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.

Protein.

Tonight was a cultural experience and a night in which I feel I was truly refreshed. After the church service this morning we celebrated the graduation of the SBS (School of Biblical Studies) students at TLC, this included recognizing all of the wonderful people that we have been able to get to know a little while we have been here, having a wonderful meal, and ice cream and cake. Then I came back to the hotel and was able to take a nap for at least an hour. It was lovely. Then we met back up at the church to go to a Thai restaurant (called "BBQ" and I guess that's as adequate a description as one can get). This was a dinner that was free for our students on the winning team from the scavenger hunt last Sunday as a reward for them. All of the students were invited, and it was a very fun experience.

One of our tables at dinner. :)

First of all, we had about 20 people there so we took up an entire row of tables, which was fun in and of itself. But here's how Thai barbecue works: There's burner in the middle of each table, with a propane tank on the floor underneath, and then a dome shaped metal "pan" (if I can call it that) is placed over the flame as a cooking surface. The bottom edge can be filled with water which boils and is used for cooking both vegetables and fish (including octopus and whatever meat you might prefer to boil rather than grill) Thusly:

Mmm.... Dinner.

There was rice and noodles available as well. But the way that this whole cooking system works is that you go to the counter and get a tray of raw meat. Among the trays you pick up, there is at least on large piece of fat. This is used to grease the pan. So, to begin, you put the piece of fat on the pan, let it melt up a bit and then rub it over the pan and let it sit in the middle of the top of the dome for the entire time you are cooking. Then you cook your choice of meats on the surface (or in the water, your choice). Your meat choices (all of which I had the amazing pleasure of enjoying tonight) include octopus and some kind of white fish that was amazing, liver, beef (which my dear new Thai friend Yumi seemed to prefer boiled), pork, and intestine. Yes, I ate them all and much of each. Not as much liver as I would have liked, though, as it took ridiculously long to cook compared to the other meats.



I am very proud to say that I successfully maneuvered the meat cooking and eating without burning myself on either steam or popping grease and fat from the fatty pieces of pork.


This is what it looked like when we were done. That piece in the center is the 4th or 5th piece of fat for greasing the surface. Amazing.

Anyway, after dinner the Evangel team, one of the students named "Rainbow" and I went to the Night Bazaar to do a little shopping. It was so much fun. Lauren told us, for cultural experience and observation, to watch the vendors and farang when they are bartering and see who was in control. Definitely an interesting display. Even to participate in. I have done a significant amount of bartering in other countries and this was the first time I have seen vendors so radically in control of a deal. It was definitely an interesting observation.

Farang walks up and looks at some wares.
Vendor: "You like? Normal price 350 baht. For you I make special price, 300 baht. You buy more I discount."
The farang hasn't even opened his/her mouth yet.
"You like, yes? 300 baht. 2 for 550 baht."

It was amazing. The vendors were so perfectly in control. Even when the farang started trying to haggle... Interesting cultural observation.


Anyway, back to the part about feeling refreshed. I have been struggling a bit being so far away from anyone that I know, feeling disconnected, and pretty lonely. These are all things that I expected, being so far away, but tonight at dinner I was able to sit with Yumi, who is the young woman (26) whose house we went to for dinner the other night. It was so great to talk to her, because for some reason I felt a connection with her even before I knew what her name was. She was just such an inviting person. She has a very hard life, which I don't feel at liberty to share publicaly like this; but she is still so open. I could almost sense that she longed to connect with other Christians, which makes perfect sense given her family situation. I sat across from her at dinner, because I really wanted the chance to talk to her some more. I guess you could say I have been longing for similar Christian fellowship as well.

