PiCtuReS :)

Here's the link to my online photo albums :)

There are 3 different albums from this summer--with lots of pictures!
Hope you enjoy seeing Thailand!

I'm back!

Sorry for not posting earlier, but I'm back in Georgia safe and sound :) Our flight went well with no glitches...I've been busy unpacking and catching up with folks, but have had no trouble with jetlag, which is definitely a blessing considering how soon I have to get back to school.

I'll be posting pictures soon, so I'll put the link on here my next blog...
Thanks again for your interest and support--all your prayers meant so much to me!

~Shompoo

Last Day :(

We've been having some great times with our friends the past few days...definitely had some late nights as well ;) Yesterday after church we had a potluck and lots of people came! It was a great way to end our time here...

I'm just writing a quick post to say that this afternoon we're heading out of Mahasarakham to Khon Kaen, then going straight from Bangkok to Seoul, then ATL (arriving Tuesday morning)...Please pray for us as we say goodbye this afternoon to so many great friends here and travel back to the states.

I'll be posting pictures once I get back so keep lookin out for them! Next time I post, I be back in good ol' Georgia ;) Sawadee Ka!

don't worry, i'm still here :)

wow, it's been awhile since I've blogged...we just got back from going to lunch with some of the pharmacy faculty--they wanted to show their appreciation for our help this summer. Later tonight, a few of the professors from the English department are also taking us to dinner as a thank you...The people are so kind here!

So here's some highlights since the last post (sorry for delay, we've been crazy busy!)...

*Last Wednesday was the beginning of a 5 week Bible Study that Valerie is leading in Thai. There was only one Thai student and a professor, both of whom are Christians, so it was kinda sad not having more than that, but it being the week before midterms, slightly expected...It was still a blessing though, getting to meet together, singing praise songs, and reading Psalm 8. But some great news: yesterday we had it again, and 7 students came! At first some of them were shy to come because they had never been before and they weren't sure if they could since they weren't Christians...We told them them we would love for them to come and find out what we do during Bible study and learn about. It's basically a study of who God is, why we should know Him, how we can know Him, etc...alot of the basics that many Thais aren't familiar with.

*Last Friday was Rachel's birthday (21st!), so our weekly party became a birthday party! Many students came, and it was so much fun like usual :) We plan on having our last one tomorrow, so we hope to be able to see lots of our students before we have to leave next week :(

*This past weekend at English camp was great! It was much smaller than previous camps, but we still have 25 or so students, which was awesome considering it was the weekend before midterms started and many had said they couldn't come because of that. The theme was "Heroes", and in teaching English, we explained different stories of American superheroes (such as Spiderman and Underdog, haha), and Biblical heroes (Joseph and the father in the prodigal son parable)...And of course, we played lots of games and sang a whole bunch of songs, which they all seemed to really enjoy :)

*This week we don't teach classes since it's midterms at the university, so we've been spending lots of time here and there with all our friends :) It seems to be even busier than we were when we taught classes! I was so excited because a couple students named Noof and Peach asked if I wanted to join them in some of their elementary classes that they are student teaching for, it being their 4th year...So Monday and Tuesday morning I got to help out by reading some stories and teaching basic English to a Kindergarten class and a 4th grade class :) It absolutely made my day getting to see lots of cute Thai kids! Since this town is primarily a college town, we haven't interacted much with kids, so I just didn't even know what to do with myself cause I was so happy :) :)

*Tuesday: Went to lunch with the Paynes and a friend of our named Pat...then we went to this village about 30 kilometers away that has TONS of monkeys! They just roam around so you can take pictures and stuff...but beware, they're not as friendly and cute as they look ;) They started like hoppin on top of the van, but thankfully none of them attacked us-- although Rachel was threatened by one of them lol...I can't wait to put pictures up of this place cause I've never seen so many monkeys in my life--and in a place you could just walk around with them! The baby monkeys were my favorite :)
That evening, our group and the Paynes enjoyed going to Ot's family's house--the Christian family that got baptized a couple weeks ago. Some of them played tekraw, a difficult sport that Thais play. It's kinda like volleyball--with only your feet and head--and takes some serious skill to play...We got to sit and chat outside as we ate and took pictures. It was such a blessing to spend some time with them because they have amazing joy, and it's neat to have the deep bond of Christ with them :)

