Hi everyone. Lots of pics below and two blog entries. "Julie's Input" was written by none other than the beauty queen herself. There is a fan club out there always yearning to hear more from her. After this, read "Passed.." and be encouraged by our our good news on many fronts. There are many pics after these blogs as well. Don't miss any of it. Return often. Linger at will. We love you. Thanks for caring about us so deeply!
Peace of Jesus,
Brent, Julie, Ben, Kate and Jak
18.2.08
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Julie had great fun directing all these little ones. The singing was great, and Jesus and his birth story was honored.
17.2.08
Mom and Dad Visit
Mom and Dad came to meet Jak and help Russ's family do some packing up. Russ and Tracy leave after 16 years in Thailand.
Julie's Input
Everybody wants to hear from Julie...so here ya go:
There’s not a day that goes by here that I don’t feel foolish and weak. And my flesh hates this. I want to say it correctly, love my friends well understanding the deep cultural nuances that seem to always be barriers here, please the parents of my students, be an insightful mother, encourage my husband and the list goes on and on. I fail miserably in my own strengths, but it is so beautiful when it is the Lord flowing through us.
And Jesus keeps whispering in my ears 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
As January rolled around and we celebrated four years in Thailand, Brent and I began crying out for fresh faith that we would see Thais coming to know Jesus in a transformational way. It gets a bit discouraging at times here the daily things that confront us that I know the Lord detests and have been a stench in His nostrils for centuries: idolatry, sexual perversion, drunkenness, merit-making, broken families. I realize more daily that I come from such a “microwave” culture and want instant results instead of the Lord’s perfect timing. I think of the years of missionaries in Thailand and yet still less than 1% of Thais follow Jesus. So Brent and I prayed desperately for the Lord to send encouragement and remind us of our calling here, for fresh insights and honestly something specific to spur us on. And isn’t it always beautiful and humbling how our faithful Lord answers prayers?
We have a regular visitor at our home. His nickname is Wallace as his given name means something derogatory. He is a simple man, maybe in his late thirties. He didn’t go to school as he has some type of condition that makes him socially awkward and makes it difficult for him to learn. But Wallace keeps us informed of neighborhood events, often invites us along on his outings and has become a friend to our family. His mother beat him after she found out he had been at our house when we were having a party for some of Brent’s students as she felt embarrassed by him imposing on the “white people.” We hadn’t seen him for a few weeks and when he showed up and told me what had happened to him. His first question was “Do you care?” My heart broke. So we regularly pray over Wallace as he drops in and share with him about how much God loves him. He has begun to ask us for prayer and wanting to know more about this Jesus we pray to.
Recently, after a rather long week, Wallace was hanging out in our kitchen on a Friday evening. He started to ask Brent to tell him more about Jesus (while Jak is snacking on whatever he can find as he finds Brent engaged and me finishing up some school work so I could be “done” for the weekend). Then Brent simply asks Wallace, “Do you want to ask Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord of your life?” Wallace’s eyes light up and we have such a holy moment there in our kitchen. You know what I am talking about? Moments, when you are living in the midst of answered prayers. And then I looked around at the four of us. Jak, considered a discard of Thai society; Brent, who speaks Thai at a sixth grade level; me, the one who feels daily overwhelmed and completely desperate for Jesus as I struggle to take every thought captive so as to not go bananas with all that swirls around in my mind; and Wallace, this man from the neighborhood that people only tolerate and then make fun of when he’s not around I Corinthians 1:27-31 quickly came to mind:
27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[a]
God’s ways are not our ways, but much higher and mightier. It’s the upside down gospel of Jesus going to the weak, poor, outcasts. These are the hungry. Wallace then eyed the plate of cookies Kate and I had made that afternoon and asked if we could celebrate by eating cookies. We all enjoyed chocolate milk and cookies as we thanked God for His faithfulness.
