Ready, Set, Perspectives!

So I believe it to be day 8 in California, 

geez that's gone by fast! 

Yesterday we started Perspectives! 

Wahoo! 

For those who don't know, 

Perspectives is a 15 lesson course designed to,

"...open the eyes of your heart with 

fresh knowledge and understanding of God's unchanging purposes

 and why they're relevant to your life."

I got that straight from the Perspectives website,

and if you want to know more just click here

I took Perspectives in the fall at my church in Ruston. 

We took the course over 15 weeks,

and it was a lot to handle. 

Here, 

we take it in 15 days. 

Talk about a new perspective! 

It's some pretty intense stuff. 

But thankfully, since I've already taken the class I am just sitting in on the lectures.

I don't have to do any of the readings or homework! 

Yippee!

I do however have supplemental assignments, 

which I got today. 

Those of us who are Perspectives alumni,

there's about 6 of us,

 we will be reading about 5 books

 and have different assignments that go along with them. 

Here's a brief run-down: 

We'll be reading:

1. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

2. The Lost Art of Disciple Making by LeRoy Eims

3. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung 

4. How to Worship Jesus Christ by Joseph S. Carroll

5. Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon

The first four books we'll read in place of Perspectives readings,

so we'll have those finished by June 28th. 

The last book we'll read on our own,

either during the second half of the project or after we go home. 

To accompany the readings, 

we'll have short summaries due when we finish reading each book. 

We'll also develop a discipleship plan and a 5-year plan. 

That could prove difficult....

And at the end we'll have a group presentation on some of the books that we've read. 

It's going to be a growing summer for sure! 

I'm excited about all the new things I'm going to get to learn! 

I know the Lord has me here with very specific purposes and I'm so excited to learn more about those! 

Today we had budget meetings, 

to see how our support raising is going. 

I am very pleased to say that I am fully funded! 

I even had enough to be able to help scholarship some of the other students who were still raising support. 

Praise the Lord!

I would just like to say THANK YOU to all the people who have helped support me this summer!

I am so very blessed to have such a generous and godly group of people supporting me and praying for me. 

You are all such a blessing! 

P.S. 

I've had a few requests for a mailing address so here it is! 

If you would like to send me mail while I'm here...

FEEL FREE! 

I mean it is my birthday next month! 

;) 

Phoebe Thomas

c/o The Traveling Team - IT

Aylward House 

1539 E. Howard St. 

Pasadena, CA 91104

Venice Beach and Such

So it's day four here in Pasadena, and what an interesting four days it has been. 

You are already up to date on days one and two, so allow me to let you know about day 3, probably the most interesting one so far. 

So, yesterday was Saturday and in the morning we had some evangelism training. We learned the bridge illustration using Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Let me know if you're not familiar, perhaps I'll show it to you sometime)

The illustration itselfi isn't very hard, the hard part is getting the guts to actually use it. 

But the IT Project, in their infinite wisdom, allowed us with just such and opportunity. 

How sweet of them!

Yesterday after lunch, we all loaded up in the vans and headed down to Venice Beach. 

The beach was interesting enough without the 40 Christians passing out Bible tracts there, but I guess it doesn't hurt to mix it up a little. 

We were put in pairs and told to go out. We would walk up and introduce ourselves and then tell them that we were with a group of college students studying world religions, and then ask if we could get their opinion on this illustration about the Bible. 

My partner and I asked a total of four people if we could talk to them and only one said no. So we were able to share the illustration with 3 different women, Rebecca, Lindsay and Theresa. Surprisingly, Rebecca and Theresa were both Believers. Both were both very gracious and let us stumble through the presentation anyway. We were able to have some really unique and interesting converstaions with each of them! Lindsay was not a Believer, but was still very gracious and seemed somewhat interested. 

It was a tiring and challenging day. I have come to the conclusion that the approach is the hardest part, but that I also don't really like evangelism like this. Mostly, because I don't know how much I would want some stranger coming up and talking to me while I was relaxing at the beach. 

But it was still a good day, it was good practice for me and a good way to get out of my comfort zone.

Last night we had our first session of training in the Inductive Bible Study Method. Oh my gosh, I'M SO EXCITED! I can't wait to get started doing this! It's basically like studying and analyzing literature, which I love! We will be going through Philippians using this method and I can't wait! 

Today is sort of our day off! We have home church this morning with just the project members and staff. This afternoon we have free to just do whatever, which will be nice! This evening we're having project dinner! 

So it should be a pretty nice and relaxing day! 

Summer Beginnings

I've been in California for about two days now, and let me tell you....it's been two rather fun days!! 

Here's a brief run down of what we've been doing: 

So I got here around 9 Thursday morning. I was picked up at the airport by the Project Director Morgan and his wife Bethany, and three other girls who had flown in that morning too! That was a fun car ride from the airport to Pasadena! 

When we got to Pasadena we met some more of the staff and some other students, and we got checked into our rooms and unpacked some. I have two roommates, Jane, who is from Iowa, and Monica, from Washington D.C. 

That night we just did some fun get to know you kind of games and a scavenger hunt around campus to get us more familiar with the area.

Friday morning we had breakfast and then orientation! There we learned just about everything we would need to know for the summer: our schedule, rules, earthquake protocol, where to go, where not to go, etc. 

That afternoon we all went on a Target run to get whatever it is we may need this summer. For me that was pretty much all toiletries; I was a touch overweight coming here so those things were the first to go! It sure was nice to have toothpaste again!

