching and they are totally in their element in the classroom! I love it!!!
Saturday, Gun's son, Ton came to stay with us til Monday before his school starts on Wednesday. He was an amazing help in our Burmese English class on Sunday! We will definitely miss him when he leaves.
Today we are heading to the temple in town and we are meeting Dave and Louise at an outreach in the market tonight. If you could keep us in your prayers that would be FANTADII!!! :)

Lots of love from the other side of the world,
Sarah

ps. We are planning on updating daily with shorter posts :) Sorry again for taking SOOO long!!!

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Quick Update

5/14/2011

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Hello family and friends!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but the BARA team is doing great. We have been teaching lots of English lessons, visiting the local markets and even brought some Thai friends for Pizza last night (They loved it).

Today we are teaching Sunday School at the Bethel Thai church this morning and then we are off to teach some English lessons at the Burmese church. Sarah will be giving a more in depth update tonight.

Thanks for all your support!!

Bethany

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West meets East

5/11/2011

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We are two full days into our stay here in Thailand and I'd say we are doing pretty well. We are staying at The Hope Center with one of our hosts, Sandy. She has been taking good care of us and has been really understanding of the adjustments we are making culturally, food wise and time wise.

After over 24 hours of traveling on Monday, we were up bright and early Tuesday morning, super excited and slightly awake, just in time to enjoy a home cooked breakfast, care of Gun. Gun is a Thai woman who is currently getting back on her feet and living at The Hope Center with her beautiful daughter Gam, while MB Mission helps her to start up a food and drink stand. Our first Thai meal was"Rice Porridge" a concoction of shrimp, scrambled egg, broth, green onion, fish oil and of course rice - FOR BREAKFAST! Surprisingly, I loved every bite of it. I can imagine the jaws of every single one of my family members dropping to the floor as they read that (I am a RIDICULOUSLY picky eater!) but I had many people praying for my willingness to try and enjoy new food during this trip and it worked!!

Afterwards, we headed over to Dave and Louise's home where we took part in their weekly worship service. Together with our 3 English hosts, a Burmese Pastor and 7 Thai believers, we praised and worshiped Jesus in 3 different languages!! It was absolutely incredible to pray and to sing in English, alongside my brothers and sisters in Christ, who were speaking in Burmese and Thai. I could feel that we shared the same heart, even though we didn't share the same language. At times, English would be translated to Thai, which would then be translated to Burmese and the Burmese response would be translated to Thai, which was then translated to English - really incredible to be a part of.

Following worship, Dave attempted a brief orientation with us but he quickly recognized we hadn't yet adjusted to the time difference and were fading fast and sent us upstairs to his kids bedrooms for an afternoon nap and we continued orientation later in the day.

Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening, we headed to a park and gathered up local children to play games and to do ESL lessons. Special thanks to Erin, an ESL teacher at my school Highbush P.S for providing us with easy to use lessons for English language learners. We had a blast playing with the children and teaching them how to have simple conversations in English. Apparently they enjoyed themselves as well as we had most return today and many new faces as well. Thank-you to WMB Church for donating a parachute via Bethany. The kids LOVED playing with the parachute and we had a lot of fun joining in. Thanks to my friends back in Ajax for donating so many dollar store items - this helped us to provide toys as prizes to many of the children who participated in word bingo today!

It hasn't only been the Thai children experiencing new things but so too have we. We watched Sarah ride away with a squeal, followed by the sound of many giggling Thai children, as she got a lift back to our meeting place on the back of a motorcycle. On Tuesday I was given a break dance lesson that thankfully wasn't recorded. Wednesday evening Sarah, Bethany and Kiara were given a break dance lesson and we were able to capture Bethany and Sarah's demo of their skills. I will work on posting that now, as they are sleeping. Payback for their love of cheesy pics, perhaps?!? haha

Tuesday night we headed to the Burmese Church and took part in their worship service. We were introduced to the small but growing congregation in English and then we attempted in Burmese. Wednesday evening we headed to Bethel Church and participated in Thai worship and prayer with 3 of the students from the park - Dow, Meyou, Mai, Meyou's little brother Garfield, as well as Dow's father and one of their friends. During prayer time, all the Thai and Burmese people shout out their prayers at the same time. At first this was overwhelming to me and a bit distracting but it quickly became encouraging. It is a great feeling to share and hear the prayers of others (even though I am unable to understand all of them) and it very powerful to hear the prayers and praises of all at the same time.

