Short update

I'm sorry that I have not been posting lately.  My computer broke a few weeks ago and I am still working on getting it fixed. I am currently on my friends computer...
DTS has been going great. It really is amazing how smoothly it has been running. No big problems have come up and everyone is still getting along great. It is definitely God's working.. According to a few people last years DTS, the one I attended, was one of the worst. I think that was mostly due to the fact that a number of the students didn't have good attitudes or open hearts. Thank God this year is so much better! It seems as though the students are really growing and letting God work in them, and I can see that staff, especially me, are growing also.
We are getting ready for our Mini-Outreach! We are all so excited. We will go to the same place I went last year. Hopefully it won't be to cold so the students don't freeze like we did last year.. We will be gone for two weeks, then come back for two weeks, then major outreach starts! It is crazy how fast time is going! It's almost over.. Which is so sad. But I am also excited to start the next phase.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but after DTS is over I will go down to Korat to teach for 4 months there and I think I will also be working in a cafe.
Please be praying that everything will continue to go smoothly, that we will all stay unified, and that everyone will have a great time on our mini-outreach.
Love you guys, and I am so thankful for all your prayers and everything!

Pictures

 Here are a few pictures so you guys can get a glimpse of what it's like here -

 We have intersession every-other day during the week

We pray for many different things during intersession

 Our speakers come from all over the world (this is Pastor Sidney who lives in Chiang Mai)

 My "husband" Bruce's youngest, Christopher

Two of the students! Hanna from WA and Gam from Thailand (But we tell her she is Russian)

 P'Whell (one of the Shan staff) showed me how to catch mole crickets

 Then how to clean them, fry them, and eat them :)

 The Shan family's little girl

 Volleyball, one of our favorite pastimes

 Gigi and Kartson watching us dig up some crickets

 Lauren, one of the students, being fed one of the fried up crickets

Hanna was brave and put it in her mouth! Then spit it out after the picture..

And back we go..!

This week has been pretty rough, as far as learning and growing. This week's speaker was teaching on being a christian and disciple of Christ, and I was really looking forward to it! But it turned out that he is really hard to follow.. I feel like I got almost nothing out of his talks and didn't do a lot of growing. A good thing that came out of it though, was that it really motivated a lot of good discussion with my small-group girls, and others too. I feel like the lack of understanding and confusion that most of the students, and I, had made is really look into it and try to dig deeper. Just more proof that God can use everything!
Tomorrow I am planning to go into Chiang Mai to see Carissa's (my little Thai sister) volleyboll tourny. Then I will stay the night in town and go to the night market again with some of the girls.
This time we are going so that we can pray for the people there. Mostly the beggars and the people selling stuff. I am so excited!
I am also excited for next weeks teaching! Larry Dinkens is teaching on prayer and counseling, and weaving the father heart of God into it! Last year that was the week that I experienced the most growth. I am looking forward to being able to grow even more, and for the students to also.
Thank you all for the prayers! I can definitely feel them, and really appreciate them.

Weekend

This was such a great weekend! Not as relaxing as I would have liked, but God is giving me strength.

On Saturday most of us just hung out at the base or went to the cafe. Then on Sunday about 16 of us went into Chiang Mai for the day. Everyone went to church, but I decided to just sit in Starbucks and read my Bible and listen to worship music. I love how much you can learn from simply meditating on just a few passages! He is constantly showing me new things and helping me apply them to my life.

After some of us walked around the mall and just hung out until it was time to go to the Sunday night market. I just love getting to spend time with these girls (and boys)! They are such a good group and constantly blessing me and helping me to improve my walk with God.

The last thing we did was go to the Sunday market. It is a huge market at one of the gates in Chiang Mai. It stretches over multiple streets and draws thousands of people every week. It is such a blast! Venders there sell anything from clothes to hand-made jewelery to delicious street food.

This week we are learning about what it really means to be a christian and a disciple of Christ. I think being a christian and a disciple should be the same thing, but aren't. It is so common for people to just become christians but not truly follow Christ and His will for their lives. It seems like more and more people accept Christ, but continue to be the master of their lives and not truly follow Him.

Prayer requests:

Please be praying for strength! Not only for me but for the students as well. Some of us have been having trouble sleeping, and that on top of classes all morning, work in the afternoons, and more classes at night can really exhaust you. And a lot of the students have been getting sick now that the seasons are changing!

That the students would continue to have open hearts! I am really amazed and inspired by their openness and willingness to listen and accept, but I know that it can get difficult sometimes. So please pray that they will continue to be open.

Please continue to pray for Bowling. Even though she isn't here God is still working in her life.

Also still praying for a car.

Oh, and that pop tarts and sour patch will magically fall from the sky. :)