Hola amigos y familia (Hello friends and family), We’d like to open with a common song, which all of you know:

Señor mi Dios, al contemplar los cielos, el firmamento y las estrellas mil, al oir tu voz el los potentes truenos y ver brillar, el sol en su senir. Mi corazon entona la cancion, Cuan grande es El, cuan grande es El, mi corazon entona la cancion, cuan grande es El, cuan grande es El!

(O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works Thy Hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed; Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!)

Since the last time we wrote, many new ministries have arisen as we are now full-swing into our activities at the church!

• On Mondays we both teach English classes. Lorrie teaches Basic English to children from ages 4 to 13, then she teaches adults. Aaron teaches an Intermediate class to teenagers first, and then to adults. After that we enjoy keeping our bodies in shape with Tae Bo at the church. On Tuesday nights we have Worship practice at the church and soon we will alternate teaching Conversational English classes. On Wednesday nights we go to the church and do the same routine as Monday. From Thursday to Sunday, we get caught up on all our work for our Spearhead Program.
• We also help with various tasks for the church like learning the songs for Sunday’s worship service, making PowerPoint presentations for the songs, making lesson plans, and helping our family with their work. On Sunday we arrive at church and help lead worship. After church, we eat with the other church members, Aaron teaches a teenager guitar (his name is Julio and we hope he will be able to lead worship after we leave), and we pick out the songs for the following Sunday’s service. This helps Aaron see how much he needs to learn on the guitar before our Tuesday practice with the rest of the team.
• We also meet twice a week for our Spearhead training and Spanish classes. It makes for a busy, fun, and eventful week.

We previously mentioned how Halloween in Mexico is completely different from that in the States. It is known as Day of the Dead. Here they prepare an altar, set out some fruit and bread, and then ask their dead loved ones to come back and visit them. It’s really just a “Catholicized” remnant of the pagan religions of the Aztecs and Mayans. Others use the holiday as a special way to pay tribute to the “Santa Muerte”, Saint Death. She has been known to save people from deadly illnesses and terrible accidents. In America, she is akin to the Grim Reaper. Here, Christians think she is the work of Satan. During the Day of the Dead (November 1 &2), our church went on a two-day retreat to a nearby city called Puebla. In a sense, it was to get away from the evil in the city. It was beautiful there. A huge lake lay at the bottom of our camp amidst luscious farmland and flowers. We don’t get to see this side of Mexico in the city. It was a time that we could get to know the other people in our church better and serve with our family in the weekend activities. We were both in charge of separate stations during a game/rally time and later that night we helped with a night walk, where each person was blindfolded and we directed them through various places to uncover spiritual truths. We learned not only how appreciative the members of our church are of us, but also that our Mexican “parents” (Roberto and Enid) are very, very creative and that we can learn a lot from them in how to run a church. We had a great experience in Puebla!

As far as relaxation goes, we have been able to talk to many of you through Skype, facebook, and email. Saturday is our day of rest, so if you ever want to talk with us, that is the best time to do it! Last Sunday we were able to go to our first soccer game in the Estadio Azteca. It seats 110,000 people, but there were only about 50,000 people that day. Lorrie also celebrated her birthday last week, so we went to dinner and a movie at a local mall to celebrate.

Thanks to everyone who let her know how much she is loved! The song that is at the beginning of this e-mail is one that we have both learned in Spanish to sing for worship at our church. It is beautiful both in English in Spanish. When we sing songs in Spanish, it reminds us of how GRANDE our God is. Even though people praise Him in a different language than we do, He still hears, knows, and listens. It reminds us that one day, every nation, language, and tongue will confess that He is Lord.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for our family, Roberto, Enid, Rober, and Danny. Especially pray for Roberto and Enid as they lead us, their family, and the church in the direction of the Lord. They are ALWAYS on the go trying to keep the church and business afloat.
• Also, pray for the people in the community to come to the multiple classes we have in the church. The church is in the most Catholic part of the city near the Basilica, so there is a MAJOR need in our area.
• Please lift us up as we continue to seek God’s will for us in the church and in our everyday lives here. Continue to pray for us to learn Spanish quickly.
• Lastly, Lorrie has been sick with a cough and BAD head cold the past 1.5 weeks. She has had to stay home two days in a row. Please pray that she recovers quickly.

Thank you so much for your continued support with prayers, encouragement, and finances! Please let us know if you have any questions about our ministry or life here in Mexico City.

Aaron & Lorrie Brooks

DONATIONS

https://www.lam.org/donate/missionary.php?misid=579710

or

Attn: Receipting Department

P.O. Box 52-7900

Miami, FL 33152-7900

Phone: 1-800-275-8410

Fax: (305) 885-8649

 

our decision

Hello everyone!

We wanted to update you all about our plans for the future months. Since we came back to the states, at times we have felt like we made a mistake with not going back to Thailand for another year. But recently we made our decision for our next commitment and we feel that it is the right decision for this next year. So many of you have told us to keep you updated so we wanted to let everyone know about our plans. Around September 21st, 2009 (returning August 2010) we will be leaving for Mexico City,in the south of Mexico. We have prayed and sought much advice and feel this is what God truely has for our lives next year. We will be living with a Mexican Christian family for about 10 months. The first two months we will have a concentrated language and culture program. During this time, as well as the following 8 months we will be working directly in ministry, which is what we wanted for this year (focused ministry with no job distractions). We will be helping a local church as well as diving into one of the many ministry opportunities available there. I like to call this experience a missionary internship. We do not know our ministry placement as of now, but as we get closer to departure we are seeking out which opportunity fits us best. We are looking forward to whatever God has for us in that area.

The biggest step in this process is the fact that we do not get paid in Mexico, but we have to raise our own support. So we are sending out support letters soon and starting to speak at some of our families’ churches and asking for prayer support as well as financial support. So, we wanted to know if any of you are interested in helping us with either prayer or financial support. If you are, send us an e-mail updating us on your status in life (for fun) and letting us know that you are at least interested in giving in one or both of those ways. We will then e-mail or snail mail you our “support letter,” that will give you more info. If you are not interested in giving in either way, please still respond to this e-mail and let us know how you are doing!

