Blog Number Bad (8)

So… It’s almost that time… The team from Vancouver comes in only a couple days! They arrive late at night on August 10^th. There are lots of little last minute things that need to be done and we are still re-arranging our ministry schedule and locations… just with getting permission and confirming locations and that sort of thing. But we are hoping to finish everything up and be able to have a day of rest on Wednesday – because whenever we plan days off… It doesn’t really happen… Something always comes up. And even if we try to explain how busy we are… people don’t really understand and therefore we end up doing things on our days off. (Pray that Wednesday is protected as a day off!) We are grateful to have Emily here to help if something does come up for Wednesday.

Blowing out her candle

Emily arrived back to stay with us last Thursday afternoon! And it was her birthday the day before so Janna and I bought her a mickey mouse cake and had cards for her and a few things. She loved it! J On Friday night, after work, Emily and I went out adventuring – we went grocery shopping at the Big C, then we walked over to Robinson and had some yummy dinner, then we went looking for Esplanade… We asked a Tuk-tuk driver where Esplanade was but he didn’t understand… So we just went looking for it ourselves… When we thought we went too far, I ASKED someone in THAI… and they pointed us in the right direction… so we walked the opposite way (oops) back to the mall… and ran inside just as it started to pour! Inside after walking around for a bit we found a shop called Swensens… and OH MY WORD it is amazing! It’s an ice cream shoppe with MENUS… So many choices wow! (I know I know my stomach doesn’t really like it but it was okay cuz I had my lactose pills)

Amazing Creations of Ice Cream from Swensens!!!

Emily and Janna went to explore JJ Market on Saturday while I walked over the overpass to a coffee shop on the otherside (no I didn’t order coffee :P) called Café Amazon. There, I wrote some letters, cards, postcards, journalled for a bit, read my bible a bit and just had some quiet time to do my own thing. The sky kept looking like it would pour at any moment but it didn’t until after I was at home. Thankfully! Because atm Janna and I share an umbrella and she had it with her at JJ Market. I had been there for a little while and my smoothie was done so one of the employees brought me over a cute little glass of water. So sweet of them! When I was done hanging out at the coffee shop… I walked around and found A&W for dinner! Had some curly fries with my meal! And I was content eating by myself in the restaurant… Which is weird because I’ve always found it awkward to eat by yourself in a restaurant… Maybe cuz it was a fast food restaurant it’s different, I dunno? I saw some other for-rung come in to get food as well. Funny funny. 

watching Gnomeo and Juliet

I walked home and Janna and I introduced Emily to cow neau ma moung, while watching Gnomeo and Juliet! It’s the first time we’ve had cow neau ma moung in like a month!!! I miss it so! After we watched the movie in English – Janna had never seen it – we found out that you could change the language to Thai and have English subtitles. It was funny to hear them speak in Thai but I feel like it would be good practice and helpful for us learning Thai to watch the whole thing in Thai you know? Even tho the only words I could pick out were words I already knew tho. Too bad Emily will take the movie with her when she leaves with the team.

"coffee" after dinner with the Chees

On Sunday we saw the Chees at our church. They are staying at the TCCC guest house but they had just arrived in the night before. We chatted a little at church and made plans for dinner. We took them to what we call “the far place” (it’s really not that far but that’s just our name for it haha) After dinner, Jerry wanted coffee… I think Lillian’s going to like having Jerry around for this reason – lol. So we went out for coffee (neither janna nor I had coffee – because it was late and I don’t like coffee anyways) but it was good. I had cha mannow instead (lemon tea).

Out for lunch at the Black Noodle

Today Caleb and Kong trained in some dramas with Emily! They learnt really fast! They learnt 3 before lunch (in 2 hours of training) Way to go boys!!! I’m so excited that Kong is able to come out with us to some ministry times during the trip! We thought he would be too busy! But Por (his discipler) is being very flexible! So great! So we went out for lunch together at the Black Noodle (a Korean restaurant) My food had a SMILEY face on it! J So great! When we came back the boys were going to learn some more dramas but their brains were done for the day. Janna and I decided to split up because Jerry had arranged some meetings for us, however we both had a lot of work to do yet before the team came so we couldn’t afford to have both of us in meetings for the next two days when we have lots to prepare for the team coming. So I stayed at the office and worked on some details for that!