*Last night, Charlotte got to spend the night at our apartment...funny story though--we had no power all evening/night! We noticed in the afternoon that it was out, but apparently we were to dumb to think to tell Scott haha...so by the time he knew, it was too late for the electrician to come replace the fuse. But nonetheless, we had a blast! Two of our Thai friends Ploy and Pat also came over, and we sang songs as Aaron played guitar, made bracelets by candlelight, and just enjoyed time together. We also made late night run to 7/11 around the corner, which we tend to do often, even if it's just for a snack or Coke :) Thankfully, our air on the first floor was still working so even though everything was pitch dark, it was cool downstairs :) Ploy had to leave late, but Pat went ahead and stayed the night as well, so we all spread out mats downstairs on the tile (it was really hot upstairs without the fans working) and slept really good with the airconditioning, lol.

It's been great getting to have freetime to make plans with our friends this last week...Please pray that we'll continue to make the most of our time these last few days. And also, pray that goodbyes won't be too difficult, because I know none of us our looking forward to leaving all our friends next week...

Thanks again for keeping up with my summer and for all your prayers...they've made such a difference!
~Shompoo

lots of news...

I'm gonna apologize ahead of time for this post of sporadic thoughts...I can't quite remember in order what all we did this week, so here goes :)

~Sunday night after church, we enjoyed going to a restaurant called "Boom Steak", where they served lots of American food...It was our group of six and our good friends Pat, Ploy, Fern, and a new guy we met who goes by Big M. It was so much fun hanging out with them--they are all 3rd year students who can speak really good English and we've had several other opportunities this week to spend time with them :)

~We didn't get to teach Wednesday, on account of the University being cleaned--for fear of spread of the swine flu. There's been a case reported in Thailand and one of the students in Thailand died from it because they had had a previous illness, causing their immune system to be weak. Therefore, lots and lots of people are wearing masks around town...Since none of us 6 are scared or paranoid by it, it's given us great opportunities to share with our friends why we aren't afraid--we believe God gives us courage and hope through Him :)

~Our party last night went great...some regulars came, but we also got to meet a couple new friends as well. We played several new games, including a game called Bananas (I think)--one person is chosen to be questioned, but they can only use one same word continuously to answer all the questions--without laughing or smiling. For instance, the group may choose "Bananas" as the word...Whoever wants to in the group can ask that person questions like, "What's your name?"--Bananas. "What do you dream about?"--Bananas. "What did you ride to school today?"--Bananas. We had people answering questions with words like roach, moist, monkey breath...But if you laugh when you answer, the person who asked you the last question gets to be the next one interrogated. At one point, I had to answer with sewage... "What are you drinking?"--sewage. "What's your favorite smell?"--sewage. "What do you like to swim in?"--sewage.
It's lots of fun to see how long you can keep a serious face :)

~One of the recent pastimes we've been doing: swimming! We've discovered a pool that's really nice and it's cheap to go to. Today was a great day to go, and Oliver & Charlotte got to join us as well... Pat and Nida also stopped by for a little while :)

~Coming up July 25-26: English Camp. It will be at a center in Mahasarakham...We have enough spots for 50 students to come, but there haven't been any commitments made so far. We've only gotten to spread the word the past week or two, and many people are saying they have midterms the next week to study for. Please pray that many students will want to come so we can use this opportunity to grow relationships with friends and spread the love of Christ. Also, pray that we will do our best to prepare for the camp and have faith that God will bring students to it...Many times, Thais tend to shy away from situations where they think there won't be many people besides themselves, but if they know that there will be a big group going to an event they don't want to miss out. So if we can get a few students interested, we're hoping that will bring many more to join...

~Tomorrow is an exciting day because a Christian family that consistently comes to Thai church Sunday nights is getting baptized...The father (Ot), mother and their 3 boys are being baptized in a nearby river, so I can't wait to be part of that joyous time in their lives :) God is so good!

Until next time, Adios! wait, I'm in Thailand...

Majesty & Splendor

We started back teaching Thursday...Unfortunately in hotel management there were only a couple students that showed up--possibly cause it's right after the holiday and it's not a mandatory class. Friday, we had just a couple show up too, one of them being a sweet Christian girl we met a couple weeks ago :)Even though only one other person came, it was great to be able to teach her one on one English so she learned alot.

