PiCtUrEs!

I finally posted some pictures from the summer! Here's the link to view them: www.picasaweb.google.com/freckle89

There are two albums from this summer-- "Thailand 2010" & "Thailand 2010 (2)"
I know there's a ton, I kinda got carried away ;) Hope you enjoy them!

"And like our Savior, who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we are made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of. This is our purpose for living. This is our hope. 'And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.' (Romans 5:5)"
~Francis Chan, Forgotten God

stuff i learned =)

So in trying to gather my thoughts about what in the world just happened the last 2 months, I made a brief list of things I learned and God taught me. So here they are...

• When we share the gospel, it gives us excitement to spur us on to share more...We may not feel capable of sharing or know what to say, but God has given us the Spirit to give us wisdom in sharing the truth.
• In order to maintain joy, it's pertinent to go to God in prayer and realize He's the source of our life and salvation...Praise Him!
• God is sovereign! Even at the times when it seems there's no fruit or He's not doing anything, He is...God is faithful to bring glory to Himself--it may just be different timing than we expect.
• Sometimes it can be easy to grow complacent no matter where you are. Even though one may think a life of missions overseas would be constantly exciting or even easy, it's still just as easy to fall into a routine as it is at home and forget your purpose in life. I found myself easily falling into doing the ministry in Thailand with a sense of obligation or routine--especially once I felt I could do it on my own. It's important to constantly be reminded of our need to depend on the Lord and for Him to give us passion in doing His work as we read His Word and grow closer to Him.
• We are to praise God...because He is God. It doesn't matter the circumstances, how we feel, what it looks like He's doing/not doing, etc. We can rejoice because He is Lord over all and the God of salvation.
• God is still at work in Thailand...Continue to pray for the people there!

America here I come!

Well, today is my last day in Mahasarakham...tomorrow morning we head to Bangkok, then early Thursday morning we leave the country. It's so crazy 2 months have already gone by! English camp was awesome this past weekend...God is so good to have given us the energy to finish off this summer well.

I just wanted to post really quick letting you all know I'm coming back soon, and I'll write more when I get back about what I've learned through this whole experience :)

Sawadee Ka!

cHiAnG mAi =)

Since the students has Monday & Tuesday off as a result of the holiday Kaopansa, our team and 2 students left last Friday to take a short vacation to Chiang Mai. It's in the mountains of Northern Thailand, and I think it's the 2nd largest city in Thailand. It was about a 12 hour bus ride, which we did overnight and arrived at 9am Saturday.

Saturday: settled in, walked around exploring the city; went to the Night Safari!

Sunday: while the team rode elephants & bamboo rafts, I went to church & the Chiang Mai Zoo (huge!)...It took me about 3 hours to go through it all and see almost every animal you can imagine!
That evening we went to the Sunday market--incredible! We were there about 3 hours, and I'm sure we missed parts of it...mobs of people, good bargains, endless crafts/souvenirs/clothes...made for us being very tired shoppers with probably too much stuff at the end of the night!

Monday: the team went to zipline (I had done it, so decided to visit other things :) and white water rafting... All the while, I slept in, went on a mission to find a couple specific souvenirs, and visited the oldest temple in Chiang Mai. For dinner, we decided to take advantage of such a touristy city and go to a Mexican restaurant--so good! Then we went to the Night Bazaar, which seemed to go on forever! But it was definitely a fun experience :) Ginny and I even ran into a guy that eventually started talking to us all about Myanmar and the type of government they had, etc...He had volunteered in a village in Northern Thailand that has Burmese refugees...It was so interesting!

Tuesday: went to Wat Doi Suthep, a very famous temple outside of Chiang Mai, set beautifully in the mountains. It was incredible! It was also an eye opener for us as we saw many Thai people walking around the temple 3 times for Kaopansa (Buddhist Lent)...
Later we went to the mall for awile before leaving for our bus that night. Come to find out, as a result of some miscommunication, we had missed our bus (scheduled for the previous day)...long story short, we got it worked out where 3 of us left at 9pm and sat in the aisle of a bus for the ride there; and the other 5 left at 3:45am and got home around 5pm...We made it home and are so glad to be back in Mahasarakham!

