Sights around Chiang Mai

So, I decided to take the camera around the "big city" of Chiang Mai. The pictures are not that great as I am on the back of the motorcycle while Trent is driving in most of them! Anyway, I thought I would give you some idea of where we are on the other side of the world.



This is a picture of a stoplight. I love it! In Thailand, most stoplights have a countdown clock! I love this! I think this is something America should do. It really helps chill while you are waiting...


And this is the normal school bus! Can you believe it??? Yes, children go to and from school on this nice transportation. Right before I took this picture two of the boys were playing & one almost fell off. Oh My!


And for now I will leave you with this one. It is a bridge decorated for the King of Thailand. Thai people love their King. I mean, THEY LOVE THEIR KING! He has his picture hung up all over Thailand and is usually in a gold frame. Most bridge is decorated with his and his wife's picture during various times of their lives. The King is in his eighties???

Planted for His harvest!

This evening I was in the Word & I read John 12:24-26. I began to meditate. Later, I came upon this on the internet….. I thought it provoking. What do you think?

Planted for the Harvest - John 12:24-26

I tell you the truth. A grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die. Then it grows and makes many seeds. But if it never dies, then it will always be only a single seed. The person that loves his own life will lose it. But the person that hates his life in this world will keep it. He will have life forever. The person that serves me must follow me. Then my servant will be with me everywhere I am. My Father will give honor to people that serve me. (ERV)

Thought
So much of what we want to do for God we try to do by ourselves. Our motives are right. Maybe our heart is right. Our plans are made with prayer. The problem is that we end up doing everything except the crucial thing: we are not willing to die. Our identity gets involved in pulling off our plans. Our hopes and our feelings about Christian service get tangled up in our success in the plan. Jesus reminds us that there is no harvest without death -- the seed has to be planted and die before it can germinate and grow. Jesus submitted everything, including his fears and his friends, to the will of God. It cost him his life. It won him the harvest. What have you not surrendered to God?

Thank You God for Your Holy Spirit to teach me & guide me!

BE on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour

This morning Trent and I randomly opened the Word for no particular reason. We came to Matthew 25 on the parable of the 10 Virgins.

This is such an important word to todays church! For you, for me! The virgins are all considered to be "believers", yet 5 were foolish & 5 were wise. Are we being wise?

Making it home

 
So, we now have a mailbox!!! It is:

Trent or Amy Pruett
P.O. Box 006
94 Moo 4 Chiangmai-Lampang Rd.
T.Nongprakung, A.Muang Chiangmai
Thailand 50000

Now that is quite an address!

Last night I was browning up some meat in my "kitchen". Thought you might be amused by this. LOL! But, it is actually quite nice there as it keeps the house cooler. You should try it, ha ha!


 

Finally, a snapshot of my daughter Trinity. This is her last day of being 5. Boo hoo! I can not believe it but she turns 6 officially TOMORROW! We are all soaking up this week of settling in, getting over jet lag & preparing for our crazy schedule starting up soon. Yes, homeschool & language school are on full force next week! Prayers please :)
 

Chiang Mai here we come!

 
So we have made it Thailand!!! It was great to see our family and friends in America. It was encouraging as we have come back seeking God with all our hearts, souls, minds, & strength! God is our focus & He is our motive :) We are excited to get back to spreading the gospel among the Thai people. The Lord has put this desire in our hearts & we thankful for His grace to do it. Above you see Trent and the kids in our new home playing Lego's as we are making it through the days getting through jet lag. We are currently sleeping by 8 and waking about 4 a.m. Not too bad. A few more days and the kids should hopefully be sleeping in a bit longer.

The next picture is of the boys sitting on our porch. In the background if you look closely is a little play yard. It has a few swings the kids can play on to burn off all that crazy energy :)

 

Our 3rd picture is me and Jackson sitting on the couch. It is such a blessing as we have relocated to Chiang Mai for the next 6-8 months to learn the Thai langauge & practice our skills on the people here. We are praying for salvations daily as we are "practicing" :) The Lord found us a furnished home & a nearby park for this temporary move. There are many blessing like this house we have for this time, the park & we are soaking up every minute of this luxury :) We are so thankful that the Lord keeps us.
 

