YouTube Videos

I just loaded some of our videos on YouTube. I will try my best to get more and keep them coming. You can get to them on our blog under "Media" and then click on "Thailand 2012: Videos"

Or you can go to:
http://www.youtube.com/user/heartsforthailand/videos

Visiting Temples

Temple Guide

Brittney and I have had a few days off from teaching, so we decided to go visit some temples and also gain experience in traveling around Bangkok. We went with the hopes of meeting people and learning. We were able to meet several people on the bus rides. I had a good conversation with a guy from Scotland who is attending the university we are staying next to. Brittney met someone that will join us next Tuesday for English lessons. Today Brittney and I were able to learn from a worker at the temple. He came to us and started sharing many things about Buddha. Brittney and I were able to share things with him about Christ. We had a good conversation. In short he said that Buddha was perfect (after he reached enlightenment), they view him as god, and his teachings are still perfect for today. We were able to share with Him about Jesus who not only claimed deity but proved it, who was perfect since birth, and the great news is he is alive.

Sunday after church two of our Thai friends said they wanted to go to one of the temples with us. They have never been to one before. They were both raised Christian and they have always avoided temples. I believe it was good for them to see it that day. They saw first hand what the majority of their people worship. Both were a little nervous, but they were soon reminded that the idols were only created by creators. And no matter how big the statues, their God was much bigger. 

I have seen again how God is sovereign over everything and everyone. He uses all people to work out His plans. One example is seconds after I saw a man in-front of me wai (place hands together and bow his head) to a temple, he turned around to me and started a conversation. He told me to do it for good luck. Even after telling him we didn't believe these things he helped us find our way, taught us some helpful things, and got us a ride to our next destination. I figured we would have turned him completely off, but he was an answered prayer that seemed to be placed there to help us. He also informed us that today was Buddha day. If he was correct (the internet seemed to differ on dates...) it is a holiday set aside to celebrate his birth, enlightenment, and death. 

This week marks the first time Brittney and I are starting to feel at ease with the transportation system, food, and other things that are different to us. We are finally catching on to how things work and where things are. There are still moments that we are clueless, but praise God there has always been someone to help us when we need it! Also, I got a call tonight that there is a guy who wants to start English lessons in the morning! The reason I'm so excited is because he is new, plus he is a guy! So far all of our students have been girls. I'm really excited about meeting him in the morning!

Please continue to pray for us. We are having a good time, but miss those of you back home. 

~Much love from the Lingle's 

Meeting New People

So this week we have started back teaching. We have been pretty busy with that, but we did get a free afternoon and decided to go look at one more language school a friend had told us about. So we Googled the address and ventured out taking the bus by ourselves for the first time, We got off the bus and couldn’t find the building so then managed to get a Tuk Tuk without using English (very interesting! We have become very creative with our sign language!) Ended up begin that the address was wrong there where two places with similar names and we got them mixed up so by that time the school had already closed.

 We were still a little lost so we explored around learned a few of the streets but soon got rained on so we tried to find out way back to the bus stop and we met a tuk tuk driver who spoke excellent English, while getting directions from him Brandon was able to share the gospel! He seemed interested but sometimes the Thai people are just so nice they will respond how they think you would want them to, but we were very excited for the opportunity to share with him. He said he was Buddhist because everyone else was, so Brandon challenged him to think about what he believes. Once we found the bus stop we waited and waited for our bus number I got to visit with a young girl but her bus came quick and weren’t able to talk that much.

Then we decided we should just take the sky train it will be faster to get us home because it was getting late. (Little did we know God had another appointment waiting for us!) While getting on the sky train we met a very friendly teacher that was very helpful! Once we got on the train we were speaking English with the teacher and another guy overheard us and began asking some directions. He was from South Africa married to a girl from Czech Republic. We had a very interesting visit with him. He believes there is a god but he is just out there somewhere not a god that is personal and involved in his life. The wife is an Atheist. We were able to share what we believe and tell him about Jesus. So far all the foreigners we have met here seem to have a similar response when we talk about Jesus, they think we are just being too narrow minded to say that there is such a narrow way (one way!) It was very good to meet him and we pray God continues to stir his heart to reconsider his ways.

