Lasts

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a Thai Christian funeral for the first time. One of the women at the Nakornping church died pretty suddenly from leukemia and the funeral started the next day. She had a young son and it was so sad to see the slide show of her with her family. It was really interesting to me how it is similar to a Buddhist funeral but without all the Buddhist things. It really is Thai but really is Christian as well. It lasts for several days and they have many people come visit the house and the family feeds everyone and they have the coffin there with lots and lots of flowers and pictures. At the Buddhist funeral I went to there was a long line of monks that were chanting in Pali and everyone waied the whole time. At the Christian funeral it was mostly like a church service with lots of eating and greeting the family. There was singing of some very old hymns that I didn't know in English, let alone Thai, but I was able to kind of read and sing along. The sermon after that was good from what I understood and I learned a few new words listening. One of my favorite things about Thai funerals is the shiny flashy lights that they put on the coffin. At this particular funeral, the electricity wasn't too great so all the other lights went out at one point and were flashing for a while so it was kind of crazy looking and felt more like a disco than a funeral. It was great to see all of the churches together again, even if it was for a really sad occasion so it was a good opportunity to show some unity and love. And it was the last time I will see some of them before I leave.

Dinner with P Rung and Onglee

With Becky and friends on top of a hotel

On a lighter subject, I haven't payed for any of my meals lately because everyone is treating me to last dinners and lunches. Its great! I've been able to go out with P Rung and Onglee, P Tik and Awn, Marvin and Oi, Becky, Robert, and Ying. I am going to miss all of these people so much! I also had my last English class today with my student Jo and she brought me a funny stuffed robot thing that there is no way I will be able to pack and bring home with me but it is still very sweet. I've officially cleaned out the junk from my whole room but I haven't actually packed anything. I'm planning on starting tomorrow. Ahh! That's crazy. I'm also getting ready for Amanda's wedding which is next Saturday and talking to my parents about getting my car and phone all set up and working again. I'm going to be very busy for a while at home and I think it will be good to help me from thinking too much about what I will be missing here in Thailand. Because I will, I know.

I even had to take a last picture with my favorite 7-11 man!

Cha-am and Songkran

From today I have exactly two weeks left in Thailand. What happened?! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast, especially since Amanda and Kara left. I thought it might feel long but it has snuck up on me and I can't wrap my mind around it at all! I started compiling a list of lasts today: last foods, places, and things to buy. I don't know if I will actually do them all but I hope I can. I have been traveling so much lately it will be weird to just be here for these last two weeks but really good to say goodbye to everyone and get all my stuff together.

Last week Mark and I took the night bus on Thursday all the way to Pattaya to see Berm before we all went together to church camp in Cha-am. His birthday was a few days earlier so we got to celebrate with him and see a few of the sights we didn't see last time we were there. We also got to hang out with his little nephew Game who is hilarious. He went with us around town and loved doing everything! He also tried to talk to us a lot in Thai and would get frustrated when we didn't understand everything. It was really funny. He also had a CRAZY laughing fit and wouldn't stop for like 15 minutes. It was also good to see that Berm's parents were feeling better because they both have been having health issues, which is why he's been home for two months.

 Game and Berm at Shabushi for Berm's birthday

Visiting a vineyard in Pattaya

On Saturday the three of us drove from Pattaya to Cha-am to help set up camp. Cha-am Beach Camp is where lots of Churches of Christ from all over Thailand come together for a week at the beach and worship and learn together and get to see other believers when they may not all the rest of the year. It actually started on Tuesday night so we were REALLY early. But is was great to meet the people from Bangkok who were in charge and we were really glad to have something to do. They were super welcoming and asked us to help with many things like making name tags and digging holes and setting up the food stalls. We had to use our Thai skills a lot and we learned lots of new words. Our new friends Tan and Lin really enjoyed teaching us slang that you would never learn in school. It was hilarious. We had also been told that it would be miserable hot and we would hate having to sleep on the beach all week, but it was actually really nice weather, not raining and not too hot.

Playing Phase 10 with Lin, Ai, and Tan

Hanging out on the beach with new friends

When camp actually started Mark and I helped sell drinks with our new friends and were able to take orders in Thai. I only messed up a couple of times. I forgot the word for can instead of bottle and gave this little boy the wrong thing and he looked at me like I was crazy! Many of the people there are from small towns where there aren't very many farangs (foreigners) so they were really scared to talk to us or order from us. Its weird to have people scared of you. I helped in the kids class one day and a mom plopped a baby down next to me and the baby looked up at me, made a shocked face, and started bawling. It was fun in the kids class because their Thai is about the same as mine so I could understand a lot but I don't really know craft words so I would just point at stuff and act things out. All in all it was a really good time to see the church coming together and to see how it really is a full body here because I really only work with young adults and I sometimes forget about the whole picture.

Having fun

Selling drinks with P Tum

Thursday we left and came back to Chiang Mai on another night bus with a few hours in Bangkok. I was actually able to find my way around after having been there 3 years ago! I was amazed. We wanted to get back in time to celebrate the last day of the Thai New Year, Songkran, with our friends here in Chiang Mai. After only a couple hours of sleep we went with our Chinese friends to the moat in the city. We spent all day throwing water on each other and everyone walking by. It was crazy and so fun! Some people put ice in their water and it was freezing. I got a sunburn and a few scrapes from my bucket I used to throw water but it was really great and a good way to connect with some of the Chinese students I didn't know very well.

