Midnight Bus Rides and Sleeping on Tile Floors.

((Typed this up last night while on the bus from Baguio to Manila. Slept in Manila a little bit from 5:30 a.m. to about 8 a.m. and decided to finish up and post the blog now. Sorry for no pictures and not much editing.))

"And so the journey begins. Our air conditioned Victory Liner bus is now moving and making its way to Manila. After this 5 (ish) hour bus ride, we will be saying goodbye to 2 of our 4 SEU team members as they will be departing at 9 a.m. to head home via plane. I will be heading to some place called AGMF or something like that where the interns that we met up with the last couple of days will be staying until they leave on Wednesday. The SAGU team, Jason and I will be hanging out there until the SAGU team leaves around noon and then a professor from the states that has been teaching at APTS the last few weeks and I will head to the airport around 3 or 4 for our 7 p.m. And 6:30 p.m. flights (respectively). I fly from Manila to Bangkok where I will be spending another night in the airport (Not excited). Then around 6 a.m. Tuesday morning I will be leaving Bangkok for Tokyo and then Tokyo to LAX. I'll be arriving around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday in LAX (6 hours earlier than I departed from Tokyo around 5 p.m. on Tuesday... Gotta love time zones and the International Date Line).

So, to catch up on the last couple days. When we came back from the mountains Tuesday night we met up with the team of 6 interns that had been working in Indonesia after being in the Philippines (this was also the last week of their 2 month trip). As I mentioned before Wednesday was a free day, and, sadly, our “Amazing Race” around Baguio City was cancelled due to weather. Though not too many of us were all that sad about it, I certainly was not the least bit distressed about it being cancelled, but I was certainly hoping to simply have a break after the mountain trip. So Wednesday evening I was able to go to the market for about an hour and do a little shopping for gifts and such. It was most enjoyable. After that all of the teams (the SAGU, SEU, Interns and Sam Houston teams) met for dinner at a Mongolian grill where the Amazing Race was supposed to end anyway (since Tom and Connie already had reservations set up for us there). Thursday, by happenstance, was also a very light day for us as our national team was only able to set up for us to go to one school and distribute Book of Hope in the classrooms. That was an awesome opportunity to share with the students and to be open with them about what we were there to do. It probably took us about an hour to distribute to all of the classrooms with out team and theirs together. So before and after that we had a really light day, which was perfect because Amanda, on our SEU team, was not feeling well at all after the mountains and she really needed another day to sleep and rest and really recover from whatever was going on in her body.

Friday was a very long day of Book of Hope distribution as we went to multiple schools and were able to share in the classrooms about the story of true hope to be found in Jesus Christ. It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun to work with the interns and our national team and to get to connect even more with all of them in both groups. Then, in the evening we said goodbye to the Sam Houston team as they were heading out Saturday morning to do about 5 more days on ministry in another location, please continue to lift them in prayer as they are making an effort to minister in some tribal areas and considering taking a boat to another island to minister as well. They will only just be preparing to leave when I arrive home.

Saturday was another long day, but long in a different sense. Our SEU team and the 5 interns that were still here (one went home Wednesday) were doing a “Youth Summit” for young people which Pastor Anthony and Pastor Tata did a great job organizing. There were 4 sessions throughout the day: “Identity”, “Marriage, Courtship and Love”, “Hope” and “Success”. Together SEU and the interns had the first and third sessions to run. After each session there was discussion in groups which we were in charge of. At that point most of the students have “nose bleeds” that is the term used to refer to “too much English”. So, having to have discussion in English was a bit of a stretch for some of them, but it did make it fun when we could finally get them discussing. I met so many amazing young people yesterday, I don't even know, really, how to talk about them here without putting them in boxes and categories that I would dare not bring into this. Please keep them in prayer and please lift up the many students that responded to a call for relationship/deeper relationship with Christ.

