links...

Here's a link to Donald's blog, for some photos....

http://donaldchanblog.com/

Day 2

Wow....sorry this is soooo late. Once I got back to the US I had to fly out to L.A. and I just got back home yesterday. This post is a long time coming, but still pretty fresh in my brain. Day 2 was challenging because of the time. Day 1 we started at 7:30am and finished at about 6:30pm. Well day 2 was a sunday, so we couldnt start till after worship which was about 1pm. I was still hopeful we could finish all 7 tracks, since we had a better idea of how to do things more efficiently. We rolled through the first couple of tracks and we really making good time. We had 2 tracks left with about 3 hours to go. Then it happened. It started to rain really hard. And in Thailand it doesnt just sprinkle, it rains.

So as we kept recording, we could hear the rain outside. I talked about it with Donald, and we decided to just keep going. I guess God wanted us to have an authentic Thailand sound the songs. Then it started to thunder and lighting. First pretty far off in the distance. Then as we kept going it got really close. There is a unfinished worship building, with just the beams up about 200-300 ft away, and I swear it got hit with lightning. I could smell smoke from where we were. We had to turn everything off. The amps, mics, laptops, even our cell phones. I'm usually not to scared of these things, but I remember going up and asking Donald: What happens if the building we're in gets hit? He goes, "What do you mean, what happens? If we get it, that's it." So, I'll be honest here, I got a little scared. My thoughts went from, well, if God only wants us to have 5 tracks done, then that's cool, to oh man, I want to call Adrienne and talk to her and Riley, just in case this is it. So it's funny, cuz I wanted to call, but if I did it would probably just attract the lightning directly to us. So, I turned off my cell phone and just prayed.

The kids were off doing kid stuff, and I thought, maybe lets all just worship and sing together. Just voices and and acoustic guitar. So the we got everyone together and started singing. They sang one of the songs we were going to record. The song is, The Lords Prayer, in thai, and Khaodee sings this song everytime they are in need. I don't know how to describe it, but I felt this incredible peace as the kids were singing. I couldnt understand what they were singing, but I knew they were singing out to our Lord. All this time of recording and trying to finish a deadline...it was all about Worship and glorifying God. That's all it came down to.

I swear, and ask Donald if I'm wrong, but as soon as we finished singing that song, everything stopped. The rain, the thunder, the lightning. It was almost as if to say, stop...worship me first, and then continue.

We finished the last 2 songs, with time to spare. And as we finished the last note and word, I remember trying not cry. Gai, our translator and friend, as talking to the kids, and she started crying. So I look away, and look outside, trying not to cry. I look out and see God's beautiful creation, and I kinda lose it. Overwhelmed with how undeniably good God is. How perfect, how sovereign he is.

I set out trying to do something for God. In the end, it is He who has done something for me and himself. I learned sooo much in my 2 weeks there. God revealed He had much bigger things for me being there than just recording the kids. I was exhausted, yet, I had so much joy and peace. God looked out for us that day. His timing is perfect. All the kids were in the safest place all at once. Praise God.

So now what? Well, its not over. Once Ryan gets back from band tour, we have alot of work to do. While there, we also decided to include a dvd of picture and video. Donald took a ton of shots there. Praise God. So pray for us, as we don't know how long it will take. I'll try and post some behind the scenes pictures and videos in the coming week to give yall a taste of what went down. San Sern Pra Jow! (Praise God!)

Day 1...

Here's the 411 on day 1 of recording. Day 2 should be up tomorrow....everything's a little late sorry. Anywho...saturday must of been the longest day of my life. We decided to get started around 7:00am...right after breakfast. We had their band which consisted the 3 high schoolers, 1 college freshman, and a middle school back-up drummer. I had really no idea what to expect with their skill level. I had them work on the first song, so I could think of an arrangement. Let me just tell you...they blew me away. They really sounded like it could be on a cd. I realized that these kids don't have much, so their instrument or music is pretty much all they have. No computers, no internet, no cell phone, no i phone, no going out to hang out at night with friends, no TV...just God and music.

So they were great, but we did have trouble getting through the arrangement. Switching things here and there, trying to get it perfect. It took us probably 2-3 hours for that 1 song, and we were aiming for 7. Uh-oh....Then after we finshed that 1st song (took sing tee kha me) we had 4 kids come in to sing the first verse. 2 boys, 2 girls. They took maybe 3 takes and we were done with that. Crazy good. God has really blessed some of these kids with some voices.

The goal was to record the music for all 7 songs and try to get the voices for at least a few and then finish up sunday. Well, God likes to show us he has His own plans. It took us till about 4:30 pm to finish recording the band for the next 3 songs. The funny thing is I didn't even really have to come up with any arrangements, because these kids had worked things out to the last detail, because they had been playing these songs together like everyday for the last 3 years.

