What God is doing and a Challenge

So before heading off to Thailand, I may have promised that I would blog more this time in Thailand. Well, here I am nearly two weeks (oops) after my last blog, which I wrote the day we landed, finally writing again. I honestly have started multiple blogs between then and now, but either ended up not liking them, or left them to be finished later but then not liking what I wrote when I came back. I hope to be better at this for the duration of my time here.

Life has been so great here! We are so blessed to be loved and accepted by these wonderful folks. While I would love to share each individual happening with you, I just want to share just a little bit of what God is and has been doing here in Chiang Mai and a little of what God has been teaching me while here.

Within the first few days here, I learned that the former statistic that stated that less than one-percent of Thai called themselves Christian has now been raised to one-percent. While that tells that there is still much growth left to be had here, it states that there is Spiritual growth going on within the borders of this country that has been in darkness for so long. The ministry that Sinn and Ann started just over the past year, called The Light, now draws between thirty to one hundred people on a weekly basis. I personally believe that The Light as it is today is just a small beginning of something huge that will happen in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai Baptist (the church that my dad and Ann’s dad started year ago) is also drawing new faces each week. Some come from college, some come from the orphanage and others come from the streets. Last night we traveled with a missionary couple from Chiang Mai Baptist to a village that they have been ministering to over the past year. There were ten students ranging from age eleven to seventeen. When we got there, we talked with them, worshiped together, then they wanted to hear each of our testimonies and we said our goodbyes and left. It was just so cool to see the church in a totally different setting.

The first Sunday at Chiang Mai Baptist, we sang the song “Blessed Be.” Now this is a song that I have sang numerous times but this time while singing a line that has never really caught my attention before, did. The line goes, “every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise.” Sometimes when we think of blessings, we think of maybe special, specific things that have happened to us, but after thinking about this I am just reminded that everything is a blessing from God meant to be used for his praise and glory.

May the message and praise of Christ be seen in our actions and heard in our words today and every day.