Donna's Summer 2003 Thailand Journal

Sorry, sorry, sorry for not updating lately. We have had some packed days.. everyone keeps us pretty busy. We actually had our first free afternoon this past Saturday (freshman camp was going on this weekend so we couldn't hang out with the students and make food, etc.). Anyway, I will try to cover the highlights quickly, since I only have about 20 minutes to do this...

Wednesday, June 18:
The classes with the staff are getting better all the time. We had a great time, and we are joking and laughing a lot more with them, which is cool since we interact with the office staff everyday, moreso than the students.

Okay, Sarepta and I got a haircut. Hers looked really cute.. mine looked like a mullet. We both showed the lady a picture of what we wanted, and neither of us really got exactly what we were wanting (isn't that sort of a universal rule with stylists?). Anyway, we went back to the dorm and Sarepta cut off the longest layer of my hair that was hanging down kind of by itself, so that it is sort of a short choppy layered look. The longest part of my hair goes to my chin (that's in the back).. since I didn't pack a lot of hair products, it's just kinda going free now. Oh well. It will grow back someday.

Thursday, June 19
Tonight we had our team Bible Study time at Quintin and Kim's. It was really amazing. We started our bible study with The Joy of Fearing God. It is a really good book, and we covered the first two chapters, talking about the true meaning of the word "awesome," and what "fearing God" actually refers to. We also had a long time in worship, which the team has asked for me to lead. We also shared what God had been showing us and been doing through us in our day to day lives. It was really cool to hear what was going on in different lives and situations. After the Bible study we just jammed a little and talked and laughed with the other campus groups. It was just nice to speak English as fast as you wanted and to eat some farang food (Kim's Thai helper made some American chicken and dumplings, and big baked potatoes.. Thais' idea of a baked potato is a little spud about the size of a small lemon). Oops, just looked at the time.. hurry, hurry, hurry...

Friday, June 20
Today we went to the Flooded City, Wiang Koom Kam. Apparently the big river in Chiang Mai changed its course about 500 years ago, and the old Chiang Mai was completely flooded. It has since dried, and has recently been escavated and turned into a big touristy place. We went for most of the day.. our student buddies went with us, along with our team from Chaing Mai University (they had the day free). We rented bicycles, and rode around looking at the old temples and buildings. There were also random elephants that you could buy sugar cane and bananas to feed them. I fed a couple and pet them for a while (I really liked elephants before I came here, but I am beginning to just love being around them and hanging out with them.. is that weird?). :) Anyway, that night another Ah-jahn (he studied in Chicago for a couple of years) took us out to his family's restaurant. We ate a lot of traditional Thai food, and he and his musician buddy played about a 45 minute set of folk songs, including John Denver (Thais apparently love John Denver). Anyway, it was a lot of fun..

Okay I will have to finish updating later.. it's lunch time. I'll try to catch a few minutes in here tomorrow or so. This is going to be a very busy week for us. Okay, later on..

All right, it's Wednesday, halfway through week 3 in Thailand. The time is going by so fast... I wish it would slow down a little. I don't think I'm ready to start thinking about heading back to the States. Ah well.

Okay, so Monday night we went to Kan-tok, the traditional northern Thai dancing/dinner theatre. It was really fun. The dancers were beautiful and talented, and the food was great. We sat on the floor, and were served a huge plate with several different bowls each containing different types of food. Several of the foods were new, but they weren't nearly as spicy as much of the Thai food has been. The dancers were really neat.. one dance a woman dressed in a shiny gold dress with a fin coming out of her back- she was supposed to be a fish. Then another character joined her, and he was supposed to be a monkey. They both came out into the crowd and got pictures with some of the kids and the audience. I got pictures of both, so hopefully I can post them when I get home.

Yesterday we taught our crash course in English for the office staff for the first time. It went pretty well.. we have to keep remembering that we must keep our English very simple. We went over titles and parts of names, as well as an introduction to the course. He actually sits in the back of the class while we teach it. Overall I think it went well.. I believe that the "students" had a good time. We recognized many of them because most of them work in the office where our table is (we have a table in the middle of the main office where we work on our projects, read, etc.). We have nine more sessions to teach, so I'm sure we'll get all of the bugs worked out. Our next session is actually this afternoon after our Thai lessons.

