Thank You

I just wanted to thank all of you that have been sending me cards, letters, emails, and packages. They have been a great encouragement to me. The Lord always sees to it that I get each note just when I need it the most. Your words and gifts are greatly appreciated. Each one has made me feel that much closer to all of you. As you can see by the picture they serve as a constant reminder of your thoughts and prayers. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a large and loving family.

Love & Blessings to you all,

Bethany

Kanchanaburi

2 weekends ago Lesa, Lisa, Kristin, and I went with some of the members of Bang Khen Baptist Church(the church Lesa and I are now attending) to a town called Kanchanaburi. The town was about a 5 hour drive West of Bangkok (see map) Bang Khen has a church plant there, and we went to help them put on their Christmas service. We went up early Saturday morning and stopped for breakfast and lunch along the way. We also got to stop and sight-see a little bit at the River Kwai. After we got to Kanchanaburi that afternoon we went on visitations to the people in the community...encouraging them and inviting them to the service the next day. We stayed the night at one of the believers homes. She cooked dinner for all of us and then we went caroling. We sang along in English :) The next morning at church we had a gift exchange with the members (we had brought all the gifts with us) We sang some songs and then the kids were dismissed to their own program while the adults all had a sermon on the Christmas story with the gospel woven through it. Afterward we all ate lunch and then headed back home. It was such an awesome weekend! It was a great opportunity to see how the Thai people live outside of Bangkok and to have a chance to get to know some of the believers from Bang Khen better. It was hard to leave that afternoon. I know I will be going back again before I leave. Please keep the church in Kanchanaburi in your prayers. For its continued growth and a full-time Thai Pastor to lead it.

In His Love,
Bethany

PS-I already have some pics from the wkend posted

Photos

Hey Y'all,

I finally posted pics from my trip to Phuket (poo-ket) Enjoy !

Answered Prayer

Thank you for praying for my trip to Cambodia. My "visa run" went VERY well. I got on the bus I needed at 6am and arrived at the border before 9am. I then got stamped out of Thailand, and purchased a Cambodian visa. I was stamped into Cambodia and met some of ABWE's partnering missionaries once I was across the border. The took me back to their house where they showed me their facilities and fed me a wonderful lunch of Cambodian food. After we had a chance to visit, they took me back to the border. I got out of Cambodia and back into Thailand with no problems, in fact my visa costs were less than I expected. Praise the Lord, I was blessed with wonderful people on my bus back to Bangkok that were more than willing to take care of me all the way home. I will not have to do that again for at least another 3 months. Hopefully if we can get some paper work worked out before my next 3 months are up I will not have to keep making these visa runs. I would appreciate it if you would keep this in your prayers.

In His Love,

Bethany

Prayer Request

I unexpectedly have to go to Cambodia tomorrow for a visa run. I will be leaving by 5am and If all goes well I will be back home by 4pm. (in time for a nice long nap) I am taking a direct bus ride to the border, where I will officially leave Thailand and enter Cambodia just long enough to complete all of the paper work so that I can come back. I will hopefully be meeting some missionaries at the border, but other than that I will be making the trip by myself. The trip is perfectly safe, but all of the paper work is a little intimidating. Please pray that it all goes smoothly and that I make all of my connections going and coming.