Hallelujah
Sorry it has been more than a week since the Grand Opening and we are all recovered. My birthday was the same week as the big Event and thanks to all of you who sent wishes and greetings. I had a wonderful birthday--spanned 2 days in fact--I had lunch at our favorite restaurant with my team where I received a bouquet of flowers along with my gift. I also got a basket of red roses and white lilies from one of my students it was precious. The day after was a Buddhist holiday so no classes for us. So I made plans with my friends, American missionaries in Ao Nang, we went to lunch and a movie that was "supposed" to have English subtitles. Luckily it was an action flick so not too much plot was missed by not understanding 90% of the dialog. We decided that I celebrated my birthday with my team on Thai time, and my fellow Americans on American time. I was so blessed my our students friends and neighbors in their well wishes and their gifts.
From there life was all about the EVENT, we had choir practice nightly--which turned in to singing, cleaning, and organizing things. The church looks wonderful and everything is finished--the landscaping is done and we are ready to go. There are a tons of pics from the EVENT that a friend took and they are posted on my FLICKR page under the set February.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47519699@N00/sets/
The best part for me was seeing my dear friend Pi Porn, you may remember my posts about her and her struggles since her husband cheated and then ran away to the monastery. Well a few weeks ago her husband left the monastery and came home, she let him back in the house and is trying to reconnect with him and keep their family together (they have 2 children--James & Thanya). But he is sleeping in another room with James and not with his wife. Pi Porn asked told us about it and asked us to pray for her. She is not a Christian and comes from a very Buddhist family; many Thai say they are Buddhist but do not practice. Anyway, Pi Porn came to the grand opening of the church at our invitation. SHE BROUGHT HER HUSBAND!!!! I laughed for fully 10 minutes and praised God the entire time, this man who we have prayed for and has only been out of the monastery for a few weeks is sitting in my Bible believing church listening to God's truth being preached and sung for 2 hours!!!
The whole event was wonderful, there were almost 400 people in attendance--our church family is about 50 normally:). Everything went smoothly and all of us were rejoicing when it was over, plus we did not have to clean up since there was a catering company hired for food prep and clean up.
This week is a time of rest for me as next week we will begin preparing for our summer classes and once they start I will be working 7 days a week until the middle of April. I am the only one of my team teaching on Saturdays and our Saturday session overlaps with summer, whereas now we all have Friday off our summer schedule includes Friday classes since they will only be 2 week courses.
From there life was all about the EVENT, we had choir practice nightly--which turned in to singing, cleaning, and organizing things. The church looks wonderful and everything is finished--the landscaping is done and we are ready to go. There are a tons of pics from the EVENT that a friend took and they are posted on my FLICKR page under the set February.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47519699@N00/sets/
The best part for me was seeing my dear friend Pi Porn, you may remember my posts about her and her struggles since her husband cheated and then ran away to the monastery. Well a few weeks ago her husband left the monastery and came home, she let him back in the house and is trying to reconnect with him and keep their family together (they have 2 children--James & Thanya). But he is sleeping in another room with James and not with his wife. Pi Porn asked told us about it and asked us to pray for her. She is not a Christian and comes from a very Buddhist family; many Thai say they are Buddhist but do not practice. Anyway, Pi Porn came to the grand opening of the church at our invitation. SHE BROUGHT HER HUSBAND!!!! I laughed for fully 10 minutes and praised God the entire time, this man who we have prayed for and has only been out of the monastery for a few weeks is sitting in my Bible believing church listening to God's truth being preached and sung for 2 hours!!!
The whole event was wonderful, there were almost 400 people in attendance--our church family is about 50 normally:). Everything went smoothly and all of us were rejoicing when it was over, plus we did not have to clean up since there was a catering company hired for food prep and clean up.
This week is a time of rest for me as next week we will begin preparing for our summer classes and once they start I will be working 7 days a week until the middle of April. I am the only one of my team teaching on Saturdays and our Saturday session overlaps with summer, whereas now we all have Friday off our summer schedule includes Friday classes since they will only be 2 week courses.