October

My new hair cut...

I know I haven’t posted for a really long time, forgive me, I have been trying to figure out what to write about for the last few days and I finally am able to just sit down and type it all out. Much has happened in the last month. Car and I went to Singapore and got 60 day visas, I’ve worked a lot, we have done outreach many times, said goodbye to volunteers, and much more. While all of these things have been a huge part of my time here I desire to share more about what is happening in the ministry of NightLight.

In the last month the Lord has really been working within the ministry. While there have been a few girls leaving NightLight, there have been many new girls that have chosen to leave prostitution and join us. For most the decision to leave prostitution is a costly one in the sense that they typically have to give up around a week’s pay in order to get out and find a new job.

Yesterday I was able to talk to the CEO of NightLight and she was able to share with me about a girl who came in yesterday morning, heard the gospel, and accepted Christ. Praise God. Today was her first day working for NightLight. Now that she has chosen this life she will be fed through a daily morning bible study and a weekly deeper study. She will have encouragement from staff and other workers. Lord willing she we constantly be learning about God.

Praise God that all of this was able to happen. As I have been learning, most women have been here for over a year attending a Bible study, but have never chosen to follow the Lord. Typically it is a very slow process, so praise God that this girl was able to choose life, especially so quickly.

The more I learn about NightLight the more I appreciate my time here. The Lord has been teaching me so much about serving on a personal level. I came with certain expectations, and the Lord has shown me His plan. My work here is valuable, whatever it may be, because it is to the glory of the Lord. So as I sit in an office and complete jewelry orders, or count and separate beads, I have complete joy knowing that my work is in service to NightLight and to God.

Here are some pictures from around the bars...

The Lessons In Life We Learn

So I know that it has been a while, and I’m sorry. I really want to post all of the time, but I don’t have internet access where I live and I have to find time to go to the internet cafes to answer email, and post blogs…

In the last two weeks many things have happened. I have gone out on outreach and talked to women, I have worked in the office, visited new churches, and experienced the Thai culture.

The past few weeks here have been hard for me, because I hadn’t found my place in NightLight, and because I was to connected to home. This past weekend the Lord truly broke me of my selfishness and of my desires. It was and continues to be a very hard lesson, but a lesson well worth the pain. Through this I am learning what it truly means to be a servant. I have realized the importance of giving all of my desires to the Lord not expecting anything in return. I look forward to seeing the Lord glorified in the rest of my time here.

Three of our roommates in the house where I live are Thai girls who now work for NightLight and who were in desperate need of housing. One of the women is pregnant and due early December. Last Sunday night we had our first Bible study and she was involved, everything had to be translated to her, but she was involved. She has only been working with NightLight for over a month now, and she was in the bars far into her pregnancy. In less than two months time she has become a believer and strongly desires to know the Lord. She has decided to keep her baby, and to be responsible, even though she (it’s a little girl) was conceived with a man whom she will never know or meet again. She is seeking right now, she desires to know the Lord, she desires to love this child that she has been given, she is amazing and a huge encouragement. I wrote this so that you can pray for her. Pray that the Lord gives her wisdom as she seeks Him in the Word. Pray that she will be discipled and that she will be cared for. Pray that the Lord will provide for her and her baby girl.

I’m not sure about how much information has been provided about the issues of Carly’s and my visas… but it has been taken care of. When we got here we learned that our visa would expire the 15th of this month. So now to get them extended we will both fly to Singapore on the 14th and Lord willing we will enter Thailand again with visas that allow us to serve the full three months.

So that’s pretty up to date… I will try to write more often…

If anyone wants to get a specific response write to me at pookieinmypants@hotmail.com I love keeping in touch through e-mail.

What a Weekend

These are the Girls that I live with... Sophia, Kelly, Carly, Me, Tisha

I cannot believe that I have been here for a little over a week now. Sometimes it feels way longer and sometimes it feels way shorter. While I miss home terribly I really am enjoying my time here. I am blessed to be working with amazing women. My housemates are amazing, and the Thai girls are amazing.

On Friday I worked in a room with Thai women making the bags that the jewelry is sent in. I made friends with two of them, Fon and Am. They are 21 and 20 ... and lots of fun to be around. Their english is very limited but their desire to learn is very strong. So I was not able to have a great conversation with them, but I was able to build a relationship with them through teaching them english. I am very excited to work with them again.