Beth Moore rings in my ears, “It’s a scandal that God would use any of us!” And He does. The weak, broken vessels that we are and He transforms us into prophets, priests, and kings. Ambassadors even. That’s either insane or a miraculous God. Aren’t God’s ways mysterious? So we press on here believing God that one day every knee will bow and worship the King of Kings.
There’s not a day that goes by here that I don’t feel foolish and weak. And my flesh hates this. I want to say it correctly, love my friends well understanding the deep cultural nuances that seem to always be barriers here, please the parents of my students, be an insightful mother, encourage my husband and the list goes on and on. I fail miserably in my own strengths, but it is so beautiful when it is the Lord flowing through us.
And Jesus keeps whispering in my ears 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
As January rolled around and we celebrated four years in Thailand, Brent and I began crying out for fresh faith that we would see Thais coming to know Jesus in a transformational way. It gets a bit discouraging at times here the daily things that confront us that I know the Lord detests and have been a stench in His nostrils for centuries: idolatry, sexual perversion, drunkenness, merit-making, broken families. I realize more daily that I come from such a “microwave” culture and want instant results instead of the Lord’s perfect timing. I think of the years of missionaries in Thailand and yet still less than 1% of Thais follow Jesus. So Brent and I prayed desperately for the Lord to send encouragement and remind us of our calling here, for fresh insights and honestly something specific to spur us on. And isn’t it always beautiful and humbling how our faithful Lord answers prayers?
We have a regular visitor at our home. His nickname is Wallace as his given name means something derogatory. He is a simple man, maybe in his late thirties. He didn’t go to school as he has some type of condition that makes him socially awkward and makes it difficult for him to learn. But Wallace keeps us informed of neighborhood events, often invites us along on his outings and has become a friend to our family. His mother beat him after she found out he had been at our house when we were having a party for some of Brent’s students as she felt embarrassed by him imposing on the “white people.” We hadn’t seen him for a few weeks and when he showed up and told me what had happened to him. His first question was “Do you care?” My heart broke. So we regularly pray over Wallace as he drops in and share with him about how much God loves him. He has begun to ask us for prayer and wanting to know more about this Jesus we pray to.
Recently, after a rather long week, Wallace was hanging out in our kitchen on a Friday evening. He started to ask Brent to tell him more about Jesus (while Jak is snacking on whatever he can find as he finds Brent engaged and me finishing up some school work so I could be “done” for the weekend). Then Brent simply asks Wallace, “Do you want to ask Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord of your life?” Wallace’s eyes light up and we have such a holy moment there in our kitchen. You know what I am talking about? Moments, when you are living in the midst of answered prayers. And then I looked around at the four of us. Jak, considered a discard of Thai society; Brent, who speaks Thai at a sixth grade level; me, the one who feels daily overwhelmed and completely desperate for Jesus as I struggle to take every thought captive so as to not go bananas with all that swirls around in my mind; and Wallace, this man from the neighborhood that people only tolerate and then make fun of when he’s not around I Corinthians 1:27-31 quickly came to mind:
27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[a]
God’s ways are not our ways, but much higher and mightier. It’s the upside down gospel of Jesus going to the weak, poor, outcasts. These are the hungry. Wallace then eyed the plate of cookies Kate and I had made that afternoon and asked if we could celebrate by eating cookies. We all enjoyed chocolate milk and cookies as we thanked God for His faithfulness.
Beth Moore rings in my ears, “It’s a scandal that God would use any of us!” And He does. The weak, broken vessels that we are and He transforms us into prophets, priests, and kings. Ambassadors even. That’s either insane or a miraculous God. Aren’t God’s ways mysterious? So we press on here believing God that one day every knee will bow and worship the King of Kings.
Passed...First Down and Ten..Ninety to go???
Let’s start with the good news. I know everybody has been wondering how I did on the 6th grade Thai proficiency test I took a while ago. Up until this week, I was wondering the same thing.
