Monday, June 30, 2008
pray with us...

pray with us as we spend our last 2 weeks here in thailand (and just 1 week more for shaun)!

God's been showing His goodness thru what we've seen here & the relationships we've been building up with the students, but our desire is to really go beyond teaching english in this two weeks. we're starting a little evangelism thingy each afternoon from tues to fri at 5plus and 12plus on saturday afternoons after english teaching for whatever students are at the youth house at that time. they'll be little things like maybe the colour gospel & stuff but all somehow linking back to the gospel that we might be able to let everyone who steps into the youth house not go out without hearing about God!

and in the next two weeks we're doing a lesson on 'culture & beliefs' in the uni & poly which is this great chance for us to share the gospel with the students cos we can share our christian beliefs outright in that lesson! so even as we're now planning the lesson, pray with us for ideas & to be led by God to include the right things in the presentation, & for His Spirit to be with each of us as we speak & share! next week we'll also be having an open air evangelism too, so yet another chance to be sharing the gospel. really really hope that whoever God's brought us here to share the gospel with, WILL get to hear the gospel!

so please keep us in your daily prayers! we really hope to do all we can with the time we have left here, to do all that God brought us here to do, to serve as so pleases Him! pray for our health that we'll keep going strong each day, and serve with joy & enthusiasm each day! pray we'll continue walking closely with God, waiting on Him & hearing from Him. and pray too for our families, that even as we serve out here God'll continue to protect them & keep them safe in His arms. pray too for each of the others (off, peung, jonathan, ashley, tam) that we're serving alongside in the youthhouse, that God'll be their strength thru good & hard times. thank you all of you who've been praying for us! truely appreciate each of your prayers. :)

sarah:)

Sunday, June 29, 2008
we're homeeee... in lopburi :)

we're homeeee!! in lopburi! hahahaha we missed it here! although childcare conference was super :D:D too with the many little kiddies around!

it's been a tiring packed week of journeying up to nakhon sawan, meeting tons of new faces, preparing from mon to wed for the kids programme, then session after session with energetic enthusiastic kids! 3 people on the childcare team fell sick!! but thank God for keeping us 4 in good health & for keeping the teams going! for however tiring it's been, it's been so very heartwarming & smile-inducing too!

shaun & andrew's fatherly side came out in this week & andrew nearly smuggled a boy home! except that the boy already had parents & siblings so he spared him. and shaun was going around fondling all the cute little kiddies & babies. and ruth & i kept oggling at my cutie fave baby & i had fun with my darling 6-yr-olds!

hahaha the place we stayed in was a nice resort! and we met new omf pple and got to talk abit so it was niceee. and we worked with pple with ireland, uk, new zealand, switzerland etc! fun exciting stuff!

and all at the same time each night & morning we would pray for the kids & the programme. praying for strength & joy & patience, and also for the kids to come to know God in a personal way. it was quite a change from hanging out with thai uni students, to hanging out with young missionary kids who had lotsa bible knowledge. but it was great still, in so many ways, to see the kids cooperating, the kids learning, and singing along together whilst having fun! even the ones who were challenging managed to be dealt with with loveee, so that was nice.

been exciting here in thailand! at youth house & conference... and now even as the days go byyy, keep praying for us! to continue to be seeking God, to be seeking Him even harder even! to be listening & waiting on Him. & to be ever used by Him, every moment we're here to do as pleases Him! :) it's our joy to serve Him! and He's our strength! thankeww all who've been praying for us!

sarah:)

Saturday, June 21, 2008
getting fatter.

yesterday was our day off, and it was really a relax day, had a really great lunch, and an even better dinner. and there were hardly any teaching to do, so we just spend most time sleeping and playing settlers. haha, sounds horrible. we are all getting uan (fat). but food here is really quite cheap. haha bbq buffet for around S$4 per person.