Yai getting splashed

Tong playing in the water

Angkor of Faith 5

You might have read about my last trip to Cambodia in December. Well I went again this last week and it was nothing the same but so amazing! Angkor of Faith is a week when Christian youth from all over Asia come together to serve the kids in Siem Reap. This was the fifth time that they’ve had it and the first time that it was planned by some of the younger generation, my age not the missionaries. I had heard lots of great things from friends here and some from the States who have been and I was expecting great things. Last time we taught English at schools and gave out donations and it was good but this week I loved being able to hang out with the kids everyday who left their things to sell outside and ran in and jumped into my arms ready for a day of fun.

I had several kids who really attached themselves to me and I was able to really invest my time and energy in them. Niang came everyday and loved loved loved holding my hand and hanging on me. He loved singing and everyday when we would singe praise songs he would sing so loud and then sing them again to me at dinner.

Deaun didn’t speak much English but her smile would melt any heart. She loved to have me pick her up and spin around really fast. She didn’t show up all the time but she knew when dinner time was and always came running up in time to give me a hug and order some fried rice.

Rexar was one really crazy kid. He would climb all over me and say the funniest things. He wanted to give hugs and kisses to everyone and was a really good photographer. He gave me a tour of Angkor Wat and then proceeded to drink all of my water. He's the little bugger on the right trying to kiss me.
 

I got to visit the orphanage that I went to on AFCO 08 and I found my favorite little girl who slept in my arms the whole time. She is so much bigger now and so loving and precious. I picked her up and she wouldn't let go of me the whole time we were there. It is a Christian orphanage and the kids sang us some really great songs and prayed together and it was so touching. I am so thankful there is a good place like that in Siem Reap for kids that need a home.

 
My international group was such a blessing to me. I loved meeting people from lots of different countries. In my group there were people from Singapore, Malaysia, China, and South Korea, and me, the American by way of Thailand. It was really good listening practice to figure out what everyone was saying in English but with their own accents. I had a great time with Elaine who is from China but studying in Singapore right now. She said she was excited that I would be her first American friend and liked to practice her English with me. Elaine was so sweet and we had fun going through Angkor Wat together the last day. Sheena was our fearless group leader and I just loved her! We are both kind of in the same place right now, just out of college and trying to figure out how best to serve the Lord so we had some really good discussions. And she was just fun! 

Elaine and I at Bayon

Sheena getting her hair done by the girls

 
In all it was an amazing trip and so great to see the youth of Asia come together to serve the kids in Cambodia. P Robert mentioned several times how this trip really felt like we were able to do more than just play with the kids and help them, we were able to teach them about our Savior and it was so great to hear them singing praise songs as they rode home on their bicycles. Please pray for the continued work in Siem Reap with these children and for the unity of the church here in Asia through its young people that were at AoF 5 this week.

Babysitting and Bus Sitting

Today I am home at the Zone alone trying to get over a cold while Mark and Robert are taking the Chinese students to the caves. It's a good time to catch up on the blog. This weekend Mark and I went to Phayao with our friends Nathan and Neung to babysit for the mission team there while they had a workshop. Pretty much the only kid I ever see is Onglee on Sundays so it was great to hang out with the 6 kids from the team. They are so cute and full of energy and we had a blast playing games and having dance competitions and watching movies. It was a good time to catch up with the adults as well and see how their ministry is growing since we saw them last. They are having worship every Sunday rotating between their houses and they are inviting lots of their neighbors and friends and it is really encouraging to hear about the connections they are making with people in the community.

Meg loves to take pictures

Feeding everyone lunch

On Saturday Mark and I went to Mae Sai, the Burma border, from Phayao to renew our visas. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought getting all the right buses but our Thai was equal to the challenge and after a long day of bus sitting we made it back to Chiang Mai. One of the buses was a fan bus that wasn't too full at first but as we went it got more and more crowded til we were pretty much sitting on top of each other and sweating like pigs. Two girls started talking to me on that bus that were students from Phayao and we had a lovely Thai conversation that felt like it was straight from a class exercise. I actually could understand all of her questions and asked some of my own. I've been feeling frustrated with myself that I don't want to practice my Thai more so that was a good confidence booster.

Dao and Onglee at Amanda and Kara's going away party

Yesterday my friend Dao came to the Zone to say goodbye. Finals are this week and all of the Thai students and going home for their summer break. I won't see her again before I leave on May 1 so I was sad. She hasn't been coming very often this semester but always brings a big smile and hug when she does. Her friend Bew also came and gave me a hug and we promised to Skype to practice our English and Thai. This coming Saturday I am going to Angkor of Faith 5 in Cambodia. The Thai team has a lot of responsibilities so we have been planning and buying things to prepare. Apparently Thailand has the cheapest stuff around so we bought hygiene items for all the kids, about 200, and are taking them with us. It is going to be interesting to see how we fit all of the stuff into our bags. I'm really excited to see all the kids again and get to know some more international friends from all over Asia!

All Alone - But So Not Alone!

Now that Amanda and Kara are gone it is weird to write this by myself. I am very used to writing and speaking and thinking in "we." But now it is just a different "we" I guess.  I have so many friends here it is funny when people ask me if I am lonely now. Mark is still here, will be here until August, and we do all of the intern things together. And pretty much everything else, too. In Thai class I have several good farang friends  that I can talk to about home and hang out with. Awn comes by almost everyday to hang out and study and it has been so fun to speak Tinglish with her and to hear how she is learning more about Christ all the time just by hanging out at the Zone.

LST just left yesterday and it was sad to see them go but as always, there is no normal here at the Zone and we already have some other friends staying here a few days that have been traveling around the world. Kara said one time that when people are here it seems like they have always been here and when people leave it feels like they have been gone for years and its really true.

This week Mark and I are starting new English classes to try to pick up where the LST group left off. We will have group classes and will probably be doing a kind of continuation of reading in the Bible where the students left off in the LST book. I am excited and ready to teach again. It is really a nice break to not teach when LST is here but I think I feel a lot more useful when I am teaching. Also my Thai class is over in 2 days and I will be done with learning Thai ( in a classroom) forever! I'm kind of glad to have some time off from it, it has been getting harder and more frustrating. But I'm glad to know so much now!

