My BoYz!!!

As of October, we have a new boys home on our property! We have been waiting with eager expectancy for their arrival and within a very short time, I have just as much love for these boys as I do for the girls I have been with all year. Something about boys tugs at my heartstrings…

There are eight young men that now call Remember Nhu their home, and they range in age from 6 to12. Several of them were previously being sponsored by our organization to help pay for their basic needs as we waited to have a physical home they could come to. It is so obvious that they are overjoyed to be here and that they are so thankful to be in this environment. What a blessing to provide for these little guys!!!

(Photo credit on this picture to Heather Hurt, Calluna Photography - www.callunaphotography.com)

When I returned from Phuket/Koh Samui in early November, I was sitting at church and one of the boys (9 years old) walked in, saw me, LIT up, and ran over to give me a hug. He asked to sit by me and told me that he was so excited because he thought I had gone home with the Solid Rock team - melted my heart!!! This little man is so precious! Everyday he comes home and starts his homework without being asked “so that he can play soccer as much as possible after dinner” and consistently tells me that I have pretty fingernails. Hahaha ~ Lil flirt J

I have loved getting to know them individually. We have been playing soccer, digging in the dirt for bugs, and running around etc… – yay boy stuff! “snakes and snails and puppy dog tails… that’s what little boys are made of ” ~ hahaha. I honestly could care less what we do though, I am completely wrapped around their fingers!

In a short time I have had so many memorable experiences with these guys! Between taking them to pro soccer games with some of the other staff members, and fireworks nights (for those of you who know me well, you know that this is one of my favorite things ever), I find myself repeatedly counting my blessings. What a joy to spoil them. It blesses my heart to see how grateful they are - so in awe of what they have been given. It is SO FUN to show them that they are loved, they are cherished, and that they do have a hope for the future. The fact that I get to share in their story is a blessing in itself. 

I’m in love with all of them…  <3

(Photo credit on this picture to Heather Hurt, Calluna Photography - www.callunaphotography.com)

The Best of Both Worlds!

*Note: Check out a picture collage that goes with this post 

@ www.callunaphotography.com!!!

October 24th through November 4th – a team of 18 people from Solid Rock (my church in Oregon) came to Thailand to serve with Remember Nhu on a short-term missions trip. They came to learn the culture, to help work on our new property, and to love on all the kids here. What they didn’t know was that I had been anticipating their arrival for months!
The idea that some of my friends, and a team from my home were going to be HERE was like a dream come true – the best of both worlds!!! The first few days that they were here, I was literally giddy. I couldn’t sleep, and I was reveling…. Being able to have deep conversations (in English!), doing group devotionals and worship time – it was all so refreshing. I think I probably told everyone a billion times how I felt so blessed to have them here.

The longer that they were here, the more encouraged I was to see their heart for this ministry, and these children. In a matter of two weeks, I had a group of people who understood a glimpse of my life, who shared my heart for this place and these people. In a selfish way, I have been so thankful to finally feel known. To have people who have seen what my life looks like first hand, and not who have just heard about it. To have a group of people from my community at home who now care just as much about “my kids” as I do. What joy…

God is definitely moving in this ministry. He is upholding the cause of the poor and the orphan- rescuing His children from injustice, and it is so fun to be a part of the work that He is doing! It amazes me how He calls us each individually to partner with Him in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into the here and now - so humbling to be a part of this story.

  

(Pics of dancing at a village &  playing 'heads-up seven-up')

Solid Rock has been teaching a series lately on what it looks like to be salt and light to the world based on the verses in Matthew 5:13-16. This is what it looks like… Living on mission together - encouraging one another, and fighting together for a common cause. This season I have had a taste of what that is like and it is addicting. We are made to live that way and I pray that I may continue to do that every day of my life – even as it changes shape and season.