but today was a really packed day. had tons of students coming down earlier in the morning. i had to answer a phone call at 6am this morning somemore! cus everyone was still happily sleeping in bed. had to try so hard to get the student's hp no and try to make her understand tt someone else will call her back later. anw, today's students were really enthu. unlike the other students who usually come to just learn abit and play games, today's students were all out to learn things. which kept us really busy. i had to teach 2 groups of students for 4 hours straight, one group of english and another group of chinese. haha, but it was really funny to teach chinese. cus the Thais cannot pronounce the word yu. so they spend so long trying to learn my name and the word fish. haha, i felt like i was teaching a singing class sometimes too. XU-UE. XUE. sarah was quite amazing too, juggling between 2 grps of students with different english standards, and Shaun had one whole group of girls to himself(learning some chinese love songs somemore), and ruth was having a hard time teaching the girls how to play bingo while learning english. but all in all, it was pretty satisfying day, meeting alot of students, with many promises tt they will come back again soon(:

just a notice to our loyal fellow supporters. we are perfectly safe and sound here in Lopburi. we have no trouble from the protests. but do continue to pray for us, cus we will be leaving for Nakon Sawon tml. and prepare to handle KIDS! gosh! (sarah's gonna enjoy herself) yupp, we are gonna to stay at Nakon Sawon for about a week plus, during the time of the OMF conference. will be coming back to our beloved youth house on the 30 june. keep praying for us k. may not have internet access there, so might not have updates so frequently.

...empty packets...

Friday, June 20, 2008
day offff

mmmm had a day off today. nice rest. team time in the morning with andrew leading devotions (and everyone fasting breakfast hahaha). then super yummy lunch treat by ann at some niceee thai restaurant. and then we came back to discuss abit of future lesson plans. then restrest... hahaha i actually fell asleep during discussions!

woke up to join shaun who was finishing up lessons with our new favourite enthu student pang, who said i'm pretty, but andrew's fat! hahahaha. shaun wondered what i'd been teaching her during our past few days of english lessons.

then our team played settlers with tam hahaha, who provided us loads of laughter.

then we went out for steamboat! yummy yummy & so much cheaper than singaporee. less than half price for what we can get at marina bay. with cats & dogs walking around, waiting for us to feed them. so cuteee. and yummy yummy icecream for dessert there. nice & full & fatter than ever (esp andrew).

and nowww, waiting to batheee, then hang out as a team! then sleeeeeeppp and wake up tmr for lessons at the youth house! wheeee

today's been a nice slow dayyy. thank God for the rest! gonna pack for omf conference coming up in the following week! continue to keep us in prayer! that we all might continue to stay healthyy & serve God with joyy, & work together well in loveee like brothers & sisters (who fight & bicker but still loveeee) :)

sarah:)

Thursday, June 19, 2008
More Pictures!!!

pictures :)

hello guys back in singapore.
yesterday shaun had a fever. but now he is much better after resting for 2 days. tmr we're going rock climbing i think cos it's our day off!! haha. we've been working and playing hard.

today marks the end of part1 of teaching english at different schools. on sunday, we'll be leaving lop buri for nakon sawan to help out at the OMF Conference, and will only be back at the youth house at lop buri on the 30th June. so continue to keep the whole team in prayer. for team unity, journey mercy to and fro, for good health, for us to be a blessing during the OMF Conference.

okay... haha enough posts tt's full of words. im going to try to attempt pic spam. haha :)

here are some things we do at the youth house we're staying at right now!


we did up a board with our own pictures.


andrew and the youths at the youth house, playing keyboard. oh ya we teach guitar, keyboard english, chinese lessons at the youth house for most of the afternoons! except on our day off.


andrew and ashley cooking for Open House. We had 2 Youth House Open House, one on last thur and another on last sat. it's a time where youths just come here to see how the youth house is like. so we cooked our singapore food, curry, rendang and bak ku teh. we also put up singaporean preformances. haha.


andrew and sarah cleaning up after the open house. sarah is wearing "chinese costume".


me and sarah, having our very delicious lunch. the food here is really delicious and cheap!!


we ate some bugs!! haha, not bad but alittle salty.

im trying to put up more pictures all at once but it's hard. haha cos i dont know how to do it quickly. anyway, i'll try to put up more photos later tonight mayb. take care!
ruth :)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
hello from lopburi

hello everyone!!! so sorry for the missing updates and stuff. haha, and since the mongolia team finally updated, we must keep up to date too(:(:(:

actually life here in Lopburi is both relaxed and taxing. we have a good share of day-off and rest, and aslo a good share of rushing out english lessons plans, activities and logistics needs. last sat's open house was really much better. we scraped our boring presentations, and came up with skits of life in singapore, the girls did some ge-tai scene, while the guys acted out an army scene (with the poor me as the recruit being punished). haha, and after a long day of cooking, preparing, acting, decorating, attempting to talk thru our broken thai, playing games with the students, we took a break by going swimming! haha, how ironic tt i never really found time in singapore to actually do some exercise, but found plenty of time to do some here(:(:(:

