Weekend in ChiangMai!!!

Okay, I KINDA don’t know where to begin! But maybe I’ll start at the beginning. On Thursday evening, I hopped on a bus and went to Chiangmai for the weekend. Last year when I was in Thailand with the DRIME team, we went to Chiangmai and I fell in love with the city and the people and the friends we made! So, because I am living in Thailand, I felt like I could not live so close to Chiangmai and not come up to visit at least once. And with not many weeks left here in Thailand, I was getting nervous that I might not be able to visit them. But with some encouragement from my teammate and some help from my friends Poy, Nid and A (telling me what bus to take, booking me a place to stay) I hopped on a bus and was on my way to a wonderful weekend. Eleven hours later, I was in Chiangmai, Thailand! Did I have a plan of what I was going to do when I got there? Nope. But I’m sure glad God did – because he filled my weekend so it was just packed enough but also refreshing and a bit relaxing too ;) haha. Such a great balance!

My bus was a little late arriving to the station – okay a lot late – two hours late. I found out from the lady sitting next to me, in her broken English, that it was because we had to go around 4 cities with flooding. I was so grateful for how flexible and patient P’Rew was at picking me up! He brought me to the TCCC guesthouse where I was staying, made sure I had everything I needed and was on his way. I was on my way to a great weekend! Before he left, P’Rew asked me what my plans were for the weekend… I said “I don’t really have a plan, just hope I can visit with my friends”.  Very weird for me not to have a plan! After I showered, I headed over to the pool to sit in the sun and read for a bit… I figured since it was Friday all the staff would be busy preparing for L.T.I camp the next week in Pai (the city) so I would just wait to see them until lunch or some other time. But I got near the office and Poy calls my name, “Samantha!” she greeted me, and brought me into the office to show me around. There, I found some more of my friends busily working away. I asked what they were working on and from that I found myself helping prepare for LTI camp… lol. Not exactly what I expected but it was certainly fun to be able to hang out with them even if I was just drawing lines on a piece of paper… I was contributing AND I was spending time with them J! Poy asked if I was hungry and I was, so we went just across from the office to a little place for lunch. It was A’Roi! After lunch I decided I was actually going to read by the pool. But I think I had gotten a couple pages in my book when I got a phone call from Yokie. (no joke) She was going to the market and wondered if I wanted to join her. “I would love to come!” I said, “Okay, my friend will pick you up on her motorbike at the office and bring you to my home so we can go together…” Uh… Motorbike? Oh. Okay. I was a little nervous but it was actually good. And by the time we came back I was riding on a motorbike WITH buckets and stuff we bought at the market in hand. (Only one hand to hang on with!) By the end of the weekend it was actually really fun riding on the motorbikes with my friends: feels Thailand-y. haha. On our way home from the market, I was asking Yokie if she knew P’Ae and Joy… Some friends working with AIA (Athletes in Action) who Janna and I had met in Bangkok. Joy is also “farung” and working in Chiangmai on a 7 month missions trip with AIA. Just as soon as I asked about them, I saw Joy washing her shoes in the front entrance of her home. I was like HEY!!! We chatted a bit. “I didn’t know you were coming up here this weekend” she said, “Neither did I; I just hopped on a bus and here I am!” “Cool, I was going to go for a swim… wanna join me?” she asked. A swim sounded good because unlike in Bangkok where it rains everyday – I actually saw the sun in Chiangmai!!! I also have to mention that there was absolutely NO flooding in the village in Chiangmai that I was staying in… It was completely dry – the river was low and the sun was out! So great! Anyways so I changed into my bathing suit and met up with Joy and we talked and swam a bit too. I met her friend Anne (who is also her Thai teacher) and Joy told me how they had been learning about Thai time… and how neung toom is 7pm and song toom is 8pm etc. It still kinda baffles me. Anyways, Ae suggested going out for dinner after swimming. So Ae, Anne, Joy, a couple more of their friends and I went out for dinner. I got to eat Italian! I haven’t found any Italian shops since being here. I had fetticini alfredo! Mmm so good! I mean A’Roi Mak! So, after dinner, Ae says, “So, we could go home OR we could go to a concert?” Jing la?! (Seriously?) Obviously we want to go to a CONCERT!!! Haha. Even with my lack of sleep and my 6:30am wake up call on the bus (not a wake up call I just couldn’t fall back asleep) I was totally up for it! It ended up being some sort of concert that was raising money for the floods in Thailand. So they were auctioning off things and they had different bands playing music. It was fun! J It’s funny because at the concert, we met this girl from YWAM named Suzanna. She was telling us how she was a missionary here in Thailand and then we were like, well, so are we! (She’s with YWAM, Joy’s with AIA and I’m with DRIME – oh the acronyms! haha) So anyways we had a good long conversation with her; she raves about the DTS program with YWAM. All in all it was a very packed, random and spontaneous Friday, filled to the max!