Check out the Team’s Blog (4 posts total) with their thoughts during the trip…
http://www.hearthecry.com/category/cambodia-thailand/

Community

“I found it hard to realize divine things. I was more tried with desires after the world, than for two years past… the prospect of leaving all the comforts and the communion of saints… weighed heavy on my spirit. My heart was almost ready to break.” ~ Henry Martyn, missionary to India in 1806 (Let the Nations Be Glad, p95)

Somehow, this excerpt from Martyn’s journal, as melancholy as it is, I find so encouraging! Knowing that the thoughts, emotions, and struggles I am facing are nothing new gives me a renewed strength. I am not alone. People have undergone the same things (and honestly, way worse – no Skype, Facebook, email ahh!), and did so with joy knowing it was for the sake of the gospel. Despite the fact that this was written by a man over 200 years ago, nothing much has changed. I miss the "comforts" (hot showers, soft bed, mom’s cooking) and “the communion of saints” – my family and friends!!!  I understand his heart here so clearly.

When I was home I told a lot of people that the hardest thing about this time has been a lack of companionship. I deeply missed living alongside community and having someone to share my life with. I desired someone who would understand and encourage me in moments of difficulty and discouragement. I needed a Barnabus!

HE HAS ANSWERED THAT PRAYER! Threefold! (God is that awesome)! Two weeks after coming back to Asia, God delivered me a new roommate. Sheri is a fifty year old, widowed nurse, and is gifted in all the ways I am lacking. She is an amazingly strong woman who is teaching me what it looks like to walk with the Lord in every stage and season of life.  What an awesome example of a prayer intercessor and it has been awesomely refreshing to learn from someone who is content in her singleness (as much as I love my girls back home, sometimes I think we make it harder on each other!)!  AND, even as I write this, Beth and Brian, a young missionary couple who served on the World Race last year, are moving into Carl and Laurie’s apartment next door (until they return at the end of the month). Friends and Mentors all under my roof! Thank you Jesus. <3

This year has taught me a couple things about community. #1 – Ultimately, God is enough. When everything else is stripped away, and all that is left is the Lord, you find yourself desperate for Him, and He will answer - He is more than enough, and will be faithful to satisfy you completely in Himself.  He never wants us to feel alone or discouraged, and He is a constant companion, an intimate friend, someone who knows my heart better than I even do, and He promises comfort and unconditional love. 

But… #2 – We are meant to live in community and I can honestly say that I value my family, my church family, and my friends more than I ever have in my life. There are no words to properly display how blessed I feel to be a part of something so good. I miss you all very much, and am so thankful for every one of you. Thank you for your love, your prayers, your encouragement. You are infinitely valuable and I am grateful for you beyond what I can express.

Love <3

To & From America ~ Processing

Before I even begin, a special shout out to my sister and to Justin Janes who seriously made a HUGE impact in me being able to process when I was in America and afterwards as well. God is doing awesome things through both of you. Thank you, I am so grateful!

Adjusting between one culture and another is something that is hard to explain unless you yourself have done it. After living in a developing country for a week, you find yourself changed (I definitely did after serving in Haiti last October). Returning after six months, you question who you are…  I constantly found myself wondering if the changes were a temporary thing that were a part of readjusting to my environment, and how much of me had been changed forever.

Being in America in July and August (sorry, I know that was a while ago now), was definitely a vacation to be remembered. Two weddings in different cities, (a bridesmaid both times), and a family reunion at the coast all tightly scheduled into a few weeks. Not to mention trying to see all my friends, have time for church presentations, and eating as much Chipotle as possible in 30 days. J The day I landed in America I had a hair appointment and a dress fitting to prepare for the wedding I would be in three days later (thankfully this one was in Portland).  Everything worked out so well though, and ran smoothly. It was great though to see so many people though at one event!