on sunday was our first visit to a Thai church, the girls headed off with Tham to Parbat church (where art, mil, top are at). and the guys went to the Lopburi church with Off and Peung. i think the girls had fun, but me and shaun were totally lost with all the Thai songs and prayers (tts cus Off and Peung were involved in leading worship, so we had no translation). the day went on with me and shaun teaching english at the youth house, while the girls went to bow's house for hotpot!!! still have the cheek to not invite us!!!

oh monday was fun!! our first day off!!! woke up slightly later, (but still quite early) for a (long) time of team devotion and reflections. haha, den headed to boy's new duck noodle's stall for lunch, and ended up at monkey square/banana mall playing acarade and enjoying an hour long of Thai massage(Shaun had 2) yay! it was a fun day, and Off and Peung are really funny pple to be around with(:(: but they keep making fun of me too:(

den it was down to a mad rush of work again! haha, we were rushing out ppt slides, games and mime for the next few days. yesterday, we visited Lopburi Technical and Commerical Centre(TCC) for the first time. they were all like high school students, around 16 years old. initally it was really hard to talk to them, cus they were pretty shy, and their command of english wasnt very good (so was our command of Thai). but after a few short sessions of games, skits, mimes, and sharings, they really warmed up to us, and at the end of the lessons, a group of students even volunteered to see us to our car. according to Off and Peung, this have never happened before at TCC, and they were surprised to see how friendly the TCC students were. hope we get to meet them again, and maybe continue to invite them to the Youth House.

oh, we went back to teach the 2nd years at Rajapat university after TCC. met all the familiar faces of golf, nam, pat, buoi etc.etc. some of them who have joined us for our open house programmes. so it took no time for everyone to warm up to each other, and we started a whole series of songs and games (since the session was on singapore songs and games). haha, at the end of the day, they even taught us their game called 'sheepy sheepy sheepy sheep', it is something similar to chop chilli chop chop, and of course i was the winner. muhahah! but it was really amazing how friendly all the Thais are. hopefully, all the relationships and friendships tt we have made will bring the students to youth house, where Off and Peung can really continue to maintain the friendships and even expose them to the gospel.

haha, i seem to be writing a long long journal about whats been happening so far. today, we met the Rajapat 3rd years, and an older class of TCC students. ruth even got a rose from a girl in class. the syallabus at TCC is more flexible, so we were allowed to share abt the gospel, and on both occasion, we did share about who Jesus is, and what He has done (heart mime on the first, and colour gospel on the second). hope the short sharing will touch the students' heart, and make them want to know more abt this Jesus tt we have.

all in all, the experience in Lopburi so far have been exhilirating. the friendliness of the Thais is really surprising, and tts a wonderful avenue for us to make and meet new friends. really amazing to see how God can work in all of us. sometimes, we are just so overwhelmed by the things left to prepare, or sometimes we just dont noe what to do. But our dearest Father is forever as faithful, and always guide our steps and lips. Thank God for everything!!!

got a couple of important prayer requests. Shaun has just fallen ill today. down with cold and sore throat, but luckily no fever. he didnt join us today at the school, but rested at the youth house. pls pray for his speedy recovery, so that he can continue to serve in this ministry with all his heart. and pray that the rest of us have enough rest and fluids each day, tt we might not fall sick.

secondly is for Ashley's dad, who is currently unwell. pray for Ashley and her family, for strength, for comfort, for unity and tt everyone in the family is able to support each other in this difficult time. and esp for Ashley, for she is unable to head back to America to visit her dad.

last but not least, pray for the whole functioning of the team. not just us (the singapore team), but also for Jonathan and Ashley, Off and Peung, and Tham. pray for smooth communication even between these pple of 4 different nationalities, pray that we will be able to work together and help each other out, and let us remember that if there is one reason why we are here together, it is to bring glory to God.

kop kun karp! pra chao wei pon.