Last night was pretty laid back. We went and at dinner at the Im Jai House with the kids and the staff. We helped to serve dinner (there are about 50 kids and about 10 guests that we had to put food out for). There are a couple of farang volunteers there, two of which are from America (one girl actually goes to school with a few people on our team.. we saw her on the plane ride here), and one is from Canada. We talked to them and sang/played a few worship songs.. they loved it. It can be tough going so long without hearing English being spoken or singing songs that you know the words to. We also got to play with the kids, which is always fun. They seemed more preoccupied last night, not as eager to crawl all over us and to talk (there are always a few that are consistent, but as a whole they weren't like a whirlwind like they usually are).. We came when they were working on homework (before dinner), so we tried to stay out of the way. I got to play with a little boy that always comes and finds me when we visit for a while. He is probably about 4 or 5. He just wants to be held most of the time.. he tries to communicate with me with a couple of words of English, and with hand motions. Yesterday he wanted to show me all of the photos on the walls, and to point himself out when we came across one. It was fun, and I know that he loved the individual attention. We're going to try to go at least once a week, so hopefully we can get to know more of the kids and help out when we can.

Something else that was really neat last night happened when the Im Jai House took us back to our dorm. There are two security guards that stay at our dorm (they have a little station at the bottom), a man during the day and a woman at night. When we pulled up last night in the van with the Im Jai House logo on the side, the lady security guard came out, and seemed pretty excited. She was trying to ask us something, and managed to say, "You Christian?" and made a cross with two fingers. We said yes, and she pointed to herself, grinned, and said, "I am Christian!" We were completely surprised, and thrilled to hear it. I asked her something in English, but she looked puzzled, so I asked her in Thai if she spoke English. She said that she didn't, which was disappointing. I suddenly felt pretty frustrated at myself for not knowing more Thai. There was so much I wanted to say to her and ask her. But just knowing that about her was really great. Hopefully by the time we leave we'll know more Thai and we can talk to her a little more. I also have a Thai-English New Testament that I may give her.. I got to figure out how to ask her if she has a bible already. Another question to ask Ah-jahn Nena in Thai lessons today..

Tonight our group is going to the Airport Plaza, which is the big mall in the center of Chaing Mai. Sarepta and I are going to get our hair cut. It's a pretty nice place to go.. you get your head massaged, and your hair washed, dried, cut, and styled, all for 200 baht (that's about $5 in American currency). A few of the other girls from other teams have gone, and they loved it. The guys from our group are going too. They say it's for protection, but I think they just want to get to the Starbucks in the mall. :) Actually, we are gonna eat there tonight and make a stop at the Starbucks. It's kinda weird to go to the Airport Plaza, because it's like a little USA mall in the middle of Chiang Mai. People actually stand in lines there (usually it's first person to get to the counter is first served), and you don't bargain in the mall (you bargain for everything else, just about). It's sort of nice knowing that if something says it's once price, that's what you pay for it. I kind of get tired of bargaining sometimes, though it helps when you want to get something cheaper than you originally think.

Anyway, I should wrap it up. Thanks for all your prayers and support. We are meeting and getting to know more students everyday. Yesterday we spent a long time with a student who is half German and half Thai.. he speaks German and Thai fluently, and his English is excellent. He said that he was Buddhist and Christian, which seems to be sort of prevalent here. Anyway, he seems to be very eager to just get to know us and to hang out with us. We also ate lunch with a girl who is friends with one of our buddies. She is extremely sweet, and her English is pretty good, especially for a freshman. She wants us to cook some American food for her, so hopefully we can arrange that. Instead of us trying to get students to go to Toby and Patricia's this Saturday, we may invite them to come to the dorm and we could bring American and Thai food to share with the students, as well as sing and play some more songs. We were thinking about making some chicken broccoli casserole and creamed corn, so we will see. Anyway, I'm rambling again as always, so I will cut this short. Have a great day, guys.

