Merry Christmas!!! or in Thai --(สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาสและปีใหม่)!!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from the blazing hot and sunny country of Thailand... I think it would be safe to say that the weather most of you are experiencing is quite the opposite! It doesn't seem like Christmas at all.. Not just because of the weather, but also because this is such a Buddhist country, they don't celebrate it at all -- except for the few people who got sucked into American traditions and don't know why they do what they are doing... But most of all, it doesn't seem like it because I don't have all of my loved ones around to share it with... I don't regret coming here at all, but I admit it is super hard to think about everyone back home and everything that I am missing out on. But.. I am keeping in mind that God has called me to this place and that my sacrifice of giving up a half a year of my life away from my loved ones will never even compare to the sacrifice he has made for all of us... Keeping God's perspective is key for keeping my attitude positive.. if not, I would not have the strength to endure all that I am experiencing here in Thailand.
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I wanted to add a quick little update of what I have been doing for the past couple weeks... I don't have enough time to go into details, but I have been keeping a daily journal and I will elaborate more at a later date or I will just save my stories for when I return home!! Anyhow.. We have spent the past weeks in a few different villages... Now when I say villages... it is probably similar to what you are thinking... I can't wait to show all of you these pictures.. They are rather primitive...they aren't straw huts, but we are sleeping on the floor in mosquito nets, surrounded by tons and tons of ants..everywhere. It's crazy, I never thought that I would become accustomed to the feeling of having things crawling on me and not be bothered by it. I'm really not complaining though, I think of everything as being an experience, a memory, and a purposeful reason to sacrifice my physical comfort for a higher purpose. I mean things could definitely be worse, but we are roughing it for sure. I have just finally mastered the art of cold bucket showers and "squattie potties" (the Asian toilets which are just pretty much a porcelain hole in the ground that you have to flush with buckets of water). These things are not the most pleasant to use, but God has a way of humbling all of us, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill what He has called me to do!
We have been ministering to the schools in the local villages by teaching them English.. There were about 400 kids at each school and we split them into 4 groups... This was my first experience at teaching, but I really enjoyed it!!! There were a lot of kids in my class, but they behaved and listened really well - I was really impressed with their teachability and their disciplined behavior. It is sooo funny .. we get treated like celebrities here in Thailand.. everyone mobs you for pictures, autographs, and they want to touch our white skin and blonde hair.. and they get really shy when you talk to them, but they love it! It kind of bothers me though, because they treat us as if we are of higher worth than they are and that is definitely not true.. I got really attached to the kids in my group and it was really hard to say goodbye.. I loved them and they really showed me love in return.. They would love to just be around me or have me talk to them (even though they couldn't understand what I was telling them) I received a lot of gifts from these kids, which really melted my heart because they don't have much to begin with - yet they are so quick to give.. They really love saying my name - they draw it out like "Jess-a-kaaaaaaaa".. haha. It was so apparent that God has been opening doors for us this entire time. The headmasters of the school were so open to us coming in and not only teaching English, but sharing the gospel message to the kids and they thanked us for it, truly an act of God opening up the minds of these leaders!
We have also been able to minister to local people in the villages. In the first village, everyone was able to freely come and listen and participate -- we had a wonderful turnout and a lot of people who requested prayers and wanted to know more about Jesus!! The second village was a little more disappointing - The headmaster of the village would not allow for us to have a program for the people of the village and said that the people were not allowed to join us. A few brave souls showed up anyhow.. a man came and asked for prayer to heal his shoulder and we prayed and prayed until he could take his shoulder and move in in complete circles, he said that the pain was gone! The next evening, many more people showed up to listen. A few of the Thai women gave their testimonies and I also volunteered to share mine. The Holy Spirit must have been speaking through me because there were some young girls there who were in tears as I was telling my story and they wanted prayer afterwards... We took time to pray for everyone who was courageous and came, regardless of what the headmaster said. It was sad though, because at one point while we were praying, a mother from the village (obviously upset) came up and demanded that her daughters should leave right away. The heaviness of the Buddhist religion is so strong here, but I think God is definitely doing amazing things and he is breaking the soil for big things to come! I am so hopeful and expectant of this! He is so capable and powerful... I will never cease to be amazed by Him!
Well I better end this now, my internet time is about up..
Again.. I hope you all enjoy your Christmas and New Years!!! May God bless each and every one of you and may you be filled with the peace and joy that only He can give to you!

