2 days Trent is gone, 5 more days till he's home

I am about to pass out because I am so tired. Just wanted to do a quick update. Please keep those prayers coming. Today was Trent and the guys 2nd day gone & this was my 2nd day at the hospital with one of my children. The devil never plays fair. We have the victory in Christ & Jesus holds the keys!!! I am holding on to the promises of God!

Braden today went in with problems breathing. Trinity was treated for the same thing yesterday. We now have an at home nebulizer as the children are requiring breathing treatments about every 3 to 4 hours. Jackson's fever is gone, but still has a lingering stomache "bug". Mommy is tired!

Trent is doing good. He was surprised at the area of Narathiwat. He said it was beautiful & the people were really nice. More friendly than Chiang Mai! I thought that was interesting considering the thoughts on Southern Thailand. So he is doing good and will continue to pray throughout the area. They have some contacts there from other missionaries that used to serve that area and they hope to make a connection.

Thanks for your prayers!

Queen of Thailands Birthday & other home matters

2 weeks ago it was the Queens birthday here in Thailand. It is also considered Mothers Day, a day in where all Mother's are honored. It appears to be an almost sacred day in Thailand. Our teacher invited us to her church & we had a special time! Take a look:






Also, Trent should be arriving in Narathiwat in the morning. There was a bit of a delay, but the boys are on their way. Trent got the opportunity to teach at a Bible School & that was really exciting! On the home front, we have definately felt the "warfare". It all began with Jackson spiking a fever of 102.1 right after Trent left & continuing through today with stomach pain. Then Trinity began getting sick with fever, stomach pain & breathing problems. We prayed through breathing difficulties, but did end up going to the hospital for medical attention. Turns out she has a chest infection. Bless her heart! We are doing breathing treatments every 5 hours & praying through this terrible attack!

Desperate for your prayers

Being desperate is the best place to be before God! I trust God & I trust my husband as we put our prayer request before you. I know God will guide us & not mislead us. None the less, it is a serious need for prayers. We believe in the power of prayer!!!!

As you know we have been faithfully serving God here in Thailand for almost 2 years. During this time we have also been under a discipleship program as well. It has been a life changing 2 years! It has been refining & humbling, and amazing too!!! We are nearing the end of our 2nd year & desperately seeking God for His direction for our family.

The team we have committed to through the end of the year is moving South in January. Our discipleship period will most likely be completed, and so we are in a place of – Where God? This direction to Narathiwat has not been confirmed with our family. Trent and I love our team, but can not deny things that have been stirring within our hearts.

Please intercede for us. During the next week Trent will be going to Narathiwat, Thaialand with the men on the team, Todd (Trents older brother) & John Blake to pray and check out the area. The team either way is going South, but what does the Lord have for our family????

Personally, I have not felt the call to Narathiwat. I have had dreams & other confirmations on another area. However, this other location has not been spoken to Trent personally….. So, we are desperate to hear God. The best place we can be!
Please keep us in your prayers

America Needs Missionaries!

If this girl can do it, so can you! This is the first clip I came across when I referenced evangelism. I thought that the girl was awesome! She is young & taking it to the streets!!! I sat with Braden (my almost 8 year old son) & he grew bolder! IF you listen to the responses the rest of my blog is even more right on!



America needs missionaries!

Yesterday I was thinking about America. I was thinking how easy it was to share your faith with someone, and how much I missed that. There are so many hurdles in language and cultural barriers to sharing “vocally” your faith here. 2 years later and we have the opportunity to study the Thai language (real school) with an actual teacher. Sitting across her desk, I am having a real revelation that this is a very long process to actually speak Thai. 6 months after study I should be able to talk like a KINDERGARDENER. Wow, humbling….. However, you have to start somewhere.
Back to my original thoughts towards America. If you are a Christian & you are truly saved – take the Great Commission and take the Good News to America. You are called according to Matthew 28!!! I am jealous of your opportunity! I get emails of a lot of evangelism that goes on from our friends back home & it is so encouraging. It is so exciting to hear how God is moving! If it has been awhile since you shared about Jesus - do it today! Tomorrow has not been promised to us. Check out these statistics: (final calculations are mine) I hope you are encouraged to Preach the Gospel by these numbers!

301,139,947 people listed living in America (cia fact sheet)
51.3% Protestant
23.9% Catholic
1.6% Christian

76.8% profess in Jesus as their Savior. It is thought that only approximately 4% of the professing American church is truly born again, saved.

.03% of the American Population thought to be Biblically Saved!

Today I witnessed a young boy dying

Today was a bit different from our normal day. Aside from Thai language school, we were all going into see a dentist. I don't know about you, but this is not one of my favorite things to do, especially living in Thailand! Also, Trent and I both have new language teachers. So, that is always an "adjustment". She is great & we know we are going to learn a lot, but it will also take time as we readjust to her expectations & learning style. So, today needless today was very ….. what's the word… mentally and emotionally challenging?.?. I guess that is how I would describe it.

The day is coming to a close & it is time to pick Trent up from language study. We are driving through Chiang Mai & it is full of traffic! Motorcycles everywhere! It is madness, but strangely I am used to it so it is really not a big deal to us.

