English and Soccer

Thank you all for your prayers. This past week has been busy. I worked in the office M-F researching how Step Ahead runs its microfinance institution. I am still trying to get a firm understanding of how Step Ahead operates. Friday night I went with the staff to a sales pitch in a new community. I was the honorary picture taker/take down crew at the end of the night. This freed up one of their staff to help future clients sign up. Step Ahead's mission is bigger than just offering financial services to the poor. As early as the sales pitch of their products, Step Ahead seeks to encourage the poor to take responsibility for improving their circumstances while offering to help them in the process. During the sales pitch they encouraged the woman who attended to keep their husbands from drinking all the time, and explained how if their husbands did stop their husbands could help their families out of this situation.

Tuesday I went with the Step Ahead staff to a noodle shop that is the equivalent of Kristals in the US. If you can eat 20 bowls of noodles you get a free Pepsi (Wes-I thought of you. I wondered if you would intentionally stop at 19). Wednesday and Thursday nights I helped the Crown College team teach English to about 35 kids. I put some pictures from it and the soccer clinic on flickr. Wednesday night after the English I went with the staff to a Chinese restaurant where we celebrated something for about everyone. Thai love to celebrate and Wednesday night was no exception. Thursday night I attended an English Bible study with nine guys in their 20s. We studied the story of the men who lowers a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. We prayed God would humble us and use us to be stretcher bearers for those in need here. Friday night I went to that pitch in the community.

Saturday, I ran the soccer clinic. It came together very well. We had 93 kids show up from age 6 to 16. It was really exciting because the leader of the park we used came up to us both Friday and Saturday to thank us for doing the clinic and asked us to do it on a regular bases. The Lord is opening doors for Step Ahead to step in and start a soccer league. Many people have come to me volunteering to help in the future which is a huge answer to prayer. Pray that God would send people who would be committed to the ministry and who will take advantage of the teachable moments they are almost assured to have with the kids during the soccer practices.

Please be praying that God uses the kids club and soccer clinics as a means for His healing hand to heal the blind eyes of these youth. Greater thing are yet to come. Greater things have yet to be done in this city. Please pray for me to see what my role is in that process while I'm here. God is good and worthy of praise. My prayer is that Thailand would see that. Also, I had lunch today with a lady who is going to help at kids clubs this summer and discovered she is more of a Buddhist then a Christian. Pray the Lord claims her for his kingdom sooner than later, since she will be a person of influence in the lives of the kids at our kids club.