Arm and I had a more non-traditional Christmas this year, which made us a little sad. We didn't get to go to church for the annual Christmas party because we had to go to his cousin's wedding, so we weren't able to see the Christmas play. I've never appreciated how easy it is to see a nativity scene or go see a Christmas play in America as I appreciate it now. May we never let anyone take that ability away from us no matter how loud they yell.
I was given one opportunity to talk about the true Christmas story in my upper-intermediate conversation evening class that I took on this term. On Christmas Eve, there were three students all from very different backgrounds. One is a master's student, another woman is an employee, and the third woman is getting her PhD in science. I was able to share the Christmas story with them and find out their opinions. They all said they had never heard it before, even though they had heard bits and pieces before. Some thought it was strange, which is understandable, while others thought Buddhism had stranger stories than this, so they thought it was a good story. Later, we got into a conversation about God's peace and how it's difficult for non-Christians to understand. I was able to share several stories from my own life where circumstances looked bad, but I knew God wanted me to move forward because of the peace He gave me. We also talked about how faith without works it dead. It was an interesting night.
After teaching, I joined most of the people from our church at a M's house for a Christmas Eve service. They exchanged gifts, which is probably the only gift they would get since their families don't celebrate Christmas, sang songs, listened to the Christmas story, and prayed for one another. It was a good way to spend Christmas Eve. It's nice to see how many churches in Thailand are truely a Christian family because most of their own families are not Christians, so they have two families, their biological family and their Christian family.
Please continue to pray for his sister, Eff. She met a "Christian" at school who told her she doesn't have to go to church, and so she hasn't been going. This isn't good for her at all since she isn't connected to anyone who can help her grow and learn about God. Pray that God will help her get connected with some good Christians who will take her to church and help her grow. She's also having problems with friends at school and she feels like they've all abandoned her. It's hurt her pretty badly.
Next, please pray for Jan. She's had a few more problems with her friends at school, which makes her feel more lonely than she already feels. Gossip is pretty bad in Thailand and things get blown out of proportion pretty easily, which causes problems between friends and they won't talk to each other anymore, even to find out if the gossip is true or not.
Finally, please continue to pray for Arm and I as we are preparing to go back to the states. There are so many things to prepare here as well as people to see, followed by a long plane trip (about 24-26 hours) and then more preparations and jobs to find, etc. Our heads might be dizzy by the end! Please pray that God will give us wisdom in all of our decisions and peace about everything we decide to do. Pray for:
- spending quality time with people here
- packing or selling what we own (it isn't much, which is a blessing hahaha)
- the travelling
- the dogs to survive the journey to the US
- jet lag
- jobs in the U.S.
- settling in to our new place
- friends for Arm and I
- Arm to not get too homesick. He's used to talking to his parents every 3 days and seeing them at least once a month. We've hooked them up with internet and we'll be giving them my phone so they can call us, but it will still be an adjustment.
Thank you so much. We'll be leaving on Feb. 20th EARLY in the morning (about 5am) and then arriving in Memphis 24 hours later on Feb. 20th at 5pm (no, I'm not kidding). Time changes are a little crazy haha.
I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas and are anxiously looking forward to what God has for all of us in the coming year!
No comments:
Post a Comment