That evening we had a talk on what the Gospel really is and what that means to us. It was a really neat talk and a great starting point for the summer! 

That night we had some ice cream and played some games! I played Nertz and Catchphrase, two of my absolute favorites! 

So far my time here has been great! I'm so very excited to see what The Lord has in store for the rest of the summer! It's going to be awesome!! 

The view from my dorm building.

The Day in Between

So the day before yesterday I got home from Thailand, and today I leave for seven weeks in Los Angeles. So I have accrued approximately 30 hours at home, just enough time to unpack, wash clothes, repack, see the grandparents, and see The Great Gatsby. Excellent movie!

I leave bright and early at 6 a.m. and I arrive in LA around 10 a.m. 

I'm not sure exactly what all will happen tomorrow after I get there, but one thing I do know is that I'll be acting a FOOL! 

Can anyone say JETLAG?!?!

We'll see how it goes...

Home Sweet Home.

We did it. 

After a very long day, 

or two, 

of traveling Mom, Halley and I are finally home! 

Hooray!!

It's been quite the journey home. 

We left Pattaya around 8:30 Monday night and took a taxi to the airport. 

There we were able to meet back up with Hilary and spend a little more time with her before her flight left around 1 a.m. 

Our six hour flight from Bangkok to Dubai left around 2:40 a.m. 

The flight wasn't packed so we had a little bit more space to spread out,

 which was nice. 

So we landed in Dubai around 6 a.m. local time. 

We did a little last minute souvenir shopping, 

the Dubai airport is basically a giant mall. 

I think you might can buy cars there. 

When we were entering the boarding area we hit a bit of a snag though. 

Halley and I went through with no problems, 

but mom got stopped. 

When they x-rayed one of her bags they saw something suspicious,

so they had to go through it with her present. 

It ended up being nothing and everything was fine,

but it was rather nerve-racking in the moment,

and I'm sure Mom's got a new story to tell too.

Our 15.5 hour flight from Dubai to Houston left Dubai around 9:30 a.m. local time, 

and we landed in Houston at about 4:30 p.m. 

Aren't time zones funny?

We made it through customs and to the car with no problems. 

Then began the 3 hour drive from Houston to Lake Charles. 

I tried to stay awake so Mom wasn't the only one up,

but I just couldn't do it! 

I didn't feel that sleepy, 

but apparently my eyelids were EXHAUSTED. 

But no worries,

we made it back to the house safe and sound!

Now we're all due for a nice long sleep,

and hopefully little, to no jet lag!! 

Day 10: Last Night Overseas

Today was our last day overseas...CRAZY! 

This morning we took it easy, slept in and woke up at our leisure! 

This morning we went back to the same massage shop we visited yesterday and we tried out a different kind of massage. Yesterday we just got a regular oil massage, but today we tried a Thai massage. The Thai massage is quite different than any massage I've ever had. Basically they stretch you all kinds of crazy ways! It was weird. It hurt some, but it was the good kind of hurt. 

And it was only 200 baht, so about $7 including tip!! Wahoo!!

After the massage we went back to the mall and ate lunch and then did a little more shopping. We've done lots of shopping this trip! :) 

Then we made our way out to the beach! There is a public beach in Pattaya but it's not that nice so we went a little ways out to one that wasn't so crowded! 

It was pretty cloudy but it was still nice to just lay around and relax a while! 

We walked around some and found a temple to explore for a little bit. 

We finished off the night with a nice dinner at a restaurant on the water. A perfect ending to the trip!

Now we're just waiting at Monica's for the taxi to take us to the airport to begin our LONG journey home. We start with a 6 hour flight to Dubai and then a 16 hour flight to Houston and then a 3 hour drive home to Lake Charles. It's going to be a VERY LONG Tuesday, but it's going to feel so good to be home!

Day 9: Pampering in Pattaya

Today has been an EXCELLENT day...one of my favorites! 

Today was a day of pampering...who doesn't love that!?!

This morning we got to sleep in and just hang around the house for a while! We got a little packing done and made a few logistic decisions. Then around lunchtime we went to a mall to grab something to eat! 

We've found food courts to be excellent choices when traveling with multiple personalities, a little something for everyone :) 

After lunch we went and got ourselves proper pedicures! Oh boy!! 

It was absolutely wonderful! She rubbed and scrubbed my feet until they were just beautiful! And with the amount of walking and the variety of terrain my feet have seen in the last week and half, they needed a little love! And the best part, an hour long pedicure was about 600 baht, which is around $20 (Including a generous tip!)!! I think I could get used to Thailand! 

After pedicures we went and found something familiar...Cold Stone!! Oh man that ice cream was absolutely delicious! 

After ice cream we walked to this little shop. 

There we continued to pamper ourselves with a massage! They do massages a little differently in Thailand than they do in the states. They aren't nearly as modest as we are, so there were a few awkward moments, but it didn't seem to bother her any so whatever. Oh but that massage felt SO GOOD!! And it was only 300 baht, about $10 (also including a generous tip!) for an hour long massage! I could DEFINITELY get used to that!! 

We're thinking about going back tomorrow!!

After that we walked around and did a bit more shopping before coming back to the house. Tonight was Monica's weekly dinner party with her friends! It was really fun getting to meet them, and the food was delicious! We ate some Thai food, played games, painted nails and just hung out! 

One of Monica's friends painted my fingernails and they have NEVER been quite this pretty! 

That was so fun!! She is quite talented! 

Now we are off to bed! We need to be well rested for our last day in Thailand tomorrow! 

We leave to go back to the States tomorrow night!