Friday, June 13, 2008
update from lopburiiii! :)

hello everyoneeee!

yet another day in lopburi's gone by... and though it's been only less than a week here, we've already witnessed God's incredible goodness in the student ministry here!

just yesterday we started teaching our first proper english lesson in the university! and today we taught another lesson. the english standard of these classes are pretty good cos they major in english & it's helped us in our communication with them. lessons have been going pretty well! and during the time we had to talk with the students, we got to tell them abt the lopburi youth house & the activities we have there (english/chinese/music lessons, etc) & invited them to come by! the students received us quite well & had fun answering the questions during our quiz about singapore as well as playing games with us! thank God it went well!

yesterday's programme also included some tracting during lunchtime! it's amazing how polite & accepting the thais are to the tracts. most wld hear us our in our broken thai, say they understood & accepted the tracts politely! haha it was probably the best tracting experience most of us had compared to the times we do it back home to pple who either pretend not to see you or take a big u-turn to try avoid crossing paths with you! thank God! for allowing the thais to be open in this way! we also had a little games stall where the students could play some game & win little prizes, and this was well-received too! thank God for all the opportunities to tell these students about the youth house & have them know such a place exists that they can hang out at & feel welcomed at regardless of religion!

we also had an open house at the youth house yesterday! haha we COOKED! bak kut teh, chicken curry & sweet & sour chicken! amazing! ok we cheated we used ready-mix packets, but still! all we who don't know how to cook managed to whip up these few dishes (including the not-so-idiot-proof sweet & sour chicken dish which we didn't know how much cornflour should be covering the chicken)!! haha and jonathan & ashley (the americans living in the youth house) whipped up a salsa dish to eat with doritos, & also made super yummy brownies! we were too preoccupied cooking to take any photos but trust us! it was a really yummy spread that night, with singaporean, mexican & thai food. and best of all! some students we met in class in the morning actually turned up!! God is grrrreat! we got to present our cultural items to them (we had the typical singaporean powerpoint presentation done by shaun, a testimony shared by andrew & a song-cum-"dance" singapore song hahaha.) then we ate & hung around playing games with the students, playing guitar/keyboard together & just talking to them, making them feel welcome!

it was just simply a great day, to see the students come & feel comfy here! and from the conversations all we pple living at the youth house had with them, it was real encouraging to hear how the students felt welcomed at the youth house & were interested in coming back!

a particularly encouraging story was of this guy student andrew & ruth took for english lessons at the youth house on our 2nd day in lopburi. at that time he didn't seem too interested in the lesson or didn't seem to understand them very well. even when we went out for dinner & he came along we didn't get to talk much with him. however yesterday we heard! that that guy has expressed interest in christianity & off & peung got a chance to tell him about the gospel! it's super amazing encouraging to see the work God is doing in this place!

as we reflected on our day yesterday, our hearts were simply thankful to our amazing God. that this is the One, who calms our fears & uncertainties. this is the One true God that enables us to step forward & speak to students, to give them tracts & invite them to the youth house, even with the limited thai that we speak. And this is the One true God who bring the students to the youth house to hang out, and we believe, in His time, to allow them to understand & accept the gospel.

indeed it is a whole process of which we play a part in helping to tell the masses of the existence of the youth house, and for those who come, to do our best to make them feel welcome here, and when the chance arises to share why we believe in Christ Jesus! we're starting to get a feel of how things work here. how the work here hardly has instantaneous results, but that is hardly what we need to look for, for we know that God will do His work that is lasting, in His perfect time!

so pray for us! that we stay in good health & keep interacting well with the thais! we thank God for how good He has been in allowing us to see some fruit in this really short time we've spent here so far! it's been so so encouraging! but pray that we might not let our guard down, or work any less hard or pray any less hard now! but that we'll continue to take time to spend with God that we might we guided each step of the way. that at each moment we'll know what we ought be doing as He leads us by His spirit!

and so our time here goes on! till we update again! maybe with photos next time!

sarah:)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
going well so farrr :)

wheeee, the end of day one in lopburi has come.. and so far it's been loads of laughter & smiles & fun & good food, and even abit of english teaching for ruth & me on our first day at the youthhouse! exciting! :D it's beeen like a dream since i woke up this morning! but it's been a nicenice dreammmyy feeling! (and everytime i say that, andrew tries to pinch/whack/slap me to wake me up from it, so mean! :'()

we've been enjoying taking in the sights thus far, and had a good session of orientation with ann mcclean today as she intro-ed us to thailand, and reminded us that this whole trip & really all of missions, is not about ourselves, but about God. and we're here, and inspite of whatever concerns we might have, whatever problems/conflicts might arise, however sian/homesick/etc we might get along the way, we can look to God to find motivation in Him to continueee, to keep on going!

