grace in Thailand.

8.12.11

I’ve never been so happy to be home.  Got to keep this fire burning. Thank you all for your prayers and support.  God is so good. 

8.4.11

Oh gosh, time has flown like crazy during this trip and I always lose track of what day it is.  Now I finally have access to a computer so I can attempt to update here.

So we’ve been to 4 different parts of South Thailand living in 4 different areas.  I am not allowed to say the names due to the safety of the long term missionaries.  

First 4 days:  The first four days, I stayed in a missionaries’ house.  Their family is so amazing and encouraging.  Basically while staying here, we did community service that included painting mosques, teaching children english, teach students chinese, and talking with the people in the community by having dinner with them.  Throughout these few days were tough for me due to my feelings of being distant with the team so I was a bit distracted.  However, God was able to give me strength and help me persevere through it.  During our third day, we met a Muslim girl that the long term missionaries were following up with.  We loved talking to her so much that we requested our last dinner to be with her as well.  We were able to share a good amount of our life with her and share with her what it means for us to have Christ in our life.  We’re still praying for her that Christ will appear to her so she may know and love Him.

Next 3 days:  Throughout these 4 days, the living situation was not as comfortable as the first.  Here we stayed in a small village where there was no internet, no ac, and no hot water.  We all got bit so much by bugs every night so when we woke up in the morning, we would be scratching like crazy throughout the day.  I think these four days were the craziest for me spiritually.  It was at this village where I questioned why I was in Thailand and the temptation of wanting to go home appeared.  Every night I’ve always had crazy dreams about people back home that I really missed.  I knew that Satan was using that against me.  I was very emotional these days.  Emotions ranged from being homesick, to being burdened, to having joy, to being tired, IT WAS CRAZY!!!  Through it all though, God taught me how to have joy while suffering.  During these days, we did a lot of home visits, we passed out rice, taught students english, and even got a chance to share the Gospel to the Muslim students as well as the Muslim family we lived with.  It was crazy to see how God opened doors for us when we were getting discouraged about just doing community service.  It was ridiculously amazing to see so many change of hearts during these 4 days and how God can really turn mourning into dancing.

Next 3 days: Our team ended up staying at a motel-ish type of place that was pretty luxurious compared to the village.  It was here on the first day that I got a fever and had to go back early to rest.  I remembered that our morning devotions this day was about giving out all the Christ when we serve Him.  So I was trying to “suck it up” when I felt weak and tired.  I thought I was able to continue going about our community service but I ended up over-doing myself and was forced to go back to the hotel.  I remember that night I was actually quite scared for my health.  I had no idea what was going on with me and I wanted to go home.  Through this though, I found comfort in the Word and God’s faithfulness.  The next day, the fever died down a little, but my head still ached and my stomach was going nuts.  This day we taught a class of 50-60 students english.  It was interesting because they were so interested in hearing about our lives.  We also met a European teacher that was from Ireland and was teaching at the school since May.  It was great being able to speak English with someone.  We invited her to dinner and spoke to her about our lives.  We were not able to share the Gospel with her but she knew that we are Christians that came here to serve so hopefully that can open her heart up for Christ.  The last day at this city, we went to eat dinner at KFC.  I’m not going to lie, but this was the most joy I’ve felt throughout the trip.  It was great being united with the team without any burdens holding us back.  

So tomorrow is our last day of service.  We’ll be going to a school to spend 2 hours with the students doing whatever we want.  Although we will not be spreading the Gospel verbally, please pray that through our actions, they can see something different in our hearts.  Pray that for our last day we can still give it our all.  Saturday will be a day where I get to buy things for all of you and explore more of Thailand. =D  If there is anything you guys want from here please let me know.  I will be glad to attempt to find it and buy it for you! =D  

I’ll be OFFICIALLY leaving Thailand on August 7th and returning to Hong Kong.  The AMERICAN team will be in Hong Kong until the 11th of August and then leave to go back home.  Our flight will arrive in LAX at 8:55pm from China Airlines.  I would love to see as many faces as possible because I miss you all so much.  Thank you again for your prayers.  Your support has been helping me persevere through!!!