Wow, what a great weekend! We got to spend some wonderful quality time with our team (all 12 of us from the three campuses). Saturday we students from North Chaing Mai College and Chaing Mai University went to the elephant camp. Elephants are one of my favorite animals, so it was really exciting for me to go. We watched a brief show with some of the elephants as they did some tricks, like roll logs, play musical instruments, and play soccer and basketball. After the show they gave us a bunch of bananas and sugarcane to feed them with. I had never really been that close to an elephant before.. it was really fun. After the show we took a ride in wooden ox carts. The older man driving was pretty funny.. when we starting moving, I called out to the half of the team that was riding in a separate cart, "Rock and roll!" He picked it up almost immediately, and started calling out, "Rock and roll!" to everyone we passed. He then let me get up front to the driver's seat and steer the ox cart. After that we got to actually ride the elephants. We rode in twos along with a trainer. The passengers ride in a sort of roller coaster seat, with bars around it and a seat belt; the trainer rode on the head of the elephant. It was really fun.. we got to go around the mountains on beaten paths, as well as through 2 rivers that weren't too deep. The trainer even let some of us ride on the head of the elephant for a while (of course I had to try it out). It was a blast.

After that we breaked for lunch briefly and we were off to some tourist traps in the area. We visited a huge umbrella factory, where they make the sai paper (really pretty paper has a rough texture) and then use it to make fans and umbrellas. There are also artists there that paint designs on the umbrellas and fans. After that we visited a silkworm factory, where they showed us how silk was made as well as how they weaved the silk and other threads to make fabric. It was really neat. They also have handicapped Thais to paint designs on the cloth. I met one of the workers there.. he had no hands, but he painted beautiful flowered patterns on cloth. I said hello to him in Thai and he greeted me in English. He said that he didn't know any more English, but he smiled and I understood and we communicated from there on out with gestures and broken English and Thai. He actually let me help him paint a little on the flowers.. so someday someone around the world will have a beautiful white tapestry with red flowers that I helped to paint. After that we visited a pottery place with amazingly beautiful stuff. It's too bad that it would weigh too much to buy a lot. The northern Thais are famous for their sage-colored glaze that they use on their pottery. Sage is my favorite color, so I had to buy a mug with elephants carved into the sides. I also got a light red-clay colored tea set shaped like elephants for a very good price.. I've learned that as my Thai improves the Thai people are more generous with their discounts. They generally open up more as well in general, so I am eager to learn more Thai and build more relationships with the people I meet.

Yesterday we had our first church meeting/service at Quintin and Kim's house. The 12 of us were there, as well as two students from Chaing Mai University. It was really great.. we sang some songs, a couple of us shared our testimony, and we shared a bible story- the one about Jesus telling Peter to cast the nets out after he hadn't caught anything that night, and they pulled in so many fish that the boats started to sink. One of the students was amazed at the story. He has said before that he is a Christian, but it is more of a borderline belief that several Thais practice- they pray to Jesus and believe in God, but they also continue Buddhist practices.. sort of covering all their bases. We hope that he will come to realize that when you truly follow Jesus you don't need to follow anything else.. He is our everything, and because He is we do not worship or follow any other god. We always have to remind ourselves that we cannot push. Here in Thailand we have to share the gospel in the same way that we do anything else here.. it is all about relationship-focus, not time-focus. We are so used to being task/time-oriented in the U.S., but here in Thailand everything is really laid back and relationships matter more than how long something takes.. "Mai pen rai" is the motto here, which means "Nevermind," "It doesn't matter.." People say it all the time.. it's more about quality than quantity. It's a little frustrating sometimes (like when they say you will get your much-needed laundry back when they promise it but you get it three or four days later with no explanation)... but that's just the way it is. To each his own.. I'm getting used to it.