The test was quite a challenge. They herded about 300 Asians (mainly Koreans and Japanese) and another 50 or so westerners into a room and prompted us to write (in Thai), read and answer questions, write an essay using 10 Thai words they drew out of a hat, and read a paragraph out loud and talk about it with the nice lady behind the desk who had lots of questions. After studying so many hours to attain the skills needed to pass this test, the test became my little superbowl. I don’t know what Eli Manning felt when he was shedding those defensive linemen before he threw that clutch pass that led to the superbowl victory last week (surely an empty metaphor for all of you who do not care about football or hate it that the Giant’s won last week…oh, and yes we can watch the superbowl here, 5:30 a.m.), but the test room felt mostly like the venue for some sports competition. I was kinda jazzed before the test, to the point that I had trouble controlling my shaking hand as I started writing my essay. After 6 hours of mental and verbal first downs, I left the room feeling like I threw the touchdown pass on the game winning drive. Then, the game went into 5 overtimes. They said we would have to wait a few weeks for the results. It is nice to know that government organizations worldwide have the same arrival/departure schedule for correspondence.
Well, after checking the mailbox for the millionth time, I am glad to tell you that Dean and I both passed the test. Coach says, “Everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and now let’s get out there and knock ‘em out.” Hmmm…Now I am realizing that this was just the first quarter. The game continues.
Quite honestly, it was often frustrating how much time was necessary for preparing for this exam where the writing and spelling components required a enormous amount of book study. The hours of writing spelling words and dictated paragraphs over and over now become hours of actually using the Thai language with Thai students and teachers on the Rajaphat campus. This is my preferred method of language study.
Right now we are quite aware that Jesus must, to continue the football metaphor, give us the signals for the next play. My own signal calling gets me into 4th down and long and desperate. I have experienced this as true so many times in my life, and yet I hesitate to write these words because I do not like my team, my friends, my family knowing that I am desperate. But I am absolutely desperate for Jesus to move our hearts and in the hearts of the people here. I must have Jesus’ guidance for the next play. Honestly, this is a great freedom and joy in dependence on His next move when in every corner you turn there is overwhelming brokenness in families, in orphans, in drunks, in lost people. As we are obedient to listen and do the next thing that God asks us to do, we recognize that we get to be a small part of a move of God in Southeast Asia.
What does this look like? One morning I am praying to Jesus and quite frankly telling him I need to see what he is doing around here. I turn and see an Asian man, of course I thought he was Thai, standing behind me. Signals like this even I cannot miss. Assuming he is a Thai man who teaches here, I approach him and speak to him in Thai. He responds in broken Thai and I find out quickly that he is Chinese. We switch to English and in this conversation and over the next few weeks, we discover that there are about 80 Chinese students studying Thai here in a department close to me (it is amazing what you discover when your nose is out of a book). They all speak varying levels of Thai and English (and of course Chinese, but we will have to take that language on, maybe next year). Presently we are teaching an English course for Chinese students and developing relationships. My new friend Suthep is a leader of this group and will study here for another year or more to receive a master’s degree in Thai studies. Possibly my vision has been too small. We pray now that God would plant a church in southern China with these students that study here and return to their country. Sounds like a huge task. It is and I am desperate. I am asking Jesus to go after this man with saving grace and regenerate his life that he might become so enamored by the beauty of Jesus that he takes Him back to his people. Pray for these students here who are extremely open to relationship and to my words about Jesus.
