Ripple Effect

There is none like you

No one else can touch my heart like you do

I can search for all eternity long and find

There is none like you

These words, sung by the children in the orphanage, the buddhist Thai children from the Huai Bong school, and the buddhist teachers from the Huai Bong school, brought tears to my eyes as the words escaped from each of their mouths. My heart was overflowing with joy. These teachers, whose lives are devoted to buddha and the buddhist ways, sit in my English lesson and sing songs to the Lord. Their breath is worshipping Him. God is doing amazing things! I love how He works, it makes me smile! Sometimes I get so frustrated, thinking and telling God "what could I possibly be doing for the kingdom simply teaching English?", and God answers me and shows me that it is so much more than that. I just obey and pray that it all glorifies God. A wise man explained it to me like this- I'm a pebble. God has picked me up and dropped me into the water. At first, it seems like the little pebble being dropped didn't make a difference in the water at all and it seems small and insignificant and maybe even pointless, but then we begin to see the ripples. One by one they form and continue to move farther and farther out and affect even more of the water. The pebble doesn't necessarily see all the ripples, but they are there. Expanding all throughout the water....all throughout Thailand....all throughout America. Just like the pebble, I can't see all the ripples, but I know God is forming them. This wise man's words encouraged me and will continue to speak to me as I go through my frustrating times when I wonder "How could I ever deserve to be here? Will I make a difference?" I love seeing His hand reach down and know that this is His work, and I'm just a tool in the process.

I am loving every day I teach at the Huai Bong school. The children are so wonderful, and I'm beginning to adapt to their different way of life. I'm learning and changing me, rather than changing them. I have made many new friends through the teachers who work at the school along with me. They are all so sweet and they love to take care of me. I have received so many crafts from the children as gifts and so many bunches of bananas from the teachers. Every time I go to school, or they come to the hostel they give me a gift. They are such kind, grateful people. I eat lunch with them every day, and we use it as an opportunity for them to teach me Thai and me to teach them English. I'm learning more and more every day. I have my notebook that I carry around with me to write all the Thai I learn in. It's so much fun! I love all the food. I usually love everything they put in front of me, and they put so much food in front of me. I tell them they feed me too much, when I return to America they're going to have to roll me off the plane. Every day I step onto that campus to work, the children all run up to me and say "Good morning teacher Andrea", and they all say "You are beautiful". I have never felt so beautiful. I love living here, where it doesn't matter what clothes I wear, what my hair looks like, who I smell, how many cars/houses/etc. I own, my heart is all they see. How I pray that is what we were like. A world where I was beautiful because of the woman I am in God and not because my clothese were in fashion and because I knew how to do my hair. Learning to look past the exterior and see with the eyes of God, that is what I pray for.

Tonight was a blast! Tonight, I took a break from teaching and just played games with the children. The children from the Huai Bong school come every night, Mon-Thurs., to learn English and on Saturdays. Plus, I teach in the school Mon.-Thurs. So Fridays are my days to just goof around with the children. I love it! I played the games with the children tonight. We played "Find my shoes". We each put our shoes in the center of the room and then we put blindfolds on. We had to run to the center when Teep said go and be the first to find our shoes and put both of them on. As I wrestled with the children, blindfold on, and put my arms out hoping they would find my shoes, I realized this is life. This is what life is all about. Appreciating, more than anything, the times I get to simply play, blindfolded, with the children I love and listen as their laughs fill the room and contagiously I begin to laugh as well. Please pray for all my children. I love them with all my heart and so dearly. I love each girl and their precious servant hearts and each boy and his warrior servants heart. I can not even explain to you the joy that is found in these children. The little children have completely opened up and I'm beginning to form strong bonds with the older girls. Please pray for each and every one of these children. That they will grow up to be mighty men and women of God. I see them every day and I know they are going to do mighty things for the kingdom! They are going to cause so many ripples that there are going to be tsunamis hitting for God every day!

Don't forget to check out my pictures....I've uploaded more :)

p.s. Today is my mom's birthday!! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you so much! I wish I could be there with you to celebrate, but I'm there in heart! Happy Birthday from Thailand!! (All the children and staff say Happy Birthday too!!) Love you!

Words Are Not Enough

As I listen to Pastor Winai preach, with the sounds of hands slapping away mosquitoes off legs and arms in the background, I can feel God surrounding me. I can feel His love in every word Pastor Winai speaks. I feel an innocent, pure, incredible, passionate love enveloping me, and then I realize that that love is God’s arms. His love goes beyond language, beyond skin color, beyond any cultural difference, right to our very souls. It shakes us and rattles our souls. It sets our hearts on fire. A fire that gives us life! A fire that burns away the death we had and washes away our old, and gives us a new. A new life, a new heart, a new joy, a new transformation only found in Jesus Christ. This love crosses every border, every boundary. It overpowers any gun that tries to stop us, any robber that comes in the night, any enemy who we can not find it in our hearts to forgive. This love gives us life. Gives us strength. Makes the impossible, possible. “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16. God is love. God gives us life. God gives us strength. God makes the impossible, possible.

I have been learning this powerful, incredible, passionate, intense, beautiful, pure love that shoots straight to my soul. This love that crosses all boundaries. As I sit and hear another mosquito lose it’s life, I’m reminded how I was so graciously given mine. Grace. Do we truly know what that means? “I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see”. Amazing Grace. My heart was lost, but now it is found. The eyes of my heart were blind, but now they see…….see the amazing grace I’m shown every single day through God’s incredible love. I can never do anything to gain God’s love and I can never do anything to turn His love away. It is always there. Graciously given to me…..overflowing into my heart. “….love covers all sins” Proverbs 10:12. God’s love for me covers all my sins. The love He showed when He sacrificed His son washes me white as snow. My sins are erased as far as the east is from the west. I made mistakes and yet God was standing there the whole time my back was to Him with open arms. With an embrace that would envelop me and wash away every sin. With a love that longingly waited for me, that covered me, and showed me that it was there all along.

Through all the mistakes I have made in my life, all the times I have allowed the darkness of my heart to come out and allowed my sin to blossom, God never slapped me away as I flew to His arms and legs. As I flung myself at His feet, begging for His forgiveness, He reminds me that I am already forgiven. The price has been paid. He so loved me with such an intense, desirable, passionate love that He sent His one and only son to die for me. To die, so I could live. “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. We have never been shown a greater love then the love that comes from God. Jesus laid down his life for you, for me. Because of this love the darkness of my heart has seen light, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” Ezekiel 36:26. My heart can now experience love I can’t give justice to, no matter how many paragraphs I fill up with words. Love that is waiting for everyone. A love that repairs, a love that forgives, a love that gives everlasting joy, a love that sets us on fire, a love that changes nations, and a love that changes me.