The next wedding, a week later in Seattle – everything seemed to be going wrong. The dresses and tuxes came in hours before the ceremony in the wrong color, the hotel lost reservation information, and people got parking tickets for having their ticket stub on the wrong window… And all this for a couple that had been engaged forever and a bride who is CrAzY organized (love her to death)! In the end everything worked out, the night was beautiful, and it forced me to sink-or-swim being put back into situations where multi-tasking is a way of life.

When I finally got to the week of our family reunion, I was ready to just CHILL. The first 48 hours at our family’s beach house I did not even go down to the beach! I was reveling in the fact that I did not have anything to do but sleep and read and eat – oh the blessedness of vaca J.

When all was said and done, at the end of my 30 days home, I felt refreshed, re-energized, encouraged, and ready to pour out to the children and staff here in Asia. Thank God for summer froyo nights and such an unbelievable group of people I have in my life!!! My friends, family, and church community had brought me back to the place where I was excited to be a part of the ministry working over here. 

And then I came back... My first few weeks were processing and re-adjusting all over again! This time alone though which made it harder. I thought that after being here for six months, I would just be able to jump back in. How ignorant! Not sure what made me think that, since it was not that way in America, where I had lived basically my whole life…  I had sped back up to an American pace, and had adjusted to spending every waking moment with my friends and family. There are definitely days when I wish I could combine the best of both worlds…

It wasn’t long though before I was able to step back into old routines, to let the joy of rambunctious children supercede the rest of my day, and delight myself in the purpose of this cause. I am being taught so much in such a short amount of time, and regardless of what comes next, I am excited to see where He is leading!

Hoping, filled with joy, and loving the adventure… <3

MTV EXIT: Boybands & Benefit Booth

A few weeks ago I started looking into a local concert that was going to be held in Thailand as part of MTV’s ‘EXIT’ – 'End Exploitation and Trafficking' - campaign. I quickly realized this was going to be a HUGE event. They were predicting over 20,000 people in attendance and tickets were sold out. It would feature Super Junior M – one of the most popular bands in Asia along with a few other popular Thai groups, and its purpose was to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking. The concert was five days away, so I sent off an urgent email to see if we could hold a booth to represent our cause at the venue.

Praise God, we got the last NGO spot! In 48 hours, some of the girls from a World Race team and I put together a benefit booth – complete with banners, info cards, a video, candy, prizes for a donation raffle, and we decided we would sell glow sticks! (What teenager cannot refuse a glow stick at a concert?) The booth looked awesome, but it had been raining hard all afternoon so unfortunately we did not have as many people stop by as we would have liked. 

As the concert started, and the rain continued to pour, we decided to take action. Several of us grabbed info cards, hooked some glow sticks around our necks, and went up to the gates where they were letting people in. We started handing out the flyers, talking to people, giving away candy, and selling glow sticks for 5B (about 20 cents each). We were the only organization near the front doors and we proceeded to hand out 1,000 info cards, sell almost 800 glow sticks and we had an AwEsOmE TiMe. The benefit concert was a perfect place to raise awareness and it felt great to be out there working to bring change.

As the night went on, even the security guards at the front were helping us, calling out prices on the glow sticks and letting us go in and out of the concert even though we didn’t have tickets. Check out SUPER JUNIOR M (if you skip ahead to 0:58 they start singing the chorus in english)!

All fun aside – this night was truly a blessing from God. I have no idea how we were able to pull everything together on such short notice and the exposure we got was just what we were looking for (despite the tropical monsoon). FUN & FRUITFUL J

The Exchanged Life

Summer! (well, at least Summer in the states – it has been cooler and rainier here). But, because many people are on break in the U.S. we have been especially busy. Back-to-back teams visiting, short-term interns, and a Bible Study with one of Carl’s long time mentors, Dr. John Geib. John is a phenomenal teacher and we have been going through one of his courses entitled, ‘Exchanging Life with the Word of Life.’

