Our first week in Khorat

It just occurred to a few of us last night that we only have 1 more week left of our short term mission trip with the team. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, and it's after realisations like that that i'm really glad that i'm staying on for the year. Once again, i'm just starting to feel like i'm getting more of a handle on the language and being able to form even better relationships with some of the Thai people here and i'm having soooooo much fun it almost doesn't seem quite right that moving countries can be quite this easy. Of course i need to remember that right now isn't quite reality with the team around and all the organised activities we're doing, but hey, at least it's a great way to start.

So I finally got round to making a short summary video of just a couple things that we've been up to while in Khorat - in going to church and teaching at one of the schools. you can check it out here.

We've also done heaps of other stuff too which i couldn't include in the last vid - going to other schools, visiting a world vision project, going caroling at night with members of the Suebsiri church til 1am (i think we probably went to about 10 houses to sing carols, pray for the families at the houses and eat lots of food!!), we've visited Pi Mai - an old ruins place, we've managed to have a day off, ange and i gatecrashed the music rehearsal from the church and had a great jam session with the music team, we almost got to see some of the SEA games tacraw semi finals - until officials realised after they had announced the 2 teams playing that 3 teams in fact had finished on equal points so they were trying to work out who should get to play. So we ended up sitting around for 2 1/2 hrs learning Thai cheers, participating in 'Mexican Waves', eating a variety of 'surprise' foods and chatting with one of the teachers from the english camp who we happened to bump into (which was really cool!). It's been awesome so far!

Today, we're heading to church and then i'm going to attempt to help Tong (one of the Thai guys we've been working with here) try and make a video for his church christmas service next week. He's hoping to use the video to introduce the talk on getting people think about what the greatest gift we can ever receive is - leading into the fact that Jesus is the best gift we could receive. Due to the time constraints of making the video, i figured doing a vox pop would be easiest and quickest - only i know somehow it's going to take longer then usual since i'm not going to be able to understand what the respondents are going to say, so editing could be..... well, interesting. Might be a great way to learn thai tho :) hehe

For those who are praying:
- thank God for a great trip so far and the ways that God has been opening doors for the local thai churches here in Korat
- for the great relationships i've been able to form with Thai people here so far
- for the thai christians here - for their amazing love and trust of God, and that they'll continue to grow in their knowledge, love and understanding of God
- for the millions of other Thai's who don't yet know God, that they will

Heart 1032 Radio Interview

So i finally worked out a way to upload multimedia files to this blog (From my dodgy connection here in Korat). So here's the Heart 1032 interview from the 5th December



i've also got myself a Thai mobile phone, so if you feel the need to call/sms me, you can contact me on +66 8 9848 0896

Only thing left to do now is work out how to send emails.... :)

We're all heading off to a Thai church this morning, then having an interchurch sports afternoon where we'll be able to try out all sorts of Thai sports which should be really fun. Then Monday and Tuesday are the big days with our English camp.

For those praying, please pray for the students and teachers that we meet at this camp, that they will have hearts that are ready to hear and understand what Christmas is about and that we'll be able to explain it clearly with the limited language that we have

Safe and Sound

Despite the random thoughts at times of 'what have i done?', 'i can't believe i'm actually left', i have now arrived safe and sound in Thailand and so far, it's been awesome (well all 2 days of it). It really was nice to be able to fly out with a team of friends from church and start my time here with them. So far, there haven't been any regrets. I guess you can't do a huge amount in 2 days but as a summary - we've done a lot of travel, a lot of eating, checking out Khorat and going to the opening ceremony of the SEA games. I'll try and post up a few photos of the opening ceremony soon.

i was hoping to post up a copy of a radio interview i did on Heart 103.2 just before i left Sydney (i know some of you have already heard it - thanks for your messages), but the internet here doesn't seem to like me uploading videos, so i'll have to post that later. All going well, i'll be touching based with Aaron throughout '08 with updates on how things are going over here, so stay tuned to 103.2 if you're in Sydney.

for those who are praying:
- thank God for safe travels so far
- pray for the team as we share the true meaning of Christmas and for doors to open for the thai christians we're working with to share the gospel with them in a way they can understand
- thank god for the awesome opportunity we have to be here to share his great news

PS - for some reason, my Oz mobile number isn't working over here now (so if you've sent a message in the past couple days i haven't and won't get it for a LONG time). I'll let you know my new mobile number as soon as i get around to getting it.