So about this whole leadership team thing: God told us to wait. (which is definitely hard for me but the stress of having them chosen before the team came is now gone) Please continue to pray for this decision because it is very very important! We are hoping that the applicants can come out to ministry so we can see them in action and get to know them better. And/or that God will show us someone we haven’t met yet that is a perfect fit for DRIME leadership! We do however feel very confident in Kung and she will definitely be a DRIME leader J Just please please please keep praying that the rest of the leadership team will fall into place!

So I probably won’t have that much time to blog once the team arrives, so I’ll be older the next time I talk to you! Haha. I can’t believe my birthday’s THIS Friday – even tho I keep reminding everyone else that it is ;) (what!? – I’m in a new country with new friends… how would they know unless I tell them – subtle hints of course! ;) bahahaha) I’m turning older in a DIFFERENT country! In Thailand! Crazy! Haha. Plus - I kinda get 2 birthdays because of the time difference ;) haha. 3 more days of being 22!

me with my smiley face lunch!

Until next time,

I appreciate your prayers! And thank God for having you in my life! I'm so glad I'm surrounded by people who support me! Love you all! God bless! Pra Jaow Auay Porn Ka!

Summary and Prayer Requests

(I don't really know why I made this a separate blog... But here it is:)

I think I’m just really having a hard time all around. With the leadership stuff. With change. With the busy-ness. With the transition. (I’m looking forward for the end of August because I feel like that is when we will finally get a break! Even tho I’m excited to see people from home!) I love being here – I still do. I’m not homesick or sad or down at all. That’s not why I’m having a hard time. The task of planting a base was just harder than I expected (not that I really knew what to expect). I think sometimes, I try to do it on my own strength and I CANNOT!!! Please pray this for me. I so want and need God’s guidance and this task seems way too big for me. But I KNOW it’s NOT too big for God!

Things you can pray for me are:

To hear God’s voice – to be listening and have ears to hear. That I would trust what I hear from him to be TRUE.

For God’s strength in this big task (Choosing the Leadership Team)!  For energy, wisdom, insight, flexibility, adaptability and endurance!

For focusing on God always despite the many tasks I feel need to get done.

Prayer for restful sleeps. Both of Janna and I, to one degree or another have had trouble sleeping. It’s hard to function properly and make good decisions about the Base Plant without adequate sleep.

Also my eyes have been bugging me lately – itchy, red, little puffy at times. Prayer that my eyes stop bothering me (I especially need to wear contacts during when the team is here)

And my stomach acts up from time to time. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if something has dairy in it. So prayer that my stomach would not bother me. (Health in general would be great! But especially with my stomach)

Praise for:

God’s provision through his servants in so many ways! God just takes complete care of us through the amazing people he has placed in our lives and surrounded us with. One of which is each other! Praise the Lord!

That some of the details of the trip and ministry locations are falling into place! (Pray that this would continue)

Khorb Khun Ka Sumrop Khun Atti-tan! (thank you for your prayers)

Blog Number Jet (7)

