reach strategically

Merry Christmas to all of you brothers and sisters around the world!! This year's Christmas is very different and exciting for me. So many things I did, and the fun and the joy of giving really overflows my heart. There is really not a moment when I cannot feel the love, this season is such a great time to share the love and the joy. Wherever I go, I see smiley faces. Though I am not with my biological family for this Christmas, God has provided me with a great family from over here. For the Christmas Eve, me and a bunch of friends from our group at church decorated the youth room and decorated a Christmas tree. And for the Christmas day, we did an all day activities. Played games, did a gift exchange, prayed together, and on the evening they all came to my house and had dinner together. That was a wonderful time we spend together. After dinner, we spent some time going around and give thanks to the Lord that He has given us a "family". A lot of them had felt like this

to the valley... hear our praises rise to you. That was a song that we sung over and over again in our church. And who ever thought that I actually get to go to the mountain and hear the praises, being raised up to the Lord. It was an amazing opportunity that I had and I am so grateful that God given me the chance to go. This is a story about a revival that happens among the Karen people, one of the hill tribes of Thailand.  Even though I was so tired after all of the activities in the city, my Spirit was burning with curiosity about what is happening. The night we got there, I saw hundreds of youths fill this church. Some said, it could possibly be a thousand youth gather for this event. Oh I can just feel the presence of God there. It was amazing to see things like this. Here I am, in the middle of nowhere, where in some village there is not an electricity or running water yet and the spirit of the Lord is being poured out to this people.  The camp last for three days, and in

"Do you not know?    Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,    the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary,    and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary    and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary,    and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the LORD    will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;    they will run and not grow weary,    they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31 All of us have probably memorize or over heard that verses before. And so do I, but there are only a few moments in my life when every word of it came alive. Like this week.  After all these time preparing for their coming, finally the Indonesian team is here! There are about 60 of them and they did different things here in the city. It was so good but overwhelming at the same time because I get to use all 3 language

Hello again everyone. It is about that time of the week where I share with you things that happen around here. I attend a friend's wedding last Sunday. My co-workers Little and Dough at the church got married, it is such an exciting thing because they have been dating for about 9 years and now they are married. I am so happy for them and I know that everyone is too. It was a big celebration, over 400 people show up and I just knew that this couple is really blessed, just by seeing how people would travel 8-9 hours to just attend the wedding. So a huge warm congratulation for Pi Little and Dough!! Now besides the wedding, there are major change happening with my ministry here. I found out last week that the person who is in charge for a lot of things in the church have resigned. It is for a good reason, I believe and I know that God is working everything for our good. So there is some major transition happens right now in our church, and I am taking more and more responsibility

Sometimes I wonder if that if we should love our neighbors literally. Like loving the person who's house is next to us, whom their dogs keeps you up at night, the one who gossip about you and things like that. Well, I think it can be taken to an extend, just love people. Well, love isn't something you just say or feel, it is an action. So here we are acting out that love to our neighbor. Most of you probably have heard about the big flood that hit Chiang Mai last week. And one of the lady from our church got it really bad. The water was probably a meter high in her house and she lost a lot of things. And I know there are a lot of families in our church who got flooded as well. So last Sunday we split up into 4-5 groups and we went and help different houses clean the mud and the dirt from the flood. As you can see from the picture below how bad the water get into the house. We went as a youth group to help cleaning up the mess. When we reached her house, the wat

It rained so hard last night and see what we got up this morning to. It was somewhat expected but we never knew when it's actually going to come. The houses by the river banks are flooded badly, a lot of people have to be evacuated including our pastor's family. The staff helped moved their stuff to the higher place and right before they were evacuated themselves, the water went in to their house. Now they are staying at a guesthouse nearby. No major damage, but a lot shops and stores are closed down by the river area.  Oak (the pastor's son) said that the last time they've had this was in 2006. And it was so bad and they are hoping that this year doesn't get as bad as that year.  So please pray for the city right now. Not just Chiang Mai, but there are other 12 provinces of Thailand that are having this flooding issue. It's been going on for the past month or so. But it just got to Chiang Mai today.  The house we stayed in suppose to get floode

Yeah, that is what they said to me. But me and Kayla (a girl from Bethany intern) rock the field. We had a ton of fun. Yeah, that is what happen in the church last Sunday. They had a soccer competition at the church and then grilled pork buffet (moo kha tha) afterward! It is a great event where everyone gather and enjoy each others company. It is so good to be with the body of Christ. The Sunday service was really good, the preacher was a missionary from Australia and he preach on really good subject that encourages a lot of us. But what's really good is that the pastoral team feels like they want to pray for the missionaries in Chiang Mai, they got a word that sometimes what missionaries are doing doesn't seem matter or making a big impact. But they just want to let us know that we are making a difference and that God sees all of it. So they had all the missionaries stood up and have the Thais pray for us. An older lady came up to me and a few other girls gather around me and

Hello again everyone!! Oh man, it's been a busy week! The Bethany interns got here and things got a little crazy from there. But besides all that I am doing super well and more excited than ever. Well, I just want to share with you this story that happened about 2 weeks ago. We had a Bible study after church and we were talking about God, and if Jesus really risen from the dead. So we got into a pretty good discussion, which hardly ever happen because the girls just doesn't seem to care that much. But that week, they were, so they were asking questions and we were able to discuss things out. I personally had a breakthrough moment, on which I explain of how's Christ's resurrection should effect our life? I spoke Thai (with some Biblical terms) for 10 minutes straight without stopping, and words just came out so lively out of my mouth. I can't even believe it. The girls were also kind of in shock that I was able to speak the message so clearly to them. It was the Holy

