Darkest Night

Due to motorbike problems we couldn’t finish the trip before it got dark… 

Which means we finished after dark… After traveling for more than 2 hours over muddy roads (raining much of the time) we finished the first part of the trip. 

We then set off into the inky darkness to hike the last portion of the trip home. 

It was raining pretty hard…

I was very thankful for my tall rubber boots, because most of the trail had water running down it… And all of it was very muddy. 

The batteries were almost dead in the flashlight I was using… 

I stumbled on a root but managed to not fall down… 

The trail got steeper, the light got dimmer… 

Then a vine caught my foot and I almost went tumbling… 

I was soaked to the bone, and pretty miserable… 

Then I did fall down… 

“I wonder what could be worse than this darkness.” I mused… 

Then I realized what’s worse… 

The darkest night is one without Jesus… 

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12 

I want to walk with the Jesus, so I can be with the Light of the world… 

What about you? 

Jungle Adventures

I got to the jungle a little over two weeks ago and I’ve had many adventures since then. 

When I first saw the boat I knew I was going to have an adventure on my hands. It’s a long tail boat! Basically the propellor is out on a 6ft pole that you have to push into the water to propel the boat forward. This is no ordinary outboard motor! Jason taught me how to drive the boat in about 3 days. The actual driving the boat isn’t very hard, (although it is a 45 minute continuous upper body workout!) the hardest part is remembering where all the logs and rocks and other obstacles are. But 6 roundtrip times up and down the river in 6 days have me pretty comfortable with it now. 

Living in the jungle without any link to the outside world has been different for me. But it’s really quite peaceful! One of the Karen students taught me how to split bamboo to make flooring and wall material. It requires good aim to split it just right, but I enjoy it. 

I’ve started teaching here in the Thai school. It went quite well as far as I can tell, the students and teachers liked it. Each grade has between 7 and 16 students. Please pray that I’ll have wisdom to know how best to teach. 

Here are some pictures of what it's like over here. 

 There's the boat

 The prop and rudder.

 The long tail.

 The handle that steers the boat. 

Yep, just wind that cord around there like so and pull! 

 "Mango Hall" This is the building that the mango tree fell on. 

 That's like the best shower ever! High water pressure! 

The Sharon's House.

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!