Popeye the Sailor Man

Today was a wonderful day!! I had the joy of joining May and Noah in their trip to Mae Sot. We dropped the children off at a youth worship service and we went to Popeye’s. That’s right we went to Popeye’s chicken. Some good ol’ American greasy food. Delicious!! (Actually I don’t think I like that kind of American food all that much, it made my stomach upset). At this Popeye’s they sell pizza too, and they actually use real cheese. But they have weird topping combinations. They have a seafood pizza and a vegetable pizza where one of the vegetables was corn. Weird. I ordered some garlic bread, and enjoyed eating it for the first time since I’ve left America. It was very good! I also had the opportunity to drink my most favorite drink in Thailand. They don’t have it at every restaurant so I’m excited when I get to drink it. It’s called Thai Iced Tea. It sounds boring, but they add some Thai stuff and make regular Iced Tea delicious! After, we came home from Mae Sot, I gathered up 5 boys to fill up water balloons for me. They were so excited to fill them up because they knew it meant that we would be playing games with them. While they filled them up, I taught songs to the other children. Then I told them it was time to play the games, they jumped up and down and all I could hear was excited Thai J We played water balloon volleyball (materials- water balloons and sheets). They loved it! The boys were really good at it. Then, the children took a 15 minute break and it was time for exercising. I have now started a Thai exercise class. So if anyone is wanting to join, all you need to do is purchase your ticket for Thailand and be willing to serve the Lord :) I will do my exercise class every day except Sunday, from 4:30-5:30. We run, do a little tae-bo, and anything else I can think of, and then we stretch and have a cool down while listening to worship music. Then I have the children sit quietly and just spend time with God. Then we close with prayer!! It’s been amazing and the children love it, plus it keeps them and me healthy and fit! Boy, have I been sweating, but it’s nice because it makes those cold showers I have to take feel awfully nice! I spent some time with May and Noah and some of the kids in their house. We watched Spiderman. I sat next to one of the boys. He flicked a bug off his foot, and I busted out laughing. I do a lot of laughing here! I'm just so overwhelmed with joy. What he did wasn't even funny. Nobody knew why I was laughing, but to me it was hilarious!! I was filled with so much joy and happiness I literally felt like I was going to cry!! It's hard to explain that kind of pure joy I was blessed with at that moment. It's incredible! I had the opportunity to sit with two of the girls, Kawee and Nanna, because they wanted to learn one of the worship songs we listened to as we stretched during our exercise class. I wrote the words for them to “Draw me close to you”, and sat and listened as their angelic voices sang the words. It was beautiful!! Worship was also beautiful tonight! We sang “Jesus, lover of my soul”, and it seriously brings so many joyful tears to my eyes every time I hear all those voices being lifted up to God! After worship I came into the office to update you lovely people, and Solo ran behind me as I sat, grabbed a bamboo stick and started stabbing it into one of the drawers on the other desk. I freaked out and asked him what he was doing and he explained that he was trying to kill the mouse. As I heard little squeaks coming from the drawer, I jumped up on my chair. This mouse, unlike the mouse you are using to scroll down to read this, is very bad for the computers. So despite the squeaking that was making me very sad, I knew he had to go. Solo wasn’t able to kill him and he escaped from the drawer. And the race was on! He ran to the door and closed it tight. Kawee, Nanna, Seeqwa and Ooten were all in ready position. I must remind you I am still, like a little scared girl, standing on top of my chair. The mouse runs past me, heading for the door. Little does it know, we are smarter than it and the door has already been closed. It tries to hide behind one of the computers, but they see it. They shake the desk and it begins to run for it’s life again. Nanna gets down ready to catch it with her hands, which I just couldn’t believe! These Karen girls are definitely warriors! She wasn’t able to catch it and Seeqwa tries to go in for the kill. He begins stomping where the mouse is, in his bare feet I might add, but the mouse is a little bit quicker then his stomping foot and gets away. It runs behind the desk again, but this time Solo, bamboo stick in hand, shoves the stick to the back of the desk and we hear the mouse’s final breath. We prayed he was a Christian ;) I thanked them for killing the mouse. They were all my heroes. I stood my ground on top of that chair through the whole ordeal. I guess I’m the typical American. While the Karen girls get down on their hands and knees to catch the mouse, I stand atop and supervise. Definitely a sight J At least now we will all sleep soundly, knowing there won’t be a mouse trying to jump into bed with us.

"You teach them English, they teach you Thai"

This is what Krudam, the English teacher at the Huai Bong School, told me as I began teaching at the school this week. Hopefully, I am able to learn Thai as well as teach English. I am teaching English to K-9th grades. It's definitley been a challenge thinking of different lessons and things to teach the variety of aged children, but challenge is good. It forces me to grow and step out of my comfort zone, and it teaches me a lot about myself and God. I think that's what this trip is all about. I am being forced to step out of my comfort zone to realize how much I must lean on God. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm dong standing up in front of 25 or so kids staring at me and being able to speak only Thai. But then God takes over and somehow I teach them English and they love it! It's amazing how God is able to use ordinary me and do extraordinary things! Me alone, is an Andrea who hopes that I'm doing something for these children, but me with God is making a difference!

I have loved teaching the children at the school. It is a buddhist school and they have really been latching on to me. When I come to the school, the young children tell their teachers they want to learn from Ajarn Andrea (Teacher Andrea). They always come up to me and tell me that I'm beautiful and smart. It's the sweetest thing ever! They're amazing kids! I have received my schedule and I will be working at the school for 6 hours Mon-Thurs. I will be teaching the children for 3 hours in the morning, eating lunch with them, and then teaching some of the teachers for 3 hours in the afternoon. I have received my books to plan my English lessons from. When I first looked at them, it was overwhelming. It's very different teaching English then teaching subjects to students who speak English. It can be frustrating, at times, to think how I am going to teach the children, but I am reminded again and again to surrender it to God. I will also be teaching in the orphanage and helping Pastor Winai whenever I can, so please pray for strength for me and time management! It is such a wonderful opportunity to work with some of the teachers in the afternoon. The schools here are so very different from America. The teachers are allowed to spank, hit, twist ears, and punish in any way they choose. The girls are required to keep their hair cut short here and it must be all one length. One of the girls decided she wanted to make it shorter in the back and longer in the front and the teacher walked up to her in class, scissors in hand, and cut her hair and made it all one length. I just picture me doing that in an American classroom and I would for sure be fired! The way they teach respect here is very different. If you do not obey your teacher, they will punish you. The children here have such an honor and respect for their elders. Every time I step on the campus they all bow to me and if they walk past me they lower themselves down. Very different from America. Sometimes when I'm in the classrooms, I want to Americanize everything. That's what we Americans want to do. We think our way is the best way to do things, but I'm learning how selfish I truly am. How I want everything done my way. But I'm learning how to let go and learn from them rather than change them.

