One of the helpers at the church moved into our old place and she graciously has kept our room in tact and ready for us this final month. she's a single mom, whose husband left her and her young daughter frame. She really adores tammy, and she always says how much i remind her of her dear brother who passed away prematurely some years ago. i guess personality, facial expression, etc is a spitting image. Anyways, the kid really seems joyful when we're around, and i know it makes a difference in her life just having that extra bit of encouragement. She always seemed a bit sullen before. We took off for 2 weeks and the kid said "we love you!" in english and we noticed the mother Sonn just crying crying and crying. It's funny how much you can become endeared to someone even without knowing a whole lot of thai language.
We also cheered up a young lady named Nik (nick name, pardon the pun). She had her 20th birthday, and she was noticably disappointed when we left for Philippine knowing we'd miss her birthday. We promised we'd come back, Lord willing, and take her out for pizza with one of her best friends. We kept our promise this week. She was really feeling awkward because her best friend flaked out, and she doesn't speak english well at all, but at our insistence we were going to keep our promise though she tried to get out of it, feeling probably somewhat a trouble/bother. But the day was very special for her. Tammy really made her feel special, and we bought her a nice t-shirt from a store, and took her to a movie after the pizza. Came was there, to help translate. They know each other too. Nik is still hurting from losing her young son when he drowned in a river 2 months ago. The child ran off when the grandmother had her back turned.
I'm finding out this is ministry...just being family or a dear friend, and pointing them to Jesus..whether it's an hour long bible study, or just being an ear to hear, and then peppering conversations with what the Lord says. It's a lot of one on one, or two on two, that adds up to a bigger picture. Given all the things that had happened to bring us to Thailand, I sure had visions of much bigger things happening on a larger scale.
Now we've attended International Leadership Institute's training conference in Bangkok. the "3 wise men" invited us to it, and we're there with dozens of pastors/missionaries from throughout the pacific rim. We had the fortune of going when the President of the International Organization was attending (they throw many throughout the world, throughout the year). Dr. Wes took a liking to Tammy and I and liked to take a seat at our table to eat and chat during break times.
He told us of his wife who was paralyzed for 17 months before a miracle happened after prayer. We met another missionary here who was paralyzed sometime ago, prayed 8 hours straight, and the Lord healed her completely. It's been a great conference thus far.
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| Celebrating Nik's 20th birthday party. |
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| Nik's new tshirt we bought her for her birhtday |
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| Masantol Church in Philippines |
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| New Covenant Church in Macabebe |
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| This is Dr. Wes the President of International Leadership Institute speaking at the conference. Dr. Lim, an orthopediatric physician is on the left. Boonchiaw is translating, an accomplished architect who's work includes major building in Boston, New York, Dubai, and other places. Boonchiaw took a liking to us after meeting us at Ao Udom's church, and gave us a special inviation to attend this Christian Conference for 5 days in Bangkok. |
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