Thursday

Well, it's 7:57 a.m. (7:57 p.m. Wednesday for most of you) and my time is running out to blog. I bought 15 minutes and I couldn't get blogger in English first, then I couldn't log in with the account I logged in with yesterday. Makes me a little suspect.

Briefly I will say, yesterday morning was something like I've never experienced. We drove the 3 hours to Pattaya. Driving here is something like Nascar w/10 Million people. Its insane. My car sickness syndrome, I have, and complaint of Blairs driving (or Dennis Brose) will NEVER be complained about again. Uff Da. However, the drivers never get mad at eachother, give each other the right away, or if they TAKE the right away, the next graciously give is. It's the most bizarre thing you've ever seen. Very NOT american. Our Thai driver is a happy-go-lucky young man who doesn't understand English. Pretty hard to get breakfast yesterday b/c we couldn't get across we wanted to eat. He shook his head when we left the hotel at 5 a.m. that he understood, (most of us had been up since 3 a.m.)...we didn't pull in to McDonalds until almost 9. So six hours after we got up, we got to eat. We were car sick and very hungry. The Golden Arches had never tasted so good.

The International service at Tamar House was quite an experience that I can't explain. I assume Jeff, Terry and Cliff and others have experienced this. We all stood around visiting, meeting people from all countries while we waited for the prayer service to start. (This was a prayer service for believers from Pattaya to come and pray and be encouraged.)

The young Thai (college age) started strumming Power of Your Love on the guitar and I was just moved beyond words, realizing that music is universal. We would all be able to worship to God, the God of the universe in our own language and know what our fellow brothers and sisters were saying in THEIR language b/c I knew the tune of that song. The experience of singing songs together w/Australians, Thais, Chinese, Americans, English, you name it....was moving beyond words. It was an UNHURRIED, 2 1/2 hour prayer meeting. No one was in a hurry to leave, mind you this was Wed. a.m. They shared how God was working and what HE was doing in their lives and how He was using them to reach the lost of the city. It was ultra emotional for me to see the church of God at large in the world....it's there. It's a reality. I can't begin to put into words the experience of it...and I feel like I'm butchering it b/c I'm racing against the clock to type this. I've journaled lots and have so much Scripture to pour out from my reading...but...it will have to wait for these words of practical experience that I've had. We were all tired to the point of sickness last night, at least Janelle, Kim and I. Nikki was doing o.k., but she seems to have the dizziness and exhaustion about 2 hours after the 3 of us. Keep Praying.

Nothing terrible. A purse thief snatched someones (not our group) purse last night on the street while we were walking and ran right through Janelle and Nikki. Scared us all a little to be extra careful w/passports and money.

Well, my 15 minutes is up and need to eat breakfast before leaving in 20 minutes. It's hard to Blog b/c we are literally busy for 15-16 hours straight. Hopefully I"ll be able to fill more in tonight.

Love to all.
Karen