I went on a tour of Huai Bong village with one of the teachers today and I was able to share with her that I was a missionary. She invited me for dinner at her house and I will go next week. She's very excited to study English with me and she will be coming to the hostel to learn English as well. Also, 3 of the teachers have told Pastor Winai that they want to come to the hostel on Sundays and learn about Jesus. They said they do not know Him. Praise God that these buddhist teachers are interested in learning about Jesus. We will also have children from the Huai Bong School come to the hostel on Saturdays to learn English and they also want to come on Sunday to learn about worship and Jesus. God is doing amazing things! Please pray for the Holy Spirit to just flow through that school. Many lives are going to be saved!

You're going to kill your pig for me??

I had a blessed weekend in Mae Yang Ha village. We left Friday and met Angela in Chiang Mai. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other over dinner and she did catching up with May and Noah. After dinner we all piled into the truck and drove the 2 hours to Noah's village. Angela and I talked the whole time :) We finally arrived at the village and Noah's mom, Muga, met us at the door. She is hilarious! She greeted us with a huge smile and a loud "Tabloo" (Welcome in Karen). I instantly fell in love with her. We met Noah's two brothers, Ahtru and Mooe, Mooe's daughter Nomyu, and Noah's sister Panee. They were all so nice and welcoming. Once we got settled in, Mugu told us it was dinner time. She had prepared lots of food for us. I had already eaten a big dinner, but I can't say no to food that's been so lovingly prepared for me, so I prayed that I wouldn't get too fat ;) and dug in. I eat too much, they're too good to me! Then me and Angela stayed up too late talking. May tells us we're both alike. We love to laugh and talk, that's what we did most of the night. Then it was off to bed.

The next morning, right out of bed, we went on a hike through the jungle to get a tour of the village from Ahtru. The village was gorgeous! When we returned Muga gave me a Karen skirt that she made for me. It was so sweet and I instantly put it on and wore it all day. I love to be Karen! This morning I had the opportunity to pray for this old Karen women. We call her Pee Pee (grandma in Karen). She asked me to pray for her health and family. The she blessed me. It was incredible. Tears welled up in her eyes and then transfered to my eyes. Noah took me and Angela to the village school so we could teach English to all the children. After we were done teaching, we ate lunch and then it was time for Angela to go back home :( Before we took Angela to the taxi, Noah explained to us that they were going to kill their pig for me. I was their special guest and they wanted to kill their fat pig for me. This pig was going to be our dinner tonight. I said "you're going to kill your pig for me??" I recorded with my video camera the death of our dinner. I covered my eyes as I recorded. Finally, the squealing and screaming from the pig was too much for me, so I had to go back inside. After we dropped off Angela, we went to Puttayan Maeto Hot Springs. They felt wonderful. I wanted to jump in and take a nice warm bath. It would've felt so nice considering I haven't had a hot shower since I've lived in THailand and won't have one until I go back to America. In the winter when I have to shower it's going to be brutal. After the hot springs I went with Noah and the girls into the fields so we could pick our vegetables for dinner. I was in my Karen skirt and flip-flops trudging through the mud and thorns laughing all the way. We picked peppers, the largest cucumbers I've ever seen, and mint leaves. It was a blast "hunting" for my own dinner. We came back and walked into the men chopping up the meat and bones from the pig. What a sight! Vegetables I picked and fresh pig for dinner. Could it get any better?? Then me and May had a cooking show. I made my favorite dish, Pat Pat Romit (fried mixed vegetables). She recorded me as I cooked it! The pig that we ate for dinner that night was delicious, once I got over the idea that I was eating their pet pig :)

The next day I went to Maw Gou, the mountain surrounding the village, with Ahtru. He drove me there on the motorcycle. It was so gorgeous. I took so many pictures, Ahtru was laughing at me. We drove up a crazy dirt road that was so bumpy and muddy. I was laughing the whole ride. It was like a Thai roller coaster. There was a couple on a motorcycle behind us and their motorcycle fell over as they were driving up the crazy road. They were ok and laughing. On the way back down I had to get off the motorcycle because it was too steep and the motorcycle went too fast. Ahtru and the bike fell over, it was so funny! He was ok, but the mirror broke off the bike. I couldn't stop laughing. I finally was able to get back on the bike and as we drove down, we ran out of gas. This just added to my laughing. We were still about 3 miles from the village, but we got off the bike and started to walk back. We walked about a mile and then two of Ahtru's friends stopped and helped us. We finally made it back to the village and we jumped right into the truck to go visit Noah's Pee Pee, Nepaw, who is 96 years old. She lives in a tin shack. The women and children who live around her take care of her.

As we went from hut to hut visiting people, I met Pastor Schuchat. He is a pastor in Chiang Mai and he was in the village for the same reason as Noah, to vote. Thailand is a democracy with a Prime Minister. They have a King, but he doesn't have any power. Pastor told me that one of the laws that passes is one that will allow people to force Christians out of their villages. He says maybe it will wake up the Christians in Thailand. He said the Christians in Thailand have been asleep for too long. They need to start preaching the gospel. I explained to him that I think Asia is on fire for God, and it is Americans that are sleeping. It is so easy for Americans to forget we need to trust in God. Here, where Christians are persecuted, they truly know what it means to trust in God. They see God provide for them everyday and see miracles. We think we do everything and we've earned everything we have and when miracles happen we think it is because we have become so advanced and we don't realize the miracles for what they are. After we were finished visiting, it was time to go pick some green beans for dinner. I felt like a farmer.....a Thai farmer.

Today we said goodbye and made our way home. We stopped at a market to purchase some food and use the toilet. As I walked past the food to get to the toilet I saw huge cockroaches that were in a dip for people to eat (yuck!), hard boiled eggs that had the baby chickens still inside them (this is a delicacy-they eat the babies feathers and all), and once I finally arrived at the bathroom I was informed that I had to pay 2 baht to use it. Then if you wanted toilet paper you had to pay another 1 baht, it was pretty funny.

I just finished reading Isaiah and it totally pertains to Asia. In Isaiah they built golden idols, wooden idols, and rejected God. As we drive around Thailand, I see large golden buddhas in front of the temples, wooden and ceramic buddhas for sale along the road. But in Isaiah, God redeems His people and blesses the ones that choose Him. They are blessed beyond their wildest dreams and they gain eternal life. I see that in Asia, in the Karen people. There is such a movement of God here, and He is redeeming His people. It's so amazing to be a part of spreading the gospel here. I don't know why God schose me but God said, "I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" Isaiah 49:6. To help break down their no-god idols and let them see the true God that doesn't reside in gold or silver, but in His kindgom, waiting for us, as real as real can be. I start teaching in the school tomorrow. It is a buddhist school and I am praying that through my love they will see Jesus Christ. Please pray for me as I teach in this school. Pray God can use me there for His glory!

