And We're off!!

Yay! Update! 'K, it's out of my system now. So here is how I've been spending the last few weeks. I arrived back. Went on a goodbye trip with friends, had an interview, filled out paper work, visited Laos to get a longer visa, visited friends, went to the movies (X-men and Super 8, AMAZING!!), saw more friends, moved my stuff into storage, cleaned my house, settled my house contract, turned off the internet (which cost me an additional $94), and probably some other things I'm forgetting. Sound busy... it was. Still gotta pack tonight to :-D

But it's all worth it, cause tomorrow I leave for Chaing Rai. When I first joined up, I didn't have a complete clue about what it was gong to be. I thought a lot of lectures followed by some practice, but when I had the interview, I got a clearer picture. They train people to disciple others by discipling them. So I am soo much more excited to get there and get started. I have never actually been discipled before, so I am excited to go through the process. I have also felt that is going to be a time for me to really focus on my relationship with God, and that I need to cut some distractions out of my life to really get the full impact of what God wants to do in me over the next six months.

As such, no Facebook (outside of telling you when I update my blog, and only for that purpose). I will be checking my emails, but only once a week and that will be the best way to contact me with something urgent. I will also update my blog once per month per usual of what is going on and what God is doing and showing me. They will probably be short updates so I don't get all introspective in your faces, but if something cool happens, expect details.

I can't wait to see what happens, and I know it will be so much better because of all of your prayers, so if my name comes to mind, please say a short prayer asking God to give me wisdom, guidance, patience, and an heart open to him working in me.

See you on the other side!

Standing at the edge, taking the last step

So, I'm sitting here in my friend James's apartment in Santa Monica, listening to the quiet sound of traffic and reflecting on the past two months. It has been good to be back in the US. It was great to see so many of my friends around the country and see places I've only heard talked about. It was even better to see all of my family and extended family. I miss all of these people very much when I am gone.

But the fact remains I am leaving tomorrow to go home. My heart wants to be back in Chiang Mai. And no, not just to see Annie (though that is a significant part of it). But I miss Chiang Mai. I miss Thailand. I miss the markets and the food and the culture and the people and more than all of that all of my friends. My Students, the teachers I've worked with, people at Baan Kanoon, the J-girls, the Career families. I miss it so much.

But I am still a little nervous about going back. I don't have everything worked out and situated for the training camp, I didn't reach the goal I set for myself in fundraising, and well, yeah, things haven't gone like I planned. But I know in my heart that this is where I am supposed to be, and some times that makes me nervous. I have never been this sure about something in my life.

So as I go out, for those of you who have committed to following me in prayer and financially and just by keeping up with this blog, I know that God has a path laid for me, and that it's my job to walk it with His guidance. So please pray for me:

• That I stay on that path.
• That I stay in the truth of the word.
• That I rely on the Holy Spirit for His strength and patience and love.
• That I will keep my body and mind pure and focused on Christ
• That I will spill the love and grace and knowledge of Christ out in the lives of those around me
• That I will keep to these basics (K.I.S.S. right?) so that I get out of the way and let God work.

As I go back with the intention of starting new groups and reaching the villages I live in, Pray that:

• God will bring me those who are hungry for Him.
• God will bring those that desire to tell those around them.
• God will open the hearts and minds and doors of those I am going out to meet
• God's Spirit will envelope the areas that I am working in that that there would be a mighty movement of faith in Him.
• we will see an entire community come to genuine faith.
• Leaders will step up and take the message to their families in a way that all Thai hearts can understand.
• The enemy's movement will be restricted, that the "powers and principalities" will be stricken down, and the power of the One True God seen in all His followers.

Pray for the national believers for:

• Boldness to share with their families
• Hunger and thirst for God and his righteousness
• An urgency to grow in their faith
• The ability to communicate this new faith to those around them in an understandable fashion

I need your prayers, we need your prayers always. Looking at the life of Jesus, He did nothing without prayer. NOTHING happens in any ministry if Christ is not present, and He is most powerfully present when those who follow Him call His name, and then the earth moves. So please, please keep us in your prayers. These requests above will never change. We will have others that come and go, but we need these above daily.

I can't wait to share with you all the things God is going to do in Thailand. Thank you for partnering with me to help me go and do the work God has laid before me. Together with your prayers and other support, Northern Thailand is about to be affected, and prayerfully we hope for all of Thailand to follow suite.

It's been a good ride

Well, hello again to all you out there. I am currently in Stillwater Oklahoma, visiting the greatest public university you can attend, OSU, and my little... well, I take that back, my younger brother. So far I have been to Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Sullivan, Lynn, Osage Beach, Bolivar, Springfield (MO), Bentonville, Coweta, and here. It has been a great trip so far, but I am worn out and ready to be home.

