The Manger Message

Today we went to a Thai government school and shared the story of why Jesus came into the world and how He was born. Jesus came into the world to save us from sin, and He's coming back to take us home again!


The Hope for Bangkok team was asked to come to this school and to have a living nativity as a part of the school's fair. We started at 9 AM and finished at 3 PM. There were 700 students in grades K – 8 in the entire school. Each class rotated through the various stations, so we had 15 minutes with each group of students.

Our group sang carols and then acted out the Bible story of Christ's birth. First, I helped by playing Mary. When I got tired of doing this I was the angel. My mom then had the students from each class act as the characters from this Bible story: the angel, shepherds, Joseph & Mary, and the wise men.


I also presented the director of the school with a gift for each of the teachers. The gifts included a book on the 10 Commandments, a health lesson, and the Meaning of the Nativity Story.


I helped pass out the coloring sheets to the boys and girls.

The boys and girls of this school have never heard the story of Jesus. I made new friends at this school. The boys and girls were very excited that we came!

Questions for my blog readers:

1. How can you share the Gospel?
2. How will you share the Message from the Manger with boys & girls who have never heard this Good News?
3. How will you help tell the Gospel in the foreign lands?
4. Have you ever been to a foreign land?

Sharing the News that Jesus is Born!

Today we went to one of the new church plants. They had a program to remember why Jesus was born. First we had church, then we ate lunch. I ate chocolate ice cream for lunch!

After eating lunch we went on a walk in the local community. After crossing the bridge my mom, dad, and their friend went to visit people at the slum. Then they came back for the gift exchange. I received a ship clock for the gift exchange.

I attend this program so that I could tell the Thai people that Jesus is born.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Who have you shared the news that Jesus is born?
   
2. What does Christmas mean to you?
   
3. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior & friend?
   

Your taking care of a what?!

"Your taking care of a what?!"
That's exactly what my grandma said when I told her we had found an orphaned rat that was only a few days old. It didn't even have its' eyes open yet, so it was very tiny.

Our cats did not like the new visitor. Our Christmas cat, named Junior, thought it was a yummy treat for the little orange rascal. Since we knew that Junior and our other cats ("the Girls") were interested in eating the baby rat, so we kept him in the bathroom with my fish. I was tempted to keep it in my room, but my parents wouldn't let me. They were not sure if this rat had any diseases, and didn't want us to get sick if it did. I took good care of the baby, feeding it with a eye dropper, and keeping it warm and snuggly. I even checked on it during break time and lunch time while at school. I had done research about how to care for orphaned rats.

That was almost a week ago. It seemed to be getting stronger, and more eager to eat. It was even squeaking at us. My mom was even getting attached to him. She kept him in her shirt pocket to keep warm and he really liked that. He just slept and slept between feedings, and seemed very content.













This morning he was eager to eat and greet us. I fed him, and then he took his last breath while laying in the palm of my hand.




To my blog readers:
Have you ever had a pet rat? Tell me your story!
I look forward to heaven when there will be no more death!

Bees in my gate

One day when I was going to school, I opened the gate. There were little pesky black flies swarming all around the gate latch. I thought they were very annoying. Later, I found out these annoying flies were actually tiny little black bees. These native Thai bees were looking for shelter from the rain so they decided to live in our gate latch and in the fence post! I'm not sure what kind of bee they are. We have not seen any honey yet. They have stung me a few times, but it felt more like a mosquito bite.

We have tried to encourage them to leave and go find a new home. But they are determined to stay. I guess they like our gate latch, so for now, this is their home.

Cleaning Bangkok Black

Today I helped at a new church plant. I was helping to get ready for evangelistic meetings starting tonight. I helped clean the bookshelves with my mother.

It was all covered with “Bangkok Black”. You may ask, “What is Bangkok Black”? Bangkok Black is the pollution that comes from the vehicles – gasoline cars, diesel buses. This pollution falls like snow from the sky, and covers everything. I dusted the bookshelves so they were nice and clean.

Jesus wants to clean our hearts from the pollution of sin.

Isaiah 1:18
“ Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD,

“ Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool."

Pray for the boys and girls from this neighborhood. So that they can have Jesus clean their hearts from sin's black pollution.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. How do you clean the "Bangkok Black"pollution in your house?
2. Is your house clean as crystal?
   
3. Have you asked Jesus to clean your heart?
   

Courage to Stand Camporee Blog: Model Railroading Honor

Guess what? My family and I went to Oshkosh, WI and attended the International Pathfinder Camporee, “Courage to Stand”. What an amazing experience. There were 35,000 Pathfinders there! Maybe you were one of them.

There were so many things to do while we were there. I wanted to earn honors, so did lots of others! It was a challenge to get into the classes, but I was able to earn some honors.

I want to tell you about the Model Railroading Honor. The first thing I had to do was take a test about model railroading and its terms. Then I learned how to make a model railroad. Cork is used as the railroad bed, then you have to stake it down so it won’t move. Next, you put the track down with 3 small nails. Then in between, each track you put small little pieces of fake gravel. After that, you use a solution of alcohol and water on the gravel and track. Then you put glue down and wait 24 hours, and then the track is done. I also worked on the scenery. I made a tent, and a tree.

You can earn this Pathfinder honor yourself! To learn go to these links:

1. Wikipedia AY Pathfinder Book link
2. www.pathfindersonline.org/pdf/ayhonors/modelrailroading.pdf
   

My Day Behind Bars

On Sabbath I went to a Thai Prison in Saraburi, with my friends and family. We gave out bags that included; toothbrushes, sandles, soap and shampoo, and sang songs to the prisoners. They really liked it. Another fun thing that we did was hand out prayer request cards. They wrote down their requests and gave them to us. We also had a medical team with us. We passed out glasses to the prisoners, gave out medicine, and pulled out teeth. Yuck! (But I did not do that.)

