Flux: My Life's Other Constant

Yeah! Dodgeball!

The first being God of course. So, since the end of August to the beginning of October, things have been busy and shifting and just a whole lotta fun. The month actually started out kinda slow and picked up. So to keep things readable I will just give the highlights:

Teaching - It has been steady-ish. But the place I was working at was really taking their time, and not showing much initiative in getting me the proper paperwork, which was making me nervous. I was approached by another lady about another teaching position, so I went to talk with her. The long and short of it is, 15 hours a week in the mornings, a work permit (which we have already started the process on), 10,000 baht a month, plus housing. Which means I will be moving back to Hang Dong where I want to be anyways, She also has connections in the next town to the south, and I will have afternoons and evenings to do ministry. Plus the house is near North Chiang Mai University, where I used to teach, so I will be able to pick up on some old relationships there as well.

Spelling Fruits

Ministry - Am still starting conversations, but not meeting with much interest. But been able to talk a little bit deeper about my faith in a couple of my classes talking about why I am Thailand. Please pray that the seeds I am throwing out there would find fertile soil and that the Holy Spirit would really be guiding me to the places I need to be going.

Volunteering - This month I was able to help out at two different English camps, one with friends from church and one with a school I randomly got connected to. They were fun, and got to make some new contacts as well.

I also had the chance to go with some friends on an overnight bike trip through the mountains near here. Praise God that we made it back in one piece after some of the road conditions we encountered and the sheer length of it. But it was fun, got to know several of my friends better and just had a blast. It was nice to get out of Chiang Mai for a weekend and do something different.

So in the next couple of weeks I will preparing to move again. I will start the new job at the end of this month for the second term of school, November to the end of February or first of March.



In my next update, I will be detailing what my plan is (Lord willing) for the next year, So be on lookout for that! Love you all, thank for all your prayers and support! See you in a few weeks.

Flying...

Time that is. Flying. By... Quickly like. The thing about working at different places is how much time speeds up. No excuse for waiting a month and a half again.

Things here are moving fast, and going well. The teaching isn't exactly steady, but it's going well. Right now I have a group of professionals, one architect, and a group of monks and students at a Buddhist University. And have two more potential students which will fill my teaching slots for the month. The teaching is going well, but in talking to my students, and talking to others around in the past month and a half, I'm running into a lot of closed doors. I have had one conversation that started heading down a spiritual path. But it's a start.

I did go to a conference at the beginning of this month for all of YWAM working in Northern Thailand. It was awesome. I got to catch up with with a lot of people, and the speakers were excellent. And it planted some seeds of how to move forward, that fit in the vision that God has given me. I know that I want to move out of the main city, and head south, and it looks like some doors are opening up that direction over the next year and a half. Right now I'm struggling condensing it so that this isn't a 1000 word essay. Plus everything is soo up in the air, but please be praying for me in that, that God would move it along in His time, either forward or shutting it down.

Basically, I am finally getting in a rhythm, and ready to add a few more things in. So my prayer requests for this month:

1. Pray that I will meet the right people, and God will open the doors to share His Good News, and that I will be ready when those opportunities present themselves.
2. Pray that God will show me the direction forward and give me discernment and courage to follow it out.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. I need all the prayer I can get!  Love you all! See you soon! Exclamation marks!!!!!!!!

Not leaving just yet...

God provides, though not always exactly how we expect. A month and 11 days ago, I let you all know where I was at financially and where I needed to be. At that time I was considering either getting a full time job here, and doing ministry in whatever time I had leftover or returning home and getting a job or going back to school. So I sent out a call for help.

The goal I set for myself to be able to stay was an additional $500 dollars a month minimum. I received pledges for $160. So I went back to God and asked what I should do. He said go try again at the language school, but not for a full time position. The first time I went there, with CV in hand, references and dressed to get the job. And I never heard a peep back from them. So I thought, what do I have to lose? I went back, and asked them about my old application, and they had lost it completely. So I filled out a new one, and when I finished, started talking to one of the teachers, who ended up being the director. He hired me on the spot for as many hours as I want.