Okay, it's about time for lunch. Tonight after we leave we are going to Kan-tok, which is a sort of traditional northern Thai dinner theatre. It is very traditional: you sit on the floor and eat with your hands, and people bring out bowls of different food at once for you to eat. There are also dancers and music and stuff. It's also outdoors, so if it is a clear night then we can see the stars and everything. I'm pretty adjusted to Thai food now, so I'm pretty excited about trying some new stuff. Will keep you posted.. please keep praying for our team. Some of us (not me, thankfully) are getting a little under the weather, like cold or allergy-type symptoms. No one is too bad, but a couple have been feeling a little under the weather. Please be praying that we stay focused on our mission here and always for more patience, understanding, and guidance. I'm praying for you all at home as well. Please email me and let me know what is going on with you guys.. I miss hearing from the states from time to time. Have a blessed day.. actually, look for the blessings; they're already there, it's just a matter of if you see them or not!

YAY, it's FRIDAY!! This morning Ah-jahn (professor) Jason took us to Ban Thawai, about 15 minutes from the college where lots of northern Thailand woodwork and other crafts are sold. It has become a real tourist trap, but it was really nice, and some of the stuff there was amazing. I took a lot of pictures of the crafts, as well as a couple of shots of the craftsman. One picture I took was of an older man making delicate designs in silver. Anyway, when I get back to the states I will post all (if not most) of my Thailand pictures on my website, so you will just have to imagine it until then. :) The rest of the day we worked on two of our projects, the "English Zone" and the "English Clinic." The sort of head administrator (a great guy who has made it his personal responsiblity to take care of us) suggested that we do fun puzzles with vocabulary and topics to talk with the students about. We decided to start with a fruit and vegetables matching game, so we decorated our board that is designated the "English Zone" with pictures of fruit that the students are supposed to identify on pieces of paper that we will be passing out next week. We also have a table set up in front of the board, which is the official spot for the English Clinic, where students come to practice English. We are going to prepare questions for them, like asking what their favorite foods are and why, etc. More of the students are approaching us now, and we are slowly building relationships. We met a guy today who wanted to know about Kentucky (he is going to visit his aunt there in the fall). It was nice, and we met some of his other friends he was sitting with. All in all a successful day.

Last night our buddies took us out to eat at the Mango Tree Cafe. The owner is one of our buddy's sister, and it has all kinds of real western food (she lived in England for a long time and had a restaurant in London before, and she is married to a British man). It was so good.. most of us ordered breakfast food or burgers. We couldn't believe how good it was.. I almost cried. :) But seriously, it was a great time to get to know our new friends better. That is ultimately what is important at this time.. we have to be very careful not to impose on their beliefs and customs, though we are not afraid to tell them what we believe and what we live by. It was definitely a good step, and we all had a great time laughing and learning more about each other. We actually invited to treat them there again Sunday after church with the rest of our team. I think it will be great.

Tonight is our get together at Toby and Patricia's. Unfortunately, our friends just told us that they could not come because one of the girl's father had a car accident and they were going to go with her to see him. I don't think anyone else we invited is coming tonight, so it may just be the farangs at our farang party. But it's okay.. we already talked about it and decided that we would just use the opportunity to pray for our new friends and those we will continue to know. Please be praying as well.. We still have a little more than 4 weeks, so you never know what might happen. It is flying by so fast that I keep wishing that we had more time. But you never know.. I have talked to the college, and they are interested in having me come back and work here. It would be awesome.. I love it here, and part of me just wants to stay here and keep getting to know the people and the culture and the language. I just really have to keep seeking God about it.

I may not get to update again until Monday, since the college will be closed for the weekend. However, on Monday I'll you all about the elephant camp we are going to tomorrow (we get to ride elephants!!!), as well as our church service that we are beginning at Quintin and Kim's house, and eating with our friends. Take care you guys.. I'm praying for many of you. Be open to God's leading, and be listening for His voice. You never know when He'll speak, or what He'll say. But I do know that it will change your life. Have a great weekend.

