Strengths, God, and Culture

This week I have learnt many things, about me, the others on my team, thai culture, farang culture, and GOD!

Phil Porter from YWAM Bangkok came to speak to us about Discovering Our Strengths (and more!). After doing two tests, I learnt 1. That I am People Oriented and Structured; and 2. That my 5 top strengths in leadership are Empathy, Developer, Includer, Restorative and Connectedness. I also learnt that everyone else on my team are either Task Oriented/Unstructured or Task Oriented/Structured, apart from Daow (my roomie) who is the same as me. And I learnt the 5 top strengths of everyone else in my team. By doing this, I have been able to understand almost every question I had about that person: why they act the way they do, why they need the things they need, and why they say the things they say. Now I understand, not only my teammates but also myself. And by looking at all of our strengths and how we all fit together into a team, like a body with different parts, I can’t help but FEEL that there is definitely a GOD who created us and put us all together. Wow, He is so amazing.

This week has also been an exciting week for me as I have tried to express my worship in a different way to God, a way that I haven’t used for awhile, and that has been through dancing. Since outreach in Laos, Daow (who has a real heart for using Thai dance to reach out in Thailand) has taught me two dances, a Thai dance and a mixed (slow-ish) dance, and I remembered how much I love to express my feelings through moving to music. So this morning before our team met together, I went upstairs into the classroom, put music on, and danced for God – as my worship to Him. And I was able to connect to Him in a way I haven’t been able to for a LONG time. I can connect to Him through playing music, but dancing is a whole new step. After this, I went to our team meeting and we sung together. In this time when I closed my eyes, I could see a picture of a dance, I could see the actions: expressing themselves through what the words of the song were saying. So in my heart I followed these actions, and again I was able to connect to God and understand the songs so much more. God really touched me as in one of the songs I realized again that His love can change me and His love can turn my weaknesses into strengths. And no-one can ever satisfy me like God can. I was so overwhelmed that I cried.

The third main thing I have learnt this week has been about culture. In our meeting today Phil talked to us about culture differences. There are many differences between Thai and Western culture, for example westerners like their personal space and time, so if they visit someone, they will call first to make sure it’s ok. This is how they show respect. But Thais only call before visiting someone when it is a business meeting or someone they don’t really know, so if they show up to your house or room without calling, it’s a way that they show they feel close to you, that you are their friend, and that you are more than just business. But to a westerner, “just showing up” might seem rude. There are many differences like this. Some aren’t good, but some are very good. Phil pointed out that us westerners have a lot to learn from Thais. Many things of their culture are biblical, such as sacrificing personal time and space to serve others. As farangs we like our personal time, but Thais are willing to sacrifice their personal time for others, just like Jesus sacrificed His time for others. Another difference is that us westerners like to grow up and leave our families, living out independence. This is good and biblical of course, but all too often we tend to forget about the needs of our parents. We forget to support our parents. But in Thai culture, the Thais support their parents until their parents die. And this, too, is something we can learn from them. Because this, too, is biblical (Matt 15:4-7). There were a lot more examples we talked about, and I was really challenged to live not as a farang, not as a Thai, but like Jesus – using the best from both cultures.

L@0s :-)

A quick rundown on L@0s…
So we (the DTS staff) just got back from a trip to L@0s. We were there for almost 2 weeks, including the travelling. We went to a town called Luang Prabang (which is a popular tourist town) and to get there we had to take a 2-day boat ride along the Maekong River. While we were there, we visited chrches and Chrstn villages, and ministered to them. We spent two days painting a chrch and the rest of the time we spent going to villages and doing children ministry, sharing from the word or sharing testimonies, pryng with the Chrstns (who are in danger of being prsecuted). Actually, the last village that we went to, we had to leave sooner than planned because the police found out that there was a group of foreigners there and got suspicious, so we had to leave in case they came. The next day we came back to Thailand on a 10-hour overnight van ride through the mountains! For more information about our trip, you can ask me :-) But here are some photos for you to look at! (though for the safety of the Chrstns in L@0s, I can only put up photos of us). For more pics you can see my Facebook.
On one of the boats (the short 5 minute one into Laos!)