Suzanna, me and Joy

Oh and it ended by me finding a LIVE cockroach IN my toilet!!! AH!!! Good thing I know how to flush or else I would have been nervous to sleep with a cockroach in my room! Still kinda was, even though I had flushed him down the toilet!

baking snickerdoodles

Saturday morning I got to sleep in, but first I got a phone call from Yokie at 9:30am. She said “Tom a’rie yuu?” And in my very tired state I was STILL able to “kaow-jai” (understand) what she was saying!!! She was phoning because we were maybe going to go ride elephants on Saturday but she thought it would be better to do on Sunday afternoon. She called to tell me times and prices and stuff. Before she hung up she asked me if I was hungry (for breakfast) and I said – I think I am going to go back to sleep. With the lack of sleep on the bus, the 6:30am wakeup call and the packed day on Friday I was SO EXHAUSTED!!! So she said I could meet her for lunch (I love that they are taking care of me in terms of meals and things to do!) So I did sleep some more! I think I could have slept forever but I decided to wake up at 11:30am. I headed over to Yokie’s place for lunch. I didn’t QUITE remember where it was but I kept walking and all of a sudden I heard my name! haha. So I found her house! Poy asked me if I eat “som tom” ummmm I can TRY. (I normally don’t eat it – mai chop ped) So we had Thai style lunch… chicken, rice, som tom, bamboo and some other things that I tried. One of the foods I tried was bitter and one was sour… but I liked the sour one so I got some more and the girls were happy that I liked it haha. After lunch it started to rain so I played guitar for a bit and watched part of a movie that was on tv with Yokie. Then Joy and Ae walked past the girls’ house. They were going to get some eggs so I asked if I could join them for the walk. After we got eggs Joy came over to the guesthouse I was staying in, because they had an oven, and we made snickerdoodles. Yummy. After we made cookies, I went for a quick swim and then I went to the office to check bus times on the internet for the next night. Turned out Yokie was phoning and booking my ticket for me before I even had a chance to see bus times! So great that she was working it all out for me! My friends were taking such good care of me! Suggesting places to go and things to do and making sure my weekend in Chiangmai was wonderful!

Joy and I at Chiangmai's Walking Street

Joy and Ae had suggested earlier that we go to the walking market… I didn’t know what that was but it’s basically like a JJ Market in Chiangmai. So we went there! We took a red song tow to the market. We were waiting for one to come and it was taking awhile but then we saw one pull into 7/11 on the other side of the street. SO… Joy, Ae and I (looked for traffic) crossed 4 lanes of the highway to get to the song tow at 7/11!!! I feel like I should make a joke out of this: “Why did Joy, Ae, and Samantha cross 4 lanes of the highway???” Answer: “To get to the song tow parked at the 7/11 on the other side!” lol. Anyways, everything at Chiangmai Walking Street was SO CUTE!!! I wanted to buy the whole market and take it home with me… But I didn’t. haha. But it definitely was a lot of fun! At the walking street, Ae bought some lanterns that we could take home and fly this night. It was SO FUN!!! Think Disney’s Tangled (the movie)… and all the lanterns that just float up in the air… We got to DO THAT!!! So exciting! It was a more relaxing beginning of my Saturday but it still got very packed with lots of fun!!!

