Shall We Dance. . .

Since we have returned to Thailand from America, God has just been so incredible in my life.  In fact, sometimes, I have felt as if I am running just to keep up.  Sadly, one area in my life that has gotten set aside during this time is my blogging.  I say sadly, because I truly enjoy blogging.  I love to share what God puts on my heart, in hopes that it will speak to and encourage someone else.

Here in Thailand I have offered to share my knowledge about ballet and Praise Dance with the girls in the area.  The girls have been so dedicated and enthusiastic!  They have picked up the basics of ballet so quickly.  Okay, okay, I know I sound like a proud teacher, but listen to how the Lord has worked through this ministry. . .

A friend popped into in Youth Group one Saturday, and chatted with Bill and I briefly, while the youth ate dinner.  I talked about how well the girls had done in their first ballet class.  He immediately jumped in and said, “Oh by the way, would the girls be available to perform at an all church gathering the last Friday in September?”

I laughed and told him that they had only had 1 class so far.  He said that was fine, and that he was sure that they would do a great job.  Some of the girls were at Youth Group and I called them aside and told them that they had been asked to dance in two weeks for a gathering of hundreds.  They all started to laugh.  I told them it was true, and they laughed all the harder, saying that they had only had 1 class so far.

I went back and told our friend that 2 weeks was just too soon.  Not to miss an opportunity, he said “Okay, how about if they dance at the following gathering on the last Friday in October?”  I told him I would let him know.

At the next ballet class I discussed with the girls the possibility of dancing at the end of October.  They kept asking me if I thought they could do it.  I really felt like the Lord was saying “Yes, they can do this.”, and I told them I thought they could do it.

And they did!  Two nights ago, they danced in front of about 200 people from Thai churches and from English speaking churches, and they did an amazing job.

In fact, as soon as the worship service was over, the coordinator came over and pleaded with me to have the girls dance at the November gathering.  Not just one dance, but two.  She said she wanted the girls to open the worship service with a dance and close the service with another dance.

We (the girls and I) decided that it would be too much for me to choreograph two dances, teach them the dances and rehearse enough that they would feel that they had done their very best.  So, we are looking at maybe December.

So far, the girls have danced at two churches and the all church gathering of our town.  They are dancing at another church in December, and. . .

Well, we are still working out details about other dancing opportunities.

I have seen this group of girls draw closer to each other, encourage each other and seek to Honor the Lord with their dancing.

Praise God!

"Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!"  Psalm 150:4

Blessings,

April

Twenty Six Hours One Weekend. . .

On September 19th our first Youth Group Retreat in Thailand started. All of the youth and three adult volunteers were to meet at our house at 4:00 pm on Friday.

I had gone shopping with my friend that runs the resort, to get food and snacks for all of the meals that we would share together at the Youth Group Retreat. When my friend and I returned to the resort, I called Bill (my husband). He said that the youth started arriving at our house before 3:00 and that there appeared to be more than had signed up. Yikes!

After getting off the phone with Bill I quickly arranged for the use of a third dorm, as we had more youth than we anticipated.

Around 4:15 the vehicles left our house and transported the youth to the resort, and we were off and running. The retreat included dinner on Friday, then a Bible Study followed by a time of discussion. Next, they had free time – which a lot of the youth choose to spend swimming, playing board and card games, or doing art work. Then we walked the two minute walk to the beach for a bonfire – where we taught the non-Americans about the yumminess of s’mors. After that, we went back to the resort for a movie that ended around 11:00 pm, the youth went back to their dorms and we had lights out at 11:30 pm.

Saturday was to start with the youth waking-up at 7:30 am. I had planned to get up at 6:00 to spend time in prayer, reading my Bible and perusing the lessons we were going to teach. After my shower I heard talking, and sure enough a number of the youth were up and excited about the day, not long after 6:00 am.

Saturday went as follows: Breakfast at 8:00, followed by quiet time/prayer time, then about 40 minutes of free time (aka swimming, swimming and more swimming). Actually some of the youth did go for a walk along the beach, and some played games or worked on arts and crafts, but the pool and the slack line were the big hit. The slack line was like a tightrope across the middle of the pool. We then had another Bible Study, followed by a time of discussion. Next, it was time for lunch. As I watched the youth get in line to get their lunch and then find a seat, I thought about the cartoon that shows a whole fish on a plate and then something runs by the fish, and all that is left is bones. That was what feeding the Youth Group was like. There was a lot of food, the youth went through the line, and then there were empty serving dishes. I guess they liked the food.

After lunch we had free time down on the beach. The youth played Spud, volleyball with a huge ball, walked on the beach, sat and talked with each other, and made sand castles.