Sending some love :)

Sawadeekah! Some of you have been asking me about sending packages. I wanted to give you an update on the best way to send things, if you want to, and what to send. The easiest thing to send is definitely money. The main necessities for the orphanage are rice and vegetables (food for the children), gasoline for the vehicles, and funds to pay the utility bills. If you are wanting to send packages for me or for the children, the best things to send are candy, stickers, books, food, children's learning DVD's/DVD's for entertainment, any materials you think will help teach English, etc. The children love American candy, and stickers are a big hit for prizes. One thing that you should not send are toys, stuffed animals, large items, clothes, or anything like that. If you send large packages with toys in it and you write toys anywhere on the package, Thailand customs charges me a tax on it, and I end up paying more than the items are worth. Please do not send items that are very expensive. Things are way cheaper here in Thailand, and if there is something you are wanting to give to the children I might be able to buy it cheaper in Thailand. The children, the orphanage, and I are so blessed with all your willing and giving hearts. I know you all want to help, so I hope this helps you help :) Thank you so much for all your prayers, love and encouraging words. I love you all!
Today I am leaving for Chiang Mai for the weekend! Noah, May, Poopah, and I are driving the 6 hour drive today. We are picking up Angela, an American missionary who lives in Chiang Mai. She is going to hang out with us Friday in Noah's village. I'm so excited to meet her! I have been talking to her through email and on the phone and now I finally get to meet her! Yay! Monday is another Buddhist holiday, so we will be coming back from Chiang Mai on Monday (so check for an update on my "vacation" to Chiang Mai Monday night).
You can definitely be lifting up my health this weekend in your prayers. I spent a little bit of this morning throwing up over the side of the wall. My stomach is still a little uneasy, so I'm praying the 6 hour drive is comfortable. Also, I'm praying I get better so I can enjoy the weekend in Noah's village. We will be staying in Noah's mom's hut and enjoying the village life.
You can also be praying for Pastor Winai's health. On top of teaching I have taken on sending and checking Pastor Winai's emails, sending monthly updates about the hostel to our contacts, and any other computer things that need to be done, because it is a huge help to Pastor Winai and I speak English a lot better than he does :) He has been telling me it is very difficult for him to sleep at night because his heart hurts him so bad, his whole right side feels like it has a fever at night, he can't see very well out of his left eye because it has become so cloudy, and God has given him so many responsibilities and it's awesome God brought me here to help relieve him of some of those responsibilities. Through all this Pastor Winai is still ministering in the villages, taking care of all the children, and reminding us what it's like to be a man of God. His whole entire life is devoted to God and how God wants to use him. He's an incredible man and definitely needs prayer for his physical and spiritual health. Being so far away from my own father, it's so wonderful to have a man who is just as amazing as my dad to still mentor me and guide me to be the woman God is calling me to be!

I can count to 100......

in Thai :) I'm very proud of myself!! As I played Bingo with the children last night, I had one girl help me call out the numbers. She said every number in English and I said every number in Thai, with a little help. Then today as I walked about two miles with 3 girls to the store I practiced counting to 100 and now I can do it all by myself! It's exciting! I'm learning more and more Thai every day. So maybe when I get home I will be able to speak fluently....we'll see :) The girls were so much fun to walk with. The 3 of them walked with their umbrellas in hand and big smiles on their faces. I was the only one without an umbrella because us Americans like to get tan from the sun. Here, they want to be white like us. They put sunblock on their face all the time and they shade their body from the sun. It's funny! When we arrived to the store I bought the whiteboard marker I was needing and I bought the girls fruit. The four of us sat on the wooden bench, ate our fruit, and converstated back and forth. I would point to something ask them how it's said in Thai and then I would tell them how it was said in English. It was fun! As we walked back down the street, two huge trucks passed us. I closed my eyes so the dirt wouldn't fly into them and when I opened them back up I saw that each truck had one ginormous elephant riding in the back. It was hilarious! I was so shocked and it showed on my face and the girls started laughing. Only in Thailand would you be walking down the street and have two large elephants pass you on the back of a truck! I love it!
While at the store I bought yarn so that the children could make bracelets. When we got back, we sat on the ground in the worship hall and began making them. I was showing the children how to braid the yarn to make a bracelet and they taught me how to make bracelets so much better. They are so talented. Three of the girls made me bracelets. I love them!
Tonight we had amazing worship and prayer. I taught the children an English worship song and it brought tears to my eyes as they all sang it:

I love you Lord,

and I lift my voice

To worship you

Oh my soul rejoice.

Take joy my King

in what you hear

Let it be a sweet, sweet sound

in your ear.

It sounded like 130 angels singing. I was reminded, yet again, how to worship my Lord. With all of me. With all that I am I will worship you.

"Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things

He does for me"

Psalm 103:2

Queen for a day

As I sit here and eat my Mankoot (thai fruit that is delicious-mangosteen in English, similar to pomegranate) and listen to the children worship, I reminisce about yesterday and the wonderful day that it was. I felt like a queen. A beautiful, Thai queen........