We wanted you all to be in the know about our future. Please keep us in the know as well – this next year and the years to come!

Adios,

Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

Merry Christmas

Hello all,
 
We posted some new pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/aaronandlorrie.  No new video this month.  Also, this will probably be our only email this month, so look for our next email in January.  
 

Sunflower in a field outside of Lopburi

We’ve been keeping busy with school.  We have had some days off recently for Father’s Day and Constitution Day.  After our last letter, we went out with one of Lorrie’s student’s family to celebrate a holiday called Loi Katong.  We ate dinner with them, and then we helped them float a Katong.  It is a Buddhist celebration where they offer small gifts to the river for being good to them during the past year.  However, the family we went out with wasn’t really Thai (Lorrie’s student “Johnson” has a Thai mom and English dad), so it was more for fun than any religious significance. 
 
The weekend after Loi Katong, we went to a national park called Khao Yai with our church, CCC.  We went for a hike in the jungle, saw some monkeys, and had some worship services.  This all happened on Aaron’s birthday, so we celebrated that as best we could.  On Thursday of the next week, we had Aaron’s student, Lukpad, and her family over for dinner at our apartment.  Lorrie made spaghetti, and then she pulled out a surprise chocolate cake for Aaron and Pang (Lukpad’s mom, who also celebrated her birthday that week).  Aaron was excited, because he loves chocolate cake and wasn’t expecting any for his birthday this year.  Thank you Lorrie and Allison for making it happen! 
 
On our three day weekend, Father’s Day weekend, we could not make a joint decision as to where to go so Lorrie went to an island called Koh Somet with 3 other girls while Aaron went to Lopburi with Lukpad’s family and some other teachers.  Lorrie was looking forward to three whole days just baking in the sun and eating seafood, whereas Aaron wanted to do the adventurous trip. Lorrie had a great time at the beach and came back tanned and satisfied. Aaron went hiking to a waterfall and also visited a huge sunflower field (see the pics). 
 
This is our last week before Christmas, so we have to finish up our teaching units, as well as prepare a notebook filled with academic standards for the ministry of education.  It is stressful, but we are looking forward to going to Chang Mai (a northern province of Thailand) to ride elephants and ziplines.  Then we will be going to Krabi beach to chill for a few days before going back to teaching.  After that, we have 3 LONG months with hardly any breaks.  And after that, we’ll be updating you personally!  Thanks for your continued prayers and support. 
 
We know these emails are rather impersonal, so as always (if you could, please), email us back and let us know what is up with you.  We can always expand on anything in these emails that peaked your interest. Our love to you all, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! 
 

Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

Himalayan Highs

For those of you who care,
 
At last, the long awaited email.  If you want to see photos of our trip, go on facebook, or visit picasaweb.google.com/aaronandlorrie.  If you want to see videos, then you can find them throughout this post, or you can visit our new video page link to the right —>.  We have made this blog brief, so if you want to know more, feel free to ask us on Skype or through email.

Standing about 500 ft. over a river

We left for Nepal on a Friday, October 17th, right after school with three of our teacher friends, Anna, Heidi and Amanda.  That night, we stayed overnight at a hotel in Bangladesh.  Interesting . . . and a little scary.  Not a country you want to spend very long in.  After arriving in Nepal, we stayed at a really nice hotel and spent our first evening out in Kathmandu with our friends who run a children’s home there, Isaac and Eva.  Our tour company, Ghale Tours & Treks, was hospitable and an amazing group to trek with.  I would recommend them to anyone interested in trekking the Himalayas.
 
We left to start our trek the next day.  We had to fly into a place called Lukla, which is an airport at 9,300 ft., approximately 50 km to the east of Kathmandu and 50 km south of Everest.  All the trekkers and Everest climbers fly through Lukla.  It is a tiny airstrip on the side of a mountain (check out the video of the landing and take – off).  What we didn’t tell our family before we left was that on October 7th, our airline (Yeti Airlines) crashed one of their planes just below the airport due to fog.  Everyone died except the pilot, who was blown through the windshield and onto a flat spot about 20 feet above the crash.  Needless to say, we were a little nervous about landing.  But, praise God, we didn’t have any problems. 

 
Our guide, Raz, hired porters to carry our gear at a rate of about $15 per day.  If you trek independently, you can hire them for $10 per day.  These porters were born in the mountains, and most of them spend their entire lives carrying 20-100 kg (44-220 lbs) for 10 km every day.  Their stamina is amazing.  We trekked about 8 km each day for the 8 days that we were there.  We got as far as Tengboche (see the awesome pictures), which had an amazing view of Mt. Everest and the Himalayan mountain range.  It looked so close.  We all wanted to go further, but we didn’t have the time (much less the endurance!). 
 
All along our trekking route, we stayed in tea houses, which are basically local “hotels”.  They usually had one common toilet (which is actually a hole in the floor with the ground below where everyone tries their best not to ruin it for the others), no heating, and 2 twin beds in a room that was about 8 x 8 ft!  Their was no insulation, and therefore we could hear other people (and rats) at night and it got very cold, very quickly.  By the time we got to Tengboche (4000 m or about 13,100 ft), the temperature was as low as 15 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit at night, with nothing between us and the outside but a piece of wood! Of course, we had to layer thick at night and snuggle way down in our sleeping bags. The trail to Mt. Everest is a dirt road with an average width of about 6 ft, but everyone walks on this road:  yaks, porters, trekkers, locals, mules, cows, goats, horses, and school children.  This road is the only way to get to the villages along the way, and their is no such thing as motor vehicles in the mountains!  It is another world up there, full of amazing scenery.  If you like the mountains, you’d fit right in.

 
For those of you interested in trekking it some day, our itinerary was: 
 
Day 1:  Phakding,
Day 2:  Namche Bazaar
Day 3:  Acclimate in Namche Bazaar and do a short day hike to an Everest View (for first time)
Day 4:  Tengboche
Day 5:  Dingboche (or turn around – which is what we ended up doing!  We went back towards Namche   
           Bazaar and stayed in a town called Tesing)
Day 6:  Namche Bazaar
Day 7:  Phakding
Day 8:  Lukla
Day 9:  fly to Kathmandu!
 
