Prayer requests SB
TeamLESS would love for you to join us in praying for:
New Life Fellowship Church: Pray that they would continue to reach their community. Pray that they would feel encouraged by us even in our absence. Please also pray for the specific ministry areas we participated in: The Xtreme Band, Youth Party, Church plants in the surrounding provinces, Slum Outreach, Children at Risk, English Classes, Pisit our pastoral contact, Mao and Man our tuktuk driving friends, and the YWAM staff.
Cover us in prayer for homesickness as we start our first big holiday month.
Please pray for our team as we transition to the Philippines. Pray for opportunities to serve while we are in Bangkok, for patience during our down time, and pray for opportunities to connect as a team and a larger squad.
THANK YOU for your continued prayer. We appreciate it!
Ministry JZ
Team less has finished being in Cambodia. The last week was jammed pack full of things to do. The team with team Concrete finished plastering, painting the outside, and sanding the inside of the building at the preschool. All that needs to be done is painting on the inside and someone is already lined up. On November 3rd and 4th, Kyle, Sarah, Jackie, and Esther went to a province which was an hour out of Phnom Penh. They stayed at a house owned by the pastor. They were able to pray for people in the community, teach English, have a youth party, lead a bible study, and help with church. It was a lot to do in less than 24 hours, but it was really good for them. The team officially left Phnom Penh on November 5th. They were able to spend time in Siem Reip before returning to Bangkok. The time in Siem Riep was very relaxing with a visit to Angor Wat. The team has arrived in Bangkok and will soon leave again.
Spiritual Discussion/What God Is Doing LM
Each of the members of Team Less has seen God work in different ways this month and have been challenged in different ways. Some of us have struggled with what it means to love people and God and how to speak to others in grace and truth. With this we have experienced God’s never changing, unconditional love for us this month in a way that has helped us realize he loves us in spite of everything and nothing we do. We are simply asked to receive his love and pass it on to the people around us. We have been amazed by his love and his constant presence with us even before we knew him. Each enjoyed the opportunities at New Life and was amazed by the church’s passion and love for God and his kingdom. We witnessed church leaders literally crying out to God in the mornings before they did any work, desiring that his presence would be with them guiding them throughout the day. We are excited about what God is doing in Cambodia, but even with the glimpses of God’s kingdom, some of us struggled with the overwhelming physical needs and the extreme poverty witnessed in Cambodia. Some of us were challenged by the injustice and oppression in Cambodia, and continue to wrestle with what it means to fully live out the gospel not just part of it. Many of us were shown truths about ourselves and our past that are not easy to accept, but must be confessed in order to allow God to heal us. We are asking God to carry out his purposes in our lives and desiring that it would be easier to trust God and each other.
Cultural Quirk CF
We have noticed an interesting physical characteristic in Cambodia that is considered “cool” and attractive. We call it the “hairy mole”. It is very common for men and women to have a mole on their neck or face that has hair growing out of it. They let the hair grow really long (at least a couple inches), and this is considered very attractive. We have also noticed that this is a common physical feature of people in authority (police, government officials, etc.).
Ministry/Team Activities KC
We just arrived in Bangkok about a day ago. We are currently staying at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base. We will be leaving on the 14th of November. So until then, we are trying to seek out some different ministry options. Our very own Aaron Bruner is in charge of looking into the ways that we can join YWAM in their ministry. Currently, we might be looking at helping out with another YWAM base as they are trying to move and rearrange in a new building. There is always the possibility of doing a little ATL (Ask The Lord). The guys might have the option of going to a prison here in Bangkok and hanging out with and sharing Jesus with some prisoners. The girls also might be able to go down the the NANA district to minister to some of the girls that are trapped in the sex industry that is so huge here.
When we get to Manila, which is in the Philippines for those of you that don’t know, we will be taking a ferry, some of us have adapted the term cruise, for somewhere around a day to another island where we will meet up with our ministry contact there and discuss the needs of the people on that island. Hopefully, we will get an update to you as soon as we figure out all the details for that.
As far as team activities go, Danny and Jackie have a surprise planned for the rest of us sometime this week. I tried to ask about it but I found out that it is top secret, which means if they told me, they would have to kill me. So…I opted out of knowing the details. (For the record…no one was really threatening anyone else’s life.)
We are just trying to settle back in this month and start drawing closer together again. Pray that we will be intentional about being close and that we would seek out opportunities for God to bring us closer as teammates.
Story DG
Saying goodbyes are always a little awkward on the World Race. Goodbyes usually consist of exchanging contact information (facebook, email, etc.), talking about what we are doing next, and usually a question along the lines of “when are you coming back?”. It’s hard to leave people that you are just getting to know and feel comfortable with. We spend the whole month trying to get closer to people, and then in the midst of it all, we are gone. I’m not good about staying in touch. In fact I really struggle with it. That being said, I must also say you never know how God works. I was in Thailand five years ago and assumed I would probably never see anyone from here in my lifetime. But God brought me back to Thailand. This week, I will hopefully be going to see a friend who translated for our team the last time I was here in Thailand. It’s exciting to know that at the end of this trip we will have developed relationships that will extend across the globe. Though most of us may never be around these countries again, some of us might. As God directs our steps, he may use one of the friendships we develop on the Race. Or he may use some of our contacts back home. For whatever reason, its exciting to me. It’s exciting to know God is moving in people everywhere we go… and we get to be a part of it for a few weeks. It’s exciting to know that God may use the relationships we develop here down the road.