After we had been chatting for a while we rearranged some of the tables so that a couple of people who came late could sit together and I moved to sit next to Yumi. Last week, after the scavenger hunt I had been asked to share some of what it means to me to "belong to God" through a little bit of my testimony. I had tried to share a brief amount of my family history and some times in my past that I have been able to distinctly say that God had cared for me and let me know that I belonged to him (I say "tried" because I started crying trying to share and didn't get to say half of what I had intended before I had to put the mic down). But Yumi took the opportunity to ask me more about my family. After I told her a little more and about working for my parents and things like that. She said to me that she thought I was a very good daughter and that I obviously loved my family very much (which was something I really needed to hear at that moment). I don't know where the question came from, but Yumi asked me what I do when I am lonely. Having recently been actively struggling with such feelings, the question caught me completely off guard and simultaneously comforted and encouraged me. We were able to then talk about our mutual feelings of loneliness and how we dealt with them. This was a conversation I had literally been praying for, because I needed to be encouraged by someone who could actually look me in the eyes and give me a hug.

It was such a refreshing night. I feel like I am 10 pounds heavier for all the meat I ate tonight and 20 pounds lighter for being encouraged. Please continue to pray for Yumi and her family, as well direction for me as I have been presented with an opportunity to come back to Chiang Mai to teach for the month of September after I go to the Philippines.

Thank you,
-Kristen Wolf

Quest, Ban Pong, Boba and a Crazy Busy Week

So, last Sunday we had a Quest event. This is an opportunity for the students at the English Center to connect with the teachers and Thai Christians as well as to have a lot of fun. We had a scavenger hunt around Chiang Mai, in which we had to get around the city and take pictures of ourselves doing certain things in different locations... Such as using out bodies to spell out the word “Thailand” in front of the U.S. Consulate and getting their teachers (aka, the farang (including me)) to eat squid and Thai ice cream sandwiches. Significance of a “Thai” ice cream sandwich, you ask? It's made with bread. And it's pretty much the most amazing ice cream-related thing I have ever had in my life. I have had one every time I have seen a vendor since (that would be twice, for those who are curious)

.

Eating a Thai ice cream sandwich! Heaven sang.

Anyway, the day was amazingly fun, and we were all sweaty and tired after literally running around Chiang Mai for 2 hours. It was a beautiful day. Then, when we got back to the English Center we had a time of sharing, in which a Thai believer and I shared a little about what it means to us to belong to God. It was a great day. So much fun. And a beautiful opportunity. Please keep those students who have expressed an interest in learning more about Christianity in your prayers.

Look at the farang eating squid!

On Monday we had dinner at the missionary's house (amazing pizza!) and we got to go swimming and hang out a little. Then on Tuesday we began another teaching project. We are teaching in a neighboring area called Ban Pong, where we are working with younger students in the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grades at a school there. The 4 of us will teach one class of 9^th graders at 10:00 am and then split up to teach two classes, one of 7^th graders and one of 8^th graders, at 11:00 am. We will be going to that school every Tuesday, and guess what we finally found there! Boba! They have a chocolate milk with bubbles, a sweet milk with bubbles (it is milk mixed with a red syrup that tastes like bubble gum), and

an orange flavor that is perfection. Three of us on the team have been searching for Bubble Tea since we go here and we finally found it! And while teaching the junior highers did not exactly go as smoothly as any of us would have liked for our first day, the bubble tea's existence at the school made it so much better. We are all looking forward to boba after teaching every Tuesday now.

Laurin teaching at the second school in Ban Pong

Thursday we went back to Ban Pong to a different school (as we will the rest of the Thursdays that we are here). We were told we would be teaching 6^th graders at this school for 2 hours (from 10:00 am to noon) but it ended up being (I believe) 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders. We have been asked to teach 2 hours for them every Thursday and if we would be willing, also, to teach an hour to a class of 3^rd graders. So, we would be split up for an hour and together for an hour. This whole experience with teaching in Ban Pong has been stretching, to say the least. I have never liked the idea of teaching in front of a class room, as it somewhat terrifies me. The extreme discomfort and rockiness of our first Tuesday in Ban Pong was not very reassuring. Though Thursday went very, very well. So, please keep our efforts in

Ban Pong in your prayers, and, if you think about it, please pray that I will get over my anxiety about the whole thing. Thanks.