Num and I in front of the Maekong River while travelling into Luang Prabang
Sunset over the Maekong River ^

Working in the church
BEFORE:
(the same spot, but AFTER)...
BEFORE:
AFTER...

Num playing football in an orphanage school ^

The LONNNNNG ride back in the van...10 hours with 4 people squished in the very back and freeeezing cold weather!

Chiang Rai is BUSY!

But I love it!

(Sorry for the no-blogs-in-a-while guys, the internet on our base hasn’t been working so I haven’t been online for days until now! Our electricity is crazy at the moment, we’ve been having cold showers -warm if we’re lucky haha- with the lights going on and off, no internet and sometimes complete blackouts!) But apart from that…

At the moment, an average day in the life of me consists of meetings in the mornings, learning and studying Thai in the afternoons, and doing other jobs for the Chiang Rai base. Nights consist of hanging out with friends on base (or going out), doing my thai homework, or relaxing and watching a movie (and checking emails when we have internet again!). Saturdays consist of wedding planning (a couple of weeks ago Num and I spent ALL day planning and looking at locations!) and Sundays will hopefully be rest days, or half-rest days because of church. But I am enjoying all the busy-ness.

My goals for the next couple of months:
1. Learn alot more Thai: be able to read with the tones, be able to have more than just a basic conversation.
2. Get motorbike license. I got to practise last week on my friend Kiah's motorbike when I drove home from Thai lessons, in peak hour traffic! And again on Num’s motorbike driving into town.
3. Break down this stronghold of guilt that has been affecting my relationship with God for a long time.
4. Work out a location and make bookings for the wedding.
5. Trust God with everything: finances, relationships, be healed from my bitterness and envy.
6. Be more confident about hearing God’s voice and praying for people based on what God’s voice is prompting me to pray for.

Well, I gotta go and learn Thai

Captivated by the CREATOR

The things I say in this blog aren't purposely meant to be a sequel of the last one, but it seems that God has taken me on a series of new revelations in the last couple of days!

I am a person who struggles with guilt - guilt of things I've done wrong in the past which is funny because almost everything I do wrong I can forgive myself and move on, but if it involves quiet times, I suffer from guilt. I feel guilty when I miss a quiet time, when I push God away, when I decide to do something else (eg. watch a movie) instead of spend time with God, or when I answer my phone during a 'quiet time'. Stuff like that.

Lately, I have felt like I'm 'doomed' to be one of those people who stop following God because they haven't experienced enough of Him. I don't think I could ever stop following God but the fear that I'm doomed for that has come up in my mind lately. Obviously that fear hasn't been from God. I also let all the times I've pushed God away build up and felt like God is struggling to forgive me because I've pushed Him away so much. Obviously another lie from the evil one!

So anyway, last night (the night after I was ROMANCED by the CREATOR!) I was CAPTIVATED by the Creator. I was trying to spend time with God but had all this guilt building up, and I finally cried out to God asking Him to take it away, and then said: "Any guilt that is NOT conviction of the Holy Spirit: Anything that is condemnation from Satan: Be gone in Jesus' name". And I felt a weight lifted off my shoulder, I no longer felt guilty.

I then wanted to read some Bible verses about forgiveness and guilt so I looked some up on the internet and came across a website: http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/dealing_with_guilt.php

I read the whole thing, and to be honest, I felt like I saw God for the first time (in a LONNNNNNG time!). I was captivated by the words "Know that your past sins have been forgiven, and that you are now clean in Christ Jesus. Stop thinking about your past sins and start thinking about the new person you are in Christ. We are NEVER told to mull around our past sins, but rather to forget the things which are behind and press forward." (http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/dealing_with_guilt.php).

Through reading this study on this website, I realised that I have a stronghold of guilt, and I have been struggling to connect with God when I spend time with Him because all I can see is the lie that all HE can see is all the times I've pushed Him away. Then I stop myself from spending much time with Him because I know I'll just push Him away again, maybe the next day, maybe the next hour, maybe the next minute! But it's also because of this stronghold that I have been pushing Him away.