I had to wake up early yesterday at 7:00 (that's early for me :)) because me and the girls had to do our hair, put on our make-up and put on all our clothing. It was funny going from wearing my dirty flip-flops, the same clothes I wore for 2 days, to wearing the beautiful Thai garments. I scrubbed my feet extra well to match my new attire :) I woke up, brushed my teeth (which is not a normal thing that these people do), washed my face and walked across the quicksand mud (because it has been raining every single day) to May's bamboo hut. This is where we would be getting ready. As Thai words flew around me, I sat while May did my hair and make-up. It was so much fun getting ready with the girls. After my hair finished, they all said lo e, soy. After my make-up was done, they all repeated the same thing. Once my clothing and jewelry were on and complete, they once again repeated the same thing. "Callowa (what the karen call foreigners) lo e pado" (foreigner very lovely). I felt more beautiful then I have ever felt :) Once we were all done getting ready, we walked back across the muddy quicksand, umbrellas and bottoms of skirts in hand as we all walked ever so carefully so we wouldn't slip in the mud in our Thai attire. "Beware, Beware" May kept saying. It was making me laugh. We all made it safely across the mud and we went into the computer room to practice our dance a couple more times. While we practiced, we could hear the celebration going on in the worship hall. They were worshipping, preaching, and preparing for us to come and do our dance. Finally, "girls, girls you must go on", says May. We all walked giggling the whole way. We were all very excited to do our dance, and I think they were more excited because a farang was doing it with them. We walked onto the stage and took our places. The music began and this was it. We danced more gracefully then I have been in my whole life. The girls looked absolutely beautiful and the dance was wonderful! We finished and the audience broke into cheer. They loved it! I was told later, by Pastor Winai, that I was the star of the day. Everyone loved that a farang partook in so much of their culture. It touched them. May told me I'm a very good foreigner, because I do everything. It was so sweet. I do everything because I love their culture and I don't want to miss out on anything.
After our dance, a couple other girls danced in their Karen dresses and then we gave out awards (notebooks, pens, and pencils) to the children. They did a drawing and writing contest, so the children who won came up and received their prizes. They asked me to be the person to give them their prizes. I loved it! After I finished giving them their prizes, many of the Karen people asked Noah (he had my camera and was the photographer for the day) to take pictures of them with me. I stood on stage, still in front of the whole audience, and they would come up one by one and get their picture taken with me. Noah kept telling me I was like a celebrity. To them, that's what I was like. A foreigner who comes to live with them and be part of their culture means so much to them. I'm just obeying God and trying to glorify Him in everything I do, and through that I am more to these people then I ever could know and they are more to me then they ever could know. Amazing how God works things out for the good of those who love Him. I'm learning every day how to trust Him. I don't know what every day will be like or what my future is like exactly but God loves that, because I am forced to fully lean on Him and trust Him.
After we finished taking the photos, they closed up the celebration with prayer. Then it was time for another photo session with the children who wanted to take pictures with me and the staff and the girls that I danced with. It was so much fun! Then "tah oha low co"- "lunchtime". They sat me at the table with the Pastors and their wives. They didn't really speak English but May stood there and translated for me. Pastor Wachina (means Bible in English-what are the odds :)), asked me to come to his church and teach the children English and fellowship with them next Friday. I'm very excited to go to his church. He was a very sweet man and his wife was wonderful too.
As the celebration came to a close, everyone piled into the trucks to be driven back to their villages. They said goodbye to their children with long hugs and kisses because they won't see them for a while. They came to me and shook my hand and held it a little bit longer. I can never know what I do for them, but it's amazing to see God work. The love they hold my nad with, hug me with, and look into my eyes with, is a love that rattles my soul. As they drove away I told them "Kasawa Cho gey"- God Bless you!
We spent the rest of the day cleaning up, playing, and relaxing. I went to May's house and hung out with her and some of the girls and relaxed with them. May told me the girls wanted to give me a massage and wanted to know if I wanted one. Well, I for sure am not one to turn down a Thai massage, so I said "YES!". I had four girls massaging me as I layed on the bamboo floor and listened to the rain hit the leaf roof. It felt like I was in a Thai paradise. It was wonderful.

Today was a really fun day too. We had church this morning and then ate Pad Thai for lunch. Boy was it delicious! After lunch I taught the children about rooms in the house. I wrote each room on a peice of paper and then taped the papers in the front of the room. After I taught them, I played a rooms of the house game with them. They got into five groups and I would have them ask me "Where are you going?" I would answer them "I am going to take a shower". Then they would have to run to the correct room where I would take a shower. The first person who made it to that room got a point for their team. They loved the game. The boys were intense though and would knock each other over to get to the room. It was hilarious! It really helped them learn English.
We also went to a funeral today. A Karen man was killed by three Burmese soldiers. The funeral was right across the street and very different from an American funeral. They had the body on the ground simply wrapped in a blanket and we all stood around it as the rain fell on us all. Pastor Winai prayed and spoke about this man, as his wife and two children stood looking solemnly at the ground. My heart broke for this woman who just lost her husband. They took his body and his belongings, placed it on rubber tires stacked up, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire. Pastor Winai explained to me that they normally bury their dead, but since this was so unexpected they didn't have time to take care of the body correctly and they had to take quick action. As the smoke went up into the Thai sky, I sat with the woman and prayed for her. She was such a strong woman. One who truly understands what it means to put all her faith and trust in God. Although, she couldn't understand what I was saying, love goes beyond language.





I put more pics up so check em out :)

Happy Mother's Day Mom

This week Thailand has been celebrating Mother's. The queen's birthday is August 12th, so they celebrate Mother's day every day during the week of the queen's birthday. Stores give people a discount during this week and pictures of the queen are up everywhere. Even the commercials revolve around mothers and the queen. Everyone you see is wearing blue, which is the queen's color. This week we have been preparing for the mother's day celebration that we will have tomorrow. All the mother's of the children, the children's teachers, and other pastors and friends will come to the orphanage and join us in the celebration.
Today, the children only had a half day, in celebration of the queen. I went with May to the children's school, Huai Bong School, because their English teacher wanted to meet me and because they were having a celebration at school. I met the English teacher and her name is Krudam. She told me that she wanted me to teach the children English at the school. I will be teaching Mon.-Thurs. for 3 hours each day every week at the school and then teaching at the orphanage at night. I'm very excited! She's going to give me books and things to help me prepare my lessons tomorrow. It's going to be a challenge, but wonderful! At the school today they had an assembly where they honored their mothers and the queen. Some of the children sang and some of them danced. It was wonderful. They had me go in front of the whole school and introduce myself. I am a celebrity here :) They picked the best mother of all the mothers and her children gave her flowers and the school gave her a plaque. Then the children were told to go and honor their mothers. As all the children went to their mothers, our children (the children who live in the orphanage), came to me and May, pinned flowers on our shirts and bowed down to us. As they did this, tears streamed down mine and May's faces. The children were crying also. My heart broke for them, because so many of them do not have mothers and the ones who do have mothers, their mothers could not afford to come and visit their school. Me and May were the mothers they have, but it's not the same as having your own mother. I held some of the girls and hugged others as tears streamed down their faces. As I held them, I simply cried and prayed for them. It was so touching how the children would come up to us, give us a flower, bow to us, and honor us. I had overwhelming feelings of love for these children. I love each and every one of them. I want to adopt them all and bring them home with me. After all the children went to their mothers, the principal invited me, May, and all the children in the orphanage up to the front. We all sat up in front as they took pictures of us and everyone clapped for us. It was incredible. If I only spent today here in Thailand, it would all have been worth it. These children are my children. I love them so much!!
After the assembly, we ate lunch with the children. They served us rice with seafood. The shrimp still had the shell on it and there were crawdads staring at me from my bowl. I gave all my seafood to May and I watched as no one peeled their seafood, but ate the peel right along with the meat. It was pretty gross, I must admit. I took pictures of our lunch, so you can see them on Kodak. After lunch we went to one of the teachers because she was giving us traditional Thai clothing to wear at the Mother's day celebration. I was receiving the Thai clothing along with the girls because I will be participating in the dance that the girls are doing tomorrow. After we got the clothes we went to the salon/jewelry store and rented the traditional Thai jewelry to go along with our clothes. All the women kept telling me "Oh....soy...soy...lo e". This means "Oh beautiful, beautiful, lovely". Then we spent the whole day in Mae Sot buying supplies for the celebration.
We came home and there was no time to waste because we had to begin the dance rehearsal. It is me and 4 other girls doing the dance. They put me smack dab in the center of all of them. I guess I'm the star of the show tomorrow. It's not every day a farang does a traditional Thai dance....actually Noah told me I'm the first one :) It was really fun practicing the dance, but my hands are killing me. They can put their hands in some crazy positions that I just can't do. It's because they have Karen hands and I have American hands. My hands seriously are still hurting. The style of dance is beautiful though and very slow and graceful. It's difficult for me to be graceful, as you all know, but they sure taught me how. So tomorrow I will be doing a traditional Thai dance in traditional Thai clothing as we celebrate the traditional Mother's Day. I'm so excited for tomorrow! I will upload pictures of my celebrity moment tomorrow :) Mother, tomorrow I will celebrate and honor you. I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Wise words of Noah