What does this look like in Julie? Julie coordinates the elementary program at the kids’ school while raising Jak (who just turned 3), training Kate, interacting with Ben, taking care of me and loving the people around us. Any one of these is a full time job. Recently I have enjoyed watching Jesus’ response to her following His lead at the school. She must have His guidance in this place where she goes from pouring her life into teaching 3rd and 5th graders from all over the world, directs an elementary Christmas presentation, masterminds a poetry party (with kids spouting out English poems with cute French, Thai, Dutch and Chinese accents), and oversees a band of sometimes ragamuffin volunteer teachers. Quite honestly, if she was not listening to Jesus for the signals she would be overwhelmed. Instead I see in her what Mark Driscol recently called empowering grace, which is grace that empowers you to work hard and do more than you could ever possibly do on your own. She is great and works hard, but further than that she just plain gets results that are beyond her. She cries out desperately on behalf of some of the orphan kids at the school and Jesus responds through pouring out love into them through the teachers. She cries out desperately for quality teachers to teach the kids and Jesus sends a retired elementary teacher with 30+ years of experience and a lively teacher with experience as mascots for the NFL and NBA. The result of Julie’s dependence is a quality education for our kids, other missionary kids, Thai and international kids and much honor for Jesus.
It would be much more comfortable for us if we knew how and when everything was coming. Yet, Julie is crying out for teachers for next year school year. I am crying out for ideas of how and when to share Jesus with hungry Thai students in a deeper way. Just a couple things that we don’t know how and where the ideas and resources are going to come. Desperate. And yet it would be so much worse living the life where the thought doesn’t even pass your mind that you might need him that day.
Please pray these five things:
1. Pray that God would provide for our family needs. Pray that he would give us joy in our family relationships. Pray that Jak’s U.S. adoption details would be finalized (the Thai side of the adoption is done, so in Thailand Jak is ours 100%) and pray that the planning of details of our trip to U.S. this summer to visit family, friends and our church would go well.
2. Pray that God would increase and strengthen our relationships with Chinese students and pray that their hearts would be opened to Jesus. Pray that Suthep would desire to know more about Jesus.
3. Pray that we would know how to love the people of Burma and share Jesus with them.
4. Pray that we would have excellent volunteer teachers for our kids’ school next year.
5. Pray for my students for this February – May quarter. These are students that I have taught previously and many have been in our home several times. Pray specifically for Meow, Sun, Chris, Sa.
The test was quite a challenge. They herded about 300 Asians (mainly Koreans and Japanese) and another 50 or so westerners into a room and prompted us to write (in Thai), read and answer questions, write an essay using 10 Thai words they drew out of a hat, and read a paragraph out loud and talk about it with the nice lady behind the desk who had lots of questions. After studying so many hours to attain the skills needed to pass this test, the test became my little superbowl. I don’t know what Eli Manning felt when he was shedding those defensive linemen before he threw that clutch pass that led to the superbowl victory last week (surely an empty metaphor for all of you who do not care about football or hate it that the Giant’s won last week…oh, and yes we can watch the superbowl here, 5:30 a.m.), but the test room felt mostly like the venue for some sports competition. I was kinda jazzed before the test, to the point that I had trouble controlling my shaking hand as I started writing my essay. After 6 hours of mental and verbal first downs, I left the room feeling like I threw the touchdown pass on the game winning drive. Then, the game went into 5 overtimes. They said we would have to wait a few weeks for the results. It is nice to know that government organizations worldwide have the same arrival/departure schedule for correspondence.
Well, after checking the mailbox for the millionth time, I am glad to tell you that Dean and I both passed the test. Coach says, “Everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and now let’s get out there and knock ‘em out.” Hmmm…Now I am realizing that this was just the first quarter. The game continues.
Quite honestly, it was often frustrating how much time was necessary for preparing for this exam where the writing and spelling components required a enormous amount of book study. The hours of writing spelling words and dictated paragraphs over and over now become hours of actually using the Thai language with Thai students and teachers on the Rajaphat campus. This is my preferred method of language study.
Right now we are quite aware that Jesus must, to continue the football metaphor, give us the signals for the next play. My own signal calling gets me into 4th down and long and desperate. I have experienced this as true so many times in my life, and yet I hesitate to write these words because I do not like my team, my friends, my family knowing that I am desperate. But I am absolutely desperate for Jesus to move our hearts and in the hearts of the people here. I must have Jesus’ guidance for the next play. Honestly, this is a great freedom and joy in dependence on His next move when in every corner you turn there is overwhelming brokenness in families, in orphans, in drunks, in lost people. As we are obedient to listen and do the next thing that God asks us to do, we recognize that we get to be a small part of a move of God in Southeast Asia.