Today (Sunday) was our last service in the Philippines which was something of a milestone and a little sad to think about. But Pastors Anthony and Tata had arranged for us to go to another church to minister there. I honestly don't know what the pastora's name was, but it was so amazing to meet her and talk with her over lunch after the service about what God has been doing in that community over the last 10 to 15 years that they have been working there. The pastora told us about how many ministers considered that area to be “rocky ground” when it comes to the Gospel as the predominant belief of the people is pagan religion mixed with Catholicism and the majority of the people in the community are somehow related to one another and they persecute those family/community members who are found to be going to the church. The Pastora them went into the stories about the last year of how God has opened huge doors with the religious leaders of the community as well as giving the church a greater voice in the community and greater acceptance and encouragement. It was encouraging for me to sit across from this woman at lunch and to hear about what God is doing in this area that has been considered so much “rocky ground” for so long.

Then it was time to pack and head up to Tom and Connie's house again for our last dinner and team meeting to talk about the trip and what we were challenged and encouraged by and what we are going to do now. Then I went back to the room and slept for 2 hours and how I am trying to not get sick on the buss at 1 a.m. As someone who doesn't generally get motion sick, I don't know why I am having such a hard time at this exact moment, but I really don't feel so great with these mountain roads."

Everything above I wrote on the bus last night from Baguio to Manila, now it's 8 a.m. Monday morning, and we've arrived in Manila and we've gotten a little bit of sleep. The SAGU team just left to go to the airport and head home which is also little sad. I will miss them all. Now Jason, the interns and I are just hanging out until I also have to leave this evening. I feel like there is so much that I am just going to be processing for the next week or so once I get home. Pretty much since last Wednesday I was extremely excited about going home, then on Wednesday evening and Thursday... Well, let's just say, God showed me a few things that I need to do/take care of when I get home that are going to be... challenging, to put it lightly. I'm still looking forward to going home, but taking care of what God has told me to take care of when I get there is going to be a little tough. So, please keep those things in prayer. I'm pretty sure my re-entry culture shock to the U.S. is going to be easier in some ways since I was able to spend this time with many Americans in the Philippines before going back, but at the same time I think it might be more difficult that it has been because this is the longest overseas trip I have ever taken. Please remember that in your prayers as well, and everyone who is excited to see me, I am excited to see you as well, but I may take a few days before I turn my cell phone back on once I get home.

I love you all,

-Kristen

P.S. I will likely update along the way home for lack of anything better to do. I might even add pictures if I can find a stable/consistent enough internet connection. ;)

Baguio, the Mountains, Rain and More Starbucks

Welcome to beautiful Baguio.

We are a mile high and have been battling the periphery of a typhoon since our arrival, so lots of rain. This morning when I woke up at 6 something a.m. I saw the sun for the first time since leaving Manila. I was finally able to see the city and valley from the windows of the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) where we have been staying in Baguio. The picture above has been the typical view at almost any time of day for the (almost) week we have been here. As someone who loves the fog, this weather has been enough to convince me that Baguio is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Though it's taking me a little longer than I expected to adapt to the altitude; making the "hike" up the hill to Tom and Connie Bohnert's house from the Global Missions Center where we are staying at APTS takes the wind out of me every time.

Anyway, so, from Manila we took the midnight bus Friday night and arrived at APTS in Baguio around 4 or 5 a.m. on Saturday morning. I ate breakfast at 6 when it opened and then got some sleep. Then we had a meeting with all three teams that are here and we met the national pastor that we would be working with while we are here, Pastor Anthony. Each team is working with a different national pastor so the 4 of us from SEU are working with Pastor Anthony and his church: Baguio Full Gospel International Church. Today and tomorrow we will be working with their students and Chi Alpha ministries distributing Book of Hope on a few school campuses.

Sunday morning we went to Pastor Anthony's church, Jason shared his testimony and one of the students on our team (Grant) preached. Then we had lunch and came back to the church for the youth service from 2 to 5 p.m. We had some fun games, got to know some of the students, Amanda shared her testimony and I preached. I felt it went well and I enjoyed it. I love speaking to youth, which is funny because I have never considered myself one to go into "youth ministry," but it has always been something I have enjoyed when I am presented with the opportunity.


