Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I apologize for my lack of blogs in the past couple of weeks. This is the end of the semester, so grading has consumed all my time.

Here is a recap of the past month:

- Soccer: Both my soccer teams played so well in the CMAC tournament. The under 11 girls came in fourth place, which was great considering that there were quite a few girls who never played soccer before this season. My under 13 girls were favored to win the tournament, but came in 3^rd due to a referee’s mistake of the overtime rules. It was very sad, but my girls pulled together and walked away with a medal.

- Teaching: Like I said before, the semester just ended and my time was filled with much grading. I have been teaching geography for the whole year, but wanted to make it exciting for the students. I decided to have a pirate theme to make the subject more entertaining. The students had 4 projects to complete before the semester was over. They had to write a research paper on one of the pirate groups they chose (Roman, Greek, Chinese, Caribbean, Barbary, Viking, or Spanish). Project 2 they had to create a pirate map of where their group of pirates sailed. This incorporated map skills such as a compass rose, ocean currents, wind patterns, and navigational skills. Project 3 they had to actually build a pirate ship again using the information they learned from their research paper. Finally, they had to write a short story using a pirate theme. We had a pirate party last Wednesday and watched a movie about Blackbeard. This made learning about geography so much more fun than reading out of a textbook.

- Roommate: My roommate, Cherilyn will be leaving on the 27^th to go back to Indiana to finish her senior year of college. She was here for eight weeks doing her student teaching in the 6^th grade class. I was a little nervous at first because I have never had a roommate. Why do I worry? The Lord had it all worked out and she was truly a blessing! We clicked immediately and have had so much fun and many crazy adventures together! I will be getting another student teacher in February, so I won’t be lonely for very long. Allison will be coming and teaching in high school, so she will also be working in my department, which should be fun!

- - Church: I am loving my church and am starting to meet so many new people. I have asked a few people about joining the worship team, so hopefully next week I can ask the right person and perhaps join the team. That would be so much fun. I miss playing the keyboard and singing so much! There is a family who live down the street from me who are in charge of a dorm for students. Last week, they came with the whole dorm and were caroling outside my gate! It was so amazing and of course it brought tears to my eyes!

- Holidays: Thanksgiving was pretty difficult for me because I had the stomach flu. I was so depressed because I was looking forward to go to Mike and Becky’s house and fellowship with them, but instead I was in bed the whole day. Although, this was not what I had planned, the Lord really put on my heart to stop complaining about my situation and think and pray for others who are in much worst circumstances than me, i.e. the Karen in Burma. I went to a missionary’s house a few weeks ago and she had Karen guests who work for David Eubanks and Free Burma Rangers. It was so amazing to talk with them about FBR and what they are currently doing. We sang Jesus Loves Me in Karen because that is the only song I know in their language. They were so impressed by my very limited Karen…ha ha! I met a man who lost his leg and just received a prosthetic leg just a few weeks ago. His story is incredible and His love for the gospel and for the Lord just radiates from him. It was so encouraging and such a blessing to be with these people! Christmas is only 5 days away and currently I am in Phuket enjoying the beautiful weather and majestic ocean. I will be flying from Phuket to Hong Kong on Monday where I will be going to Disneyland!!! I am so excited!!! I wanted a taste of home and Disneyland will definitely hit the spot. I will fly back to CM on Christmas Eve and skype my family the next day so I can see them and watch them open presents! It is all starting to hit me that I am not going to be with them for Christmas. I am trying to start my own traditions, which is fun! My house is decorated with my little tree and garland draped down the staircase. I have a Merry Christmas wreath on my front door and lights along my gate outside! Christmas in Thailand should be awesome and I am looking forward to this new experience.

- Prayer Requests: Please pray that Christmas will not be too difficult and that I will enjoy myself despite not being with family. Also, please pray for my coworkers who are not saved (Scott, Mike, Matt, and Dave). I work with them everyday and am really good friends with Scott. Please pray that I will be a light and that I will be an example of what a true follower of Christ is like. Also pray for the salvation of some of my students. We did a unit on Terry Fox, the Canadian man that ran across Canada on one leg to raise money for cancer research. I showed them a video clip from a young man who had cancer. In that video, he clearly shares the gospel and many of my students asked me questions, which was awesome. Please pray for more opportunities like that!

- Upcoming events: Stephanie, my friend who is currently in China teaching, is coming to CM on the 27^th. She will be coming with me as well as the team from SDCC to the Karen village on the 29^th. I am excited to see her and to see the team from SDCC.