Boba in Ban Pong!! :D

Friday we had a Fiesta for our students at which we taught them the macarena, played limbo and managed to successfully make a pinata out of balloons. Epic win. Sadly, I was in the back quickly stuffing more balloons with candy so I didn't manage to get any pictures of the pinata, myself. But some of the others did.

And, after all of that I slept in until lunch time today (Saturday) and had a wonderful breakfast of poptarts I picked up and the grocery store yesterday morning while we were shopping for the Fiesta. We had plans to eat dinner at one of the church member's home this evening, and we had a beautiful opportunity to minister to her family and to pray with her parents who were unsaved. They both prayed to accept Christ tonight, so please, please, keep that whole family in your prayers.

So, that's the update. Starting teaching in Ban Pong took a lot more of my time than I thought it would this week and made it feel like this week was absolutely crazy, so... hopefully it will feel like things are calming down again soon, and I will be able to keep you updated more consistently, instead of a rushed end of the week sum up.

Be blessed,

-Kristen

Intonation in English and Elephants Are Our Friends...

Okieday, so I feel compelled to post. I always feel like I can excuse my lateness in posting by the fact that Amanda hasn't posted either. But since she posted today, I feel I must as well. (For those of you who don't know Amanda, she is a dear friend of mine that graduated with me and is currently working in Japan as an intern with a ministry there.) Beside the fact that it has been almost a week since I last posted....

Anyway, this week was eventful. We managed to successfully have a week of English classes with Lauren gone on a retreat, so that is something to be proud of! She put everything together so that it would run smoothly while she was gone, and as far as I know, everything went smoothly. Classes were a lot of fun this week, even though it was a lot of grammar teaching about the simple past and simple present tenses, my students really got into it and enjoyed learning all the irregular past tense verbs in English....

“'Talk' in the past is 'talked'. That's regular.”
“What's 'sleep'?”
“Ah, well that one is irregular: Sleep is 'slept'.”
“What's 'eat'?”
“That one is also irregular: 'ate'”
“'Read'?”
“Heh, that's a fun one....”
And so on.

Then we had a carnival themed Friday night party with kettle corn, hot dogs, water bottle bowling, a photo-booth and several other very fun games (No snowmen this week, but we taught them how to play "ninja"!!!!!!). The students are getting more comfortable wit the group and with the games. Some of the less outgoing people have finally begun to exert themselves in the games. And it was a lot of fun to see how excited some of the students got when I announced the party to my class on Thursday. “Another one?” “Yes!” “We will come!”

So, another success! Hurray!

Before I get to today, though, I'm sure some of you will remember that the Evangel team that was in Cambodia came this week to Thailand and was staying here with the Evangel team working at the English Center. So, on Wednesday we all went to the Elephant Camp here in Chiang Mai and we got to see an excellent elephant show with elephants that painted beautiful canvases, played football (soccer), basketball, hula hoop with their trunks and pick up sticks. (By the way, when making a list of three or more things in English the intonation goes up for each item in the list except the last one, that one's intonation goes down... All these things I am learning about my own language by teaching!!! That one was free ;) hahah) Anyway, the elephants were absolutely amazing!!! They did even more in the show than that, but then there would be no reason for you to go look at my facebook pictures from it. ;)

Then we got to go on an hour long elephant ride through the jungle. It was amazing as well! I have officially ridden camels and elephants... For some reason I feel I have accomplished something in doing that... But that's not exactly earth shattering. It was a great experience! Entertaining as well when the “driver?” for our elephant, trainer I guess would be the best word, or maybe... our guide. Anyway, the guy sitting in front of us (one of the Cambodia team members named Ashley, and myself) on the elephant found out we were from the U.S. and promptly tried to sell me a U.S. $5 bill for 200 baht. A $5 bill is worth 150 baht.... So, yeah, I turned that one down... He didn't talk to us again the rest of the trip, but we gave him a nice tip anyway.

