I Can't Believe It's Over

English Camp

Jade and some of our new friends

Random Pyramid

English Camp

Tim trying to find the bus

Well. We made it. We are heading to the airport to head home to you all in just 2 short hours. We leave here at 9:00pm, 8:00am 1/18/09 CST. We are all doing very well. Theresa is a feeling a little bit less than perfect...but I'm hoping she feels better before we fly out. Pray for her, she is resting now. These last few days have been a rush. Saturday we hosted an English Camp for North Chiang Mai University. The camp was held at a resort up in the mountains owned by the president of the university. It was beautiful. We had about 50 college and upper high school students there. It was super fun and went very well and very smoothly. I feel confident that the students all benefited greatly from our presence. Their English was certainly tested and improved through our activities. After the English Camp we all came back to Chiang Mai and ate a big American meal at Duke's...a TGI Friday's type restaurant. It was delicious. Our whole team was there, as well as all the missionaries and their families and several of our Thai friends. It was very fun. Oh! Also, Friday, we spent planning and preparing for Saturday and also for preparing for Fantastic Friday...which is a weekly party thing that is hosted at Baan Kanoon where Thai students can just come and hang out and have fun with farangs. Fantastic Friday was incredible. I think we had about 30 or 40 people that came. It was awesome. We did several activities, including the Human Knot and Fruit Basket Upset. Then...we did limbo...with music...which quickly turned into a bit of a dance party...which lasted for an hour or two after Fantastic Friday was supposed to end. It was fun. Today has been good as well. We had all of our stuff at Baan Kanoon (and out of the hotel) by 9:00am this morning. Since then we have done debriefing and then a church/worship service time. After that we went different directions. Some people stayed at Baan Kanoon. Andy H went with the Ratliff's to their house and hung out with their son. Some people went to the zoo, and then 6 of us went to the Umbrella Factory market place. It was pretty neat. We walked around a lot and then had some cha yen (Thai Tea). Good times. Now we are all hanging around Baan Kanoon. We are having a pizza party at 5:00pm. It will be a good time for our Thai friends to stop by and eat with us and tell us goodbye and stuff. Also, it will be good to have everyone in one place too. We are leaving for the airport at 6:30pm. Anyway, that's pretty much what we've been up to the last few days. I'm going to attempt to post some pictures now.... We'll see you all when we get home! Thanks for all your prayers and support! Andy

Just a Little

Things are going fairly well this week. I think the team that was in the village this week is better at striking up random conversation than is the part of the team that was in Chiang Mai this week. However, today went very well. We spent 3 hours at Rajabat University hanging out with students and eating lunch. We made plans to hang out with them tonight at a market. The Mae Wong team just got back here about an hour ago. We are meeting in an hour and a half to plan tomorrow night's party. I'll write more later. Pray for us. Pray that we will be immensely effective in our last 3 days here.

