11 days until Thailand!

The Lecture Phase is officially over! I can hardly believe how fast these past 12 weeks have flown by! Last week we had Art and Ellen Sanborn here to talk about Cross-Cultural Missions. They had such amazing stories of their time on the mission field, and also practical advice to give to us. Since they have been working in Thailand for the past 25 years, we were able to learn a ton of Thai culture and also some Thai phrases. Sa Wat Dee Kha! Anyway, during the week, Art and Ellen divided us into two groups and we played a missions game. Each group was given instructions on what their culture was like and then 2 missionaries from the other team were sent over to try to tell us about Jesus, while learning and respecting the culture. Even though we all spoke English, this certainly was really challenging! It was a whole lot of fun too, and really I think a practical example of what it's like (even though it was very lighthearted!) Also during this week we read the book Letters From A Skeptic by Gregory A. Boyd.

For the past two days we have been learning a ton of dramas. I think we've learned five! People have been really impressed with how quickly we have been catching on, and it definitely is encouraging. There is one drama in particular that is really powerful, it's called "Locked" and it's to the song "Locked In A Cage" by Skillet. It's the one drama that we really need to nail down in the next few days before we leave. But we'll get there!

Last night was our commissioning at The Rising, which is like a church service for the whole base. Rachel and Younsoo spoke about what DTS has been like for them, Dave gave a little word of encouragement, and Amy talked about what exactly we'll be doing in Thailand. Then people prayed over us individually. Last week we also had the Base Intercession time devoted to us and people prayed for us individually there, too. For weeks and weeks, Younsoo has been telling me that I am gifted with a mother's heart. I always thought it was sweet that he said that, but last week at intercession and then also this week, 2 different people that I don't know that well have told me that! It's really kind of cool, actually. To be more specific, last night someone said that she really feels like I need to be gentle and caring to the Thai women, and not be afraid to be tender and hug them, mother them, etc. So, that's really neat! I'm really excited to have this understanding of being gifted in this way and I'm excited to see how God is going to use it.

Please be praying for our team, especially over Christmas break! I think the break will be good for our team, but I'm really going to miss everyone that's going home.