Then on the way back to the hotel before our classes at the English Center we stopped at a butterfly garden and orchid farm. Again, mind-blowing pictures on Facebook. Check 'em out.


;)

So, anyway, the Cambodia team left last night on an overnight bus to Bangkok and then flew this afternoon back to Cambodia (They will be there another 6 or 7 weeks. Don't ask why they came or the details on all of that, I still don't understand it all). They went to the zoo on Thursday, though (I slept in). And then two of them and one of the Evangel-Thailand team members hiked up the mountain (that we are located at the foot of) to go to see the wat at the top of it. It's a 3 hour walk or so, and I will definitely be making it soon, but I didn't even have the energy to think about trying it with them Friday morning. As I mentioned many times I wasn't feeling well last week. I eventually had to go to the pharmacy and get some antibiotics (over the counter here). So yesterday I finished the 4 days of that, and even though I have been feeling 100% better physically since I got them, I just didn't have much energy at all all week. So, pray that I can get my energy back up since this week we will start another teaching routine, as we'll be going to another town nearby and teaching two days a week there. It will be different, because I am pretty sure we have to figure out our own lesson plans and things like that for those teaching days. So we're just getting busier, but it's gonna be great!

Today was “Quest” and looking at the length of this post already, I think I will post about it separately, in the morning. But it was incredibly fun!

Blessings!
-Kristen

P.S. It's not Father's Day in Thailand, because in Thailand Father's Day is celebrated on the King's birthday as far as my few seconds of Googling can tell me. So that means that “Father's Day” here is in December. However, it is Father's day in many countries and this I will once again wish my favorite familial patriarch a pleasant day. :) Happy Father's Day daddy!!!


Ashley and I on an elephant. :)

Quick Update on the Weekend

Time for an update and I'm not too sure what to share. I haven't been feeling amazing since after Friday night's party. Saturday was a day of rest so I pretty much just slept all day. I think I left the room once. Sunday was church in the morning, which was great. Dr. Martindale from the Evangel team spoke and was then translated into Thai by P'King, so we could understand the whole sermon in its original language, which was very nice. Sunday night one of the students at the English center was going to take us to the “Walking Street” market so that we could experience it, however, it rained. It poured, actually, but it had mostly let up by the time we were supposed to meet up. But, apparently the market can get rained out and a lot of vendors won't come to sell in the rain. So the student, Rainbow, took us to the mall instead. It was a lot of fun! We also got to see a movie and get our fix of laughter for the week (Kung Fu Panda 2, amazing).

And today we took a prayer walk around the university campus, ate lunch in their cafeteria. 15 baht (about 50 cents) for a half decent meal. Gotta love it. Then we had a nice long meeting to plan stuff out for this week since Lauren (the missionary) is going to be out of town until Friday. There is a team from Evangel, I can't recall if I have mentioned this already or not, but there was a team from Evangel in Cambodia and they are coming to Chiang Mai tonight to spend a few days here before they return to America. I don't quite understand all the logistics of it or anything, but they are coming. And that means this week is gonna be full of “fun stuff” with them, such as riding elephants. I have to say, I am definitely looking forward to that one (though not the smell so much). Reminds me of Camels in Petra, Jordan. Good times. :)

Anyway, this week is gonna be a little crazy, so please pray that I start feeling better. I don't know what's going on, but hopefully I'll be back to normal before Wednesday (elephant ride). So, yeah...

Oh, yes! On Sunday we will have our first “Quest” event, which is an opportunity for students who want to learn more about Christ can come, learn, ask questions, and be introduced to more Thai believers. Please help us as we cover this event in prayer and advertise it for our students this week.