As I drove to the University with Noah to pick up May we had a discussion. Noah loves to speak English....actually Noah loves to speak period...English or Thai, you can always catch Noah talking. He's awesome! As we were talking we started talking about "the enemy". What Noah said really intrigued me, I had never thought about it before. He said that Satan is not always our greatest enemy, believers are. "Believers" are the ones who crucified Christ, "Believers" are the ones who gossip about each other, and "Believers" are the ones who aren't truly, genuinely loving each other.

"But I don't need to write you about the Christian love that should be shown among God's people. For God himself has taught you to love one another. Indeed your love is already strong toward all the Christians......Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we beg you to love them more and more." 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

"And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you." 1 Thessalonians 3:12

"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:34-35

Love is such an important commandment and yet so many of us forget to do this. Am I allowing myself to be the enemy? When people look at me, do they see that I am a disciple of the Lord? Is my love proof to the world that I am completely devoted and passionately in love with my God? Are we the enemy, or is the love of God that fills our hearts and our lives splashing onto everyone around us all the time? Are we genuinely loving everyone? How many times do I have the opportunity to give a little bit more of myself. To stop, and take the time that God has blessed me with and drop what I'm doing and give my time to bless others. To realize that the things that I have made a priority aren't even important when it comes to loving every single person God has placed into my life. Take a little longer to actually listen harder, love harder. What would Jesus do? We need to be more like Mary in the story of Martha and Mary. Martha rushed around cleaning and preparing things and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. Martha complained to Jesus and Jesus told her that Mary had chosen what was better. To simply sit and love. So simple!


Yesterday I had to go to the post office to pick up a package and Pastor Winai came to me, handed me the keys to the truck, and told me that Kawee and Boom would go with me to the Post office. So I took the keys and took my place as the driver in this crazy land of Thailand. It's a good thing I learned how to drive manual (God does have everything taken care of) otherwise I wouldn't be able to drive here. As I drove, on the right side of the car in the opposite side of the road, a chicken decided it wanted to run right out in front of me. It scared the me! I screamed and the girls just laughed and laughed at me. As if it's not confusing enough to drive on the opposite side of the car and road, a chicken has to run out and confuse me even more :) I also kept getting the windshield wipers and the blinker confused. Here the windshield wipers are on the left and the blinker is on the right, so every time I was going to turn there went the windshield wipers, back and forth, back and forth as the girls once again busted out laughing. I made it safely to the post office, though despite all the craziness. They drive so different here. Nobody puts their seatbelt on, and nobody stays in their lane so you really have to be alert here. Plus, the government and public safety is so corrupt here, so nobody really follows the rules. If you get pulled over by a cop, when you hand him your license you simply put money underneath it and he lets you go. If you are a farang (that's what they call foreigners here), they don't even bother you. So I could basically do whatever I want.
I had the privelige of meeting a man named Eddie. He stayed here for 2 nights. He is a missionary from Australia living in Chiang Mai. He comes down to this orphanage about once a month to help the refugee camps. He sneaks into the refugee camps to bring them supplies and other things they need. You can be praying for him because it is very dangerous for him. If he gets caught they could send him to jail or even kill him.
Yesterday they began building the lake for the water. Once this lake is built and the purification set up the water will be completely free of all bacteria. The water will even be safe for me to drink. I have been drinking only bottled water and even brushing my teeth in bottled water. It's not worth it to get a parasite so I take all precautions. It has been raining every day here, so once the lake is finished there will be a lot of water to last us throughout the other seasons when there is no rain. There are 3 seasons here. Rainy (June-October), cold (November-February), and hot (March-May)...very, very, very hot. It will probably be nothing for me being from Phoenix.
Today was really fun! I went to the University with May and Noah to talk with their English professor. His name is Joe and all the students call him Teacher Joe. He's from Ireland. We met and set up a schedule for the English camp that we will be doing. It's going to be so much fun! We are going to be teaching English to 18 year olds. I met a lot of May and Noah's friends and they loved speaking English with me. It's funny how many people want to speak English here. We get mad in America if people don't speak English, and here everyone desperately wants to speak it. After we left the University, we went into Mae Sot to buy the things we would need to celebrate Nu Nu's birthday. She turned 6 today. I bought her an outfit for her birthday and May bought pancake mix to make the cake. They don't have an oven here, so she bought pancake mix, made pancakes, and stacked them on top of eachother and then frosted them with frosting (they call it frosting, it was actually butter and glucose- similar to powdered sugar). I just ate some of the pancakes, they were yummy :) Pranom, Pastor Winai's wife, made noodles and hard boiled eggs for all the children as a treat for the celebreation. They all lined up with their bowls, brought their specail treat to their place on the ground, waited for everyone to sit, then they sang the song they sing before they eat, and I blessed the food and they chowed down. I love how nobody eats until everyone has been served. It's so neat! Nu Nu loved her outfit. She was so grateful!
There is a Karen woman staying with us who is in her late 70's. She doesn't speak any English, but her face speaks it all. She smiles and reveals black teeth. She holds your hand and her rough black from dirt hand rub up against yours. She laughs and her eyes, that reveal years of hard work and a long life, sparkle for just a moment. She hugs me and I just sit with her, not exhanging any words, but so much wisdom and love flows through her to me. All she wants of me is to sit with her. We don't have to say anything, and we do more for each other than words could do. I think about my busy life in America and how I wouldn't have taken the time to simply sit with this incredible woman. To slow down for what really matters. This is life lived the way it was meant to be lived. Tears come to my eyes as I write this. The amazing life I'm living is overwhelming. How God is using this is overwhelming. We can learn so much without ever saying a thing.