CEC is run by a Christian couple, who use their business to reach out to the students who come, and so they also encouraged me that if I want to do any ministry with the students, I am free to, so long as I was teaching English first. I also have complete freedom to teach as much or little as I want to, and after a trial period, if they still want me on, then they will take care of all my paperwork for visa's and my work permit.

I also had to move out of my house, as the landlord sold it. So I have found an apartment within walking distance of the school, which is nearly $30 cheaper than my old place, even though it is downtown Chiang Mai.

So to conclude:

1. With the new pledges, and teaching part time I am at my goal to be able stay and do church planting.

2. At this center I am encouraged to do ministry, and will have new students for more opportunities.

3. I am at a cheaper apartment and close to my classes.




God does provide in big ways. I have been moving and settling into new routines the past two and a half weeks, hence the delay in this post. I have also been invited to start teaching an English club once a week at the University where I used to work, so that my turn into a great opportunity as well.

I feel like this is the right next step, that I am where I need to be. So now I am waiting on what God is going to do. Thank you again for all your support!

Still getting everything settled as of yesterday, the 14th

I'm not ready to move back to America

My supporters and friends,

I am at a hard crossroads in my life. God is opening people's hearts and starting to do great things here in Chiang Mai. More and more people are willing to talk about their beliefs rather than just hide behind the statement all religions are the same. There is a hunger and thirst for something more that is stirring in Thailand.

The core of what I am doing, in relational evangelism and wanting to see God start a Church Planting Movement through my ministry, is to go out to eat with people, go to coffee shops, go to where people are and to take trips with closer friends to get even closer. The Thai way of growing a relationship is to go out and about with people. But I can't afford to do this.

Currently, I get by each month. I pay my rent, cell, electric, trash, internet bills, and have enough left over to put gas and clean oil in my bike and usually eat and see a couple of movies. But I have no emergency money. I can not take care of things that break or need to be replaced. I have no savings. Every little thing that has a price tag is struggle between which do I need more, this or food more.

I have two dreams for what I want to do here in Thailand:
1. I want to see a Church Planting Movement take off, and see people grow in deep relationship with God. To see lives transformed all across Northern Thailand.

2. I want to get married, and have a family.

At this moment in time, both of those dreams are possible, but just out of reach because of my current financial state. I can barely take care of myself month to month. My ministry is up in the air as I usually have to decline invitations to be with people because of a lack of funds, and I can't seriously pursue an engagement with the girl I love.


I am asking God to do something big this month. I need my total monthly support to be doubled at the minimum.

The average single missionary here needs to make between $25 - $30,000 each year to be effective. I am on track to make $9,000.

I believe this is where I am supposed to be. I believe in the vision God has given me, and I believe that greater things are still to come. Please pray for me, that God will provide the support needed so I may continue doing what I believe God has called me to do- to show God's glory through my life

Back to Regular Scheduling

A brief recap, for those who are unable to follow me on Facebook, the big even we were planning did not get off the ground. Everyone involved was excited for it, but we simply did not leave ourselves enough time to negotiate all the red tape involved. But I feel it was an important step forward and has opened some doors should we want to pursue another event like this in the future.

Campers and Team

But we still had a team of DTS students come and help us out for a week. The helped me get to know a few local pastors and run a camp for the kids of several local churches. The camp itself was the big event that we could not have done at all if not for the willingness of the students in this team. It was a two night camp aimed at encouraging the children who are believers in their faith and growth as children of God and in their ability to share that faith with their friends and families. About 40 kids came in all.

Majority of this last month was spent preparing and finalizing plans for this team, I had no idea how much time and planning went into something like this. Better informed for the future now! And my mom came for a visit during the past two weeks, so the first week she got to tag along as I helped out with the team, and then last week I took off to spend time with her and enjoy Song Khran.

As I am going back into my regular scheduling, please be praying for me. I need to be firm in my goal here of discipling those who are willing to be discipled, and not get distracted by being busy. I am going to resume my prayer walking times and really trying to build on the couple of relationship opportunities that I have here in my community.

Thank you for all of your prayers and continued support!

Lanna New Year

Alright. Short mid month update and prayer request! Next month we have a team coming to work for two weeks. So we decided to use them to help us get into the local churches to start doing training. Open door idea, we help you, and then ask to let us help you more.

