Graduations, Babies, and Beyond

BJD students and two of the founding leaders on our weekend trip (River Kwai bridge in the background)

Graduations, engagements, interviews, new countries, marriages, "grown-up jobs", babies... A lot has happened in the lives of the girls who invited me into their home, the BJD dorm, almost four years ago.

Over the weekend, five girls from the original group I lived with and I went to visit some of our friends who have already moved on from BJD.  They are now living in a small farming community in western Thailand.  On the farm land is a building where they and others from the community meet for worship and Bible teaching every week.

Baby "Piggy Bank"

Our plan to visit A, "just happened" to line up perfectly.  Although we expected to spend the day with a pregnant mother, that morning we got news that A was heading to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital three hours after she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  "This wasn't an accident.  It was God's intentional plan."  Pang reminded us as we smiled about the opportunity to meet this new member of the family.
 
Of the girls who I was traveling with, all have studied a five-month Discipleship Training School and two just graduated from university last month.  In a few weeks, one will begin school to be a nurse's assistant and another will begin her job as a full-time kindergarten teacher.  One will be staying with YWAM as full-time staff in Bangkok.  Others want to stay involved serving as volunteers and discipling the younger students.  Last year, a student headed to Europe to work as a nanny, and another is currently serving with a YWAM ministry on the Burmese border.  I am so grateful for this ever-expanding web of relationships! 

Congratulations to the university graduates!

The work God has done in these students' lives is so encouraging.  When I first met some of them, on my short-term summer trip almost six years ago, they were smiling freshmen, just recently moved to Bangkok from upcountry and unsure of what lies ahead.  Since then, God has grown them closer to himself, given them a heart to serve, lead, disciple, and be a witness wherever they go.  Praise God!  It has been such a blessing and privilege to be involved in these lives!

I am now looking ahead, expecting to start a new season after this summer.  No matter where God leads, I know he will continue the work HE began in these students.  Please pray with me for details to come into more clarity, and praise God with me for transforming so many lives over the past years!

Picking fresh cilantro on the family farm.