What does this look like? One morning I am praying to Jesus and quite frankly telling him I need to see what he is doing around here. I turn and see an Asian man, of course I thought he was Thai, standing behind me. Signals like this even I cannot miss. Assuming he is a Thai man who teaches here, I approach him and speak to him in Thai. He responds in broken Thai and I find out quickly that he is Chinese. We switch to English and in this conversation and over the next few weeks, we discover that there are about 80 Chinese students studying Thai here in a department close to me (it is amazing what you discover when your nose is out of a book). They all speak varying levels of Thai and English (and of course Chinese, but we will have to take that language on, maybe next year). Presently we are teaching an English course for Chinese students and developing relationships. My new friend Suthep is a leader of this group and will study here for another year or more to receive a master’s degree in Thai studies. Possibly my vision has been too small. We pray now that God would plant a church in southern China with these students that study here and return to their country. Sounds like a huge task. It is and I am desperate. I am asking Jesus to go after this man with saving grace and regenerate his life that he might become so enamored by the beauty of Jesus that he takes Him back to his people. Pray for these students here who are extremely open to relationship and to my words about Jesus.
What does this look like in Julie? Julie coordinates the elementary program at the kids’ school while raising Jak (who just turned 3), training Kate, interacting with Ben, taking care of me and loving the people around us. Any one of these is a full time job. Recently I have enjoyed watching Jesus’ response to her following His lead at the school. She must have His guidance in this place where she goes from pouring her life into teaching 3rd and 5th graders from all over the world, directs an elementary Christmas presentation, masterminds a poetry party (with kids spouting out English poems with cute French, Thai, Dutch and Chinese accents), and oversees a band of sometimes ragamuffin volunteer teachers. Quite honestly, if she was not listening to Jesus for the signals she would be overwhelmed. Instead I see in her what Mark Driscol recently called empowering grace, which is grace that empowers you to work hard and do more than you could ever possibly do on your own. She is great and works hard, but further than that she just plain gets results that are beyond her. She cries out desperately on behalf of some of the orphan kids at the school and Jesus responds through pouring out love into them through the teachers. She cries out desperately for quality teachers to teach the kids and Jesus sends a retired elementary teacher with 30+ years of experience and a lively teacher with experience as mascots for the NFL and NBA. The result of Julie’s dependence is a quality education for our kids, other missionary kids, Thai and international kids and much honor for Jesus.
It would be much more comfortable for us if we knew how and when everything was coming. Yet, Julie is crying out for teachers for next year school year. I am crying out for ideas of how and when to share Jesus with hungry Thai students in a deeper way. Just a couple things that we don’t know how and where the ideas and resources are going to come. Desperate. And yet it would be so much worse living the life where the thought doesn’t even pass your mind that you might need him that day.
Please pray these five things:
1. Pray that God would provide for our family needs. Pray that he would give us joy in our family relationships. Pray that Jak’s U.S. adoption details would be finalized (the Thai side of the adoption is done, so in Thailand Jak is ours 100%) and pray that the planning of details of our trip to U.S. this summer to visit family, friends and our church would go well.
2. Pray that God would increase and strengthen our relationships with Chinese students and pray that their hearts would be opened to Jesus. Pray that Suthep would desire to know more about Jesus.
3. Pray that we would know how to love the people of Burma and share Jesus with them.
4. Pray that we would have excellent volunteer teachers for our kids’ school next year.
5. Pray for my students for this February – May quarter. These are students that I have taught previously and many have been in our home several times. Pray specifically for Meow, Sun, Chris, Sa.
15.2.08
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