กระดูกแห้ง- Dry Bones!

So, I broke my leg. After an exciting morning with Kara and Laquita at the Tiger Kingdom, we decided to make a pit stop at some elephant statues to take an “America’s Next Top Model” photo shoot.  The last shot was of me and Kara jumping off the backs of two elephants while holding hands. It seemed like a good idea in theory, but in actuality it was the decision which would change the course of my time in Thailand. I jumped off the elephant and landed wrong, I knew immediately that I had broken something in my leg. I could hear the break vibrate throughout my body. Even now when I close my eyes I can hear the sound of the cracking replay in my head. While I lay there screaming profusely Laquita just stood there laughing at how good of an actress I was. When I took my hand off my foot, they could see that something was not right. Kara later stated, “I could tell that something was not right, it looked like your food was not attached.” Two passerby’s on their motorbikes over heard the horrible screams and stopped to help. They thought I had been bitten by a snake. After seeing that I had actually broken my leg, one of the men called an ambulance. 

Amanda needed a nap so I (Kara) am going to continue. We waited for about 40 minutes for the ambulance to come. When it finally arrived it turned out to be a pickup truck with a cover on the back. They laid her in the bed of the pickup, but they didn’t secure her to anything so she was rolling all over the place.  Laquita and I tried to tell her some jokes to get her mind off the situation, but Laquita told one about diarrhea and that made her want to throw up even more.  The ambulance had a very loud siren, it but stopped at every red light and no one got out of our way. At the hospital they took her to the emergency room and everyone in the room grabbed her leg to assess the situation. They actually grabbed and poked and twisted it. They said they needed an x-ray to determine if it was fractured when it was clearly broken. This was when Hilary and Mark showed up after getting a rot dang from the Zone because we had to leave the truck at the statues. They walked up and heard some blood curdling screams and Hil said, “Yep, we found her, I’d know that scream anywhere.”  In the ER they said her tibia was broken and she had to be admitted to wait for the specialist to talk about surgery. They wanted to put in an IV to give her fluids and pain medicine, but it was Amanda’s first experience with one and she wasn’t very excited about it. She’s a little afraid of needles, ok a lot afraid of needles, but she was very brave and she got some good pain medicine through it, so it was all worth it.

There doesn’t seem to be too many rules here at the hospital. I have been in every room, including the emergency room and operating room, with Amanda and I’ve had to do some of the duties of the nurses even though there are plenty of nurses here. I pushed her bed to the second floor and was in charge of the broken leg when moving her. It’s been quite an adventure. Eventually we got a private room with a fan, its own bathroom, a balcony, a minibar and a TV with Thai stations. It’s pretty luxurious. They had to put a wooden splint on her leg in ER, but the only one they had was for about a 6 foot man, so it didn’t exactly fit her body very well.  It did keep things from moving around though. The only problem was that once she had the splint on there was no way to get her pants off. The only course of action was to remove her pants with scissors! Nothing exciting had been happening for about 3 hours, but right when they began to cut off her pants we had 5 people come to visit. We were so glad to see them, but it was very ironic that it happened when Amanda was the most naked. We waited just a little longer and the doctor finally came. His English was pretty good but we were glad we had our Thai friends to talk to him too. We definitely wanted Jan to be there with us to talk to the doctor and help us decide what was best. The doctor told us that after looking at the x-rays he discovered that both of the bones in Amanda’s lower leg were broken and she would definitely need surgery. The question after that was when and where. After much discussion, everyone decided the best thing to do would be to fly back to the States and have surgery there. We had a group prayer with several of the church members and then we waited for Amanda to have a cast put on at around 10 that night. The cast will help keep her bones stable on the flight to America.  Mark and Hil had to take Laquita to the airport so I stayed with Amanda. We were all glad that Quita was able to be with us in this crazy time, but it was sad that her ended this way. Right before it was time to get the cast the nurse came in and said it was time to pee pee. Aside from her using the term “pee pee,” this seemed like a normal request. However, when Amanda tried to start moving toward the restroom the nurse stopped her and pointed at the bed. It quickly became clear that she wanted Amanda to “pee pee” in the bed. Naturally, Amanda refused, the nurse eventually got her a bed pan, and we all had a good laugh about it. Next, we were off to the operating room. They had to put her to sleep while they set the bones because it was going to hurt A LOT. Amanda did great and she now has a beautiful blue cast. The drugs made her pretty loopy though. She started asking everyone for pizza and trying to talk to the nurses in Thai. I’m not exactly sure what she said, but everyone seemed to think it was really funny. They took some more x-rays after that and the bones looked much better.  We headed back to our room to try and get some sleep, but we found out that sleep is hard to come by in the hospital. The doctor woke us up at about 12:30 to talk about the x-rays and then the nurses came in about every hour and turned on the lights to give Amanda medicine and take out the IV and things like that. 

In the morning she had physical therapy, which means they taught her how to use crutches. It took them a long time to find short enough crutches for her. We think she is the shortest farang they have ever seen. She worked up quite a sweat practicing going up and down the stairs. After that she needed a shower.  Amanda has always had a dream of getting a sponge bath and let’s just say it wasn’t as good as she had hoped. In fact it was one of the most awkward times of her life. But we have all had a good time laughing about all the weird and different things that have happened while at the hospital. 

