so far so good

Pattaya city is known for being the sin city of Thailand. All the bad stuff you imagine would probably all be here. Don't worry we didn't stay in Pattaya city, but we did get to see a glimpse of it. One street we drove passed was filled with bars all right next to each other.

We went to an island off of Pattaya city. The island and its beaches were beautiful. How could anyone think that God didn't create this?

We started to go teach English to another poor area near us. It's amazing how God is opening doors of opportunity to share his love. God has been teaching all of our team members through these ministries. One thing God has shown me is to really love these children as much as he does.

W0rld Vision held a Music Day for the slum area. Our team had to dance and sing a song. We danced to 'Making Melodies in my Heart' and sang 'God of this City'.

These girls came to help us out with the World Vision Event. We're so thankful they came to help because we couldn't have done it without them.
Sa Wat Dii Kha!!

My Tuesday and Thursday students who I teach English to. I'm so thankful that I got the chance to meet these wonderful girls. Anne the middle one on the 2nd row invited her friends to come to church. She's an amazing person. When was the last time I invited all my non-Christian friends to church?!

After English class we all got on one Bok Bok and came to eat dinner together.

All 12 of us squeezed in one Bok Bok going to and back from dinner.

On Saturdays from 2 to 4 pm Katie and Erik teaches Guitar and Piano lessons to who ever wants to learn. Katie and Erik are doing an amazing job teaching music to these children.

Saturday morning school for the poor children has been going well. It's a bit frustrating because they don't do well with instruction and listening. On one Saturday we tried to play crab leg race with them and well...it didn't turn out as we expected. They started to go and kick each other. :(

We got the chance get out of Bangkok and go to Lopburi. It toke us 2 and a half hours to get there by train. The train was free for the Thai's. Us foreigners had to pay 22 baht per person. 22 baht is less than 1 US dollar, so it was still pretty cheap.

This kind and loving lady is the lady of the house who hosted us. They don't have much, but they give everything they have to glorify God and use it in their ministry. They are an amazing family who serves the Lord whole hearty...not asking anything in return.

The host family had a Song Thao so he toke all of us around the country side for free. :)

We got the chance to go to see the rural poor area. All the houses on that road was one room made out of sheets of metal. It was such a sad sight to see.

The countryside of Lopburi. Open areas, clear skies, and fresh air!

We got the chance to check out the monkey temple in downtown Lopburi. The monkeys were free to do and roam where ever they want to.

While in Lopburi we witness 2 people come to accept Christ, Jack and a grandma. God is so good and faithful! Please pray for these 2 new believers. Pray that it will be planted in good soil and that they will strengthen their relationship with Christ. Pray that God will send them mentors to help and guide them along.

Ask, and It Will Be Given

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? -Matthew 7:7-10

One of my prayers, at the beginning of this trip was for God to reveal at least one Hmong person to me. Did he do that? Yes, he did that and more. I met the first two Hmong guys at Baptist Bible College in Bangkok. It was amazing because God not only blessed me with one Hmong person, but two! Both are the only Christian in their household and are serving the Lord with all they have.

On the first Sunday at Ban Suan Church, God blessed me another Hmong person. There I met a Hmong grandma who came to hear the word. She is the only one in her family who is a Christian and loves Jesus a lot! She lives with her nephew selling fried chicken and babysitting. After church, she invited me and Brian to visit her sister's house down the road. They welcomed us whole hearty and asked us about life in the States and all. I also got the opportunity to talk and hear about their life here in Thailand. The grandma's sister said she use to be a christian, but she married her husband and she followed his religion (it was some Thai word I couldn't understand). I told the grandma that she should encourage her sister to come to church to find rest and peace.

The next Sunday at Ban Suan church I got the opportunity to meet a Hmong family who use to come to Ban Suan church. When we started to talk he told me that him and his family are in the process of going to America. He said that his relative came to talk with him the other day to finalize everything and they should be leaving soon to America within 3 months. I asked him where he was going and he told me that a church in Georgia is sponsoring him so he's going there. He then starts to show me the address of the Church and his relative and well, it was no other than Pastor Thai Her. It's crazy of how small this world is. I told him that I know Pastor Thai Her and that I've been to the church and all. I also got to talk and play with his son who is about 6 or 7 years old (He doesn't know how old he is). This little boy knows more Hmong and Thai than I do. He is fluent in both language and is about to become fluent in English too. That's crazy awesome!

