5: quick post

I spent most of the day preparing for my classes this evening (which, since it's the final week, involved a lot of baking!). I've also been packing, planning, researching and making lists. Lots of lists. But it's time to crash and the only thing between me and 7 hours of Zzz's is this post. So I'll keep it brief :)

This week is the last week of classes for the BSC and me. After 8 terms at the BSC, it's hard to believe I only have 2 more days of teaching left. Not all my students were able to come because of the protests and traffic-- but we were able to take some class pictures with the folks who could come! Here are a few of the faces I've had the pleasure of teaching the past 6 weeks.

Tuesday, Dec 11, is a public holiday-- and also the day Steph and I will be having our farewell "open house" at LifePoint. Please pray that everything comes together smoothly and that we'll have lots of good "Mary-time" with our friends before we leave. 

odds and ends.

Aside from my recent exciting weekends that I posted about [here], normal life has been faithfully moving along for the past five weeks. I know that sometimes it is hard to understand updates from people on the other side of the world... because, let's face it, the things I mention seem foreign, most of you don't personally know the people I talk about, and many times, have no framework or context to organize the information dump that, often (but unintentionally), are my posts.

So, to rectify this disconnect, my goal in this post is to include some faces and weekly activities that I'm a part of to help you imagine better "what exactly I'm doing in Thailand."

Who are these interns I keep mentioning? You know, the ones I do "MTS" with? Here they are! Four days a week, four hours a day (at least), I get to see their smiling faces!

[Anderson and Dani (left) are from a church in Brazil that LP partners with]

Classes at the BSC began July 8th. I am teaching 12 classes this term (Term 4). Five classes are level 5 students, two are level 7, one is level 8, three are one-on-one tutoring sessions, and one is a general conversation class. Needless to say, they keep me pretty busy! Here's an inside peek into one of my classes and the woman who makes the BSC run:

[Khun Noo is an all star. She's one of the BSC staff members who helps me manage and juggle my schedule... and every other teacher's schedule!]

At least once a month, we (LifePoint) have a Friday night program in Klong Toey. It is a slum near our church which we fondly call "Community 110." Here are a few shots from my most recent trip there!

My weekly time tutoring these women is such a blessing! The past two weeks we've had so many new girls join in... which is incredible! This past Tuesday, our lesson was on baking... and what better way to learn baking vocabulary than kinesthetically?? So, we made chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookies :) This may be why there was such a good turn out...

And speaking of baking... Baking on Thursdays for the Cafe ministry has been such a blast! One of the guys who works at Cafe Boly (named Dillon) is Chinese and not a believer. We've been able to have some good conversations (ranging from spiritual, to cultural to culinary) and he's even started some of his own baking endeavors. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I love how God can use something as simple as baking as a bridge to the Gospel!

Thank you so much for taking the time to be invested in the work that the Lord is doing in my life through your prayers, giving and faithfulness. I am so humbled to have this opportunity to share the love of Christ with the people I interact with here... and truly, my ability to serve here is a direct result of God's provision through your support. Thank you.

(not) my day.

This morning in my quiet time, I was honest with God. I told Him that, in my life right now, I don't feel like I need Him. Hear me out, it's not that I don't need Him, but I feel like there is little in my life that requires faith/big God-appearances. Reading through Acts, you see time after time, the disciples coming through impossible situations and incredible (read: flashy) things being done through them. And when I look at my life, it doesn't feel like things would fall apart if He didn't show up. I can get ready for the day, follow a teaching curriculum, bake some cookies and talk to people "by myself." The problem is, I don't want to be that kind of Christian... only attempting for God what I know I can be successful at in my own effort. I want for God to continually stretch me in my life and in my faith. And that's what I told Him.

And I know God heard me, because promptly after praying, my whole day fell apart. I taught a lesson at Rahab (that I've used multiple times before in other classes... with great success I might add!) and it flopped. Majorly flopped. Worst lesson I've ever taught them. I'm not sure they learned anything and by the end we all had headaches. They didn't understand me, and I couldn't explain things in a way that made sense to them.

After that, I went back to Boly Cafe to make some desserts. Today I was keeping it simple: banana bread. One batch with chocolate chips. One batch with walnuts. Tried and true. Except I forgot to add the egg in my first batch. It's amazing how much of a difference one egg makes. Suffice it to say, banana bread without an egg is basically just warm banana mush (read: disaster).

The Cafe started to get busy, so I offered to help make some of the drinks. My first order was a white chocolate frappe. I added too much milk... making the frappe more of a thick milk than an actual smoothie consistency. My second drink was a standard strawberry smoothie. Good. Nothing complicated. Except I overdid it on the yogurt and mis-read how much water to add. I graciously bowed out of the Cafe after that to return to the kitchen to try a "Take 2" on the bread.

Somewhere among dropping baking ingredients on the floor, sorely failing in all my Thai communication, and overall-across-the-board sucking today... God showed me something.

It's not that I can do oh-so-much without Him or that I need to do bigger and more glamorous things to validate my faith, it's that I need to recognize that He is the One who is giving me success in my endeavors, even the everyday ones. It's another layer to the lesson I posted about last week in "100% God." I'm realizing more and more that the reason I don't think God is doing a lot is only because I'm so busy taking credit for everything.

He's not an auto-pilot God who gets credit for making me, but then I get credit for carrying things out... No, He gets credit for the creation and the process and the outcome*. In my own human effort, the only thing I get credit for is failing and falling short.

