The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Hello everybody!

This is a little bit of a more in depth update about what I've been doing in Thailand... 

Our first week here felt like a month...we have been SO busy! We played a show at the biggest mall in Chiang Rai, which went pretty well and they seemed to like us because we will be playing in a slot after the new years countdown...which is cool!! Although, it isn't as big of a deal as I make it sound because the crowd was averaged sized and mostly drunk.

We've been teaching a lot of English at one of the high schools and an elementary school here. It's been a great time to do this due to the fact that it's almost Christmas and therefore we have been talking a lot about why we celebrate Christmas...it's been an awesome way to interweave Jesus into our English teaching.

At the elementary school we played some games including duck duck goose and freeze tag. This class ended in a bunch of little girls playing with my hair and asking me why I wasn't married. I just laughed in reply. 

Another night we went to the Wednesday night market at the university and our band performed a show outside which went extremely well and we had the opportunity to talk to a lot of the  students and invite them to the upcoming "connect night" at At Peace, which is the place we are doing our ministry out of. 

We also performed one of our dramas and dances at a Campus Crusade event which was cool in spite of some technical difficulties and hot wax being all over the stage from some girls dancing with candles...apparently it's a Thai dance.

On Friday night was the connect night where we performed another concert as our band, played games, served coffee and just connected with people. It went extremely well and was another great opportunity to share about Jesus and invite people to an exchange camp that At Peace was holding this weekend. 

Saturday and Sunday was when the camp happened, and we did dances, dramas, and told bits of our testimonies. By the end of the camp 7 or more people had accepted Jesus into their lives. This was extremely encouraging and so exciting, and now a lot of those people are connected with At Peace as a way to continue growing in their faith. 

As many of you know this is usually a rough time of year for me. I am happy to say that I can feel God actively at work changing my heart. Not only has he freed me from depression, but he has freed me from the need to be using different types of things in order to feel happy or numb during this time. 

I can say with confidence that the joy of the Lord is my strength, there is no other way to describe the way that I am feeling right now as opposed to how I've felt in the past.

Instead of spending my days in bed, or crying, or drinking or searching for love in all the wrong places, I feel as though I have a purpose, I look forward to the day and the ones ahead of me with excitement and new meaning. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q-yM4QCIek

I encourage you to listen to this song, it is so true. 

We are all searching for something. We all feel a longing to be loved and happy, and we try to fill this void with anything and everything...but honestly, what good does it do? 

The fact of the matter is that true joy begins in your heart, and when Jesus is living there, that's where it stays. Not that life is ever completely easy, but knowing that he wants to help take the weight off your shoulders and replace it with joy sure makes the burden a lot lighter. 

That's what I've been learning. 

love you all

xox

Matthew 11:28-29

"Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls"

ps: this is a video that one of the guys on my team made about a day in the life of disco kris and the foxtrappers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCm6sRMrNLY&feature=youtu.be