Hil and Mark were able to talk to Korean Air and get our tickets changed to depart this Wednesday, the 16^th and arrive home on the night of the 17^th. It is a answered prayer that we didn’t have to pay anything extra and we could get a flight so fast. They also contacted lots of people that needed to know what was going on, like fiancées and sisters and the church. I will be flying back with Amanda and now we both have to pack up several months of stuff in only 1 day. It could be really fun. We will miss everyone here and were looking forward to these last two weeks, but are excited to see our families and fiancées even sooner than expected. We’re realizing all of the blessings that we’ve been able to experience through this ordeal: support from our Christian family here and at home, friends who are willing to do anything to help, knowing some Thai to help get around, to hear one of our non-Christian friends pray for the first time, that Amanda didn’t take the last Thai class and waste her money, that the tickets were so easy to change, that Amanda’s Mom is able to come home and take care of her for a while, and that she could get an appointment with a doctor at home so quickly.  These things are proof that God is in control. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. Please continue praying that we have a safe journey home and that Amanda’s road to recovery is quick and as smooth as possible. See you in America!!!

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!

January is Flying By!

The past week has been really busy and I will blame that for the long time in between blogs. January has been busy and fun so far but I can't believe it's already more than half over! A new LST group from Nebraska and Kansas came on Saturday and we were very busy before they got here. We called all of our old students and passed out flyers on campus and cleaned out the classrooms. And then when they finally got here we helped them get settled and had our first informational and sign up time. At first we had only Chinese students from Mark's class but now a lot of our former students have come and we have several new students. This LST group is very relaxed and fun and they want to see and do everything! They are also very good and patient with the readers. It will be a good 6 weeks,  I can tell.

Robert is back and we are all very glad. He was gone for over a month in the States being with his father while he was sick. The yearly planning meeting for the church was on Sunday. I love the church meetings where everyone has a say and they discuss everything from changing the light fixtures to Bon's new girlfriend to making Cell group more welcoming for new people. It really feels like family time. Our Thai is improving a lot but it is still hard to sit for 2 hours and actually understand what is going on the whole time. We had some help from Berm with translating the really important parts but my brain can only handle so much and then it shuts down.

Thai class is going well. We have many of our friends from Thai 1 and 2 in our new Thai 3 class and it is great to continue those relationships. Amanda and I now know all of the vowels and all the regular consonants and will learn tone marks tomorrow. To understand why it is taking so long to learn to read and write let me say that there are 44 consonants, 25 vowels, five tones, and no spaces between words. We practice a lot and we are getting better at the easy stuff but it will be a while before we can just pick up a book and read it. Kara isn't taking language lessons but it is fun to see her pick up words from us and we like to teach her new ones. She also has a lot more time to help LST since she is not in class in the mornings like the rest of us. As always, she is an excellent hostess and is always ready to help out.

Amanda's New Year Letter

Dear friends and family,


I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and had a blessed Christmas surrounded by the warmth of family. I experienced my first Christmas way from home this year, and although my related family did not surround me, I was surrounded by church members here in Thailand. It was comforting and encouraging being around God’s family in Asia and celebrating the birth of our savior with my Thai brothers and sisters in Christ. It was a wonderful Christmas, and I am very much looking forward to spending New Years with my fiancé, Drew Bowen, here in Chiang Mai!

With the New Year just around the corner, I wanted to share with you how God has been working in me and through me during my internship in Thailand this year. After being here for five months, I have seen and experienced God working all around me in deep and meaningful ways. He has taught me so much about foreign missions, working as a team, boldly sharing my faith, patience, and how to be more disciplined in my spiritual walk.

Before coming to Thailand I knew very little about foreign missions or mission work in general. Although I grew up overseas, I did not encounter many missionaries. I went on many service trips throughout high school, but none of them were done in the name of Christ. Since being here I have learned what it means to leave all of your belongings and follow Christ. Living in Thailand is not the overly comfortable lifestyle that I am used it. It has stretched me and taught me to become more simplistic and appreciative of the little joys in life that are often overlooked. I am so thankful for my solitude and reflection time, which I have often here because we do not have a TV. I have learned so much from the missionaries here and still sometimes find it difficult to believe that they have been doing this for over 15 years. Mission work is truly a daily lifestyle devoted to God.

God has blessed me with a wonderful intern team. I am in Thailand with two of my best friends and roommates from college, Hilary and Kara, Mark Foster, a recent graduate from ACU and two Thai interns Bon and James. God teaches us daily the importance of good communication and how to best encourage each other. We all have different gifts and talents, which help us to pick up for one another where others many fall short. Our team does a good job at encouraging each other. We have all been through our times of homesickness and confusion, but God so graciously did not allow them to happen at the same time, so that we could be a strong shoulder for each other when needed. I am so thankful for each of my teammates and what they are doing here in Thailand.

This is one of the few times in my life that I have been somewhere for the soul purpose of Christ. Usually when someone asked me what I do, I respond by saying, “I am a student at… or I am an employee of…” ect. When people ask me why I am in Thailand I am honored to say that I am here through Christ and because of Christ. He is my soul purpose for being here. Many people cannot understand moving to a foreign country to share God with others. Hilary and I are taking a Thai language course at a local University here. Everyone in the class knows we are here doing mission work and that has opened so many opportunities to share our faith with our classmates. That makes me wonder how many doors could have been open in classes I have been in in the past if only I would have boldly proclaimed my faith the way I do here. I am proud to say I am here serving my Lord and Savior and I have learned to be more assertive about what I believe in a loving and open-minded manner.

God has truly taught me that patience is a virtue, and not an easy one at times. I am a planner and organizer. I like to know what I am doing tomorrow and what I am doing next year. Being here is teaching me that in life we cannot always be in control and be in the know. God is in control and God is in the know. The other Interns and myself teach free English classes to members of the community. I have had to learn that we need to prepare for anywhere from 2 to 13 students in a class and that sometimes no one may show up at all and that is okay. I have full faith that God has a plan for each one of our students and it is my prayer that I can be the best example of Christ to them that I can be. Also, together Drew and I have had to learn how to be patient with each other. A long distance engagement is not easy and at times, not fun, but God has taught us how to unconditionally love each other through the good and the bad. Although the distance is not fun, it has been really good for us and has stretched us and we have grown closer to one another.