We taught English all day for the next 2 days

And today it’s Saturday: Brandon will get to preach tomorrow with an interrupter, we are going to look at some more places that we could possible live at, and tonight we have an English Game Night with the students…and I’m sure food will follow!! 

Back in Bangkok

God has been so faithful to us. He has answered many prayers. One is that we would find a good place to stay in. The apartments around here usually only let people stay for the minimum of 6 months, but we were shown one and it is perfect to stay the remaining month in Thailand. It is in a perfect location for us (1 min from mission house & 5-7 min from university >walking< ), nice, and a great price. 

Brittney and I are excited to start back teaching today. Last night we met with some of the students and made a schedule.

Our plans for the rest of time we are here:

Keep teaching English throughout each week and pray more and more students get involved.

Look at one more language school, and make our final decision. If we have time we might go to one and try to sit in on a free class they offer to try it out.

Meet with another missionary couple. They are close to our age, and they are on the other side of Bangkok.

Look at elementary school around this area because Brittney is interested at teaching at one someday.

We might also continue looking at apartments & condos (for next year) around the university/language school.

I have been given the opportunity to preach this Sunday (A Thai brother is going to translate).

There is a big park on the university campus, some of the church members are going to go with us to hang out and meet people. We are trying to make that a future routine.

Prayer request:

Pray for Divine appointments. We have been blessed with some, and we are praying for more. Since we will be in one spot for a month we hope to meet all our neighbors (which will most likely be college students).

Pray that God continues to show us what we can and should do with our remaining time.

Pray for our families and youth group back home.

- We surprised the people in Bangkok by coming back early. We surprised them at church Sunday morning, and two of our new students where there at church! We were excited not only to see them, but to see them there without knowing we would be there.

A Week in the Village

Last week we spent our time visiting and serving in the village where Jo’s family lives. Once we left Chiang Mai and headed toward Chiang Rai we stayed in the city one night visiting with Jo’s youngest sister. We went to Big C that night (which is basically the Wal-Mart of Thailand) and we were looking for a power converter because ours went out! But by the grace we didn’t find a converter but even better a family from America! There was a white man on the same aisle as us so we didn’t hesitate to quickly speak to him and sure enough at the perfect timing, the Lord knew I needed some encouragement, it was a man and his family that had moved there about a year ago they lived in Waco Texas and then had some missionary training in Fort worth Texas! And the church they were working with is the same church our friend Jeffrey went to while he lived in Waco!!! They were a Christian family with two kids that share the same heart for the Thai people! It was so encouraging to meet them and to introduce them to Jo as well.

Before we left I knew the village was going to be a challenge for me, and when we arrived it indeed was very hard. It definitely took me getting out of my comfort zone! The first day I was able to just be in our room alone and spend endless time with God crying out to Him reading His word and reflecting what He is doing within me and through my life. I love our life in America, but I also know that God has broken our hearts for Thailand for a reason. And to do His will is far greater than any plans I can make for myself. “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel. I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and boldly say that Christ IS my Life!” This has been the theme of this trip for me! Spending just one week in a village can really change your life! Getting away from the many distractions of this world and returning to the simplicity of life is really eye opening. Sadly for the first time ever Brandon and I hand washed an entire load of laundry, we used only a squatty potty, endured without toilet paper, climbed many mountains, worked like a farmer, slaughtered a pig and feasted on it, ate almost everything that grows, embraced using only COLD water, and enjoyed the Beauties of God! The village is surrounded by mountains so the weather is nice, it’s very cool (I actually had to put on a jacket).

On the way to the village we got dropped off by the bus at a stop that was a small market place for the villages to come instead of having to go all the way to the next city. And from there Brandon and Jo did some shopping for some snacks and supplies we would need for the farm. Then we waited until someone from the village came home from town to take us back into the village. Once we found someone going that way we joined them. The interesting thing is this guy had just come from getting what he needed from town, and his back end of the truck was packed with his stuff. He had a tarp over his stuff and then packed our luggage’s and everything on top along with the others that needed a ride too and then…. wait for it… yes we hopped on the back on top of everything literally just holding on to the rope that was holding our stuff on! (Don’t worry Jo informed us this guy would be a great driver!) Definitely wouldn’t make the safety laws in America though! Lol, but we constantly had to remind ourselves, it’s a different culture.  So once we started this wild ride it was BEAUTIFUL Mountains everywhere! It was about an hour ride, and about almost half way we see rain on both sides of us and it looks like it is coming towards us the driver stops and then we hear him holler out something to Jo, he said “what should we do” lol we just burst out laughing and tell him we have poncho’s so we put them on and get a little rained on but not bad at all. Then we arrive and Jo goes in first to surprise his mom! She was so excited. He said he likes to surprise them because he is really the only one from his village that has ever graduated from college and they respect him a lot, so they would probably try to do something big for him if they knew he was coming. A lot of the people from the village can’t read or write, so they are left working all the time. They sometimes feel that they are lower because of that, but there is so much that can be learned from them. These people have taught us some much! I know far too often we take for granted the ability to read…we have our Bibles right beside us and neglect to pick it up and read and these people are hungry to love and serve God  and yet they are unable to pick up and read the Scriptures.