Well it’s been a while… let’s see, what can I tell you? To catch you up it’s been a harder last week. Harder than I realized until Monday night. Monday night was when all my thoughts had the opportunity to start to process rather than before, we’d been soo busy with meetings and DRIME work that all this ever changing information that was being given to us was being stored away and suppressed. Because before, we just had to get through this meeting or that meeting and THEN we could have time to think or figure out this structure (the way DRIME will operate in Thailand) when we thought it was that structure and then we’d talk to someone else and it would be a completely new structure! I was trying so hard to be flexible and adapt DRIME to what it needs to be in Thailand, and it does NOT come naturally for me to be flexible. I need to have a plan. I need to know when this is happening, on what date, at what time. I’m a scheduler or planner – it’s in my nature. But I want DRIME Thailand to be what God wants it to be and to look like – not necessarily something we’ve seen in the past (although it might end up looking like that) but I wanted to be open to something different if that was God’s plan, you know? We just never knew if this new information or these changes in structure were the start of what made DRIME Thailand unique, you know? And we totally want to be an aid to the already existing ministry at the TCCC and we just don’t completely know what that looks like yet.  So by Monday night I had just worked up this almost anxiety, more of a stress – my brain is telling me we have to be at this point by this day and we thought we knew how to be at that point but now it feels like we are 3 steps behind when we thought we took a step forward. It was a combination of a bunch of things: lack of sleep, busy-ness, always meeting with people, all this information and ever changing structure, always needing to have answers for people that we don’t have until we figured out (the structure which essentially depends on the people applying for leadership) and just utter exhaustion on thinking about the same thing in so many ways! And, to top it all off feeling the dynamics begin to change with the team coming and that was really hard because I just didn’t feel like the “me and janna stage” was finished yet and I just was feeling like I was resisting it because I wasn’t ready for it. And all my thoughts and emotions poured out along with that combination of everything.

I love my teammate and through this, we were able to have a good heart to heart. It definitely helped.

So a little glimpse into the events leading up to Monday: On Thursday we had a conversation with one of our friends who made us aware of some confusion that was going on that we were unaware of between – well a lot of people. So we were thankful for him sharing this knowledge with us and some insight about Thai culture as well. From there we were able to meet with the head of campus ministries and get more on the same page of their expectations versus our expectations and how leadership MIGHT work out for two of the campus staff despite their busy-ness – He was SUPER excited for them to be on board with DRIME. So we took that home and processed a little bit and tried to come up with a way that we could be flexible to work around the busy busy schedules of campus staff and see what that might look like. On Saturday we didn’t do DRIME stuff but we were out all day at a park until late and so although it was a fun day – we’d been going all week and I felt super exhausted. And with needing to talk to a bunch of people at church on Sunday – leadership thoughts kept floating through my mind. On Saturday night I had a moment where I was just like I can’t, like I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to be in this cycle of ever changing confusion. Lol. It’s so hard to describe. I’m not good with change. But of course, this is what God called me to do and He has blessed me with being here, so you just keep on keeping on. I’m just longing for that connection with Him and that affirmation that my thoughts are in line with His. On Sunday we had individual meetings with Por, Pond, Fook, Air, Kong and Suwit. Clarifying if they still wanted to be in leadership, clarifying their schedules and setting up interviews to go over leadership applications and get to know them better.

After all the meetings P'Por took us to a mall to look for a sound system for the DRIME team. He's good with all that technical stuff and sound equipment and was happy to help! So great! You can so see the Body of Christ at work - each have their own talents that they excel at and they are willing to so graciously offer them to others. ie Looking for sound equipment, making a (very professional looking) poster, helping fix our computers, translation etc. It's so perfect! 

When we were looking for a sound system with P’Por; we wanted to know if it would be loud enough outside. And… Get This!!! The employees of the store let us take it OUTSIDE to TEST the VOLUME!!! When in Canada would anyone let you do that with something you haven’t BOUGHT??? They WOULDN’T!!! Awesome, right? We didn’t end up buying the sound system on Sunday. We are very nervous to make this sort of purchase: a) because we’ve never had to make this decision before and b) because stuff in Thailand is non-returnable. So we have planned another day to go to another mall to see if they have anything better. So by Sunday night it’s been a long day and a long week and we just feel like we need a day off…  (and we felt like Saturday was just too far away) so that’s probably a contribution to my Monday night revelations. I didn’t realize I was as upset as I was, until I started talking and externally processing.