One of the many things that I enjoy about my internship is the equipping time that we share as a team. Twice a week the interns and Robert Reagan, the missionary we are working with, get together to study God’s word. We have completed an in depth study on the spiritual disciplines. I have learned a great deal about the power of prayer, solitude, service, simplicity, fasting, submission worship and simplicity. It is very refreshing to learn how to better draw closer to God and put these disciplines into practice.

Thailand has been a wonderful experience for me so far. I have learned so much and have ministered to many people. It is hard to believe that this time last year, I was just thinking about coming here and now it is my temporary home. I look forward to see how God uses me to bring people to Him throughout the remainder of my stay.

It is because of you and your endless love and support that I am able to be here and experience God’s love in ways I could have never imagined. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and financial support. Your efforts have blessed many people in Thailand, Cambodia and have richly blessed me in the year 2010 and will continue blessing in the year 2011. Please continue to pray for my team and I, and that God will work through us powerfully in our last months in Thailand.

In Him,
Amanda

Special Guest Blog from the one and only Drew Bowen!

Howdy! This is Drew Bowen, writing a special guest blog post! Andy and I arrived late Wednesday night, and are just now recovering from jet-lag, but have enjoyed some great times with the girls already.

After waking up fairly sore after 50+ hours of traveling to reach Thailand, our fiances were kind enough to schedule a relaxing first day in Thailand. We went with them to pick up some essentials from Carrefour, which is like a Thai Wal-Mart, then went to get a two-hour massage. It always amazes me that a massage that long and that excellent costs less than $10 here!

There was much giggling from the girls as we came out from the changing rooms. Andy and I are both significantly taller and bigger than their typical clientele, and the pants they gave us were ridiculously tight. The humor continued as Andy's face betrayed that he was surprised by his first Thai massage, making glances to us that said, "What is going on?" The lady massaging me took my words to heart when I asked for a more firm massage, and dug her elbow into me to the point that I am sore two days later. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Last night, there was a New Year's Eve countdown party at the Reagan's house. Though we missed P'Robert, who's visiting sick family in Texas, it was great to see so many old friends from when I was an intern. We also had several Chinese students who are studying with the current interns come along for the party, and it was fun to interact with them. It seems like the Christian Zone has really become a meaningful place for them while they are so far from their homes. I was very encouraged by the fellowship and fun at the party.

I will be preaching tomorrow, which is exciting. It will be wonderful to see even more old friends, to sing in Thai again, and to share what I have been learning at Abilene Christian. I've already been so blessed to get to spend time with Amanda, and I know that Andy feels the same about Kara. In our own way, we hope to affect the ministry here by encouraging the interns as they form relationships. Hopefully our visit can energize them to finish the last couple of months strong.

Drew

Christmas in Thailand

Happy 2011! We have had/ are having a wonderful Christmas holiday! We spent Christmas on the beach at Pattaya. It was difficult to be away from family and friends during this special time, but we were happy to be surrounded by by great friends. We spent Christmas eve with the the church members at their big annual Christmas Eve party. It was a lot of fun. We had great food, fellowship, entertainment, and a gift exchange. All of us interns were a part of the Payap talent show act and it was a hit! We started by singing "Joy to the World" and ended with a well choreographed dance to "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" by our very own Kara Keith! The night ended with a candle lit worship service. It was wonderful to be there with our Thai brothers and sisters in Christ celebrating the birth of Christ. We ended the night with an intern (and Berm) gift exchange.
Christmas morning we arose early to hit the road for the beach. We drove all day and arrived in Pattaya at around five, just in time for dinner and in time to see the beautiful sunset on the beach. Many times throughout the trip we mentioned to each other how anyone could doubt the existence of God because of all of His beautiful and ornate creation. The beaches and mountains in Thailand are just breath taking.
The next two days were spent on the beach relaxing.
We ended our vacation by traveling to a small Italian village in Thailand. It was very different than any other village we have seen in Thailand. We visited a vineyard and went to a "wild west" themed amusement park. It was blast! We got back to Chiang Mai Wednesday night with just enough time for Kara and I to get ready to go pick up the loves of our lives at the airport. Drew and Andy and here safely and we are thrilled about spending the next week with them. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love & Serve: Dec 2010

Cambodia and Angkor What?

We are back from Cambodia and had a wonderful time while we were there. Going into the trip we did not know exactly what to expect, but we did our best to be tough, flexible and optimistic, thanks to Bob Davidson! After a long 8 hour bus ride we arrived in Bangkok in the middle of the night. We found a small coffee shop connected to a guest house that we waited in for a good 3 hours. We then took a van to the border and had to cross over by walking. It was amazing to immediately see the differences between Thailand and Cambodia. Cambodia is much poorer and the architecture and structural design of the buildings is years behind Thailand; which is not too surprising considering all the political unrest that the county has had in the last century. It was very eye opening to see that kind of poverty. There were many children without clothes, babies without any adults around them, just a cup for people to put money into. We also saw many land mine victims who had lost limbs in accidents. We saw all of this in the first few minutes of crossing the border. Once we arrived to our hotel we were pleasantly surprised by our accommodations. All three of us shared a room and had our own bed. We had a bathroom with an American style toilet and a TV with English channels. Here at the Zone we do not have a TV so we have not watch any in the last 4 and a half months so it was so much fun to watch CSI!

