Email update

Hello there!
On April 4th I'm headed out to Thailand for 3 months! I would love your prayers before I go and while I'm away!

My sister Wendy and brother in law Paul have offered to host a time to pray for me, and my friend Kristi, on Tuesday, March 31st at 7pm at their home:6130 Moccasin Pass Court, 80919Wendy's cell: 719-233-0650For those of you in the area, please let us know if you can come by replying to this email or by calling Wendy :)

In case you haven't heard my news, here's a quick update: After many months of praying and seeking the Lord about what steps lay ahead for me, I continue to feel the Lord's pull on my heart to switch into vocational work that is more tangibly the "hands and feet" of Jesus to people who need His love and compassion both physically and spiritually. I don't have an answer yet to what that will specifically look like but my sense of this direction leads me to take some risks, trusting Him to make the following steps clearer as I move forward in faith.

April 18th through the end of May I'll be volunteering in Trang, a coastal city in the southern part of Thailand, with an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. I should learn my specific assignment in the next couple of weeks but the options include helping Buddhist monks with conversational English, building friendships and self-esteem in teenage boys at a juvenile detention home, caring for family-less elderly people at a community home or helping Thai teachers improve their English for use in their classrooms. CCS is a non-profit organization that isn't affiliated with any religious organizations. With integrity I'll be looking for ways to share Jesus with my actions using words only as I'm invited to do so and as the Holy Spirit leads.

For the month of June I've applied to volunteer with one of the ministries of Youth with a Mission in Thailand. YWAM Thailand has many, many ministries in various parts of the country. One of them that I'm specifically interested in is an outreach to help young girls and women in prostitution learn vocational skills like card making or sewing so that they can have an alternative means to support themselves. I would love to encourage these women and share the lasting hope that only Jesus can give.

An *enormous blessing* to me is that one of my best friends, Kristi, has decided to travel over with me to Thailand. We'll do some site seeing and praying together as we visit a few different locations in the country. We're praying for divine opportunties to meet people and encourage them with the love of Christ along the way. Kristi will fly back to the US on April 16th.

These are some general prayer requests that I'd love if you prayed for me:
- overwhelming sense of His presence, direction and leading as I reach out to those I meet
- safety, especially for when I will be traveling alone
- quick recall and understanding of the language (I know only a teeny, tiny bit so far but am working on it!)
- teachable heart & spirit to all that I might learn for the future through this trip
- sensitivity to the culture and the people
- hearts and lives would be drawn to the Lord

Let me know if you want me to send you updates (including some photos) while I'm away.
I am taking my laptop and hope to have some access to the internet and email.
Joyfully, and with excitement and a little trepedation about this adventure!,

Becky
beckygirtman16@hotmail.com
Skype: becky.girtman