Overall, it was an amazing trip...Even better that we got to have 2 of our Thai friends with us :) I had a great time and I know the rest of the team did as well!

What?!

It's hard to know where to start since my last post...so much is happening so fast that it's hard to remember the last couple weeks! (sorry it's been awhile...) Let's see, we had a pretty typical week of teaching last week, with a few nights of getting to hang out with students outside of class, at the market, etc. The English Department also had a "Tea Party and Poetry Night", where the students dressed up and had a presentation about poetry, and certain students got to share their poems with everyone on stage (pretty impressive!). We came in towards the end, but it was still really fun to see some of our students (& take lots of pictures) :)

It was lots of fun last week, because we taught about movie genres...the students talked about their favorite movies, then each small group presented a skit representing specific genres (and having the audience guess)--they were so funny to watch! I love getting to see the students' imagination and creativity during the roleplays.

Sadly, today is our last class...it's so crazy to think that we're finishing up the summer! We had lots of students over last night and cooked tacos for them, which I think they enjoyed (definitely different than what they're used to haha). We're having a couple parties before we leave next week, so be in prayer that we'll continue to be focused on spending time with students...and also that goodbyes won't be too hard :(

We've got another English camp this weekend (same theme as before) for the 3rd year students, so we're trying to get everything prepared for that...I'm praying that we have energy and motivation to do our best!

Now on to the next post...we had the chance to take 4 day trip to Chiang Mai!

Mahasarakham...to Ubon...to Sisaket...to KHU KHAN!

Well, I just got back from going on a road trip to Khu Khan, where I served my 1st summer (2 yrs. ago) with the Cobbs. Charlotte (the Payne's daughter), Nancy (another MK), and I left at 6:30am from Mahasarakham to start our journey south. We took a bus 4 hours down to Ubon Ratchathani, then hopped on another bus to Sisaket, which was about an hour away.

 Debbie, Moriah, and Titus Cobb met us in there, where we had lunch at Pizza Company and shopped around some. It was so great to see the Cobbs again after so long! We headed back to the Cobbs house in Khu Khan, about 45km south of Sisaket, where we got to see the rest of the family (David, Rachel, Dawson, and Lydia)…so cool to see how much the kids have grown! I think one of my favorite parts was being out in the country again, seeing the familiar small town I had once been for a couple months :)

We hung out for a little while at the house before I got to reunite with 2 Thai girls (twins) I had gotten to know while serving there…I've missed them and it was SO exciting to see them again! It's hard to believe they're seniors in high school now :) It seems like so long since I've been to Khu Khan, and yet it felt so familiar like it was just yesterday…

Anyway, we went to the market for a little while before dinner, which was fun to see around the apartment I had lived in…not much has changed :)

We went back to eat Debbie's delicious cooking--lasagna-- and I was glad that the twins got to stay fairly long through the evening. I was also impressed with Moriah, Charlotte, and Nancy's cooking skills when they made meringue shells after dinner for everyone--so good! They tasted kind of like roasted marshmallows :)

After having house church this morning, we headed back to Sisaket so we could make our way back to Sarakham. The trip went smoothly, and we managed to make it back around dinner time. I even met a couple Christians on the bus, one of which is going to seminary in Khon Kaen, so that was a really neat blessing!

I'm so thankful God opened up this opportunity for me to go visit the Cobbs and see Khu Khan again, even if only for a weekend. This is definitely one of the highlights of my summer :)

Please be praying for the Cobbs as they continue to serve in Khu Khan. Also, pray for the twins, one of which recently became a believer :) I pray she stands strong in the Lord amidst such a spiritually dark place with few Christians to encourage her. Pray that her sister would see the joy God gives, and that He would work in her heart and draw her towards Him.

One more full week of teaching, then we leave for a 4-day trip to Chiang Mai--so exciting! Even better that we have 2 Thai friends joining us :)

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." {1 Corinthians 15:58}