Things have been going very well. My parents came and spent some time with me here. I just said good-bye to them 2 weeks ago. After which, I had visiting missionaries from India come for another week.
Coming up next is a week long English camp put on by the Filipino missionaries here. There are 25 classes ranging from 1st grade through adults. They are expecting about 150 people attending besides staff. I will be teaching Anna and Drew while we are there, but Diane and Dave will be teaching and leading games.

God has been so faithful these past few months as He has led me through all the changes that have been going on. He IS the eye in the storm, the calm resting place, and that still small voice that is always there when I am ready to listen. He has showed me over and over again how He cares about even the smallest details that somehow seem to worry me the most. Thank you all for your prayers for me. I have certainly felt them, and they are much appreciated.

In His Name,
Bethany

Urgent Prayer

Dave and Diane Ford, the family I am now working with, just took their daughter Alyssa to college this summer. She is a freshman at Johnson Bible College near Knoxville, TN. After Soccer practice this past Friday, Alyssa, another female student, and two male students went to get something to eat when they were involved in an accident that caused the car to flip. Alyssa was in the back seat with her seatbelt on as was the other girl who is currently in a drug-induced coma. The driver of the car had cuts and bruises while the other fellow broke both wrists. Both Holly and Josh Ford (big sister and brother) are with Alyssa. Alyssa is in the ICU of the University of Tennessee Memorial Center. The doctor says she has lacerations to the spleen and it is bleeding. They are monitoring her very closely in the event that surgery is needed. Her lungs are bruised and might have a small hole letting air out. She has shoulder fractures and 2 fractures to her pelvis. She also has a very large head bruise but no brain damage. The doctor has assured the Fords that Alyssa will heal but will be very sore for a while. They will be keeping her in the hospital for at least 5 days (barring surgery being necessary) with full recovery taking about 6 weeks.

Please pray not only for Alyssa, but also her family here Bangkok. At this point they are not planning on returning home, as they have several family members already there taking care of her. However, in the event that she does need surgery, her mom will head back to the states to be with her. It has been extremely hard for the family having to watch/hear from a distance, but they are trusting in God for what is best for them and their daughter.

My New Home!!

Thank you all for you prayers and emails of support. I have finally moved into my new apartment! I was able to find a partially furnished apartment for much less than I had anticipated. I finished ordering furniture today. Hopefully it will arrive at least close to when it is supposed to. For those of you that are wondering - Here is my new mailing and residence address.

The Parkland 10/508
1211/92 Moo 12 Bangna-Trad K.M, 4.5 Rd.,
Bangna, Bangna, Bangkok, 10260 Thailand

Yes, you do need both of the "Bangna's " in there at the end. One is the sub-district and one is the district. They just happen to be the same in my area.

Thanks again for all of your prayers!!

In His Love and by His Grace,
Bethany

Prayer Request

I have had something very unexpected come up. The new family I will be working with (Dave and Diane Ford) live on the other side of Bangkok. The travel time is not that bad, but I added up some figures the other day and the travel costs are WAY too expensive. So I have to move. Because of the new location, I will no longer have a room mate. I looked for apartments for the first time today. The last place I looked - God opened a door. I have found a single bedroom, partially furnished apartment a motorcycle taxi away from the Ford's home. The rent is cheap and the apartment is in a huge complex that is not only cheap, but has a small store, food, and laundry facilities. I am going back tomorrow to measure and hopefully sign papers.

Please pray that all the details work out smoothly. I do need an odd lease (7 months). Hopefully they will be willing to work with me. I also was, unfortunately, unable to find a fully furnished apartment. Please pray that I am able to find everything I need for a reasonable price, and that all the unexpected costs of this move will come together.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Good Morning, Vietnam!!

Vietnam was certainly an adventure for me. I really managed to cram a lot of experiences into 6 short days. Several of them I hadn't even planned on. I arrived into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) late Sunday night. Monday I spent 8 hrs on a bus traveling out to one of the provinces. 5 hrs into the bus ride I got sick - not fun - do not try this at home! Needless to say I crashed that night and most of the next day. The rest of the week I spent mostly in the province. I had a chance to spend a day at a remote fishing village and have some great Vietnamese dishes with fresh caught seafood.

Thursday night I took a night train back to Ho Chi Minh City. I spent the day shopping at markets before heading home that night. It was a fabulous trip and an amazing experience. God really used that time to refresh my Spirit and to draw me closer to Him.

