This week has been a little different on campus.  In Thailand there is something called "Freshy Games."  All of the freshman are required to take part in the games.  They play soccer, badminton, fut sol, cheering, and basketball.  One of the students we have asked you to pray for, Kaen,  played on his major's basketball team.  They didn't have enough students to play so some of our guys were able to participate. It was a lot of fun and a huge momentum builder.

This weekend several of our students have gone on an evangelistic retreat.  Many of the students we have spent time getting to know are going.  They will be exposed to the Gospel and get to spend extended time building relationships with our students and the Thai Staff. Please pray that the weekend would go well and that the students would come to know and believe the Truth of the Gospel.

For our ministry training this week we continued our study of the The Kingdom. This week we focused on the places God calls us to live out the Kingdom such as the Church, Culture, and Work.  We also spent extended time talking about the Sabbath and what that really means. One of the things that stuck with me the most this week was the fact that "External rest is impossible without inner rest from anxiety and strain.  It takes a deep rest in Christ's finished work for your salvation to avoid over-work."  I see that this is so true in my own life because if I am not resting in Christ then I have this over arching anxiety that leads me to find in work what I am lacking in Christ and this never satisfies. 

In light of our Sabbath study most of our team went on a relaxing tour of a Dam about an hour from Khon Kaen.  It was an awesome time of taking in God's creation and resting in fellowship.  

We all road on the Sung Tow.  We even wired Avery's carseat into the truck so that she could ride.  It was quite a site and our Driver(Koon Loong)  thought it was an awesome idea!

These are just a few of the awesome pictures that we took.  It was great picture of God's great imagination and how creative He is.  It was so beautiful!

We also ate while we were out on the Lake.  As you can see Avery is entranced by her sticky rice.  She has fallen in love with rice since we have been here.  Every day she ask for rice, Soup and Beggies(Vegetables).

This is a typical meal in Thailand. Fish and Shrimp.  They were both really great!

After lunch we went for a dip in the Lake.  Avery had a blast swimming with Stacey on the tube. She wouldn't get in the water but hey there was seaweed every where!

What would lunch be without ice cream! 

After lunch we took a trip to see one of the largest Buddha statues in Thailand.  It was huge.  In the picture below I don't know if you can count but we had to walk up over 1,000 Steps to get to the statue.  We weren't going to walk but Avery insisted.  She made it about 10 steps and then up to Daddy's shoulders.  We had our workout for the rest of the week.  I am still sore : )
This is a picture of one of the statues in the temple.  It is so sad to see people bowing down to an idol and have no knowledge of Christ.

This is Avery with her Thai Grammy!  From day one Avery fell in love with this lady and the feeling is mutual.  She works at our apartment complex and absolutely loves Avery.  They talk to each other every breath but of course they can't understand a word the other one is saying.  We have fallen in love with Grammy and will hate to leave her behind.

Thank you again for your prayers and support.  Please continue to pray that we would finish strong on the campus. We only have three more school days because next Thursday and Friday are Holidays.  Pray that we would make the most of our time and that we would leave Thailand transformed by the power of a mighty God.

Celebration TIme!!!

Let me begin today by saying that Mike and I have decided that the saying "when it rains it pours" was created in Thailand.  Really when it rains here you have no idea what the outcome will be. It rained a lot last week and as a result we haven't had internet in over a week and our water has cut off several times.  It is no big deal to the Thai people.  When we ask about the internet or the water they just reply with a simple, "Well it has been raining a lot!"  Needless to say that is why our blog hasn't been updated in a while.  

These past two weeks have been a lot of fun as we have continued to see God use the students to establish relationships with the Thai Students.  We have also been able to serve the Campus Outreach Thailand team in exciting ways this week.

Every day after ministry training we head to The Complex for lunch.  This is where most of the students eat lunch.  We set up meetings with students or just meet new students.  This serves as their cafeteria.

These are two students at KKU that we have been spending time with.  Meow and Jade are sophomores on campus and have been doing stuff with the Thai staff since they were freshman.  It has been neat to see our students build a friendship with these girls.

Even though we are in Thailand we couldn't go without a July 4th party.  Well actually we celebrated on the 5th but it would have been the 4th in America : ) We got to go to the pool for the first time all summer and we had a cookout.  It was a lot of fun to celebrate with the Thai staff.

As you can see on Avery's face, She had a BLAST!!

Another way that we were able to serve the Campus Outreach Thailand team was to help throw a birthday bash for two of the wives.  We did everything from helping decorate, babysitting, teaching shag lesson, and serving at the party.  It was so much fun to see the team get to dance and enjoy one another. They kept saying how they don't get to do things like that often. It was also neat to see the Thai's learning South Carolina's state dance.  

These are all of the girls on our team.  We took advantage of the wonderful Thai massages one afternoon last week!  It was so refreshing and helped us renew for the rest of our time in Thailand.

This week we have been learning about The Kingdom and The church.  Jeremiah 29:7 has made a huge impact on us this week.  "But seek the welfare of the City where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."  We are thankful that for this season God has placed us in Thailand to Pray and serve on its behalf.  Please continue to labor alongside us for the people of Thailand!  We are eagerly awaiting all that He has in store for Khon Kaen Univeristy!