Friday night we did outreach in the bars again. It was a bit easier this week, i suppose because I knew what to expect. Almost right after we entered the bar a girl came up to Carly and started talking to her. A little while after that I started talking to a waitress. I couldnt hear her name over the loud music, but she was 22 and she had two children who lived in a village with her mother. She moved up here to make more money working in the bar. Praise God that she has only been there for a month. Hopefully I will be able to go back and speak with her again. Pray that I will have that opportunity.

On saturday we went out into a more rural area almost three hourss out of Bangkok. We went to the floating boat market. It was amazing. We went on a boat through the water and traveled from shop to shop. There were other boats in the water selling fruits and foods as well. Hopefully we will have time to go back again ... it was quite the culture shock.






On sunday I relaxed and prepared for the week that was ahead. We went to our first service in english. It was good to finally be able to understand what was being taught. But more than anything it made me miss Norco. After church we are MEXICAN food ( it was actually pretty good) and then we went home and rested for the rest of the day. I watched a movie last night called "if only" im pretty sure that it never made it to
theaters... but that didnt matter to me because I still cried like a baby.

Work went well today. I will write more about my week later.

Did you get a perm?

YES ... but it didn't really work out to well. I got one. I swear.

See... they put the roller things in ... lots of them... then they poured chemicals all over my head....

Then ... they wrapped me up in a blue towel...
After that they washed my hair and put tons of product in it...
and ... it was kinda curly...

Then Car and I went out to eat ... in this picture I am in a park that we walk through a few times every day. It is beautiful.

Worth of Lives

Now that I have had a little more time to adjust I was thinking it would be a good time to post a blog. At the moment I am waiting in a salon with chemicals in my hair. Carly and I got massages the other day and while I was at the salon and I decided that I would have to come back soon to get a perm… why you ask? I have no idea. I hope I don’t regret this … I also hope that I still have hair in an hour. I will post pictures soon.



After work the other day Carly and I wen with Sophia... one of our Thai friends to the mall where we got cell phones... and shoes and McDonalds!

So anyways… My time here has been great so far. A little different than I thought that it would be, but it is getting better daily… no doubt because of prayer. So thank you to all who are remembering Carly and I as we are here … it seriously makes the hugest difference.



Last night we went and did outreach for our first time since we have been here. Outreach means that we go to the redlight district and try to become friends with the girls … who are prostitutes. It was a night that I will never forget. The girls there were so young, so bare, and so innocent. The men were old, foreign, and animals. The more I thought about the lack of respect the men had for the girls as human beings the more I cherished knowing the men that I know. I am so blessed to be able to know so many men who treat women as God’s own children. What they should be treated like. I did not have the chance to talk to any of the girls last night, but other workers did, so I would have to consider that a well spent evening. These girls and men are so lost. Pray that I will be able to understand where they are coming from, their thoughts, and reasons why they do what they do.

Taipei, Taiwan

We are almost there! In just a few hours Carly and I will be wandering around Bangkok trying to find our new home. Our flight was good... the food was a little wierd, but they had amazing blankets and little down pillows ... so the food issue didnt even matter. I slept most of the time and Carly watched episodes of Lost on her computer. I still feel like im in America... I don't really know when I will feel like I'm gone. Im excited to get there and see what we are really doing ... where we are living, and who we are working with. Hopefully we will have internet service when we get there so we can let you know all about our new home, and of course that we made it there safely.

Im sure that I miss you if you are reading this.

The Past

So ... life has been pretty non-stop, and it is about to get a lot busier. I am going to do my best to post often from now on... especially since I will soon be out of the country... Over the last few weeks I feel like I have done so much... I house sat in Redlands... I was in Mark and Megan's wedding (which was beautiful), I have been working five days a week (sweet little twin babies), and I have been getting ready to spend three months in Thailand.

This past weekend I went to Brawley with Adrian... that is where he is from. It was so hot. I don't know if ive ever been in heat like that before. I had a great time while I was there, I really do enjoy spending time with his family. On sunday we went to a Dodgers/Padres game... Dodgers won 5-0 and lets just say his Dad was not happy... they are all Padres fans.



So yea... life has been busy, really good, but very busy.