Few things to touch on (and catch you up on):

Interviews – We’ve had 4 interviews this week with potential leaders with Kung, Kong, Rahel and Fook. More on that later.

Emily from the Vancouver Team (that’s coming August 10^th to 26^th) arrived on July 27^th for about a day. The original plan was that she would stay with us and help us and then go visit some friends in Chiang Rai around the 4^th of August, but that all changed as we felt we would need her more closer to when the trip was starting. On Thursday she came to the office with us in the morning and we went to check out some ministry locations (Silom Road/Patpong Market etc) in the afternoon and she was able to come with us then as well. Then she headed up to Chiang Rai until next Thursday!

Vancouver Team: Comes in 9 days! We will be packing in the ministry times! Pray that this energizes me and Janna!  Pray that our hearts would be ready for this transition, change of pace and active times of evangelism, as well as unity for our team that is coming!

We’ve just been having a lot of long days – We end up taking work home with us a lot. The TCCC office closes at 5pm so we usually pack up and continue working after dinner til late sometimes. So just pray for adequate moments of rest whether it would be during the day at the office or less taking work home with us or having that time at home to just do something different – whatever it may be just adequate moments of rest so we have energy for all the tasks we have on our plates. I tend to need time to wind down but if I’m working until late and then I need to wind down then it’s LATE by the time I get to sleep. So keep us in your prayers!

Us and some friends at Suan Rod Fai Park (the train park)

Another Info Meeting!!! (Sunday happenings at MRC)

Sunday was also so great! I’m so amazed by how God works! We had an info meeting at 2:30pm after church and we were able to get a ride with P’Suwit and P’Nan to go to MRC in the morning. Even tho the Korean teams were gone, Matt still translated the service for us! (and Esther – another missionary in Bangkok - who was at church too)

We are so blessed to have translators wherever we go! Such an answer to prayer! I remember one day ordering a smoothie… Trying to act out what I meant... and when I turned around an older lady asked “Do you need some help?” Why yes I do! Lol. She asked me a bunch of questions about how I wanted my smoothie… All I was really trying to do was convey I wanted a smoothie not just the fruit. But anyways if God sends someone to help me communicate when it’s just a smoothie I'm ordering, how much more is he going to make sure we have translators or people who can help when it is something more important than that. And He HAS been providing those for us!

After church we were having another DRIME info meeting for the people who weren’t able to make it to the info meetings a few weeks back… And it went so well! We have 4 more people interested in leadership! Praise the Lord! 3 of them are boys! I was nervous that we wouldn’t have any boys interested in leadership and I was really praying for some because not only do the girl drimers need role models and people to look up to but they guys drimers do as well! All 4 of those people interested started filling out the leadership application! So great! So now after that info meeting we had 6 people filling out application forms! This means more work for Janna and I. But I feel like now God can truly show us who is right for this leadership team!

Also I haven't updated our praise and prayer requests so here's an update!!!

Prayer Requests

- Choosing the leadership team… Listening to God for who He wants to be part of the leadership team

- Pray that we are able to have them chosen by the end of the month!

- For wisdom and insight into God’s will for DRIME Thailand – what does that look like? That we would daily give over our thoughts and desires (of how this Base Plant should go and of other things) and follow what God’s desires and plans are for that day. Continually relying on Him!

- For Janna and I to use our time wisely and be productive – lots of big tasks to conquer: for example - planning the August trip (when a DRIME team from Vancouver comes) pray that the details of that trip fall into place.

- Prayer for flexibility, health, energy and restful sleeps

- Continued unity of our team – more time to be open and get closer to one another.

Praise Items

- Praise that 4 more people are interested and applying for leadership! (we have a total of 6 people filling out leadership applications)

- Praise God for new friends and new adventures!

- Being less busy/swamped with DRIME work – a good balance of fun things/rest time/drime work

- Answering Prayers!!! (He continues to amaze me how he answers even the little things – like words of affirmation ;) haha I got a letter in the mail!)