Going to Prison

Once a week I have started visiting a women's prison in Bangkok. I go with a group of people made up of Fillipino missionaries, retired Americans, Singaporeans, and there missionaries from the States. Diane Ford goes with me as well. The prisoners that I meet with are from all over the world. The women in this prison are mostly there due to various drug charges. I meet with some of the English speaking girls. So far I have had a chance to speak with women from South Africa, Taiwan, Nepal, Nigeria, and the Philippines (to name a few). Most of the women I talk to are already Christians. All have them have either been saved or turned their lives around in prison. We go and talk with them for an hour a week to encourage them, find out what their physical needs are, contact friends and family, do Bible studies, and counseling. One week we could be talking about what the Bible says on sexual immorality, and the next week we talk about our favourite foods. Many of these women have been in the prison for several years already, and they have an indefinite span of time left. They have family and children back in their home country. Some of the women had children after arriving in the prison and have had to send their kids home. Their faith, however, is stronger then of anyone I have ever met. My purpose in going is to try and be of some encouragement to them, but I always leave there feeling encouraged.

Please pray for these women when you think of them. That their faith would remain strong and that they would continue to trust in the Lord.

Thank You, Bethany

The Ford Family

Dave and Diane Ford have been here in Thailand for 3 1/2 yrs now. They are currently in their 1st term with ABWE. Dave is currently working with an orphanage up in Chiang Rai, and Diane is going to language school. They have 6 children - 2 of which are currently living here with them. Their eldest 2 kids are married. The oldest (Kara) has 2 children, their other married child (Josh) is graduating from Moody Bible this year. Their 3rd child (Holly) is currently attending Moody Bible as well. Their daughter Alyssa just went back to the states as a freshman at Johnson Bible in Tennessee.

Their 2 youngest children are my students. Anna (age 11) and Drew (age 9). Anna is in 6th grade. She loves animals, cooking, baking, playing with friends, and listening to music. Drew is in 4th grade. He loves swimming, any kind of electronic games, science experiments, and running around with his best friend - Danny. They are both doing great in school. The entire family has made me feel so comfortable and so at home these past 2 months. It is such a joy working with them.

Myanmar (Burma) Crisis

As I have gotten some concerned emails from some of you - I wanted to share with you all that Thailand did not feel any ill effects due to the cyclone in Myanmar, with the exception of rains in the North. We are all safe and sound here. Myanmar, however, is desperately hurting. We are still anxiously waiting to hear from some of the National believers.

For more up to date information regarding that you can go to ABWE's Home Page and click on the article "Cyclone Hits Myanmar." It will take you to the latest news, as well as information on how to donate to their relief fund. I thank you for all of your prayers, and I ask that you will continue to pray for the people of Myanmar.

In Him,
Bethany

Personal Update

Things are going really well here. Yes, the heat is definitely getting turned up on us, but we are surviving. We have had several rain storms in the last few days, so that has helped drop the temperature significantly, temporarily at least. I have had the opportunity since I have been here to travel to many different parts of Thailand. I have found the country absolutely beautiful here from the mountains to the beaches along the sea. The people everywhere are absolutely fantastic. I praise the Lord for this incredible opportunity to see a whole other part of His world. It has been an amazing journey of faith and I have found it so awesome to see living proof that he does indeed have the whole world in His hands!

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms." - James 5:13

In Christ Alone,
Bethany

Sawang Daen Din

We are back and we are all officially exhausted! It was a fabulous week.
The Caynors, Lesa, myself, and 2 other missionaries we have met here flew up to Sawang Daen Din for a week. Our team mates, Don and Gail Craft, have been ministering in Northeastern Thailand for over 20 years and have several well established ministries there. They were hosting a week long English and Bible day camp and needed extra hands. We had a wonderful time! It was great to see yet another part of Thailand and to have a chance to personally see more into what Thai culture is. We had a blast with the kids! On an average day we had about 40 kids attend, and we had more than 60 different kids visit throughout the week! While no one actually made the decision to accept the Lord while we were there, we had several that asked numerous questions. We have since found out that a few of those kids have now accepted Christ. This camp also gave Don and Gail a chance to share in 2 new villages that they had not previously received an open response.
It was so hard to say “Good-bye” at the end of the week. Especially when we didn’t fully know how much they understood or believed, but that is where I have to trust that God has each of their little hearts in His hands. I ask that you help to remember these precious kids in prayer.

- I have already posted 2 albums of pictures and a slide show at the top of the page.