On Day 2, after hiking from 2610m/8500ft to 3440m/11,000ft. with the last 600m/2000ft. completely uphill to Namche Bazaar, Lorrie got altitude sickness.  We were worried it might be serious after she vomited, but she got better through the night.  We all started to experience sharp headaches, fatigue, nausea, sleeplessness, and strange dreams because of the altitude.  On Day 3, Lorrie and Anna rested while Heidi, Amanda, and Aaron hiked about 300 meters up to get our first glimpse of Everest.  It was a fun day, and the view was amazing!

 
On Day 4, we hiked another down 300m/1000ft. and then another 600m/2000ft. up to Tengboche.  It was gruelling, but rewarding.  Tengboche was cold, but spectacular.  We were essentially on a small ridge sticking out into the middle of the valley, with nothing but snow capped mountains all around.  And there in all of its glory was Everest, with Lhotse, Nuptse, and Abu Dablam completing the view.  From this point, we were able to watch the sunset and the sunrise on Everest.  The night sky was spectacular and completely clear. We were able to see the Milkyway and we sang “My God is so Big!” (Lorrie is used to singing it to her K1 kids). Also, there is a Buddhist monastery in Tengboche that we visited.  They started beating the gongs and chanting at 5:30 a.m.!  It was cool to watch, but disturbing also to see so many westerners joining in the chants and meditation, as well as bowing before the giant gold Buddha statue!  The night that we stayed in Tengboche, it was Aaron’s turn to get sick.  He was up ALL night with headaches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.  Not fun.  He didn’t feel better until we descended 800m/2600ft. two days later. 
 
We only spent 1 night in Tenboche, and then we headed back towards Namche Bazaar.  While Anna and Aaron started down from Tengboche, Lorrie, Heidi, and Amanda all climbed up the ridge to reach above the 4000 meter mark (13,124ft.) in order to get better views of Everest.
 
The rest of our trip was much like the first part, only in the reverse direction.  On the way back, Aaron went to a museum honoring Sir Hillary, the first to climb Everest.  Along the way, we handed out colorful pipe cleaners to kids, as well as Gospel tracts.  We all got to talk with our guide about Jesus, but Aaron had the chance to talk to Raz extensively about Christianity.  Raz is from the highest class, the Brahmans, in the Hindu caste system.  His brother is a Hindu priest in India.  He was very interested to hear what Aaron had to say, and they also talked a good deal about Hinduism and similarities/differences between the two religions. He seemed very open and we know a seed was planted. Let’s pray it grows.
 
The last night on the trail was really fun because our porters and guide decided they would dance for us at dinner. It was really informal, but the men presented classic Nepali dances and we loved it. Their dancing is really hilarious, actually. We were forced to join in as well and try our hand at Nepali dancing. We can show you on skype if you call us! We had a wonderful last night with the porters!
 
After arriving back in Kathmandu, we went to a Nepali dinner, complete with dancing and traditional dishes.  It was our last night with Raz, and we enjoyed our time together.  Over the next few days, we stayed with Isaac and Eva in their children’s home.  They showed us some temples around the city (the Hindu temple Pashupatinath was a dark place – we witnessed the cremation of 2 bodies and saw many priests), and also helped us buy a few gifts for people back home.  We had a great time visiting with them and meeting “their” kids.  We had some trouble getting out of the Nepali airport to fly back to Bangkok (they lost our ticket numbers – they still don’t do etickets in Nepal – and at one point a man yelled at Aaron and told him “You cannot get on that plane”!), but after another fun 24 hour trip through Bangladesh (NEVER, EVER fly Biman Airlines!), we arrived safely back in Bangkok.  Lucky for us, we both brought some Nepalese intestinal ailments back with us, and Aaron’s digestive system is still not acting right! 
 
That’s our trip in a nutshell.  Thanks for reading!  Be sure to check out our pictures and videos too.

Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

Overnight Omens

Hello to the Scattered!
 
We have been back from Nepal for a week now, and we are also done with the first week of our new semester.  Lorrie celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday the 6th, and Aaron’s 24th birthday is coming up on the 22nd.  We’re getting old .  Thanks to those of you who sent Lorrie birthday greetings.  We celebrated her birthday with some people on Thursday by going out to eat and to watch Quantum of Solace 007, and then on Saturday night with the others by going to a Sushi buffet. 
 
Aaron could not celebrate her birthday Thursday because he had to leave for the high school’s Overnight camp.  It was interesting to say the least.  Camp was held at the Longstay Resort, which was complete with zip lines, scary rope bridges over water, water obstacle courses, rope walls, and all kinds of good stuff.  The high school had 4 sessions held over 3 days that were meant to talk about creation, God’s love, hard times in life, and relationships with God and others.  Teachers were also involved in skits and leading worship, and Aaron had the pleasure of being in a skit that required him to get very messy and get a shaving cream pie in his face!  4 of the guy teachers spoke in each session, and Aaron thought the messages were helpful and encouraging, but he wonders about the effect it had on the students.  Most of the kids just don’t seem interested in what we have to say, which can be very discouraging.
 
There were other reasons to be discouraged.  First, the camp originally told us that it would not double-book the weekend with another school.  They did, though.  Not only that, it was one of the richest international schools in Bangkok, so the camp seemed to cater to that school the entire weekend.  For example, we had split our high school into 11 groups and planned to rotate through 11 of the activity stations (zip line, boats, rope bridge, etc.), spending 30 minutes at each station.  However, even though we booked the weekend first, the resort made us rearrange our schedule to work around the other school.  So we had to split our schedule into two pieces, and we had less time to do the stations, which meant we had to shorten each station to 20 minutes instead.  This may have been forgivable, except that when we came back at 3 p.m. to resume our stations after the other school was finished, the camp informed us that they were shutting the zip line, rope bridge, boats, and water obstacles down!  After 20 minutes of arguing through a translator, the camp finally agreed to open up the zip line.  However, after 5 minutes of using it, a nasty thunderstorm rolled in, causing us to have to cancel the remainder of the afternoon.  Many of the kids were disappointed, so we tried to reschedule for the next day, but the camp wouldn’t let us.  After a big ordeal, our school’s owner and superintendent finally convinced them to give us an hour of time to use the zip line the next morning for those kids who wanted to try it.  But the next morning, the camp claimed they didn’t have anyone to run it, so we couldn’t use it after all.  This was hard to believe since Aaron counted at least five of their staff members riding around on bicycles doing absolutely nothing.  Aaron did convince one of the staff members to let us use the rope bridge, so the kids did get to enjoy that. 
 