P.S. I will upload more pics at the same place so keep checking them out:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=9g2wdfq0.81wlq2oo&Uy=-915v4m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Also, I am going to figure out the best way for everyone to send me packages if they want to. I just got a package and I have to pay about 40 American dollars to pick it up. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow, so I'll know more tomorrow about the best way to send packages. The customs here is a little corrupt, so they charge me a heavy tax to get the stuff and sometimes they take stuff from the boxes. I've received one box and didn't have to pay for it and nothing was stolen, but this box I have to pay for for some reason. So I will see why and will definitely keep you updated on how to send packages. Please keep checking for the update. My address if you do want to send anything is:

Andrea Zukewycz
Eternal Love Church Association
248 Moo 8
T. Mae Jaroung A. Mae Ramart
Tak Province, Thailand 63149

Also, if anyone wants to email me for anything at all my email (in case you don't have it) is:

mustangandrea@cox.net

Learning how to be a servant

As a Christian one thing we are striving for is to live like Christ lived. We want our lives to mirror His. Christ was an amazing servant. He served His Father's people. The people who live in the Agape orphanage are the best mirrors I have ever seen of Christ. They are constantly wanting to serve each other, love each other, and serve all the guests that come to the orphanage. I was able to preach to the children this morning and that was one thing that I told them. I told them that they are great followers of the two greatest commandements: to love God and love people. They are prime examples of what this looks like. They wholeheartedly love God and genuinely love people. I want to be like them. They are always serving me. I had the opportunity to talk to my mom tonight and she asked me if I do any chores here. I told her no and she was surprised. I explained to her that when I try to do things they always tell me no because they want to serve me. They want to serve me out of a genuine love and appreciation. Because of their love for God it simply overflows onto people. It was laundry time and I asked the girls to show me where to do my laundry and 3 of them took my laundry, washed them and hung them up to dry. As many times as I kneeled down with them to help them, they always said "no, no, no, we do". They are amazing! They would do anything they could for me. The girls are also always braiding my hair and constantly making sure I'm taken care of. We don't understand this kind of servanthood. Most of the time in America we serve people, yet we are always expecting something in return..."Well I did ....... for you, so you should do ......... for me". We are a very selfish people without even realizing it and these children are so unselfish.
These past two days were, you guessed it, amazing! I don't think a day is going to pass that won't be amazing! Well, maybe the day when I have to leave here won't be as amazing as all the other days :) Saturday I taught the children a really fun English lesson. Noah asked me if I had any experience in teaching English, because the lesson was really good, and I told him it was all God. I decided to make Saturday a day of shopping. I wrote on peices of paper different stores- the clothing store, shoe store, salon, school supply store, grocery store, and the computer store. I taught the children what you would say if you went shopping in each of the stores. Then I picked 3 children/store to be the employees at that store. Then all the other children had to go shopping at the stores. They had the conversation that they learned written down in their notebooks and they were aloud to look at their notebooks. They loved it! A lot of them really came out of their shells and were speaking very good English! I was so proud of them! I love hearing them speak. After the lesson, I gave them a break and we played some BINGO. I found a giant BINGO game in the store in Mae Sot and thought it would be a wonderful way to work on the children's number recognition. They loved it! We didn't have enough plastic pieces to use on their BINGO cards so all the children went and gathered their own stones and used those as their pieces to cover the numbers. It was awesome! BINGO played with rocks in Thailand, I loved it! The children loved to win because I brought candy from America and they loved getting it as prizes. If you want to send me things, the children definitely love American candy way better than Thai candy (American candy is way better :)) While we sat in the worship hall/classroom we kept feeling a wonderful breeze and sprinkles. It was drizzling all day and the weather was incredible! It has been gorgeous out the last few days, and I have actually been sleeping with a blanket at night because it gets chilly :)
After our fun BINGO game I went to Mae Ramart with Mae. I love spending time with her. She has become my new best friend. She loves improving her English with me and I love hearing her stories. She's so funny! Mae Ramart is a small village and everyone lives in their bamboo huts with the roofs made out of leafs. It's amazing how their roofs are made out of leaves. They have to change their roofs once a year. Not bad for a leaf roof.
Saturday night me, Noah, and Mae watched a movie on my laptop. They love watching English movies because it helps them practice their English. They both go to the University here and they are learning English. I will be going to their University on Thursday to meet with their English teacher and we will be discussing the English camp. I'm excited!
Today, we started our day with church. Pastor Winai took some of the children to one of the churches he has started in one of the villages. Pastor Winai was telling me today that it makes him very sad because the people who are attending this church want to love God and say they do but they don't want to leave their old lives behind. One of the little girls in the village came up to Pastor Winai and told him that her father won't stop drinking. Alcoholism is a very big problem here. In the church service though the man came up and confessed that he was drinking and that he promised he would try to change. Pastor Winai is doing amazing things in the villages for God! Since Pastor Winai was gone this morning, Mae asked me to preach. It's awesome being able to talk about God with these children who so desperately want to hear about Him. We did worship and played games. We played the musical hat game again and I won. I played some hardcore musical hats and I beat all those little kids. In the end we said it was the olympics. The little girl called herself Africa and I was America. I won the olympics for us :) Go America ;) After church I had the opportunity to teach the children a song. I taught them "Father Abraham, had many sons........" It was so much fun! The children also sing this song in Karen so they sang it in Karen and in English. They sound so amazing singing! It's seriously like listening to angels. I think that's how it's going to sound in Heaven :) After I taught them that song me and Mae went into Mae Sot. I wanted to buy a whiteboard. I have been working to make the worship hall like a classroom and a big whiteboard to put on the wall is what I really wanted. I had been writing on this little whiteboard practically on my knees. So this new whiteboard is awesome! Now I just have to wait for them to put it up on the wall. Things work a little slower here, not as efficient as in America, so we'll see how long it takes to get it up.
I moved today. I switched from my room to another room because last night I found a scorpion in my room. I was sitting on the floor and I looked at my bug net and the scorpion was on the inside of it. It was night time so every one was asleeop but I just happened to hear Solo talking in his room. I walked outside to go to his room and it was really dark. I thought I remembered that there was only two steps down from my room, but there was 3 and I missed one step and totally twisted my ankle. My ankles still sore but atleast I can walk on it. I hobbled over to Solo's room and told him there was a scorpion in my room. He came and killed it and told me that hecaught 4 scorpions in my room when he stayed in it and Mae told me that when her and Noah lived in my room she got bit twice by scorpions. So Pastor Winai told me to switch rooms. The children all helped me move all my stuff to the other room. I like the other room a lot better. It's nice and the toilet actually has a cover :) I'm all settled in my new room, and I set it all up to be my new home. I'll put pictures of my new room up to.
I had an awesome dinner with Mae and Noah tonight. The girls made us dinner. I noticed that Mae and Noah were eating every part of the chicken- meat, skin, fat, insides, and bone. She said that the Karen people eat every part. I explained that we don't do this in America and they thought that was strange. It's funny how, in America, we have such a surplus of food so we are so wasteful, but here they food is not so easily come by so they don't waste any of it. They eat everything. I'm not going to be that Karen, so I still eat only the meat. It's difficult to find the meat though because it's all cut up and cooked together. Oh well, I just tell myself "this is Thailand".