So 4:30 was upon us, and dinner was at around 6. We quickly called the kids to come and we finished recording the voices for the first 4 songs. I really dont know how to describe it when 100 kids are singing with reckless abandon because they love Jesus. I imagine it's something like how heaven will be.

So praise God for what he done today, but tomorrow we have alot more to do. We have 3 more songs to finish and we wont be able to start till after service, which will be about at 1:00pm. Half the day, the same amount of work.

Hopefully I'll get to upload some videos of the process soon....

Laters!

That's Why We Pray....Pray...

Quick quick update.....we tried recording yesterday, and we need to finish by today because the kids have to go to school. taking longer than we thought, but sounds better than i could have imagined....started at 7:00am yesterday and stopped right before dinner at 6:00pm....bout to di lau (die)....jk. pray pray pray for us...we still have 4 more songs we want to do....the hardest part was getting the music arrangement right.....san sern pra jao! (praise God)

Weekend Update..

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd share a quick update with everyone. Not too much too report. Kids are in school Monday through Friday, so we have to wait till next weekend to record. But we did record their worship this past Sunday. Listened to it....and we got some pretty decent quality. Praise God!

On a side note, just being here is amazing! God is present here at Khaodee, which in itself is pretty amazing, since Thailand is less than 1% Christian. And here in this remote little home, away from the cities, God is working in powerful powerful ways. Donald and I were able to talk to Pastor Simoon, and he shared the vision God has given him to us. I wonder sometimes if being at home, with all the distractions and overabundance we have, if it is hard to hear God's voice. It seems to be so clear and loud here. The staff here always use phrases like...God said to ..... or He spoke to me and said.... And then I wonder why I don't know so clearly like they do, what God is saying sometimes.

On a side side note, I yacked on the plane ride over here. Just thought I'd share since I'm sure youre all interested. I dont usually get air sick, but maybe it was because I was extra tired or maybe the pilot was extra rough, but during the landing in Tapei, I started feeling really sick. I knew I had to throw up, so I turned to the stewardess and asked if I could get up to throw up. She said no. Let me tell you..those were the longest 10 minutes of my life. Trying to hold in my barf and not yack on the people next to me. But I made it, and once we stopped, and proceeded to relieve myself. Gross huh? Had to share...haha

Last thing....last night I was able to teach the first part of my thai song to the kids. Not sure if they liked it, cuz they seem to like all the songs they sing. But it was really loud and they were able to pick it up pretty quickly. They like it when I say the thai words wrong...so they can make fun of me...

Alrighties...thats it for now....keep praying for us. BTW Donald is getting amazing amazing shots out here...PTL! Sawatdee krup! Pra jao oi pon! (God Bless You!)

The Beginning...

Hey everyone,

Want to first start off by saying thanks for stopping by and checking this page out. The Khaodee Project...what is it? Well, after my trip to Thailand, (Khaodee Children's Home) one thing hit me immediately. Their worship. The way the kids sang out with all that they had to give praise to our Lord and Savior just blew me away. When I got back home, I found myself yearning to worship that same way. And after talking with Benson about how I was impacted, the idea of making a worship album was given to us by God, while also raising money for Khaodee. We had no idea of how to accomplish this...let alone even where to start. All I knew was God was calling me to something, and I had to respond.

I started talking to different people who might know different things. I even got Donald Chan to come with me to Thailand to help me. Ryan Yee met with both of us to give us a crash course on sound and recording. God was already working in ways I wasn't even aware of. Donald and I continued to pray and talk and we set a date for our trip...May 26- June 10th.

Then, in a blink of an eye, Thailand was changed forever. Protesters who were in Bangkok for 2 months, were forced out by the Thai army. The next 3 days that ensued was chaos. About 80 people died and many many more severely injured. Violence and unrest soon began to spread into other provinces. Even in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, which was where we were headed. For the first time since planning this trip, I started to feel uneasy. Was it still safe to go there? My initial reaction was that it wasn't. Maybe I should just postpone it for while. That would be the safe thing to do, right? I have a wife and a kid. I doesn't make sense to do this. So I told Donald how I felt, and decided to postpone it.

I still was not feeling peace about the whole thing. I began to pray. I started to realize just how much I had grown to love the things that God had blessed me with. My family, my job, my things. It became to much to risk. Now that I had those things, I would hold on tight and not let go. Then it became clear to me. Everything I have is given by God. How could I repay Him by saying no I can't go and serve You know. The only question I had to answer was if God was indeed calling me to go and do this work. And the answer was yes. And as hard as it is to leave my wife, my family, my friends, my only daughter....I wanted to be obedient.

So here we are. Donald and I left last night...and here I am in Tapei on our layover before Chiang Mai. We have no idea what God show us or teach us. We are going in faith. And I wanted to share the journey with all of you willing to listen. We will try and document the process of trying to put the "Project" together. It will be a success if God is given glory through this. Please continue to pray for the both of us and for God to be glorified here in Thailand and around the world. Pra Jao Oi Pon! (God Bless You)