We had thought Chiang Mai would be cooler with it being north - but this is NOT the case. It is extremely hot! Ugh! No ocean breeze. Other than that, this is a huge change from our previous location. I know we will be returning to that life style after language, but we are thankful for this opportunity to study Thai & have some simple luxuries :) God Bless :)

Museum Pic's

Delayed….

The first is a picture of Trent as normal as he gets, and the second is a picture where you can see the beginning of the swelling on his left – AGAIN!

We should have been arriving in Thailand today, but we are still in America. Trent has gotten ANOTHER abssessed tooth. We are not sure what is going on as neither of the teeth hurt prior to coming to America. The first tooth brought many complications as his body would not respond to medication. This time around we are hopeful for a speedy recovery! Trent's face is once again swollen (though not to the degree it was last time). It is a different tooth and a different infection. Both considered bad infections. So! We wait to allow this medication time to work so that the Dentist will be able to numb Trent up to do the work needed. So pray that Trent is divinely healed and this will all be done with – medication or not!

I must say I am a bit tired! The majority of our trip has been quite a trial. Trials on every angle! The kids are great despite that they are ready to head home.

My mom and I went to the Monday so above are some pictures to enjoy :

Daddy’s fault!

Last Sunday we had our niece Brittany & her son in town(picture above). We had a great time catching up. Brittany got to go to church with us as Trent was sharing with a group at the Methodist church.

I don't know about you, but Sunday mornings tend to be a bit hectic for me & we ended up barely making it on time. This led to the kids missing the sign in booth for children's church. So, off they go with me. They did ….ok… in the adult Bible study….. Hoping they will get to go to children's church when we go into "big church".….Sadly, time ran over & the kids never got to go to children's church. Awe!

After my kids go home from church with my niece Brittany to my parents. Trent and I went out to lunch with our friends.

When the kids walk into my Mom's house she asks, "How was church?"

The reply…..

"It was ok, but we didn't get to do crafts. (very disappointed faces)

It's all Daddy's fault because he preached the gospel too long!"

Oh yeah! And here is a picture of my kids in the snow!! It snowed in March in TEXAS! God answered my children's prayers!!! Ha! Love it!

Pictures link

Recently you have read about our friends Amar & Isabelle Guillen that came to Thailand. Well, they have blessed us so much! They have made a website for all the pictures they took of the Lord's work right for you to see as you would like!!! So, follow this link & enjoy!

http://pruett.guillenphoto.com

Just a note, do not add the www it is just like above if you are typing in your address line.

I will be in touch! Love, Amy

The Goodness of the Lord in the land of the LIVING!

My mind is racing about all that the Lord could possibly have before us on our upcoming adventure to America. There are things that my mind goes to on what to pack, or what are we going to do in freezing temperatures with "flip flops" on our feet?!?! But then there are things I am excited as I think of seeing my parents faces, my brothers & their kids faces – hugging them! To see in person, laugh & worship the Lord with our friends! Wow! It is going to be such a beautiful time! Then there is another part of me that is thinking about all that the Lord has done in our lives. What would it be that He would have us return with. I could give testimonies of healings, provision & the surrendered lives – and we will! But, as I was with the Lord this morning I was taken back to a verse:

Psalms: 27:13 – I had fainted, UNLESS, I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

That was a Scripture that a friend of mine gave me prior to coming to Thailand. I was really struggling with seeing my family in pain over our call to Thailand. I remember this verse was given to me just after a personal word I was clinging to. That being that through my greatest struggles, will be my greatest victories in Christ! That was something I believed for my parents and family as well - as they would draw near to the Lord. Anyway, it brought me great hope & great expectations of all that the Lord would do in our lives if we would call to Him.

So this morning I was reading Psalm 116:13, "I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord." Man have I done this! I have done this & God does hear & God does answer!!!! He is so faithful! He is so caring and good! He is all that the Word says He is & personally that can become something He desires to reveal intimately. Something that to look back you KNOW you can TRUST the Lord! Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness!

