Thank you supporters! I now am only $3,000 shy from being fully funded! My final deadline is March 1st. If you would like to support me, I would be so blessed to stay on the race and see God working in India, Nepal, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa! If you feel led to give, you can do so by clicking on the “Support Me!” button on the left panel of this page.
I wanted to apologize for slacking on my blogs this month. Not to make excuses, but time has been flying by.
I hope that one day I can come back to this school and see all of the students again. At the beginning of this month I asked God to turn my focus outward—to focus on ministry rather than only on my personal development. God has answered my prayer this month. It breaks my heart to see the Buddhist statues throughout the school. It breaks my heart to know that so many of the students have never heard the good news that I learned before I can remember. I pray that when I come back, things will be different. That these kids will find the freedom that is in Christ.
Because the school is closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas, we have only one more day of ministry. Next Sunday we will head back to Bangkok for a couple nights, then we will begin our travels to Cambodia.
What I will miss dearly:
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“Teacher, teacher!” and “Step!” being my titles.
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Entering a classroom each day and being greeted by 30 kids standing in attendance:
“Good morning, teacher. How are you?” -class
“Great, thanks!”- Lincoln and I.
“…I’m fine thank you.” -class
*Long pause with class staring at me and still standing*
“…Oh, y’all can sit down.”-me, motioning for them to sit down
“Thank you, teacher.”- class
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Our ministry contacts. They are so good to us and their stories inspire me. They are a testament of how God pursues us.
- Using camp songs to entertain the kids when I don’t have a translator and a crowd of students is looking at me expectantly.
- Pad Thai
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(Also, Pooey and Pickles, our pets for the month.)
What I have been learning:
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Living like I’m waiting for an inheritance (spiritual gifts, maturity, etc.) rather than I’m working for one. I’ve been reading Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship by Jack Frost. He explains how many Christians, without realizing it, believe that they have to work for their inheritance through disciplines such as prayer, Bible study and fasting. However, because of Christ, we are sons of God, we already have the inheritance, and in God’s perfect timing he will give it to us. Frost uses the example of the prodigal son. He received his inheritance too soon and squandered it. But God is loving, and he waits until we are mature enough to receive our inheritance.
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The power of prayer. God has really changed my heart. I’ve wanted to be engaged in ministry since the beginning of the race. I finally turned this desire from an obligation to myself to a request to God.
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Trusting God with the future. Again, God has shown me how he has a plan, but I don’t need to know everything about the plan. He’s shown me that I need to depend on him each day, rather than stressing about the future.
What you can pray for:
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For Rayong, Thailand. There is such a need for missionaries and for help to the churches here.
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For Thailand. The lie that all religions are equal and true is so strong here. Thai people are very kind people, and they act very “Christian.” So acting Christian here isn’t enough. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal his power here.
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For my team. That we would trust God with the future and finish our last week of ministry strong.
I should have pictures up some time around Thursday.
In case you haven’t seen our squad Christmas video, here it is:
W XMAS from Carly Marin on Vimeo.
