Hi, my name is Joe. I am in Bangkok?? I only have five minutes to write this blog so it will be short and sweet. We visited the refugee family yesterday for the last time. It was sad. But to cheer you all up here is a picture of a pig face. ENJOY. We are leaving for Chum Buri tomorrow and will not be able to post as frequently but continue to pray for us and for the people we will be interacting with.

PIG!!!!!!!!!

Day 2: Blessed

Our second day has come to an end! Woohoo!
Joe and Jeremiah told me to sleep and write in the blog tomorrow, but... I don't want to listen to them. useless leaders. hahahahahha just kidding. But yeah, in all seriousness, I really want to write this right now because today was a pretty big day. God gave us an incredible opportunity and I know a lot of us were affected by what we saw tonight.

So as most of you know (if anyone is reading...heheh), we are currently in Bangkok with Pastor Paul. And today, we got to meet a sister named Sophia, who mainly works with victims in sex trafficking. She has an amazing story and with it comes a strength I've personally never seen before. It's crazy, because as she was sharing a part of her life with us today, I saw so much of God's love pouring out of her. It's so clear that she finds herself and all her strength within our Father and it was such an amazing experience getting to speak with her. Such a blessing as well :) She even gave us a chance (which we all carefully took) to walk in the streets of Bangkok where sex trafficking is pretty prominent and that was... really something else. I could tell we were all taken aback from what we saw but I think we did pretty well. I won't go too much into it but it definitely opened my eyes. We were able to watch while Sophia spoke to and loved on those who stood on the sidewalks and it was so encouraging; she was basically the light God provided while we were in the darkness :D (is that too cheesy haha...) But yeah, she really is awesome and I truly felt God speaking to us through her.

But throughout the whole day, as we all saw the overwhelming amount of love Sophia has in her heart, I realized something as a thought passed my head: this love is just a small part of what God has to offer.

I can't even imagine... Sophia said it herself- "I am human and I am imperfect." Still, the amount of love she exerts is incredible, and it undeniably touched our hearts. But just thinking of what we felt today and thinking of God and all the love He has for us is unbelievable. Man... HOW blessed are we?! We fail Him every day yet He continues to provide us with His love. And speaking with Sophia and seeing her big heart really reminded me of why we are all here. I mean, it's only day 2 in Thailand and we're already learning so much. But that's God for ya, right? :) So awesome.

But yeah, I guess that was the highlight of today ^^ We also went back to the refugee house to make dinner for the families and it was so heartwarming because they greeted us so openly! It was a little difficult yesterday because it was when we were all trying to open up to one another, but it was definitely a lot better today. God gifted them with a special kind of happiness and it's super encouraging to be around them so I'm excited to head back again tomorrow! It's always a good time there (of the 2 times we went, at least LOL). ...So yeah I guess this is the perfect time to post pictures from today!

Stolen from Sophia's instagram haha, but I like this picture a lot :) This was after talking with her at a cafe.

Our team at a cool cafe oh yeahhhhh

Caleb opened this at a restaurant to see what it was and we saw all these ants infesting the salt T_T

We met with Sophia at this really cool airport themed mall!

haha some of the cute girls at the home we visited

Our beautiful sister, Kandace, playing with some of the kids :)

This is kind of random, but before heading to the streets with Sophia, she told us to praise in our heads to drive out whatever fear we had in our hearts. A song that automatically came into my head as we were walking was Hosanna by Hillsong. I'm actually listening to it right now as I check out for tonight! It's one of my favorite songs and these lyrics kept replaying in my head as we walked.

Hosanna Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

......blah omg I just realized I wrote so much... or too much T_T I'll just end it here. I tend to write a lot... I'm so sorry. Haha but if you read this all, THANK YOU! I'll sing for you (even though no one seems to like it when I do). But enough about me! It was such a fun day and I thank God once again for being SO good. He is continuously bringing blessings to each and every one of our lives, and we can't thank Him enough. I'm super excited to the rest of this trip! This is only the beginning.

Good night/morning/afternoon/evening!
- Euna

OFFICIAL FIRST DAY!

Today was tiring because we are still recovering from jetlag, but it was still amazing! This is what we did!
- Jeremiah Park

We started by waking up at 630 and having morning prayer at 7am. Then we ate breakfast while waiting for Pastor Paul! 

After breakfast, we went to the subway. It costed 130 bhat which is equivalent to  a little over $4  in the States. We went to many areas around the Bangkok area including a really nice mall (I had a picture of the food, but I accidentally deleted it and already gave the SD card back to Euna haha)

This was our main part of the day! Although you can't see them, this is a refugee home. Vietnam (Hmong) citizens ran away to Thailand after being persecuted for their faith. There are 4 families (about 19 children and 7 adults). There was no a/c, but still made it worth it by playing with the children :)


Continue to pray for us!!

Airplane, Dubai, Airplane, Thailand

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The Thai-Ni-Mite Team of 2013 has finally joined forces to serve God in Thailand, Bangkok, Chonburi, and Chiang Rai. The Thai-No-Mite team consists of 9 members: Jeremiah Park, Joseph Han, Caleb Choi,Kuk Philicia Tucker, Kandace Glenn, Euna Kang, Jihye Yoon, and Rosa Yoon.  We are super excited to share our stories with the world, and also to see what God has planned out for us. 

It all started at Jeremiah's house.  We as a team united to make a team shirt, crafty stuff, and pack like no other.  Sadly, the sparkly spray paint (vampire spray pain) went through technical difficulties; therefore the team shirts were a goner. The guys got lucky.  Packing was a hard job, slowly but surely, we were able to pack all the candies, craft materials, gifts,and personal belongings as a team (special thanks to Jeremiah's mother for helping us pack). Although we were just packing and making crafts, the team was filled with unity and love.  

God has truly blessed this team with love and compassion towards each other only because we all love one thing, Him. 

May 13, 2013, 7:45 am

This was it. Thailand was at the tip of our fingers.  The team was greeted by loving friends and families at the airport.  God is so amazing.  He provided us with so much support and love from others, which helped us with reassurance. Although some members were struggling financially, but seeing how they didn't let money get in the way of serving God was a wonderful sight.  How great is our team? This team is special and God saw that in all of us.

The team bonded through the long plane rides to Dubai and Thailand.  We ate together, watched movies together, fell asleep beside each other, and lastly, loved God together.  This is what a true team of God feels like. The team was only filled with laughter, and hopefully only that.  

God,thank you for loving us unconditionally, and thank you for not giving up on us.  We may not be perfect, but we can promise you that we will try our best to love you and love each other.  We need faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  With you Father, we are nothing.  In order to keep you in our hearts and this world, we as a team will spread your love to the people in Thailand.  We will not show any discrimination or dislike to your creation, but only Your love and compassion.  In Your Son's name, AMEN ...   

Thank you all for making this missions trip happen.  Without you and the work of God, we would be lost.  We are incredibly happy to be here, and we will try out best to make everybody proud.

THANK YOU!!

-  Thai-No-Mite Team