Blessings to you all,
Bethany

Coming Soon

Well, I've only been back home a week and already we are getting ready to leave again. This week has gone by fast. Last Friday all of the team that lives here in Bangkok met at a restaurant to celebrate my birthday with me. We had a good time just hanging out and fellowshipping with each other. For us all being in the same city, it is not very often that we get a chance to all get together. It was a great evening!

This Sunday the Caynors, Lesa and I, and Deanna are all flying up to Northeastern Thailand - Sawang Daen Din (See Map) to run a day camp of free English and Bible. Our team-mates, Don and Gail Craft, have been missionaries in Thailand for over 28 years. They are currently the only members of ABWE's Thailand team that lives outside of Bangkok. They put on this day camp every summer (the summer months in Thailand are March-April) At one of our previous team meetings they asked if we knew of any people that would be willing to come up and help for a week. We all volunteered. Lesa, Lisa, and Deanna will be teaching the English classes, Rick is leading part of the Bible, and the rest of us are helping wherever we can. We will be up there for a full week, and will be flying back into Bangkok late that Saturday night. I'll write again when I get back.

In His Love -

I'm Legal!!!

What a title huh?? Well, I can now legally stay in Thailand another 3 months before I need to re-new my visa again. And...I am now 21. It has been quite a week and it is only Wednesday. Our flight to Chiang Rai both there and back was smooth and uneventful. We got to Chiang Rai by lunch time and were met at the airport by the Fillipino missionaries that we were going to stay with. They had just built a church. Right next to it they had built a house and a guest house. Lesa and I stayed in the guest house. The entire trip the missionaries there just loved on us and encouraged us so much.


The next day they took us sight-seeing to the Golden Triangle. It is the place where the borders of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos all meet. On a clear day you can even see the mountains of China. From there they took me to the border of Myanmar. One of their English students that is currently living with them crossed the border with me. She is the same age as I am and speaks pretty good English. We had a lot of fun together. Once we crossed the border, we wandered around a market that was right on the border for about a half an hour. We crossed back into Thailand and headed back to Chiang Rai. We spent a good part of the evening hearing all about the ministries that our hosts are currently running. The growth up there has been amazing! We are so excited with what the Lord is doing there. Their new church is beautiful and provided straight from the Lord. Lesa and I flew out the next morning - early. (Which was today) Tomorrow Alice, one of our team-mates, is taking me out to lunch for my birthday. Hope you all at home are doing well.

Love & Blessings,
Bethany

My Week

The Caynor's have had friends visiting all week so I have had a week "off" so to speak. I started off the week by going to the Egyptian Embassy for a fellow ABWE missionary in another country. She is planning her vacation and Bangkok has the nearest Emabassy where she can apply for an Egyptian tourist visa. I went down and picked up the application form and mailed to her. Sometime in April I am expecting her to send the filled out form back to me as well as her passport so I can take it to the Embassy so they can process her visa. I treated myself to lunch at subway and then found the latest English copy of TIME magazine. (I don't know why I bother to look for American news - everywhere I look all there is is the latest on the Presidential race)

One of the missionaries with City on a Hill that is still doing his Pre-field work just got engaged this past Thanksgiving. His fiance is already in Thailand working with a different agency. Her name is Deanna and she has been working with a ministry that ministers to the girls that are caught up in the sex trade. The ministry offers the girls a non-threatening place to come get help and to start to build a new life. The girls often start coming to the centers to learn free English. About 6 weeks ago our team was finally able to get in touch with Deanna. (she was in the states for a few months until Jan-Feb) She is such a wonderful girl. We have all been so blessed to get to know her. She and her fiance will be a great addition to our team! Anyway, last night. I was able to see a part of their ministry. I really liked what I saw and, Lord willing, I may become more involved with that ministry in the future.
Tonight, we are all going to a Fillipino wedding. I was invited, but I don't know either the bride or the groom. All the Thai pastors will be there, however, as well as many of our Fillipino friends. So it should be fun. Tomorrow is our Quarterly Team Meeting, and it will run all day. This coming Monday Lesa and I are flying up to Chiang Rai(See Map) for 3 days so I can cross the border and re-new my visa. I will write again when I get back from Chiang Rai.

Happy Leap Year!

Visa Run

Hey Everyone,

I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not, but part of the conditions on my year-visa is that I have to renew it every 3 mo. by going out of the country and coming back in. I don't need to stay out for a certain amount of time, I can just leave and then turn around and come back. I will need to renew it again by March 4. Lesa and I are planning to go up to northern Thailand to Chang Rai (see map). We will stay there for a few day with a couple of missionaries in the area. The missionaries will help me cross the border and back again. We should also have enough time to visit their mission and do a little sight-seeing. I would appreciate you prayers for our flight there and back as well as the prevention of any unforseen complications.

