Jesse and Michael in East Asia

One of the most fun things that has happened around here lately was a visit from my best friends from Rocky Mount. Jesse and Michael came over on a vision trip a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing to finally get to hang out with them on this side of the world. They were part of a large group that came over from the US to visit and encourage us, and I for one was really encouraged by them. Not only was it fun to hang out with these guys, but it was also fun to see them jump into the culture, try new things, and really embrace the people we work with. I’ll post some pictures below, and you can also check out some of their pictures by clicking here.


The group together after a debriefing time


The three of us on a big wall


Jesse masters the art of using chopsticks
(his other  goal was to become fluent in the language during the week)


Michael takes a minute to take a picture while leading games at a school for underprivileged kids


Hanging out with Wendy after a long day


The guys on campus after eating "hot pot" with one of our national friends


The three of us in my city

I'M ENGAGED!

I introduced you to Wendy in my last blog update, and I'm happy to report that we got engaged while we were in Thailand!  We are both really excited about our future together, and SO GRATEFUL for those of you who have been sending encouraging emails and praying for us.  Many of you have asked for more details, so I'm posting the story of how I asked Wendy to marry me below.

...The Story ...
(more pictures below)

Originally, I was not planning to ask Wendy to marry me in Thailand. A lot of people I know have gotten engaged there, and it seemed pretty expected to me. I like surprises. And I really like to give Wendy surprises. I was pretty settled on that until my little sister (who has been married almost five years) pointed out that in twenty years, I wouldn't remember that a lot of my friends got engaged in Thailand. I'd just remember that we got engaged in a really beautiful tropical paradise. I've always hated it when Liz is right.

My mom has been a big fan of me and Wendy getting together for a long time now. Sometimes I have not immediately shared information with her about our relationship because I knew how excited she would get, and I did not want to unnecessarily give her a heart attack. I would have liked for our engagement to be a surprise to her (only because I already knew that she would be thrilled). But mom also has a part-time job at a jewerly store, and was going to need some help buying some jewerly. I thought about this for a couple of days after I talked to my sister about Thailand and then decided I had to talk to her. She was ecstatic of course, and a big help in getting Wendy a great ring along with her manager Tamara Newman and Sharon Dees.

Our friend Joo was coming to Thailand to vacation with his girlfriend Ashley, and he was about the only way that the ring was going to get from North Carolina to Thailand. I am very grateful to him for being the "diamond carrier" as he was later called.

Before we started vacation, I had already decided that I wanted to propose at night on the beach. I had a rough idea about what that might look like, but I had never actually been to the beach where we were going (Ao Nang Beach, Krabi Province). I bought A LOT of candles at a department store in Chiang Mai because I wasn't sure what would be available at the beach.

The morning of our first full day there, Graham and I decided to try to go scope out possible locations. We met "to go running" at 6:45AM. After a couple of ideas didn't work out, we found this little pennisula at the end of the beach where we were staying. We decided that it was the best place in the area. Then we worked out a plan for Graham and his wife Ashlei to go ahead of us that night and set everything up.

That night, we all went out to dinner to celebrate Dennis Baker's birthday. To stall for time while Graham and Ashlei were setting things up, Wendy and I took our laundry to a little shop. Then I asked her to take a walk on the beach with me. Graham called twice while we were walking (I didn't answer, but that was our signal that he needed more time for setup). It took about 25 minutes to get to the end of the beach from our hotel. When we got there, everything was dark except for the candles. I told Wendy I had gotten a Graham to help out with a little date for us. Along with the candles, there was a blanket, desserts, drinks and my iPod (w/portable speakers). One of our favorite musicians is Chris Botti (sax) and I played that while we had dessert.

It was a really clear night, and when we finished eating, we just talked and looked at the stars for a while. Then I told her that I had a little present for her. I pulled out a (wrapped) wooden box with the Chinese character for love carved on the top. She was pretty happy when she unwrapped it because she had been wanting a box made out of that kind of wood (here it is just called "ancient wood" but it is a certain kind of wood that is found in river beds in Sichuan province, and is petrified). She just held it for a minute, and then I told her there was something else in the box. When she opened it, I took the ring box and opened it, and told her that I loved her and asked her to marry me. And she said YES!

After that, we sat and talked more and listened to more music (Michael Buble I think?) and then we walked back to the hotel. We talked to Graham and Ashlei who had been waiting up for us and then our immediate families and I finally got to sleep around 2AM (LONNNNG DAY!).

We just got home from vacation a couple of days ago, and we had decided to not start any serious wedding planning before we got home. Being engaged has been really fun for us, and now starting to think about wedding and future plans is exciting too.

Again, we are so thankful for friends who have encouraged us and prayed for us, and we greatly appreciate (and NEED) your continued prayers as we look to Him to guide our future together.




This is the beach where we got engaged
(picture taken at sunrise)


This is the beach in front of our hotel at sunset


THE RING!

Mid Year Conferences

We were in Thailand for almost two weeks for conferences and development classes. I was blessed to get to take part in two conferences... one was for our first and second year interns and the other was for all staff from our country.

Intern Conference

The intern conference was a time of refreshing for me. I always enjoy getting to be around the interns. Most of them are fresh out of college, and their excitement and enthusiasm, as I have mentioned in previous posts and letters, is contagious. This was a smaller conference, and it was good to hear personal stories about how the Lord has been at work in the lives of these interns and in the lives of students on the campuses where they serve. It has truly been a blessing for me to serve with these young men and women this year.

All Staff Conference

This conference was also a time of being refreshed, but in a different way. The blessings from this conference came in several areas:

1. Worshipping Openly: For some of us, this is the only time of the year that we can freely gather and worship together. A band from the Philippines led worship for the conference. I was constantly amazed to look around me and see all of these people worshipping together.



2. Connecting with old friends: The theme of the conference this year was “One Family”, and it really does feel like a family here. This conference gave us the opportunity to connect with some people whom we don’t see very often, but have come to love very much.

One of my favorite connections this year was with a Korean who was on my campus my first year here. I had not seen him since that year, and this year I got to reconnect with him and meet his wife. For those of you who have been around since the beginning (’02), you might remember me writing about this guy…well, I think I remember writing about him. I didn’t know for sure that he was working with us for the first month we were in class together because Koreans were on a separate team (they didn’t speak English). For the first month of class, neither one of us spoke the language here either. I knew he was a believer because he would hold his Bible under his desk and read it during class breaks. For that month, we could basically only communicate using charades and laughter. We laughed A LOT. Now we both communicate much more easily in the language here, so it was especially cool to get to understand each other almost fully when we saw each other this year.

3. Getting the Big Picture: It’s often difficult to see how things are going down in the trenches. This was a time to get a bird’s eye view from our leadership of how things have been going, and also to hear in person the direction that those leaders believe the Lord is leading us in as a ministry

Development Class





I served as the Teaching Assistant for a class called Transforming Cities. The class was taught by Dr. Eric Swanson (co-author of The Externally Focused Church and Living a Life on Loan). I REALLY liked this class, but I won’t go into too many details here. If the class title interests you, you can find out more information from the following links:

Eric’s blog: www.ericswanson.blogspot.com

The Externally Focused Church

Externally Focused Church Conference ‘08