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Open Hands, Full Hearts

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Growing up, all of my family lived in Canada. Some summers were spent travelling through parts of Alberta and southern BC to visit family members. I remember long car rides, especially the 8 hour drive to and from the Edmonton area. For long trips I would always make sure I had plenty of activities to do: reading, crafting, listening to stories, and lots of great snacks. The first couple hours were so fun, switching to and from activities, watching the scenery go past, and eating snacks. But the last couple hours of that travel felt like torture, especially on the way back; all the books were finished, it wold often be dark outside with no view of the scenery, all the snacks are gone, and everyone is just trying to get home to our own beds and some space from one another. Our recent trip back to Canada was the longest trip I have ever taken to come home. From the moment we left the hotel in Chiang Mai to stepping on the tarmac at the Prince George Airport, which both moments somehow ha...
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Koinonia

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“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”   -  Philippians 2:1-2 Each new day has brought different adventures and deeper community with the church in Lampang.  For those reading from Westwood, I hope you know that you are a part of this community as well. Speaking with the church members, they feel as if we are their family. Though we each have personal relationships with the members here, we are also representatives of you and your relationship with our sister church here. It comes up frequently how they are praying for us, praying for Westwood, and are encouraged by the stories of God at work in Prince George. As a member of Westwood I am so blessed to be a part of our church community there and here with our Khmu brothers and sisters in Thailand. Ou...
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Today is...Tuesday

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Yesterday, when I asked one of the girls if there were any games she liked at school, she just shook her head. I then asked if she liked any games at all, which she enthusiastically nodded to. She explained that they do not play any games at school, all they do is study (probably why she is so smart and picked up the English very fast). I told her that in Canada we like to play lots of games when learning at school, she was very excited to learn English, but more excited to play games at our "school". And of course you can't have "school" without a school bus. Since a big yellow bus would not fit into any of our suitcases, we used the chairs at the church instead. If you have been to Junior Youth Group at Westwood (which I may be biased but I think everyone should be there, leader or youth, it is so much fun - shoutout to any youth reading this!), you may have played the bus game.  This game involves seven rows of chairs, set up as the "bus" and each r...
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Love it out...

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Each morning our team starts the day with breakfast and scripture study together, squished around the one large table in the hostel breakfast area. We have been reading through the book of Acts and there are so many practical lessons from the life of Paul and the stories of the early church. In reflecting on the early church and Pauls relationship with them, there is a consistent theme of encouragement. In his various letters to churches Paul often gives encouragement to the church and tells them of how he is encouraged by their faith, as he mentions in Romans chapter 1.  " For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—   that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine." - Romans 1:11-12 At the end of the meetings we have been sharing with the team the messages of encouragement that have been sent in. It has meant so much to the team to hear from the church at home, to be prayed over, and...
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Sunday Morning and Night Market

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Sawasdee ka (hello)! Today was our second full day in Thailand and our first day with the whole Lampang church. This morning we joined our Khmu brothers and sisters for church; to worship together, pray together, and learn about the word of God.  Walking in to the church building and seeing the faces of some church members I had met 8 years ago and recognizing each other brought me so much joy. For the first bit in the morning while those leading worship practiced we got to connect with the church elders and their families. We sang some songs together and the kids did a wonderful job leading us through the actions. While we didn't know the words to the songs we were all worshipping together.  Throughout the service we heard from Nolan as he preached from the book of Acts. Several church members got up and shared their testimony of how they came to know God and how God has been at work in their lives. It was amazing to hear these stories of transformation - how God was at work ...
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Boots on the Ground

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What a crazy 25 hours it has been! We are now a full day ahead of most of you (don’t worry, we won’t spoil what happens in the future - but it was fun time travelling). Our flights went smoothly after an initial delay in the Prince George Airport, thank you for all who were praying for safe travels, the Lord was looking after us for sure, we even got all our seats together on our longest flights with Nolan somehow being seated right in the very middle: We are just about to land at our last airport in the next hour at Chiang Mai as I am writing this. The journey has been a great time of bonding with tandem napping times, in-flight monopoly (not sure if David has a future career in property management, haha), new food, and tracking down the best and most caffeinated coffee in the Taipei airport. Some of the highlights include sitting all together on our long haul flight and watching Zootopia 2 at the same time. We also got to stand on a piece of Canada in the Vancouver airport and feel...
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And we’re off…

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​ The team is officially on our way to Thailand! Thank you to everyone who has supported us through prayer, finances, showing up in amazing outfits to trivia (shoutout the Ray/Windolf team). We are so blessed to have a community of people behind us as we go.  Through the trip we will be sharing updates, photos, and prayer requests. If you haven’t yet, please sign up to receive our updates, share with others, and join us in prayer as we join with the church in Lampang to serve God together. 
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