My girl Fern

All of today's photos from JaRurat (except the one immediately below) were taken by my girl Fern. I would guess Fern to be maybe twelve or thirteen at the oldest. She's a bit of a Tom Boy and pretty rough. Kids in the slums grow up fast and hard. For a long time, she would hang around in the distance and watch, but never join us. Ah Jan Vee has talked with her off an on, and I have made her my personal project, telling her I expect her to join in with us and to help. Finally, a few weeks ago, as the kids were getting into their weekly activity, I saw Fern off to the side and I went to her and gave her my camera. I showed her how it works and she spend the rest of the day going around taking photos. They were great! Better than the ones I take, anyway. So I have named her my official photographer.

Be praying for Fern. She runs with a group of pretty hardened young guys and they were already calling out to her today, trying to get her to leave and join up with them. She is going to have a lot of very bad influences tugging at her... maybe for the rest of her life. We are in for a fight to try to keep her with us. Believe me, it will be worth it.

Immanuel serves a simple, but usually very tasty lunch for the entire church each weekend after the main service. The people of Immanuel go out of their way to serve me in every way they can, so I decided I needed to show them in a tangible way that, just because I am American, as a believer, I am not excused from serving others. Every third Sunday now, I help serve lunch. It is such a small thing, but the Thai people at Immanuel seem to really like seeing me in this capacity. And I love getting to meet new people I otherwise might never speak to.

Ah Jan Vee and I handing out special snacks to kids who can remember the key points from last week's Bible lesson.

This woman actually lives right here, on a corner of the stage in this community area where we meet the kids every week. No home, just a small cookstove on the corner of the stage. But she is so positive and cheerful every time I speak to her. Humbling.

Thank you, God, for another good week at JaRurat. And bless the treats!