January 2016 Update

January 2016 Update: (All photo Credit: Continuum Media)

(The children from our Afterschool English classes put on a Christmas show for their parents)

Happy New Year friends.  I hope that your Holidays were filled with love and joy and times with those you hold most dear.

Here in Thailand things have been great.  Over Christmas we held several outreaches through our churches in Sri Racha, including an outreach for the community around the LightHouse which brought out 500 people.  The students did amazing as they put on skits, dances, and sang songs to tell people why we celebrate Christmas.  There was a great response from the community as we continue to build friendships with our neighbors.

(Pastor Sawang speaks to the families from the community around the LightHouse)

(Some of the VABC Students dancing for the audience at our Christmas Outreach)

We ended the first semester with my teaching on church history part 1, which looks at the growth and spread of Christianity from 33AD to the 1500's.  It was my first time teaching a full course at VABC (I have taught at some of our associated colleges before, and teach some of the students English, but never taught the whole student body) and I think it went well, but I am biased.  It is a large chunk of history to cover in two years, so I think some of the students were overwhelmed, but they all did well on their assignments and exams.  I based my teaching off someone else's course, and I ink next time I will just write my own.  There were many things in the course I liked, but there were just as many things that I was unsure why they were included in the course.

Classes were completed on Christmas Eve, and then many of the followed our Victory Worship band down to Phuket to enjoy the Phuket Gospel Music Festival.  I had gone the year prior and it was a great time, but this year I have a lot more responsibilities with the school so I stayed behind to try and get caught up on some tasks, and to enjoy some peace and quiet.  I spent Christmas Day with friends and took time to talk to family back home.

(The Victory Worship Band on stage in Phuket)

(Pastor Al and Terry had us all come for a New Year's Eve dinner)

Everything started up again on January 4 and on January 9th we helped our children's school with there "Kid's Day" activities.  And since then, it has been business as usual.  We have a few more events coming up towards the end of January, but I will tell you about them next time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you ever want to know more about what I do and why I do it, feel free to send me a message.

Tyler.