On Sunday morning, I got up and went to church. It literally was next door to my house. I didn’t expect it to be a church full of farung… But it was! haha. It was called Chiangmai Christian Fellowship (CCF) It was so nice to sing English worship songs! To belt out praises to God! One song in particular stood out to me but I forget what it’s called at the moment. The message from the Pastor was really good too! It was about Genesis 40 and just talking about missionaries in Thailand and the slow process. How we aren’t where we expected to be… and about struggles we face and stuff like that. There was even a baptism after the service in the pool next door! Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay because we had to quickly grab lunch because the song tow was coming at 12:30pm to take us to the Elephant camp!!! It was so great! I loved riding in the song tow and going around the twists and turns to get to the camp and just remembering last year when we came! It was even sunny for us! When we got there Ae got us discounted tickets because they charge more if you are farung! :P Even the bananas I bought for the elephants were more expensive than I was expecting. Anyways Joy and I went to watch the show and it was SO HOT out! I definitely got some sun on Sunday! During the show the elephants painted, played soccer and basketball, played harmonicas, hula hoops on their trunks, played darts and lots of fun stuff! After the show we went to ride the elephant! The elephant we rode’s name was Jumbo! I asked if I could sit on the elephant’s neck at all, but I wasn’t allowed. Maybe one day! The elephant trainer guy was impressed that we spoke a little thai, he took some pictures for us and asked, “Sa nook mai?” (Are you having fun?) Yuppers! He told us that Jumbo was 31 years old and that elephants can live to be 100 years old!!! Just before the end of our ride, it started to rain. Apparently the elephant guy asked me if I wanted an umbrella, “Umbrella ow mai?” but I thought he asked if I had one… but I didn’t so I said no! :S My bad. We headed home in the song tow and then I went to pack my things. It was still raining when I finished packing and I was hungry so I went to Joy and Ae’s house (cuz I didn’t know where to get food – nothing was close) So I had some crackers & peanut butter and popcorn for dinner and Joy and I played Skipbo for a bit. I went back home to finish getting my stuff together and then headed to Yokie’s because she was going to drive me to the bus station ON HER MOTORCYCLE!!! So she took me to the station and I got on a bus for 12 hours! In the morning I was home in Bangkok! Oh, how I’d missed it… and in the afternoon I headed to MRC with Janna to help with the flood stuff! Long day/packed weekend – but lots of fun! We slept over at the church on Monday night because we got back from helping so late… It was so wonderful to be surrounded by my family in Bangkok after being away from them in Chiangmai. What a wonderful weekend and a perfect way to come back home to reality (and friends)! Missed my leaders, Janna and my friends in Bangkok. <3 Happy to be home!

Here are some more pictures from my trip...

Yokie and I

Lantern flying

Joy and I 

The pool outside of the TCCC office

Poy and I

Lantern lighting - like in Disney's Tangled!!!

Me at the elephant camp

More updates about the coming floods...

If you want to see more/hear more information about the floods in Thailand check out Janna's blog at: http://www.jannaruth.blogspot.com/ she has some links to different sites with news about the flooding.

Or check out my friend Matt's blog (who lives in the at risk area) where some of Janna's video come from: http://thematthewscott.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=57&Itemid=153

Please keep Thailand in your prayers!

Hello from the DRIME Thailand Leadership Team - Video Blog (Vlog?)

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek and an introduction to our leaders!

Hello from the DRIME Thailand Leaders!

This is a video we made to say hi to other DRIMERS :)

Check out this video of how silly our DRIME leaders can be - makes for GOOD BLOOPERS hehe. It took quite a few takes to get a good one ;) so many silly things happened in the process :P

And for those of you who speak Thai (or want to learn/hear what it sounds like) - this video is for you!

Hope this gives you a little glimpse into what our leaders are like and why I love them so much!

Leaders, floods & prayers...

Our DRIME Thailand leaders

(campus team – or – “R_DRIME” – the rangsit zone team)

I LOVE our leaders! They just bring me so much joy and I cannot help laughing when I’m around them! I feel SO BLESSED to get the opportunity to spend time with them and build friendships and teach them about DRIME. Yesterday we had the opportunity to perform at the National Plan Meeting. This is a meeting where all the church leaders of the different churches come together to talk about their plan as a nation. Right now they want to see 1 million Thai Christians by 2015 – their slogan is “With Him We Can” Vision 2015! Our DRIME Thailand leaders did an amazing job of learning a drama and performing it all in less than a week! I literally was beaming like a proud parent as I watched them perform Ragman in a room of about 60 – 75 people. Every time I sit back and watch our leaders I can just see how much they are growing (especially Kong - he's come along way already) and it makes me so excited and proud of them every time! He has definitely come out of his shell and it’s amazing to watch! And being able to have the opportunity to hang out and get to know our leaders better is so wonderful! They have this DRIME bond as a leadership team already – they have something you cannot teach - they are crazy and funny and they are “monkeys” (that’s what they say). They constantly make me laugh and they are just suud yod mak! We hung out at the boys’ house a couple weeks ago on Sunday and Por started making up songs on the guitar about DRIME and about prayer and about Kenya and Arm was right in there with the percussion and Kong was in there with the rapping version of the song. Just so funny! I love our leaders so much! Chan rak our leaders mak mak ka!