continue to keep us in prayer! even as we continue orientation & sightseeing around lopburi tomorrow to familiarise ourselves with this place we're calling home for the next 5 weeks! on thursday & saturday we'll be having open house at the youth house! so keep that in prayer too as we share with the students our singapore culture, we hope we can make friends & get more pple coming to the youth house for activities :D also keep in prayer our upcoming english lessons in the schools where we have to dress super formally! think shirt (maybe tie) & pants, and for girls skirts with blouse! we're not sure exactly how it'll be so there's some bit of anxiety so keep us in prayer! esp for andrew & me whose grasp of thai is so very, basic. hahaha. but we've been picking up words today! as we taught the thais english they taught us thai!! how exciting! :D

so yepppps, glad to be part of this beautiful community for the next 5 weeks! and excited about the pple we're gonna meet and really what God can do during this stay here! keep the prayers coming! :D

and thankyouuuuu all your dear lovely ones who came to the airport to send us off so early in the morning! (thankyouuu my dear cluster friends for staying over at the airport! and surprising me!! :))

so we're off to bed soon i thinkk, it's been a longgg but happyy day! All thanks to God! :) gooodnight friends!

sarah:)

Sunday, June 8, 2008
2 more nights...

two more nights before we set off!

as andrew's said, mongolia team's set off in the week that just went by, and japan team's coming back tmr night! and on tuesday it'll finally be our turn!

for anyone interested/curious, our flight details for this tuesday are as follows:
Departure:
Depart S'pore 10 June 7.10am
Arrive Bangkok 10 June 8.35am
Changi Airport Terminal 1
Flight no.: 3K511 (jetstar)

so we'll be at airport at 5am this tuesday! going in the gates around 6.15-6.30am! :)

as for our return flights, details are as follows:
Return:
Depart Bangkok 15 July 6.15pm
Arrive S'pore 15 July 9.30pm
Changi Airport Terminal 1
Flight no.: FD3507 (airasia)

Shaun's returning earlier though, so his return flight details are:
Shaun's Return:
Depart Bangkok 8 July 6.15pm
Arrive S'pore 8 July 9.30pm
Changi Airport Terminal 1
Flight no.: FD3507 (airasia)

Do continue to keep us in prayer as we finish up the rest of our prep for our english/chinese lessons & buy whatever we have left to buy before we fly! Also pray for good health here & during our trip. For team unity - for gd friendships to be made as we serve God alongside each other! And most importantly, for us to always remember to take time to listen to God, to listen & obey His voice thruout the trip, that we may find joy & strength for each new day as we carry out His plans & purposes for us in thailand! :)

sarah:)

Thursday, June 5, 2008
All the Best Mongolia Team!!

Just went to send the Mongolia team off, haha, dont noe whether it will be a sense of dejavu for us when we leave in 6 days time! WOOH!! 6 DAYS!! time really flies(:

anw, just wanted to say all the best to the Mongolia team-Jonny, Teck Tee, Dorea, Darren and Glory! May the Lord bless the team with good health and unity, and may the team always be humble to entrust and listen to God. Jia YOU!! XD

~andrew

Monday, June 2, 2008
Church visitation-to St Andrew's Cathedral(:

Hello everyone!

today was quite an exciting day. haha, cus the team visited my church (on their own invitation), n it was a pretty cool idea to allow them to meet all my church friends. plus the fact tt my service was in chinese, so they had to struggle to understand all the sermons and sing the chinese worship songs. muahaha, now they understand my initial struggle to sing those seemingly popular and easy english songs:p but i think they generally had a fun time, and some of them (like sarah) even caught up with some long-lost friends, and ruth found her senior too. lol, God brings pple together in many ways. yupp, and my team mates also joined my cell for lunch, and ruth even stayed back for bible study (on holy trinity, in chinese). haha, hope u all had a great day in SAC(:

oh, today we just received a timetable of what we are likely to be doing there. haha, things are falling in place now as the trip draws near. only barely 8 days to go(: so exciting!!

and just like to Thank God for His provision thus far, especially for all the funds we have received.

Lopburi! here we come!! :p

~andrew