-Have A GDY.

8.3.11

I really wish I can update more but I am currently on a phone trying to update. Satan has been frustrated with what we are doing here. Please pray for our team. I just slowly overcame a fever and others are getting sick everyday. Pray pray pray!!! I will. Try to update when I can but God is doing work here :)

7.26.11

Oh goodness, there is so much that I want to update you all on but I know that you all won’t read it.  So I’ll try to be short with this. 

The night of the 24th, our training really impacted me.  Basically, we were all blind folded for about 1-2 hours being led around the campus.  While being led, the ony people who spoke were the staff challenging us with questions about what we’re willing to do for Christ.  Through this time of reflection, I saw where I was with God and where I wanted to be.  This part is very long so I’ll update this part in person.  But without a doubt, this was much needed before going on missions.  It helped me stay focus on HIM and Him alone. 

So now, I’m officially in Thailand and I love it!  Coming off the plane I was so excited!  The weather isn’t as bad as Hong Kong and kind of reminds me of Riverside.  I really like the people here.  Everyone is nice and friendly and the long term missionaries are so kind.  One of the missionaries has a little boy that is 3 years old.  When I saw him, he completely stole my heart away.  He was shy at first so I let him play with Spencer.  -_- I think my bear is being torn between staying with me or the little boy.

Anyways, we went over our schedule for Thailand and our team will be doing a lot of community service.  The majority of people in our area are Muslim so we want to spread the love of Jesus Christ through our service.  Today we spent a good amount of tie painting a Mosque.  Through our service, we’re hoping that this will bring up questions to why people from Hong Kong, Japan, and America are here jut to do volunteer.  Please pray for the missionaries in Thailand as well as the people here.

Some prayer request updates:
-my health is slowly declining.  I find myself coughing every night before going to sleep and I don’t know why. 
-spiritual warfare is really getting to me.  There are some things that I know Satan is trying to distract me with but I’m really praying that I will stay strong by His strength.
-Team unity is very important because there is a language barrier.  Please pray that God’s love can break through all barriers and be shown in other ways.

Thanks for reading!  If you want mroe details, email me at gracedangyellow@gmail.com  I am completely open to answering any questions or going in depth with what’s been going on with me in Thailand.

-Have A GDY.

7.24.11

This update is going to be quick because I’m short on time.  Basically please pray for me because I can see Satan trying to tear me down and away from the true focus of this mission’s trip.  I really need to find strength in the Lord and not let Satan get hold of me. 

Also, I’ll be leaving to Thailand tomorrow so HOORAY!!! I’ll try to update when I have time!  PRAY PRAY PRAY please!!!

-Have A GDY.

as a quick sidenote: happy birthday friend.

How to be a good soldier.

-Know who you are fighting for: When you know who you are fighting for, your fight is more worth it.  When you know that you are fighting for someone or something you love, you will fight harder and better.  Your heart will be in it.  We are fighting this battle for Jesus Christ.  When we are constantly reminded of His sacrifice for us, we persevere through because we know that He overcame the world.  Being reminded of His love for me allows me to push with everything I have.  Give it all up for His Kingdom.

-Know who you are fighting against: If you hate what you are fighting against, then it will motivate you to want to destroy whatever it is.  We are fighting against sin and if you don’t remember, we hate sin.  It has attempted to destroy us as well as the ones we love.  As human beings, we have a natural tendecy to want to protect what we cherish.  Sin has nothing against us when we have Jesus Christ in our lives.

-Obey your leader:  As a soldier, you are to obey your commander.  The commander will know what’s best.  Perhaps the commander will listen and respect your opinion but they will still know what is best for the team.  A soldier must learn how to obey by serving their team.  As soldiers for Christ, we must obey Him because He can overlook the playing field.  He knows how to use us best and how to defeat the opponent, we just need to obey.

