Ho, Ho, Ho!!! Merry Christmas!!!

I am enjoying this holiday season in Thailand and wanted to write to give you an update about how I am doing. As you know, I came back from Peru in August and am no longer working with the IMB. Since then, I have been in Thailand and have spent time praying about my future and where the Lord wants me next. My two younger sisters just came to Thailand this week for Christmas as well, so this Christmas is going to be a special holiday in Thailand with the family!

These past few months I have had an awesome time here in Thailand just relaxing and healing from my experience in Peru. God is so good and I am learning so much about my gifts and how God can continue to use me with the people I am around. Right now I am studying the book of Luke and it is so amazing to learn about Jesus and his life here on earth. I am doing this study through a book called "Explore the Bible", written by a college professor. It really is making me look at the life of Jesus in a new and different way.

Since I have been home in Thailand, I have also been able to be involved in many ministries! The biggest involvement is everyday I am going out to help teach PE classes at Grace International School. This is the school that I graduated from and it has been so fun for me to reconnect with the students and teachers there. I have also been able to mentor some of the senior girls who have a lot of questions about college and transition back to the USA. These past few months, I coached U-13 Girls Soccer, and loved it so much! I learned a lot from those girls and especially learned a lot about teaching and leading young girls. Now that soccer is over, I have been asked to help as an assistant coach for the high school junior varsity girls basketball! Through these opportunities with the missionary kids at GIS, God has given me a passion to work with youth once again.

When I got back from Peru, I honestly was burnt out and didn't want to be involved with any Christian organization. But through time, healing, reflection, counsel, and mainly time with the Lord; God has made it clear to me that He has put a strong desire in my heart to work with youth and particularly missionary kids. Through a lot of prayer, and counsel I have made a decision to apply to work with a ministry called MK2MK (missionary kid to missionary kid). This ministry is a part of Campus Crusade for Christ. The goal of this ministry is to disciple and help missionary kids while they are on their foreign assignment, help them to have a smooth transition back to their home country, and to help prepare them to serve God wherever He leads them in their future. Since I grew up being a missionary kid myself and love working with youth, this seems like a great fit for me but most important I really feel led by the Lord to pursue this ministry. I am very excited that the Lord has led me down this road to apply to work on this team! It is exciting for me to think of how I could be an encouragement to other MK's and help have an eternal impact in their lives.

I have not been accepted yet, but want to ask you to PRAY with me about my future. I really only want to be where God wants me to be. If this is not His plan for me, I want Him to close the door and if it is-- I want His plan to be clear to me. I would love to hear back from you about where you are in the life journey as well! Please email and so I can know more about how I can pray for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Lori Christian

A Proud Soccer Coach!

Right now I am really sad because SOCCER SEASON is over! I had a blast coaching the U13 Girls Soccer Team from Grace International School! God taught me so much about being a compassionate leader to those girls this season. Since I played college soccer I know what it means to really work hard at a sport and give it your all. I learned so much about teamwork while playing in college and really wanted to teach that to the U13 girls.

But I am not going to lie, it was hard to coach at times and teach them how to push themselves. There were so many times I wish I could just play again, and be on the field playing along side of the girls. All the girls were under 13 years old, and they were very dramatic and sensitive to with everything on and off the field. It was a challenge to keep encouraging the girls even when we would be losing a game, and really teach them about glorifying God win or lose! After I saw the tears were contagious and would really get the rest of the team down, I knew that I needed to do something as a leader. So... I told them "No More Crying, unless you are physically hurt"! I told them that if we are losing then we need to keep trying and not give up and go and cry.

At this age I had to continually ask them these points after every practice and game...

How did YOU?....

1. Glorify God today on the field!

2. Have fun!

3. Get better, grow or improve at a skill!

These three things can be taken into everyday circumstances. I told the girls that this should be on and off the field! Yeah we did not win every game but the girls really improved and grew so much! I am so proud of them and their hard work! And I praise God for an awesome ministry to invested into these young girls lives and the lessons I learned from them. To be a leader is to be a servant, and admit when you are wrong. I know I am not the best coach in the world but I do know that God has blessed me with a great experience to grow and learn from this awesome team!