Love,
Jessica

Sawatdee Kaa!!! Thailand At Last!!!

Sawatdee Kaa (Hello)!!!

I just wanted to write a short blog for now to let everyone know that after all of the mishaps and a few more minor ones, I have arrived safe and sound in Bangkok, Thailand. I am quite tired at the moment, experiencing a bit of jet lag (a 17 hour time difference from Maui) but the excitement that is building up inside of me more than makes up for the tiredness!!!

I have to sign off for now.. I will add more later on!
Love,
Jessica

Thailand...Not quite yet. haha.

This morning we got up at 3 a.m. to get all of our stuff together to leave the base at 4 a.m. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10 a.m. from Kahului, Maui. During the previous night and the early morning hours the wind was so strong and loud that it kept me from getting the sleep that I needed. Everything was going pretty smoothly and all of our groups arrived at our gate and we were waiting for the call to board and suddenly the sky got super dark and it started raining harder than I have ever seen before in my life and the wind was out of control! The flight before us had to turn around and come back because the Honolulu Airport was shutting down due to the extreme weather. It was already past our boarding time when a man came over the loud speaker and informed us that at that point they were still waiting to hear back from someone at the Honolulu Airport to inform us what our flight status was or if we could find another flight over. He also told us that there was a very intense and large storm between Honolulu and the island of Molokai and it was heading toward Maui. To make a long story short, all of us ended up camping out in the Maui Airport for over 6 hours, watching the hurricane-like conditions outside. We were told that our connecting flight in Honolulu on China Airlines had to leave without us and there would not be another one flying out that day. We had to get ahold of people back at the base to come pick us up and we had to go claim our baggage which somehow ended up getting soaked!!! It was such a long trip home, it usually only takes 1/2 hour to get back to the base, but it took over an hour! The vans we are transported around in aren't luxurious by any means.. the ceilings leak when it rains too hard -- and somehow I ended up picking the "lucky seat" in the van where there was a constant trickle and sometimes a flow of water streaming onto me!! It was raining so hard that we could hardly see in front of us, the roads were flooded out and the whole towns were shut down because the weather was so horrible and there was no power. However, we got home safe and sound AND soaked.--(atleast me) haha. We didn't have electric at the base for a while so since we were all exhausted from the early morning, most of us decided to go into our sad and empty room to nap in our beds one last time. I was so strange because when we left that morning I thought that I would never be back in that room again!
Sooo.. all that being sad -- what is going on now you might be thinking?
Well, we are tentatively planning on leaving tomorrow morning at 9:45 a.m. to head BACK to the airport to catch our flight at 12:45 to Honolulu. We will have a 16 hour layover there, so I have been told that we will be staying at the YWAM base for a bit so we can attempt to get some rest before we head off to Tokyo, Japan. After that we will fly to Taipei, Taiwan where we will have a 4-6 hour layover before heading to Bangkok, Thailand which is the final destination for the first stage of our outreach. *** Like I said, this is only tentative because the brunt of the storm has not even reached Maui yet, so we are expecting it to arrive here early in the morning or sometime tomorrow. I was told that it is a big tropical depression that could possibly turn into something more as time goes out... I'm not sure how things are going to pan out, but one thing that I'm sure of is that we are in God's hands and He is taking care of us! However, I'm not opposed to any extra prayers you may have for our safe travels!!!
Sorry for the long, rambling story - but I just wanted to share with all of you the first interesting experience i've had as a missionary. I'm sure there will be many, MANY more to come! Our group handled it great, very maturely and responsibly! :) So as of now, we are going to attempt this all again tomorrow morning! Thank you for your prayers!

I love you all!!! Have a wonderful day!