Saturday Bible Study

There has been much that has happened in Thailand and so much to say that I don't know where to start. Bear with me as it's late and don't know where it would lead me.

In Thailand, we do a lot of walking around and I've noticed that there a lot of children from the poor area roaming or playing on the streets by themselves or with a group of children. There's barely any parent or guardian supervision. A lot of the children are from broken families who struggle with addiction, finances, work, and etc. I just want to pour my love on them and do so much for them, but I could only do so little.

This is one of the reasons why Ban Suan church has Saturday bible study in the mornings from 10 till 12 am. This past Saturday, my teammates (Erik, Ted, and Katie) and I was told to prepare bible study, but we didn't know what age group it was for and we figured it was for teenagers or young adults. To our surprise, when we got there...there was children scattered everywhere inside the church playing with toys. We found out that we were suppose to prepare bible study for the children living in the poor area. That morning was a hectic morning, everything was all over the place and to add on top of that the children barely listened to us. When Ted tried to read Jonah and the Whale to them, but only a few kids listened while the rest were off talking, messing, and giggling off in another corner. It was hard trying to get them to listen and get them to understand, they just simply did not want to listen to us at all. It was a blessing that we had a volunteered there who came and helped us. She explained to me that a lot of children go play video games to escape the family fights, struggle, argument, and etc. so this program is a bridge to help them.

I asked the volunteer (I forgot her name), how long Ban Suan has had this Saturday program and she said they've had it for years now. She has seen a lot of children come and go. Usually, when they hit their teenage years they fall into prostitution, work, worldly things, and etc. so they don't return back to church. It's sad to hear that some didn't find Christ while they were there and has gone the opposite way. I hope and pray that the seeds they have planted would take root and that some day they will return back to Ban Suan church or any other church and find Christ.

Even though Ban Suan church has seen a lot of children come and go, there are still some if very little that the seed was planted, watered, and God increased them. One of these few people is Anne who is 16 years old and is one of my student who I teach english to. I was told she attended Saturday bible study since she was a child and even started to go to church on Sundays too. She accepted Christ and wanted to get baptize this year, but her mother and brother forbid her not to. Her mother and brother are buddhist and did not want her to convert. I was also told that her brother has even made her stop coming to church on Sundays. God is so good though, he made a way where Anne could come to church. (This is where God is using our team as a vessel for him :) ) Since we are doing english lessons, she has an excuse now to come to church without getting in trouble. Isn't God great?! That's not the only thing...she has even told and invited her friends about the english lessons offered at Ban Suan church. So all of the students in my class on Tuesdays and Thursdays is Anne and her 8 friends.

One thing that broke and made my heart sing was last Thursday. I met Anne and her friends for the first time that day. We had gone around and introduced ourselves by saying our name, what we like, and what we want to do for the rest of our life. This is what Anne said, "My nickname is Anne, I like to watch Television, and I want to come here (to Ban Suan church) for the rest of my life." I could see it in her eyes that that statement meant so much for her when she said it. I didn't know Anne nor her story at the time so it didn't hit me until Pee Mali told me about her life story. Wow, God is amazing and it's incredible to see Him at work.

Prayer Request

-For Saturday Bible study. Pray that more children would come and hear the word of God. May they find rest, hope, peace, and life there. May God use us as vessels to further His kingdom. My our team have wisdom and understanding along with patience. :)

-For the leaders at Ban Suan Church. May they continue to serve the Lord and bring many more people to know the Lord. Pray that the Lord will give them strength and guidance.

-Pray for Anne. Pray that she will continue to seek the Lord with all her heart. Pray that she will be strong and courageous and not be discouraged. Pray that she will grow more in Him and she sees that God has a wonderful plan in store for her.

-Pray for Anne's family. Pray that they will find and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Pray that they will let Anne go to church on Sundays.