A Super Great and Good Weekend

Preparing to do a traditional Thai dance

Playing Ultimate

At the Khantoke Dinner

Bamboo Rafting

Elephant Riding

So guess what? Our weekend was super great and good. Pause. Let me just say that the pink and blue sky atop the massive mountain out my hotel window is slightly incredible. Resume. Saturday was awesome. We had a very fun day, but it was exhausting. We headed out at around 8:30am to go elephant riding up in the mountains...you know, no big deal. It was great. It took us probably 45 minutes to get to the place, and then we had a 30 minute or so ride. So beautiful, so fun, so relaxing. We took many pictures. Next we took the songthaew down the mountain a little way to the place where we put our bamboo rafts in. Then we rafted down a river in Thailand while standing on homemade bamboo rafts. Once again, no big deal...just incredibly awesome and fun and beautiful. Needless to say, Saturday was our scheduled recreation day. After we finished with our wonderful raft ride, we headed down the mountain and stopped at some restaurant and had lunch. It was tasty. We had khaow soi and ramen noodles. No. Not the packaged kind. The super good kind. It was delicious. However, it wasn't all that filling. So...we stopped at a market a little farther down the road and bought some fruit, chicken (or maybe it was pork) on a stick, and bags (yes...bags) of Thai tea...which happens to be incredible. Then we continued back to Baan Kanoon. We took a short recess from our activity, and then several of us (Tim, Andy H, Madison, Caprice, Melodie, Nathan, and I) went with Ekk to play ultimate frisbee at Chiang Mai University. It was incredibly fun. Oh, Keith was ill. He had stomach issues. Now he is better. When he got better, Melodie got stomach issues. Now Melodie is mostly better. We take turns. Nothing serious, just good fun abdominal irritations. After Ultimate we showered and changed and then went to this sweet Khantoke dinner thing. It was traditional Thai style. We sat in two groups in the floor outside at this sweet place. We were all served steamed rice and then a weird little red table thing was placed in front of each of our two groups...containing several bowls with fried bananas, fried chicken, fried noodles, fresh vegetables, some tomato pasty soup stuff, and some pork and soup stuff. It was all very good, and it was all you can eat, so we got several refills. Many people on the team didn't recognize that drinks were extra and that refills weren't free...oops. No big deal. After our meal, traditional Thai dancers came out and danced. They randomly selected members of the audience to dance with them. I got to dance with them twice. Caprice danced once. So did Nathan. It was fun. There was also a knife dancer guy and a traditional Thai band. After that we moved to a different arena place and watched the traditional dances of many Thai hilltribes. That was cool too. Then we left. That is all for Saturday. Sunday was good too. We had a church service at Baan Kanoon. It was small and good. It was just our team and 4 Thais and a Kim and Quintin and their kids. Oh, and Brooke too. We sang some songs in English and in Thai. Ekk read Mark 5:21-the end of the chapter and then discussed it. Then our team acted out the whole story. It was quite special. After church we went and had lunch at Lemon Tree. It was delicious. We had fried morning glory, yum. I had Pad Thai Koung too. Also yum. After lunch we took it easy for several hours...very much a good sabbath experience. At 5 several of us went with Ekk to Walking Street. We then parked and had to walk forever and a half to the 3 kings monument to meet some other portions of our team...and ended up waiting on them for half an hour. When they arrived we had to walk back to Wawee to meet Jade and Nicole. Then we walked to Mike's (a burger and hotdog restaurant...a 5-8 minute walk from Wawee). Mike's didn't have enough seating...there were probably 20 of us at this point with the Thai friends that we had with us. So...we walked another 5 minutes down the road to Miguel's (really delicious Mexican food, owned by an American). We all ate there, finishing most of our meals with a Big Banana Burrito...unbelievable...especially when served with vanilla ice cream...oh man. After all this walking and waiting...and eating...it was already 8:30pm. We then walked nearly 10 minutes back to the Walking Street and shopped until 10:30. Then some of us went home, and some others went with a few of our Thai friends to karaoke. Evidently that was pretty fun. I hear that karaoke here is different than in America. You have to pay a few dollars to get in, and then you get a little room where you just sit and hang out with your friends and do karaoke amongst your group and have some water (Nam). We'll probably do it again sometime this week. Today we met at Baan Kanoon at 9:30 for our morning devotion. We read and discussed Romans 10. Great chapter. I like verses 14-15. At about 10:15 we went upstairs and planned this coming Saturday's Sports Camp that we are putting on for about 100 students from North Chiang Mai University. The planning session went well. We got a very good foundation of plans made by 11:45. Friday we will be planning all day and buying supplies. After planning we all went and had lunch at a little roadside restaurant by our hotel. We had sticky rice and chicken (Khaow Niaow Gop Kai). It was very tasty. Then most of us just chillaxed and Tim, Caprice, Madison, and I went to Lotus (the Thai version of Walmart) and bought a ton of snacks and supplies for the week. When we got back it was just about time to meet Brooke at Baan Kanoon to go to an orphanage in the city. We played with lots of little kids there (ages 4-5). We played with a big multi-colored parachute...they loved that. Then we made airplanes and tambourines with them and colored a wee bit. It was fun. They were cute. We just got back from there probably an hour ago. Now we are chilling until 7, when we are heading to Moo Gah Tah for dinner. Moo Gah Tah is a really cool form of restaurant where there is a little weird grill thing on every table where it is domes in the middle and has a troph around the outside. It is buffet style, you get all you want and then bring it to your table and cook it. So fun, we did it last year and I am quite excited for the team to get to experience it tonight. Gladly, Melodie is feeling well enough to join us too. She has been resting most of the day. Well...I think that is it. I'll try and throw some pictures on here and then call it quits. Please pray for us as we will be splitting up again tomorrow morning. The village team will be leaving around 8:30am and the rest of us are meeting up at Baan Kanoon at 9 to plan and get ready for our community outreach. I hope America is well. Thanks for all your prayers!