Last night we hosted a party as we usually do every Friday. We didn't know how many to expect since we didn't have long to get the word out that we were still having it...after about an hour passed some of the 3rd year Hotel Management guys showed up and we played games. Some more of our good friends (remember Lek, Tham, Fon, etc?) so it was GREAT to see them again after coming back from a holiday. Also, 2 of the girls who speak English really well from mine & Rachel's Wednesday class came as well :) So we hung out for a long time, played games, and made more plans to get together next week...tonight I'm excited to go to the night market with Lek, Tham, Rachel and whoever else is coming :)

After the party, I headed up on the roof (it's like another room, but has a half open wall with a fence covering it) to just look over the city as I thought and prayed...It was amazing because in the distant sky I suddenly saw flashes of light every couple of seconds--a lightning storm, but so far out that it was more like a light show :)The bright yellow/orangish flashes silhouetted the clouds as they shone bright without the slightest sound. So I stood there for 5 or 10 minutes, not wanting to turn away for it...I really wanted someone else to see it, so I ran downstairs to get Rachel, the only other person up (we're both a couple night owls ;). We just watched in awe of what God was showing us...it's hard to even put into words how incredible this was to watch. It reminded us of Psalm 19:1-3...

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

It was not only beautiful to watch, but for me it was a much needed confirmation of how powerful God is and His sovereignty. To be able to rest in Him and trust that He will do great things is such an honor to be a part of. May He alone get the glory and praise for everything we do and say...

home sweet home :)

We're back from Cambodia! I'll try to be detailed but concise at the same time about our trip...

*Thursday: took a 4 hour bus ride to Surin, a town close to the Thailand/Cambodia border. great town that wasn't too big or too small...

*Friday: left in the morning for the border...made it across fine with no visa problems. definitely a distinct difference between Thailand and Cambodia. we've heard it said that Cambodia is like Thailand 10 years back--i'd say that's true from the looks of the land. it's gorgeous, but dirtier and not as advanced. we took a car taxi on the 4 hour dirt road to Siem Reap.
Had to get adjusted to the right side of the road again, after being in Thailand for the last month where they drive on the opposite side of the road like England :)
Siem Reap--VERY touristy town. kind of freaked us out when we saw white people walking down the streets everywhere...went to the Angkor National Museum, which was great to learn about so much Khmer history and culture. we also visited the night market which was fun, but way too tempting to spend money on so many bargains!

*Saturday: headed to ANGKOR WAT at 5am to see the sunrise at the temple...it's hard to even describe how incredible Angkor Wat is! absolutely huge and makes for great pictures...it was cool to imagine what it was like at the peak of its day with the Khmer people living there. i can't wait to post pictures! we spent pretty much 3/4 the day going to all the temples--besides Angkor Wat there were 4 or 5 others, I can't quite remember right now how many. they all had such distinctly different architecture that was neat to see and i couldn't believe that there were that many temples within such a close range to each other.
at one of the temples called Bayon we enjoyed riding an elephant around the temple grounds. it was like you'd imagine riding one--very slow and steady ;)

Later that afternoon, our tuk-tuk driver drove us out to a lake where you could ride a boat 10km out to a floating village...once we got out there we decided we were burnt out on spending money, so we opted out on the boat ride but we're really glad we got to have the long drive out there to see rural Cambodia. Lots of Khmer people bustling about and stick houses on stilts above the beautiful rice fields...

*Sunday: we hopped on a bus to go to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia...not quite as touristy as Siem Reap, but still a big city nonetheless. after finding our guesthouse, we strolled around the city and enjoyed a watermelon smoothie in the middle of the market :) that night we enjoyed some delicious Khmer food at a street restaurant--loklak beef, fried rice, and grilled frog...like I said-- so delicious! I think this was everyone's favorite meal the whole trip.