Napping at the bus station in Cambodia

While we were in Cambodia we had the awesome opportunity to teach at two local schools for two days. The groups that we were with from Japan and Singapore did an amazing job at preparing stations for the English days at the schools. Kara was at the spelling station, where the students had to learn to spell vocabulary words from the nativity story. Hilary was at a craft station and I was at the "days of the week" station. In all, there were five groups the students rotated to. The kids had a blast. After they had completed all five stations, we ate Japanese curry together that the group from Japan generously cooked. In the afternoon we put on a carnival for the kids. They had to go the the testing station and answer a question from what they had learned that day. If they answered correctly, they received a game coupon. There were games that ranged from throwing ping pong balls into a box, horseshoes, hit the coconut with a tennis ball to blowing a ping pong ball in a pool of water. The kids had a super fun time, and as they won the games they received prizes. All the prizes were used clothes that had been donated. As the children received their clothes, their eyes lit up wit joy. Many of them won clothes to bring home to their siblings and parents. It was very rewarding to give clothing to these children who either did not have a shirt on the back or desperately needed a new one.

Crafts station at a school

The ping pong station

We (the Thailand group) did a special intensive English class for the core group of students that we were working with. These students are being supported by the church in Singapore to go to English school. They traveled with us to the school and were our helpers and translators. We put on a class for them to teach about heath and good habits. We preformed skits about what happens when you make bad choices and what happens when you make good choices. We ended the class, by playing the board game that we have spent months preparing. The class was a success and the kids learned a lot and had fun.

Intensive English with our sponsored kids

Our favorite day was Friday when we went to the Temples and Angkor Wat. We met a lot of the street children who spend their days selling bracelets and post cards to tourist. After they realized that we we not like their average tourist they stopped trying to sell us their goods, but instead walked with us through the ruins and laughed and played with us. We had a blast with children and it was really hard saying good bye.

Some of our kids at Bayon 

Hanging out with our kids

One of the little girls that was selling at Angkor Wat

We ended the trip with a trip to 60 ROAD! We heard about 60 Road all week from our kids, and knew that they desperately wanted us to take them. So Friday night they each received three dollars and went crazy at 60 Road which is a local carnival. I have to admit it was fun! We road the Ferris wheel and the bumper cars with the kids and had just as much fun as they did. It was a great way to end a great trip.

Throughout our whole experience, our eyes have been opened to the life styles of others. We have seen poverty like we have never seen before, and yet we have seen the joy in a child's eyes from receiving something so small.  This trip has changed us and shaped us and really made us think about our own lives. We are so blessed to be born in America and have so many unbelievable opportunities. God is so good and faithful. Keep Cambodia and the children in your prayers, they are God's precious children.

Tiny Helper, a precious child of God

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

For the past two months we have been preparing to go to Cambodia with other groups from Japan and Singapore. While we are there we will work with kids who sell on the street in Angkor Wat and teach English in their schools. Our big project has been making lessons for the older kids about good health and habits. We have made up a game that has gone through many many revisions and now we think it is perfect, or at least close to perfect. This will be my second trip to Cambodia and I am excited to see some of the kids again and to get to have this experience with everyone else. The bus trip is about 15 hours so we will all be a little sore at the end but I know it will be amazing. What is better than a really long bus ride for bonding! We will be gone for about a week and probably won't have internet most of the time so don't expect too much from us in the way of communication.

Amanda and I officially graduated from Thai 2 this week and we are not starting again until January so it is a nice break for a while. Yay for Christmas break! For the last day of class we had a field trip to an elephant camp and hospital. It was fun to do something different with our classmates outside of class and once again the long bus ride was perfect for chatting and catching up. There was a tiny (sort of) baby elephant that was super super cute and I wanted to steal it and bring it home but I hear they are expensive to raise. I love elephants if you didn't know!

Eating worms at the market after the elephant camp

Baby Ellie!

On Wednesday Robert and his family invited us to dinner and to come help decorate their house for Christmas. It is great to feel part of a family here. They are always so welcoming and giving and so much fun! It is kind of weird to decorate someone else's tree because everyone definitely has a certain way you like to do it yourself. But with all of our forces combined it was beautiful in the end. There is Christmas in Thailand but it is mainly completely secular and not everyone celebrates. The malls and markets are all decorated and it is beautiful!

Stringing popcorn for the tree

Christmas decorating with the Reagans

This week I also cooked Thai food for cell group! Well really I payed for it and P Wah cooked and she taught me along the way. We made gang kiao wan gai, green curry chicken, and it was really good. I might be able to make it by myself one day, we'll see.

-Hilary

I'm Here!

Hello America! I am just settling in to my second week here in Thailand and it has been great so far. I have found several things I can eat here; unfortunately none of it is Thai food. Right now my diet mostly consists of tuna, bread, goldfish (the snack crackers, not the actual fish), and the occasional ice-cream cone. I also discovered that at Rimping, one of the grocery stores, they sell cans of refried beans and flour tortillas! This might sound strange to you, but it makes me very happy!


Amanda, Hilary, and Mark have been here for nearly 4 months and it seems like they are experts on Thailand. It is like I have my own personal tour guides. They have all been taking a Thai class at Payap University and I am amazed at how much Thai they have learned. The three of them have been very helpful to me over these past two weeks!

on Payap campus celebrating graduation

Looking over the city of Chiang Mai

 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have started helping Robert teach an English class that consists of 4 girls from China. At first, the language barrier was a little intimidating for all of us, but we soon found some common ground. We discovered that all 5 of us enjoy the Twilight book/movie series and we share a love of Taylor Swift. I guess some things are just cross-cultural! I am really enjoying working with these girls and I am looking forward to getting to know them better.