Baguio Full Gospel International Church youth group

Monday we went up into the mountains to minister at a church there. The place we went to was called Pual (pronounced as you would say it in Spanish). It took an hour or hour and a half drive and then an hour and a half hike down and up a mountain or two to get there. I will post pictures soon (have to get them off my camera still). It was absolutely beautiful. Many of the people there in the mountains make their living growing and harvesting syote which is a vegetable that grows on the steep mountain sides. Most of the church members there have to walk (read as "hike") half an hour to an hour to get to the church at all. We did a service Monday night there, had some fellowship with the church there (the 5 or 6 people that came) and were able to minister to them. Then we spent the night at someone's house and on Tuesday we went to a couple of church members' homes so that we could pray for them and bless them. They are some of the most generous people as they gave us fruit, vegetables and sugar cane, to take back with us. I don't think I have ever seen so much syote and passion fruit... Though, considering I had never seen either before that trip into the mountains, that's not saying much.

Then we were able to get a ride back up the mountain to the highway... which might have actually been more painful and longer than hiking back up would have been, but it was still a lot of fun. We had 10 of us in standing in the back of a truck going up dirt roads around 2 or 3 different mountains to get up to the highway again. It really gives one an insight into how these people live and make their livings. The people of the church there were amazing, generous and joyful. It was such a blessing to be able to minister to them on the mountain side.

Spontaneous anecdote time: as we were walking up the mountain it started raining so we took refuge in a covered area by a school along the road. Once the rain let up (about 5 minutes) we continued. Pastor Anthony and I were walking in front and Pastor noticed a snake, which appeared to be being chased by a small chicken. I laughed and kept walking, but then the snake coiled up and reared its head. Yes, it was a cobra. The chicken decided to keep its distance at that point and the rest of the team stopped. The snake was in the middle of the path. After a few minutes, Jason threw a rock at it and smashed its head. It took a bit of stepping on it and crushing with a rock or two, but we did finally manage to kill it, and after that all the kids in the school, who had just gotten out of classes and watched the whole thing, followed us up the mountain the rest of the way to the church. It was a great story, no? Sadly, like the balut, the only photos I got were blurry, but I will post soon (probably on facebook).

Tuesday night we had dessert at Tom and Connie's house (the missionaries we are working with) and then we had some absolutely amazing time of sharing. The Sam Huston team (19 people), the SAGU team (5 people), the SEU team (4 of us) and a team of interns who had just returned to the Philippines from Indonesia (6 people) were all there and we were able to take some time to share about what God had been doing in all of us and through our teams the few days we had been in Baguio. We truly overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. There is so much power and encouragement in hearing how God has been using those around you and what He's been doing in the team as a whole.

Wednesday was our free day and we were supposed to do the "Amazing Race" around Baguio, but the rain kinda killed that, which I don't think anyone was all too sad about as most of us just wanted to rest and not run around the city in the rain anyway. So, we got to go to the market and do a little shopping and things like that. And today, as I said earlier, we will be distributing Book of Hope in the schools and again tomorrow. Then tomorrow night (Friday night) we will be doing a big youth service at Pastor Anthony's church. Saturday we have a big youth summit all day that we will be helping with and participating in. Then Sunday morning we will be going to a different church in the morning and then in the afternoon we will go back to the youth group at Pastor Anthony's church. Then we leave Baguio Sunday night on the midnight bus again to return to Manila. We arrive in Manila Monday morning and Amanda and Grant fly out Monday morning, I fly out Monday night back to Bangkok (where I get to spent the night in the airport again and then fly back to CA Tuesday morning) and Jason flies out early Tuesday morning from Manila. Busy next few days, but I am looking forward to it. And I'm also looking forward to getting home.

Please keep the health of our teams in prayer. Amanda (on the SEU team) is sick and has had a fever the the last day or so, Becky (on the SAGU team) got really sick (throwing up and such) last night and 4 or 5 of the Sam Houston team members have been sick on and off since we arrived in Baguio. Health is a big deal right now as we are trying to finish strong these last few days here. I know that my body is tired and on the verge of getting sick, so I have been trying very hard to keep a lot of vitamins going and getting as much rest as possible. So far I haven't been sick at all on this trip and I would hate to get sick my last 4 days here. Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. I look forward to being home and sharing more of the bits and pieces that haven't made it into my posts here.