*Monday: spent the morning going to see and learn about the Khmer Rouge--extremely eye-opening and interesting...first we went to S-21, which was a high school that PolPot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, converted into a torture prison. within a 3 or 4 year period, about 20,000 people had passed through the prison...we saw pictures of people of all ages who had been prisoners, pictures of torture methods, and prison cells they had kept people in. it's hard to describe in words the terrible destruction this caused to the country and people of Cambodia. I would love to explain more about the event, but for the sake of time and blog space, I'll just keep writing about the trip--but I'd encourage you to read more about the Khmer Rouge for the sake of learning...
After S-21, we headed about 20km out to the killing fields, where Polpot's combatants would take prisoners to be executed...there were many mass graves there and a monument to remember those who lost there lives there.

That afternoon we caught a flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, where thankfully we got the exact amount of days on our visa to stay in the country until August 4th, the day we come back to the states--God is so good!
we immediately hopped a bus to Nakhon Ratchasima (also known as Khorat), which is in the biggest province in Thailand...we stayed the night there in a nice hotel and got to sleep in after all that traveling :)

*Tuesday: travel back to Mahasarakham!! we are all so happy to be back here. You should have seen us when we got to the Bangkok airport cause we were all so giddy and loved being able to even say Sawadee Ka and have them understand us! I absolutely loved getting to go to Cambodia, but after being ripped off as tourists in big cities, I am really glad to be back in a small familiar town where we know how to get around and live like Thais...

sorry this one ran long, but I hoped you enjoyed getting to learn some about Cambodia... I have so many more stories to tell, but until my next post--Sawadee Ka!

RoAd tRiP!!

Just writing a quick note to say that I'm headin to Cambodia! Me, Lydia and Aaron are leaving Thursday night, while Stu, Sarah Beth, and Rachel head the opposite direction to Chiang Mai the same day...our main purpose is to visit Angkor Wat in Siam Reap, but we'll also get to spend a day in Phnom Penh, the capital. July 6-8 is Buddhist Lent, so there are no classes then, giving us about 5 days of a holiday :) I'm SO grateful for this opportunity to travel and see Cambodia...please pray for everyone's safety as we travel and that we'll be a reflection of Christ as we encounter many different people along the way.

Can't wait to tell all about it when we get back!

Halfway there...

Sorry it's been awhile since I've written...I didn't realize a week had passed by! We've reached the halfway point for the summer--1 month down, 1 to go...It makes me slightly sad that it's already reached halfway, but I'm glad for the time we've had and that we still have a whole month left :)

Some things from this week...
~you can definitely tell when rainy season is in full swing! The other day we went to the night market on campus and as we were finishing dinner, the bucket dropped...within like a 5-10 minute period, you could see the stark difference of color in the sky--as first just dark cause it's night, then unbelievable black as the winds came in and the Thais with their little booths started scurrying to take cover during the torrential downpour...So we waited for awhile, then left as it was sprinkling to catch a song-tao before it got to late and they stopped going around town. Then as we were on it, it poured and poured more and we saw lots of people that were drenched as they were riding their motorcycles...It's been raining pretty much every night now.

~Last week, we attempted to make pancakes at our apartment...somehow we didn't know how to read the ingredients or something cause the batter turned out REALLY watery. And it being about 7pm, we didn't have time to go to Big C, and none of the convenient stores have flour or some kind of other filling to make it thicker. So I figured hey, what would it hurt to put "Nesvita" in there, which is like a hot instant cereal mix that's powdery and sweet like malt. We put several packets of that in there, and just a little bit of oatmeal...Needless to say, the pancakes were slightly lumpy, but SO good! I think we've discovered a new pancake recipe haha ;)

~A friend of ours, Woot, took us to a vegetarian restaurant the other night...It was really good! And the lady that runs it, Pee-Ben, speaks fluent English and is so passionate about informing people about eating healthy, naturally grown foods to live a longer life. She is such a sweet lady, and I can't wait to go back...Please pray for her though because she told us she became a Christian (I think maybe when she was in Austria studying?), but now she is open to many religions since, according to her, they all teach people to be good...I pray that we'll continue to have more opportunities to speak to her and explain that we can never be good enough on our own, but desperately need the grace of God.

~The party last night went great...Most of the people that came last night were third year students and spoke great English (as opposed to last week, many were "Freshies"), so it was a good change to have a smaller crowd and talk more easily with them. Three of the girls watched Madagascar 2 with us (great movie by the way!) and they seemed to really enjoy that...them understanding most of the movie shows you just how much English they know :) Anyway, today we'll get to just hang out and rest...we may go to the night market--hopefully we won't get drenched ;)

Kop Khun Ka (thank you) for reading my blog!!

