Why?

What am I doing?

Why am I sitting on this plane?

Why are you having me go teach english, Lord? I'm not qualified!

I don't think I have a strong talent for teaching... Wouldn't I be better useful using my strengths for you?

Why... why... why.....

Why me?

These questions filled my mind as I was cruising through the sky, high over the pacific ocean...

There certainly isn't any doubt that God has been leading me here...

But I still wonder why He's sending me to the jungle...

Perhaps there's something out there that he needs me to learn so I can be more useful...

Perhaps He needs to put me in a position where I have to completely and utterly trust Him...

Perhaps there's something else that he needs me to learn that I have no concept of...

Whatever the case may be...

I'm here, and God is with me... through it all... (Matthew 28:20)

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I landed in Bangkok at 1:08 AM local time. Mike and Marilee were willing to pick me up at the airport and we got to their house at about 3:15AM...

I got a few hours of sleep and this afternoon I'll be taking the bus with Sarah Van Hee up to the Sharons project.

Thank you all for your prayers for safe travels... I had a number of delays but God worked it all out perfectly!

Please keep me in your prayers for continued safe travels.

The dreamliner

Home and then Thailand

Last monday after finishing our daily staff meeting at MissionTV, I was handed the letter...

I went to my office and began to read it...

My mouth dropped open...

A tear threatened to spill over...

And a sense of resolve, determination, and nervous excitement coursed through my veins...

The person who sent that letter, was offering to pay for my plane tickets to Thailand.

Money for the plane tickets was the last major thing that God needed to provide for me to go.

At that moment, a whirlwind started. A whirlwind that probably won't settle down for a couple weeks.

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I flew home on Wednesday...

Went shopping and got my visa for Thailand on Thursday...

On friday a friend taught me how to operate a boat. (Never done that before, and will likely do it in Thailand, so my parents wanted me to get a little experience under my belt.)

Sabbath was a wonderful time with my church family...

Sunday will be packing...

Monday saying goodbye...

Tuesday... I fly!

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It's crazy how fast God can make things happen!

It's going to be an adventure, that is for sure.

There are a lot of unknowns... but where God leads, He will provide.

Please pray for me while I prepare to go and while I'm there.

Thailand!

Last Saturday evening, I got an email...

A rather desperate email at that...

The Sharon Family mission project in Thailand is in a difficult situation where they need an english teacher as soon as possible...

Others were asked, and for various reasons decided not to go...

And so, I was asked to go...

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I've known the Sharon family for several years, and have actually thought about going to help them at some point in the future...

But I wasn't expecting to be asked to go... now... 

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So at this point, the call has been made...

The door is open...

And I'm moving towards that door, praying that if God wants me to go He will provide the necessary resources to go. (plane ticket and visa)

So please join me in praying that God will make His will plain...

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If you'd like to learn more about the Sharon family project, visit their website here... http://sharons.jesus4asia.org/wp/

Also, a few weeks ago I started another blog with a bit of a different focus than this one. Check it out here... http://thoughtstouplift.blogspot.com

MissionTV

If you've read this blog much at all, you know that I'm passionate about foreign mission work. And you've probably read some of my experiences overseas last year in Africa and Asia. This next monday(Feb 17), you'll have the opportunity to hear more about the trip in Asia. More on that later.

In January, I came to a place called MissionTV. (MissionTV.com) It's a TV station thats streaming online 24/7 and is also available on Roku. I've been learning a lot here, and its been a real blessing. Here's a Promo video that I helped with. 

                      


Every monday night we do a MissionTV Live show featuring different guests and topics related to missions. Here's a short video about the Live.

Here's whats awesome! This monday night, the Live show is about our trip in Asia! We will have 4 different families on the show as well as myself, sharing some of our experiences from being in Asia for 2+ months! It will be a fun show to watch, I promise. :)

You can watch at MissionTV.com or on ROKU. 8PM Eastern and 5PM Pacific.  Blessings!

Romania

Just a little update on my life...

I'm currently in Roseville, California, going to Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism! (AFCOE)

God provided the way here and I've been learning a lot. It's a 14 week program that ends in Nov.

After that AFCOE is doing a mission trip to Romania. It will be a great opportunity to solidify what I've been learning here.

I'm exploring the possibility of going, so I would just ask that you join me in praying that God will make His will clear. And that He will provide the funds required, if He wants me to go.

Blessings to you all!

Will they be forgotten?

(This was written a week before we left India...)

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I stretched my hand out the window to wave at the kids, wondering if I'd ever see them again. 

We'd just visited one of the evening schools and were leaving…

The evening schools are for children who often have to work all day to help support the family and have no way of being educated. But they come to the evening school for a few hours every night and then get a meal after. 

My mind goes back to that little boy… I was leaving and as I walked down the line of boys who were sitting against the wall eating, I would shake hands with the boys. 

But this little guy wanted a fist bump. I could see the eagerness in his little eyes…

And as I bent down and bumped his fist… His whole face just lighted up like I'd given him a million dollars…

Such a simple little gesture to me… but to him it meant the world! 

It makes me think about the thousands of children in India just like him who may not get the opportunity to go to school and learn about Jesus. 

We only have a week left in India… 

Will all these people be forgotten when we leave? 

Home...

I'm home! (March 19 is when I flew into Portland, OR) Who ever said being home would be restful? The trip home took longer than expected. Over 72 hrs to be exact! But I'm thankful to be home, and thankful that I'm finally getting over jetlag.

Because we had limited internet access in India, there are a few more posts that are in the making. So those should be coming out in the next few weeks.

Thank you all for joining me in my journey overseas. And thank you for you prayers and financial support.

God Bless!