Much love,
Kristen Joy

The Philippine Islands

So... I arrived in the Philippines on Satruday night in time to watch the most amazing sunset I have seen in almost 2 months from the taxi. Short-term Investment (a.k.a. Jason, the SEU team leader) met me at the airport, which was a relief as I had no contact info for him or anyway to get a hold of him once I left Chiang Mai. Sitting at the airport in Bangkok with no wifi I was getting a little concerned because I couldn't remember how much flight info I had given him. But my flight landed half an hour early and I got my bags, exchanged money (got some pesos 42.5 pesos to the dollar, almost 1.5 pesos per 1 baht), got through customs and got my 8th country's stamp in my passport (once I get the exit stamp from the PI (Philippine Islands) my passport will officially be half-full. That makes me so amazingly happy.) and I walked outside to see Jason standing there. We got a taxi and went to Starbucks and he told me what the team had been up to the 2 or 3 days they had been in the PI without me so that I could know what was going on. We got another taxi back to the house we are all staying at and I met up with the SEU (4 people with me) and the SAGU teams (5 people from Southwest Assembly of God University in TX) which have essentially become one team for the entire trip. Walking into the room with everyone at the house when I arrived was almost overwhelming as I was able to feel the unity and the type of Christian community I have been so longing for since leaving SEU in May. I was home when I walked into that room.


I know it's the same pic from the last post, but worth a re-post it was so welcome.

Sunday morning we split up SAGU and SEU and the SEU team went to a church service at ICS church, had lunch and then went back to ICS to do the youth service from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. We played a game, they did worship which was amazing, and then Jason preached, we each led a small group and then we taught them all how to play "Ninja." While I am able to easily sum up the day in a mere two sentences, I cannot even begin to tell you all the amazing blessing I received that first Sunday. Partially because it would require a lot of back story, but also because it's difficult to describe what I received/experienced without sounding cheesy. To sum it up, God answered a few of my prayers. God knew exactly what I have been dealing with over the last chunk of time and he let me know it. I was writing out a prayer during worship in the main service and I was telling God I really didn't know what to do after this trip and in general. I was a little lost as to what my "purpose" is and the sermon was on "God's Ultimate Purpose." Amanda (on the SEU team) shared her testimony in the youth service and said many things that I absolutely needed to hear in that moment and then Jason got up to preach and God had changed his entire message during worship and every word he said was... exactly what I needed to hear, again. I felt like 3 different times before I even ate dinner, if God had had a physical body at that moment, he would have been sitting right in front of me, making direct eye-contact and saying "Kristen, try to tell me I don't love you. I have heard every prayer and cry. And I know the desires of your heart. Try to tell me that I don't love you." In the small groups afterward I was able to share a little of my testimony with my small group and to hear from them and their hearts about some of their testimonies and some of the things that God has done in their lives. It was beautiful for all of us.


The youth group and SEU team getting together for a picture after a 45 minute game of Ninja at the end of the service

Monday we had a little bit of a rest day, in that we went out with XA (Chi Alpha) in the morning and talked to students around RTU (one of many, many universities here). We got to distribute Book of Hope and just commune with some students. I got to sit and talk with 3 girls in a restaurant for a while about their studies and what they are doing and wanting to do and what religion means to them. After that we, as I said, had a rest day and went to the mall to do some shopping and things like that. I sat in Starbucks and took a nap for about half an hour and I went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a while and had some sweet Jesus-time and really got refreshed. Tuesday night I also tried Balut for the first time (everyone else was too freaked out to try it, haha). For those of you who do not know, steamed Balut is a duck embryo still in the shell between 10 and 20 days old (usually 18 days). So there is still some egg white and egg yoke inside but there is also a partially developed duck fetus. Now, while you go get a drink of water to wash down the bile that just creeped up your throat, I will gladly let you take my word for it that it was amazing. Just know that I will probably be eating a lot more of it throughout this trip (Basically it just tastes like your average a boiled chicken egg with a, in my opinion, more appealing texture).