I'm also approaching the part of my journey where I will really be gearing up my fundraising, so I am coming back to you all who have been reading and supporting me thus far to ask for some prayer coverage for the next month. That God would be putting people in my way that I need to talk to, and that I would be alert and ready to talk to them. I know what I need to survive, and I know what I need so that I can start getting a head on bills, actually get insurance, and start saving back for emergencies, a vehicle and all those things that will come with time. I will speak at my first church this coming Sunday, so if you could start there.

Thank you all for your support so far. If you know of any churches in the Southern Oklahoma area that would be willing to let me speak, if you could shoot me a phone number that would be awesome. Let the fun begin!

Hoooooomward bound, I'm bout to be... Hooooooomward bound

Greetings to those of you out there who carry me through your prayers and support and suffer through my written ramblings! I wouldn't be here without you!

So when I last left you, I had just confirmed that I was going to attempt to join YWAM, getting ready for a Valentine's Day party, and preparing for the end of semester. I'll cover YWAM at the end of the blog, so keep on truckin'. As for the Valentine's Day party, it sounded like a lot of fun. That's right, I wasn't there. I was in the next room sick as a dog, knocked me down and out for a whole day, and then took a few days to go away completely. But the students had a good time eating candy, cooking together, and studying.


We had another couple of normal weeks, and then the first week of finals we had a big end of semester party, ordered pizza and cheese sticks (sooooo good), and just hung out together. I also said goodbye to all my students since I won't be teaching next year, almost cried but managed to hold it together. Then finals came and went, and all of my work for the University for this semester is finished. The past week I have been rushing around, saying goodbye to everyone for the summer, and for next school year as well as getting ready to head home on Monday.

I have begun the application process for YWAM, which is applying for a 6 month training seminar that starts in June. I'm on a time crunch with this as I will only have 2 months to raise the cost of the seminar, as well as find monthly support to sustain me (bills at home and such) while in the camp and after the camp is finished. I am enormously excited at the thought of actually being able to simply go and share, not have to do lesson plans, and go to work, but just go and build relationships daily in my community and build groups who are excited to share the good news with those around them.

Prayer Requests:
Ton Kla: Will, Yo and Annie are all wanting to continue studying this summer. So pray for their opportunities to study together and for Mandy to be able to facilitate that.
Mandy: for peace of mind as she is only a few months away from finishing her time here and for what to do next
Will and Yo: that they would draw closer to God and have a better understanding of who He is. also that they would be able to find good internships for their next semester of school.
Annie: that she would continue to grow in her faith and trust in God. And that she would be able to find constructive ways to use her time this summer (studying, working or whatever she finds to do)
Me: Safety while traveling. Good times with friends. That God would provide the opportunities and open doors for me to raise the funds I need, or winning numbers. either one ;-)Rest and recuperation so that I can head back here refreshed.

Thanks, hope to see as many of you in person that I can. Look for the next update mid may!

zac

Oi Vey!!

So I did not realize that I have negligent on my posts for this entire semester. Time has completely run away. I'm apologize.

Sooo, recap time. In November we had a Thanksgiving day party (which I don't have any pictures for because my hard drive crashed). There were about 86 students, 15 or so staff, and we had a great time. Got to tell about why Thanksgiving began, as well as let the kids try traditional foods.

December was the Ten year anniversary for NCU, so not so much in the way of actually teaching. We also had a big Christmas party at Ton Kla, had around 20 nationals come, eat dinner together, and then shared the Christmas story, and played dirty Santa. It was a lot of fun to watch the students trying to work up the nerve to steal presents from the teachers that came. But it was awesome. (again my pics are gone for this event, but I'm going to get some pics from friends and update this page later with some photos)

For New Years I went and watched fireworks at 700 year stadium. That was fun.

January was spent in preparation for NCU's English camp which Happened last weekend, Saturday the 5th. It was very time consuming on the prep part, but the camp went very smoothly which was a relief, but had close to 200 students, and met many new people around the area to maybe find some new partnerships with. So all in all it was great.

The past few days I have been resting, and have started to figure out what all I need to accomplish before I come home in March. Yes, for those of you who have not heard yet, I will be in America March 16 - May 21. YAY! two years and now coming back to see everyone.

I have also been waiting to figure out some answers about how I will be coming back, and those have been answered for the most part. I am going to join up with an organization called YWAM - Frontier Missions. It is a group specifically focused on doing church planting and uses a loose network of volunteers to accomplish this goal Everyone who works for YWAM from church planters to runners of the org, are all self supported, meaning that we have to find people to support us (or win the lottery!) so that we can continue with our work. So Part of my trip home will doing fund-raising to this end.

