What a whirlwind! We've started the year off wonderfully with a great kick-off party, and two Souper Tuesday Bible studies. We've had record attendance and have met so many new students I can't remember all their names. You can check out these pictures (and if you've got Facebook, join our group to see TONS more!)

An Artist's Reflection on an Unguarded Moment in which the Overflow of the Heart Spoke 

(Notice the difference between the right and left eyes.)

I do not like to think of myself as a sinful person. I go to great lengths to make my sin seem less sinful. I often use terms like "personality flaw," or "mistake" or "a regret" to describe the vices in my life. I "little white lie" to myself to make my sin appear less intense. To make my sin appear less black I dollop a little white (not my own white) into the pallet. To my eye, and to the world's eye, my sin no longer looks black, but gray. I have succeeded. For just a moment I step back from the portrait of my life to get a better view.

Unbidden the words of my high school art teacher fly into my foremost thoughts, "If you want to make glass sparkle, you must paint the blackest black next to the whitest white." 

Contrast. It brings out the twinkles of the eye, and the shimmers of the water. Without a full and rich value scale, a picture always lacks pop. Lack of contrast robs a picture of it's glory. 

Upon stepping back from this portrait, I see that I have robbed this canvas of a vital element - contrast. Pride, an evil which God detests, has refused to let black be black. Self-interest, not only in my life but in the entire history of humanity, has stolen the glory of the masterpiece that The Artist wishes to create. 

And that is shameful.

I drew this self-portrait as an illustration of this truth. I drew this picture to remind me that humility and vulnerability in my own life, may make me seem wretched, but allows for God to receive His deserved glory for His absolute perfection. Honest confession also primes our hearts to receive His perfect grace, which draws us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. I drew this picture as Augustine wrote his Confessions to, " remind myself of my past foulnesses and carnal corruptions, not because I love them, but so that I may love You, my God. It is from love of your love that I make the act of recollection. the recalling of my wicked ways is bitter in my memory, but I do so that You may be sweet to me, a sweetness touched by no deception, a sweetness serene and content."

*note the difference between the left and right eye is, you guessed it, contrast.

In March and April we helped out at our church with their annual education camp, which is 4 weeks of extra learning for middle and high school students from the rural part of Thailand called Easan in the province of Roi Et. The grapevine has had lots of great interaction with these students over the years through camps in Bangkok during the summer and camps in Easan during the school year. It's a great way for our college students to reach out to those in need, gain some useful experience, and grow as a community.

This year I was able to teach 9 high school students everyday, and we developed very close bonds. Please pray for these students as they continue to participate in our church's ministry in Roi Et. Pray that the seeds that have been planted during these summer will grow and take root in their hearts, and spread to the lives of their family and friends.

Intern Raef, Bank, random lady at the tree planting, and Me


Meet Bank, our new brother in Christ. His faith maybe new, but it's growing by leaps and bounds. Even before making his commitment to Christ back in October, Bank has been digging into the Word, and helping out at Grapevine. He has a strong passion for serving the Lord through loving his neighbors. We're so excited to see his faith increase, and are grateful for his participation in our student leadership group. Please keep prayin' for Bank to grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord.

The Big Cow is back, and it was a HUGE blessing. Our annual retreat to the mountains gave us a chance to slow down the pace of every day life, experience God's awesome creation, and draw nearer to Him and our community. We enjoyed getting to see some alumni, and as always, meet some new students. The camps highlights were a visit to a sunflower field, hanging out at a waterfall, and songs and testimonies around the campfire. We focused our talks and skits this year on the idea of TREASURE, so through a crazy pirate treasure hunt, small groups and discussions, we discovered that we can treasure God because he has treasured us.

Thanksgiving Day is a time to really give thanks, and a time for us to see the cornucopia of friends we've made this year. Rarely do we get the privilege of seeing so many of our friends at grapevine in one night, but for Thanksgiving they gathered together. Several students we've only met on campus came to join us in celebration of the American holiday, and several others who are often too busy to come to events took time out of their schedules to share with us. We did anticipate a big crowd, and were preparing for it. In fact, Greg jokingly said, "If I don't get full on Thanksgiving Day because we've got too many students here, I'm not going to be too thankful." But after 43 students showed up, he changed his tune. We had enough to eat, and more importantly we experienced the blessing of being together with friends, and with family.

Our Annual Halloween Party was lots of fun. With bobbing for apples and farang (which is both the word for guava and for european foriegners!) a corn on the cob eating competition and games and candy, and so much more. It was a fun way to welcome students back from their mid year break.


And yes, everyone thought I was adorable and culturally relevent as "'hello kitty"

Here's more pictures (taken by Andy May) of the English camp. Enjoy!

English Camp in Bang Sue (October 15th-17th)

This month we had the opportunity of leading a three day English camp in a neighborhood near our church. We've recently started a Sunday afternoon project with the children and as we all had a break from school and regular activities this month, we used our extra time to get to know the kids a little better. We had about 30 kids, ages 5-16 participate.

The students enjoyed hanging out with us all throughout the day, they played games, watched skits, sang songs, and did crafts. They loved playing with P'Andy's camera.

The younger kids really enjoyed coloring!

The week was a blur for us and for them! The teachers (3 staff, 3 exchange students, and 3 Thai students) and the children were all tired by the time Friday's carnival and closing ceremony came around, but we all had fun.

Here's a recent event as described by my team member Andy May:


“Going Green”.


One of our closest students, Bank, is very serious about the environment. So serious that he single handedly organized a tree planting event on the campus of Thammasat University. Bank eagerly invited The Grapevine to get involved, so we eagerly did. Bank informed us that he had successfully acquired 888 trees to be planted. We were a bit alarmed at that number, but being the go getting, “do it yourself” Americans that we are, we prepared to spend the whole day digging in the dirt. Of course, most Thai people are not as silly as us Americans and would never burden their good friends with the task of planting 888 trees in one day. When we showed up, the grounds crew had already planted all of the trees, our role was to just scrape mulch over the newly planted roots and pose for pictures. Bank had gotten some help in organizing the event and, in spite of the rain that day, it turned into quite a party complete with refreshments, prizes, and about 100 working class Thais. We were the only ones who came prepared to dig holes and plant trees and, as a result, got some interesting “smiles” from everyone else who were dressed for work that day.

This was one of the most exciting things to happen this semester, thanks to our friend Bank. It was also a great culture learning experience for us Americans who usually go into situations thinking, well, just like Americans. We are often taken back, even those of us who have been here for a while, at just how different things really are here. Hanging out with modern, westernized young people sometimes tempts us to forget that we are in a different world. Thank God for Bank, who gave us an opportunity to be reminded that we are guests here and that most people think, and act, very differently than us.

When it comes to our purpose here, it is a challenge to continually work to get our own culture out of the way of the Gospel so that Thais can see more of Jesus and less of our culture. We pray that the Holy Sprit is constantly “translating” our lives into ones that clearly reflect God’s character, even if we look as silly as we did that day. God bless Bank.

-Andy