The next Scripture I went to was Matthew 26:17: "And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, "Drink ye all of it." ALL OF IT. There is no halfsies. You have to go all the way with the Lord! The true message of the Bible is not a prosperity message, but a reality in Christ. Yes He has good things for you & yes He wants you to prosper, but He always has an eternal mindset with that.

There are difficulties I have gone through that I know that I know I went through to draw me closer to the Father! The tears I have cried out in my walk have never returned void! I have truly seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

Another Psalms says, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! Amen to that! I am quoting a line from a movie, I think it was Love comes Softly, anyway, the guy says to the lady, "The Lord never promises that you will not walk through valleys, but that He walks through them with you."

Ok, well that was on my heart & I thought I would share. I hope to stay regularly connected through our travels! Pray for us and that the Lord would direct our every step! May God bless you!

Time is flying!

I cannot believe it but we are actually flying to America on Tuesday at 2:45 a.m.!!!! So we are beginning to prepare for this international journey!!! We are so excited, but a bit sad too. Having the team all back together again has been such a blessing. I cannot express it in words – but there is such unity and love & I will be sad to leave it for even for a few weeks. On the other hand, I am beside myself about getting to see my family & our friends! The kids are so excited too! They have had a blast playing with the cousins & now even more to look forward to seeing Mimi & Papa & all their family and friends too!

 

We have officially started Thai school & it is going GREAT! I am so happy for this opportunity! Trent and I are in a class together & Jackson, Braden & Trinity are in a class with all their cousins. So we are all learning Thai! About time as we have lived here 15 months!!! Anyway, we are getting it & please pray against discouragement as this language is VERY difficult. There are tones & pitches and if you mess up in one area you could actually be saying a completely different word. Wow! We need prayer J

The discipleship program has restarted & Koh Ling, Koh Ow & Ko Yea Win have all committed to another 3 months. We are excited to see the fruit of Christ in their lives. We pray that these men will be future leaders & take the Gospel to other Burmese people.

 

Discipleship family style….. Well! That is our word for 2008! We are FAMILY! Meaning our kids will be going through discipleship training as well & we will all be out in the community with the children in outreach! I am so excited for our children to grow up preaching Christ crucified as a normal part of their daily life! Hallelujah!

 

GLORY TO GOD!

 

Happy New Year!

Wow! It has been too long since I have blogged! I do not know where to begin, but I will try to do a speed round up of the recent events.....




We had our first visitors!!!! Amar & Isabelle Guillen came to Thailand & we were so blessed by their stay! We had a great time catching up and showing them around Ban Nam Khem. Both Amar & Isabelle are professional photographers and they were able to go through the village and take amazing pictures. I hope to have copies to share with you soon. My highlight of the trip was an elephant ride! Living in Thailand we had never done Elephant trekking & they treated us to our first ride. I tried to take pictures, but 99% of my shots were blurred from the elephant's movement. It was nice to have them here to work in some fun! We tend to get so wrapped up in the ministry & it was nice to have some fun with our friends!




There was a graduation on December 31st! It was great! The 3 disciples who lived in the house graduated a 3 month program where they sought the Lord in prayer, studying the Word, attending the school, evangelism & outreach. It was a beautiful celebration as the men have been forever changed with the love of Christ. Amar and Isabelle captured the night with their cameras & I hope to have pictures to share soon.

Our kids were given bicycle training by our Burmese friends….priceless….





The team is BACK! Well almost, we are still missing Isaac, but…. Wow! I cannot tell how long 5 months feels like without them! Just this week Donna returned, Todd and Renee & their children return & Brad returned also! It was crazy seeing so many white people! We have a lot or catching up to do & are all excited for what the Lord plans for this upcoming year!

In other news, it is only 20 days until we leave for America. I can hardly believe we are actually getting to go home for a visit due to mandatory visa expiration! We are looking forward to Christian fellowship & sharing the vision & the encouragement of friends and family!


Ok, well that is the speed round. I will do my best to stay up to date as much as possible. May God bless you!