I'm off....

It's hard to believe that in just 6 hours, i'm going to be getting into a taxi to head off to the airport to start the next 'chapter' in my life. So why i'm updating my blog right now and not sleeping, i'm not really sure. maybe it's just cos i'm too excited about heading off. :)




Every day for the past week, i've had a great chance to catch up with family and friends (here are some pics from my ultimate self portait album - check it out on my profile if your on Facebook). Thanks so much to you all for all your love, support and encouragement as i head off. it's such a huge blessing to know that i have a great support network who are partnering with me as i head off to Thailand. God has indeed taken great care of me thus far through you all, and i really give thanks for all he has given to me. So after a what feels like one of the longest weeks of saying goodbye, i'm so ready to head off.

First stop - Korat with the Drummoyne Pressie short term mission team. Korat is supposedly the 3rd largest city in Thailand (which is substantially smaller then Chiang Mai). We'll be there for about 2 1/2 weeks where we'll be doing a host of things, from running english camps, teaching at schools, helping local Thai Christians and churches, helping to various forms of evangelism (not quite sure how that works just yet seeing as most of us can't really speak thai just yet), helping thai christians build good relationships with schools in the hope they can go in to teach scripture, and predominately sharing with Thai's what the true meaning of Christmas really is. If you want to find out a bit more about the trip and the team going, you can check out the DPC team blog. I'm sure this will get updated pretty regularly in case i don't get to update my blog as regularly while we're there.

For those who are praying, it would be great to pray for the team as we go:
- for unity in the team
- that we will be effective and helpful to the Thai Christians that we work with
- that we will be able to effectively share with Thai's what the true meaning of Christmas is about
- for safe travels for the team

next post - from thialand :)

Making Headlines

Who would've thought that me heading to Thailand would make headlines? But I guess by the lack of paparazzi following me, it didn't make huge waves :) haha If you want to check out the article, click on the image above.

God is GOOD!

Well, the count down (or should i say in Thai-english - 'cow-dow') is well and truly on. With only 9 sleeps to go, i have now officially finished work, have had my commissioning service at church last night and all that i can think that is left to do is get my visa, say bye to family and friends, pack some bags and go to the airport. Too easy :)

In the past few weeks, as i have been catching up with friends and sharing all the ways that this whole trip has come together, i can't help but be in awe of how good God really is. Time and time again, i've experienced how God is so in control of all things and how gracious he has been to me to make this transition to Thailand such an 'easy' one. As mentioned in the last post, from the ways that he has provided the financial support i require and a great bunch of supporters back home, as well as continuing to provide ministry opportunities in Thailand, and that's before i've even made it over there. But what i've really appreciated of late is how he has made the leaving of Sydney as easy as possible. Unlike most missionaries as they head off, i will not have to say goodbye to all my friends and family at the airport and then be in tears, all alone, as i go through customs, sit on a plane for 9 hrs and arrive in a strange new country. Instead, i get to fly out with 15 fellow team mates from my church and embark a 3 week mission trip in Thailand. By pure coincidence, my parents are also on the same flight as us over to Thailand too (they're not coming on the mission trip, they're just visiting my sister), so it's not even like i'm leaving them behind either. It's more like i get to see them off at the other end. And the best part about flying out with all my friends and family is that i'm not restricted to 25kg of luggage. if i'm severely overweight with my luggage, then i have plenty of people to distribute that weight between (heaps cheaper then shipping stuff over) :) hehe. Then i get to 'ease' into the Thai culture for 3 weeks with a bunch of friends, before they finally leave me behind in the care of my sister. Surely it doesn't get any 'easier' then that when starting out on an overseas mission!