Thanks,
Bethany

Answer to Prayer

Wow! I can't belive we are approaching our 5 month mark. At times it feels like I have only been here 5 seconds. At other times it feels like I have been here for 5 years - haha. I think I have pretty much gotten over the initial culture shock, but the missionaries that were already here tell me it never completely goes away. Instead you have periodic "culture days." You know, those days where you can't seem to communicate with anybody, you can't find anything, and you come home at the end of the day frustrated and tired. Wait a minute - I had days like that in the States. What's up with that?! Oh well, I guess when you look at the over all picture, some things are the same everywhere we go (we just get to use fancier names for it overseas)

These past few weeks I have been asking for prayer regarding wisdom on the taking on of additional ministries. Wisdom pertaining to "what kinds?" of ministry and "how much?". During the recent conference we attended, God dropped something in my lap. One of the other missionary families on our team is in need of a homeschool teacher. Their 2 youngest children will not be returning to the school that they are currently at. While the parents are not in language school, they are both actively involved with other ministries, and do not have enough time to do all the teaching themselves. Their son will be going into 4th grade and their daughter will be going into 6th grade.

I do not as yet know when we will be starting to work together (these kids will start the next school year sometime this summer), but in the mean time I will be working with them on the logistics of my working with 2 families. The Caynor's for some time now have also talked about letting their kids have more freedom as they are growing up and do not need much constant "care/teaching" as they are capable of doing almost all their schoolwork on their own, and they are even looking at the possibilities of enrolling Ricky in a school next year so he will have the chance to participate in sports and other extra curricular activities. So my time spent during the week with their kids will most likely shift quite a bit.

Both families are very excited about this next school year, as am I. Who knows what the next few months will bring? God is starting to open the doors for many new and exciting posibilities for all of us. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers as well as this most recent developement. As always please pray that we seek out God's wisdom and guidance as our goal remains to serve Him the best way we can and make the most of where He has placed us.

In Him,

Bethany

Party!!

Just a quick note - Last night we all went to a joint birthday party for a few of the missionaries here whose birthdays are in January. One of our fellow team-mates was celebrating his 60th. The party was held at one of our missionary partner's home. Barbeque, curry, tacos, and ice cream cake with a lot of time to fellowship, and the traditional "coin toss" filled out the evening.

The party was a whole lot of fun. All of the Thai pastors that we work with were there as well as most of the PABWE (Phillippine Assoc. of Baptists...) missionaries that work in and around Bangkok.

Hope you are all having a good week. You are all continually in my thoughts and prayers.

In His Love,

Bethany

IndoChina Conference

This past week we attended a regional mission's conference that was held in Trat, Thailand (see map). We had a total of 18 missionaries plus MK's coming in from 5 different coutries, including ours. It was held at a resort that was right on the Bay of Thailand. The conference was over 4 days and our key speaker was Jim Ruff from the ABWE home office - He and his wife Jan were missionaries to Japan for over 20 years before coming off the field to work full time at the home office.

The Conference was great! Jim & Jan Ruff are such encouraging people!! Jim spoke on Asian Theologies and the elements of good missionary field teams. Excellent. We had the whole resort to ourselves, so our off times were very relaxing. I really hope we can have another one next year. It was so nice to get to know some of our other missionaries around the world and hear what God is doing there.

Love to you all,

Bethany

Happy Holidays

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's with your friends and families. For me it was a wonderful time to celebrate in the Joy of the Season with my new friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Although it was very tough being away from you all.

We had a 3 week break over the holidays. The week before Christmas we were able to take in a few Christmas concerts (including the Messiah) and some of the Thai church's Christmas outreach programs.

Christmas Eve - Lesa and I had dinner with some of the Fillipino missionaries and their friends and family (most of whom we already knew). We spent Christmas Day cooking, watching Christmas movies, and talking to our families at home.

The day after Christmas we hosted a birthday party for one of the Thai's. They brought the party - we supplied the venue. It was all our Thai friends from Bang Khen Baptist Church. We had a blast!! Games, food, testimony time, and lots of great fellowship and laughter.

New Year's was spent at a picnic hosted by a Thai family from our church. Later, Lesa and I watched the fireworks from our roof.

That's all for now. Many blessings to you all, this 2008. I look forward to talking to you again soon,

Love in Christ,

Bethany