We want to first thank everyone for their prayers! Already we are feeling them being answered. For starters one of our ladies' luggage did not make it to Thailand and today was day two without it. Once back from church and lunch, at the desk waiting for her was none other than Stacy Blank's luggage. Having clean clothing after 2 days does amazing things to lift one's spirit. Especially sense we are heading into 2 of the hardest days of the trip.
The service this morning was amazing. We surprised the church's worship team by standing and singing and praising God. We thought it was the beginning of the service (like a prelude) by the end we realized we were still the only one's there, and we were just very early. At least we helped make practice fun, LOL....boy did we think we would feel embarrassed, but you know in the end we were praising Jesus that we just had the opportunity to praise Jesus more than once!!!! AMEN!
After church we had our first experience of a Thailand Mall by going to a place called MBK. After herding ourselves like sheep up 7 escalators to get to the seventh floor we sat down and enjoyed fellowshiping with one another and having a wonderful meal. Watermelon smoothies and beef/chicken/Salmon was to be had! Yum, it was amazing.
Once our bellies were full, we all took off in little teams to explore the first five floors of MBK which just happen to be chalked full of stall after stall after stall after stall, well you get the picture of little shops. Some people learned the great art of bartering, while others helped jack the pricing up with each squeal of delight over liking an item too much (Jeanne we all know this is you!)
After shopping we had an opportunity to come back to the hotel for some free time and enjoyed hanging out and getting to know one another. There is something about being one with Christ together as the body and worshiping together that brings us closer, and by the end of the day you could begin to feel the Holy Spirits presence forming friendships and sisterhoods. Praise God for the Unity that is beginning to grow. Continue to pray for this as we need to be one in spirit in order to fight the evil one in the next two days especially.
Last night we were given a taste of the Thai culture and our faith was tested as we sat surrounded by beauty and the art of Thai dancing, yet sat across the room from a table of call girls and the men whom which they were with. GOD this country needs you! This world needs you and we call on the power of Your might hand and loving arms to rescue, redeem, and restore the women of this world. We are here not to change the world, but to allow the world to change us. We desire and crave to see these women through Your eyes. Love them! Let them some how some way feel Your presence. We don't know what to do, how to act, what to say, or where to go, but we know to turn to YOU! May be be your vessels! Teach us what You would have us learn on this trip.
After such a heart wrenching night we had to add some laughter.
1 - Audrey decides to swat a mosquito and goes for the kill. Realizing we are in a Buddhist culture makes a face and says...oh no was I supposed to do that, to which Elisa replies, oh you are fine as long as it doesn't have the president's head on it. --- ask us all when we get back, but this had us rolling on the floor laughing because the president is sacred here.
2 - After handing out roommate survival kits with candy, note cards for encouragement, and earplugs we were told to add an emergency flashlight for next year as all lights are controlled by one switch (including the bathroom lights) and well lets just say Amanda has been blacking out Lauren's potty times...
All in all our time has been eye opening. Please continue to pray and know you are loved and missed! Thank you for supporting us!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thailand or Bust!!! - We chose Thailand!
Family and friends! We have made it to Thailand without harm, in good spirits, and are currently pushing through our jet lagged minds that we indeed are in Thailand 6000+ miles away, but feel your love and prayers! Please continue to pray!
Be prepared to laugh and cry with us as we update you through the next couple days as you help us explore the culture and needs of the women we came to love on, whom in reality are going to show us God through their eyes. May we continue to find in our hearts the desire to see others through God's eyes by following their example.
To Laugh....
As we travelled many humorous things encouraged us to continue pushing through the 26 hours of travel. For instance...Those of you whom know Rachel Cole...our new beloved friend decided it would be a great idea to sleep when the Thai sleep. Sounds good, right? Ambien was taken, sleep was to be had, food was attempted to be eaten, but failure to reach fork into mouth before sleep took over lead us all to laugh hysterically as food left fork and landed on shirt, and Rachel started snoozing.....at least she wasn't missing out on the tasty airplane food, and just out on a clean shirt.
Item number two, the WAR between Audrey Cosgrove and the emergency notebook. Upon trying to sleep (yes another sleep story), Audrey was abruptly awaken by a falling of a large notebook (which involved all the emergency contacts and such) coming from the overhead compartment. No sleep was to be had, and next time the notebook will be put in detention in the checked luggage for its noncompliance to our no violence policies.