Yesterday, two of our English students took Amanda, Hilary, and I to Doi Suthep, a Buddhist temple here in Chiang Mai. It is a big tourist attraction, because it is situated high on a mountain with a beautiful view of the city. It was very crowded when we went and it made me so sad to see hundreds of people bowing down in prayer and worship to a false God. Thailand is a country very devoted to Buddhism, so please join us in praying that we can reach as many people and plant as many seeds as possible in the time we have here.

At Doi Suthep with our student Neung

Right now, we are preparing for our upcoming trip to Cambodia. We leave this Saturday and will be gone for one week. While we are there we will be teaching English lessons during the day and healthy habits during the afternoon and evening. We are very excited about this opportunity and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for us! Please keep us in your prayers as we travel from Chiang Mai to Cambodia and back again.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Until next time,

Kara

Happy Loi Krathong!

After three months of waiting Kara finally arrived this week! It has been really fun to show her around and try to get her acquainted with everyone and everything. She has been amazed at how much we can function here and how many friends we have and looking back on it we have learned so much in the last three months. Our Thai is coming along nicely, we have lots of Thai friends from church and students at Payap that we are trying to connect, and we just feel very at home. God has really blessed us during our time here and I know that he will do amazing things through Kara as well. Amanda just got back from the States yesterday night and had an amazing time there at her sister's wedding and hanging out with her fiancee. We are all glad to have her back.

Kara arriving at the airport!

This weekend is Loi Krathong here in Thailand. Right now it sounds like a war outside because of all of the fireworks. My favorite part is the release of lanterns into the sky at night and you can just see hundreds of them all at one time floating away on the wind. Its so cool! They also float (or loi) krathongs down the river as a thank you to the river and it is very beautiful. The streets are crazy and there are people just everywhere. We had a girl's weekend last weekend when the boys were all gone on men's retreat and we took pictures on a famous bridge in the city. Already, the streets were extra crowded and there were fireworks zooming over our heads.

Kohm fai (lanterns) and Thai outifts

Girls night at the bridge

  

We were all invited to a special Loi Krathong party at the Chief Justice's house. We all bought traditional Thai skirts and shirts and tried our best not to stick out like crazy. There were 600 people there and we only saw 2 other farangs. There were crazy dancers and singers and everyone was really dressed up and there was amazing food everywhere. We got to hang out with P Rung who is a church member here and a judge at the courthouse and his nephew Onglee. All of us sat with the P Pat the Chief Justice's wife and our friend Ba Tick most of the time. It was so fun and really a once in a lifetime experience. We also invited all of them to our Christmas party and I hope they will come.

About to loi krathong with Onglee

Our hosts the Chief Justice and his wife P Pat

Open Eyes

Firstly, Kara is coming here in exactly one week from today! We are so excited and can't wait. Currently we are airing out her room (its smells really weird) and looking for ways to decorate for her. When she gets here she will jump right in with what we are doing and substitute for Amanda's English class while she is gone in America for her sister's wedding.

Secondly, we had a crazy awesome time this weekend getting our visas renewed in Laos. We went with our friend Steve from New Zealand who needed his visa renewed too and we met up with our friend Haley in Phayao. We made pizza, lit and sent off lanterns, ate crickets, ran into a cow, talked to some really funny ladies at a temple, waited in line forever in Laos immigration, had a prostitute in our guesthouse, befriended the Thai owner of a Mexican restaurant, and generally had an adventure.

Lanterns in Phayao

Crossing the Mekong River to Laos

On the bus home from Chiang Rai Amanda and I were talking about how we are becoming more aware of how lost the majority of Thai people really are. When we first arrived, it was easy to just see how new and exciting everything was but now we can look around more critically and see how much their society needs God. Please pray with us about these things and pray that we can continue to show God to the people here.

Idolatry is very rampant here. There are temples on every high place and in every city with several statues of Buddha in each. It is almost painful to watch the people bow down and offer sacrifices to these golden images. It is so easy to relate this to the people in the Bible always being tempted to bow down to a statue. Recently Amanda said she felt like Shadrach, Meschac and Abednego when we went to a temple and were the only ones not bowing down. One of our students said that Thai people ask for things from Buddha like we ask for things from our god. It is hard to explain the difference and so easy to just nod in agreeance. We strive daily to be lights in a lost world.

This weekend there were only 4 rooms at our guesthouse and we had two of them and one man was in the other. We realized that night that he had a Thai prostitute in his room and we struggled with what to do. Do we say something or simply try to ignore it? It is a common issue here where many farang (white) men come to Thailand for the express purpose to find prostitutes. There are so many young girls here who know nothing else and think that prostitution is the only way they can ever make money. We must help girls understand their value and worth to their heavenly father.

Thai family structure is also changing where parents will leave their children with the rest of the family and move to a bigger city to find work. This puts so much pressure on the rest of the family and is not generally a healthy life for the child, never knowing their parents. And it is very normal in Thai families to have infidelity when they are in these different cities but to simply ignore it to save face. I know it happens in America too but it definitely feels more real to me here. One friend told us a story of a Thai man who had two wives, not legally, and brought them both to his father's funeral and everyone joked about it.

Ladyboys are men that act and dress like women. They are literally everywhere. Buddhism is very accepting and open to new things and this has allowed ladyboys to really be accepted into everyday Thai culture. There is no sense of this being wrong and it is so clear in the Bible that homosexuality is wrong and that God made us the way that he wants us to be. It is important for us to love the person and know that God loves them and wants them to know him.

Thinking of all of these things about the lack of God's will in Thailand makes us more ready and willing than ever to try to share Him with the people around us. We want to be light and hope to the people here and we are excited and encouraged by what we see happening around us.