Teacher= Ajan

This week has been great (like the rest :) We've been teaching, and now that we're really in the groove of everything, we're getting to know the students and enjoying the time we spend with them so much! We have a set schedule for teaching, and we all get to teach with the others of our team different days, so it helps things not get boring or mundane...This week we did lot of fun games and taught the students mostly about occupations. On Monday, our group (Stu, Lydia, Sarah Beth, & me) finished about 10 or 15 minutes early,so we decided to let the kids (about 30) teach us the Thai names for the occupations we had taught them...now that was hilarious! The words seemed so hard to us and the students got quite a kick out out of us trying to say them, especially since here and there would would mess up the tones :)

I love me & Rachel's Wednesday class because they are 3rd year English majors and they can speak English really well...We played a word game called Blurt and Scrabble, which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy. We got to eat with 3 of the students as well after our class, so it was great to get to know them better.

Nothing much has happened out of the ordinary, except it was great because a student named Oui came to our class in the Hotel Managament Faculty, but she had been Wednesday so she already knew occupations...She asked us some interview questions that she had to have for another class, and somehow we got into why we had the names we had. Lydia proceeded to tell the story of Lydia in the Bible, and I got to explain about Hannah in the Bible...for the next 30 minutes or so, Lydia and I sat with Oui going through stories in the Bible to explain the gospel to her. I'm not sure she understand all of it because she's not fluent but she did seem to understand some of the major points Lydia was trying to get across, so please pray that we'll have more opportunities to further explain, and use a Thai Bible, to show her the truth and hope God gives to those who follow Him.

We held another party at our apartment last night, which we've decided to do every Friday because they are such a success...A total of about 30 or so students came, and it's lot of fun to get to hang out with them and have more one on one conversations than in the classroom. One of the 3rd year students from mine & Rachel's Wednesday class came (Tongz) and brought a couple of friends, so Aaron & I got to talk with them for a long time and play some Uno as well :) And oddly enough, another one of their friends came who was from the Philippines! His name is Jake and he lives with his parents right around the corner from our apartment...He's lived in Thailand for only a year now, and is originally from Manila (he speaks fluent English)...his parents are Christians, and he said he is, but as he stated he's "not the religious type" and hasn't been to church in about 6 months. Please pray for Jake and that God will break down those walls so he can experience the grace of God once more and live completely devoted to the Lord.

Today we get to rest and plan some, so it's a nice break from this a busy week...I'll probably head to Big C (like Walmart)sometime this afternoon, which is usually a pretty hap'nin place lol :)

*Random Facts for the day:
-a 1st year student, or freshman, are called "Freshy"...Our Monday class is all "Freshies" haha
-ALL students wear uniforms to school...including college students!

Watch out for the geckos!

What a fun-filled last 2 days we've had! After teaching on Friday, we prepared our apartment for a party we were hosting at 5:00 for whatever students wanted to come. When 5 rolled around, nobody had shown up, so all of us just enjoyed playing board games to pass the time. 30 minutes went by...and hour passed...then finally at about 6:00 some people came! As we've quickly learned, the Thai people aren't quite as time-oriented like we tend to be. So people came and went and at one point we probably had 15-20 people in the little downstairs of our apartment...we played Uno, talked, ate, played a game called signs, ate some more, then played badminton towards the end when the number of people started dwindling. Overall, we felt like the party was a success :)

And funny story...After everyone had left and we were about to hang out for a little bit, I went to grab a small table for us to play cards...I didn't even realize something had crawled up my arm and on my shirt until Sarah Beth said "it's,it's... on your back"... I was scared it might be a spider or something cause Rachel was tryin to swat it off and I didn't wanna spill my drink, but come to find out, it was a gecko! haha, those little things show up everywhere :D