Like I said in my previous blog, that I have moved in to my new house with my new house mates: Jasmine and Amy. There is a lot of things we have to do for that house, but it came with a furniture and reasonable price. We were really happy to have the deal with that house because of the location, that it is near to the city, a walk to the students houses and a walk to the church I am working with. It's just a blessing to all of us. Couple of you have asked what the house look like, so here is some pictures of the house so you can have an idea how awesome our house is. :) This is the front of our house and here's a few shots on the inside. It is not completely arranged yet, but we're getting there. :) Yes, we are so blessed with such a nice house. My room is a lot smaller than the one I have before but I like it kind of small. That way I don't have to worry about cleaning it and filling it. Haha... I am just blessed, so blessed. And this is my new transportation around th

Sawatdee-kha everyone! It is almost been a month since I am back in Thailand. Loving it! The first week was settling into the apartment, I stayed with the Chiang Mai House of Prayer, the room was wide and nice, I am so blessed to be able to stay with them. It is so great to see many people and friends that you haven't seen in a long time and I was able to catch up with some of them. Being at the church also just bless my heart. I was able to talk with some friends (though I am still getting my Thai language back) and just had a really blessed time with the Thais. Couple of weeks ago, a few friends from Bethany came to the city! Hurray! There are going to be interns joining us in a about a week from now and I am just super excited about that. I was able to help them with finding houses, and in fact, yesterday I moved in to my new house, which I shared with two of my great friends from Bethany. It is a lovely one story house with a lot of trees and plants so it keeps us co

Sawatdee-kha from Thailand! Now I am back in the field again, it feels so good to be here. The flight to Thailand was great, it went so smoothly and there was no problem at all, praise God. Even though it was hard to say goodbye to my family and friends again, I am excited for this new season in my life that God has. God has spoken a lot things to my heart, and I know that this is not going to be easy, but I know one thing that when He opens the door, then no man can shut. And I know that he is always with me. So with that in mind, here I am ready to make some change. I am currently living in a town house near the church I am gonna be working with. I lived with a couple from Pakistan, and down in the first floor (I live in the 3rd floor) is the House of Prayer. So it's a blessing to be able to be quiet and pray down there. That is the view from my room. I got quite large room for my self, the room itself can contain 3 beds without a problem, so you know where to stay whe

"Are you sure you want to do this?" "Yes. Even though it's hard, but I know this is what I made for." That was a conversation I had with my manager when I submitted my resignation letter. Everybody was kind of sad about it, but I am ready to make the change. Like I said before, I am going to Thailand. And I am going to tell you why and my plans while I am there. The Vision: When I was there in 2009-2010, God gave me a vision about raising the army of young people. A lot of people have believed that a revival is coming to Thailand and I really want to be a part of it. I sense that my task is not finished yet when I leave Thailand in 2010, I knew that God is calling me back there to finish the work that He has started. I know greater and bigger things are still to be done in that nation. I am going to be mainly working with the local church called Acts Church, and will be mentoring some of the youth group as well as teaching English. But at the same time, I have m

I have been thinking that it is about time to update all of you with things that happen in this part of the world. The weather has been so hot, but then it can rain all of a sudden, so a lot of people get a flu and some people in our church caught some of that. But praise God I am staying healthy and still as great as I was yesterday. Working has been going really well. Like I mention in my previous blog that I am currently working at Starbucks. There has been a few challenges but God is so good, He always there to give me the strength I need. I don't really like coffee to begin with but when you went to college and then work in the coffee shop, you gotta love coffee! And now I am a big fan of it. Yeah. Someone said to me, and I forget who said to me but when they prayed for me, they got the word: Coffee. They said that people would find coffee wherever they go. Coffee is received, accepted in all around the world. Rich or poor, no matter what race, what kind of background, what ki

Hello again. A quick updates from me! Well I got accepted at Starbucks nearby. It is very close to my house and I have been working for the past week. And I am loving it! If you know me, you know how much I love meeting people, being active and making coffee. Yes, coffee. I have been converted to be a coffee lover, and I also drink it black sometimes. But anyways, because of that life has been busy and tiring. I worked 9 hours a day, 5 days a week with a salary less than 200$/month. And I am super thankful. I know that sounded really small to some of you but, let me share with you one thing about this job. Status is a very big thing around here. And me, being educated overseas and had a lot of experience with languages and people have a pretty high status. So it is kind of surprising for a lot of people that I would go and work at a coffee place. I can get so much more than that... and around here, people kind of look down to people who work like this because you have to wipe down tabl

Wow, I haven't updated this blog since forever ago. I am deeply sorry. Since I started my new photography blog, my travel blog is forgotten. But I am back to keep you updated about what is up lately. Ok, just to run it quickly. I went home last January and has been really enjoying it. The transition back home is not as hard as I thought, I fit back in almost completely and I have been so thankful, that I have a great community of believers here. And I am able to get plugged in to ministry in my home church. It has been a huge, huge blessings. (me in the dance team one Sunday, I love being able to dance again!) I am having a great time catching up with family... we went to Jogjakarta couple of weeks ago and just enjoy each other company. I love being together with my family, sometimes it is kind of hard to get together because of our busy schedule, but we manage to have a family "vacation" in the midst of our hectic time. It