So besides the terrible customer service at the camp, we had some other problems.  2 kids in Aaron’s homeroom got sent home for having alcohol in their fridge!  Not only that, but on the day that we did room checks to leave, Mr. Jonathan smelled alcohol in one of the hotel glasses.  We asked one of the students if they had been drinking, and they flippantly admitted that the four of them had.  That makes 6 kids who admitted to having alcohol, and they probably weren’t the only ones.  We also had to send two of our students home for having a boy in a girl’s room.  Without going into a lot of details, there was a huge controversy involving at least 4 teachers and 7 students.  The guy was found hiding in a girl’s room bathroom, and 6 girls had knowingly deceived teachers before it was found out.  We can’t go into much detail, but there has been threats of legal action against the school and all kinds of good stuff!  Yikes.  So it was a crazy weekend.  We (the staff) are just hoping that even though all of our plans seemed to crumble, God’s Spirit was at work somehow.  No kids came forward saying they made decisions, but we are just hoping God used the weekend for some sort of good and not just the aforementioned “evil”. 

So as you know Aaron left on Thursday for his high school overnight camp, but Lorrie stayed at school and taught on Thursday and Friday. On Friday evening (4pm) Lorrie joined the lower primary teachers (Grade 1-5) for their overnight camp. We played group games and had a bonfire on Friday, slept in the classrooms that night and then on Saturday we had chapel (like church), games, and an ice cream party. It was fun, but really tiring. Lorrie slept with the grade 1 and 2 children (ages 5,6,7) on Friday and had to deal with little people problems including not being able to go to sleep, wanting water and the bathroom at any hour of the night, crying for mommy, and restless sleeping with random kids crying out in their dreams!! There were about 30 of them with her and 3 other teachers. We also had to put up with the grade 3-5 boys right next to us being loud and staying up half of the night with their flashlights, pillow fights, and yelling. Oh, did I say boys, I meant LEADERS! Yes, the leaders were letting them do this stuff. Some of the female teachers had to go in there and lay down the law! haha:) I think the students enjoyed the weekend, learned how to work in a team and learned more about God. Those were the goals and I can honestly say they were met. It all ended well. It was fun.
 
 
Aaron is still working on sorting through pictures, and we really really hope to be able to get a moderate – length email out to you all soon about our Nepal trip.  Look for the email and pics sometime soon.

Prayer requests:

Aaron:  Wisdom for the administration as they decide on what discipline the kids get.

Lorrie:  I am deeping my relationships with my Thai co-workers and parents. I am continuing to talk to them about my faith and am praying for God to work through me to bring these people to an understanding of Him. Please continue praying for me. To have patience with others around me. To show God’s love to EVERYONE. Please also pray for the students and staff at GES. There are many problems going on that we can not mention and we need God’s hand.

Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

Leaving for Nepal

Greetings global comrades,
 
We are headed to the great communist country of Nepal (that is, they just elected a communist government recently).  We will be leaving today at 4 p.m. and flying to Bangladesh.  After a 14 hour layover there, we will continue on to Nepal.  On Sunday morning, we will fly in a small plane to a town at 8,000 ft. called Lukla.  After arriving in Lukla, we will begin our 9 day trekking excursion towards Mt. Everest.  We will not reach Everest, but we will get to within about 3 km of base camp.  Climbing to at least 14,000, we will be in the heart of the Himalayas!  It will be a strenuous trip, and we are praying that everything will run smoothly.  Look for pictures sometime in early November.  After the trek, we will fly back to Kathmandu and stay with our friends Isaac and Eva.  They run a children’s home, and we look forward to spending time with them and helping in any way we can.  Then, it is back to Bangkok via Bangladesh, just in time for the start of the 2nd semester of school.
 
These last 2 weeks have flown by as we have been making final exams, reviewing, giving final exams, and turning in final grades.  This last week of class, we have just watched movies and chilled in math class.  Last weekend we spent a lot of time shopping to prepare for Nepal, but other than that there has not been a lot happening.  Lorrie had her first Kindergarten field trip yesterday (Thursday), and Aaron went to a Muay Thai Kickboxing fight.  However, when he got to the arena, the tickets were more than twice the price that was advertised (1000 baht or 33 USD).  No thank you.  He hopes to be able to go to a fight some other time this year, just to say he’s been, but there was no way he was going to pay that much for a sport he doesn’t really care about!  Today, Kindergarten had a “games day” and end-of-the-semester party.  Lorrie dressed up like a Pirate because that was the theme.  It was a lot of fun.
 
We are glad the end of the semester is finally here.  It has been a long 2 months with no breaks since August, plus the month of July.  The students are tired and definitely need the time off, because they are really starting to lack the motivation!  High school has their overnight camp (3 nights at a youth retreat center) the weekend after we get back, and then we only have a month before December break.  That’s all the news and updates from our end, and we look forward to telling you all about our trip in November.
 
Prayer concerns:
-safety while traveling
-Aaron is sick again and has a cough that may hinder him at high altitudes
-Opportunities to witness, and that we would be helpful to Isaac and Eva
 

Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

p.s.  Check out Aaron’s new “theology” blog at http://anotherlaytheologian.wordpress.com

“Professional” Development

Hello everyone.

 

As usual, the corresponding videos can be found on this page and pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/AaronandLorrie. 