Half way through my first balut, the first of many... (Sorry for blurry pic, I handed my camera off to record it, so this is the only pic that's half decent)

Tuesday morning was a completely different story. On Tuesday morning we met up with Steve and Beth Dailey to go to Baseco. Baseco is a squatter community that has sprung up on what used to be a landfill on Manila Bay. The people there are extremely poor, the children are malnourished and many lack proper clothing and the people live in terrible conditions without running water and only spotty access to filtered water as well. They use wood fires to cook and the air is very smokey all around. The ground is covered in feeces animal and otherwise (human) and there was a very large amount of rain the day we went, such that the missionaries were concerned we might get stuck out there when we left to go. At the church there (which is right across from a Muslim mosque) we did a small program with some songs and Bible stories for a group of children that are in the church's feeding program (started by the Dailey's) and then we helped to feed them and we just played with them and loved on them. The mothers of the children were present as well and it was amazing to interact with them and the children. I honestly don't know how to tell stories about these kids, like the little boy in the striped shirt who is deaf and mute, can't be more than 9 years old, and his parent don't want him. He lives with his grandmother. He has never learned to sign. But we were able to love on him and when we went to walk around the community a little bit he ran and walked with us the entire time. He held my hand as we walked for some 10 minutes and he didn't want to leave. This boy that I don't have a name for was beautiful and he was only one of many.


The boy in the striped shirt who had no words to speak.


Manila Bay from the squatter community we worked at on Tuesday. This community used to be a land fill and now contains some 40,000 families... some 200,000 people, at least.

Transition from that? Tuesday afternoon I was able to eat filafel again and I was very happy about that and then Wednesday we were going to be going back to RTU again to do more Book of Hope distribution, but there was a typhoon and, most unfortunately, all of our plans for the day were put on hold, however, that unexpected and initially unappreciated forced day of rest was much needed for the emotions and, as we will not be getting a ton of rest the next few days with a midnight bus ride tomorrow night to Baguio, it was a much needed rest for the bodies. We ate some new fruits and we saw Captain America at a theatre and I had a salted caramel cappuccino that was downright divine from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Today I rode the LRT (elevated train) here for the first time and we went to the U(niverity)-belt where there are many different universities in one area and we did more Book of Hope distribution. I was able to talk to a few young people and really connect with them and was able to tell them about XA and the student ministry and hopefully they will be able to plug in with that. Then we went to another university (PUP, I believe are the initials) where the XA student group on campus was hosting a Time Management seminar which we were in charge of. Finoy (on of the SAGU team members) lead the session and each of the rest of us lead small groups afterward to discuss the material and spiritual things as well. My group was all Christian or Catholic, but when I asked them all what they got out of the session one of the young ladies responded that she really needed to spend more time with God and make Him a priority in her life and to think about eternal things more. It was beautiful to hear from her heart on that. And that brings us up to now.

In the morning we will be going to two different universities, one will be another Life Skills seminar and the other, which is what I will be doing, I honestly don't know. We are going back to RTU, I believe and going classroom to classroom because we have finally received permission from the dean to come inside the campus. So, I will find out in the morning exactly what we will be doing, but for now I must go do a little packing and get some sleep. We are taking a midnight bus tomorrow night up to Baguio where we will be working with another missionary and staying at APTS (Asia Pacific Theological Seminary). Looking forward to it. And one last side note before I head off to sleep, I have made a decision (much prompted by God Sunday and later confirmed) to go back home after this trip. I don't knave a ticket yet beside my flight out of Manila on August 8th back to Bangkok, but I believe I will be back in CA on August 9th if mom gets me a flight. ;) So, I am happy to be coming home and sad to be leaving in 11 days...

See you all soon (in one format or another),
-Kristen

Flexibility

As I sit here with our plans for the day entirely on stand-by do to weather ("Typhoon"? Really? It rained harder yesterday. ;) Change of plans for the day) I feel I should take a little time to post an overdue update.