Apparently they told us we say “perfect” too much so we asked a new word we could say: suud yod (greatest)

City Team still unknown

We have decided that there is not enough time to work on two teams while we are here without going completely insane and stressing out… It’s an overwhelming task to think of on top of training our current leaders. But we are training Kung in everything she needs to know to start up a city team when we leave; especially because January to March are the slower months at the TCCC office. The only thing is we don’t know if we can give some extra training to some potential leaders while Janna and I are here to help Kung out… and that depends on if God lets us know that this person should be on the city leadership team and all three of us agree that’s God’s plan. Keep this team in your prayers and that God would guide us and give us wisdom about this situation and what is best for Thailand.

Floods in Thailand

“Do you own a boat?"

"No I don’t."

"You should get one."

"Can I borrow yours?” 

"Okay, I'll come pick you up on the way to work"

Lol. (The campus staff joking with us lol) Maybe we should build one like Noah did :P

Update about the floods in Thailand. I’m sure a lot of you have been seeing and hearing about the floods in Thailand. The river and canal levels are higher than they have ever been and with all the rain this rainy season the level of the river is rising higher than the dam walls. So everyone is taking precautions. Filling sandbags and making more barricades. People are making sure they are prepared with water boxes (jugs of drinking water) noodles and food supplies in case the floods come. In other districts and provinces they have come. Our friend, Looknut, said that 60 out of the 77 provinces in Thailand are flooding. My heart has definitely grown for Thailand and it breaks at the families and homes that the floods have affected. The area in Bangkok, called Hoganka, where we live is not near the river and isn’t in danger of flooding. Please keep praying – just because I am safe doesn’t mean that you should stop praying. I truly care about this country and the people who are at risk - God is bigger than this water and I know there is a purpose in all of this; a reason why Janna and I are here during this time. Thailand has experienced flooding before but never like this. God is and will protect his children and can use this experience for good, I know! God wants us to rely on him always, but usually we are reminded when things like this happen. Praying that we all draw closer to Him through this.

I’m not writing any of this to worry you. But rather to inform you and to ask that you keep praying for Thailand. I am not worried. I know I am safe and God is protecting me. I have confidence God hears our prayers “if we ask anything according to his will” and “if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask -  we know we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14b-15) Some of my friends live in districts that are closer to the river and close to where the flooding is already happening. I know God will protect them and keep them safe too but you can never pray TOO MUCH! Keep them in your prayers! I appreciate them (your prayers) so much! Khorb Khun Mak ka!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for my friends that live in areas that may be affected by flooding. Pray that God would keep them safe and keep our church safe from the floods!
• Pray that through the flooding, people in Thailand will come to know Christ.
• Pray for my back – it was re-aggravated last week and I just want to be fully healed not back at square one.
• Pray for our decisions in helping train one potential city team leader – that God would help us to determine the right plan of action and for His wisdom to discern whether or not this potential leader would be a good fit for DRIME leadership – if that is God’s plan for him.
• Pray for all 3 of our leaders but especially Por to get some rest and relaxation the last two weeks of October. He is going home to see his family and then to Chiangmai for bible camp. But right now he’s like the energizer bunny – as Campus Director (and DRIME Thailand leader) he keeps going and going with so much work to do. His body is physically telling him to stop by making him sick and tired. So pray that he gets the rest he needs and the rejuvenation to come back strong next semester. Pray that God would be his strength when he is tired and weary. Also pray for Kung and Kong to have restful and relaxing breaks. They ALL have many things that they are busy with and rest is so important!
• Pray for recruiting – people go back home after exams, during the October break from school so our leaders don’t have much time to recruit during this time. Pray for LOTS of interest and that people would be willing to decide to commit to be members by November 11^th – 13^th when Bootcamp (and kick off to the year) is scheduled for. Pray for God to show himself through this and providing lots of interested members! Praying for at least 15 to 20 team members to sign up and be involved. (if not MORE :D!)
• Pray for the desires of our heart... in terms of how our October will look - pray that the things we would like to do in October fall into place and our schedule allows!