 

Let’s see…everything is going swimmingly and we are enjoying life.  Last Saturday we finally purchased a cell phone (Pastor Steve breathes a sigh of relief… : ).  On Sept. 24, Aaron got to go on another field trip.  This time, the Thai staff were in charge, so it was much less stressful than the first one.  We went to a chem lab downtown and the students got to extract DNA.  Of course, they only took DNA out of some fruit, but it was still pretty interesting.  It was a relaxing day, and on Wednesday night, we were invited to have dinner with our administrator and her family.  They made some tasty enchiladas (her husband Craig is from Mexico), and it was quite an enjoyable evening.  However, that same afternoon we found out that we are having “visa” troubles.  The brief description:  we received a work permit, which we thought was our work visa, but it wasn’t, which means we are still on our original visa that expires in 1 week (October 4), which means we have to move very quickly to get a work visa in order to not violate our “immigrant” status.  Basically, it was supposed to be the school’s job to take care of all of the staff’s visas, but Aaron had to spend an hour on Wednesday (24th) sorting out the mess.  Why?  Because the front office has a higher staff turnover rate than McDonald’s, which means we have had 3 different women who were in charge of getting our visas taken care of thus far.  But, before they can even get properly trained, they quit, which means a lot of the staff are now in visa trouble.  Yikes!  So this next week on Wednesday (1st) Lorrie and I will be traveling to the US embassy and then to immigration to make sure we get our visa in time.  Don’t worry though, Lord willing we won’t have any problems. 

 

This weekend we didn’t have class Friday b/c we had “Professional Development” instead.  So we sat around on Friday and Saturday listening to speakers and brainstorming on how to improve our teaching.  We were not looking forward to it at all because we had heard from others that in the past years it was a waste of time. But, it was actually kind of interesting and helpful, which was good. Our schedule for Friday morning included 4 hours of “spiritual development” (since the theme of the weekend was our professional development), which was to be led by Pastor Dave from our church, CCC.  We (mostly Aaron) were not excited about this because we figured it would be cheesy, shallow, simple advice about making sure we read our Bible everyday, and we’d rather use that time to get “real” work done instead.  However, the time was more like a discussion instead of a sermon, and it was actually a very interesting discussion about the stages of spiritual development in believers, ending with the topic of hitting a spiritual “wall”.  On our way to lunch afterwards, we both agreed that we were humbled by God’s message and learned another important lesson about assuming…  God works in funny ways, huh?

 

The high school teachers had an interesting speaker in the afternoon:  the guy who taught it was an ex-marine who was teaching on critical thinking and how we can teach it to our students.  He actually seemed like a pretty intelligent guy, but talk about an America-basher!  Holy cow!  He fought in the Gulf in the 90′s, and he sounded pretty mad at uncle Sam.  He had some serious scars on his face and head which made Aaron think he probably got those in service.  He basically said that with the state of our economy right now and the government bail-outs, America is now a communist country.  We would half agree with him that yes, America is taking some serious steps towards socialism, but then he went on to blame the WHOLE thing on George Bush.  No joke.  We gave some push back about how Congress is the one that had to approve it, not just Bush, and that it was actually suggested by the Democrats, but he wasn’t having it.  He then said we were all “talking out of the sides of our heads”!  We all just took a step back, because the guy was getting pretty hot about it!  It was amazingly awkwardly… very unprofessional.  He also said he wants to bring his son over to Thailand so he can teach him how to be a “real man”, which is ironic because Thailand has more lady-boys per capita than any other country…

 

This weekend Bangkok was hosting a film festival downtown, so we went to that on Thursday and Saturday night.  On Thursday we saw a flick about Israel and Palestine, based on a controversy between a Palestinian olive grove owner and the Israeli Defense Minister 5 years ago.  It was interesting.  Saturday’s film was a waste of time.  It was a different experience, because after the movies they would have the directors/writers come down for a Q/A session about their films. 

After the movie on Thursday, we went to the mall Siam Paragon, which has a bookstore.  Aaron bought the books “A Briefer History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, and “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins.  You can imagine what the second book is about!  It’s a very . . . frustrating read, but so far he hasn’t said anything new worth mentioning.  It does challenge you to think, and he does make some very “logical” points.  Dawkins worships logic, and everything else is secondary (or so he would say).  If you’re thick skinned enough and like being challenged in your faith, I’d recommend it.  If you have a difficult time reading blasphemy (which of course I do!), I would whole-heartedly tell you not to waste your time.  

 

Lorrie is enjoying creating better friendships with the Thai staff and the students’ parents. Anyway that she can mention Jesus to these people is great because maybe later they will remember and have questions about Him. She will have her first field trip on October 16th to Safari World. It will be interesting, but she is really looking forward to it. She is having much more patience with her students now, and really enjoys teaching them. They are loving, precious children who need to know Jesus and she is so excited about being able to plant (Jesus) seeds. She just found out she is Kindergarten Coordinator (like a division head).  This is a funny story that she can tell you if you write her, but it is too long to mention here.

 

We are heading into our last 3 weeks before break, which will probably end up being a review time for the students before final semester exams.  Lorrie has been battling a head cold, so keep that in your prayers.  One of the mother’s that Lorrie talks with everyday just told her that her mother-in-law is battling breast cancer and is having surgery on Tuesday (29th). Lorrie told her about our recent struggle with cancer and it was a way to talk more about Jesus/God with her. Please pray that this can be an avenue for Lorrie to share the Gospel with her.

 

We are in the process of finalizing our trip to Nepal (for those of you who may not know, we will be visiting our missionary friends who run an orphanage in Kathmandu, and then hiking towards Mt. Everest for 8 days in the Himalayas!  We will be within 3 km of Everest Base Camp, but we won’t be able to reach it because there is not enough time.  We will still be able to see it and enjoy some spectacular views, though!).  Again, let us know what’s going on in your lives and if you have any prayer requests.  We love and miss you all, and thank you to those of you who are faithful to pray for us and respond to our emails.  We appreciate your encouragement.