The staff here – both English speakers, and Thai natives, have been studying about five hours a week in class, and then going through various assignments on our own, and we have all commented about how influential this study has been on our faith. Realizing the gravity of allowing the Spirit to live and work in and through us, seeing Jesus as the ultimate example of someone who was led by the Spirit, and understanding the truth in that concept as we personally explore the Bible’s teachings has been incredible.

What amazing timing it has been for me! With a crazier schedule, now doing six hours of English study a day with Nhu, and me personally feeling the strain of time away from my support and community at home, it has been amazing to reflect on this, and to realize that nothing I do is really in my own power or strength. I technically “knew” this concept before, and I think it is something that many Christian churches teach, but I for one can say that I definitely did not dig deep enough into this to really understand what that meant in my life.

The love that I desire to radiate, the patience that I have been praying for, the discipline I am aiming at – all of that is not of me. And when I try to do it in my own strength, I fall so short and then get frustrated and try to struggle through it. How much easier it is to give it all to Him, and let Him work through us! But for some reason we just cannot give up the control. We cannot let go of our lives. We cannot concede everything to Him, and if we do – we ask for part of it back shortly thereafter! This study is teaching me to surrender everything daily – to ask Him to be my everything and to work through me in ways I am completely incapable of doing on my own. It changes everything…

John 14: 12-17

Back to Basics @ Bow and Boots

The last few days I have been staying at Bow and Boot’s house – the second children’s home on the property. Until now, I have been staying at the larger children’s home – which is a much nicer building and where R-Nhu typically houses guests and short-term interns.  With Nhu gone for a little while, I have had some extra time and it was important to me to spend some quality time with the girls who live at the other home. I have really bonded with the girls I live with, and naturally so – but I wanted to make sure that I really connect with the other girls and get to know them on a deeper level as well. They speak much less English, so I am really being pushed to use my Thai!

Living at the other house has been so fun and though the conditions are much more rough, I am loving spending time over there. Their house is simply big enough for their bunk beds and storage containers. They eat, do homework, and live the rest of the time in an open area under a grass roof. I am brushing my teeth in the mornings using water from the hose and a little cup because they do not have sinks. Showers, like at the other house, are cold and you use a bowl to scoop water out of a giant bucket (imagine garbage can that goes out at the street). It is definitely an adjustment to only be inside when I am sleeping (or working at the other house).

 

The girls literally melted my heart when I heard how excited they were that I was coming to bunk with them for the next week. I think I may need to make it a more regular occurrence during my time here. Despite their living conditions, these girls are happy and fun and smart and silly and I am sure I’m learning more from them than they are from me.  I know I’ve said it before, but what a joy to share my life with these girls and what a privilege it is to be a part of their story.

Another fun little treat has been sharing my evenings with a “toukay” (no idea what the English spelling of this word is). Toukays are lizards who, if they decide to bite you, lock their jaws, and do not let go until they are dead… literally. So…. We are kind of scared of them around here. Doesn’t sound like fun to me trying to kill a lizard whose jaws are locked onto my flesh! Well, we have a toukay living on the roof at the house. It frequently makes its homes in the framing and two nights ago I swear it was inside the pole a foot above my bunk. They make this gurgling sound and then literally say “toukay” – hence their name. Fun lil creatures…

On a more serious note, it has been nice also to separate my work and living spaces. Until now, I have been working in my room for the most part, so it is nice to divide these two parts of my life. I have been so much more focused all around! And now, when I leave my work – I literally am able to just leave it and turn my attention 100% to my family here.  With a lot of teams here for the U.S. summer months, I have needed to be more disciplined in how I am spending my time, and this has made it so much easier!

The World Race team here has also been a major blessing. (World Race = missionary organization that sends teams out to visit 11 countries in 11 months! www.theworldrace.org). I am absolutely loving getting to know this group of people, and they have been awesome enough to let me share in their worship and group devotional times – how I’ve missed that! A seriously transforming time and I am so excited with the way God is transforming my heart and my mind in the last few weeks. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2a)

<3 Blessed <3