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} 

Roi Et!

This past weekend, Stephanie and I had the privilege of staying with a good friend (also student) of ours and her family. She lives in Roi Et, which is about 50km from Mahasarakham. We had an INCREDIBLE time! Friday night we just left after the party at our apartment and got to her house fairly late. The next morning we left for Wat Pha Nam Yoi, a huge famous temple about an hour and a half from the main city. We stayed there for several hours, taking TONS of pictures; it was one of the most beautiful temples I've seen yet! It was only built about 4 years ago (has 6 floors, 2 of which aren't completed), and it's surrounded by some mountains. I can't wait to post pictures of it :) It's always a good reminder for me when I visit temples to remember our purpose for being here...This country is a spiritually dark place filled with people seeking to find truth and do "good" things. Please pray that we will strive to be reflections of Christ as we live and work here so that those who don't know Him will see that God is the one who gives everlasting hope. He the only one to whom praise and worship should be given!

We had lunch in the same area as well, in a little hut with mats that you sit on--so fun! We enjoyed doing some shopping in the souvenir markets also, which made us pretty tired walking around in the heat...We headed back and went to a nice restaurant for dinner with her family--we were eam mak (so full)! We definitely stayed up late having fun together and enjoying the air conditioning :) The next day we dropped by the small aquarium they have in Roi Et, which was cool :)...outside the aquarium there were 2 ladies that had lots of small birds in cages that you could pay a small amount to release--of course we decided to do it, so that was another little fun thing to add to our list of things done in Roi Et ;) Overall, the weekend was amazing getting to spend time with our friend, along with having great conversations with her :)

This week is off to a great start...God has been so good, and I pray we would continue to persevere and be strong in Him :)
Thanks for reading!

4th of July and Other Holidays :)

We had a great 4th of July party at our apartment last Sunday...About 7 students came, but with all of us, Scott, and Rich's family there, we had quite a full place! We had some decorations, LOTS of snacks (don't worry, we had plenty of watermelon!) and played some games. Also, we sang a few traditional American songs, including "My Country Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful" for our friends to hear. It was fun celebrating Independence Day in Thailand and the students seemed to enjoy it :)

We decided to continue the theme of holidays by teaching them in our classes this past week. We learned all about the main holidays in Thailand and taught them about several of ours. The students came up with some very creative skits for the different holidays, and it was cool for us to hear about how they celebrate :)

5 main holidays we learned about:

• Songkran: Basically a 3 day water festival during the hot (or rather hottest season, haha)...Many people will throw water on your throughout these days all around town...I'd love to be here for that one!
• Mother's Day: Celebrated on the queen's birthday, and many people go to the temple in the morning to make merit. Also, the students said if they're able to, they like to spend time all day with their mothers :)
• Kaopansa: The Buddhist Lent holiday (towards the end of this month) celebrated for a couple days.
• Roy Ga Tong: Sort of a light festival they celebrate by making little boats out of banana leaves. They put candles and sometimes incense then put the boats in the river to watch them float away (to represent the bad things in their lives going away). In Ubon Ratchatani there's a big celebration that the students said was beautiful at night watching the candles floating on the water.
• Father's Day: Celebrated on the king's birthday in honor of fathers...Similar to Mother's Day, but there also may possibly be fireworks in Bangkok and other big cities :)

This week Becca and I also had the chance to go to the Freshman Welcome party at the English Department on campus...quite an experience! It's a big deal to students to be able to dress up (this year's theme was boys dress in white and girls in black) and eat and have different performances throughout the night. There was a short play, some dances, a few songs...all of which were fun to enjoy with friends!

I'll be posting another update possibly tomorrow about me and Stephanie's trip to stay at a friend's home in Roi Et...can't wait to tell all about it! Until then, fon dee na ka (goodnight)!--at least from this side of the world ;)

English Camp Pictures!

I've finally put up some pictures from English Camp! It's not all of them, but here's the link to the ones I put up so far: Click Here :)

Enjoy!

