Hilary Amanda and Kara in Thailand: Thais Trying Mexican Food

        We had our first official meeting today with Robert and learned a lot more about what we are doing while we are here and asked a million questions. And it all just made me so excited for the next 8 months! We finished teaching the judges today and we all went out together for a last meal at Miguel's the Mexican restaurant. It was the first time for most of them to try Mexican food and on one hand some of them loved it and on the other, as one lady at my table said, "I only like Thai food." We had a great experience getting to know them all and hopefully we will stay in contact with some of them. We will now prepare for teaching the students English and getting ready for the LST (Let's Start Talking) group that is coming in September.
        We took the Japanese group to the airport on Wednesday morning and we were all so sad to see them go. They were so much fun and I had a wonderful time with all four of them. I will be praying especially for Takumi who told us he was not a Christian ... yet. But he is very curious and is spending a lot of time with the church in Ibaraki. He One of the girls, Saki, shared her testimony on Tuesday night and it was so encouraging to hear how the church family from all over Asia has helped her to grow and how the cross-cultural fellowship was instrumental in her decision to give her life to Christ. They were such a blessing to us here and we will all miss them.
       Wednesday was James' birthday so we went out for moo-gata which is where you pick your own raw meats and vegetables and cook them on a grill on your table. It is so good and a lot of fun. You also use your chopsticks a lot which is sometimes an issue but we are all getting better at it. We met lots of people that James used to work with and enjoyed spending time with him on his birthday.

Hilary