- Praise God for all the English speakers he puts in our path when we need them! :)

- Praise God for all the people that are willing to help us when we need help!

- Praise that the city remained calm after the election results!

- Praise for safety as we traveled out of Bangkok this weekend!

- Praise God that we are healthy!

Again,

Khorb Khun ka sumrop your prayers!!!

Pra - Jaow - Auay - Porn - Ka!
(God bless you!)

Love,

สแมนธา (that means Samantha in Thai!)

Weekend at Ampawaa: The Floating Market!

Ampawaa!!!

We had the most amazing weekend!!! During a conversation one day at the office with P’Jamie we found out that she was going with a group of friends to the floating market in Ampawaa for the Thailand Long Weekend! They were going on Friday and staying overnight and coming home on Saturday! They let us join them and were happy to have us along! I’m so glad because it was so fun meeting them and hanging out with them!!! We wished we could have stayed longer!

the group

We met up with P’Jamie, P’Ying, P’A, P’No and P’Mon at the McDonald’s at Victory Monument around 11:30am and started our epic adventure together! Lol. We started out by getting tickets for a van that would take us to Ampawaa… The first place we went to we would have to wait until 2:30pm for a van so Jamie and a few others went to look for a van at another place that might leave sooner than that. We bought tickets and met up with Jamie, A and No… It’s so sweet how the guys offered to carry all the girls bags and kept looking behind them to make sure we were still following and not lost. Haha. We still had to wait for the van at the other place… they were on van number 13 (sip-sam) when we bought the tickets and our van was number 21 (ye-sip-et) so we waited on some steps for a bit and then we went into the mall to wait there for a bit as well… Janna, Jamie and I decided to look around the mall for a bit… Jamie got a phone call from Ying that the vans were on van number 19! So Jamie, Janna and I ran through the mall, down the escalator and to the group as fast as we could! So funny but so exciting and memorable! We got to the van holding area and still had awhile to wait… We didn’t really need to rush but it was still funny that we did! We ended up getting on the van around 3pm! We were finally on our way!!! Hooray!

My team: P'A, P'Jamie and Me!!!

When we got to Ampawaa we put our stuff in the group’s room and went to start our game and eat. We split into two teams and had a SCAVENGER HUNT!!! So fun!  Jamie, A and I on one team; Janna, Ying, Mon and No on the other! It was the first time me and Janna have been separated since we got here! Ding dong! (that means CRAZY in Thai! Legit!) It was a little bit difficult because I can’t read the thai signs but it was still super fun and I even FOUND some of the shops (we had this booklet of pictures that Ying had found on the internet of shops we needed to find) We had a certain amount of money and we were supposed to try different things from the shops when we found them. So I tried some different things… like squid eggs and yellow bean something on a stick and pork balls on a stick… And I don’t really know what else haha. We had pad thai for dinner and it was so good! Different than the pad thai I’ve had in Bangkok! And coconut water was only 10 baht!!! (at home it is 30 baht) So cheap! And yummy!

This is IM who I saw!

During the scavenger hunt I saw people I know!!! I was coming off this VERY VERY crowded bridge! (It was SO BUSY because it was a Thailand holiday) Literally like you are slowly move baby steps at a time while trying not to lose the people that you are with because it’s like a sea of people. Anyways, I was coming off this bridge and I heard someone call my name! I thought it was someone from the other team because who would I know in Ampawaa?? I’m not even in Bangkok to see someone I recognize you know? And Samantha is NOT a Thai name :P. But when I looked over, it was IM!!!  (I met Im on my last missions trip to Thailand and he was Ashley and my translator for a very memorable conversation with two boys named Arcoon and Doon) So crazy that he was there on the same day as me! Maybe Thailand is a small country (small world) after all!!! Later, we saw ANOTHER person that we know while on our scavenger hunt. It was Matt and his Arkansa team, walking towards us, saying “Hey people I know!” LOL… We see him a fair amount in Bangkok but it was funny to run into him here at Ampawaa (2 hours away from Bangkok)! Oh… so interesting how small the world is! I feel like Tanya would say something like, Samantha you really know EVERYBODY!!! Haha. (Even when I’m across the world)

On the boat to see the fireflies!