At Ton Kla we still have 3 kids coming regularly and have had different faces popping in an out as the days go by. Coming back with YWAM will help me to be able to concentrate more on my groups, and less on doing school work at NCU, though I will continue to be on campus to keep my relationships there.

So again, sorry for the long wait. But now that things are less up in the air, I feel more confident in telling you what will be happening here and in my life.

Prayer requests:
- Ton Kla: the next few meeting before the end of semester, that they would be fruitful
- TK: Valentines day party next week!! (love is in the air man!)
- TK: What to do while I am not in the country
- All my students and me: Finals start in a few weeks
- Me: preparing for my trip: making plans for while I am there, and taking care of things (house, bills, etc) while I am gone.
- Annie, Yo, Will: the three most faithful in coming to TK, that God would continue to reveal himself to them, and grow them closer to Himself
- Me: My fund-raising: I will doing this in order to fully immerse myself in church planting, pray that God provides the funds I need to live as well as prepare for the future.

Love you all, God bless

zac

The Gospel According to Jesus

Book: The Gospel According to Jesus
Author: Chris Seay
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

The Gospel According to Jesus is a well researched and yet thoughtful look at the meanings behind the words we bandy about in our day to day faith. Justice and Righteousness. The book opens with research into what the modern church believes the definition of these words are, and why knowing the definition is important. Then through commentary, interviews, artwork and presentation of the authors thoughts on the issue, helps the reader to begin to find their own definition for thes words.

I read through this book a few times so that I could get a good feel for what the author is trying to get across. There are many themes in the book that I identify strongly with, as well as seem to be reoccurring themes I have been seeing in books such as these as well as in the direction my generation is moving with there faith. In the book the author calls us to delve into the meaning of the word righteousness, a word used a lot in faith circles, but not always well understood according to the research done in this book. The author does a good job of presenting these arguments for why this is important to even think about, the process the author went through in finding his own definition with those close to him, as well as ways the author feels any person can integrate this thought into his or her life.

I enjoyed the book for the most part. The author makes his points quite clearly while leaving room for the reader to come to their own conclusions about certain things. It presents a new thought process and definition without rigidly outlining some new dogma or doctrine that must be adhered too. Also the author includes at the end of each chapter excerpts of conversations and interviews he had for this book with friends and some beautiful and thought provoking artwork in the middle.

My only problem with this book is the tone the author takes. Many times he comes across as both patronizing and/or snarky. In the interviews and the book as well, he comes across somewhat arrogant almost as if he had come up with this idea and influenced all these people he is talking to to by himself. But I don't believe this distracts too much from the argument he is making. This book is definitely a thought provoking read for anyone who considers his or herself to be a follower of Christ.

This book was provided for me through Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze.com

Trips and Tests

Well, last month I told you about the plan to take the groups on a trip. And we did. Well, 3 of them. But first, some great news.

We have a new brother and sister in the family. Their names are Annie and Yo. I wanted to give them time to let people know themselves before this blog is posted up on the interwebs and Facebook.

So we already had this trip planned out, and then they became followers of Christ, and decided they would like to be Baptized while on the trip. Unfortunately, Yo family had some health issues and he wasn't able to come on the trip, but Annie was baptized. The following Week finals started and now we are on our 3 week break until the second term begins Nov 1. At TK we will continue to meet on Tuesday nights and Wednesday nights. Found out there is a small church near my house so I have been getting to know some of the leaders there to see if we can partner together.

Also doing a lot of work in getting trained to go and start small groups. My Thai has been improving. It's no where near where it needs to be, but much better. We are starting the new semester in a few weeks, so it is too late to find a teacher for this semester, but still searching for some teachers to come for next year.

Prayer requests at this time are for:
1. Yo and Annie: that they will grow and be faithful, and that those of us showing them would be able to communicate effectively, and more than that be good models
2. TK: for the groups we have now, that hearts would continue to open and that we would be sensitive to what God would have us be doing
3. For teachers for next year
4. For funds: I am taking on less classes so that I have more time to do ministry. Which means I need to start sending out letters and need some help with getting my foods and such, as well as being able to do more with the groups (i.e. parties, trips and such)
5. TK Christians: that they would grow bold in Christ and their faith, and be willing to share what God has done for them.
6. For my classes: That i would prepare much more thoroughly for next semester than I did the past one

Thanks for your supports, your prayers, and your loves.

zac

PS - If you want to see pics of the camping trip, and don't have FB, or don't want to search for them, check em out here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041660&id=177500310&l=77182223c2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041663&id=177500310&l=5018e93418

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2077624&id=28302649

The first two are my albums, the third is Mel's... it might not work if you don't have FB already