And the revelation I had was that because of Christ, I am HOLY! What the?!?! It seems sooo amazing to be true!!! But it IS true. Because of Christ, God sees me as someone who has never sinned. He has chosen to forget my sins. When I sin, it's like the first time because all the other times have been forgotten. So of course He is NOT struggling to forgive me for ALL my sins, because He already has! When I ask Him to forgive me for pushing Him away, it's like I am asking forgiveness for just this sin, because there are no others (not because I'm perfect but because all the others are already forgiven and OUT OF SIGHT!)

Wowwwww..................pretty captivating hey?

Romanced by the CREATOR

For all their lives, girls dream of being romanced. We dream of finding our Prince Charming who will come and pick us up - rescue us from all our troubles and take us on a journey full of romance, away from troubles and pain. We dream of someone handsome and thoughtful, sensitive and loving, appreciative, safe, strong and with real "gentleman" qualities.

I have been looking for the Prince Charming, the "perfect" man to come and pick me up and take me away, but when the reality hit me that there is NO perfect man and they all have their flaws (just like us women!) I was discouraged. I feel like I was made for romance. Alot of girls do. They feel like they are made for romance...but we are never satisfied enough, because the perfect guy is NOT out there. So we become confused and unsatisfied. We are looking to the men in our life to romance us, but it doesn't always happen quite like we expected it.

Last night I had a revelation to this concept.

I realised that the perfect guy IS out there. And He has already romanced you. He has already romanced me! All the romance I have ever longed for, I HAVE! Yep - I think you can guess who it is...not your boyfriend, fiancee or husband...but your Creator. The Creator of ROMANCE! Just read Song of Songs, the most romantic book of the Bible, to see how God wrote romance into our lives. BUT - read Song of Songs with the view of God talking to YOU. This is what God asked me to do last night, and I realised that I was being romanced by the Creator of the Universe.

Also Ezekiel 16:6-14 shows us how God has taken us out of the "miry clay" and given us life, love, and everything else we've ever wanted. Of course it goes on to say what we do to Him in return and the chapter gets worse and worse after verse 14, but if you read the whole way through, it is a story of God rescuing His people (us), declaring His marriage vows, and then us going to commit adultery. God gets angry and jealous, threatening to take everything away from us so that we can come back to realise what's important again, and have LIFE again, and then He promises to fully restore us.

So - all you girls out there who have always longed to be romanced: rejoice, because you have already been romanced. And you can be romanced again and again. God isn't just your friend, ruler, Father, Spirit, Son of the Father, and Shepherd...but He is your lover too.

Here is a pic (taken from a few pics I got off the internet) and I added some bible verses to them (Ez 16:14 and Song of Songs 4:1) and just a glimpse (a few words) of a song I wrote after my revelation...so be ENCOURAGED!!!

TEAM AUSSIE>>>>>>>pics

Here are some pics (only a few!!) of the times I was able to join in with the team...my mates from Australia. They did heaps more than what's in these pics (alot of these pics show no hard work, haha), but they sure have been working their butts off.

Taking the guys on a songtaew - Me and Rach ^

The team working with the kids at Samut Chedi Cell church ^

Jules, Lani and me hanging out at the church ^ And below, Mary and I at the church

Rach sharing her amazing testimony (and Mum translating) of being healed by God from a life-threatening nut allergy in order to be able to come on this Thailand trip

The team with members and children of Samut Chedi cell church.

Eating dinner one night before going to play soccer in Bang Na with Num and some guys from YWAM Bangkok ^


With Barb, picking her husband up from the airport! Haha - we made a sign for him. ^
Num came and led worship one night, and shared his testimony with the team and another girl from my parent's local slum (this girl then decided to open her heart more to Jesus after hearing about Him for the first time through Num's testimony!) ^^^

The next pics are on a day trip (YESTERDAY) to Kanchanaburi...at the war cemetry, on a boat to the River Kwai bridge, walking on the bridge, and elephant riding....................


A typical Aussie photo ^^ Checking the time







The team has done so much for us in the last couple of weeks. They have taken over the kids programs and through that, given my parents an opportunity to get to know the ADULTS who come along and watch (because usually they are so busy taking care of the kids), they have helped my parents to build relationships with the neighbours (who have come over curiously to see what all the farangs are doing), and they have filled our house with FUN and JOY! They have done heaps more for us, but it's too much to write.