But that's not bad news! It just means that every time something works out and goes well, I know Who to give the credit to. 2 Corinthians 12:9 states that, "His power is perfected in our weakness." Perhaps that is because we become more aware of His power when we feel weak (read: when we are not relying on our own strength). So, tomorrow, instead of asking God to do something big and flashy, I'm going to ask Him to remind me to give Him the credit, the thanks, and the glory when He gives me successes in the little moments of my day. It's not that I need Him to be more involved, I just need to realize more acutely how involved He already is.

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* For instance: When lessons go well in the classroom... it's not because I'm intrinsically a talented teacher, it's because God both made me how I am and was working through me to make my speaking clear and the students understand. For His glory. When I bake something for the Cafe and it turns out and people love it... it's from Him and for His glory. How does a tasty banana-nut muffin bring Him glory? Because the more things we sell, the more money goes to support ministries which help take the Gospel and hope to women in the sex-industry. It's one of God's ways to provide for His people through His people.

following up!

Last post I ended with some specific prayer requests, and they've all turned into praises this week! So, here is a little follow up so that you can rejoice with us :)

- Jet-lag: Steph and I are both sleeping through the night, and it seems that my brain has returned to it's normal functions (instead of short-circuiting every hour or so). 

- Claire: She's back in America, people! And, on her flight from Germany they didn't end up charging her extra for all her overweight bags (praise!). Believe me, they probably should have, because they were very overweight. 

- Steph: She's still doing well-- she had her first week at House of Blessing this past week, and her classes here at the BSC start tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be posting more about it on her blog in the near future.  

- For logistics: Phones, meetings, paperwork... it all got done (and smoothly to boot)! Yay God!

[Our 4th of July Party at LifePoint! Check out Tiffany's awesome flag-cake!] 

This next six months is off to a big start. Here are some highlights of what has started and what is coming:

The LifePoint college interns arrived last week and have begun MTS (Missions Training School) which I'm joining in on. It's an intensive 6 week program with 4 hours of "school/class" in the morning and then ministry opportunities in the afternoons and evenings. I've been attending the morning sessions and then taking care of my regular ministry responsibilities while the interns do theirs.

[Interns leading activities at Thursday English Classes at LifePoint...] 

[...And building relationships]

Tutoring at Rahab resumed last week (We're meeting on Tuesdays now)! It was so good to see the girls again, and in the last two months we've had 2 new girls join Rahab. It is so exciting to see girls coming out of the bars and into Rahab. Please pray that their hearts will be softened by Christ's love and the Truth. Pray that God's light would shine in Patpong.

Classes at the BSC started tonight for me. I am teaching 12 classes this term (9 regular classes, and 3 tutoring engagements). My Monday classes started off sooo good! We talked about hobbies in my 5:00 class and family trees in my 7:00 class. The students all seemed engaged, talked, asked questions and laughed. I couldn't have asked for more on a first day... or a Monday!

This Thursday, I officially begin  the first of my LifePoint ministry responsibilities. I'll be helping every Thursday with Cafe Boly, the non-profit coffee shop associated with LifePoint: BKK. I say non-profit because all (yes... 100%!) of the profits go to ministries that work to help get women out of sex-trafficking, like: OneLess. And! Cool story: The founders of OneLess are from LifePoint: Smyrna and have committed to come to serve in Thailand for the next 3 years, and are flying here tomorrow! Brittany runs/manages the Cafe, and wants for the Cafe to be ministry both financially and also relationally. So, 6 different LP folks have committed to "adopting" a day at the Cafe, where we will come, sit, and engage the people who come in and invest in the Thais who work there. I also will help bake treats for the bakery! People, pastries and Jesus... what's not to love?

[Celebrating with Leigha on her Sweet 16!)

[L-R: Monica, Me, Steph & Chelsea]

[A few of the LifePoint Ladies!]

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Steph and I as we seek opportunities to be obedient to the calling God has placed on us... to make much of Christ. We could not do what we are doing without your support and your prayers!

dishes.

A break from the serious and spiritual...

A brief narrative on dishwashing

Since being back in my lovely C3 room, I have devised a make-shift kitchen for myself. Although the sole baking-worthy toaster oven is on the 2nd floor, I can at least make and prep everything in my room now. I added some shelves, cleared off some space, and made a nice little nook. It's nice to be able to bake cookies, make oatmeal for breakfast and yes, even bake bread! But the downside of lots of baking is... lots of dishes. Thus the conundrum, where to wash them?

[Please pay no attention to the pink wall, I had to press pause on painting and this is the lonely remaining pink wall in my room...]

With only a bathroom sink that clogs as quickly as restaurant ketchup bottles, I had to improvise a little. I needed to have a space that was big enough to do large quantities of baking-dishes... and that could accomodate butter and flour chunks being introduced down the drain. So, voila! Here you have it, my kitchen sink:

Yes, I'm sure the inventors of the “fahk bua” (or as it's commonly known by expats, the "bum gun"*) never expected it to be used to wash dishes, but... it works!

As I sit on the toilet lid, scrubbing my pans, I imagine I've been transported into the Boxcar Children... complete with bent spoons and a chipped mug! While it does make me feel terribly rustic and domestic, I am looking forward of the luxury of using a dishwasher again. (Shout-out: America!) All you people with real kitchen sinks: go take a moment to look at it and be thankful. And maybe drink some water from the faucet while you're at it as well!

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* I am currently entertaining an idea to do a multi-part series on unusual uses for the bum gun. If you would like to make any suggestions, I'd be happy to include them... should this piece ever be published :)