A few more glimpses...

Prayer walk through poorer part of Ambergris Caye, Belize




















View along the shore by our YWAM base













Scrumptious bugs in the Thai marketplace




















Walking in Bangkok & South Korean meal

And we're leaving Bangkok...

This afternoon we found out we'll be leaving Bangkok tomorrow morning at 6:30 am to catch an 11 hour bus ride up to the northern part of Thailand. We're going to be staying at an orphanage outside of Mae Sot, which borders Burma. For our first half of our outreach we'll be helping out at the orphanage, digging wells, working alongside some schools, and partaking in ministry with some hill tribes. As people have been praying for our outreach they have received words such as "saturate." We are hoping for God to allow us to saturate people with love, joy, and truth.

Since arriving in Thailand we've had some time to rest and adjust to the time change. We are twelve hours ahead of Central Standard Time. We've also been introduced to the "squatty potty." The three rules we were given during our orientation were
1. Do not sit on it.
2. Do not jump on it.
3. Do not put toilet paper in it.

I'll let you figure out why these rules are so important.

Random Info:
-The currency in Thailand is the baht. 1 US dollar = 31 Baht
-We are all LOVING Thai food, and are attempting to master the chopsticks
-It is offensive to touch anyone on the head or to point the bottom of your foot at someone

The beginnings of Outreach...

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic as we've officially transitioned into Outreach Phase. Our first two weeks we spent doing local outreaches on Ambergris Caye, Belize. We had opportunities to teach Sunday school, lead youth group and Bible studies, tutor at the local school, and help out with manual labor at our YWAM base and at our neighbor's small grocery store. I think we all appreciated being able to spend some time reaching out in different ways to local people and ministries.

After our local outreach the "sailing" students and the "diving" students combined to form the "Mexico" team and the "Thailand" team. We have 15 students and 2 staff on our Thailand team. On Tuesday we left the Destination Paradise base to take two different water taxis to get us to the Belize/Mexico border. After crossing the border we took buses and taxis to get to Cancun, Mexico. From Cancun we flew to LA, then to Seoul, South Korea. From Seoul into Bangkok, Thailand. One of our teammates has a family friend who lives in South Korea and was actually able to meet up with us at the airport. We were able to see some of the city, go to the market, and eat a Korean meal before heading back to the airport to catch our next flight. We were all pretty pumped to be able to get out into the city instead of sitting in the airport all day. Little did we know how much of a different climate we were heading into... We left the 90 degree Belize weather in Belize and walked out into the 35 degree South Korean weather! My flip flops didn't do much to keep my toes warm that day. After four days of travel we finally are at our first stop in Thailand. We're staying at another YWAM base for the first few nights to rest and to learn more about the culture.
So, we've officially begun outreach, something we have all been looking forward to. It will be exciting to see what all God has in store for us as we join Him in the ministry He is doing in Thailand.

finally more pictures...and another update

Last week our theme was worldviews. We covering different topics such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, and a few others. Chris Toney, our base leader, was our speaker. This week we've had Brenda Lewis, from YWAM Axiom in New Haven, Connecticut, with us. She has been sharing about destiny. A lot of focus has been spent on God's desire for relationship, relationship with Him and with others. It's always overwhelming to really sit and attempt to absorb how God actually desires relationship with us, not simply for us to follow a list of rules or to perform certain duties for him. No, he actually wants a reciprocating relationship.

We've looked at our different personality types, giftings, and dreams to discover more about God's calling on our lives. It has been interesting to see different themes woven throughout each of our lives that relate to the passions and desires we have for our futures. I've definitely been learning more about my dreams and I've also been impacted through hearing the other students and staff staff speak about what they see in me. It's one of the benefits of living in community. As a team we've been able to appreciate the differences in each other, to support each other and challenge each other.