We are almost through our first week at North Chaing Mai College. Things are getting better all the time. The first couple of days the students wouldn't really talk to us or acknowledge us (we were told that they were shy because they don't speak English very well). However, yesterday was a real turning point. We have been assigned "buddies," which are Thai students who speak exceptionally good English. They have been busy for the most part, but yesterday they found us and invited us to eat lunch with them. It was really great, and since then more of the students have approached us and have tried to talk to us (I think it helps them if there are other Thai students there to help them when they get stuck). Actually, our buddies are taking us out to eat tonight. One of their sisters has a restaurant that serves American food, so they want to take us out and eat. I think they also want to take us to do a little shopping as well, so that will be fun.

We are also beginning to plan for our Friday night cell groups. During those times, we get to invite our new friends to a house that belongs to a farang (American/foreigner) couple. The couple who we are working with are Toby and Patricia. They seem like great people, and are very eager to meet with students and make them feel welcome. They are going to prepare some American food for the students, and we are planning some games, songs, and a little skit taken from the Bible (this week we want to use the story of David and Goliath). Hopefully this will be a way to very slowly introduce a little of Christianity to them without being too pushy. We have to be very careful not to come across that way. Eventually we hope that we will be able to introduce more a bible study at these meetings, but it will be very gradual. What we really are supposed to do is just set the foundation for a cell group. OH! Something really cool just happened about an hour ago. A student stopped one of my teammates in the hall and asked if we were Americans and if we were Christians. She said yes, and the student expressed that he was a Christian too, and was wondering if we were starting a cell group. You see, God has already began a work here at this college. That is extremely encouraging, and it also gives us hope. Please be praying for us as we get together with the students. It will be tomorrow evening for us, so that will be Friday morning about 7am-11am. If you are up at that time, please say a prayer for us that it will go well and that seeds are planted.

Last night all of the teams from the different universities got together at Quintin and Kim's house for bible study. It was so great seeing them.. it felt like it had been weeks since we saw them, even though it had only been about 2 days. We heard about some of the "adventures" some of them had experienced so far, one girl's being getting sick all day after eating food at an elementary school that her group is helping to teach at. She is better now, but we will still pray for good health while we're here. Kim (Quintin's wife) made some real lasagna and tossed salad for dinner, with chocolate cake and brownies for dessert. I don't think lasagna ever tasted so good; I ate two big portions, and sighed with contentment after the meal. The chocolate was treat too, since Thais really don't like to eat chocolate as a whole (I'll never figure that out). Anyway, after the meal we had some worship (I played guitar and a couple other teammates sang), which was really refreshing. I miss music more than anything here, since the only American music we hear is portions of pop music from the States. Anyway, the team also shared what God had been showing them since we separated. It sounds like everyone is learning patience and flexibility now.. I think we are learning to see God's blessings in the small things, especially when our attitudes can be a little sour. The culture thing can be hard sometimes, I'll admit. But when you compare our small outward inconveniences to some of our Thai friends inward needs and hurts, it seems like such a small sacrifice.

Well this is getting long (as usual), so I better get off here. I have a project for the summer here at N.C.C. that I'm supposed to help cultivate and organize: an English clinic. Pretty much it's something that students can come to and just practice speaking English in their free time. I am trying to come up with some ideas, like having a theme to talk about each day or something.. I think our supervisor liked the idea. We'll see what happens.. until tomorrow...

Okay, I FINALLY got Blogger to work for me, so I am going to try to enter all of my journal entries from the last few days. I got so busy that I didn't get to write everyday, but I tried to cover everything in my last entry. Here it goes!

6/6/03
So much has been going on the last few days- intense orientation mainly. Yesterday we got a crash course in Thai culture and language. Since I've been studying with Lowell for 2 months prior, I have a leg up on some of the team. However, I'm sure that will change as the summer continues. Today was a full schedule. First, we went on a prayer walk early this morning, at the time that the Buddhist monks (young novices- most under the age of 20) come down in droves to receive food from those who want to receive merit for their families. The people give food to the monk and the monk chants a blessing in Bali, their ancient language. At the same time people were coming together at a gold statue to pray to the image. It is of a monk whom they believe achieved nirvana. They bring lotus flowers, flower wreaths, incense, and gold flecks to place on the statue. What really broke my heart was realizing that I could imagine those people crying out to Buddha or monks, hoping for an answer or for true peace. I had to stop myself from crying.