Blog Number Sip (10)

 (told you I could and would count to ten!!!)

This one is just a short update.

We are starting to have regular meetings with our DRIME leaders who have been officially chosen. Basically this is what’s happening. Kung is DRIME Thailand’s Base Director. And she will oversee the campus DRIME team and the city DRIME team. (official names yet to be determined) Por and Kong are Chapter Leaders of our campus team and we are meeting with them and P’Kung (part of that team) on a regular basis for training in the DRIME ministry and passing on the DRIME knowledge. P’Por, P’Kong and P’Kung will work together as the campus team and two others (yet to be officially chosen) will work together with P’Kung to be the city team. We have two people in mind who we think (with our human thoughts) that they would be a PERFECT FIT for the DRIME ministry. But there are a few obstacles before they can officially be leaders and we can start training them. Pray that those obstacles disappear and those situations work themselves out so we can complete our leadership team and start training the city leaders as well! Does that make sense?

This week P’Matt and P’Nid took us around Bangkok one evening after work! It was fun hanging out with them. Getting SUBWAY! and seeing more of Bangkok. We got to ride a tuktuk for the first time since being here! Yay! I was so excited haha!

As promised - a picture of a tuktuk

There is a team from the TCCC in Chiangmai here at the office for training this week! P’Poi came to church on Sunday and I wasn’t expecting to see her! I’m so excited to see friends from Chiangmai: Poi, Arm and Yokie (aka “cool person”) again! Haha. So great! Miss them! I hope I get to see them lots at the office and in the evenings when they have free time!

Here's a couple pictures from one of our leaders meetings.

Blog Number Gao (9)

This week has been refreshing. I feel like we are finally able to experience & embrace more of Thailand. It's been a  wonderful change since my transition into base planting work was harder than I anticipated.

There were a lot of really good days this week. It started on Tuesday… (Well Monday night was pretty great too… I got to skype with some friends for a looong time and it was wonderful) I was supposed to get my headboard changed in my room and they told me they would send someone up to do it at 9am. I went down and talked to the people in the office downstairs through Kung via phone (because I can’t speak Thai :P) and they told me to wait til 10:30am/11am. But the person never ended up coming and when I went down to check they told me… not today. But while I was waiting I was able to spend some time with Jesus... which was good and really makes a difference in your day! Previously, I had not been in the right frame of mind. I had been experiencing different emotions such as frustration, bitterness, loneliness and separation and I didn’t want to choose to feel this way – I wanted to feel joyful etc. However, Tuesday I felt like it was going to be a GOOD day! And it was J We had a meeting in the afternoon with our DRIME peeps. At the meeting P’Natti had the same idea for structure of DRIME Thailand that Janna and I had. Which helped confirm it for me because all I knew what that God wanted me to Trust Him. And we got to hear Ning, Jumm and Natti’s heart and what kind of involvement they desire to have in the DRIME ministry here in Thailand. Also after we came home from work we had dinner and watched a lot of episodes of Big Bang Theory… It was good because it was some much needed Janna/Samantha time. J And it was “normal” from before (the team was here) to come home from the office, eat dinner and watch some episodes of something and so I think that definitely helped my transition back into life here in Thailand and with the Base Plant work.

On Wednesday I felt SO PRODUCTIVE! Janna and I were able to finally sit down together and look at our goals and where we wanted to be at this point of the base plant, evaluate all that was left and move some of our sticky notes around of what needed to be accomplished when. We were able to finalize the roles of the DRIME Thailand Leaders, what it will look like here. AND THEN… We started planning our first leaders meeting. And it was really fun and exciting to start thinking and planning what we were going to teach them and how we were going to build into them! Especially fun because I was able to use colourful markers and paper to visually see what we were going to do with them and it made it a more fun way to plan. On Thursday we continued planning and getting ready for our FIRST OFFICIAL LEADERS MEETING the next day!