The last two weeks in Thailand really blend together in my mind as I try to write about them. My last post was about Quest and the waterfall. We taught Tuesday through Friday of that week and then on Saturday walked up the wat on the mountain (15 km, 9miles) above Chiang Mai. The mountains are a shoulder chain of the Himalayan mountains that comes down into Thailand. At the top of the mountain, after 9 miles of hiking, there are 309 steps up to the wat. There was an absolutely amazing view of the entire city of Chiang Mai from the mountain (once we got to the top, though, there was too much cloud cover to see. We rode a sahng taw back down the mountain and rested. (Pictures on the previous blog post)

Then church on Sunday (our last service in Thailand) was absolutely a blessing. Dr. Martindale from Evangel spoke and ministered. Then we taught Tuesday to Friday, had our very last classes in Ban Pong, which was sad for me because Ban Pong was a huge growing experience for me in this trip. I have always been intimidated by the idea of teaching in front of a class room and I have never thought I would like it at all, but I loved teaching the kids in Ban Pong's schools, and I was sad to be leaving. Friday (July 22nd) was our last day of teaching at the English Center with the University students, so we had out regular graduation party and it became a large farewell party.

With some of my students (Right to left: Sai, Shu, Sine, me, A, and Peat)
(Pictures of Nuch, Boo, Leemur, Pim, Rainbow and Nokkie (my other students) will be posted on fb soon)

I was so overwhelmed to read the many notes my students and the church members wrote for me and by the many gifts my students gave to me. I never expected to connect with these people so much as I did on this trip. After the party I went back to 7-11, bought an energy drink and stayed up all night to pack, took my suitcases downstairs and loaded up the sahng taw at 5 or 5:30 a.m. The Evangel team got on the same flight as me so we left together and flew down to Bangkok. Our flight left very late, which was okay by me because I had about 6 hours of layover in Bangkok before my flight to Manila. The Evangel team was staying in Bangkok for a couple of nights and they have all, by now, made it safely back to the states and to their various homes.

Empty suitcase at 2 a.m. for my 5 a.m. departure.

I will now end this post and create a separate post for the Philippines, just because I feel like we might be leaving any moment, as the missionary just arrived at the house we are staying at. But I will post again today, because too much has happened in the three days I have been in the Philippines for me not to post about it! See you soon, world of blogging.

Be blessed,
Kristen

One Thousand Apologies... And a Few Bugs

Welcome to the Philippine Islands


Chiang Mai, Thailand from half way up the mountain

I have been away for 2 inexcusable weeks. I offer my sincerest apologies for this fact. The last weeks in Thailand was absolutely crazy as we finished up our teaching and said farewell to the students. It was much more difficult than I expected to say good bye to the students as they completely overwhelmed me with gifts and notes (they did that for all of us) and I absolutely didn't know what to do with notes from them that said things like "You are a good teacher" and "You made learning English fun." I was very touched. When I had to say good bye to Prin and Sarah (church members I became extremely close to) I went upstairs in the Center and cried for a while.


(Waterfall we passed hiking 9 miles up Doi Suthep to the wat at the top of the mountain)

Then, after staying up all that Friday night to pack and re-pack and re-pack again I made it to the sahng taw at 5:30 a.m. to head to the airport and off to the Philippines to meet up with the SEU team here. The Evangel team was heading back to Bangkok with me to stay there for a night or two before heading back to the states. I had a pleasant conversation with a lady in the airport and her Kiwi husband (New Zealander) and then I got my exit stamp and headed to the Philippine Islands.


(Bug that woke me up and kept me up the night before my last day in Thailand)

Now I am sitting in Manila after three days and I am so tired I haven't even been able to process much of what has happened. For the moment I will say that I have been blessed and I will post again with details and photos as soon as I can.

Quest and a Waterfall?