On Saturday, since we had no plans for teaching or anything, we decided to take a trip to Khon Kaen, about an hour or so away from Mahasarakham & also the 4th largest city in Thailand. We went shopping some & went to a beautiful temple called Wat Nong Wang. It was 9 stories & looked kind of like a pyramid from the outside, so we got to walk on a balcony on each level. It was beautiful at the top, getting to look out over the city of Khon Kaen. When we first got to the temple, our Thai friends who had come with us on the trip offered flowers and incense to Buddha as they bowed down to pray. It was very eye-opening & saddening at the same time to see that they are putting hope in a false god. Please pray for Rinda, Lek, Fon, Nan, Tham, Got, and Noi...that they would clearly understand when we tell them about Christianity and the grace God has to offer them. It's difficult to tell if they understand because they don't speak fluent English...Especially pray for Rinda and Lek, who know the most English out of the group; Lydia, me, and possible Rachel are meeting with them Monday to show them more about the Bible & God. Pray that GOd will give us words to day...They are very open to learning about Christianity, so I pray that God will work in their hearts to show them the truth of the gospel.

I better go....until later, sawadee ka!

Pictures!

I uploaded lots of pictures from the past several weeks...Click here to view them :)sometime I'll get around to tagging them, but it's really time-consuming...you're welcome to ask questions about them though!

(the slideshow on the right is pictures from last year's trip to Thailand)

fun random facts for the day :)

I decided to think of some interesting cultural and random facts to blog about...

-even though it's like 100 degrees outside everyday, Thais STILL wear jackets...we still can't figure that one out.

-Around the town, poodles seem to be a popular pet...they're everywhere! who woulda thought??

-everybody you meet has a nickname (they're regular names are usually pretty long)...don't be surprised if they ask you what you're nickname is (mine's shompoo, which is a fruit that's called a rose apple, or it can mean pink). So far I've met several people with names like Pang, Ping, Lek, Noi, Aoy, Nan, Jeop, Fon, Tick (Tock), Yod, and the list goes on and on...it's fun to try to remember all them!!

-We went to dinner at a Korean BBQ place 2 nights ago...it's an upside down bowl lookin thing on your table, and you grill the meat ontop, and boil the vegetables & noodles in the water surrounding the mini mountain grill. Kinda hard to explain, but SO good! We got to try boiled squid :) didn't taste like much, but it was still pretty good if you could get past the bouncy texture.
And while we were eating, a couple of guys walked by with a baby elephant, so we got to feed it for 10 baht :)

-The past couple of days since the Paynes have been gone we've gotten to take care of their black & white guinea pig named Oreo :) he's lots of fun to play with, but it's not very fun when he pees on you...trust me.

Hope you enjoyed learning more about Thailand!

farang farang!

I decided to go ahead and write another post, so maybe they won't run quite as long if I do them more often :)

Sunday was a blessing, as usual...We had about 20 people there (at Thai church), so it was pretty much a full house. After singing Thai praise songs (which is always a blast ;), I enjoyed getting to teach Elliot about Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus.

Yesterday teaching went well...we just did a basic introduction of ourselves and allowed the students to introduce each other. It was tough to get them to speak at first because they were all really shy, even though they could all speak fairly good English. Since Sarah Beth, Stu. and I had the afternoon free we decided to check out the park a couple kilometers down from our apartment. So of course along the way, we heard several shouts of "Farang, farang!", which means foreigner, or white person...you gotta love standing out as the white person in the crowd, haha. The park was beautiful, and it was fun getting to play some badminton and frisbee :)

Today with teaching went even better because we played some great games that the students really seemed to enjoy. A couple of us taught the Hotel Management majors while the other four were in the English department. I can't wait to let ya know how the rest of the week goes!
The Paynes left for Bangkok today to pick up some of their family and will be back in a few days, so be in prayer that they'll have a safe trip...oh and also please be in prayer for our team member Lydia because yesterday she had the flu with a high fever. Today she helped teach some, but she's still trying to regain strength--and I hope that none of us get the flu either...

Sawadee ka!

pat? or pat?

It's been great getting to know the city, language, and people more this past week. One of the pharmacy professors at the university hosted a welcoming party for us at her house Friday night, so our team went with Scott & Valerie to Ajan Ben's house, where there were many other teachers we got to meet. She is so sweet and speaks fluent English, as do some of the others. And of course, the food was arroy mak (very delicious), as is almost all Thai food. We played a game as well, where everyone had to find a friend and spend ten minutes getting to know each other by asking questions like what's your favorite color, how old are you, how many people are in your family, etc. I enjoyed getting to know Cam, who just started working at the university a week ago. When time ran out, all the partners sat back to back and Ajan Pom read 5 questions that we had to answer about our friend. Cam & I both answered 4 out of 5 correctly, so we were pretty excited even though we didn't win :) One question that stumped most people was what's the weight of your friend, which tends to be a common question for Thais (so don't be offended if they ask you haha).