Ice cream, Elephants, and the World Cup :)

We've had another great week of teaching, and even more time spent hanging out with students outside of class. Here are some things from the week (or just random thoughts :)...

• I had an awesome ice cream "sandwich"--literally. It included gelatin squares, rice, coconut & strawberry ice cream topped with syrup..all put right on top of a roll of white bread--tasty!
• A couple of our friends have been gracious enough to cook for us a couple times this week. We had sookee Tuesday night--a soup with lots of meat & vegetables (squid, crab, chicken, cabbage, seaweed, etc.) with some other yummy flavorings :) Thursday evening they came over to our apartment and cooked geng keaw wan gai (green curry) and kai jeow (omelette) with rice...it was arroy mak! (very delicious!) Afterwards we had a fun time trying to sing some Thai songs :) We're pretty excited because we're hopefully going to cook for them next week (maybe spaghetti or breakfast for dinner :)
• It's become a pretty common occurrence to see an elephant walk by our apartment at least 3 nights a week (you can pay to feed them)...Pretty cool to be able to say we see elephants randomly walking down the street. I love Thailand!
• It's awesome to be in another country during the World Cup...seeing every restaurant playing the games on their TVs, World Cup apparel at the 7/11 convenience stores, country flags decorating the post office...and even better, some of the adevertisement trucks (which have loud speakers and drive through the city saying ads) playing the World Cup song...I find myself subconsciously singing it in my head basically every day, haha.
• Our team enjoyed going to the Mahasarakham museum with Pat and Yui yesterday. It was fun as they acted like tour guides meeting tourists and showing us around :) They're lots of fun to be with! At the museum, there are neat traditional Thai houses to see and a mini zoo--which includes deer! A special sight for Thais to see ;)

Today we'll be heading to Roi Et with a couple students, one of which is from there. We'll possibly be seeing a temple and just spending time looking around the city...I'm looking forward to it!

{Colossians 4:2-6}

Go FiSH!

We had an awesome time at "Under the Sea" English camp this past weekend! We started on Saturday morning at about 9:00, and we had about 45 students come, plus our team of 6 volunteers and the Payne family. We did plenty of singing, relay games, and told several Bible stories. To go along with the "Under the Sea" theme of the camp, we told the story of Noah, Jesus calming the storm, and Jesus walking on water. Within our teams of sharks, whales, dolphins, and fish, we had small group discussions to talk more about the stories and practice English more. I had some great conversations with some students pertaining to the gospel and God's forgiveness. The camp lasted until lunchtime Sunday, and the students seemed to really enjoy all the activities we did :)

Some random highlights from camp:

• One of the relays included "shave the balloon", where the team leaders (a.k.a. the Americans), held balloons covered in shaving cream, and the team members had to shave them. The first team to pop their balloon was the sharks, which meant Kristen and the Thai shaving the balloon got shaving cream all over them--hilarious!
• It was fun to sing lots of songs pertaining to water...such as Baby Shark, Peace Like a River, Waves of Mercy, and Deep and Wide.
• Saturday night we introduced what a square dance was to the students...and we all proceeded to do the Virginia Reel :) It was so much fun doing a country dance with all the Thai students and teaching them "dosie-do," "bow to your partner," "swing your partner," etc. :)
• I enjoyed rooming with 3 other Thai girls for the night--all the while watching a Thai soap opera, chatting with the girls, eating lots of snacks, and then watching part of Transformers in Thai before heading to bed.
• The students prepared a neat song and chant to share with us....As they practice they wouldn't let us watch/listen because it was a "secret". Sunday morning we thoroughly enjoyed hearing them do the chants with motions :) They did such a great job!
• I was part of the Fish team, and by the end of camp (after earning points through relay games and decorating team posters)...we won!! Go Fish!! :D

Needless to say, we loved spending so much time with the students and had an amazing sense of accomplishment after it was over. God truly  has blessed us and has grown us closer to our friends and to each other tremendously...I look forward to seeing how God uses us this next month!

