Reality In Thailand

Night for the Nations

hotfwames — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:04:57 -0700

This coming Tuesday the 27th the team will be sharing testimonies and stories from their trip at Night for the Nations. It will be at 7 pm on the Carpinteria campus. Please come! Also, please pray for the team as they continue to debrief and prepare to share.

More prayer please

hotfwames — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:18:30 -0700

Many of us will return to work this week, some will go back today! Please continue to pray for us to make a smooth transition into life back home this week. Here are some ways you can pray:

- no one gets sick! Also grace with jetlag
- we all keep good habits in the word and in prayer
- we are kept from sin and indulging the flesh
- we take time to continue to reflect on what we learned and experienced
- we have opportunity to share with others about our trip

P.S. There were many great experiences we didn’t have time to blog while in Thailand so keep checking back for more!

Landed in LAX safe and sound. Praise God!

hotfwames — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:24:59 -0700

Landed in LAX safe and sound. Praise God!

Headed to airport!

hotfwames — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:12:54 -0700

Headed to airport!

Photo

hotfwames — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:12:15 -0700

Our fearless leaders: Matt & Amber Smith. Nuff said.

dannyjack — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:24:51 -0700

Our fearless leaders: Matt & Amber Smith. Nuff said.

Reflections on God working through the team:

hotfwames — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:24:39 -0700

Last night the team finished our first debriefing session. It included nearly three hours of sharing, prayer and journaling! The focus of the session was acknowledging what God did through the team as a whole and recognizing the gifts of others. This morning the team shared our responses to one of the questions we journaled…. To God’s glory, the following are just some of the purposes we saw God accomplish in and through us:

1. Many times God changed our plans and lead us in a new direction. God graced us with flexibility and allowed us to see His purpose in those changes. For example, the day we were to do a medical outreach we ended us planting rice with the people from the village. This proved to be a humbling lesson in servitude while also paving the way for the outreach through relationship and practically meeting the people’s need for food.

2. Healing. God healed! Both emotionally and physically. As a praise hardly anyone remained sick. Many people were healed quickly after being prayed for, for headaches, sickness, muscle pain and kankles… Emotionally we saw God heal from past hurt, anxiety and fear. We really feel like God gave us abundant grace to keep us from sickness and injury.

3. Deliverance. Multiple times we laid hands on people oppressed by the enemy or were led into intercession for those oppressed or addicted.

4. God fulfilled Scripture through us.

5. The church prayed we would push back the forces of darkness. We did.

6. Salvation came in our Lahu outreaches. Thank you Jesus!

7. We saw each other walking by the Spirit, choosing to accept what God had before us.

8. Relationships were strengthened with each other and the staff of Baan Imanuel. We believe we really did bring spiritual refreshment to Ron and the staff. Sharing verses with them at their staff meeting was very sweet.

10. We saw walked in multiple divine appointment in Thailand and even while we traveled.

11. We got to catch Rons vision for the ministry and gain a greater heart for Thailand and discernment in how to pray.

12. God gave us a greater understanding of the spiritual realm and how battle effectively.

"We want you sharp like a razor blade and not like a dull spoon."

hotfwames — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:40:03 -0700

“We want you sharp like a razor blade and not like a dull spoon.”

- Matt (encouraging the team to reflect on how the Lord is refining them)

Photo

porvida — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:11:48 -0700

Photo

porvida — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:07:39 -0700

Debriefing

hotfwames — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:23:50 -0700

We are having a blast in Bangkok! We are in a tower hotel overlooking the city. Last night we had dinner in town at the Hard Rock cafe. We are spending a lot of time resting, sharing with one another, praying, debriefing and having dance parties. We planned to do our stop over in Singapore but our flight to Bangkok was cancelled and then postponed one day. We are so excited about how God changed our plans, giving us one more day at Baan Emmanuel and a restful debriefing. We know God watches over all our comings and going! We leave for the airport in 6 hours to fly back to the States. Please pray for the remainder of our day we debrief and have some fun!

saying goodbye

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:57:23 -0700

This is our last morning at Baan Farm. We just sent the kids to school and are packing our bags. We leave on Thai Airways at 10:20 am to Bangkok. Still a lot more to share with all you who are praying. Please pray for…

Safe flight to Bangkok
Blessing on Ron and kids as we go ( that they be refreshed )
Continued intimacy with the Lord and unity with one another

furong skills (furong = foreigner) our guys played soccer the...

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:56:45 -0700

furong skills (furong = foreigner)

our guys played soccer the past few evenings. it was fun and a great way to bond.

"My feet are like sausages. You can’t flex a sausage."

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:38:39 -0700

“My feet are like sausages. You can’t flex a sausage.”

- David

Here is the team and the Baan Immanuel staff together (missing...

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:31:26 -0700

Here is the team and the Baan Immanuel staff together (missing Bethany and Mulch). After our time of worship and scripture reading this morning we all had lunch together. The staff gave the team gifts. The men received a Lahu fanny pack while the women got purses and jewelry. We were so blessed and honored.

Photo

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:27:52 -0700

Morning with staff (told by Jess)

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:40:07 -0700

Last night we each prepared verses for individual staff members for their weekly meeting. For the second day in a row we got to worship with the staff! Pinoo led worship in Thai and we sang along in English. What a sweet blessing of the Lord! I am reminded of this scripture which says

Phillipians 2:10

That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We took turns reading the scriptures to our staff members in English which they then read in Thai. A few of us even tried to write it in Thai! =)

They even shared some sweet verses for us!

-Psalm 73:27-28

-1 Corinthians 10:12

-John 15:12

-Titus 3:5-7

We prayed “farong” style…taking turns. We heard prayer requests from Ron and Pinoo for the staff and children.

Examples:

The orphans, boys and girls

Their parents to come to know Christ

Thailand as a whole, political

Village outreaches with the Lahu and Hmong

Wisdom and raising up someone to serve agricultural needs including new land and ministries

I had Bah, or Naleh the cook. She is sooo sweet and has such a servants heart! Such a big smile and her food is amazing! We will miss her food…What a great start to our day and may God continue to burden us in prayer for the staff at Baan Immanuel!!! =)

We each read aloud our scripture to the staff. Many said they were very encouraged and that the verses we chose were very timely for them. Praise the Lord!

Three cheers for Matt our fearless leader!

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:39:16 -0700

Three cheers for Matt our fearless leader!

"It’s all just zeros and ones, man."

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:32:38 -0700

“It’s all just zeros and ones, man.”

- Geoff

Photo

hotfwames — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:57:33 -0700