Item number three, a lesson in how to use a toilet...You would think after decades of being potty trained the 30 of us would know how to use a toilet...well, Mrs. Jennifer Roberts needs a quick update. Having landed in Tokyo and in desperate need of freshening up, all women head to the bathrooms. Little did our group know we needed to know how to use a bidet, a musical flushing button, and did you know the toilets turn off and on? Well you get the point. Mrs. Roberts spent 2 minutes (literally) trying to figure out how to flush the toilet and in the end attempted to use the on/off button. Nothing happened...confused and ready to just be done and finally found the flushing bar.
Tammi Dryden also discovered the uniqueness of the bidet and lets just say there is no where to hide when the bidet is turned on...
If you think this is funny you need to sit tight, keep praying, and buckle your seat belts because more is to come. So laugh with us now because we need more than enough prayers for Monday and Tuesday! Pictures of our traveling experiences may soon be coming....
As far as today's agenda we had a powerful worship and prayer time this morning and our goals are to be broken and see through our Father's eyes.
Tonight we are looking forward to more bonding as we prop our eyes open and enjoy an authentic Thai dinner with Thai dancing. Rumor has it they make us dance too...Pictures may be taken, Laughter will be had, and we will update you on the rest.
Thank you so much for praying for us we love and miss you all. Please pass on the word to all husbands, children, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, etc.
Love the Circle Tour Team 2009
PS. We also love and miss you and wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!
Be prepared to laugh and cry with us as we update you through the next couple days as you help us explore the culture and needs of the women we came to love on, whom in reality are going to show us God through their eyes. May we continue to find in our hearts the desire to see others through God's eyes by following their example.
To Laugh....
As we travelled many humorous things encouraged us to continue pushing through the 26 hours of travel. For instance...Those of you whom know Rachel Cole...our new beloved friend decided it would be a great idea to sleep when the Thai sleep. Sounds good, right? Ambien was taken, sleep was to be had, food was attempted to be eaten, but failure to reach fork into mouth before sleep took over lead us all to laugh hysterically as food left fork and landed on shirt, and Rachel started snoozing.....at least she wasn't missing out on the tasty airplane food, and just out on a clean shirt.
Item number two, the WAR between Audrey Cosgrove and the emergency notebook. Upon trying to sleep (yes another sleep story), Audrey was abruptly awaken by a falling of a large notebook (which involved all the emergency contacts and such) coming from the overhead compartment. No sleep was to be had, and next time the notebook will be put in detention in the checked luggage for its noncompliance to our no violence policies.
Item number three, a lesson in how to use a toilet...You would think after decades of being potty trained the 30 of us would know how to use a toilet...well, Mrs. Jennifer Roberts needs a quick update. Having landed in Tokyo and in desperate need of freshening up, all women head to the bathrooms. Little did our group know we needed to know how to use a bidet, a musical flushing button, and did you know the toilets turn off and on? Well you get the point. Mrs. Roberts spent 2 minutes (literally) trying to figure out how to flush the toilet and in the end attempted to use the on/off button. Nothing happened...confused and ready to just be done and finally found the flushing bar.
Tammi Dryden also discovered the uniqueness of the bidet and lets just say there is no where to hide when the bidet is turned on...
If you think this is funny you need to sit tight, keep praying, and buckle your seat belts because more is to come. So laugh with us now because we need more than enough prayers for Monday and Tuesday! Pictures of our traveling experiences may soon be coming....
As far as today's agenda we had a powerful worship and prayer time this morning and our goals are to be broken and see through our Father's eyes.
Tonight we are looking forward to more bonding as we prop our eyes open and enjoy an authentic Thai dinner with Thai dancing. Rumor has it they make us dance too...Pictures may be taken, Laughter will be had, and we will update you on the rest.
Thank you so much for praying for us we love and miss you all. Please pass on the word to all husbands, children, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, etc.
Love the Circle Tour Team 2009
PS. We also love and miss you and wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Join us February 12-22!
Please join us as we will be sharing what God is teaching us on this trip. Would you also be wiling to cover us, our families at home, and those we desire to serve, with prayer? We know a trip like this can not happen with out it! Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)