After the scavenger hunt we met up with the rest of the group for a boat ride! We were going to see the FIREFLIES!!! Such a great ride! I felt like I was in Tarzan or something! Every time we came up to a bush/tree with fireflies in it I wanted to “ooh and aww” everytime! Haha! It was breathtaking! The wind in my hair, water from the river and twinkling fireflies in the night! So amazing! God’s beauty and creation and just nature! The trees looked like they had little blinking Christmas lights on them! We couldn’t take pictures because it would scare the fireflies away! But I don’t think I would have gotten a very good picture on my camera anyways! It was so pretty tho!

our cottage/cabin

The view

After the boat ride we went back to our “resort” they had booked for us… lol. We would have totally stayed with them in the homestay they had gotten but there was no more room for us! But our cabin/cottage-looking place was SO NICE!!! Janna and I wished we could have stayed there longer than just to sleep… It was right on the water with a cute little porch! And the bed was so comfy! We slept well that night!

worship time

In the morning we got a ride back to the floating market and we had some worship time with the group! It was awesome because EVERY song was one that we recognized and could sing along to… We may have not known all the words but they were English songs… I even played the shaker! ;) Funny funny! And a couple of the songs they asked me to start singing… so kinda lead (vocally).

teaching us some skills ;)

We walked around the floating market a bit more, took some more pictures and then went to get tickets for a van back home. While we were waiting for the van we looked around this little gift shop of sorts… And then No pulled out his guitar and he started teaching us a little bit! We are hoping he can teach us some more another time! Super excited for that!  And Natti takes voice lessons on Tuesdays… she said I could join. So how cool would that be? Voice lessons AND guitars lessons IN THAILAND!!! (I really hope! *crossfingers* haha)

All in all, it was a GREAT WEEKEND!!! So much fun! Nice to have a change of scenery and change of pace from DRIME work! And nice to have made some new friends! We were very very very tired tho! But so worth it!!! :)

<3 Our new friends!!! <3

Blog Number Hok (6)

Dutch Blitz game with P'Kong, P'Kung, P'Jenjira & I

Well let’s see. Our prayer requests were ANSWERED!!! We have just felt so so busy! However, we were able to have 2 days off in a row! (Kind of 3 days because we didn’t have to present anything on Sunday either!) This allowed us to do a bunch of fun things! Even before the two days off we started being able to do some fun things… Like on Wednesday night after the DRIME info meeting, P’Kung, P’Kong, P’Jenjira and I played DUTCH BLITZ!!! (Ya DRIME Culture haha) P’Kong also taught us a Thai word that all the teenagers are saying these days “Ru rien” (apparently it’s slang for like “you got it” – Makes me think of Full House – You got it, dude! – Michelle Tanner) You have to nod your head when you say too ;)! Haha so funny! He also promised he would dance and sing for us next time!

Then on Thursday night after our other DRIME info meeting, we went to see Transformers 3 with Kung in the movie theatre. Did you know you have to stand up to pay respects to the king of Thailand (He’s been king for 65 years!!) while a little montage and song plays before the movie starts! Interesting Fact! And the seats in the movie theatre are not straight up and down seats… They are slightly reclined… which I didn’t really like. But they are pretty comfy… I think once I get past the fact that they are different than I expected I might grow to like them. Haha.