After brushing off the sand from the beach, we went back to the resort for the third Bible Study and discussion time. The youth then had 45 minutes of free time, which most of them spent. . .you guessed it, swimming and walking the slack line across the pool.

After all that excitement, we had the task of trying to get everybody back upstairs for a time of Worship.

We then shared dinner together, followed by packing up their belongings and clearing out of the dorms.

Before we left the resort, I gathered all of the youth together for a group photo. Standing toward the front was a young boy with two tears flowing down his cheeks, he tried to smile as he realized that the retreat was over and it was time to go home. Seeing that young boy and the emotion he felt about the retreat being over, tugged at my heart. Bill and I had tried to make the retreat a wonderful, fun, exciting time to learn about Jesus. We had been planning for months, so that it would be a meaningful time for each of the youth. Seeing and later hearing, how much the retreat meant to each of the youth was such a blessing for us. We feel so blessed to be used by the Lord. We are humbled and grateful. Thank you Lord!

We headed back to our house around 6:20 pm on Saturday. Upon arriving, with the youth and their belongings strewn around our yard and house, we served up the usual ice cream cones that signify the end of Youth Group. A lot of the youth hung out at our house well past 7:00 pm, reminiscing about the retreat. Praise God!

The Lord was awesome in bringing just the right youth to the retreat. With 27 youth from at least three different countries, there could have been disagreements or problems, but there were none. Thank you Lord!

Being in a foreign country it is amazing to see the Lord work in the hearts of the Thai youth. Only He can do that, as we are still learning the Thai language.

Mark 10:13-16 NLT - "One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them."

The English speaking youth blessed us with a wonderful, huge Thank you card, and the Thai speaking youth blessed us with a great Thank you card that was artfully folded into an intricate heart shape.

Oh how we pray that each one of the youth would come to truly know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

We want to give a huge thank you to all of you that supported us with prayer and with funding. Thank you for your faithfulness. We were able to offer the retreat to all of the youth at no cost to them. We pray that you will each realize that you are as much a part of the work that is being done for Christ here in Hua Hin, as we are. God bless you!

By April

Photo by Stefan Schmied

A Carnival for God. . .

After months of planning, shopping for materials, prizes and building supplies; and building booths for our first outreach Community Children's Carnival, we finally held the carnival. Bill and I built booths for games, painted plywood for carnival activities, and shopped for prizes and food. One of the youth, is an amazing artist and drew and painted many of the photo stations where children could put their heads through the hole and have their photo taken.

There were neigh sayers, predicting rain or unbearable heat, but the Lord was gracious and we were blessed with a beautiful day. For months, we prayed daily for the carnival and put it all in the Lord's hands.

Bill and I had walked around Hua Hin for weeks, putting up flyers and handing out information about the carnival.

So, with so much time and effort having been put into the preparation, it was thrilling for the carnival day to actually arrive. The youth and several adult volunteers gathered at our home an hour before the start of the carnival and we confirmed who was going to be doing the different jobs such as: face painting, running booths with games, making snow cones, giving out popcorn, and taking photos and printing them for the children.

We then gathered together for prayer, giving the whole event to the Lord, praying that we would honor and glorify Him in all that we did.

Then the children started to arrive and the fun started. . .

Everything was free to the children and their families, and most of them had a hard time believing it. We offered them free snow cones and popcorn, and they kept asking how much? It was a real blessing to see how much fun the children had playing the games and enjoying the treats.

One of the most popular games was throwing darts at balloons. Bill had built a great booth with a counter to hold the darts. We were amazed at some of the little children's accuracy in throwing the darts. Pop! Pop! Pop! Followed by much laughter and a request to do it again.

After a couple of hours we had all of the children and their families come and listen to the gospel story. We had a Thai friend tell the story and explain the love of Jesus. The entire group sat listening with great attention.

Then it was back to the fun. The carnival ran from 2:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 pm. At 5:00 the pizza that Bill had ordered for the youth and volunteers arrived. You know you have to feed youth! It was great because there was enough pizza and hot dogs for not only the youth and volunteers, but also for the families that were at the carnival at that time.

A little before 6:00 the families started to leave and we gathered together to praise the Lord and give thanks for the successful carnival. We then packed up the leftover prizes, food and supplies. We gathered up the trash and brought some tables in the house, but decided not to stress about trying to get everything cleaned up that night. It was already dark, and we would just address the rest the next day or two.

We are still praising the Lord for the carnival and the great outreach that was done through it. The youth still talk about the event with great enthusiasm.

Thank you Lord!


Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Luke 18:16

By April