 

 
Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

The Other Side of Earth

Hello to all from the other side of the globe
 
Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve written!  Shame on us…  Don’t forget you can find all of our videos and links to all of our pictures at http://aaronandlorrie.wordpress.com, or you can link right to our pictures by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/AaronandLorrie.  If you have just been added to our email list, you can also read our old updates on the blog mentioned above. 
 
So, it’s halfway through September and we’re still trying to figure out where August went.  A lot has happened since the last email, and we’re wondering how much you really want to know about.  So it’s looking like this email may be a bit lengthy.  Our apologies.
 
Summer has flown by.  Of course for us, it feels like summer all the time.  We will definitely miss not being there for the beginning of Fall, our favorite season of the year.  Since we last wrote, colleges and high schools are now in full swing back in the good ol’ USA.  We hope and pray that things are going well for everyone.  Don’t forget to write us and update us on what’s going on in your life, or let us know if you have any prayer requests. 
 
We’ve been able to get to know our coworkers better through Sunday night church (hosted and created just for GES teachers), as well as through our weekly Bible studies.  Lorrie was able to attend a baby shower for Roshelli McLatcher, a fellow teacher, and since that time Roshelli had her baby.  The staff has enjoyed the presence of a new born baby on campus. Jaya, the baby girl, is one week old yesterday.
 
We both also had the chance to go to a birthday party for 5 year old Naomi, which was pretty interesting.  The family is considerably wealthy, and the party lasted longer than any birthday party we’ve ever been to. The day started at 12 pm and we arrived home at 9 pm. 
 
Aaron is still getting used to the ins and outs of teaching.  He gave his 11th grade a free day since everyone passed their last test, which was a nice period off for him.  He was also scheduled to speak in chapel this week, which was pretty interesting.  Thank you to those of you who prayed for him to say what God wanted him to say.  He thought it went pretty well, and many of the GES teachers told him as much.  He didn’t think he’d be able to speak for 20 or 30 minutes straight, but as he began speaking, he started to really share his heart with the kids.  At the end of it all, 20 minutes wasn’t enough.  He challenged the kids to learn how to think for themselves, and not to accept/reject anything just because they’ve been taught something different.  He wants to challenge the students to examine Christianity and ask questions about why they believe the things they do.
 
Two weeks ago the high school went on their first ever “field trip”.  We journeyed downtown to go to an art museum and saw Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s photo exhibit entitled “Earth from Above”.  The pictures were all taken from various aircraft around the world, and portrayed some amazing views of earth.  It was so good, that we both were able to return together to see it again by ourselves the next week! 
 
At the end of August we had the opportunity to go to Pattaya Beach with the English class of Nonthaburi Baptist Church.  We spent two hours on the bus with them and got to talk with fellow Thai believers, as well as nonbelievers.  Saturday morning, we spent time playing games with them and went to a short church service.  There was ample opportunity to talk about Christ, and a lot of the Thai “English students” had some very insightful and challenging questions.  We then spent 2 hours on the beach, enjoying the ocean, and riding on a “banana boat” (see pictures). It was such an enjoyable time, and our first time to the beaches of Asia.
 
Two weekends ago, we went with one of our students (Lukpad and Maprang are their names) to a town to the north called Lopburi.  Our goal was to visit the church there and spend the weekend getting to know the believers and the family.  God blessed us with new relationships, new stories, and a wonderful experience.  As we were driving there, Lukpad’s mom, Pang, let us know that we were expected to give our testimonies at the Church!  We were very surprised, and a little nervous.  But God’s Spirit worked, and I believe He gave us both the words that the believers there needed to hear.  Aaron talked about his mom’s death for the first time publicly since the funeral, which was both challenging and rewarding.  Pang was a very generous host, and refused to let us pay for much of anything.  We had the opportunity to visit the old royal palace (the King of Thailand used to live in Lopburi), as well as see monkeys.  Lopburi has wild monkeys roaming free in the streets.  Everyday, the monkeys come from all around to get food and sleep.  In February, the city hosts a “monkey feast” in which they prepare large quantities of food to feed the monkeys for bringing the town good luck.  It was cool to visit this city because we had actually read about this event in National Geographic before.  The place where the monkeys were housed was an old temple site that resembled Angkor Wat, and monkeys were everywhere, we mean everywhere!  Before we knew it, monkeys were jumping on to our backs, climbing on our heads, and taking anything they could get their hands on.  Our friend Daniel had his 2 GB jumpdrive on a key ring attached to his belt, and a monkey literally stole it while he wasn’t looking and climbed it to the top of the temple.  Needless to say, Daniel didn’t get it back.  At one point, Aaron was playing with a young “baby” monkey, when all of a sudden he heard a screech and saw a mass of fur hurdling through the air.  He put his arm up to block the flying ball of monkey rage, but he received a ferocious monkey bite from the jealous mother!  (see pictures)  It broke the skin in 2 places!  But don’t worry, the monkey wasn’t rabid and the wound was very, very mild.  It was like getting bit by a small child.  The teeth marks looked much like a human’s (obviously).
 
Aaron has been battling Laryngitis and a chest cold for a week and half, and he is slowly starting to get over it.  Other than that, God has blessed us with great health.  There are a lot of challenges to be faced, but we definitely feel like this is exactly where God wants us to be, and we are both growing spiritually. 
 
Lorrie was beginning to get frustrated in her class because her Thai teacher was leaving her alone with the students. This is hard because Lorrie obviously doesn’t speak their language (the 3 year olds). She was leaving because she had duties to tend to. Last week Lorrie found out that a Thai teacher assistant (Pi Ya) that had been with her a month ago was coming back for a few days. PTL but, she didn’t know for how long. SO Lorrie went to talk to the Thai admin. and told her that she really liked Pi Ya helping and that she was a wonderful assistant. SO Monday Pi YA comes in and tells Lorrie, using no English, that the Thia admin. talked to her and that she is now going to stay in Lorrie’s classroom to help Lorrie and her Thai teacher! Lorrie is very excited to have the extra hands for the rest of the year. Praise the Lord (PTL).  Enjoy these videos of a typical morning at GES.