A little R&R Time- Relaxing and Rocking

This week was the only time for a while that both Amanda and I and Mark didn't have school, since we are doing different programs on different schedules. We knew we wanted to travel somewhere and when we heard our friend Berm was going to Pai we jumped on the chance to go with him. Six of us, including his student Billy and our friend Lisa, squeezed into Berm's little car and took the crazy mountain road to Pai. It was so beautiful! I really love the mountains here, they are so green and misty and ... beautiful! Anyways, we jammed out the whole way and had to take a few stretch breaks and we were all very glad that no one got car sick. Apparently the motto there is "Do nothing in Pai" which means its a great place to relax, hangout,and eat lots of food. There is a cool market every night and lots of farang food and we all bought tshirts. Amanda wanted me to get one with people throwing up on it, there were many of these, but I refused. We stayed at an Israeli guesthouse that had awesome shwarmas and hummus. We drank a lot of coffee and ate too much. Billy's 12th birthday was the second day we were there and we let him pick where to eat and generally bugged him all day with our celebrations. I really thought he was like 15 so I was surprised to know he was just turning 12. We went to a Chinese village and did this crazy ferris wheel type thing. It was hilarious and Lisa and Amanda were screaming the whole time! Later we visited a waterfall and I got a sunburn being there for about 20 minutes. Everyone here thinks white skin is so cool but it really is dumb when I burn all the time. Anyways, the whole trip was really relaxing and fun and a great way for all of us to bond even more. Lisa is going to be taking Thai classes with Mark starting tomorrow so we are loving getting to know her better. One night the router was out at the guesthouse and we even got Billy to play Phase 10 with us instead of playing on his computer. He is hilarious and I'm glad that we got to spend his birthday with him. Here is a link to a video Mark made of our trip...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwb6pawh4iY&feature=share 
-Hilary

Ferris Wheel

Our group in our new Pai shirts

Happy Halloween, by the way! On Saturday night we attended an awesome rockstar party thrown by the Cheung Doi Church of Christ. It was so much fun. There were members from about 3-4 churches that all came together to have a great time of fun and fellowship. There was a buffet of awesome Thai food, a live band, amazing rockstar decorations, and everyone dressed up like a rockstar. The band was great. They sang mostly Thai song, but much to our surprise we were able to sing along to some of the songs! There was even guest appearances by Elvis, Linkin Park, and The Beatles. I was chosen to participate in an air guitar game. I rocked out so much that the plastic cup that was holding my hair up fell out. It was hilarious. Hilary was chosen to play a "raise your hand" game. We both lost, but had a good time doing it. We were able to hang out with one of our students and good friends, Nit. She really got out of her comfort zone and even danced with us. After the party, we went to a friends house to watch a scary movie and eat some imported candy corn in the spirit of Halloween. We didn't last the whole movie because we had to take our friend home, but we did not complain because we were terrified. We finished the movie on Sunday, and it really was not scary at all during the day. All in all we had a great Halloween and hope you did too!
-Amanda

Hil and Nit

Amanda in the air guitar contest

Mark's October Newsletter

Open publication - Free publishing - More thailand

Welcome Back!

This weekend we had a welcome back party for the beginning of the new semester at Payap. We invited all of the students we have been studying with and the church members and we were so excited to have around 20 people there. We had snacks and played English games and carved pumpkins. Most of them had never carved a pumpkin before and it was amazing to see the creative ways that they went about it. We had "Halloween in Love" and the old city skyline of Chiang Mai, just to show the diversity. We also announced our new way that we want to teach classes. It was becoming too difficult to keep up with 4 or 5 individual lessons a day all on different levels, so we are going to each offer a class twice a week and teach in a group setting. We are pumped about having more time to hang out with people and to have a more structured lesson each time.

Halloween in Love Team

amazing pumpkins!

Friday was the last day of Thai 1 for me and Amanda. We have learned A LOT and can understand more of what is going on around us now. Definitely not everything still. We're working on it. On the last day we had to give a presentation using everything we have learned so far including : introduction, family, time, daily activities, food, hobbies, and all using proper grammar. We both were amazed at how much we could actually say. Amanda wrote a skit that was hilarious and I helped her perform it in front of the class. It was a hit! Lately Mark and I have been learning to read and write with the help of some of our friends. We don't actually learn that until Thai 3 so I will just be ahead!

Our classmate Meri giving her presentation

Friday was also my birthday! In class one of the men brought me a bouquet of roses and the class sang to me. It was so sweet. I had one student that day, Wan, and she surprised me with a cake during our lesson! She has been coming faithfully 3 times a week and is improving in her English and now likes to hang out afterwards and meet new people. She is bringing her cousin to the new English class next week too! Amanda, Aun Aun, and I went to get massages after that and we got to practice our Thai with the massage ladies. It is really hard to think in Thai when you are being massaged to sleep. It was Aun Aun's first time and she loved it! That night we went to eat Mexican food at The Salsa Kitchen and it was so so amazing, the best I've had in Chiang Mai so far. It was good to celebrate with my friends and I was able to skype with my family in the morning to open presents they sent so it was an all around great birthday. Thanks to everyone!

Mexican food for my birthday

On Sunday all of the five churches in the area met again and we had a wonderful experience. The man who preached was from Alabama originally and talked very very fast so it was fun to watch P Glome from Bangkok try to translate while he was still talking. And it was fun to see my southern American life and my Thai life in such contrast and working together. After the church service we ate and then went to the Walking Water. It is so cool because you can walk on it because it has some mineral that makes it kind of like sandpaper so you don't slip at all. It was a great time of fellowship and we were excited that my student Aon came with us to church and the waterfall. It was her first time at church and I think she found it very interesting. She also helped decorate for the party and we played badminton this weekend. We are really enjoying getting to spend time we her and to connect her with our Thai friends here.

At the waterfall with Aon and Berm