While we were there we were able to help out at one of the nursery’s (basically like preschool for all the parents that have to work and their kids aren’t old enough to go to school they can go there, and some of the ladies in the village volunteer to work there).

 We also got to work on the farm with Jo’s family and help them a little bit (They are serious workers! The two of them like tripled the work of Brandon, Jo, and I!!) We got to visit the church that is in the village. When we got to Jo’s house there were always random dogs everywhere so we just thought some of them had followed us around the house, and Brandon begins to shu the dog away yelling at it “get out of here” HAHA to his surprise Jo comes out and says actually that is our dog. Also while we were there Brandon got to drive a motorcycle…He was super excited!! We went on some adventures riding the motorcycle the three of us on the edge of mountains! Went “fishing” not the fish we expected, it was what we would consider bait that we caught and ate …of course, here in Thailand they eat everything! We got to see lots of interesting things! When I worked on the mountain with Jo’s family we picked tea leaves. We also got to visit a tea factory, I will never drink tea the same. I will always remember all the hard work that goes into enjoying a glass of tea.

On the farm for lunch break we would get banana tree leaves and use them for plates and cups and then literally get sticks to use for chop sticks.

  We tried raw peanuts, climbed trees to try all kinds of fruit! Also we got a pig…we woke up to it being slaughtered in front of the house, and from that point on everything we ate was with pork!

The ride back to the city was just as interesting! We are headed back to Bangkok now; we will be waiting on a bus in Chiang Mai then 9 hours till we get there. We will keep you updated, continue to pray for us! Sorry we didn’t have internet to update you sooner!

Going to Jo's Village

At the moment we just got settled in at a guest house in Chiang Rai. Tomorrow we will go to Jo's village (which is in the Chiang Rai province) and stay with his family. On the way here Jo was given the opportunity to witness to a college student sitting with him. I don't always know what is going on, but I get happy when I hear the few words I do know in Thai: Jesus, God, and Christian :)

Yesterday we visited another temple. I didn't expect to see non Thai people worshiping there. Jo was able to share the gospel with a young monk at the temple. The monk's mother is Catholic and his dad is Buddhist. Jo had a good long talk with him, but he said it was hard not to get worked up and emotional when talking to the monk. It seems that almost every religion believes that good works are going to save them. The only good thing we added to the cross was Christ, the rest was sin... I pray more people here understand that His sacrifice was sufficient once and for all.

A few days ago we went around looking at language schools and apartments. We narrowed down our search to two schools at the moment that both look good. We didn't decide on an apartment yet, but we have a good idea on location and prices. That day we took the subway and sky train, and we were glad to have Jo show us how to get around.

Last week we were blessed to have some new students. One of my students that was Buddhist wanted me to know that she was, but it was neat to see her expressions when we were reading through the Bible together. I just wish I already knew Thai, so I could communicate more efficiently.

Northern Thailand is mountainous and beautiful. I'm looking forward to going to our friends village and meeting his family. Jo said we might have the opportunity to teach at the local school. I also brought some work clothes because I expect the opportunity to work with Jo and his parents at the farm. Some times it is difficult the further we get away from non tourist places. It seems the luxuries start fading away, but other things increase! Like one of our students from a northern village said, "Simple life, I like."

Because we will be in the village soon, internet will probably cease. We will try our best to keep you updated when we can. Thanks for your prayers! God bless!!

Some Pics

I wish I could put more, but I have been at battle with the internet for at least these. Hope to post more as we can.

