We had an unbelievable Men’s Conference in Panama.  We saw 40 men attend and one trust Christ!  We held the conference over 3 nights and Jeff Sanders brought messages to men and we shared our testimonies.  The men seemed to love the conference, as did the ladies.  The youth on our trip watched the kids as the men came the first night.  However, the women loved the idea so much, they came the second two nights and Tracy held a special Bible study for them too!  Plus, no Men’s Conference is complete unless you give away machetes and have to bring the food in with a wheelbarrow.

Oh boy was field day interesting.  After monsoon rains, we had the muddiest field day yet.  But, the kids absolutely loved it.  As a family, we had to leave Thailand and make our 32 hour trek to Panama as soon as field day was over.  So, it was hard to leave and say goodby to some good friends.  But, we can’t wait to see them in the future.

We held a youth night for all of the teenagers in the school and church in Mae Sot. Kim taught the girls and Brooks taught the boys.  It was a great evening to help minister to the youth.  The ladies did a special painting project with the ladies to help illustrate how God has made them all beautiful and they wrote letters of encouragement to each other.  Brooks taught the boys on being a man and what it means to lead in a Godly way.

We began our second week in Thailand after travelling to Mae Sot. They have a saying in Southeast Asia, “Same same but different.”  It definitely applies here.  We worked with a school and did a lot of the same things, but with a different group of kids.  It was an amazing time.  The girls got to play on a soccer team one evening.  We taught the kids on electricity, sound and math.  And we got to love on them in general.  We had several special events planned like a youth night and a large field day.  Kim and some of the ladies had to wash dishes over some buckets, and we got to do our laundry in a sink at the hotel.  It is always and adventure.

The day after the government meeting, we were able to visit a local school and put on a 1/2 day music performance.  The school loved it!  We were able to play songs, teach them songs, and engage the kids.  It was amazing! In 2004 a tsunami destroyed this village. The kids sang these words with us in Thai.

When the oceans rise and the thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are King over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

We serve such a great God that redeems our lives.  What is also remarkable is the missionary will have tremendous favor with the other principals now when the mayor has the meeting.  The principal at this school will be able to share the testimony of the group’s engagement and impact on the students. This is all a result of the missionary’s hard work and the Lord’s provision.  We were just able to be blessed to be a small part of the event.

Our first week in Thailand was spent at Baan Nam Kem helping at the Community Development Center with Jason Goh.  It is a tremendous project with over 200 Burmese children that are being taught and fed daily. Also, there are dozens of Thai kids that are loved on in an after school program. We built some marker boards for the classrooms while the rest of the team taught the kids and had a huge field day.  We were also able to connect with some friends.  It is always great to come back to projects each year and develop long-term relationships.

We like to take time on each of our trips to let the teams get to know the history of the country they are serving in.  It helps them grasp the culture better and understand the people in a greater way.  It is also a time to allow them to see the beauty in each country.  Each of the countries we serve in are proud of their country and heritage and it means a lot to them when we share an interest in those things as well.  Plus, it would be a shame to travel half way around the world and not see Dracula’s Castle on your way back to the airport!  Here is some of the beauty of Romania.

We headed back to Campulung and spent the remainder of the ministry time preparing for a community wide carnival, and then hostin the carnival.  We had a great turn out, 300-400 people from the community showed up! We cooked around 500 hot dogs too.  The Gospel was presented and we were able to give out tracks and DVDs with the Jesus Film in Romanian.  We will never know the the full impact of the carnival, but it reached a lot of people.

On Monday we went back to Rogova and worked at the feeding center. The team got to love on the kids and Pastor Jeff gave a great Bible lesson to the children.  It was a beautiful time of ministry.  We couldn’t find Reaghan and Adam, one of the youth.  We found them in the kitchen washing all of the dishes from the kids.  That makes a parent’s heard proud to see your kids serving with you having to ask them.