I love you all and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love,

Cynthia

The Reality of Lonliness

Blessings to you all!!

The night I returned from a wonderful vacation in southern Thailand, I was greeted by a short-term visitor that will be living with until the end of December. Her name is Cherilyn and she is student teaching at CMIS for 8 weeks and rooming with me! I did not know her prior to her arrival in CM and was praying that all things would work out seeing that I was not sure if she was a Christian or not. She grew up in Bolivia as her parents were missionaries there. I was so excited to have a Christian girl room with me!! I told her that I had prayed that she was a Christian and that if she ended up not being one, I would try and convert her...ha ha!! Anyways, her and I are getting along wonderfully and she is such a joy to hang out with! We have already had several funny moments and I am sure in the next 6 weeks we will have even more.

Her arrival was definitely divinely appointed because the last two weeks have been rather difficult for me emotionally. The reality of being across the world is finally starting to settle. I love it and do not plan to leave here. I am actually praying about staying here in Thailand longer or traveling to another country and teaching/ministering there. In the beginning, I was sad because I had to say goodbye to friends and family, but now the reality of missing significant events in my family's lives is very difficult. I did not really think about that, until I had to face it head on. It began on my dad's and cousin's birthday. Watching them open their presents over Skype was emotionally devastating. Thank God for Skype, but this new experience of not "being there" is very hard. On top of that, my aunt and uncle just found out that they are adopting a baby girl, from birth, and she will be arriving December 6th. When they told me over Skype, I was hysterical! I am missing this amazing moment in my family's life. How do I deal with that?

These last 2 weeks were filled with depression, excitement, joy, sadness, and confusion. I still do not know the solution to these feelings, but the Lord continues to show His Faithfulness and Gentleness. The day that I was emotionally a wreck, I received a package in the mail from the College Group with fun "American" things plus encouraging notes. The Lord knew that I would need that encouragement and knew that I needed that reassurance that people haven't forgotten about me! What an awesome God! He is so loving and gentle! I felt His arms of comfort and peace fill me as I read each verse written by dear friends.

Please pray for me, especially during the holidays as it will be difficult. However, I am thankful that He has given to me people here who have become my "family." The Lord provides even in ways that we didn't think possible.

I love you all! May the Lord fill you with same love and gentleness as He has shown me.

Psalm 68:6a

"God sets the lonely in families..."

Snorkeling

Hello!!

Wow, two posts in less than a week, I'm doing pretty good...ha ha!! Well, I went snorkeling on Saturday and it was amazing! We drove about 10 km past our guesthouse to this national park where local thais can camp on the beach. It was beautiful! We took a speedboat about 20 minutes from the shore where we stopped in the middle of two islands. Between the two islands was an incredible reef.

The drive there was a mixture of excitement and terror because I wasn't sure what creatures I would see when in the middle of the ocean. I was a little nervous to know that there could be sharks...yikes!! One of the guys that went along prayed for us before we went out, which calmed all my nerves!! It still amazes me that God would listen to those little prayers and have grace upon me!!

The exploration of the deep was fascinating. I kept repeating to myself, "The fool says in his heart, 'there is no God'." How could that be? I couldn't fathom anyone believing that there was no God after looking at the bottom of the ocean filled with perfectly scalloped clams, mulit-colored/shaped fish, and iridescent coral.

"O LORD God of hosts,
Who is mighty like You, O LORD?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
You rule the raging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them." Psalm 89:8-9

Prachuab!!!

Greetings from Prachuab!!

This is my first holiday, so I decided that it must be spent at the ocean. I have been craving waves and the smell of salt water for three months and now everyday is wasted away on the sandy shore of the Gulf of Thailand.

Prachuab is about 4-5 hours south of Bangkok. I flew with my friend Hanni (we work together) to Bangkok where we met her parents who are missionaries in Laos. We are staying at the OMF Guesthouse that sits just steps away from the ocean. My days have been filled with swimming in the ocean, playing volleyball in the pool, reading on the hammock, and playing games with everyone in the evenings. 2 days ago, I went with one of the families to feed wild monkeys! They were very gentle and were so cute!!!

There are about 7 missionary families that are retreating here as well and it has been so neat to hear their stories of how they came to Thailand and the ways they are adding to the Kingdom!

Saturday, I will be going snorkeling at one of the local coral reef spots! I am so excited! I have never snorkeled before! I will post pictures of this experience soon!!!