"Trouble" - I mean... our new leaders

Friday was spent in preparation for our first meeting with the campus leadership team that night. Natti was able to take us to Robinson Mall where we got all the necessary binders, pens, snacks, prizes etc. for our meeting. We came back to the office and finished off the DRIME Trivia game, printing information & putting together the campus leaders’ binders, writing/making cards and just getting everything organized. We planned what parts of the meeting each of us were leading in the taxi on the way to KU (Kasetsart University) because we were getting down to the wire to get things finished. But it all kinda fell into place and we were able to pray for the meeting in the taxi as well. When we got there the boys told us to meet them at a coffee shop – so we had our meeting in a coffee shop at KU. J 

Opening their gifts/cards

We welcomed them, gave them welcome to the DRIME Leadership team gifts, prayed for them, went through logistics, played a couple DRIME games which helped them start learning more about the history of DRIME and PTC etc. Kong is very competitive, lol it’s so sweet how he was getting into the game! We didn’t make it through all the questions but they all really seemed to enjoy it! At one point we thought we would stop but they were like – let’s do some more questions! We even got to stay longer than we had planned because it started to pour outside so we had to wait out the rain. Yay that God gave us more time with them! It was honestly such a fun meeting! These three are such a fun group! At one point, I think it was Kung who said something about how the three of them together would be “trouble”. But I see it as the good kinda trouble. haha. They like to joke and tease each other but their hearts are all in the right place, focused on God and how they can serve Him. It’s really precious to see. I think that’s kinda a requirement in DRIME (not officially tho – lol) to be the good kinda trouble. (Like I just think of putting Fred, Emily and Andrea together or any of the DRIME Vancouver leaders – the good kinda trouble right? ;) Haha) 

First official leaders mtg

Their relationship with one another is a quality that you can’t produce or teach; it’s naturally there or it’s not. So I’m excited to see how DRIME Thailand grows and God’s kingdom grows through these 3 individuals’ willing hearts and creative vision. After the meeting, when the rain lessened, P’Por offered to drive us to a taxi. When we got to the car my umbrella got stuck and wouldn’t close. A few cars were coming and it was raining so I got in and closed the door but I had to leave the umbrella half out and half in. When there was a break in traffic (we were parked, don’t worry!) Kung saved the day by closing it! And we were off! P’Por was so sweet and actually drove us all the way home! Maybe because we were willing to come out and meet him at his campus, he was more willing to go out of his way to take us home. We told him he didn’t have to, that we would take a taxi, but he wanted to. Sweetheart. Yup.

P’Kung slept over at our place because on Saturday we went to THE BEACH!!! 6 of us girls all piled into P’Natti’s truck at around 7:30am and we were off, headed to Pattaya! On the way it was raining but we were hoping and praying that that would change. We got to the place where we would be taking a boat to get to the island with the beach we were going to. It was kind of windy so we were going to go to the mall to kill time but the mall wasn’t open yet as it was only 9:30am! 

So we used the hong nam at the Hilton (it was GORGEOUS inside) and then went to 7/11 to get snacks for the beach. Everything is more expensive on the island. When we went to check about our boat, they told us it was leaving in 8 mins and the next one didn’t come for another hour! So we speed walked to the end of the pier where our boat was and got on! They had these two guys who would stand by the side of the boat and the steps and hold your hands to help you hop onto the boat when it was safe. The boat was rocking in the waves so sometimes they wouldn’t let you on right away. It made me a little bit nervous but everyone got on safe! At first we sat on the sides of the boat but someone told us we would get wet if we sat there so we moved to the middle. And we were glad we did! We still got a little wet, more like just a spray tho. If we were sitting on the sides we would have gotten soaked! I really enjoyed the boat ride, just contemplating life and enjoying the experience! Jumm started feeling seasick tho and just before we got off Natti felt the same. We all made it to the island and when we got off the boat it was even SUNNY!!! The beach that we were headed to was about 10 mins away by song tow (type of truck) or motor taxi. I was a little nervous to ride a motor taxi as I’ve never done it before but that is the mode of transportation that we ended up taking. We went 2 people on a motor bike tho which was good. I was thankful to have Ning come with me! There were a couple moments I felt we were going to fall off and a couple moments that I really enjoyed it but mostly both going up and down the steep hills made me nervous! I liked when we drove on flat land… haha. 