Captions for the pictures:
1. Belize sunset
2. Pirate/Princess Birthday Party
3. Chris with kids during our mini outreach at Spanish Lookout
4. Diving & Nurse shark
5. Noah and me during a dive
6. Some of the students heading down during a dive
7. Dolphins
6. Sea turtle
7. Mini Outreach Team: Chris, Noah, Floyd(our host), me, & Esther
8. San Ignacio
9. Playing with kids during mini outreach
10. Our host home in San Ignacio
11. Beginning of our mini outreach

PICTURES!!

Cold front moving in...

Yep, we've had a "cold front." Within the past couple weeks we've had a few days of being decked out in jeans, sweatshirts, and yes some have even been sporting socks and shoes. I actually opened my sleeping bag last night for the first time since I've been here. We checked the temperature, a whopping 77 degrees! Yes, we've definitely acclimated to the weather. I don't even want to think about how cold I'll be when I get back to the Midwest.
Our assignments have been winding down and we only have one more speaker after this week is over. We've had our geography quiz. We had to locate 100 countries on a map and list 50 capitals. We only have one book report and a gospel presentation left before lecture phase is over.
A couple weeks ago we broke into two groups and had mini outreaches. My group headed to San Ignacio on the mainland of Belize. We spent time helping clean up yards and hanging out with kids. Each of us was challenged and our faith was increased over the few days we were gone. It was great coming back together as one group to hear how God had worked in different ways through the two groups.
It's crazy to think that our lecture phase is winding down. Soon we'll be heading to Thailand. Right now we're thinking we may be flying out there on Thanksgiving day. We're all getting excited to start outreach, but we know God has more in store for us before we head over there. Because we are going to Thailand for our outreach, we each have to pay an additional $2000 to cover expenses. If you feel lead to support me financially during my outreach phase please zip me an email (t.verdegan@gmail.com) or checks can be sent to my home address(listed on the right side of my blog).
Personally God has been challenging me in the way I receive His blessings. I tend to think I need to earn them, or that I must go through a difficult circumstance before being blessed. During our outreach He started challenging me and I've been recognizing this wrong pattern of thinking more and more in my life. Through various ways, God has been speaking to me about the desires of my heart and the more specific things I am passionate about. It is overwhelming to acknowledge the dreams that God has put within my heart. Yet, it's even more overwhelming seeing them come into fruition. With God, life sure is an adventurous journey and I'm loving it!

Going Deeper...

Going Deeper…
We passed our half way point for our lecture phase last week. It gave us an excuse to look back on what God has been doing within each of us individually and within our group as a whole. It’s evident that we have grown deeper as a team. Each person is different, yet we come together to create a dynamic group. It will be exciting to see how God will use us and stretch us during our outreach phase.
John Murphy came from the snowboarders DTS in Denver to share with us about relationships. I enjoyed listening to him speak about being a son/daughter of God versus being a servant of God. Interesting note: John also told us that when you combine all the time we put into our lecture phase of our DTS it is equivalent to going to church every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening for 4.5 years.

Lecture phase creates the perfect setting for us to go deeper into head and heart matters. Each week we are challenged by the speaker’s different topics as well as with mediation passages, group devotionals, memory verses, intercession, and through our personal devotionals. We’re usually all ready for some time in the water after lectures are over. We went down to 110 feet this past weekend while we were completing our next level of certification in scuba diving. We also had the opportunity to go on a night dive a few days ago. Some of the fish looked like they were big enough to eat one of us, then I remind myself that under water things appear larger than they really are.
Jon Peterson is teaching on Bible study this week. We’ve been focusing on the book of John. He’s challenged us to read through the entire book of John once each day. We’ve read through it a couple times on our own, in different translations, from back to front, and once we read it as a group out loud. We have one more day left with Jon, and then he will spend next week teaching to the sailing DTS.

The other night my friend called me out to the end of the dock to look at a bunch of jellyfish that were glowing in the ocean. It’s those little things that God uses to remind me how blessed I am to be having this experience. I pray that in the next few days God gives you one of these little reminders of how He loves you and deeply desires to bless you!