I learned what Jesus talked about in Matthew 25:36-40 that we should visit the people in prison.

³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

For My Blog Readers:

1. Have you ever visited Jesus in prison?
2. Have you visited a prisoner?
   
3. Have you ever shared Jesus with a prisoner?

The Ancient City

We went to the Ancient City today. The Ancient City is a huge park that is shaped like Thailand. It has 320 acres of land with copies of the ancient buildings from all around Thailand. There are over 116 buildings to explore! I liked the King's Palace the best, because it's pretty!

We ate popcorn and other snacks for lunch. The Ancient City has all kinds of trails, and we rode bikes around the park. We rented bikes for the whole day for only 50 THB (1.50 USD)! Some of the trails are hidden, and I had fun exploring these. We raced with our bikes and I won.

It was so fun I would like to go back again.
Questions for my blog readers:

1. What's the most interesting park you've gone to?
2. Why do you like it?
   

You can explore the Ancient City online by going to their website at www.ancientcity.com/en

My Chore Chart

I have a chore chart so I can help around the house. I learn how to do things. Some of my chores are taking out the trash, cleaning my room, and many others.


The chore that I dislike the most is taking out the compost. Because it smells bad and I have to walk through the tall grass.

I really have a good time doing my other chores. When I’m done with one chore, I check it off on my chore chart.

Questions:
1. Do you have a chore chart at home?
2. How do you help around the house?

Happy Mother’s Day

It is funny that there are no advertising, no highlights on the calendar, or any kind of reminder about Mother's Day here in Thailand. There are no Hallmark stores to lure me to “show my mom how much I love her by buying the perfect card”. In Thailand, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the Queen’s birthday, August 13.

I suppose that I shouldn't need a reminder to tell my mom how much I love her and appreciate all her love, care, sacrifice, advice, and nurturing over the past 42 years. Any day can be the perfect day to tell someone how much you love and appreciate them. So don’t wait until a day that is designated by our calendar and culture, share your words and actions of love freely and often to those you love!

So Mom, please know that this Mother’s Day message comes from my heart without any media promptings. As it well should, for you never needed a reminder to shower your children with love. Like God's love which flows freely from His heart. I love you mom!

My Dear Little Christmas Kitten

Today I found a little kitten. It was orange. He had a deep cut around his left front leg. He was attacked and I found him at the end of our yard. He was covered with yucky stuff. His ears were covered in black mud. His shoulder was a big open sore covered with dirt and dried blood. He said, “Meow” to me. And he had a very loud purr. I though he was going to die, so I had compassion on him.

The kitten is a very playful kitten too. He’s about four months old. We call it our Christmas kitten. And in another blog I told you about my two big girl cats. Tesco & Lotus aren’t very friendly to our new guest.

Guess WHAT? He will eat your food if you leave the table! He will jump up and start gobbling up mouthful of your food! Isn’t that cute? But my Dad says, “Scat cat!”

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever found a stranded human being hurt and covered in mud?
2. Tell me a story about how you helped a hurting person
3. Tell me a story about how you helped a hurting animal
4. How do you show compassion to others?
   

Handwriting Class

Today I am doing my handwriting homework. I'm ten pages behind, because I forgot about doing it. I left my handwriting book in my locker, so I didn't do it.

I don't like handwriting, but I have to do it. I want to get a good grade in this class, so I have to do my handwriting.

For My Blog Readers:

• Do you have something you don't like to do, but you have to do it? Tell me!
  
• Do you have handwriting class?

Visiting Lonely Moms in Prison

I was a missionary for Jesus. Today I went to visit a prison, with some of my friends. There where over 200 prisoners. The men and women were separated.

I helped give the prisoners some gifts, like sandals and soap. I sang songs with my brother, Dad, and some friends. We sang songs in English and even in Thai!

In the Woman's prison, I passed out prayer cards, and the ladies wrote down their requests to God. These moms are very lonely, and miss their kids.

One of the ladies made tiny hats & strawberries out of beads! She gave me one.

For my blog readers:

• Have you ever gone to visit people in prison?
• How would you feel if you were all alone, and no one to visit you?
• Tell me about your visit to a lonely mom in prison
  

Stains

From time to time, dark stains mysteriously appear on our clothes. This has puzzled me over the last two years. These are not just any stains, mind you. These are the toughest stains I have encountered. And as you mom's know...we encounter our share of stains. Even with the help of my mom; the master stain fighter, and the "Queen of Clean" books, I could not get these relentless brown marks off our clothes. So, our gardening work clothes entire is growing. Not knowing the origin of these stains makes it even more challenging. As you can see from the photo, not even bleach can touch these stains!

Well, today, the mystery was solved. As I was helping my son cut down banana leaves to cover our seedlings and protect them from the sun, he warned me. "Mom, don't let the juice get on you". In my concentrating efforts to reach for the banana leaves, I did not ask him why. I should have, for I have just taken a load of laundry out of the washer, when I was shocked to see yet another offensive stain on the pants I was wearing while cutting down banana leaves. Joshua's comment replayed in my mind...and I thought, "Aha!" Then I went to Joshua and asked him why we shouldn't get banana leaf juice on us. He told me he didn't know why, he just knew that it is not good. I said, I think I know why it is not good. We already knew that elephant slobber stains clothes in just the same way. We found that out on our first elephant ride. Hmmm, maybe it is because they eat lots of bananas.

I am so thankful that God has the 100% effective stain remover. "Though our sins be as scarlet, He will make them white as snow." Isaiah 1:18