When we got there we put our stuff down and Janna and I walked along the beach and just enjoyed being there! The first time in 3 months that we got to go to a beach in Thailand! Praise the Lord! I’m so thankful it was so sunny and beautiful! We came back from our stroll and ate lunch and then went in the water for a bit. We talked and just enjoyed being at a beach! Twas glorious! When we got out it was just about time to leave because we wanted to catch the boat before it started to rain. 

me and my coconut drink

But first I got a coconut smoothie in a coconut shell… Because – common it has to be done! Haha. After that we packed up and took a song tow back to where we would catch the boat. We sat on the top of the boat this time. I think it was better up there lol. Ning and I had a wonderful conversation… She is so funny! Da Lohk! She made up this really catchy song about the word “okay” in thai! Hehe. “Ja Ja. Ja Ja Ja. Ja Ja. Ja Ja Ja Ja” We drove for a bit and then had dinner and cow neau ma moung for dessert. It was so tastey! I think one of the best cow neau ma moung’s I’ve had since being here! A’Roi Mak Mak ka!

So all in all we got to go the beach on an island in Thailand, we were surrounded with our friends (Ning, Kung, Natti, Jumm& Janna) we got to eat cow neau ma moung, I got to have a coconut shake in a coconut shell and I rode a motor taxi for the first time! I feel so blessed to be able to experience Thailand this way! A wonderfully glorious day!

the kids with their snakes

Sunday was Janna’s birthday! So we went to church in the morning and I helped Kung with Sunday School for the group of kids that have been coming to church since DRIME performed in their community. I taught them the English song, “My God is so big!” with the actions and stuff… It was fun! Then Kung taught them Bible while I went and ate my breakfast (from 7/11 lol – pretty much every Sunday cuz we are always in a rush lol) and I came back and listened to Kung tell the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent in the garden in Thai. Then we made a craft! We made a snake that was like a paper chain style. All the kids did a great job! And the boys made really long ones… haha! And I was still able to get to the service after helping, so great! Just missed worship unfortunately. 

karaokee

us at the bowling alley

After church and lunch Janna went looking for Looknut but unfortunately she was sick so their meeting with a lady couldn’t happen. That meant that we could go bowling earlier! So we asked around if people were free to come bowling with us and if P’Por was willing to drive. He was! So Por, Kong, Nadia, Matt, Kung, Janna and I headed off to Major to go bowling! Quite the experience! They gave us a token to put in a locker of your shoe size and the shoes come out the bottom; kinda like a vending machine! It was 10 pin bowling and really fun to hang out with friends! Janna had pulled a muscle in her back earlier in the week and one of the times that she bowled she re-injured it; which meant she couldn’t play anymore. :( Since she wasn’t able to play I gave her the present I had for her. She opened it and loved it! (It was a journal with a bunch of notes and pictures from friends) After bowling we went out for food at KFC and then Por and Kung wanted to sing Karaoke so we all went and joined them. I totally would have sung if there were English songs… But there weren’t. It was still so fun!

looking through the journal she got for her birthday - full of words from friends :)

All in all the weekend was so fun and I just feel like I’ve had more of an opportunity to experience more of Thailand! And I’m so grateful for that! Thank you for the blessings, Lord!

More Conversations!!!

I wanted to share a few more conversations from my missions trip (because I had lots! lol)

One of the days near the beginning of my trip, actually the day right after I fell down the stairs, I was able to talk with an 83 year old man named Chearn. Lindsey and I went over and I started speaking the limited Thai I knew to see if him or his family (wife and son) spoke any English. They didn’t, so Lindsey went and grabbed Kung to translate but I was surprised that we were able to talk by ourselves for a little while. When Kung came, I was able to explain the dramas and how Jesus was represented by the man in the white shirt. Chearn had a bit of knowledge about Christians however he told me how he was too busy to go to church. He had to run the family restaurant. Nevertheless we continued talking and I asked him if he had heard the testimony I had shared during the dramas. He hadn’t heard so I was able to share about all the health problems that I’d encountered since coming to Thailand and how the devil had been attacking me in that way because he didn’t want the message of Jesus to be heard. I asked him if he had any struggles in his life. He told me that he did struggle and I asked if it was alright if I prayed for him. It was very cool to pray in English and have someone translating the words into Thai. I not only prayed for his struggles but also that he would seek after truth and I hope that he finds that truth is God. I hope that you would continue to pray this prayer alongside of me. We continued to talk casually after that, he seemed like a very sweet old man with a very sweet family and I just pray that they can find hope, joy and truth in Jesus.

