Lonely lips

Last weekend I finally got to meet a friend of a friend's Thai wife. She is a new Christian and sometimes it's hard to explain spiritual things in another language and so my friend wanted me to meet her and help answer some of her questions and whatnot. The funny thing about most of the Thai people I meet here in America, is that they don't want to speak Thai with me. Either they've forgotten a lot of it, or they want to practice their English. Ben was not shy about speaking Thai with me. She would even correct me too!!! I haven't gotten that since I was in Thailand!!!! my Thai friends would always correct me so I would pronounce words more correctly, or use the correct grammar or whatnot.

So After Ben and I talked for just a few minutes, she turned to her husband and said she wants to stay with me for a few months because she misses speaking Thai so much!!!

Later on as we were talking, she told me about a saying that in english means "lonely lips." She was saying that since she's been here, she's missed speaking Thai so much that her lips feel lonely.

It was so good to speak Thai. I realized how much I am forgetting, but I was glad I could still encourage her and be a listening ear for her.

person of peace

So this past week was the last week we were on campus, and then we had our planning week. It was so good to catch up with students one last time before the end of the semester. One girl I kind of randomly met is from Lebanon. She grew up going to a private Christian school, but her family is Muslim. I got to meet her only briefly for coffee earlier this semester and our schedules haven't worked out to meet again. This past time though, we got to talk about movies we like, and other likes and dislikes, and just get to know each other more in general.

As I was dropping her off, she said "you should meet some of my friends, they ask me many questions about God, maybe you could have a bible study to teach them more!" She also mentioned how hard it is to talk to people about religion when they don't even believe in God. So my Muslim friend wants me to have a bible study for her non-Christian friends! In the bible there is the concept of a "person of peace" in Luke 10:5-6 it says," When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if no, it will return to you." In our ministry we usually relate this to a person that is friendly towards us and helps us to meet many new people on campus. I feel like my new friend might be one such as that. She said her family is very open to other religions, and her father even encouraged her to learn more about Christianity.

It was so nice to end the semester on this note.