Going home... :)

Wow! I can’t believe that I come home in just 10 days!  I am so excited to be back and to see you all.  Please pray for my trip though… I really don’t like flying, and 18+ hours in a plane is going to be a little hard for me.

I will be home for three months, July through September.  While I am home I am hoping to be able to work enough to earn back the price of the plane ticket as well as save a little so that I will have some finances to pay for rent and transportation when I get home.  I also have the opportunity to drive with my mom to Florida in August to drop my sister off at college. I’m so excited and proud of her!!

I will also start taking college classes this fall.  I am enrolling in Centralia College’s online business course, which will allow me to study while I continue working in Chiang Mai.  That is another expense that right now I’m not fully able to take on, but I’m hoping to get financial aid and I know that the Lord has everything under control.  Which is so nice, because I know for sure that I cannot do all of this on my own!!

I have recently taken on two new jobs.  One is working with an organization called Lighthouse In Action.  It has three main missions: X-Life, Love Acts, and WonGen/Zion Kafe.  X-Life sends small, short term groups into one of many villages and helps the farmers up there.  The hope is that if the farmers are able to have self-sustaining farms, they won’t feel as though they need to send their girls into the city to work in bars and the red light district.  Love Acts is focusing on building relationships with the girls and lady boys already in the bars and helping them get out.  The founder of Lighthouse In Action, Emmi, offers the girls training and bible studies.  And WonGen/Zion is reaching out to university students and giving them a fun and safe place to hang out.
I work as a PA/Administrator for Emmi.  I have only been helping her for a few weeks, but I already love it.  Her ministry focuses on something that I have a passion for so I feel so blessed to be able to help her.  When I return to Chiang Mai I am going to be looking for an apartment closer to the area that she is in so I can help her more.

The other organization that I have recently started helping out is called Create International.  It is a group that focuses on using media arts to get the message of Jesus out into all the nations.  This particular branch that I have been helping these last few weeks is in Chiang Mai, but they are located in other areas of the world as well.

Tomorrow I will also start working for a lady who runs a children’s home in Chiang Mai, Home of Joy.  Please be praying that I will be a blessing to all of these ministries.  My goal is simply to bless them by volunteering any way I can.

Another prayer request, although not super important, is my cell phone.  The other night I was driving home and listening to music and suddenly there was a very loud POP and then my phone when black.  I tried turning it back on, but it wouldn’t.  I let it sit overnight and tried again in the morning.  Still nothing. So I took it to a shop in hopes that they could fix it. But they couldn’t, and neither can anyone else in Chiang Mai that I know of.  So this weekend I will try to get it fixed in Bangkok.  But if it can’t be I need to buy a new phone. Luckily, cell phones are much cheaper in the states then in Chiang Mai, but I still don’t have much that I can spend on it.  So please be praying that it can either get fixed, or that I can find an exceptional deal on a phone.

I am looking forward to seeing you and spending time with you this summer! Thank you for all your prayers and support!!

Blessings J

"Donate"

You may notice that on the right side of this blog there is a new button.. And that it's labeled "Donate."  I just added that today.  I did not add it to try and get people to give me money. Actually, if don't feel like God is calling you to give but you feel somehow obligated or feel like you need to do your "good deed" for the day, please don't. There are many other good things that you could do.. (weed your mothers garden, wash someones car, offer to clean someone's house, etc..) I only put this option here to help make it more convenient for those of you who feel like God is leading you to support me.  Or maybe you want to send money, but not for me. Such as a new staff member that will be coming to Chiang Mai at the end of August. Perhaps you feel God is calling you to help her, or maybe to give towards someone school/staff fees. If that is the case I would be happy to pass that along.

I will try to update this more often, things have just been crazy busy around here lately!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. It really means alot to me.
Looking forward to seeing some of you this summer!

Love and blessings!

One month!

Sorry that it's been so long since my most recent update!

I'm not even sure if I can remember everything that has happened recently, but I will try!!

So my mom bought my plane ticket home!! I leave July 4th just before midnight (Chiang Mai time) and I will land in Seattle July 5th sometime around 1PM. (Seattle time)

Since booking the ticket I have moved back to Chiang Mai. Bruce and his family left for a summer in the states so I am looking after their house for them until I leave.
BUT! When I return to CM in September I am going to be looking for an apartment. If you could pray for that (finding one quickly, finances) that would be awesome and much appreciated!

I have also gotten a new job! Emmi, a local Thai missions worker, has really been needing some admin/communications help. She found out that I have been looking for more stuff to do so she messaged me and I started working for her that day!
So another prayer request would be that I am able to really help and bless her. She just shut down her old cafe (Wongen) and started a new cafe called Zion. She works with women in the red-light district of CM, trying to get them out and to stay out. She also gives them job training and Bible training. She also works with/organizes/and houses many short-term missions groups that come to CM.
Please also be praying for her.. She has a lot going on!

And today I will go talk with someone at Create, a local organization/dts school in CM about doing the same thing for them. I am hoping it works out, but if it does that means I will be working 5 days a week all on a volunteer status.

That is a lot of time and also a lot of money for transportation.
I am really going to be needing your prayers this next month!
But I am really looking forward to seeing you guys when I am home for a visit :)

Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting me financially and prayerfully. (I didn't know prayerfully was a word.. But apparently it is!)