 
 
Please be in prayer for:
 
Aaron:  sick, chapel message, challenges teaching, opportunities to share faith
Lorrie:   that I won’t get Aaron’s sickness, my new Bible study will be useful and help me grow,  patience for my little ones
both: that we would not let the Thai culture differences affect the way we treat people- there are a lot of differences and sometimes makes us upset but, we do not want to be- adjusting to the way school is run here
 
 
Abiding in His Love,
Aaron and Lorrie Brooks

Mom

Mom and Dad celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary

The first thing I thought this morning before I even got out of bed was “I can’t believe it’s already been six months…”  The “it’s” that I’m speaking of, obviously, is the death of my mom on March 10.  Not that I need to mention the date, because most everyone on this email list knows the day well and probably views it with a certain amount of contempt.  I know I do.  That was the day my old view of God was completely shattered.  It was the day my old view of life was forever altered.  I’ve been picking up the pieces little by little these past 6 months, and I can’t remember where some of the pieces fit, or even if they belong at all.  I know this is not a fun email to write, nor is it a fun email to read.  But I do hope to inspire hope and spark memories. 

 

I want to remind you all of my mom’s faith.  She was a woman who prayed.  She loved the God she served.  In the last 18 months of her life, I saw her already strong faith grow by leaps and bounds.  Part of me was jealous of the peace she had, jealous of the joy that I saw in her eyes.  Even towards the end, when she was in incredible pain, she breathed prayers and ate of the meat of God’s promises - His word.  I knew she had something I didn’t, and none of us may ever experience the depths of God like she did lest we go through the same trials of physical suffering.  I know some of you have gone through those trials, and some of you are in those trials.  My prayer for you and for myself is “Don’t waste the trials!”  Let it bring you nearer to the God we serve.  Let it strengthen your relationship with him.  My mom often quoted the words “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”.  And she did.  She trusted Him through the hardest trial of her life; she trusted Him to her very death.  And God used her life to lead people to Christ.  Her death inspired repentance.  In that, I rejoice.  Hopefully, you rejoice with me as well.  Mom did not take her decision to fore go the established medical treatment lightly.  She did it often times with a heavy heart, but her conscience remained clear.  She did what God told her to do.  For 6 months, I haven’t struggled with her decision.  I’ve struggled with “the call” that God gave her.

 

My main question was not “why did she get cancer”?  It was “why did God call her to pursue treatments that did not save her?”  No one has given me a satisfactory answer.  Nor can I hope to give an answer that speaks to the depths of grief that this question exposes.  All I can say is that He wanted to bless her.  HOW?  How did God bless her?  The further I go in my walk with Christ, the more I realize that it is hard to grow near to God while pursuing the ordinary.  It’s hard to grow near to God while ”playing it safe”.  Does this mean that God is calling all cancer patients to pursue unconventional treatments?  Hardly.  There’s nothing safe about Chemo or radiation.  But part of me believes that if mom had done surgery, chemo, and radiation, she would have been disobeying what God had specifically called her to do in order to do what everyone else told her to do.  In this way, she would’ve been “playing it safe” by the world’s standards.  I also believe that the method she pursued brought not only physical suffering, but emotional and spiritual suffering as well.  In talking to my mom, I could tell that she had an inner struggle greater than any I have known in my lifetime.  She was SUFFERING for God’s call.  And God promised to see her through it.  And He did.  He didn’t answer our prayer requests like we wanted, but He blessed her.  And I believe He will bless us for trusting Him as we mourn the loss of mom.  The spiritual, long term blessings she received far outweighed more years of life.  For me to argue that God did not really bless her like he could have (i.e. take the cancer away) shows that I put more stock in adding years to my life than I do in receiving the eternal blessings of my Father.  But Christianity is about the eternal.  This life is not permanent.  Without God, we are all little ants marching to the beat of our own drums.  What kind of life is that?  And yet, each day that we choose our safety and temporary peace over God’s call, we are acting like little ants marching to our own drums.  Praise God my mom listened to God’s drum.  Paul told the Philippian church in Philippians 1:29 that they had been gifted  not only with belief in Christ, but also with suffering for Christ.  Those who suffer for Christ know Him in a way that others can’t.  And this is a blessing.  So the odd conclusion that I’ve come to is that God has meant this trial for our own good.  He meant the trial for my mom’s good.  But it will only turn out for our own good if we remain faithful to Him.  If you have not yet trusted in the all surpassing gift of knowing Christ as your Savior, I invite you to do so today. 

 

On a lighter, less theological note, I woke today with an urge to talk about mom.  Since no one around me knew my mom except for Lorrie, I’ve chosen to talk about her in an email.  I need to hear about her.  Let’s not be hush-hush and bottle our emotions or pretend were not grieving.  We are!  I need to talk about her, and I need to hear about her.  She lives with my Savior in heaven, and this is a cause for rejoicing.  So please, email me back and let me know any fond memories you have of her.  If you want, make sure you “reply to all” so that everyone can be blessed by what you have to say.  Or, you can leave a comment under this article on our blog.  What a blessing her life was to us!  What tremendous encouragement she brought to me over and over again.  Through sickness, through loneliness, through trials, through relationship problems, she was there.  She was Christ to me!  I remember her sitting in the bleachers with dad at my basketball games, always there to cheer me on.  When dad wasn’t there, she would often have to sit alone.  After the games, we had some good conversations as we rode home.  There are so many memories, but most of all, I remember the special way she looked at my dad.  I can’t describe it, but she adored my dad.  I think I appreciate that the most.  My love to you all. 

