Top Ten of the New Year!

We are going to do a new series of Top Tens and we are starting with favorite experiences of the New Year as today is the Chinese New Year. This list is in no particular order because we would all want to rank them differently.

1. Amanda and Hilary have officially completed Thai 3! This is Amanda's last Thai class so we are glad she is pretty much fluent now :) Hil has one more and will start again on Monday. It has been great to connect with the people in our class and learn to speak, read and write in Thai.

2.Rise up Thailand was a Christian concert that we went to at Payap University here in Chiang Mai. It was very inspiring for us to see that many Christians from all over the world coming together for the soul purpose to praise and worship God.

3.Teaching English in Baw Gaew. We had the amazing opportunity to travel to the mountain village of Baw Gaew and teach 8 English lessons to a group of 100 7th, 8th and 9th graders. It was such a blessing to spend time with these students and teachers!

4.Robert's return. Robert went back to America the first week in December to visit his father who was in bad health. He was there over a month and returned in mid January. We were very happy when he returned to Chiang Mai.


5.Amanda and Drew's day of adventure. Amanda and Drew go to go on a fun day of adventure in the mountains. We went zip lining, white water rafting, elephant riding, bamboo rafting, and were able to visit a butterfly and orchid farm. It was so much for us to get to spend the day together and get to see God in the beauty of nature together.

6.Fiancees! Andy and Drew got to spend almost two weeks in Thailand with us and it was wonderful! They got to be a part of all the things we do at the zone and see how we live our day to day lives. We loved having them here!

7.LST parties have been really great so far. We had a Words and Things party and a Groundhog's Day party. Many of the Chinese students Mark studies with have been attending and several of our friends that had been studying English with us in between LST groups. It is great to connect with them when we aren't actually teaching right now.

8.We got a new LST group that will be with us until the end of February. It is made up of a Tom and Helen, a married couple, and Sheila and Michele, an aunt and niece duo. They are so much fun and are up for anything. They are great additions to the zone!

9.The five churches in the Chiang Mai area all met here this last Sunday and we had about 120 people crowded into the top floor. It is so fun to see everyone and the singing was amazing with that many people in one place.

10. Laquita is here visiting for Africa. She went to A&M with us and is serving abroad in Kenya for a year. We look forward to spending the next two weeks with her and showing her around Thailand!