We also went on a scavenger hunt all over the city. We had to figure out how to get around on the song taows (red pickup trucks with cab covers with built in seats and windows to look out.. they are everywhere). We bargained on the Wararot Market (Tal-aht), went and talked to the head priest a the Wat (Temple) Phra Sing (he was 92 years old and had instructed over 70 other monks), and went to the Tai-pei Wall. We got to practice a lot of Thai (and Thainglish) :). It was really cool. Tonight was ate at Quintin and Kim's house (the couple we are working with here in Thailand). We talked to one student whose name is Kim. He is learning about Christianity and is considering becoming a Believer, but said that it would take some time to believe. We also heard from an Ah-jahng (Professor) about her experience and conversion to Christianity. It really gave us a first-hand look at how difficult it is for a Thai to become a Christian.
Today I was praying and asking God for a renewal of understanding of why we are here and why it is so important for us to share our faith with our Thai friends. I ran across Hebrews 2:17-18: "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."

6/7/03
We are about to leave for the Bai Im Jai house- the children's home for orphans due to AIDS. We're gonna have some games and face painting. I will also be able to borrow a guitar for the summer. Will update later. We're also going to get a massage (2 hours!) and tonight we are going to the night bazaar. Peace out.

6/10/03
Wow, so much has happened the last few days. Jet lag is over (a blessing), but now I'm so tired at night that I fall asleep writing. The Bai Im Jai was great.. the kids were so sweet and eager to climb into our laps, hug us, and to play with us. We led some games and did face paint. They loved it. When we first arrived their music class performed for us with traditional Thai instruments; it was extremely impressive. Then, the children sang a few songs about God while two other children played guitars. I was so moved that I started crying, though I didn't let the children see. The staff there are really great. Of course, they are Christian and teaching the children to pray and learn bible stories. I wish more people in the states knew about the Im Jai House. They need financial support, and it's a great ministry and need for Thailand.

Let's see, what else has happened? ...Oh, Saturday night after we left Im Jai House we went to the night bazaar to buy some stuff and barter. It was a really neat experience. But what was even better was that when we arrived Quintin told us that the Thai student we met the night before talked to a Christian group after he hung out with us and decided to become a Christian! He went with us the next day to a Thai church (it was all in Thai.. I felt like I was back home with mom when we used to go to Korean churches.. didn't really know what was going on completely). We got to witness Kim's first communion. Wow. I think it was a true blessing to see something like that while we were here. Thank You, Jesus. Strengthen our new brother in Christ in his new faith, and surround him with support.

Going back a little, the Thai church was a real encouragement. Buddha and Buddhist elements are everywhere here. To see a small body of Believers (about 30 or so) worshipping God, raising their hands to God in praise, and being excited about the gospel was incredible. I hope to see more of that before we leave.

Yesterday the team separated to our different universities: Chaing Mai University (Maw Chaw), Far Eastern University, and North Chaing Mai College- that's where I am. It's going to be tough here.. the students are very hesitant to talk to us, and the farang (foreigners in general, especially westerners/Americans) we are working with is not a Christian (Note: he informed us our second day there that he was actually Athiest). They know that we are Christians, so that may lead to some interesting conversations. We are serving under Quintin's organization "Campus to Campus International," which is a service to provide volunteers to come help with conversational English, as well as learn the language and culture.

Father, as we begin our first day, please pour Your Spirit over us, and cover us with Your grace. Give us patience with each other and everyone else, and peace with a joy that no one can ignore. We give ourselves to You today. Amen.

Just a little explanation: since the internet is so stinkin slow here and we're paying by the hour, I am going to just copy some of my journal entries from the day before online. Hope everyone is doing all right.. I sort of wish I could talk to my friends back home, but the newness of Thailand is still pretty strong. Please keep praying for us the people here that we are meeting. God be with you all!

