Monday, July 14, 2008

Sabbath rest

Well, this weekend was somewhat of a disappointment when the search for an international church was not found. I was given directions to a specific church so I was able to follow them, but when I got there I didn't find a church in sight; not to mention I had no idea what to look for in the first place. Anyway, I was quite discouraged about the whole thing. I was far away enough from the city that the way back cost more then normal. I took a tuck tuck so it took longer to get home. I was thankful I was able to find anything, because I was on the "super highway" (as they call it here in Chaing Mai). On the ride back I was determined not to let Satan have a foothold in the least. I was determined to find spiritual meat. I was so exausted from the whole ordeal that I went straight to sleep. I was praying to the Lord all the way home till I went to sleep. When I woke up I did a book study on Philemon. I wasn't really familliar with the book, but I had a good booklet to go along with it. I enjoyed the study but there was one cross-reference I was to look up in 2 Peter 1: 5-8 about what kind of characteristics Philemon could have possessed and something to be admired. That was my meat! If you have time to read verses 3-10; about making our calling and election sure. This is what I will chew on for the rest of this week.
Then I was supposed to go to the waterfalls nearby with a co-worker and some students of ours. They picked us up at 2:00 and we were off. I didn't realize that they were so close to where I live. Lets just say I found a resting place...
It's beautiful, and I couldn't here any city noise. I could here the people around us, but it was a pleasant sound. I was so content.
I saw lots of families and kids there.
The Lord had provided that Sabbath rest I was looking for. He wasn't done either. We then went in CMU (Chaing Mai University) campus and went to the lake....yes there is a lake inside the campus :0) This campus is huge. I haven't even seen the buildings yet. We played checkers with Preaw and Yui there by the lake. They won each time :0)
Can you guess what he is....yes, a preying mantus...
We drove to diner in the rain and reminded of a wonderful promise when we arrived. The most beautiful rainbow ever. I wasn't able to upload the picture for some reason.
After Preaw dropped me home, I watched "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" and was humbled by those 5 missionary men who were so devoted until there death. I love the testimony from their wives. It was a great end to this day of rest. The Lord provided. Also, he answered my prayer just yesterday when I met some other SIM missionaries who will be showing me several churches around. I'll be meeting them this Sunday for service. I'm very grateful for the faithfulness of our God.
Continue to pray for our students and outings like this one. Yui will be in Bangkok for a while, but she loves to hang around with "foreigners." Pray she'd become more interested in our faith too. I know it seems like I'm only doing fun things, but know that there is much struggle in not being able to share our faith quickly. It's a long process and sometimes very frustrating with the language barrior. I really want to take Thai tutorials...please pray that it would all work out. I don't want to be too hasty. Thank you. I hope you enjoy the pictures, Chaing Mai is a beautiful place.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

beautiful pictures!

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Guam!