THANKYOU AUSSIE TEAM!!!!!!!! For letting God use you, for having the energy to do everything you did, and for being willing to be out all day doing stuff in the heat, just to serve God here. When I move to Isaan, PLEASE COME AND VISIT and do the same for me!!

Engagement :-D

Here are some pics of the other day!










THE STORY...

Noom and I met at Imperial mall, went to get icecream at Swensens (where, on the way, a girl at a "ring" shop asked Noom "have you given it to her yet" hahaha). Noom asked me if I wanted to go ice skating, and I thought that was a little weird because he had never been ice skating and said he never wanted to go. But he knew I REALLY wanted to go. So we went ice skating, and he was acting weird but I thought it was just because he was scared about going skating. After the first hour Noom went to sit out and spent awhile with his backpack so I started suspecting things, and THEN he came back onto the rink and gradually stopped holding onto the rails (coz it was his first time skating!). So we went into the middle of the rink and he wanted to sit down, but then it was sooo cold so he stood up again and I realised he had something in his pocket (I thought it was his phone and that it may have gotten wet from sitting on the ice). So I said "what's in your pocket?" And he said "oh - nothing" then he said "Actually, a ring" and I was like "WHAT?!" and he said "I have something for you." Then he reached into his pocket and took out a box, and he said "I love you soooo much and this ring is from my heart. Will you marry me?" He opened up the box and this ring (pictured above) was sitting on rose petals. And, of course, I said: YES! So, in the middle of the ice skating rink on 7th October 2008 at about 2pm, our engagement became official!

Aussie team!!

We have the team here now...the folks from Aussie...which is very exciting!!!

I've been helping out a bit here and there. On Sunday we went across the river to Samut Chedi to go to church, and I have some photos BUT I haven't got organised enough yet - camera battery is flat!!

A funny story: Last night we took two taxis (10 people) to play soccer in Bang Na with Num and some YWAM guys - Rach, Jules, Ben and Peter played with them. And yeah, when Jules was on the field a thai guy came up behind her and she said to him "woah, where did you come from" (because she didn't realise he was there) and he said "I COME FROM THAILAND!" So that was pretty funny.

Pics coming soon :-)

Oh, and now I am officially engaged - Num gave me a ring today! The next blog will be about that :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Recordings...

Last weekend Num and I, along with his friend Nut, recorded some songs Num and Nut had written. The below "videos" are two recordings we did - songs named Ruu Suek (the first recording) and Lerm Dton Mai (the second recording). Num is the singer in both of them, Nut is the guitarist (lead, solo and bass) and the keyboard part in Ruu Suek is done by me.

Enjoy!!!

Ruu Suek...


Lerm Dton Mai...


Recording Num's voice for Lerm Dton Mai:

Recording Nut's guitar playing:
Num and I after recording:
Num and Nut after recording:

Newsletter (FINALLY!) and a VIDEO!

OK finally here is my newsletter :-) I will be sending these out quarterly. If you didn't receive my last one through email, but you want to, just send your email address to me. I sent this one out maybe 3 weeks ago but couldn't get it working until now :-)........

So you can download from my family's blog here

AND...if anyone wants to check out mine and Num's vision for Isaan, along with some songs that Num has written and a few of our clips from Isaan, check out this video!



Thanks!!

Continued "Crazy Taxi Rides"...and the last 24 hrs

Well...after my blog last night Num and I went in another taxi today...and we crashed!! It was nothing big, luckily! But there ya go...

I'm putting on some pics from the last 24 hrs here in Bangkok. Yesterday we went to Soy Bearing for an hour and today we got some free haircuts from Num's aunt! So...the pics...


Rin and I at Soy Bearing...I missed her, haven't seen her in ages!

And what d'ya know...I CAN cook!! (see below) Cooking breakfast...

MMM yummmm FISH ^^^
And Num blow drying my hair...haha...it's a good look, Num!


Num's aunt cutting my hair ^^...and his hair...

AND...the FINISHED products!!!!!!!!!........