Ready... set...

all the thrills and fun and goofiness of preparing for a race are fluttering around right now. It's SCHOOL BREAK time!!
And since God has been doing SO much in the hearts of the teenagers around us-
Doy decided to follow God two weeks ago! Oy finally overcame her fear of water to be baptized and has since been asking some fascinating questions about God. Em is desperately trying to break his drug addiction so he can come back and follow the God that he loves and got so close to last year. Mu is quietly wondering what her identity really is. Day asked how he could learn more about baptism and God answered our prayer about letting him stay in the community. Dew is still figuring out what kind of person she's going to be but is so excited about coming to the youth camp (which is basically a short missions trip to the north of Thailand)...
I can't express in anecdotes how precious these kids are. (do i even know? probably not the half of it. but i get a little piece) Nor can i describe the sense of moral and love-fueled responsibility to them, to be friends and guides toward a great God. Of our little group of young believers, exactly half do not have any guardians living with them; their parents are not in the picture and no other relative has stepped in. And here they are with their wacky humor and half-formed talents and cool t-shirts and bottomless appetites (at least when it comes to chips and soda) and weird hormones and HUGE questions about God and this real core of sweetness...

Anyways, they are just cool people to be around. And during the October school break we are going to spend as much focused time with them as we can... starting:
~ a new youth Bible study/game night on Thursdays
~ meals and outings together (so far we've hit up ice cream shop, an amusement park, a hot pot buffet, and a free water park.)
~ English study and games on Monday and Thursday during the break
~ and we'll continue to see how the organizing goes...

Stay tuned for updates... :-)