So Much, So Little

I have so much to tell you! But I have so little time! I had intended to have Jade update the blog while I was away in Mae Wong...but she ran into some technical difficulties beyond her control and was not able to update. Therefore...there is much to catch you up on. However...it is after midnight...and i have to be up at 8 to go ride elephants and to bamboo raft down a river in the mountains. I know, I know...boo-hoo. Either way I need to get to sleep pretty quickly. Let's see how briefly I can tell you about our time in Mae Wong. We went to Mae Wong Tuesday morning. Tim, Melodie, Madison, Caprice, and I all stayed there all week until this afternoon. Tim and I stayed with a lady named Julie...she spoke some English...which was nice. Melodie and Caprice stayed with the Poo Yai Bahn...or leader of the village in Mae Wong. It was at his house that we ate breakfast and dinner everyday. Madison stayed with an older Thai woman...by herself...and the woman spoke no English...good times. We spent most of Tuesday settling in out there...and we got to play with some kids at Trimitt school too. The kids are so freaking adorable! Wednesday we painted an older lady's house that another team had built for her several months ago. We did an at least mediocre job...and we had fun too! Rob and Jordan are going to be living in Mae Wong for a month, we hung out with them a lot while we were there. They helped us paint the house. We all sang and laughed a lot while we painted. After painting we had to clean up some of the paint (dried) from the concrete floor. This required a pail of water and a ripped up t-shirt for rags. The combination of dirty concrete floor, water, and paint ends up being a slimy...yet gritty...mess. It was one of the sickest feelings I've ever felt on my hands...ew.... Wednesday the children had a New Year's party at the school...and we hung out with them and played games. Thursday was an interesting day. We had intended to paint a clinic that had just been built...however...the concrete was not dry enough...so we didn't get to paint. Instead the girls spent most of the day chopping vegetables while Tim and I spent most of the day following the Poo Yai Bahn around and drinking water. We did rake some leaves...for about 20 minutes. The reason that Thursday was so chill was because of the funeral. Evidently 2 people from the village died on Tuesday or Wednesday...and so they began funeral preparations. Buddhist funerals take 3 to 4 days and culminate with the burning of the bodies in their large casket house contraptions. While we didn't see the actual funeral, we did see many of the preparations. The girls were chopping vegetables for all of the food that was being prepared for all the people that were coming in for the funeral. Tim and I raked leaves at the place that the bodies were to be burnt. Also, what little time we weren't raking we spent watching the men of the village build the casket housing. Buddhist caskets (in my experience) have large temple-like structures built around them. They are then carried around in these large structures to the place that they are burnt. All in all, Thursday was interesting. Today was Children's Day. We had planned to hold a sports camp from 9 to 12 for the children from the 2 area schools in Mae Wong. However, that didn't happen. We met the rest of the team from Chiang Mai at a government building where the day's activities were to be held (in Mae Wong) ...and we watched several traditional Thai dances from the 2 schools. Then some groups of kids sang. Finally, around 10:40am we were given the reigns to hold a mini sports camp for an hour or so. So we did. We set up 5 stations and rotated the kids through them in 10 minute intervals. It was all very simple, but it went very well and the kids seemed to love it. After we finished, more children sang, and then we had a snack and some tea...stuff. The tea stuff was awesome...it tastes exactly like the milk left in a your bowl after you eat some fruit loops...but in a watery, not milky, form. It was very tasty. After that deliciousness we headed into the government building for lunch with the big-wigs of the community. That was nice. Then we all came back to Chiang Mai. That was nice...showers were nice. At 5 we all met at Baan Kanoon to head to the Hillsong concert. We left Baan Kanoon at about 5:45pm and headed to National Stadium. The concert began at 6. Christian Thai bands (I didn't even know there was such a thing until tonight) played until 8, when Hillsong came on. They were awesome. It was so surreal to be at a concert with probably 10-15,000 people on a soccer field in a country where 98% of people are Buddhist and to be singing praise songs in English...with an Australian band...in Thailand...weird. It was a very cool experience. Afterward, we all went to the Night Bazaar and ate at Burger King...as the team from the village (including myself) was about riced out. We were ready for some greasy beef...and we got some. We spent some time walking around at the Night Bazaar and then we headed back to the hotel...which is where I am sitting now. Well there...that wasn't too bad. At least now you can have some concept of what this week looked like. I think Jade had typed up some stuff about the other team that stayed in Chiang Mai. I'll see if I can get that from her tomorrow. Also, I am going to try to get everyone's pictures from the trip thus far and put them on my computer tomorrow. Then I can upload some more here for your enjoyment. 3 fun facts about our time in Mae Wong that I didn't mention: 1. We rode bicycles all over, loaned to us by our house-parents. 2. We were in bed before 9:00pm every night. 3. I basically adopted a child named Ot. I will miss him. He cried when I left. He is 7. Please pray that our team will enjoy the opportunity to rest and to play tomorrow. Pray that we will all get along and enjoy each other's company. Pray that this weekend will rejuvenate us for this next (and last) week of work with the Thai people. Thanks for all of your support!