On Friday we went out and got our nails done! I even got some pretty jewels on my nails but they didn’t last very long lol. Getting your nails done in Thailand is SUPER CHEAP!!! It cost 100 baht for my toenails… that is $3!!! When can you EVER get a pedicure for $3 in Canada? The nail polish ITSELF is more expensive than that. Granted, I spent a little more on my fingernails because of the brand of nail polish I wanted to use (OPI) and the jewels… But it still was only 380 baht… which is like… $12. Not too bad. Without the jewels it would have been $6… so I prob won’t get the jewels again… they didn’t stay on long. Live and learn ;). After that we came home had dinner and watched Avatar. We had bought it a few weeks back (again only like 100 baht = $3). It was my first time seeing Avatar… It’s SO GOOD!!! Loved it! And we made it kinda like a movie night having pop and chips while we watched.

Starbucks

McDonalds

Then on Saturday we took a PINK taxi to Esplanade (a mall). We browsed around the different stores, we went to McDonalds for lunch! And later we went to Starbucks to grab a beverage and read for a bit… Kinda a taste of home day maybe? After that we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 because they have a movie theatre in the mall – they also have a bowling alley and a skating rink and a grocery store… All in one, so great! The movie was so cute! We were going to do this day a few weekends back but our plans changed. So I was glad that we were able to have this day at Esplanade! 

Sunday we wanted to go to Natti’s church because we haven’t had the opportunity to go yet – we’ve been presenting at churches every weekend so this is the first Sunday we didn’t have to. So Natti’s church has 2 services and we were going to go with Natti early to the first service and then just take a taxi home… But she told us it would be better for us to come to the 2^nd service because all the students come to that one and there aren’t any students that come out to the first one (very considerate of her). It was also very very nice to sleep in a little later on Sunday and do devos in the morning and have a later breakfast and get ready and go… Funny story tho… (and this is why I’m so grateful we know people and so grateful God works things out ahead of time and prepares us for everything) Natti had told us to call her in the morning and she would tell the taxi driver where to go. So we called her when she told us to… around 1pm (the service started at 2pm). She didn’t answer so we tried again… and again and again… no answer… We didn’t even know the area of the church to tell the taxi driver and wait for her to call us back so she could tell the taxi more details… And there were SO MANY taxis on the road… (unlike the other Sunday we needed a taxi lol) We kept shaking our heads at them, saying no, no… while we waited for Natti to call back. Thankfully, I had been talking to Joke on facebook a few nights before. (I knew him from last trip and we had exchanged numbers cuz he wanted to visit at some point) So I had his number and texted him something like this: Hey… we are trying to come to your church but Natti isn’t answering her phone. She was going to tell the taxi driver how to get to your church because we don’t know how. Are you at church already and can find her for us or can you help us talk to the taxi driver? He phone me RIGHT back… like literally a minute later! And he said he could HELP! YAY! So we flagged down the next taxi and handed the driver our phone. Joke told him where to go! Natti phoned about 10/15 mins into our taxi ride… she was so sorry but she had been busy doing something and saw like 5 missed calls from me and Janna. :S No problem! Mai ben rai! Joke was able to help us! He had told us if the taxi driver didn’t know where to go we could call him again. And… we had to. Lol.

Mahaporn Church - Natti's church

I gave Janna his number just before my phone died and that was just around the time the taxi driver tried to ask us where the church was. So we called him again. We saw someone up ahead on a phone in a white shirt… He was outside waiting for us! So we told the taxi to drive up to the guy in the white shirt (ironic – DRIME haha) Anyways… my point of that story is… we KNOW people here… and they are SO HELPFUL – ALL OF THEM!!! I don’t know how we’d manage without them! They are all such a blessing and a joy! Anyone who comes to Thailand or other countries on their own to backpack or whatnot; I don’t know how they do it – with the language barrior and not knowing their way around. We couldn’t even go get our nails done without help from Ning! Haha. Again, just so grateful we KNOW people here in Thailand! So blessed!