Last night, our friends Rinda, Lek, Nan, Nui, Jeop, and Fon came by to see if we wanted to got the night market, so after eating dinner we walked down the street to the talaat since we had never been there before. It was a blast getting to converse with the girls because they love to try to teach us Thai. We laugh alot though, since half the time we say words wrong because of the tone...for instance, I was trying to learn the word for a hand fan, which is pat...but pat can also mean fried if it's said in a low tone, so it's lots of fun trying to distinguish the sounds they make :)

Anyway, me, Sarah Beth, Stu, Fon, Nui, and Rinda (got those names straight? lol) were waiting on the others (who like to shop more than we do ;) and Rinda was telling us the Thai word for moon. She then started saying that some pray to the moon so they can have something good happen to them. So we asked her more questions about what Thais believe about spirits, and what she believes. She said she isn't sure exactly; she believes some of Buddhism, but she wants to learn more about other religions and understand them before she decides which one is best. After some frustration with not knowing how to say something in English she wanted to tell us, she asked why everyone has to speak a different language--why can't we all just speak the same language? We told her we actually had a story about that, so Sarah Beth got to tell her about the Tower of Babel :) Please pray that we'll have more opportunities to keep sharing about what we believe and what the Bible says because many Thais are open to it. Also, pray for Rinda that she'll have clarity and understanding about Christianity and the truth of the gospel so she can have the hope and joy that only Christ can give.

Church with our team of 6 was such a blessing for all of us. We enjoyed worshipping in song and discussing Colossians 1 with each other...tonight we'll have Thai church, which usually consists of the missionaries (Scott & Valerie) and about 7 or 8 Thais. I enjoy getting to teach Elliot, who is 8 years old, while Lydia meets with Charlotte, and Stu meets with Oliver. Pray that we'll be able to reach out and pour into the Payne kids so they can grow closer to the Lord.

Now that I've written a book, I'll end my post now :) We start teaching tomorrow, so I'll be excited to let y'all know later on in the week how everything goes!

Mahasarakham to Mukdahan!

Wow, what a great past week we've had! The university we'll be teaching English classes at doesn't start until Thursday, so we've basically just been getting to know the town of Mahasarakham better, as well as trying our best to pick up some of the Thai language and find some key restaurants we like around here...the food is amazing, although sometime spicy enough to clear your sinuses, that's for sure!

Our team is staying in a four-story apartment (don't worry, they're small levels, it's not a mansion or anything ;) We're all settled in and love it, although no air-conditioning can sometimes be inconvenient in this humid 90-100 degree weather...but we're enjoying it nonetheless! The town is fairly big, so we take song-theaws (like pickup trucks with a roof over the back and 2 long benches) around to different places in certain routes... and funny story, the other day we were downtown meeting an American teacher for lunch and we decided to be adventurous and try to get back to our apartment on our own using a song-thaew. We thought we knew which one to take (they're color coded according to routes) and where to get off, but apparently not one of us really knew good enough to find our way back. So we got off at what looked like the end of the route and just started walking back in what looked like the direction to downtown, even though all the roads looked pretty much the same to us haha. So we finally all voted on catching the next song-thaew back to downtown and calling Scott the missionary to come get us (none of us brought the cell phones we've been provided, of course...) so we finally got it all worked out to get back...but we all just took it in good humor and figured, hey, how many people do you know that could say "I got lost in Thailand one time, how bout you?"

Anyway, today we got to travel to Mukdahan, which is on the border of Laos. Apparently, when me and Lydia (another girl on the team) arrived at the airport, they didn't see that we had a 80-day visa already, so they stamped us to depart June 24--quite different that August 4th, the day we needed! There's an immigration bureau in Mukdahan, about 3 hours from Mahasarakham, so we had to spend the day there waiting to see if the problem could be fixed...After filling out forms, making copies, and waiting a few hours, they finally put a little red stamped date of August 23 on our passport and we were set! I'm glad that God worked that out so we could actually stay the whole summer :) and it was great to see over the river into Laos as well!

