Squatty potties, tigers, and lanterns

" May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope and the power of the Holy Spirit" Rom. 15:13

For starters let me just say happy new year to you all! 2011 is here and what an amazing start to the year it has been. In my last post I mentioned we were on our way to Chiang Mai the next day. Well after 2 very long bus rides, and freezing on the second one we made made it Chiang Mai at around 4 am Dec 30th. After some much needed sleep we went out to see the town, and were all overjoyed when we found an awesome hostel to stay in and met people within 10 min of being there. Such an answer to prayer. We chatted with them for a bit and then went our seperate ways, only to see them again about an hour later, where they invited us to join them in going to the Tiger Kingdom. So the five of us (ben stayed back to do all his leader organizational duties) piled into the back of a pick up truck and made our way across town. As we drove we talked about love, and the importance of it, as well as shared our stories and what brought each of us to Thailand. We arrived and filled with nervous excitement we made our way into the tiger cages. The guys went in with the BIG tigers and were able to pet them and take photos, then all of us made our way over to the baby tigers and got to play with them for a good half hour. Possibly the cutest thing I have ever experienced.

On the way back from the tiger kingdom we were able to get into a really deep conversation on faith and religions. We were really blessed to create a strong bond with these guys and even give them something to think about. We continued to run into the over the next couple days and were even able to give them a bible before they left. Pray thay it would spark their interest and they would read it.

New years eve in Chiang Mai was definitely an amazing experience for us all. After a good time of worship in the park in the morning we were eager to make some more connections. The hostel we are staying at has a roof top bar, and were having a free bbq and party for new years. So we were able to hang out up there for a lot of the night. We had some awesome conversations and were awed at the amazing view of thousand of floating lanterns being set off in the sky, as well as fireworks in every direction you looked. It was a great evenning with some awesome Godly conversations.

On the first day of the new year our team spent the day fasting and praying for Thailand. We took three major aspects, political, religion, justice, and prayed for them instead of eating. The day was incredible. Between team times and personal times with the Lord it was an awesome way to spend January 1st.

Today was our day off and the much needed rest and relaxation was much appreciated by all. We were able to catch up with family from home and well as our dear YWAM family from around the world. We also were able to go to a church in Chiang Mai, that was an international church, and completely in english. It was absolutely amazing to be back in the Lords house again worshipping with lots of other christians. We were able to share in communion with them, and even had a nice surprise when two people from the other team were at church as well.
So far Chiang Mai has been awesome and we are all excited to see what the Lord has next for us.

prayer points:
-direction as to where to go next
-opportunities to get connected with christian organizations in thailand to assist them
-continued connections with people
-boldness

take care.