Culture

Today was very good. Today we had a cultural scavenger hunt. It was fun. We met this morning at Baan Kanoon and after a short discussion, split up into 4 teams and headed out into the city. Each team had an identical but rearranged list of places to go and things to see and do in the city. I think it was great for everyone to get a chance to experience what it is like to catch a Songthaew and how to get around the city from point to point. There were many good stories that arised from the experience today. Theresa's group prayed that God would provide them opportunities to reach out to people and immediately after they had finished praying a Mexican foreign-exchange student called out to them and wanted to learn more about the Baan Kanoon ministry here, as she is quite desperate for someone to speak English with. Very cool. The Thai people are all so very friendly and smiley. My group, composed of Tim, Caprice, and myself, met a couple of random Thai people that just started talking to us because, I guess, they figured we spoke English and wanted to practice theirs. We met a man at the 3 Kings Monument that talked to us for a good long while and was just describing to us where we could go to get the best quality cashmere or silk suits tailor-made. It was interesting...but nice. After everyone returned from their expeditions we all snacked on some meal worms and then met back up at Baan Kanoon. We debriefed for a while and then headed to a monk chat at one of the local wats. The monk chat was an opportunity for us to sit down at tables with monks and learn about Thai culture and Buddhism. The monks were all very willing and ready to talk to us. The monk my group talked to was exceptionally talkative and told us all about Buddhism and also mentioned that he enjoys listening to Akon, Linkin Park, Kiss, Incubus, Skillet, and Nickelback. After the monk chats we headed to The Pizza Company for dinner. The pizza was odd, but good...for the most part. The canadian bacon pizza had corn on it...strange touch...but acceptable. The Tom Yum Kung pizza was just as...ok...as I remembered it from last year. I just don't think shrimp, squid, and chili paste belong on a pizza crust.... Oh, actually Nicole, Melodie, and Caprice didn't join us for pizza. They left with Brooke after the monk chat to go to a girl's home that Brooke knows to have dinner with her, as she had invited Brooke and 3 others to join her for dinner. I have not yet heard how that all went. The rest of us had pizza and then bought an ice cream cake for Jade's birthday, which was today. Happy 20th Jade! Speaking of Jade...our teams will be splitting up and heading out in the morning. Team 1, composed of Tim, Melodie, Caprice, Madison, and me, will be heading out to Mae Wong to stay until Friday evening. Meanwhile, Team 2 will be continuing to do outreach/marketing/university ministry here in Chiang Mai. While we are gone to the village, I have asked Jade to update the blog so that you all will know at least some of what is taking place here. While in the village we are expecting to play a lot with the children and to hopefully teach them some English as well. We are going to host a sports camp at Mae Wong this Friday and then Team 2 will go back there next Tuesday. Also this Friday we will be attending a Hillsong concert here in Chiang Mai. We are attempting to invite as many of our new Thai friends as we can to the concert because of it being free and it's good God-centered message. Please pray for us this week as we are separated that we will have many opportunities to reach out to the Thai people in many ways, and that we will not ignore these chances to touch these people. I am quite tired...sad I know (it's only 10:30pm), but I am going to do the smart thing and go to bed. I have no new pictures to post this time, but I will try to post more this weekend when I get some more from the team. I wish you all the best of weeks. Andy

