You will not believe what I did today. I cannot believe what I did today. This morning I woke up cold. I had goose bumps, only the third time since I've been here. While walking to Thursday morning prayer, I realized that it was somewhat chilly. So later when we went to language school, i wore a jacket. A jacket! That's what I cannot believe happend. Why is this so monumental you might ask? I wore a jacket when it was 83 degrees outside!
This is good news and was quite encouraging to me. This means that my body is adjusting to the heat and humidity. The average temp right now for the end of rainy season is usually somewhere is the high 80s or low 90s, but usually with the humidity it feels like 95ish. Don't worry the jacket came off before we left for campus around 11:00. And don't worry we were all still sweating this afternoon.
Oh, and one more monumental thing that happened today. The trash truck finally came-it has been over two weeks since our trash got picked up!! Let's just say that the neighborhood dogs were having way too much fun ripping open bags all over our street. I was so thankful to see the truck this morning.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Mai Phen Rai
Mai Phen Rai? What is this Mai Phen Rai that so many Thais say all the time? I'll tell you what it is, it is essence of Thai culture. Mai Phen Rai could be equated to Hakuna Matata, no worries, flexibility to the extreme.
Mai Phen Rai is phrase that one would use as a way to say thank you, never mind, or it's OK everything is fine don't worry about me. It is also a way to describe the flow of schedules and the day in general. For example, this morning we had our weekly staff meeting at 10am like every Monday. With 15 minutes left in the meeting, our leader who was filling for P'BJ the regional director announced that we would now begin planning for CM 2007 a nation conference to take place in December. With quick assumption, I knew that this meant that our STINT team schedule for the day was going to be put on hold until the planning was done. Flexibility at it's most.
Clearly, for many Americans this would seem highly inconsiderate. But let me tell that it has great advantages. Being late to things is usually looked down upon in America and many times shows great disrespect, in Thailand it's totally Mai Phen Rai. Accidentally cut someone off driving? Mai Phen Rai!
This week is the last week on campus before students start taking finals, so pray that we will be able to share the gospel as much as possible and that many students will want to come to LTI camp!
Mai Phen Rai is phrase that one would use as a way to say thank you, never mind, or it's OK everything is fine don't worry about me. It is also a way to describe the flow of schedules and the day in general. For example, this morning we had our weekly staff meeting at 10am like every Monday. With 15 minutes left in the meeting, our leader who was filling for P'BJ the regional director announced that we would now begin planning for CM 2007 a nation conference to take place in December. With quick assumption, I knew that this meant that our STINT team schedule for the day was going to be put on hold until the planning was done. Flexibility at it's most.
Clearly, for many Americans this would seem highly inconsiderate. But let me tell that it has great advantages. Being late to things is usually looked down upon in America and many times shows great disrespect, in Thailand it's totally Mai Phen Rai. Accidentally cut someone off driving? Mai Phen Rai!
This week is the last week on campus before students start taking finals, so pray that we will be able to share the gospel as much as possible and that many students will want to come to LTI camp!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Birthday in Thailand
On Friday I had the wonderful privilege of celebrating my 23rd Birthday. It was quite the event after Friday Chapel! The Happy Birthday Song was sung to me in English, Thai, Chinese, and then in Spanish for kicks. P'Gaa and Puu brought mango and sticky rice. Very Thai to have this special treat. It was so fun to have such a diverse group of people in one place. Joe from Japan did a little Micheal Jackson dance for us too.
On Saturday my team took me to dinner at this quaint Italian restuarant called La Gondola. It's by the river that runs through downtown Chiang Mai. I would have to say that my fettuccini alfredo was probably the best I have ever had! After our romantic team dinner, we went to the Dealy's to have ice cream cake. It was stellar! Chocolate ice cream with Oreos!
I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful Birthday away from home. Thanks to all my friends and family back in the States for your emails, cards, and facebook messages! Those always make your day better!
On Saturday my team took me to dinner at this quaint Italian restuarant called La Gondola. It's by the river that runs through downtown Chiang Mai. I would have to say that my fettuccini alfredo was probably the best I have ever had! After our romantic team dinner, we went to the Dealy's to have ice cream cake. It was stellar! Chocolate ice cream with Oreos!
I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful Birthday away from home. Thanks to all my friends and family back in the States for your emails, cards, and facebook messages! Those always make your day better!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Meet The Team
Front row from left to right: Candice McCoy, Shana Hotnot, Tricia Dealy, and Me
Back row: Bjorn Griepsland, Jonathan McCoy, Andrew Dealy, David Betts
Bjorn is from Norway and studied at Oklahoma State University where he got involved with Crusade. This is Bjorn's 2nd year in Chiang Mai and speaks Thai fluently! He enjoys playing airsoft on the weekends.
Jon and Candice McCoy are also graduates of OSU. They went to Bangkok in 2003 for 6 weeks of summer project. They enjoy I Love Lucy reruns.
Shana is from San Antonio, TX and is serving for a 2nd year. She is my roommate! She enjoys shopping, dolphins, and cinnamon rolls from Kingdom Book Store.
Andrew and Tricia Dealy are our team leaders this year. Tricia is from Kansas City and Andrew is from San Diego. They met through Cru while Andrew was serving at Baylor and Tricia in Austin. They enjoy Kashi ceral, working out, and the game Settlers of Catan (most popular board game in Germany).
David Betts is from the Woodlands, TX and attends UT and is taking the year off from school. He is a huge Longhorns fan and enjoys Milo chocolate milk.
And then me! I graduated from University of Arkansas this past May. I enjoy working out, eating dark chocolate, dancing, and hibiscus flowers in Thailand.