Another conversation I had on the first night of ministry was with an older lady named Choosri. I started talking with her and for some reason told her that the previous day was my birthday. As soon as the words left my mouth, I thought, “Why did I say that? It doesn’t matter that it was my birthday yesterday.” But she informed me it was her birthday TODAY! Throughout our conversation she told me how she was a Buddist and also how her son was in Switzerland and different things about her life. She told me she was very accepting of other religions but she was a Buddist. We had a bunch of bibles that we could give away and even though I didn’t feel the conversation was going very far; I asked her something before she left. I said, this may be random but can I give you a birthday present? Can I give you a bible so that you can read more about this Jesus who we came to share about? You can read it or you don’t have to but I just want to give it to you as a gift, would that be okay? And she said sure. She thanked me and said she had to go. But later I saw her talking with P’Natti. When I was out of the dramas she came over to me with a bag of apples. This is for your team, she said. Such a sweet lady to have my first conversation with… And even though I don’t feel like I said much or explained much to her about God; I feel like God still used me. She has a bible in her possession and it isn’t about the words that I say anyways. It’s about how God moves and works in people’s lives and hearts. We are just the people she encounters along the way. So if God can use me when I started talking about my birthday; He can use you even if you’re talking about jellybeans (yup – Lillian – jellybeans ;) hehe).

I had an unexpected conversation at a market we had performed at last year. We had just finished a drama set and I just felt like I needed to sit and pray this time. So I didn’t go out looking for any conversations or people to talk to, I stayed with the stuff and was just praying for the other conversations. Not too long after I decided this in my head, Jess came over and told me this girl she was talking to remembered me from last year. I was surprised at this! So I went over and joined their conversation and met Sprite. I was able to share with her and her friend about my struggles and how Jesus is victorious in the end (of the spiritual battle between good and evil). Nuu was our translator and he was able to share his testimony as well. From what it sounded like Joyce (the guy) had a Christian friend who had invited him to church before. He gave us his contact information so we can get him some more information about local churches. We also asked if they wanted bibles and Jess and I both wrote a verse for them in their bibles. Nuu translated the chapter into Thai characters so they could look it up. It looked like they both were really interested in reading them. They opened it while we were still there! So I pray that God uses His word to speak to these students. I’m so glad he used both Sprite remembering me and Jess bringing me over to gently nudge me to get involved in this conversation.

Another special conversation occurred in the rain, undercover but in the rain nonetheless. There were a big group of kids watching the dramas so I knelt down to start talking to one little boy. “Sawatdee ka! Khun sebai dee mai ka?” (Hello! how are you?) He smiled at me. I wanted to ask him what he thought of the dramas but I didn’t know how to say that. Jess had one of the Jesus story tracks in hand so I gave it to the little boy and his two friends but soon realized they probably were too young to be able to read it and I certainly couldn’t read Thai. Jaeng was standing nearby, and so I asked her if she could read the story of Jesus to these three children that I had tried to talk to. She did and at the end of the book it asks if they want to receive Christ into their hearts. The two boys raised their hands and so Jaeng prayed with them to ask Jesus into their hearts. So very very exciting! I just pray that they can find someone to teach them more about who they just invited into their lives. We couldn’t give them a bible to learn more because they couldn’t read it and I don’t think their parents were Christians, so just keep these boys in your prayer. They are in God’s hands - as all little children of God are.

I felt so blessed that this missions trip was filled with more children and babies than my last missions trip to Thailand. I got to hold baby Organ, and see these two boys come to Christ, perform at an elementary school, and just sit and play and read with children at a community centre library in a poorer area after we had performed a couple dramas for them… I remember looking at a book with this one little boy and then I just started counting in Thai… the boy joined me and soon he was saying numbers and I was repeating them. He seemed to enjoy teaching me new words by pointing at pictures as well as teaching me to count! God knew that we needed that and I’m so glad he sent little children our way!

So those are just a few more conversations that I had during the trip. What a wonderful trip it was! Missing my team <3 Love you guys!

Thanks everyone for the prayers sent out during when the team was here! Your support means the world and none of this is possible without God. So grateful that He is on our side and loves us so much!