We Made It

Keith, Madison, and Jade being goofy at Baan Kanoon

One portion of Wat Doi Suthep

One of the team's first experiences with a Songthaew

Me overlooking Chiang Mai

Hanging out at Andy's house

Well...obviously...we made it. Our whole team has now successfully arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand...but not without some adventures that some might call difficulties. When I last posted we were in Andy's living room. Let me walk you through the days between then and now. First, we all got up well before the sun on January the 1st and headed to the STL airport. No problems there. It was when we got to the airport that the first issues began to arise. Problem #1: Jade packed too much stuff. (Bag was too heavy to check without extra fee) Solution #1: Put 12 pounds of Jade's stuff in someone else's bag. Problem solved. Problem #2 (about 10 minutes after Problem #1): Jade packed liquids in her carry-on that were too large and she didn't want to throw them away. Solution #2: Check tiny make-up bag and hope it arrives in LA. Problem solved. Problem #3: We arrived at our gate as they were starting to board and the whole team was hungry and wanted some breakfast. Solution #3: Buy breakfast swiftly and then bring it onto the plane with us. Problem Solved. Our flight from St. Louis to LA was rather uneventful and problem free. Arrival in LA brought the next batch of issues.... Problem #4: While waiting for hotel shuttle we call our hotel to learn that they don't have a shuttle. Solution #4: Pay for 3 taxis to shuttle team and luggage to hotel. Problem Solved. Problem #5: Upon arrival at hotel, learn that we only have 4 rooms reserved and that we can only put 2 people in each room. (There are 11 on the team in case you had forgotten). Solution #5: Put 3 people in 3 of the rooms anyway. Problem Solved. Problem #6: As we learned about #5 we were informed that our rooms wouldn't be ready until at least 2:00pm...and we arrived at the hotel at 11:30am...with all our bags. Solution #6: Sit outside front door of hotel for 2 1/2 hours while going in shifts across the street to eat lunch. Problem solved. After we all finally got in our rooms, things went quite well in LA. The team, minus Theresa (napping), Nicole (who was visiting with her Aunt and Uncle), and I (also napping), had quite an adventure Friday Thursday afternoon. They decided that they would like to see the beach in LA. As we had been informed that it was not too terribly far and that the route was pretty straightforward...I sent them on their way. I later learned that it took them over an hour to get to the beach by foot...and therefore over an hour to get back. Needless to say, there were at least a few tired feet. Some of the team also decided that getting in the Ocean in January seemed like a grand idea. So...obviously...that led to some very cold and wet teammates. Either way there was not any serious harm done. The team all arrived back at our hotel at about 6:00pm and we all went to the Sizzler across the street for dinner together. It was delicious, if not economical, and gave us a fun chance to hang out all together with no stress added. We all got to bed at a decent hour and then headed to LAX again at 8:00am on Friday via Taxi. The next couple of days get a bit muddled...time zones are confusing. We left LA at 11:00am on Friday and arrived in Seoul, South Korea at 5:20pm on Saturday. However, the flight only actually took about 13 hours. During this exciting flight I managed to watch 5 movies and to sleep for only the last 30 minutes. Oops. South Korea was pretty thrilling too. We just sat in the airport and got some food. However, we also split up into two groups. Somehow when our tickets were ordered, we managed to get 7 from South Korea to Chiang Mai and 4 from South Korea to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. So, we parted ways with Tim, Melodie, Madison, and Keith, desperately hoping that we would see them again. (And we did...no worries) Our flight left Korea at about 8:30pm. We flew for 6 hours and arrived in Chiang Mai at about 12:30am on Sunday (Chiang Mai time is 13 hours ahead of CST and 2 hours behind Korean time). There were many people there to pick us up at the airport, including Quintin, Kim, Glenn, Ekk, Ess, Bay, and others. We were all quite tired and enjoyed the chance to move our stuff into our hotel (The Green Palace as it is called) and get to bed. Getting to bed...yes...that's what most of us did...that's what I THOUGHT all of us were doing. I learned this morning that that wasn't truly the case. Evidently Andy H and Nathan decided that they weren't too terribly tired just yet and ended up adventuring through our neighborhood by foot until 6:00am this morning. They should sleep well tonight...and at least they can now inform us about the locations of all of the local 7-11s. This morning the other 4 who were routed though Bangkok arrived and Glenn picked them up from the airport. We all met at Baan Kanoon, which is the community center here that is run by Quintin and friends. It serves as a light to this community mainly via English tutoring and classes. We had a short time of welcoming and worship and then we headed up to the waterfall in order to have more orientation and spiritual and mental investigation time. After we all discussed what we were feeling and what we expected of the trip we meditated on and discussed Philippians 4:1-13. It is a great passage and I would encourage any of you to have a look at it. I found verses 4-7 particularly applicable. Upon completion of this time we headed up to Wat Doi Suthep on Suthep mountain and had lunch. It was many on the team's first experience with legit Thai food...and they loved it. We then took the opportunity to walk around inside of the Wat and for most of the team to get their first glance of Buddhism in practice. We spent some time there observing and praying and then headed back down to Baan Kanoon for more cultural orientation. We completed our educational time for the first day at around 6:00pm and headed to the Walking Street (a special market that is held only on Sundays where an entire street is blocked off and many stalls are set up selling many different kinds of foods and souvenirs). We sampled many different Thai street foods at the Walking Street and then split up and walked around until 8:30, at which time we all met back up at Wawee Coffee, some of us got some coffee, and then we headed back to our palace. That is where we are now. We have purchased some internet time here at the hotel in order to hopefully make it easier to blog more often...which should hopefully shorten the length of my average post significantly.... Anyway, we are here, everyone seems to be loving it, and we are safe. (I've even heard a couple people mention already that they don't want to leave...suggestions of getting a big house...picking up odd jobs and the like....but don't worry, I'll bring them all home ;) ) I sincerely hope that all is well in America as we are away. Please continue to pray for our team for energy and good health as well as unity and willingness to serve. Thanks for all your support and have a great Sunday! Sawadee Krab.