Alrighty, so yesterday was Sunday, and we had a very good church service in the morning and then some pretty awesome lunch and I finally got to meet missionaries Mark and Janie Durene who just returned to Thailand on Thursday from about 5 months furlow in the U.S. I was able to tell them that Bill and Ky Prevette and Dr. and Mrs. Houlihan said "hi" and they said to return the greeting, so in the event that any of you read this, Mark and Janie say "Hi back." Then after church and lunch we had Quest. This weekend we were supposed to have Quest camp, but do to some scheduling issues with Chiang Mai University events we were not able to do the camp but we did have a pretty fun event out at the reservoir where students were able to come and talk about family and how that connects with Christianity. Unfortunately our turn out was small because of all of the events going on this weekend at Chiang Mai University. The University is at the bottom of a mountain and every year the incoming freshmen walk up the mountain to the temple at the top to be blessed in all their studies. It's supposed to be quite the sight, but I wasn't able to get up early enough on Saturday to go watch them. But it did effect our turn out at Quest, however, there was at least one student who expressed a very strong interest in learning more about Christianity. Please pray for this young man who has been very open with the Evangel student that is teaching him about his interest in Christianity and please pray that his teacher has the opportunity and the words to speak in this student's life.

The reservoir.

The group was broken into three groups that moved between three stations we had set up. We had a couple of games that involved teams and working together and a couple of the Thai leaders shared their testimonies at two of the stations. And then in the third station (the one I was overseeing, so I sadly don't have any photos of the games) they had to create a little skit off of a given theme relating to "family." It was so much fun to watch the teams work together and put together some very entertaining and very serious sketches in such a short time. Then each group had to preform their skit in front of everyone at the end. It was a lot of fun. I even got to be in one of them, because one of the teams had all guys and their drama was about what it means to be brothers and sisters. The funny part is that they asked me to be the "mom" in the skit rather than a sister or anything. :)


The all guys group planning their drama about what it means to be brothers and sisters.


The "N group" planning their drama about what family means.

After Quest Nokkie and Nun (two students at the English Center and church members) took us to the Walking Street Sunday night market to do a little shopping. It was so much fun! There was a little bit of rain so it wasn't as crowded as the last time the group went (this was the first time I went). But it was so much fun. I spent less than $30 U.S. and got 3 dresses a new pair of sandals (since mine broke last weekend) a t-shirt and a bag of bugs to eat. Yes, my friends. I finally got to eat a grasshopper, but I prefer the silk worms, to be honest.


Silk worm, we got Calvin to eat one too.


My bag of bugs to snack on while walking around the market.
Yeah, I only ate two of them...

After all of that fun, today we had a free day so Prin offered to take us to a waterfall about 40 minutes away to have a picnic lunch and to climb the limestone waterfalls. It was amazingly beautiful out in the jungle and there was no one there at all when we arrived and when we left there was still only a small number of people. It was up in the mountains so the air was thinner and clearer than in Chiang Mai and it was absolutely perfect. And in about half an hour a couple of us will be going to the mall to get some dinner and do a little more gift shopping, since we're leaving Thailand in 12 days! Still can't believe it has gone by so fast!! Philippines, here I come, eh?

I'll have pictures of the actual falls and the climb posted on Facebook soon, but at the moment I am trying to get caught up on photo posting since Facebook was giving me grief the last week and a half with my photos. But in the mean time, here's a couple:


Soaking wet after climbing back up the waterfall. I'm leaning over randomly because there was big spiderweb right above my head.


Yeah, I always climb waterfalls in a dress. What about it? Hahah

Be blessed,
-Kristen

"So, when are you coming home?"

So, I realized today that it has been almost two weeks since I last posted anything, and with only two weeks left in Thailand I should really get back to this blog. I am so amazed that the time has gone by so amazingly fast. I am leaving for the Philippines two weeks from tomorrow, and I will be there for 20 days before returning to Bangkok. At this point my plan from there does not exist in concrete or plane tickets. I had originally planned to be home by now and then my plan changed to stay longer and go to the Philippines. And now I have the opportunity to extend my trip further, to visit a dear friend in China, possibly, or even to go the Malaysia to work with some YWAM people working down there for a week or so. Then I could return to Chiang Mai and teach another course in September, which is something I would very much love to do. So, I don't really know what is going to happen at this point. But I am extremely excited about the opportunities that are opening up before me. I feel like I have mentioned some of this in a previous post, but it might just be Facebook that I am remembering. So, oh well. Anyway, I am now trying to figure out if I can make all of that work out and still be able to continue forward with my plans for January which involve another potential trip to the Asian continent. I really hope it all works out.