Chiang Mai Women's Retreat

Hello!!

Last weekend I attended a Women's Retreat here in Chiang Mai. There were over 100 women who came. We had 2 amazing speakers. These ladies had shared their traumatic experiences that they had over the years, but ended with the hope that we have in Christ. The theme of the weekend was being, "Deeply Rooted" in Christ and His grace! Some thought it was depressing to hear about the suffering that these missionary ladies had gone through, but to know that they were here to tell us the hope they have in Christ was so encouraging.

The highlight of my weekend came when I was able to sit down with Karen Eubanks and share with her about the Karen in San Diego. Karen and her husband David have to be the most influential people who work with the Free Burma Rangers and the Karen. So, meeting her and being able to hear her story and then tell her about our story in San Diego was unbelievable.

I was humbled because while I was telling her about the Karen she kept thanking me and telling me to thank you all at Grace for loving the Karen. I was so humbled because this woman and her husband and children have risked their lives and continue to risk their lives in the hills of Burma to train the Karen and share the gospel. Back home, we do not have that threat. We may have the inconvenience of getting a phone call to take a family to the store or take them to a doctor's appointment, but nothing like risking our lives. I was shocked that she would be thanking us. Instead, I was thanking her for giving the Karen hope; the hope of Christ.

Karen is very thankful for all that you (Grace Church) has done for the Karen. Giving them a chance to succeed and to begin a new life. What a blessing to work together with other believers, whom you may never meet, but knowing that we are working together to share the gospel with these refugees and help improve their living conditions.

Karen was truly an inspiration to me of a woman who radiates with the joy of Lord and is so excited to live a life on the edge for the sake of the Gospel.

I hope you at Grace Church are encouraged to know you are part of a global mission field!!!

Under 13 Girl's Futsal Champs!!!

That's right!!! My girls won the Chiang Mai Athletic Conference in Under 13 Girl's Futsal!! 

The first day I took 14 ten year old girls to APIS, an international school in the mountains, for the futsal tournament. We played four teams and at the end of the day, we came in fourth place. The girls were disappointed, but they played so hard!! 

The next day was so intense because of the intense competition between the under 13 girls. We began the morning in a close match with APIS, but we came out on top. The next 2 games were outside in the blazing sun, which totally wiped out the girls, but we crushed both teams that we played. The championship game was filled with a crazy dose of adrenaline! We won that game     7-2!! My voice is gone because of my coaching/yelling from the sidelines!! It was such a wonderful experience to watch my girls play as a team and come out on top! 

In about a week, I will begin coaching soccer!! Same girls, but will probably be adding a high school girl's team as well. I will be a busy woman, but it is worth it!! 

This past Sunday, I attended a new church called Chiang Mai Christian Fellowship and I fell in love with it. It is much smaller than the other church I was attending. I will try it out again this Sunday. Please pray that I find a church that I can get plugged into easily! 

Everything is wonderful here in Thailand. I absolutely love this country and I love my school! My students are so much fun and my colleagues are great and supportive. The Lord is so faithful!! I love and miss you all!!! 

All Better!!

I think it is ironic that back in the states and even while I have been here, I have thought that the swine flu (more technically, H1N1) was totally exaggerated and blown out of proportion. However, this was all before I caught it!! Yes, that is right, now you can tell people that you know someone who had the swine flu! 

I woke up with a cough about 2 weeks ago. It progressively got worse and I ended up being confined to my house for 10 days! I just went back to school this past Monday. It was awful to be stuck in my house for that long. However, it was nice to relax and spend time with the Lord. 

I went back to work and my schedule began to fill with various activities. I am coaching under 11 and under 13 girls futsal (basically indoor soccer). We had our first game yesterday and I can proudly report that we won both our games. The girls were awesome and played as a team. It is so much fun being a coach! I get to travel to the various international schools in the area. We have a tournament coming up in 2 weeks at APIS, which is about an hour away. It is going to be so much fun traveling to play sports!! 

This weekend I will going with some friends to a resort about an hour away. It will be a lovely weekend of relaxation and enjoying God's beautiful creation. I will be posting pictures soon!! 

I Will Glory in My Redeemer:

I will glory in my Redeemer 
Who carries me on eagle's wings 
He crowns my life with lovingkindness 
His triumph song I'll ever sing 
I will glory in my Redeemer 
Who waits for me at gates of gold 
And when He calls me it will be paradise 
His face forever to behold 

His face forever to behold