We have all formed a special bond with the three girls Dow, Mai and Meyou who attended both ESL classes, spent some time trampolining with us and attended service with. As we spend time with the girls, they are working on teaching us Thai, as we are teaching them English. We are all giggling away and really enjoying our time together.

After a successful authentic Thai breakfast on Tuesday, we decided to fill our day with Thai food - morning, noon and night. After some digestive complications for some team members (I won't name any names!!) we decided to take it a little easier on Wednesday. We were able to find cereal and milk at a 7/11 (they are on every corner here in Thailand) and Sandy took us to a local mall for lunch, where we ate KFC (slightly different in Thailand but chicken none the less) and had Dairy Queen for dessert. DQ cost us only 30 BAHT each- which is 90 cents CANADIAN!!! I was tempted to order 5 for myself but I exercised control. We finished the night off with Pad Thai from a local market. It was absolutely delicious.

Here's hoping our digestive systems can handle today's menu and that I am able to sleep through the night.

Thanks for reading my LONG post!!!

Cara xo

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Greetings from Thai!!

5/9/2011

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Hiiii everyone,
So, we just arrived in Thailand a few hours ago, it is night time here so we haven"t gotten to see anything or really do anything cool. However, I did get to see the inside of a Thai doctor's office first thing after we landed. I unfortunately have some kind of eye infection, my eye was throbbing during the entire day of travelling, so I went to the doctor and they gave me some antibiotics and an eye patch. So yay I get to look like a pirate... a pirate with glasses....so like a nerd pirate, it is pretty great! So, I don't really know what else to say. Ummmmm our flights were pretty smooth, the flight from Toronto to Tokyo was almost 13 hours, but I slept through most of it because I couldn't really open my eye. Then our lay over in Tokyo was short but sweet. I was obvis loving it since I am obsessed with Japan, I am sure the girls thought it was kind of dull. Then the flight to Bangkok was amazing because it was empty so we all got a section of three chairs to ourselves, so it was pretty much ridiculously comfortable. Oh also, all our flights had sooooo much food, so if I am huge when I get back, I am blaming it all on the airlines. Okay, so it is late here, I want to sleep. I will get one of the girls to post a more informative post in a couple days
PEACEEEE
Love,
Kiara

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

5/7/2011

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Sa-wat-dee kha family and friends,

Thank you so so so much for coming and reading our blog! We are really excited because we saw that over 200 people viewed our blog in one day. It is so encouraging for us to know that we have so much support back at home and also that there is so many people experiencing this journey with us! I find that very exciting!

Today we had to say good-bye to the other Action teams that are headed over to Japan and the Congo for the next 4 weeks. It was touching to see how close we all got to eachother in only 5 short days. That is what will happen when there is lots of prayer, lots of games and lots of laughter..... lots and lots of laughter!

This week has been incredible to really learn from the resource staff. Each one of them played a key role in helping each team prepare for our destination. So we just wanted to thank them (THANK YOU RESOURCE STAFF) for all of the valuable information they shared with us. This week we heard some unique jokes (some good, some bad), ate too much food (because it was so good), learned more about the Thai culture (We will follow your guidance), gained lots of knowledge from the sessions and had great worship times.

Tomorrow morning we are headed off to the far far away land of Thailand. Our flight leaves around 2 p.m. and we would appreciate your prayer as we are going to be in the air for a total of 18 hours!

Thank you for your love and support. We could have NEVER imagined the amazing support that we have received so far. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lots of Love,
Bethany

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