Thanks all.
Much love,
-Kristen

Backpain, "TH" Tongue Twisters, and Coconut Ice Cream

And with tomorrow comes a much needed day of rest. My body is in exceeding amounts of pain, specifically my back and my neck. This, as far as I can tell, is the result of sleeping in a new place, on a bed that might be slightly less comfortable than the bench I slept on in Bangkok airport... Honestly, I think the bench was softer. And also from carrying my backpack around constantly with water and, often, my laptop in it. So, yeah, enough complaining for now, would appreciate some prayer, though. (Also, please pray for Laurin (from the Evangel team) who is not feeling well as was unable to teach her class today or come to the end of week party, and please keep my parents in prayer. Lots of craziness going on there in good 'ol SoCal. Thanks)

So, today I learned, for the first time, that there are, in fact, two different "TH" sounds in English. As a native speaker I was completely unaware of this until I began preparing my lesson (last night) for today and over half of the lesson plan was on the "Unvoiced TH" sound and the "Voiced TH" sound. Even when I woke up this morning, it still didn't make an ounce of sense to me, but maybe it was God, but as soon as I stood up in front of my class and began teaching it I was able to make sense of it and finally figured it out. The "Unvoiced TH" sound is the "th" in birthday, thin, tooth, and thumb. This is all opposed to the "Voiced TH" in this, these, the, and worthy. Not that many of you reading this actually care about voiced ad unvoiced "th" sounds, but still. I was excited to learn something new today. (There were three "tongue twisters", in which every single word had a "TH" in it, only two of them were not at the beginning of the words, and the students had to identify the voiced and unvoiced "th" sounds.) It was seriously a lot more fun then any pronunciation lesson should ever be. ;)

After the classes we had a Friday night party (which we will have every Friday night of the course) for all of the students to come and enjoy themselves and get to know one another as well as to build relationships with the team and the Thai Christians involved in the Center. We had an ice cream party tonight and, since we have an Evangel team member from Alaska, we kinda made it all about Alaska and ice cream. Don't worry, it wasn't as cheesy as it sounds, these are university students after all. (Before classes started we made snowflakes out of paper, like I used to do when I was little. It was so much fun teaching my students who came early how to do it and getting them to help us put them up all around the room.) Everyone was broken into teams for the games we played at the beginning of the night. We played a game in which the students had to make as many English words out of the letters in "ice cream" as they could, then we had each team chose one person to be a "snowman" and everyone else on the team had to "decorate" their "snowman" with toilet paper. Then we had a game with True/False facts about Alaska, a race involving a bunch of winter clothes, and an igloo building contest with marshmallows. Then we just had time to hang out and chat. A few of us played Sequence, which my students love and two of them are very, very good. Teamed up I think I have only seen them lose once.

So, yeah. Fun times. Tomorrow will be a day to sleep in, if all goes according to plan. But, then again, when has it ever done that?



My student "A" as a snowperson. Her glasses were my favorite!

Thai Word I Have Finally Mastered: kaao niao (Sticky Rice)

One week in Thailand. It's been 7 days since I arrived. And, I am happy to report that I am still healthy and loving Thai food. There's this little place down the soi (street) next to ours that sells a barbecue chicken and sticky rice that is absolutely amazing. The kind of thing I could eat for lunch every day for the next 45 days that I am here. While I'm on the subject of food, I'll take a quick trip over to beverage lane to share an amusing story from the grocery store at the mall yesterday. We stopped by the store to get stuff for breakfast since nothing near us seems to open early enough for breakfast, unless you want meat skewers from the street vendor, which I have been told by the Evangel team is not a bad option, though I haven't yet tried it. Anyway, while at the grocery store I saw a refrigerator with canned sodas in it, like we would have in the states. There was Coke and Pepsi in it for 13 baht (30 baht = 1 U.S. Dollar, so less than 50 cents). That's the standard price around for canned soda and cheap large water bottles. I wasn't even thinking about grabbing a soda... But then, I saw it. Among the red and blue and green of Coke, Pepsi and Sprite, all with their Thai names inscribed on one side and their English logos printed on the other, the angel of light and civilization, the beverage of heaven. Yes, for the first time ever outside the United States of America, I found Dr. Pepper! Ice cold and on the shelf next to Pepsi and above Coke, right where it belonged. I was no longer in Asia, I was home!