Sawadee Ka!

the park, food, and English camp...

I enjoyed going to the park this morning...since we don't have class until later in the afternoon on Fridays, Ginny, Becca, and I went to exercise at the local park. It completely made my day when I saw a class of preschoolers playing on the playground...Each time I walked around the park, I'd smile and wave to a particular group of little girls. Later as I sat down to rest, one little girl just kept waving over and over to me. She'd slide--and wave. Stand there--and wave. Run around--and wave. Turn around--then wave. I've determined that Thai kids are adorable!

Anyway, this week has gone by fast just like all the others...we taught every day with our regular schedule with several fun activities in between. Tuesday, several of the English Education students came over to our apartment, and we celebrated one of the student's 21st birthdays :)

Last night, we went to eat with Pat and Yui (2 English majors) at Boomsteak...they've got a good bit of "American food", or at least food close enough to it :) Fries, burgers, porkchops, etc...
We've found that we seem to be eating a lot...I guess food is a major part of many cultures :) I absolutely love eating Thai food! Here are some favorites (I'll do my best to explain since most of them I say using Thai :)...fried raman noodles, fried rice with chicken or pork, omelette over rice, garlic pork, Thai-style noodles, stir fried vegetables over rice, thom yam gung (a popular soup with spices and shrimp in it)...and of course, LOTS of tropical fruit!
The different brands they have for snacks are fun too...For instance, the other night I was craving some cookies to go with a glass of milk I had, so I went to 7/11 real quick...and came back with a package of Fun-O's! Talk about fun cookies :) Anyway, just some excitement I get from simple pleasures of life :)

English camp starts tomorrow, which is very exciting! We've got a full camp and have been planning a lot the past few days for all the activities we'll be doing...pray that not only will everyone enjoy it, but also that the Bible stories we tell to teach English will create good discussions among our groups to explain more about Christ and the Word.
As we go through life in Thailand for the summer, I pray that we won't grow complacent and forget the seriousness of the task God has called us to...May we be passionate about building relationships and sharing the gospel to those around us :)

[Colossians 1:9-14]

Thanks for your support!
~Shompoo

Lots of Teaching...and UNO :)

Well, another week has flown by...it's amazing how fast things go when we're teaching and getting to know students! It was a pretty typical week as far as the schedule goes...I battled some coughing and congestion all week, but I'm basically recovered now. I found it a little ironic that I had "cold" in such a hot country ;)

Wednesday was our first full afternoon of teaching the pharmacy students, which was a little challenging because they don't know quite as much English as the majors we're used to teaching. Nevertheless, it was great to meet them, and I'm looking forward to seeing them next week :)

Last night we had our weekly party, which was definitely a blast :) We were thinking we might be overwhelmed with how many students might come after inviting so many, but just a couple people came at first. Later 6 or 7 more came, so it was a good number to play games and interact one on one...of course, UNO was a big hit as usual, and then later we taught them a game called "Signs", which can be quite a funny game to play. Once they caught on, the Thais seemed to really enjoy it.

Some other random tidbits:

• We usually walk to school 2 or 3 days out of the week (maybe a couple km?), which leaves us VERY grateful for an airconditioned classroom!
• We now love to go "drink milk" with our friends...i.e. go to a shop down the road to drink smoothies/shakes-- a favorite pastime of the students :)
• There have been LOTS of applications already turned in for English camp coming up soon--very exciting!!

Please pray for interest in Lifegroups/Bible studies we're trying to start. We advsertised several last week to our students, but there were just 2 students who came for the one on Tuesday. However, those 2 seemed to be interested in coming again next week and possibly bringing friends. Pray that God will open the Thais' hearts to be interested in learning English through Bible stories in small group settings we're trying to offer. This coming Wednesday, we'll be helping Valerie with a Bible study she'll be starting.

A blessing from this past week also was that we met 2 Thai girls who will probably be coming to church Sunday. I'm excited to see they're interested, and I pray that God will be able to work through us to minister to them.

