Well, it’s back to the snow and cold…!! :) For those of you who haven’t seen my facebook status or heard yet…I’m home again!! I got in at 10:15p on Monday the 21st and am still working at recovering from jetlag! :S It’s so good to be home and be able to catch up with everyone again. Now it actually feels like December and Christmas--I’ve been in the Asian heat and Australia’s summer for the past couple of months so it definitely didn’t feel like Christmas was coming…but now it does!! :D I miss all of my teammates more than I thought I would but I’ve had such an amazing experience and am now ready to move on and see what God has in store for me next. But first, I’ll catch you up on my last couple weeks of outreach and briefly summarize the whole trip…

Our second week in Thailand was lots of fun! One day we went to a university across the street from our accommodation and did a bit of evangelism there. I had a pretty good conversation with two girls that spoke a little English. It was encouraging to be able to get back out communicate with some people closer to my age again. We also had another day of slum ministry—it was so much fun being able to follow-up and continue building relationships with the kids we met last week.

On Thursday morning our team of 8 took off for a weekend trip to Bangsaen which is a smaller city about an hour away from where we’re staying. We got to work with a church that’s associated with Mennonite Brethen. It was funny because I thought Mennonites were only in the States, but people in Thailand actually know what a Mennonite is, too! :) When we got there we did a program for some kids in a slum and I got to play a little bit of volleyball with some guys from the slum—they were pretty good! :D The next day we got to work with and play soccer with some people and kids from an HIV/AIDS orphanage and that evening I gave a testimony at a church service. Sunday was our last day in Bangsaen and we traveled about 1 ½ hours to a tiny, rural church outside of town, helped teach Sunday School, ate lunch with the church family and came right back to town. It was in interesting morning! :) The church we were working with had a Sunday evening service so I got to help out with their Sunday School class as well. I again realized just how much I love working with kids!

The final week was filled with evangelism at the university, worship, slum ministry and helping ARK ministry pack their office to move into a new space. It was pretty exciting to see the opportunities that God is providing for ARK. We left Thailand on December 11—I was ready to get back to Perth and then home, but I also miss Thailand and especially the people and kids we were working with.
Back in Perth, everyone was together again and the base was crowded as there is another DTS running right now. It was fun to see people and get to relax together. We had a few class sessions—teaching on re-entry into the States and home life—but it was a lot of free time so I got to go to the beach! :D

During one of our meetings, each member of my DTS took a turn telling 1. Something God has taught us over DTS, 2. Our favorite part of outreach, and 3. How this will affect the rest of our life. Something God has shown me during the past six months is just how good He really is and the necessity of trusting Him with my plans and future. No matter how much I think I’m accomplishing and how good I’m doing on my own, it’s not me. God is the one who provides for me and guides my ways and it took a long time for me to realize that and be able and willing to surrender my plans and control of my life to Him. Once I did, I saw that with Him guiding my steps, I can accomplish so much more and have a way bigger impact than I ever could have on my own.

My favorite part of outreach was being able to travel to 4 different countries and experience 2 totally different cultures. It really opened my eyes to how big the world really is—there’s so much more going on out there besides what’s in Milford and the Midwest. I also loved whenever we got an opportunity to work with kids…I especially loved being able to run basketball drills with kids in Malaysia and work with the slum ministry in Thailand. God gave me a heart for kids that I didn’t know I had.

This experience has changed me in numerous ways and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again. Now I know and have seen what I can do when I let God take control and lead me. I’ve felt God’s love for the nations, witnessed miracles, heard God speak through numerous situations and people and seen lives touched, even through me. It’s amazing what God can do when He’s freed and allowed to work in our lives. I would encourage anyone and everyone to do a DTS—it’s an incredible experience!!

Thanks so much for keeping up with the blog—it’s been fun being able to record and share with you what’s been going on during these past few months! I’ll try to get a few more pictures posted up on facebook so keep checking that.

Love you all and God bless!!

Rachel

PS. If anyone has questions-feel free to ask… :)