(Here is a typical group of kids coming home from school on their motorcycles)

The kids and I are jamming out to Jesus Culture singing at the top of our lungs having a lot of fun. Then, suddenly we come to a sudden stop. There had been a motorcycle accident, a bad one. I am not sure what just happened, but we were one of the first to witness. We were on a busy highway & could not stop in our lane of traffic, but it is one of those moments in time that seems to last forever. This young man, a teenager, was near death. He was shaking and bleeding heavily. My mind took pictures of the scene. There was a girl standing helpless & in shock. There was a young man holding on to the boy crying. There were people stopped in traffic. There were tuk tuk driver's calling for help. Actually I think there probably 20 different people calling for help. Then, there were people like me that had to keep going or more accidents would happen on this Super Highway. Could you imagine seeing your friend in a state like this? They were on their way home from school in uniforms. This boy was probably having a normal day. Instinctively I began to pray & cry out for his soul! This seen took me to a state of brokenness that you can only know if you have been broken in prayer. Jackson, Braden, and Trinity and I reached out our hands and began praying & interceding for him. Unfortunately we did not get to witness a miracle, (although we do not know that it did not happen) but we do know that we were before the throne of Grace! We know as we cried out for this young man - God was hearing our prayers for him.

After I picked up Trent I began thinking, "What if I am the only one aside from Jesus that has ever interceded for this boy, personally?" I mean, we live in a country that is mainly Buddhist and Muslim too. Less than 1% of the population is Christian. In America, there is a church just about on every corner (and we need them!), but here the gospel is not known to the majority. We have had the privilege of sharing the gospel with people that have never even heard the name of Jesus. It is truly incredible to introduce the Savior by divine appointment. Tonight as I was thinking about this question I was reminded of why we are here! Everybody is going to die. Nobody knows when they are going to die & probably most will die on just a normal day. But as Christians we know we are living for Eternity. Living for Jesus. We have a job as a child of God & that is to share the gospel! Today, if you are a Christian – Go and Preach the Gospel!

Read - A - Thon Success!

Well, it was a lot of hard work, and the kids did AMAZING! What an exciting way to grow in reading and enjoy reading more.

Braden read 18 books, Trinity read 14 books and Jackson read 11!

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

View Album

Get your own

Qoutes

Qoutes are fun to me. It amazes me how just a few words can make such lasting impressions. Here are a couple anonymous qoutes I read today....

"Whoever gossip to you, will gossip of you"

"If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it"

"A man should be like tea, his real strenth appearing when he gets in hot water"

C.S. Lewis, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

Love righteousness. Hate sin.

July 2008 Newsletter Now Available!

Trent and I are posting our newest newsletter online. Follow the link in the top right hand column to see what is going on, then click on Newsletter June July 2008 to read.


Blessings,
Trent and Amy

The Will of God...

Simple, beautiful....

Jesus is the will of God demonstrated.

This thought captivated me this morning & if you meditate on that simplicity - wow!

Trinity's Song

So... Trinity has had this song stuck in her head & now ours too for 3 WEEKS! Today we went online to find the correct words to this song. It has been cute, but it is time for the correct words now. LOL!

Anyway, we found this little youtube video & thought it was cute enough to share! I can't wait to be In My Father's House!!!!!

JUly 4, 2008

 
 
 
 

Thursday Night we got to go to a special July 4th party at the U.S. Embassy here in Chiang Mai. It was a lot of fun! We sung the National Anthem, ate American food, and even had a special flag ceremony where U.S. Soldiers came in and took down the flag & did the official folding. The kids were mesmorized & had a History lesson all in one. It was a blessed evening & even made new friends. The pictures are of our family, Trent's brother Todd's family.

Also, please please please remember me in your prayers this week. I am taking an exam to complete the first module of Thai Language. I have to speak for 5 minutes in Thai & I have a spelling test & vocubulary memorization! Love, Amy

God is Amazing to Me!!

I have been in awe lately at the Lord's personal touch in my life. As Christians we always worship God because He is worthy. We pray because it is our lifeline to God and our hearts desire. But, you know, those personal touches He does in your life that just make your heart "gush" – well that is what I have had recently.

For example, Just the other day I prayed for a Thai friend. We meet many Thai people at school, but I wanted something a bit more personal. So I decided to pray about it. I go before my Father & put my desires before Him. Literally the NEXT day a family in our muubaan (community) walks up to our house and starts talking to Jackson. They have a 3 year old son. The man is American and from Carrollton of all places (very close to our home town) & he is married to a Thai women. The woman (I am ashamed to say I can not remember her name :0) and I begin talking in Thai & English back and forth. It was beautiful! She is a Buddhist & I am excited to get to know her more & share the gospel with her J I knew just then that God was showing me He loves me & cares for me! At the same time I get to share with her the passion & love & Lordship of my life – Jesus! I pray this friendship blossoms & the Kingdom advances!!!

Another example was just yesterday. It was my birthday (I turned 33!) Anyway, we were at a coffee shop having coffee & out of the blue my friend Brad walks in! Brad had been a part of our missions' team the last 1.5 & we all became like family. Anyway, he was called to the boarder of Thailand to do relief work after the cyclone hit Burma. We had no plans of meeting & he had no idea we were there. He was simply passing through Chiang Mai & thought he would have coffee. Wow! Happy Birthday Amy!!! I get to see a person precious to our family, unexpected J Nothing is unexpected to God!

Well, something similar happened to me in prayer. I was praying for God to keep my heart pure. To reveal things in my heart that needed to be brought to light. I realized that I had judgement in my heart. There is always a whisper here or a whisper there. After I repented before the Lord I asked Him, "How do I keep my heart pure Lord?" "How do I not judge my brother/sister?" One thing was revealed is to test all things against Scripture, but from there I was given 1 Corinthians 4:5 –

5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Wow! How freeing that is? God will judge the motives of men's hearts. I do not know why I ever thought it was my place anyway? Wow, pride too! Forgive me Lord! I share that because I hope it brings freedom to your life if you ever go through something similar. Freedom!!!