God is good!
-Hannah

Pictures

I uploaded some pictures! Click here to see them :)

we did it! the first full week of teaching...

Wow! We've officially finished our first full week of teaching at the university and it's been great...sometimes seemed to go by slow, other moments fast, but we're all enjoying in nonetheless :)
The students have seemed to enjoy the classes and (hopefully) learned alot...I'm definitely looking forward to seeing familiar faces next week as we teach on our regular schedule we've begun. The friends we've made have been so kind to us and helping us feel welcome here...The other night we went to the small market with several of them after class and we all had a blast! We were definitely all stuffed after dinner because they kept buying all these different foods for us to try, and it all being so good (arroy mak!), we couldn't resist :)

On Monday, Thursday, Friday we teach English Education majors of many different years on school; those classes usually have about 30 to 40 people on them. Tuesday and Wednesday we teach 2nd and 3rd year English majors, and those classes each have 20 students in them. We mainly taught about family last week, and most of the students caught on well, and we all learned so much about their families...it's alot of fun finding out where they are all from and what they like to do for fun. It's a little overwhelming trying to learn all their names (or rather nicknames, since all Thais have nicknames)...The ones we've hung out with lately include Mintra, Thu, Jiw, Momew, Tee, and so many others!

By the way, in case your interested, here are our Thai nicknames:
Me- Shompoo (rose apple)
Josh- Pleng (song)
Ginny- Nam Som (orange juice)
Stephanie- Nam wan (sweet water)
Becca- Nampung (honey)
Kristen- Namthan (sugar)
...when our student find out all our names, it's pretty funny cause they all say something like "oh you all so sweet!" haha ;)

Today we went with Thu, Tee, and Tee's sister to Khon Kaen for the day (about the 4th largest city in Thailand). We took a bus, and it usually takes about an hour to get there. They've recently built a really big new mall in Khon Kaen, where we watched a movie and had LOTS of pizza for lunch :) It was lots of fun hanging out together, and we look forward to possibly going again sometime to see more in the city.

That's about all for now...continue to pray for us as we meet so many new students and find ways to spend time with them and get to know them more. Also, please pray for the other missionaries we're working with, Rich and Vicki Casebolt, as they seek to make connections at another major university in town (Rajabhat Mahasarakham University). We're able to see them a few times a week to help Rich out and see their little boys sometimes :)

Sawadee Ka!
(by the way, I'm hopefully gonna have a chance to possibly post pictures next week...I'd love to share some with you if I can!)

Psalm 19:7-9, 14

"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."

Getting into the swing of things!

Well Becca and I just came back from talaat noy (small market) at the university, which is a great place to shop and buy food (cheap!). We enjoyed sticky rice and moo ping (pork on a stick) along with a yummy smoothie :) Last Friday night us girls walked a much bigger market that is only open Friday and Saturday nights and can be a little overwhelming at first with just floods of people shopping. You just kind of have to jump in a walk with the masses (better not try to walk the opposite direction!)...

Saturday night our party turned out great! There were only about 6 or 7 Thais that came, but we had a blast nonetheless! Playing Uno, chatting, and eating were probably the main highlights of the night :)

Sunday, our team had such a blessed time of worship together in the morning, where we sang, prayed, and shared Scripture with each other. It was so encouraging to lift each other up and hear how God is working in their lives as well. We enjoyed going to the Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, and in the evening we had Thai church. We meet in one of the church members houses, and it was amazing to see the Thai Christian family from last year (Ot, Gai, Nuan, Kopter, and Tra)... They are filled with such joy, and it was exciting to reunite with them and hear about how God's been providing for them and being faithful.

Today was our first day of teaching-- and it was splendid! The students seemed to really enjoy the activities we did, which consisted of some more introductory sort of things...playing a name game, tossing around a beach ball with simple questions on it, and singing "If you're happy and you know it". Later in the day, Becca and I got to tutor/teach a couple of high school girls named Faa and Deer...they were a little shy at first but very sweet. I'm looking forward to helping them learn English once a week.