Abiding in His Love,
Aaron Brooks

Our Lives As You Know Them

Greetings and hello,

 

Today as I write this, my mom would have celebrated her 51st birthday.  My mom was a woman who loved deeply, and she is deeply loved by all who knew her.  Words in an email can’t express the impact she had on my life, and they certainly won’t be able to hint at how much my family and me miss her.  Her faith inspired me, and it is her motherly words of encouragement and love that I miss most here in Thailand.  Nothing can quite replace the void that her death left in my life and the lives of her family.  This week has been especially hard.  Mom and Dad would have celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary on Saturday, August 9.  Sunday, August 10th, marked 5 months since mom passed.  Today, of course, is her 51st birthday.  This week Thailand celebrated “Mother’s Day”, in honor of the queen’s birthday.  So on Monday, we had a Mother’s Day assembly for the kids to celebrate their moms.  We also had yesterday off (August 12), which was the official day to celebrate Mother’s Day.  There is a lot of celebration for mothers in Thailand, and rightfully so.  It was just difficult for those of us whose mothers are no longer here.  We ask for your continued prayer for the family as we continue to adjust to life without the woman who brought so much light, love, and joy to all of our lives.

Mom celebrating her 50th Birthday last year

These past weeks have been fairly uneventful, which is mostly good.  After we wrote the last update, we were able to meet our friends Jackie Fitzgerald and Christine Pettit, who attend church at Brentwood.  They had been working with a ministry that works with women in the sex industry in Bangkok.  We enjoyed a nice time of fellowship and story-swapping over dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, which was outrageously expensive.  They had cheeseburgers that cost as much as 17-18 USD, and 1 coke at Hard Rock Cafe cost the same amount as a meal for Lorrie AND me at our usual restaurant in Nonthaburi. 

We then visited Siam Paragon, the “pride of Bangkok”, which is the biggest shopping mall in Asia.  We were able to buy a birthday card that was in English for Allison, who turned 21 on August 5th.  Happy Birthday Allison!  We weren’t expecting Bangkok to have a Hallmark store!  Lorrie and I got to ride the Sky Train to and from Siam Paragon, which was nice.  We saw some nice views of Bangkok’s sunset from high on the tracks. 

 

On Saturday, August 2, we planned to meet with Steve Pettit, our missions pastor from Brentwood who was visiting his daughter, Christine, and interviewing the people who lead the prostitution ministry.  The ministry is called “Beginnings”, and our church plans on partnering with them to help women caught in the sex trade of Thailand.  The ministry teaches the girls English and houses some of them, and our church is looking to start a business that would employ the girls out of prostitution and give them a good alternative to their other “job”.  So we planned to meet Steve at J.J.’s market, which was my first mistake.  Never plan on meeting someone in the biggest weekend market in the world.  So we have a meeting spot planned out, but unbeknown to us, Steve and Christine cannot see the building we had picked from where they got off of the skytrain.  Lorrie and I don’t have a cell phone, but Christine does.  So after waiting 15 minutes past the planned meeting time, I ask a random Thai girl if I can borrow her phone.  Here’s how the conversation went:  “Meeeeeee, borroooooow, phone?  (Frantic hand gestures as I point to myself, then the phone, then make the famous “hand” telephone sign).  So after me repeating that 3 times, I show her some money, and she waves me off and gives me the phone.  So I make the call and this is what I hear:  “cccccccccrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…Hello?……..We are….skytrain.  What building….by the…hello?”  So the phone didn’t help, and I handed it back to the Thai lady, who refused to accept any money.  I love Thais.  I then told Lorrie to stay at the overpass next to the meeting point to keep a look out.  I then spent the next 20 minutes walking around the market to the other side near the skytrain, and trying to retrace where Steve and Christine may have went.  And of course, I am praying that God will somehow make this meeting possible.  So just as I am about to write them off and give up, guess who I happen to bump into in a random alley in the middle of the market?  That’s right.  Some may call it coincidence, I see God.  We were very happy that we got to meet together, and I think everyone left encouraged and glad that we had met each other after all.  Steve’s advice?  Get a phone!  Ha ha, can’t say I blame him.

 

The past two Friday nights, we have been blessed to be able to go to dinner with some of our students and their parents.  The first Friday, we went with one of Lorrie’s K1 students named Jonathan.  The Thais call him Johnson b/c they can’t pronounce his name.  His dad is British, and his mom is Thai.  They took us to a great place on the river that was difficult to get to and very secluded.  It was the nicest restaurant we’ve been to in Nonthaburi, and it was quite an experience.  They were an odd couple, but very friendly and accommodating.  We rather enjoyed our time dining with them.  Last Friday, we went to a party for one of our students named Tam.  Tam is leaving to go to Canada to study, so his parents threw him a big party at a place called 13 coins.  We ate with his family while most of the high schoolers (probably about 20-30 kids!) partied and sang Karaoke in a back room.  We were able to watch the Olympic opening ceremony in real time, which was pretty amazing to see.  We spent some time hanging out with the kids and playing hide-and-go seek on the second floor of the hotel (it was a restaurant/hotel). 

 

Aaron has started tutoring about 4-6 times per week, which is nice for the wallet but hard on time.  We are finally starting to hit our stride, which means we have a little more free time than we did at the start of the year.  We both have joined bible studies (men’s and women’s) that meet on Wednesday night, which is the same night we used to have small group back in America.  We enjoyed our day off yesterday for mother’s day.  In the morning a bunch of teachers got together and made a big breakfast of pancakes, fruit, eggs, etc.  It was very enjoyable.  Lorrie then left to go to a mall in Bangkok, and she really liked the mall a lot b/c it wasn’t as expensive as Siam Paragon and had the feel of J.J.’s market, only indoors.  Aaron met her and the rest of the gang at a French restaurant downtown, and we enjoyed a delicious (but expensive) meal.  When we say expensive, we mean it was about 10 times the price of a normal meal in Thailand, which means it only cost us a total of 20 dollars for the two of us!  

 

No new prayer requests this time.  Please just continue to keep the requests mentioned in the last update in prayer.  

 

Thanks to everyone who has sent packages and made us feel loved.  We appreciate you so much!  

 

We’d like to see more of you on Skype, so if you want to talk, just let us know when!

 

Finally, we have figured out a better website for uploading pictures.  We have consolidated ALL of the photos that we’ve taken so far into this one website.  So if you want to check out our photos, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/AaronandLorrie. 

 

Don’t forget to write us back and let us know what’s going on in your life!

 

–
Much Love,
Lorrie and Aaron Brooks