Why all this dramatic build up, you ask? What is the punch line? It was 48 baht per can. Yes, that's right, more than 3 times as expensive as a Coke or Pepsi. More than $1.50 U.S. The price tag for Dr. Pepper was right next to the one for Pepsi, and I was torn. My heart sank for a moment as I realized I wasn't “home.” But we had just come from Starbucks where I found the Chiang Mai city mug for my sister-in-law, and I didn't get anything to drink there, so I deserved it. ;)

I bought myself a Dr. Pepper, and it's still sitting in my fridge, waiting for a special occasion to be consumed. By the way, the average meal in Thailand costs between 30 and 50 baht, equate that Dr. Pepper with a meal. It was so worth it, just to have it in my fridge waiting for me. Tomorrow morning I think I will drink it and be glad.

;)

Anyway, on to much more important things. Today was our third day of classes and I got another student. I teach two classes that are the same level just at different times. It feels more like tutoring because I have one class of 4 and one class of 2 students. It's amazing. It was so much fun today, because today's lesson was about the weather, so we had all kinds of vocabulary about the weather and we discussed the seasons and things like that. The lesson was really short so we had time at the end for a game of, for all intents and purposes, pictionary. I wrote out all the vocabulary words (ex. hot, rainy, humid, stormy, partly cloudy, etc.) on pieces of paper and the students came up one at a time to pick a paper and then draw that weather on the board for everyone else to guess. The girls (all my students are girls) loved it. It was especially funny, because I had no way to help them understand “humid” as a word. “Not dry” just wasn't cutting it. So when A (one of my students) got humid to draw she started writing it phonetically in the Thai alphabet, which still took the classes just as long to guess as most of the other pictures. It was very funny. (I finally got out Google translate and showed them the Thai word for “humid” and it finally clicked for all of them.)

Fun times. Tomorrow is Friday so we have our first end of the week party (every Friday at 7pm we will have a party for the students after the last classes get out). It's going to be very fun, and hopefully we will have all of our students stay for it, because we want to be able to build relationship with them outside the classroom. Pray that we continue to get more students coming in (Classes at the university started on Monday and out class started on Tuesday, so we expect to pick up a few more students over the weekend) and that the party goes smoothly so that we can connect with our students and be able to build relationships with them during this short time we are here.

Love you all,

-Kristen

Charity (Lauren's friend from Missouri), and three of my students: Sigh, Sigh and A, playing Sequence.

Sawatdiika! (Hello)

So, catch up. Yesterday was Sunday and our first church service in Thailand. It was a great experience. The congregation prayed for us as we are beginning classes tomorrow (Tuesday), and after the service we went back to Wat Umong to a “monk chat” where we met with an English speaking monk to talk about Buddhism and Thailand. The farang (white foreigner, think “gingo”) monk was very thorough in his answers and only answered about 4 or 5 questions in the hour and a half we were there. I had some more questions when it was time to go, but they have the monk chat every Sunday afternoon, so I might go back next Sunday if I'm not busy. We'll see.

Today we got up dark and early to go for a prayer walk around the Chiang Mai University campus, since it's right across the street and we will mostly be working with university students in out English classes. It has been a very nice day all day; it was raining a little during our walk this morning, but it's stayed “cool,” if you will, all day. It was a little bit of a bummer that it was so nice today since it was a day of training for teaching and all that jazz, so we were inside all morning. Getting everything set up and squared away for classes starting tomorrow.

I am actually a little nervous about this first week of teaching. I don't know how everything is going to go and how things are going to work out. Just praying and hoping it all goes smoothly; there's not much else to do. I'll be teaching 3 classes tomorrow from 4pm to 7pm. 4 days a week for the next 4 weeks. For the first time this is really starting to concern me, but I'm sure that everything will go smoothly.