Quick Recap of the Week
This week was very encouraging to the team. While Tuesday was a hard day on campus, the Lord provided many opportunities on Wednesday. Most majors at the university have activities that they are required to do on Wednesday afternoon. Previously we had met an English teacher, Ajan Q, and he told us that many English classes were held on the 14th floor of this really tall building. So we thought that we would check it out. We met this lovely lady named Sasi. She works with the English Program and has this huge room all to herself. Over the last few weeks we would go visit her and since have become friends. This past Wednesday she invited us to go to the English Program activity to meet the students. It was so great! I met this great girl named Baifern and turns out that she is a Christian of two years. We had a great conversation and got to meet several of her friends. Jon, David, and Tricia also met many new students as well.
Thursday I was able to meet with Biafern and her friends DeeDee and Nat. Biafern and I shared the gospel with them, and it was the first time that either of them had heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. DeeDee's family is very Buddhist as well as her whole village. She said that she was very scared that if she decided to accept Christ that she would lose her family and that her village would look down on her and her family. Unfortunately, Biafern told her that that would most likely happen and that being a Christian and living for Christ is not always easy. Both DeeDee and Nat want to meet again next week to learn more. Pray that the Lord would soften their hearts and reveal Himself to them.
Friday we were able to meet many more Chinese and Japanese exchange students. This promotes an interesting opportunity and a great challenge at the same time. They all speak English pretty well, but I speak zero Chinese. It has been quite challenging to communicate the gospel clearly to them. If any of them accept Christ, it would show God's glory because it was nothing that I or anyone else on the team did.
Ok so, this wasn't as quick as I was planning. Up next is info about my teammates!
Thursday I was able to meet with Biafern and her friends DeeDee and Nat. Biafern and I shared the gospel with them, and it was the first time that either of them had heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. DeeDee's family is very Buddhist as well as her whole village. She said that she was very scared that if she decided to accept Christ that she would lose her family and that her village would look down on her and her family. Unfortunately, Biafern told her that that would most likely happen and that being a Christian and living for Christ is not always easy. Both DeeDee and Nat want to meet again next week to learn more. Pray that the Lord would soften their hearts and reveal Himself to them.
Friday we were able to meet many more Chinese and Japanese exchange students. This promotes an interesting opportunity and a great challenge at the same time. They all speak English pretty well, but I speak zero Chinese. It has been quite challenging to communicate the gospel clearly to them. If any of them accept Christ, it would show God's glory because it was nothing that I or anyone else on the team did.
Ok so, this wasn't as quick as I was planning. Up next is info about my teammates!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Photos of Elephant Excursion
Elephants are so strong!! Yes this picture did cost me a whole 20 Baht.
First we cross a small river and then climb up the mountain, quite the incline.
One of the hill tribe children that we met after the ride. Many of the tribes have their cute kids sell stuff like bracelets and such. It definitely works!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
The Blog is Up!
SwasDii Ka,
The blog is finally up and running. Hopefully this will make it easy for everyone to stay updated.
Today begins week 4 in Chiang Mai. The team is getting in the swing of things and we are definitely getting the ball rolling. We go to campus every day Tuesday through Friday for about 4 hours or so. Our time is spent sharing the gospel, discipleship meetings, and group Bible studies. While none of the new STINT women (Candice, Tricia, and I) have disciples yet, we are praying that we can get appointments set up this week.
Friday Nights Lights, our weekly meeting, this past Friday focused on how to study the Bible inductively through observation, interpretation, and application. I think it was very helpful to many students. I also had the opportunity to bring four Chinese students that I met last week. It's quite funny that they are Chinese because the meetings are in Thai. So P' Gaa, Thai staff girl, translated into English for them. All the glory goes to God for them understanding the meaning behind John 15. They are a lively bunch and are excited to come this Friday.
Now it's time for some cultural insight. On Saturday, we had an awesome opportunity to explore the beautiful nature that Thailand offers. We went to an elephant camp and got to ride elephants!! It was amazing. The elephants did a little show for us where they painted pictures, kicked soccer balls, and even walked on their hind legs. As we trekked through the jungle it felt similar to the movie Jurassic Park. These massive animals move kind of like dinosaurs as we were riding up the mountain side, through rivers, and along rice fields. The scenery was absolutely breath taking! We also went bamboo rafting down the river. No worries, it was very calm and pleasant.
The blog is finally up and running. Hopefully this will make it easy for everyone to stay updated.
Today begins week 4 in Chiang Mai. The team is getting in the swing of things and we are definitely getting the ball rolling. We go to campus every day Tuesday through Friday for about 4 hours or so. Our time is spent sharing the gospel, discipleship meetings, and group Bible studies. While none of the new STINT women (Candice, Tricia, and I) have disciples yet, we are praying that we can get appointments set up this week.
Friday Nights Lights, our weekly meeting, this past Friday focused on how to study the Bible inductively through observation, interpretation, and application. I think it was very helpful to many students. I also had the opportunity to bring four Chinese students that I met last week. It's quite funny that they are Chinese because the meetings are in Thai. So P' Gaa, Thai staff girl, translated into English for them. All the glory goes to God for them understanding the meaning behind John 15. They are a lively bunch and are excited to come this Friday.
Now it's time for some cultural insight. On Saturday, we had an awesome opportunity to explore the beautiful nature that Thailand offers. We went to an elephant camp and got to ride elephants!! It was amazing. The elephants did a little show for us where they painted pictures, kicked soccer balls, and even walked on their hind legs. As we trekked through the jungle it felt similar to the movie Jurassic Park. These massive animals move kind of like dinosaurs as we were riding up the mountain side, through rivers, and along rice fields. The scenery was absolutely breath taking! We also went bamboo rafting down the river. No worries, it was very calm and pleasant.
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