Anyway, we'll be teaching some more in the morning... so I look forward to sharing with you all at the end of the week!

Sawadee Ka!!

Here I am, finally getting a chance to blog-- in the familiar internet cafe from last year :) It's hard to even know where to start with what all's been happening and going to happen soon! We arrived in Bangkok around 11pm Monday night (thai time), then Tuesday morning flew to the town of Udon Thani for orientation at the local church there. I loved being able to see that ministry there, where they have such strong Christian leadership from the local people. The pastor and associate pastor were involved in orientation as well, helping us learn more about Thai culture and religion. It was a lot of information, but definitely all really helpful as we learn to relate to the Thais we'll be teaching and ministering to.

There were 2 girls, Jessi and Stephanie, from Tennessee that met us in Bangkok and will be working in Udon Thani for this summer, which is about 3 hours from here (Mahasarakham), so hopefully we'll be able to work with them a couple times during these 2 months. Please be in prayer for them as they partner with the church there and serve in a variety of ministry opportunities.

Overview of what we've done and what we'll do the next few days:

• ate supper at KFC yesterday :)
• met 2 friendly girls in an Udon Thani grocery store who are teaching an elementary school there--did I mention one was from England and one from Australia?? how cool is that! It's quite exciting meeting other "farangs" (foreigners) here :)
• slept in this morning...til 8:30. Jet lag hasn't been too bad...well, maybe for some worse than others, haha ;)
• went downtown this morning just to look around-- saying we stuck out like a sore thumb would be a pretty accurate description I'd say. 7 white people walking together (one being 6'5") stands out just a little bit.
• ate lunchat my favorite restaurant around the corner-- love seeing familiar faces :)
• had dinner with Rich and Vicki Casebolt, who are missionaries here in Mahasarakham also (moved here in the last year or so)...they have 2 little boys, 3 yrs old and 1 year old-- so cute!
• had a Thai language lesson with Pat and Nui, some friends from last summer, which was so fun! they'll be back in the morning to teach us more...Thai is quite a fun language :)
• we'll be meeting with a few Thai professors we'll be partnering with for teaching ESL...starting to teach next week!

I guess that's about it for now (or at least what's on my mind at the moment!)...thanks for reading!

Sawadee Ka!

Wow...here I go again :)

I still can't believe I'm going to Thailand again-- and leaving this Sunday! To think I'll see all my friends at the university, experience everything with a new team, and learn more Thai (or at least try!)...It's hard to say what I'm most excited about, but I think it's mainly that I get to be in such an amazing culture, while striving to find ways to help them see the Truth that there's hope in following the Lord.

I'm so grateful that the Lord has provided for our team already, in that the political situation in Thailand has calmed down and that we're able to go without being fearful of what's going on.

It's also such an encouragement to know that there's so many of you here at home that are praying for us as we're there for the next two months building relationships in a place with such a minority of Christians. Some things you might can pray for while we're gone are...

• the missionaries: Scott & Valerie Payne will be directing us, and it takes a lot of preparation for the summer, having teams come to serve. Pray that they will have the dedication it takes to make the contacts and arrangements needed to have us come.

• the university students: Since most of our ministry will be teaching ESL and hanging out with students our age, pray that the students will be willing to meet and spend time with us so we can show them the love that Christ has given us. Also, please pray that they will see us not just as Americans, but as students who genuinely care about them and want to be open with why we have eternal hope and joy.

• our team: Pray for our team of 6 (Me, Becca, Ginny, Kristen, Stephanie, and Josh), that we will make the most of the time God's given us to spend in Thailand. Please also pray that we have boldness in building relationships with the Thais, and that we persevere in knowing that God will receive glory as we seek to do His work.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers! I can't wait to share more in the coming weeks about what's happening this summer!!
2 Timothy 1:7-9