So we wanted to do an event. It was going to be a small showing of a film done in the local dialect. God said that's not big enough. So now we are putting together a district (think county) wide carnival to start celebrating the Lanna (Northern Thai) New Year.

This is a huge opportunity to build community with all of the churches here in Hang Dong where I live. And I mean all. We are inviting them all to build unity and purpose. It will also help with opening doors and building community across traditional walls of differing religion and with the government.

But this won't happen unless God pulls it together. He gave the vision. Now we are following it through. But we need prayer support. So please spend time today and tomorrow (Central Standard Time) because at 10 pm (CST) Monday, we will be going to meet with the Government to get permission and support. After the meeting we will need to raise all the support for the event before Friday. We will need God to open the doors to find sponsorship from area businesses.

This event has potential, beyond just that night, and can eventually open doors all across Northern Thailand for everyone to hear the good news of Jesus. The rest of this post is pictures of the location we want to use. Please be praying for that area as well. I will put an update up on Wednesday.

Prayer Points:
God will open the right doors at the Government
God will open the doors for sponsors
God will prepare the people who will be touched by this event to hear the Truth
Unity in the Church in this district
God will get the Glory for all of this, that people would know the power of the name of Jesus

Checks and Balances

You know that feeling where you take off running and then realize you're on the treadmill backwards. No? Well that's a credit to your intelligence. But metaphorically speaking, I feel like I just did that this past month. Or rather that I have yet again sprinted into a new situation with tons of plans and dreams and God's timing is going a different direction. So after stumbling over my own feet a few times and then settling down to listen. I realized He is still doing preparation both in my life and in my area.

This month has been a test of my discipline and trust, and I while I didn't totally fail, I still have a lot of growing to do. Our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord right?

But other than learning to move at God's pace, some cool things have been happening. I have been continuing to prayer walk around my village, and have had the opportunity to start to get to know a couple of people. I am now trying to find more opportunities to talk to K. Dang and K. Noi and get to know them better. ('K' stands for Khun which is basically Thai for Mr. or Ms.)

I have realized that God wants me to specifically set aside time to work on my Northern Thai so I am looking for a teacher, and will need to work payment into my budget. It's frustrating to realize that the language I have been working so hard to improve over the past 3 years really won't help me too much in the direction I am heading. It is a great starting point and not in anyway time or effort wasted, but now on to the next step in being able to truly touch the hearts of Norther Thai people.

The past few weeks I have been leading the Create DTS's evangelism outreaches as my partner and his wife have just had their second kid (with no complications, Praise God!). They have really been the bright spot in my week because to get up and teach other how to do what I am doing, I really have to be living it out myself. There have been some really cool stories coming out of the weeks, and getting to watch the students grow in confidence in sharing their life and faith with strangers and relying on the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them through it has been amazing.

Over the next month I will be continuing the same, preparing and growing myself in Christ so that when God does say, "Now Go." I will be ready to go. I will continue to prayer walk around my village and try to grow my relationships and try to be as much in the community as possible. One big thing that I and my partners are praying will happen is this. In April, the DTS students will be doing their outreach. Over the next Month Ben and I will be putting together the plan for an event which we want to host in my village. The culmination would be the showing of the Northern Thai movie, which shows a family living through faith but in the heart language of the people.

For the even to happen, we need to make a solid plan, and then go to the village head and get him on board with the idea. So please be praying that God will be preparing the way for this event.

Prayer Requests:

• Finances: I $400 dollars of support pledged coming in each month. I am $100 dollars short of covering all my bills (not including language and other ministry expenses). Also my roommates are moving out as it is the end of the school term here, so I won't have any help in that direction either.
• Opportunities to build relationships with both K. Dang and K. Noi, but also with more of my neighbors.
• That God will be opening and preparing the way for us to host and event (and what kind of event) as well as preparing the hearts of the people who will come to receive the word of His love and power.
• That I would stay consistent in my prayer walking and in being available to be in my village. 

Thank you all again, Loves and God bless! See you in a month. For those of you who have promised support, please don't forget!!