-Don’t look back.  Keep looking forward: Always look forward.  The past is the past.  This doesn’t mean don’t take into account what you did wrong, use it to better your future, but don’t dwell in it.  When you fight this battle for Christ, don’t worry about the people behind you.  Trust that God has your back.  You’re not just fighting for youself but for your teammates.  Look ahead for things they cannot see.  Protect them as well as yourself.  Keep your eye and focus on what is ahead of you, don’t ever let the enemy get you when you aren’t paying attention.

This morning for devos, I was reading Ephesians 6, about the amor of God.  Later on we talked about being warriors, not tofu! [funny, i know.]  They asked us to ponder about how we can be a better soldier.  I just wanted to share what came across my mind.  =D

-Have A GDY.

7.22.11

Hello!!! Through all this heat and humidity my body is still well. =D So yesterdy, we went shopping to buy things we needed that we didn’t bring from home.  Although all we did was walk, eat, and shop, God totally surprised us and we were able to still bring someone to Christ.  It was amazing!!! So story goes, we were waiting on one of the busiest shopping streets in Hong Kong to meet up with someone.  As we were waiting, there was a man sitting in the corner, with no finger [only his thumb on both hands] making flowers out of clay.  My heart completely broke when I saw him.  All I could do was stand there and just watch him as tears wanted to flow from my eyes.  I didn’t know what to do so I just started to pray.  I prayed that God would do something, just anything.  As we were about to leave, I turned around and saw 3 of our teammates praying.  As I watched them pray, my heart grew heavier and I started crying.  I continued to pray that somehow we can touch this man’s life and share with him the good news.  After they prayed, some of them went over to give the man money.  Others went and knelt down near him to talk to him.  One of our teammates started to share the gospel with him.  It was completely amazing to watch God at work.  It turned out he came from China and lived by himself.  He cannot read or write and he’s never been to church.  After talking to him, he decided to pray with our teammate and accept Christ.  PRAISE THE LORD!!! Even though Hong Kong wasn’t our “country” that we signed up to be a missionary at, our mission field is everywhere.  It was amazing to see God working with us in the streets.  Imagine how the Holy Spirit is going to work when our actions are going to be intentional rather than spontaneous.  Oh man I’m excited!  Basically, that’s a small portion of yesterday that was beyond worth mentioning.  Today our training starts so please pray that God can give me energy.  I miss you all. =D

-Have A GDY.

7.21.11

Woah, totally skipped a day.  We’re here at Hong Kong now at the training campus.  We finally arrived around 11pm [HK time] and got at the campus at around 2am.  I’m not going to lie, the humidity makes me miss Riverside’s heat.  It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m not in America anymore, but I’m sure it’ll hit me soon.

So on the plane, God really convicted my heart about what it means to be a missionary.  They had so many movies on the plane but every seat I went to didn’t work so I was pretty bummed.  But God really opened my eyes that my life as a missionary should not be comfortable.  If anything I should learn how to use my discomfort for HIS Kingdom.  So instead of watching movies, I got in touch with the Word of God.  =D 

Anyways, it’s almost 8:30am here in Hong Kong, and we’re about to get breakfast.  By the way, we’ll be training in Hong Kon for 3 days.  Thailand stories will be coming soon!

-Have A GDY.

7.19.11

HELLO!!! I’m currently at LAX waiting to board right now! I’ll be boarding within an hour meaning I’ll be on the plane for about 18 hours!  Please continue to pray for me and just God providing me strength.  Many thanks to those who came out to the send-off to pray for me and say goodbye!!!  We’ll be in Hong Kong for the first four days for training for all the missionaries and then off to our countries we go!!! 

For those who are curious, I’ll be returning August 11th at 8:45pm.  I’m excited to see how God will be using me for His Kingdom!!! Update soon hopefully!

-Have A GDY.