I've uploaded more pictures so check them out :)

No mirror, no watch, no cell phone, no worries

Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready because we were leaving to go to Walleykee (a Karen village). I realized that I had not looked in a mirror since I got here. I don't have a mirror in my bathroom and they don't have mirrors anywhere here. It totally doesn't matter what I look like at all. Here it's what my heart is like that matters. It's amazing! I wish that's how life was in America. I also realized I hadn't had a watch on this whole time, and I just go with the flow. If Pastor Winai says "we go", then I grab my bag and go. Life is so much simpler here. It's awesome not having a cell phone too. I realize without my cell phone, I pay so much better attention to the people I am with. I am not constantly texting and there is no ringing interrupting my conversations. My focus is on the people that God has blessed me with right now. There are so many things I take for granted that I have in America, but I realize how life is without all these things. It's peaceful, stress free, and there are no worries. It's the way life was meant to be!
After I finished getting ready we all piled into the trucks and drove to Walleykee. It was about 30 minutes away. We arrived there and had a worship service in the Pastor's home. There was a woman there who is the spiritual leader over the Karen. She lead the service. After the service we ate an amazing noodle lunch and then went to the women's house to pray for her and for the village. As we all sat in a circle on the bamboo floor, we heard gun shots that were not very far away. We were right on the Burmese border, and the gun shots were from the Karen soldiers protecting their village from the Burmese soldiers trying to come and kill all the people in the village. The Burmese and the Karen are amidst the longest lasting civil war and the Karen people are forced from their country and they escape into Thailand and set up their villages there. They are a discplaced people and have been forced out of their homes and pushed farther and farther out of Burma. As the woman spoke to us tears ran down her face as she told us she feared the Burmese will come and attack her village and kill all the people in it. It's so sad what is happening to these Karen people. The tears couldn't help but stream down my face as well as my heart broke for this woman and her people. It's amazing though because through all this, the Karen people run to God.
We said our goodbyes and then drove back to the orphanage. We decided we were going to take a nap and just as we were falling asleep Pastor Winai said "we go". We had to pack our bags and jump in the truck because we were heading to Chiang Mai. It is a 6 hour drive and the back seat of the truck where we sat is not very big. Three of us crammed back there and my butt was asleep the whole drive. Once we arrived in Chiang Mai I noticed that there were so many foreigners (the thai call them farang and the Karen call them kalawa). I always know if I'm being talked about in their conversations if they say kalawa :) Pastor Winai said Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand. It was awesome there! Very westernized. We stopped in the shopping mall and we enjoyed a taste of America for dinner....we ate KFC. It was pretty tasty. Then we drove to our home for the three days we would spend in Chiang Mai. We stayed with Pastor Winai's neice. She was so sweet and hilarious. She spoke English pretty well. The next day we drove to a church that Pastor Winai helped to start. They are building the church so the people in Chiang Mai can worship. The church is going to be awesome! We met with the people who were building the church and they drew up the plans for the pond that we will make for the water well. Then Pastor Winai took us back to the shopping center for lunch and we ate some McDonalds. It was actually really good. Still not good for you, but it tasted really yummy. Then we went to this mountain in Chiang Mai called Doy Sutep. We drove all the way to the top and the outlook over Chiang Mai was gorgeous. I put pictures up on kodak gallery. It was incredible. There was a buddhist temple at the top and it is also called Doy Sutep. All the monks were up there worshipping in their orange garb.
Thursday was a long, long day. We spent most of the day shopping for speakers, guitars and a sound system. Pastor Winai wants to use this when he does evangelism and during worship for the children. Then we met this man named Uncle Bob. He is from America and he is doing work with another orphanage in Chiang Mai. He majored in linguistics and teaching english to foreigners so I was very blessed because he shared his knowledge and some tips with me. Then we went to this one school that a woman started. It used to be a government school that wasn't being used and she got the government to give her 5000 baht per student per year to her. She got the school running and it is a Christian school. The government knows it's a Christian school and they still send support. That is unheard of for the Thai government to support a Christian school, so Praise God for that! That's incredible! On our way home from Chiang Mai Pastor Winai stopped in the middle of the road. I was wondering what he was doing and he put the car in neutral and then told us to watch. We began to roll up hill. It was the craziest thing. I took out my video camera and started recording. It's the weirdest thing, from a dead stop we were rolling up hill. It was so cool. To the Thai people it is a mystical thing. Pastor Winai told us that "there was a woman who had to go pee pee so she stopped her car at this exact spot and put it in neutral and got out to go pee pee. When she came back she saw that her car was driving up hill. She thought a ghost was driving it. So that is the story that has been passed on". It was the coolest thing! After we started our journey again back to Mae Sot, Pastor Winai stopped at a market. We all went in and he bought fried caterpillars, beetles, and crickets. I tried one of each. They actually weren't too bad. I just psyched myself out so much, that it made me think they were nasty. They just tasted like fried saltiness. I never thought I would have eaten a caterpillar, beetle, or cricket and I ate all three :) I also put pictures of that up. When we arrived back to the orphanage, it was strange how much I missed the children. I was so glad to be home. All the children rushed up and hugged me and I realized how much I missed them, and I was only gone for 3 days. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to leave after I have been here for a year!
Today, was a sad day. Carl and Leslie left this morning to go back to America. It made it very official that I am here for a year. I am in love with it here, but you don't get the same type of conversation from the people here as you do with Americans. So I so appreciate all the comments and things everyone leaves. It gives me peices of English still :) The day ended up still being amazing! I taught the children conversation that you would use if you went to the market and conversation about weather. I had them act the conversations out. They loved it! Tonight we had two missionaries come to lead worship, visit with us, and give a message. Their names were Anthony and Jon and they were both from Denver. They were both in their twenties and really nice guys. Anthony was checking out the orphanage because he is going to be doing a documentary with YWAM about the child sex trafficking that is going on here and about the displaced people. Jon was just here with his friend but he will be going to an orphanage in Chiang Rai that houses children with AIDS. The orphanage is called Baannamjai and if you want to check it out the website is http://www.baannamjai.org/. I am hoping to make it to that orphanage sometime this year and serve there. It was nice to see American faces tonight since Carl and Leslie left. I was able to talk to them about everything God is doing here and Anthony is going to be coming back to this orphanage in March. It's amazing all the people God has introduced me to and the amazing things I have experienced and seen and it has only been two weeks!! This year is definitely going to be a journey.

I have added more pictures and you can still check them at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=9g2wdfq0.81wlq2oo&Uy=-915v4m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Also if you want to look at the website for the orphanage here the website is:

www.blesselca.com