he is so good, friends.

There is so much to be said and so often I don’t know where to start.

This is a crazy road we are walking. It is really odd to have your life and work and home be rolled into one, in another country. And then throw more people into it to work with you.

We are always learning, always being stretched, always asking questions, and always risking. Flexibility isn’t even a word we use any more; it just is. It is simply a requirement; it’s our current glasses that just aren’t so rose-colored.

That brings us to yesterday, which was just a rough day in many ways. It was full and chaotic, with some kids acting up horribly and some women pushing some boundaries. It is complicated.

It involved tears and prayers and questions. I was being stretched and learning and risking. I was flexing.

See? It was just a Thursday.

In the early evening we gathered the kids together for a few Bingo games and then sent them off to gather parents and friends and families for the bible story.

The good news? People came! We had sixteen adults, nearly all women; and we had thirty-two kids! It was a pretty full little community space.

More good news? It worked! The kids were exceptionally good; the adults listened; our translators were amazing; the adults knew the answers to the questions; they participated! We asked for prayer requests, and they gave them!

It was good.

We sent them off with a snack of warm, fresh soy milk that we will be purchasing each week from a local migrant school. It’s reasonably priced and full of protein & nutrients, but also liked! We also gave out fruit and encouraged everyone to tell their friends to come next week.

It just worked. We put out a sign and reminded everyone through the day, and they came. They listened! I just keep rejoicing.

And, as we keep praying, hopefully it will happen next week and many weeks following!

Afterward, a man in the community asked for a ride to the hospital to visit his sister. It was a complicated situation, but in the end, Stephen headed off with him on the motorbike.

And yet again, we watched God simply orchestrate things. They ended up seeing the woman’s husband, so all three got Gatorade at 7/11 and sat around chatting and conversing (in Burmese! Yay, Stephen!). Meanwhile, he caught sight of another friend from the community–a young teenage girl that works in Bangkok and is part of a whole different, complicated story. She was on her way back to Bangkok and happened to run into this 7/11 right then for a water before getting on the bus. Stephen was able to get her & her sister’s phone number, and we hope to try to catch up with them on an upcoming quick trip to Bangkok.

I don’t know how to explain the details, except to say this: it was orchestrated. Last night answered so many prayers, not only for the bible study, but in the conversations with the two men and in seeing this young teenage girl before she left town.

In all the complications and all the personal stories, I don’t know how to explain them on the blog. I don’t know how to tell the stories of pain and heartache and loss, or the times we just don’t know what to do. But for every time we just don’t know, or every time we take a risk, or every time we just hurt for a situation: God shows up. He orchestrates our lives and intertwines us into this community. He allows His name to be praised. He shows us the perfect space to ask if we have been brought here for such a time as this! (Esther 4:13-14)

In all the complications, chaos, learning, risking, and stretching–he is so good, friends. He is so good.