Last Week in Thailand

Things have been going by so fast here in Thailand, I can't believe its almost time for Vietnam! This last weekend I was able to go and help out at a Rugby day camp for at risk youth and kids from 6-11. This was one of my favorite things I've done here in Thailand! They do training and a bible study for free. Its put on by a guy who plays for the Canadian rugby team. Rugby is a rich sport so the kids mostly play soccer but when they can play rugby they love it just the same. The city where we went to pick up some of the kids was called Samuterakara, its a part of Bangkok that is a Cambodian community. So some of the kids don't even speak Thai. The rugby team that the kids play for is called Nak Suu, which means Noble Warrior. Some of the younger kids thought my tattoos were marker, most tattoos that I've seen here are just black so I'm guessing they have never seen a color tattoo. Sorry for the choppiness of my writing. We also had a sports day with the BJD family and played volleyball and basketball. The Thai people are good at everything! So crazy!

Ministry has been the same, here during the weeks. on Friday some of us went to the slums to hang out and play with kids. I got attacked by some geese that thought I was to close to them, it was pretty fun time. If they only knew they were on the dinner menu they wouldn't be acting all tough. :)

I'm really looking forward to being in Vietnam, just to have something new would be nice.

Our team could use prayer for heath still, a few of the girls have been sick this past week and we would like to be healthy while traveling to Vietnam on the 28th at 11:30 our time, 8:30pm the 27th San Francisco time. God has been good and our team continues to be transformed by His love everyday. Thanks so much for you prayers!

God is good!

hello all,
Sorry for taking so long to give you an update. Things here are busy and you seem to loose track of the time.
God has been doing some amazing things while I've been here in Thailand, just last week there was a student who accepted Christ and wants to start being a Christian. This is a process that takes time but it was a really neat experience to be a part of. Each day we do ministry out on the campus, we continue to bring new students to BJD. This is fun and keeps you wanting to go back for more! On Tuesday nights they have worship nights at BJD, and its the most intense worship I've ever been part of! Some of the songs are sang in Thai but the Spirit of God is so real and such a part of the worship that you cant help but just shout out to Him and cry out to Him! I cant explain it but trust me when I say, "it's the most spirit filled worship that I have ever been a part of." God is doing great things at the YWAM base in Thailand! I spent three of my days at the hospital with one of our team members last week, Mike. He had pneumonia. So he is back now and feeling much better but while being at the hospital we caused trouble, ate way to much McDonald's dipped cones (which are less than 30 cents!) and watched some soccer and like 6 movies. They have a 37 inch flat screen with a huge movie selection! Kewl! Although we couldn't leave the hospital we had a great time. The hospital is one of the best in the world.
I'm starting to get tired of eating Thai food, every day lunch and dinner is like going out to a Thai restaurant, only its about one dollar for a meal. :) I thought I wouldn't mind but it gets old.
This Saturday we went to the beach. Let me just say Thailand has some awesome beaches! We went to a city about two hours away called Pattaya City. Its a tourist area but who cares, the water was so warm and so beautiful. It reminded me of Hawaii. We took a bout ride to an Island that was so nice, before we got there we stopped and jumped of the boat and played around for a while before going on the island. I jumped of the top of the boat and my earrings fell out right away (sorry Sarah Boyd, just know that they rest at the bottom of the Golf of Thailand.) The day was a great day and half the team got sun burned. I'm blessed with good skin and don't burn. :)
Sunday was church at the same place, They love to have fun there and they feed us some great food after service. We are truly blessed by the people of the church.
I'm missing family and friends and can't wait to be home, even though this is such a great experience. Thank you all for your prayers and keep praying for team unity and our effectiveness while here in Thailand.
Thank you and may God bless you,
Love Jason

Update 1/10/11

Good morning all,
It's Monday morning here in Bangkok and its a nice 73 degrees right now with a high of 88. This is a pretty common temp, not to bad. Things are going pretty well, one of our team members has been in the hospital the last two days from having pneumonia. He is now doing better and his fever has gone down and should be returning back to the team today. Our leader Steve cut his toe and had to go to the ER as well this weekend and on top of that about 4 others have a bad cough. So please be praying for the sickness and our teams spirits to not be low.
I've been well, some days I'm a little tired but that's really nothing new. I've adapted well to the food and the living style here in the city. Some of the team members are getting bit up really bad by the mosquito's, I've been blessed with bad tasting blood, they stay away. :) I had the opportunity to take a boy from the BJD program that we are working with to an amusement park this Saturday. The 29 students that are in this program will be in it for about 4 years. This is the average time for a student to convert from Buddhism to Christianity. Its like a 4 year DTS. Anyways this student, (he has a name but I have no clue how to spell it, sorry.) just converted over last month. So a few of us treated him to the Disneyland of Thailand, It was a blast!
They call me PJ here now. The Thai people like to make up names for us guests. the P is for when you are an older boy you are called P-Boy, so I'm older and my name starts with J, which is a common name in Thailand (Ja).
It's hard at times to speak to some of the students, for one thing, they are really shy and then there is the language wall. So I've been praying that The God who is the Voice of the Voiceless would speak through me while I'm in a different country and let me be the Hope for the Hopeless. I'm seeing God work in awesome ways here in Thailand and at BJD. Playing games and watching soccer isn't my favorite thing to do but for the Thai people it is and they love us for that. They start to understand Gods love some how through it. It's one of those things that's unexplainable but you know its a God thing for sure.
Thank you for all your prayers!! I love you all!
Jason

Update From Thailand

Hello there from Thailand!

It's already been four days and time is going by so quick! I'm going to just share what I've done and things we are doing. We are staying at the YWAM base just outside Bangkok, it takes about 30 minutes on a bus to get into down town Bangkok.The ministry we are working with is called Bann Jai Diaow (BJD) for short. It means House of One Heart. What they do is work with the college students at the university right across the street. The total of students that attend there is 500,000, which makes it one of the largest universities in the world. What we will be doing is going on campus and talking with students and inviting them back to BJD. Today was our first day out and we had 5 students come back and hang out. They like to be around Americans to practice their English. Today the students I met were majoring in either English or communications. The Thai people love to play card games and board games, mostly Uno and phase 10. Today I played Scrabble with the students, its funny because they all have dictionaries with them. its fun!

Ok, so life on the base isn't to crazy. You have to remove your shoes before going inside and you eat on the ground. that's about all that is different from home. Oh and the bathrooms, they have the toilet in the shower all as one. The base has no hot water so I get to take a cold shower in the morning to wake me up! Most of Bangkok has filtered water so you don't have to worry about getting sick, which is good. The food is good and spicy. We as a team tried this water bug which looks like a huge cockroach, about 3 inches long. :) other than that it's normal Thai food. On Saturday we went into Bangkok and did a temple tour. (Bangkok is 15 hours ahead on time) It was really a neat experience. The weather is not bad at all, its hot but nothing I haven't felt before. I love it, Its like I'm on vacation. :) The team spirits are high and we all seem to be getting over the jet lag now and are getting close to operating 100%. Thanks for all the prayers and if you know of anyone who might want to read this feel free to forward it to them. Thanks!

Love,

Jason