Entry from 6/4/03 (paper journal):

Today we arrived in Chaing Mai. The flight from Bangkok to Chaing Mai wasn't bad at all- 50 minutes, and beautiful scenery the entire way. We met Quintin and his family, as well as a couple of other American workers/career M's. It hasn't been a terribly stressful day at all- we got moved into our temporary housing for orientation (a hostel on CMU). After that we walked to a restaurant "The Blue Corner." The Thai food was excellent, thought I must be honest to say that I haven't eaten much since we've arrived. I don't know if it's the heat or the excitement.. oh well. I started practicing my Thai in the market today; I'm not as self-conscious as I was. One person I talked to was a man that sold fresh fruit, pre-sliced (this is typical here, and Quintin said that it was all right to eat). He had mangoes (ma-muang), pineapple (sa-pah-roh), watermelon (thaang-mo), and some hairy-looking strawberry things (I think he said they were naahm, but I can't remember). He was quick to correct my pronounciation, but he was very friendly, and that is typical for the Thai to do that.. it's their way of helping. I bought some mango; it was so good that he can bet that he'll be seeing more of me. We also went to an internet cafe (there are several in the market),and made a stop at the 7-11 (there are apparently more in Thailand than the United States). For dinner, we were taken out by a bunch of Thai students here at CMU (Chaing Mai University, or Maw-Chaw as they call it in slang). We ate at a place where a cone-shaped collinder type thing with a small rim that hold water is set over hot coals. Raw meat and vegetables are brought out and you yourself set them on the hot metal collinder part and in the hot water to cook. After it's done you take it off, put it in your bowl and add sauce, mix it up, and eat it. The Thai use chopsticks or forks to scoop all of their food into a big metal spoon and use the spoon to put in their mouths. It's taking a little big to get accustomed to it, but it 's fun.

Anyway, the dinner was really delicious, and the students were incredibly friendly and eager to speak English (this is typical for most people in Northern Thailand). I talked to several students (about 20 took us out), but I mainly talked to three girls. They were all very sweet, but one was particularly talkative. She loves American culture and speaking English. She was cracking jokes and we were all having a great time. I showed the girls pictures of back home (friends and family). There were some pictures of churches and friends and I at Christian organizations, and I briefly talked to her about it. We have to be sure not to push our faith on them; we just have to follow the Holy Spirit's guidance. I taught one girl two expressions tonight: "tip of my tongue" (like you can't think of a word) and "I'll scratch your back, and you scratch mine," referring to helping each other learn the other's language.

Well, I'm about to drop. Thank You Father, for all that Thailand is that all that the Thai people are. Father, make me a bold witness in Your time, and a true friend to them as You would have been. Give us all patience, Father. We love You, and we want that to be as obvious as possible in our lives. Good night.

Whew! We made it! My team and I arrived in Chaing Mai this afternoon. We were on a plane previous to that for about 24 hrs. The flight from Detroit, Michigan to Tokyo, Japan was the longest (about 12 1/2 hrs), but the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, Japan felt the longest (only about 6 hrs.. the last flight before we could crash at a hotel in Bangkok). We got about 4hrs of sleep last night before catching another plane from Bangkok to Chaing Mai. Jet lag isn't really too bad, but I am feeling a little light-headed, and I kept waking up in the middle of the night.

Overall, it's been a great experience. I have had a chance to get to know some of my team a lot better (being squished together in a plane for hours can do that), and the people here are really friendly. Bangkok was crazy last night.. while we were loading a bus to go from the airport to the hotel an attendant had to pull me out of the way of a car. It wasn't too close of a call, but it was a little scary. But things are really cool here.. there are several internet cafes that we pay to use per hour (10 baht an hour.. about a quarter). We saw two Buddhist monks in the internet cafe.. that was pretty weird at first. :) Anyway, to wrap this post up I am going to enclose a journal entry I wrote on the plane flying over the Pacific Ocean. I'll try to keep you guys posted as the weeks progress. Until then, God be with you!