You can go to "Media" at the top, and then click "Pictures" under Thailand 2012

,or go to this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.374275579299891&type=1

Today was a very adventurous day!

We experienced many things today. To start the day off we began with breakfast…normal right? Not exactly for the very first time we tried fish eyes and fish brain!!! I used to be a very picky eater and the Lord is really teaching me that most of it is all my fears of food are psychological  lol. After breakfast we ventured off to a wild boat ride! There is a river here in Bangkok that is a pretty central location and the Thai people use the boat like a taxi but faster. It was amazing how many people that fit on this little boat everytime they stopped at a dock I could not believe they were going to try to fit another person on but sure enough we all packed in (seriously like 100 to 150 on this boat!! Crazy) On the boat they have people coming on and off all the time so they have a sign asking people to be honest and pay for their ride. So the lady comes by to take our money for our ticket and Jo tells Brandon what to say in Thai and he repeats it to her…she answers back in Thai “your Thai is so good, how long have you been here?” Brandon not knowing what she said doesn’t reply…lol Jo just bust out laughing and later tells us what she said!!  On the boat I met a girl named Donna I asked her if she spoke English and she knew it very well she said she had learned it at her church. I was so excited to hear that so I got her phone number and Jo said he knew the location where the church was so tomorrow we are going to call her and visit them!

When we arrived to our location, the Golden Mountain, we walked up many stairs and reached the top it was basically a temple.  Before we headed up the mountain there was a temple on the bottom level it was so sad to see, but inside there was a father and a little girl. At such a young age they are submersed in this religion. Right before going to the last entrance before the temple there was sign that said “the way up” in Thai “the way to heaven” Ironically it was a very narrow set of stairs that were difficult to get through. At the top many people were gathered to walk around this idol thing about three times and then they pray blessings to the monks. They also leave money offerings all around the idol. It was interesting to see but our hearts were broken by it. Jo, Brandon and I just looked at each of the lives and souls that were around us and cried out to God in prayer to break them of these false idols. At the top of the mountain you can look out and see a beautiful view of the city, and as we looked out we prayed over and for the many lives. On the way down from the mountain Jo stopped one of the cleaners and shared the gospel with him! While he was doing that Brandon and I met a couple from Australia they were headed to Kenya and their flight got delayed so they spent the night in Thailand and were just out sight-seeing.

After that we got some lunch, the area we were in was filled with tourist it was just one street packed out with foreigners. After lunch we stopped by the western union to exchange some money and the worker was out on a break, so we noticed another man waiting in line as well. It just so happened to be a man from Nigeria who has been living in Malaysia and had just arrived in Thailand. He was a Christian and was really discouraged because the area he was at with all the foreigners is just filled with wickedness. And he couldn’t believe all the Buddhist stuff everywhere. So he was just praising God that he met us, he was so encouraged to know that we were there for missions and to meet Jo, a Thai who has a heart for his own people. It was very neat to see how God arranges such appointments!  

Then after leaving there we walked a little more to the place where if there is ever a political riot, it happens there. It was very interesting to learn a little bit about the history of Thailand. Jo was telling us that in the place we were on October 14, 1973 there was a major riot fighting for Democracy and many people lost their lives. It is now a national holiday in remembrance.

Then we rode a tuk tuk back to the boat dock. And then back on the wild boat ride (Dad you would have loved it! Lol) On the boat We met a guy from France and a guy from Spain both here for work, neither were Christians and thought we were crazy for thinking there was only one true God, they were ok with Buddhism because it’s very peaceful and thought all religions were ok.  Jo met a guy who works at the airport and got to share the gospel with him. Also Jo got to talk with a guy on the street selling necklaces. He had many around his neck and Jo asked what for…they were for protection…Jo asked if he really believed that it was his protection from everything and through that Jo got to share the gospel and how through the cross we have true protection.

Then we got back around 3 and taught English to the girls until dinner time and we had dinner with them…they are excellent cooks! Then went to the 7/11 (seriously our new best friend, one on every corner!) and I don’t know how but somehow Jo got our bus tickets for next week from there. We will be going to his home village which is about a 9 hour bus trip.

We just made it back home and now are going to get some rest, Jo has another Big day planned for us tomorrow after church!!

Thank you for your prayers, through them God is giving us many opportunities to make His Name known!!! 

(More pictures coming soon)