The Team is Home in Canada!

All the white farong are home, the other team members are continuing God's work where they are planted.
We are thankful for the safety that God provided for us during our trip, and the fact that our lives have been impacted by what we have seen and done to God's glory!Front row - Rachael, Sam, Karli, Jamie
Middle row - Matt, Jason, Anna, Kalaya, Nan, Katelyn, Karen, Yar, Maile, Sopa, and Matt's mom
Back row - Jas, Antoinette, Francina, Hilary, Lisa, Jon N, Jon D

Saturday - Korea

We are spending a half day in Korea in a hotel. Nice to be able to sleep laying down for a few hours, a good lunch in the stomach, and a refreshing shower. We are now ready for the next 10 plus hour flight, six hours in Seattle, and then home.

Thursday evening Benz prepared an amazing BBQ for us and then we shared three hours of praise and worship with them. What an experience. I think that one of the things that touched me the most that evening, was to hear the Thai girls, through our interpreters, share about their experience with us as a team, and the impact that it made on their lives. It is such a worthwhile opportunity to be able to have Thai young students be part of our team for the entire time that we ministered in Cambodia and Thailand. Absolutely amazing!!

Our last day at the church property was great. We worked around the property for the morning till about noon, then packed and cleaned the rooms, had some lunch, and headed for the airport in Phuket. The flight to Bangkok was smooth. All went well, even our seven hours there in the airport.

(I think that the students know all of these airports inside out and backwards)

Thanks to all for sharing our journey, and especially for all the prayer that was offered up for our team.

See you soon!!

"WHAT IS LOVE?"

Just ask one of us and we would love to respond to that question. It has become our theme.

Thursday- April 3

Tuesday morning we went to the prison which is a few minute walk from the church where we were staying. There are 47 women in the prison and 370 men.

There were about 30 women who were present when we came. They are allowed to sign up for English teaching. The church has just started this ministry and has only been there once before. We walked up to the prison doors, entered a secure hall, were locked in, then unlocked and moved into the prison, then through another locked area, into a small area with a concrete floor and overhead covering. The women were all dressed in light blue tops and long, dark blue skits. We have no pictures of going there, as it was not allowed.

Jamie lead the two hour program.

We did an ice breaker, sort of like, rock, paper, scissor, - but it was called lady, gorilla, hunter. You stand back to back, count to three, turn around, and act out your chosen person. The gorilla pounds on his chest and does the gorilla call, the lady holds her hands by her face and says, "ohhhh", and the hunter pulls out his gun and shoots it. I think we were all surprised in that we were playing guns in a prison! We played the game till we had a winner.

Then we did a skit for them. Jon N and Jas did their Prodigal Son skit, Sam shared her testimony, and then we talked about it with the women. We then did some English teaching about emotions, with pictures that we first acted out and then they acted out. "How are you?" - "I am tired - scared - happy- etc."

We sang a fun song - Singing in the Rain - with the actions - with the women, and they are so like the kids we teach, so happy and loving the fun.

We then did our "What is Love?" skit, talked about it.

Jason then shared his testimony and we talked about that.

We then did our "Jesus" skit, about Jesus taking about our sins and sorrows, dying, and rising again. Once again we shared with them.

We than sang "Light of the World" for them in English" and had a chance to get into small groups and pray for them. Most of them wanted prayer for their families and their children.

It was quite the experience and an amazing ministry - after all, they are a captive audience.



Yesterday some of the orphans came to the church in the morning, and we went on a boat ride in Phang Nga Bay, and had the chance to experience the wonders of God's creation in this part of the world. After sharing lunch, we headed for a Wat and walked around there. This Wat is know for all the monkeys that are running loose. It was "an experience" and I found out that I do not like monkeys, due to the surprise factor of them surrounding you, and as Karen found out - wanting to steal from you!



We then went with the orphans for an elephant ride and elephant show. Just to see the faces of the kids experiencing all these new and exciting things was amazing (yes - even our kids)



We then returned home in the pouring rain, but by the time we got home, all were dry. This is definitely the "drip - dry" country.



Today, we are doing physical work on the two properties. We are washing all the windows, in and out, cleaning the window sills, removing all the screens, washing them, and cleaning the orphans homes - so I guess we would call it "Spring Cleaning"

Also on the orphan site we are leveling an area of grass and moving the excess material into a low section next to one of the homes, so that when it rains - especially in the rainy season - they will not have pooling of water in that area.



On the church site, we cleaned up all the excess lumber, metal, and odds and ends, around the kitchen eating area. We moved a lot of lumber to a burning pile.



We also purchased two dump trucks of gravel to put around the lower area of the English Center, so Peter put on Killex, we bought rice bag material to lay down first, and then we will spread the gravel.



Lots of projects in incredible hot weather.



The students are great and we are working fantastic as a team.



Continue to pray for us on our last few days, and as we prepare to travel home, and then do travel home.



Thanks once again for the comments and emails you have been sending. It has been great to receive "Love" from home!