Then the question of what am i going to do with my car for the year while i'm away? Well, God again came up with a perfect solution which is just awesome. i've got a friend who is taking a year off work to go to Bible college next year. Unfortunately (or should i say fortunately) she has a company car, which means she has to give it back for the year she's not working. Put our two 'dilemma's' together and there is God's perfect solution.

So my conclusion in the matter: 'God is Good!' But even if things weren't falling into place as they have been, i still know that God is good! One thing i haven't shared about is how i have been really challenged by God's amazing grace through a sermon series we've just finished at church where we looked at 5 different aspects of God's grace. A couple of the big things i've been challenged by is how much God does in fact love us and want for us to be in relationship with him despite our total depravity. And how much of an honour and privilege it is for us to be taking part in His work in sharing the good news of how Jesus has come to pay the penalty we deserve for rebelling against God. Surely that demonstrates more then just goodness!

After i left work for the last time last friday, i suddenly realised that i am now officially unemployed. A very weird feeling for me. But I was kindly reminded by a friend that technically, i'm not actually 'unemployed', i'm just working for God. I'm just not sure how i write that on the visa application. :)

Random Thoughts

Over the past couple of weeks a number of amazing things have happened which i've wanted to share with you all, but unfortunately i've lacked the time in doing so. So here's a quick mish mash of things that have happened recently.

1. i finished my first christian book in a long time - and this one didn't even take 7 years! (check out my video on why i'm going to Thailand if you want that to make more sense). it actually only took me most of this year :) hehe The Unheeded Christ is a collection of sermons by David Cook on the book of Matthew, which was really appropriate at the time i started reading it as we were doing a sermon series on Matthew at church. But the timing and message by the end was also really appropriate as it finished with Matt 28 and the 'great commission' with the challenge to be going out and making disciples. There was the challenge to be going out to every nation with the gospel so that God may call his disciples. A great encouragement indeed for me to be reassured once again of why i'm going. (If you get a chance to read it, i'd recommend it - and it's an 'easy' read too, it just lacks pictures :) hehe)

2. God's constant provision in providing all of our needs. There are have been so many ways that i've seen this in action of late - from a new replacement at work, to so many friends and family partnering with me as i head off next year, to God providing the finances that i require to be in Thailand next year through many of you as generous supporters. i've been so humbled, overwhelmed and awed at God's goodness and timing. I think i've said it before, but the more i let go of trying to be in control, the more i see the amazing things that God can do, and this journey so far has been just that. and i haven't even left yet! (keep reading to point 4 for today's 'out of the blue' story)

3. I've also been really challenged by the urgency of people needing to get into a relationships with God. i guess this really hit home a couple weeks ago when a young 17 year old boy committed suicide outside our work. In amongst a whole lot of emotions, it really made me think how many people are out there who feel they have nothing to live for, that life is SO bad that the only solution is to take it, rather then know that they can have true life in God and that the problems of this world really are only temporary. What if this kid knew God? how would that have changed things? i don't know the answer to that, but the short of it is, we need to be taking every opportunity we get, cos we never know if it will be our last.

4. Another 'Godincidence' occurred just today. As part of my work over the years at TVS/Anglican Media has been on the Auslan Bible project (the Bible in sign language). This week I sent an email out to all the people i've had worked with over the years to let them know that i will be moving on and i got a reply from a guy who i worked with on this project in Australia to hear that he is currently in Chiang Mai where there is talk of doing a similar project in Thai. Sounds like my details have already been passed on - so who knows what will come of this one. i'll keep you posted once i get there and find out what the story is. But God truly is amazing in how he orchestrates things to happen and people to be in the 'right' place at the 'right' time.