Why are you guys different??

At the beginning of the month, we had a team come from America. The first weekend they were here, we had an English Camp outside Chiang Mai and we invited every person who has ever applied to study English at our foundation. In total about 20 students came and it was the highlight of the trip for me. After the weekend, a couple students decided to help on the next portion of the trip, even though they were Buddhist. One of those people was Tong, a young man about 30 years old. After helping us at the basketball camp, he talked to Tawm and said that he was interested in knowing more about Christianity. As a Buddhist, he lacked purpose in life and he noticed something different in our lives.
Since the team left, he has been to church every Sunday, he attended seminary classes a couple times and he is even inviting his friends to come to church and he doesn't understand why they don't want to come. Tong hasn't made a commitment to Christ yet (that we know of) but please pray for him that he would come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Last week we had an opportunity to hang out together for 5-6 hours and plan to hang out again this week.

New Look Pacers got my approval!

Although the trade isn't official until later this week, I am happy with the changes that the Pacers have made. Although I like Jermaine O'Neal a lot (happy he is going to the Raptors, another team I like), I am glad that he is moving on because I don't think he was a great fit to the new uptempo Pacers. Getting Ford in exchange along with a couple players and a draft pick was a great move by the Legend, Larry Bird. On top of that, they drafted 2 quality players. Since the brawl in Detroit, things haven't looked good for the Pacers but I think the past week was a good step in the right direction. Now if we can only get some team to take Jamaal Tinsley.

What is Canada/the World coming to?

"Canadian government to pastor: Renounce your faith! The Canadian government has ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report.In a decision handed down just days ago in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt."

Rusty sent me this email. Being Canadian, it is hard to believe that my nation is coming to this. Even more surprising was that this happened in Alberta, which tends to be the most conservative province in Canada. The whole thing just makes you wonder, what is our world coming to? Governments in the West promote freedom of speech and tolerance but they are very intolerant to Christianity. Most people will tolerate almost anything, including other religions, just not Christianity. The Bible talks a lot about suffering and I believe that we as westerners will begin to understand this more and more clearly in the coming years.

It's been a long time...

Whooh, it has been a busy few weeks here. The team has come and gone. Our pastor from the states has also been here and now that the dust has settled, I thought it would be good to post some pics of Owen.