On Friday night, I went with my pastor and a pastor couple from Australia to Chiang Mai City Gate Church. I know very little about the church but in the time I was there, I could tell that they were full of life and going for it in God. Worship reminded me a lot of CA but not because of what they sang but rather how they did it. There were times when the worship leader felt lead to speak out words of praise and pray. They were a young appearing team and had a lot of energy. Since it was all in thai, it was like listening to people sing worship in tongues. I could feel the heart behind it even when I didn't recognize the songs.
The sermon itself was actually presented by the Australian guests that I had arrived with. This pastor couple are missionaries and they travel to many countries preaching the gospel. They have a ministry of healing. Both spoke and with energy and many stories from their travels. Its just amazing to hear all that's going on in other parts of the world. They have so much faith that they have no fear. They know that God is protecting them and using them for the kingdom. During their preaching, the pastor of the City Gate Church was translating. I've never seen someone translate with the same energy and passion as the person preaching. He was even doing similar gestures.
After the sermon, there was a time when people who wanted healing to come up. Some people had big responses and passed out and other were smaller. But I don't think anyone was disappointed. They also made a point to let people know that sometimes healing is immediate and sometimes it happens over a period of time. I was glad that they told the congregation this. I wasn't sure how many of them had ever experienced healing before. I myself chose to use the time to pray. I'll be hearing the couple speak again at our regular congregation location on Sunday.
Today Lizzie, my new housemate and I signed the lease for our house. Then we went shopping with another co worker for sheets and towels and garbage cans. Ultimately we need stuff for the kitchen but since its incredibly cheap to eat out here, we're not terribly worried. Both of us are going to be living on as little as possible til pay day next month. We actually have to pay rent for our current place, rent for the rest of this month for our new place, and a deposit and we haven't gotten our first paycheck yet. Thank heavens for flight reimbursements and being able to access my American account from Thailand. After our first payday, we can finish stocking our house. The house is furnished so we don't need to look for furniture. Just a tv at some point.
The house itself is a 3 bedroom cute little place. It has tile floors and a balcony upstairs. Downstairs, there are places to sit and relax and a fountain on the porch with fish in the pond it feeds into. In our little neighborhood, there are other ponds and at least 3 other houses. One of my other coworkers lives in one and a family in another. Eventually we will have a housemate in the remaining house. I also think there may be one more house that we didn't see. The entire neighborhood is gated and there is a security guard. But like other places we still need to be watchful because farangs(foreigners) are targets for robbery because they think we are rich. We have been advised on how to make our house less of a target. I will post pictures when we move in. Moving day is Monday as we need to be out of our apartments by Tuesday morning. We both have to work so we'll just pay rent and turn in our keys at that time. Our vice principal was kind enough to let us borrow the school songthaew and some workers to help move our stuff. Should be a quick move.
For now, its back to packing.
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