6/2 (or 3?)/03
I'm writing this entry in the dim light of the plane. All of the windows are closed to keep out the bright sunlight, even though it's approximately 2am EST. Our flight from Louisville to Detroit was a breeze- only about an hour in the back of the plane. We grabbed some lunch at the Chile's restaurant next to our departure gate to Tokyo. We almost missed our flight because they boarded amost 30 min. early. But it was no problem. That was at about 2:30pm. I'll let you do the math on how long we've been on this plane.
It's actually not been a bad trip. They've shown about 4 movies (some better than others-- I do not recommend "Shainghai Knights" if you haven't already seen it). I managed to get a couple hours of sleep, only to wake up to realize that half of my face or another part of my body had gone numb. But I actually feel somewhat rested, so here I am sitting and writing in my journal among my sleeping team mates.
I think they said that we would arrive at Tokyo at about 2:30 or 4:30am. After that, a brief layover in Tokyo, we have another flight to Bangkok, and then we can go to sleep for the night! The screen just came on, showing where we are on the map. They've been keeping us updated on it that way... our flight went from Detroit over and across Canada and Alaska. You could see the marshy peninsula of Alaska and some snow-crested mountains. We're almost to Tokyo now.. the plane is beginning to descend.

Entry #3: Just a few more hours...

I can't believe that we're down to the last few hours before we go. I've been trying to keep myself busy for the last few days so I don't climb the walls anticipating the trip. I am all packed, with a few pounds to spare (See? God DOES still perform miracles today!). The realization that whatever I take over there with me will probably stay there has helped curb my packrat tendencies. I keep bouncing back and forth between feeling excited and a little scared. I have never really been out of the country before.. when I was really young we lived in Korea and Japan, but I hardly remember it. I have been working on learning Thai for the last couple of months, so I have some basic stuff down, like "Where is the bathroom?" "Can I have some chicken stir fry?" and "I don't speak Thai." Oh, yeah, I think I've covered all the bases.. I can also count to a little over a hundred and know the names for most of the food and fruits that I will probably want to buy. This is all thanks to my friend Lowell who is already in Chaing Mai for the summer. He's also given me a crash course in the culture, so hopefully I will avoid offending anyone too badly.

To pass the time, I have also put a lot of work into my webpage. Dad has let me pretty much take over the computer and the scanner for the last few days, so I have posted a lot of pictures of family and friends. (If you want to check it out, please feel free to go there and look around.) It seems like the last few weeks have been a lot of changes and preparation for the future. I mean, I graduated from Berea and had to deal with leaving my home for the last few years, as well as all my friends and church family. Just two weeks prior to that, I was accepted to a graduate program to which I had never even been to before. Also, people were always asking me about my trip this summer and if I was excited or scared or what. And I was glad that people were asking me, because I wanted others to know about it... and I WAS excited, but it was almost like I couldn't deal with thinking about another change in my life until I had dealt with the immediate ones. I had more than one cry the last couple of weeks of school, but I had some great people who helped me through it. Once I got home I was ready to prepare for Thailand everything along with that; I feel rested emotionally and physically, and I am more than ready to go.

This feels kinda weird, posting an online journal for whoever wants to see it. I almost feel like I don't have anything really profound to say, at least nothing that others will really care to read. But I figure if nothing else I will have something to record my experience and to remind me of how God has worked in miraculous ways over and over again. So all is not in vain. :)

This will be my last entry before I leave, so I am going to leave you with something that I wrote a few years ago. I just dug it up the other day, and thought I might share it, even though it is pretty rough and not exactly a Pulizer Prize winner.. it was derived from Proverbs 23:26, which says "My child, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways."

I'll try to make another post as soon as I get over the jet lag and find a computer in Chaing Mai.. God be with you!

Written: 7/23/00, revised 6/1/03

Lord, I will give You my heart
And my eyes will keep to Your ways.
I will cast all that I am aside
And sacrifice my flesh and pride
So that everything I do brings You honor and praise.

Father, just to be with You
And to be safe from perils and pain...
My heart yearns to see Your face,
To hide away within Your embrace
Someday I'll crawl into Your lap and there I will remain.

So as I lay here before You now
I can't help but feel so small and weak;
My words will never fully express
All the glory you possess
So I will just stop and listen to You speak.