Anyway, after all the exciting news, some prayer requests, please keep one of the Evangel team members, Laurin (not Becker) in your prayers as she has been feeling very under the weather the last two days and she was not able to teach her classes last night (The classes were still taught, but not by Laurin), and it would be great to have Laurin back to full health and energy for these last two weeks. Also, this Sunday we have another Quest event. If you will recall, these are events we put on and make available to the students with the understanding that we will talk about Christianity. The students are welcome to come, have fun, learn about Christianity, practice more English, fellowship with Thai believers, build relationships, and ask questions. So, please pray that this event has as good a turn out and better than the last one. Pray that the students would be open to learn about a God who loves them and wants them to love him and that the students would build relationships with the Thai believers. This is a great opportunity.

Last Saturday one of the Evangel team members (Zach) left to return to the states (he could only come for the first course) and another Evangel student (who could only come for the second course) named Calvin arrived on Monday. So, it has mixed up the team dynamic a bit, but it's been very exciting to have a new person around now that the rest of us have been here for a month and we can show him the ropes. Especially since I saved his life before her even arrived in Chiang Mai. Hehe, apparently he got separated from the group of people he was with in Bangkok over the weekend before he came to Chiang Mai and he posted on facebook that he needed someone to contact one of the leaders of the group he was with down there and tell them that he was at the police station. I saw his post and sent him the phone number he needed to get a hold of them. It was an entertaining introduction to the newest Evangel team member before he even arrived, and it made a great story when he did finally get here. After hearing said story, btw, we immediately taught Calvin the words necessary to get back to our hotel from anywhere in the city on a sahng taw. So, fun times.

Anyway, yesterday we taught out in Ban Pong again, as we do every Tuesday and Thursday and Laurin was not able to come so I taught the third grade class for an hour with Prin there to translate and sing a couple songs on his guitar (Prin is one of the church staff that drove us out there since Lauren has been very busy this week preparing for a class that she will be teaching soon, I honestly can't remember what the course is or where, but it's been a lot of work for her. But Prin is married to Sarah, who is from Belfast and she's an amazing person who took me to lunch on her motorbike last week and it was very exciting). But teaching the 3rd graders was a lot of fun. They were a little shy, but having Prin sing some songs with them really got them moving and excited about what was going on, so I actually enjoyed teaching the class a lot. One of the boys in the class has a Thai mother and French father so he speaks Thai and French, which is pretty impressive and his English was impressive for a 3rd language in a 3rd grader. (It reminded me of one of my kids in Jordan who spoke Arabic, English and German). I was very, very encouraged after teaching that class. As many of you may know the idea of teaching a classroom, especially of young people (below university age) has terrified me and been utterly unappealing to me for a very very long time. But Thursday might have finally changed my perspective on this topic a little, especially now that the 4th, 5th and 6th graders at that school know us now and they know that when I say "Simon says 'touch your mouth'" it means "be quite", and they love it.

With Zach leaving last weekend, Dr. M went down the Bangkok with him and to get Calvin and bring him back, at the same time, Laurin and Krager (the rest of the Evangel team) took an opportunity to go visit another missionary a few hours outside Chiang Mai at the school/orphanage that she is running out there. I chose to stay in Chiang Mai and enjoy a weekend along. It was a pleasant break from the kind of constant people action of the trip to this point and it was very refreshing. This has overall, been a week of blessing and encouragement for me. Last week was a very difficult week for me emotionally and spiritually as I was struggling with some homesickness and loneliness among other things. But this week has definitely been a high point of my trip thus far. Looking forward to two more like it and three more in the Philippines. And then... who knows after that but God? Time will tell.

;)

Be blessed,
Kristen

P.S. I had some pictures to add to this post, but Blogger decided that it didn't like my internet connection enough to let me add them. Will try again soon.