Ministry in Bangkok

Last weekend, short term missionary teams and individual placements were helping out at OMF's annual conference for their long term missionaries here in Thailand. The purpose of the conference was to encourage, revive, and refresh the missionaries before going back to their ministries. There were over 200 adults and 100 children who came to this event held at a resort in Khao Yai. All the helpers helped out with the day care so their parents could enjoy the conference. There we got the opportunity to hang out with the missionary kids and talk to the missionaries in Thailand. I met this one couple, name Ron and Leng Kue Viergutz. Both work at a Bible college in northern Thailand teaching english and doing what ever that needs to get done. Ron and Leng Kue was explaining to me that everyone who works or attends the college have several jobs that they do. For example, Leng Kue is a english teacher, nurse, cashier, and etc. Ron and Leng Kue explained to me that everyone has chores and help out so it will keep the cost of tuition down. Ron said that the average cost to go there is around $20,000 baht for a whole year, which is about $625. That's a deal! He also said that at their school a lot of Hmong people from Laos go to their Bible college and that they are very hard workers. Praise the Lord that He is doing great things among the Hmong people. :)

Most of the MK's (missionary kids). They were performing a few songs on the last day of the conference.

I was put with helping the teenagers out. These were the girls.

Leng Kue and Ron Viergutz serving in Northern Thailand at a Bible college

On a different note, whoot whoot...we're settled down now and we started our ministry this week. Our team came here not knowing what we were suppose to do or where we will be living. It's amazing to see that God had already prepared everything for us when we arrived to our assignment. Before, the plan was for the 10 of us to live in a 2 bedroom and bathroom house with only one room with air conditioning. We are now staying in a condotel with air conditioning in every room! Yay! The air conditioning is a blessing because here in Thailand it's very hot and humid.

My ministry here in Thailand is working along the local church in Bangkok call Ban Suan Church. Behind the church is one slum out of the many in Bangkok. You guys would be surprise as I was to find out that Ban Suan Church is a C&MA church! It's a daughter church, I don't know where the main church is at, but the church has been here for around 13 years. Amazing right?!

Small world right?!

So, since we have 10 people in our team, Pee Mali (the lady that's looking over us and guiding us) planned out different areas where we would help at. I'm with a group of 4 teaching English on Tuesdays to Saturdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would be teaching english to a group of 11 students around the age of 16. Also on Tuesdays our team of 4 will be teaching english in the poor area to a nursery program from 9 till 12. On Wednesdays and Fridays, me and my teammate Katie would be teaching english to high school students or older adults. On Saturday, we would be leading a bible study for the local slum children from 9 till 12 at Ban Suan church. On Sunday, Katie and I would be helping out with the Sunday school children. Monday is our team's day of rest.

This is Pee Mali. She served the Lord in Cambodia for 10 years and has come back to get her masters and take care of her mother.

The nursery in the poor area where 4 of us would be teaching english. This picture was taken when we were touring the area. We happened to come by when it was their nap time.

This week we started our ministry. I've never taught English before and it's very hard trying to come up with a lesson plan when I don't know how well the students spoke english. All we were told was that we were suppose to teach conversational english to different age groups and that was basically the information we were given. Our team started our first day of ministry on Thursday. 11 high school students signed up for english lessons, but only 4 showed up. I've learnt that this is the way of Thai culture. If they want to show up they show up...if they don't to then well, they don't show up. It doesn't matter if they told you ahead of time that they will come or be there, they say yes to you because they don't want to make you look bad. The 4 Thai girls who showed up though was very shy, but yet eager to learn. I had a wonderful time teaching and playing english games with them. I found out that they knew a lot of english words, but they lack the conversational part. Hence, the need for conversational english lessons.

On Friday, me and Katie teamed up to teach english to a group of high school students. We had 3 seventeen year old Thai girls in our class. For this group we also didn't know how well their english was so we just came up with a basic english lesson.

This week I found that I take English for granted. English is a hard language and very difficult to teach when I don't even know where to start. Though it was tough and confusing, God was there encouraging and guiding me along. I've been reading Joshua and in there God kept telling Joshua to not be afraid, nor discouraged for he has already delivered them into Joshua's hand. In the same way that God was with Joshua, He is with me now. Even though things don't go as plan and it seems so unorganized, God is in control and he has a set plan for everything already so I shouldn't be afraid or discouraged.

The first Chinese church in Thailand. This church is in China town

This Chinese church is actually really big. I was told that about 1,000 or so people attend.

One of the temples in China town. Rebecca and I.

Prayer Request

-Ron and Leng Kue with their ministry teaching English and doing all sorts of stuff. Pray that they would be fruitful and help guide the students to Christ.

-My ministry teaching english. Pray for me to have discernment, guidance, obedience to God, humbleness, patience, and love to my students.