This week has mainly been following up with people and setting up more meetings with people and setting up other info meetings for the people who couldn’t make it on Wed or Thurs. We have another DRIME Info Meeting scheduled at MRC (Rangsit Church) this Sunday afternoon. Two girls who are interested in leadership will be at this meeting so pray that it goes well. (Also be praying for boys to be interested in leadership as well!) We also started to be able to work on planning the August trip more which is great because that is coming up so quickly – 26 days! Overall this week has been more of a relaxed week in comparison to our past weeks and the DRIME load. It’s been nice to have a bit more time for updates, reports, mpd and such.

Natti, Jenjira & I in our swim caps!

Oh! On Tuesday night, after work, we got to go swimming in the RAIN!!! I couldn't stop giggling! Oh and we looked super hot in our swim caps that we had to wear!
Check it out!

Tomorrow we leave for Ampawaa for a night. This weekend is a long weekend so the office is closed on Friday and some people go away. Jamie and some of her Alumni friends were heading up to that area to visit the floating marketplace and to see the fireflies at night…And she said we could join them! We are going up with them in a van but there wasn’t any room to stay with them in the homestay place they had already booked but they put us in a “resort” nearby apparently… We will be hanging out with them and then heading up to our room at night to sleep. I’m kinda excited… :D it will be an adventure! ...and we are back for our info meeting on Sunday, so it worked out perfect!

Little Quirks/Random thoughts

LIGHTNING STORMS - Despite the fact that it actually rains pretty much every day, it is the “rainy season”, lightning storms are actually a frequent occurrence around here. Janna absolutely LOVES this! If I see lighting from my room I go tell her… because she can’t really tell from her porch. I’ve come to view lighting and thunderstorms as normal occurrences lol… especially from my room. Def fun to watch from my room! 

BUGS - Okay so I dubbed Janna “bug swasher”. But as soon as I was about to praise God for the fact there were no bugs in my room, that’s when I started to see them. (did I jinx myself?) This week I just feel like I’ve seen a lot! Many a time has there been these tiny ants that like to make a home in my towel… I usually notice them after my showers… EW!!!!!! :S… But at least they are tiny and I can wash my towel! Today Janna noticed an ARMY of these tiny ants... all over my bathroom sink and bathroom floor! Sooooo many! Yuk mak! Then there are constantly bees surrounding the smoothie shop… Which makes me very nervous to order a smoothie… those ladies that work there every day must be very brave indeed! The other night after Janna left my room, this miniature beetle-like bug scurried across the floor of my bathroom… at first I thought it was just a piece of fluff that moves when I walked in but then I SAW IT… so I froze and it froze… so I went to get a flip flop… but I missed. I didn’t see it after that. Probably went into a hole in the wall or something?

SPECIFICALLY: SPIDERS - But THE MOST shocking thing is… we were in the grocery store… and I saw it… in Janna’s hair… A SPIDER!!! And it musta been adrenaline or something cuz I flicked that spider out of her hair without even thinking! Then I saw the web still attached to my hand so I shook it off my hand!!! Ack! (I didn’t realize the web was still attached to my hand) BUT I USED MY HAND!!! AND I took a SPIDER out of Janna’s hair… That’s pretty brave for me! (I have arachnophobia)


BANGKOK TRAFFIC - Traffic is always bad so people never know how long it will take to get places. It depends on traffic. It could take half an hour it could take 2 hours! Normally Natti doesn’t like to drive much after 5:30pm… apparently that’s when the traffics the worst. But everyone tells us that traffic is ALWAYS the worst… lol I don’t know!

RAINY SEASON- ANOTHER big thing that makes people late or keeps people away from things is the rain… Mingle Mania people were sitting in traffic for 2 hours because of the rain… I guess traffic and rain go hand in hand with each other!

Janna and I have given ourselves different "titles" for different things…

A few of these include:



Jenjira's beautiful
 mango cutting skills ;)



I have been dubbed “Bruised Banana Eater” and Janna “Bug Swasher”. I am the “Pineapple Cutter” and Janna is the “Mango Cutter”. I’m the Monthly Reports girl and Janna is the Money Recorder girl.

Just fun little facts ;)