The team is going to meet in about 20 minutes to plan things out for the first Friday night party at the English Center, and that's all we have planned for the day. Maybe we'll go down to the phone store to see if we can unlock my phone and get me a Thai SIM card for it so that I can stay in touch with the Evangel team. I don't really feel like doing much today after the early morning, but we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll see if the team wants to take a sahng taw to another Starbucks to find the Chiang Mai mug for my sister-in-law. Oh, random side note, went to a Starbucks last night to see if they had the Thailand country mug or the Chiang Mai city mug and they were out of both. I was kinda bummed, but it was an amazing 2 story Starbucks! I think the Starbucks on Beacon in Lakeland needs to invest in a second floor. For real.

So, that's all for now friends, gotta go meet with the team and then figure out how things are gonna go for the rest of the day. Pray for us as classes start tomorrow and all the students have to be placed in class levels and we have to be assigned what level of students we will be teaching for the next month. Much love!

Images of the upstairs of the Starbucks in Chiang Mai we stopped at last night (didn't get anything).

Day One Done

I woke up yesterday morning in Bangkok airport. And then I did it again. And then I woke up in Bangkok airport again. All in one 6 hour period. I landed in Bangkok at 10pm and then flew out again at 8am, landed in Chiang Mai around 9:30am and met Lauren at the airport. I got to ride in a Speed the Light truck (on the left hand side of the road, sitting where the driver seat would have been in America) back to the hotel where I finally got to take a shower after some 36 hours of traveling. :)

Then I got to meet with Zack, Kregar, Laurin (not Lauren Becker) and Dr. Gary, the team from Evangel to meet with the local pastors P'King and his wife Apple to hear their heart for the ministry here at the coffee shop at their church. Then we met with Lauren do some training on teaching and understanding Thai culture, and then Zack, Kregar, Laurin and I headed out to downtown Chiang Mai in a sahng taw (a pick-up, usually red, with “two benches” (approximate translation of sahng taw) in the bed of it) to eat lunch and visit a wat. Zack, Kregar and Laurin have been in the country for about a week already so I just followed their lead to get around for a little while.

Then we headed back to the church for a Thai lesson, which we are going to have twice a week while we are here. I am very excited about learning more of the language here. I keep reflecting back on how much Arabic I learned during the one month I spent in Jordan so the idea that I will be in Thailand almost twice as long has me really excited to see how much more Thai I will be able to learn. After our Thai lesson we walked up the road to another wat.

It was amazing to compare and contrast the two wats. The one downtown was very commercialized and filled with people come to “earn merit” to help balance out their bad karma by leaving flowers and food for the spirits and by leaving money in the temple (wat) there. The top part of the huge chedi behind the temple was partially collapsed a long time ago in an earthquake before the current temple was built in front of it. The other wat, Wat Umong, is up near the base of the mountains behind the Chiang Mai university and it is in a very natural setting. In doing a little reading about it I found something that said that Wat Umong was unusual in its setting out in this wooded area, but regardless of how it was built it was beautiful. I don't know how else to sum it up.

At Wat Umong there was a building filled with painted murals; it was hard to understand the meanings behind them, especially without knowing Thai. But from what I could gather they were representations of significant events in history and sayings of great teachers, things from around the world. There were paintings of Jesus on one side of each column with sayings of Jesus from the Gospels painted on them in Thai and English. These were the only sayings in the building painted in English, another example of how set in the Thai mind it is that to be Christian is to be Western, just as the Thai saying says “To be Thai is to be Buddhist.” Our goal in the English Center is to show the Thai people that one does not have to be western to be Christian; we want to connect the students who come with Thai Christians so they can see that to be Thai does not mean one cannot be Christian.

Pray that hearts would be prepared and open to understanding this as we begin building relationships with out students in classes on Tuesday.

Eating Lunch in a sahng taw.


Wat Chedi Luang in downtown Chiang Mai


Chedi at Wat Umong, Chiang Mai