We've already met several Thai friends that hopefully we'll be able to hang out with some more this summer, and somehow share with them the gospel, although the language barrier gets frustrating at times. Our team will start teaching on Monday to the university students, so I want to ask that you'll pray that we'll be able to plan lessons and not be too anxious about it. This is the first time teaching ESL for most of us, so it can be intimidating. Also, please pray that we'll take advantage of every opportunity to spend time outside of the classroom with the students we meet, even if we may get tired or drained. I'm so grateful for your support!

We're Here :)

Just a quick post to say that we made it safely with no delays...14 hours to Seoul then about 6 more hours to Bangkok--needless to say REALLY long! We'll be in Bangkok until tomorrow evening until we fly out to where we'll be staying for the summer. We've been doing a little training and sightseeing throughout today here in Bangkok--quite a bustling city! It's great to be back here, and even better to be with a team that shares a passion for missions...I can't wait to see what God has in store!

~Hannah

12 More Days!

Well according to my countdown, there are 12 more days until our team leaves for Thailand—unbelievable! I'm slowly transitioning from coming back home to packing up to leave; it's such an odd feeling...I can't wait to live short-term again in the Thai culture, yet I know it will be challenging to learn how to minister to the Thai university students, since this summer will be a different aspect of ministry than my last trip.

I want to share some verses from 2 Corinthians 4 that I love coming back to as a reminder while serving others and spreading the gospel of Christ (the first of which inspired the title of my blog :)...

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...

15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do no lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Anyway, I just really like the metaphor Paul uses of us having “this treasure in jars of clay”...we're merely vessels to carry the gospel to others, and we should in no way try to bring attention to ourselves. The power and ability comes completely from the Lord—which is the only reason why we don't get crushed, abandoned, or destroyed by the worldly things surrounding us. May we always remember the eternal purpose we live for and thank our Almighty God for giving us the strength to accomplish it :)

Back to Thailand!

I'm so excited to share with you that I'll be returning to Thailand this summer! I'll be going with 5 other college students through the Baptist Collegiate Ministries from May 24th to August 4th. We'll be working with Scott and Valerie Payne, who have 3 kids (15, 12, and 7 year old) and have worked several summers with BCM summer missionaries. They live in Mahasarakham (try pronouncing that name!) and have been IMB missionaries since 1998. The town is in Northeast Thailand just a few hours from Khu Khan, where I worked last summer.

Since I'm going through BCM, they'll be paying for my expenses this summer, of course excluding the souvenirs I'll want to buy :) I'm so thankful to the Lord that everything will be paid for, but I also want to ask that you be in prayer for me and my team as we minister to the Isaan people of Thailand. We'll mainly be working with university students, seeking to build relationships with them in order to share the gospel and show them the love of Christ. I'm excited about meeting many more Thai people and seeing how God will work in and through our team during the two months we're in Mahasarakham. There are several ways you can pray for us as we prepare to go and as we're there striving to reach out to the nationals...

Pray for our team as we spiritually prepare for the trip... I hope that we will all prepare our hearts and realize what a privilege it is for us to share the gospel in Thailand. Also, pray that we would give full credit to the Lord for allowing us to go on this mission trip and that we will use every opportunity possible while we're there to boldly proclaim His Word.

Pray for the Thai people... The national religion of Thailand is Buddhism, and an extremely small percentage of the nationals are Christians. Pray that they would be able to understand God's grace and see the eternal hope that a relationship with Christ gives.

Pray for perseverance... Since Buddhism is at the core of Thailand, I pray that me and my team do not get discouraged if we don't see tangible results during the time we're there. As I learned last summer, there are not many Christians in Thailand, so I pray that we would continue to persevere in the work God has called us to do, even if it's only to plant a seed for others to harvest after we leave at the end of the summer.

Pray for the Payne family... As they prepare for our team of 6 to come, I'm sure they are staying busy organizing the work that's to be done. Pray that they would continue to have strength in the months to come, and especially as they do follow-ups with the relationships we build with Thais. I'm so excited to meet them and see the ministry that they're continuing in Mahasarakham.

Thank you all for your prayers last summer, and I can't wait to let you know all the fun and exciting things God will do during the trip this summer!