-For the gospel to reach the all the ends of Thailand. For Thailand to be a Christ nation. :)

Take Care,

Nuche Vang

Grand Palace

Wow, how time has flown by...it has already been one whole week and yet it seemed like we've just got here.

This past Wednesday a group of us went to the Grand Palace in downtown Bangkok. We first toke taxi's to the river and from there we rode the river boat to downtown. After the boat ride we walked a short distance to the Grand Palace. To get inside the Palace everyone had to wear short or long sleeves and pants or a skirt for the girls. Foreigners had to pay 350 baht (which is around $12 dollars) to get in...Thai's got in for free. Inside the walls of the Grand Palace lies temples and of course the grand palace. It was quite a sight from afar...it looks so beautiful and you're just in awe at the sight of it. As you get closer though you see that it's just material stuff...it looks so grand from the outside, but on the inside there's nothing...nothing lasting. It's just metal and plastic that people have made and create. There were a lot of Thai's who came there to worship and make merits.

Grace, Me, Katie, Sharon, and in the middle is Ed outside the palace

This is what greeted us when we got inside the grand palace

This was inside of a temple. They had a sign that you can't bring cameras or camcorders inside so I toke this one from the doorway. The idols in the middle is pure gold!

This was inside another temple. In the middle is the seat where the king sits. Behind the seat there's a boat shape looking structure. I'm not sure what it is, but both pieces are made out of pure gold.

This is the grand palace where the king resides.

This is Randy.

While we were getting ready to leave the palace a Cambodian monk who was walking by came to talk to us. I believe he said his name was Randy and he has been a monk for 10 years. He's in Thailand for 2 years and is going back to Cambodia afterwards. He said he was staying in Chiang Mai and told us that if we want to know more about Buddhism and it's practice to go to this certain temple where he would be staying at. You could tell that he knew his stuff...he started to tell us about his religion and did not hesitate at all. I was blown away because one of the lady with us (Amy) asked if he knew Jesus and Randy was like "Yes, I do...I like that guy." She proceed to ask, "So what do you like about Jesus?" Randy replied that he liked what Jesus taught..of having peace and joy and being a good guy and all. He said that a lot of missionaries had come to talk to him over the years and he even has the Holy Bible in his room. Randy knew his stuff and wasn't afraid to share his religion. It made me realize how lost Thailand was and that they really do need Jesus. I also came to realize that just as Randy I need to study and really know other religions. I need to do my homework and see what others believe. Just as Randy is ready to share his religion to people walking by...I need to be able to strong and courageous and share my faith with people I meet.

Please pray for Randy. Pray that the Word would break through to his heart and that he'll find Jesus. Pray for missionaries to continue to seek him out and plant seeds in him. Pray that the seeds would take root and God would water and nurture him.

Sa Wat Dii Kha!

Praise the Lord! We finally made it here. The plane ride from LAX to Taipei was super long. 14 hours of just sitting was very painful and uncomfortable. The plane ride from Taipei to Bangkok wasn't as bad. I could do without airplanes for a while though.

So anyhow, we're here in Bangkok! Yes! I have to say the weather here isn't as bad as everyone said it'll be (well, I've only been here a couple of days so my opinion might change). The weather reminds me of Florida's weather. It's hot and really humid.

We're currently staying at the OMF mission house in Bangkok. We're staying here until Wednesday then we're headed northeast of Bangkok to OMF's annual conference for their missionaries. A lot of the short term mission teams/individuals are helping out during the conference with the missionary kids. The director in charge said there are about 100 children this year. We're going to be split up into different groups and be planning activities for the missionary kids. The conference is going to be from June 24-27.

Please pray for us as we prepare for this conference. Pray for discernment and a servants heart. Pray that we'll be able to connect and help the missionary kids on a personal level.


Take Care,

Nuche Vang

Bangkok

Wow...I almost can't believe that I'm about to depart to Thailand. I'm excited and can't wait for what the Lord has in plan for me and the Bangkok Slum Team.

We're departing on June 18 to August 9, 2010. As to what we'll be doing...that's a good question as I'm not 100 percent sure either. It sounds unorganized because a lot of things are still up in the air, but I have faith that God has everything under control. I'm sure he has already set things in motion and will reveal them to us when the time comes.

I'll try my best to update this blog about how the Lord is using, teaching, molding, and etc. me and my team while in Thailand.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.




Take Care,
Nuche 'Sunshine' Vang