Here We Go Again

Well here we go. As I type this, our entire team (minus Theresa) is sitting in Andy H's living room outside St. Louis. We have had a fun evening of food, games, talking, and movies. Many of us differ on our plans for the rest of the evening...some people are considering staying up all night...in a last ditch effort to begin switching their body clocks to a more Thai schedule...others of us are about to fall asleep sitting up.... Either way, I don't believe that anyone will be getting a full night's sleep tonight. Our flight leaves for LA tomorrow at 8:50am...and we are an hour from the airport...and we are planning to get there 2 hours before our flight.... Yes...that puts us leaving Andy's at about 6:00am. Oh well, this should make it easier for most of us to sleep on our flights I suppose. We are all very excited to arrive in Thailand. It's hard to believe that the trip is already here! It seems like just yesterday that we all met as a group for the first time...but that was over 3 months ago. It's been great to see the friendships develop between the members of our team. The first meeting was fine...but it was not exactly a bunch of friends hanging out together. However, tonight is. I am so very thrilled to have the opportunity to lead these students overseas to experience a new culture and to love on the Thai people. I am anticipating seeing great things happening in Thailand...ranging from relationships being built between our team and the Thais to our team members growing and developing into more complete and whole individuals. Please pray that we will have realistic expectations, that we will build relationships with the Thais, that we will be a blessing to the missionaries, that we will function well as a group, and that we will have a positive impact on everyone that we come into contact with. Know that while we are all very excited, we are also aware of our absence from all of you, our family and friends. We will be missing you while we minister to the Thai people. Hopefully this blog will continue to serve as an avenue for a more intimate connection between our day-to-day activities on our trip and those of you back home that care to know what we're up to. Thanks so much for all of your prayer and support. Happy New Year!