shanna n me

"Good day mate" ah man i'm gonna miss that! Whether it was day or night, or wether you were their mate or not, it didn't matter… Thats what we heard all the time :) It was great… Oh and there wasn't any garbage or junk there either, just "rubbish" most of which was covered in blood, go figure :)..

I told Shanna I'd like to live there for servral years just so I could learn to speak their accent! :) I love it… anyway yes it twas a totally grand trip! I love Shanna dearly, she's fun to go anywhere on this earth with!!!.. Thanks all for your prayers! The crutches stayed in the hotel pretty much the whole time. So praise the Lord for that! 

On the train headed for Bangkok/ Malaysia/ AUSTRALIA! :) yea we were excited :)

One of my lifelong dreams finally fulfilled! Even the crutches couldn't dampen my excitement!

no its not photoshoped :)

Taking the subway to Bondi (pronounced BonDIE :)(apparently Aussies hate it when you mispronounce their city names, not that I would know :) 

beautiful Bondi beach

this cracked me up :) not only does this happen in america, it happens in australia too! :) btw this doesn't capture it all, there were tons of ladies lined up that aren't on the pic :)

and heres the gents bathroom line :D

Whale watching, a bit of a substitute for scuba diving since my foot condition didn't allow it. great fun... 

three humpback whales....humping :) 

I could have almost jumped onto this guys back he got so close to the ship! 

my dear sister that put up with all my limps, slow walking and quirks.. 

somehow I ended up on the bottom of the line and she got the top :)

We pretty much lived off of subway and mcdonalds :)

"rubbish" my new favorite word :)

and now after two days of traveling were back in Chiangmai once again...Thank you God for a dream come true! 

Jazer.. bones.. and a land down under....

Another term has absolutely flown by and once again it's time to head out on a "ministry" trip. Although this trip will have a little different aspect to it. Technically it won't really be considered a full fledged ministry trip since its just Shanna and I being touristy :) It is still my goal though to always be that lighthouse displaying Jesus glory and radiance in my life, no mater where I am or what I'm doing 

Anyway travel back in time to October 8th, a glorious day! A day when I was blessed with my second little adorable nephew! Jazer Afon Yoder. I'm amazed every time. (which equals twice :) at how tiny, frail, innocent, and completely helpless a newborn can be. Yet how much joy and tremendous excitement they bring! Its good I don't get them to often because I always about kill myself on my bike when I find out that they have been born..Hong Dong road turns into the Daytona 500 in my effect to very rapidly get to the hospital, my sisters will testify to this fact :) Yes I love little Jazer!

And my dear lil buddy, Caden Arel.. love him dearly as well :) I'm blessed! 

So that was the most exciting thing that has happened to me by far....it started the term off wonderfully and not that it even compares, but I am really excited to be ending this term in an exciting way as well by taking my favorite youngest sister in the world to the country down under..It has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to visit Australia, it was a dream of my dear mother as well so it means more to me just knowing that in a small way I might be sorta fulfilling a dream of hers for her.. 

The only downside is...and its a pretty stinking big downside..but due to some incredibly ridiculous stupidity on my part, I fell..not extremely far..but far enough...on to some rocks..hard rocks :( and now I have a small crack and chip in ankle/foot bone...the doc says 4 to 6 weeks.. lol..I say 4 to 6 days :) but I would appreciate prayers for quick healing seeing I'd rather not be on crutches forever... 

N.O.T.W, Brandon

love..a desperately needed gift

He clung to me, desperately he clung, he was dirty, his hair smelled like it hadn't been washed

in weeks, lice? maybe, he lived in the slums that out skirted the city, why because the city decided it didn't want "his type" to "degrade the cities image" 

Whether he had parents I really don't know, but this frail boy could not have been more then six or seven, still he clung. 

From the moment I got out of the van upon our arrival there were children everywhere, many in very simalar situations as this dear young boy, all wanting to touch us, feel us, and be held by us. Ultimately they just wanted to be loved. So for much of the next hour I did my best, when I was standing, he was on my back, shoulders or I was holding him, when I was sitting he was on my lap, and quite possessive of it to, when other kids tried to sit on me with him, he wasn't the most gracious and would push them off:). As time went on it struck me to the point of goose bumps, that though it might just be a tiny representation with many flows, it really was a picture of what my heavenly father has done for me! I'm a smelly, dirty child. a down and out, helpless, pathetic frail child. yet my precious father still loves me, and I dearly love him! Thank you Jesus

So yes after an amazing 10 days in Cambodia I'm back in Thailand for another term of classes. It may be difficult to sit in classes again, (ministry trips are more down my ally, classes not as much so) but I really am excited for what God is gonna do.

now for some pics

our team on the plane headed to Phnom Penh

the joys of teaching children with short attention spans :)

 Bree reading to us all

 kids clubs in the slums...awesome..love those kids

 KaLynn and Sheri making friends

 our team should get stars for being the most studious

 packaging bags of rice to hand out in the slums

 the young and old eagerly lined up to receive our bags

 cousins rock

 I thought theses pictures went well together, the Cambodian flag with the Ankor Wat temple on in representing the strong Buddhist influence on the country...which in turn leaves many of the people hopeless 

visiting the killing fields.. a heartbreaking place were just forty years ago around three million people were brutally murdered by Pol Pot, the ruthless dictator at that time 

 Landon, a great energetic teacher

 the kids eagerly waiting at the gate for clubs to begin

 a bit exhausted after teaching

 our team...they were great! me, Landon Nolt, Bree Lavy, KaLynn Yoder and Sheri Byler

 18 hours on a train is enough to make anyone go a little crazy :)

all in all an amazing trip...God worked in some big ways! Thank you Jesus
photo credits to Bree Lavy and KaLynn Yoder :)

Joe Wengers and sheds

last week of work in upstate New York is almost over! and yes you could say I'm excited! not necessarily because I'm leaving here..but because of where I'm going!
I shall miss the kids here a ton! whether its the kids i chill n grill with all the time or my Joe Wenger coworkers who are deffinitely one of a kind, let me tell you, we have all sorts of ..um lets just say unique conversations, I asked one of them today if he has ever kissed his girlfriend..:) his reaction was priceless..he's the type of guy you might almost question if he knows what kissing is even..:) but he said they definitely have a hands OFF relationship and I most certainly believe him :).. so anyway yes many random convos but some are quite thought provoking as well...as in what we/I have been doing this summer while we work there at Woodtex...taking a raw, bare shells of sheds and making them look beautiful/ transformed..and how much that parallels with life and what our awesome God wants to do in us! We may be a Christians, and do and say the right things...we may be waterproof and have walls, we may be ok..
we may look like this...

yet God has so much more in store for us! Yes it might hurt, the "nails and hammers, the cutting" never feel good, it may take sweat and tears..

but if we let Him we can look like these. (if your offended to be compared to a storage shed...sorry :) thats your problem ;)  There can be so much more beauty if we allow Him to transform our hearts...

anyhoo.. enough of the sappy anologies :)... as I said I'll be driving up to minnesota next week and then flying from there over to thailand for four months at IGo..if God randomly brings me to your memory when you think of Joe Wengers or storage sheds please pray for me! I'm very excited about it but there will also be some major adjustments as well... thanks... NOTW, Brandon