Nung Farang, Song Farang

Whew! I finally have some free time and it happens to be at 12:00 at night. The children are all asleep, exhausted from traveling back to the orphanage from their villages. The children start school tomorrow so their night consisted of ironing clothes, getting their socks and shoes ready, and then hopping into bed. My night consisted of a lot of hugging, telling them how much I missed them and love them. Really I just couldn't get enough hugs. I wanted to just take them all in my arms! So after I smothered them with my love, they started their evening of school preperation.

Life has slowed down just a little bit, which has been nice because it's just about to speed right back up. The English camp that I taught at was a blast! It was definitely a different scene then I am used to because it is a camp where the parents have to pay for their children to attend. So there were no refugees or Karen children attending this camp, just the wealthier Thai kids. They were great kids. It was really funny though, because so many of the children spoke English really well. One boy lived in America for a year and he could basically teach my lesson. Some other children spoke fluent because they have been attending an English program since they were five. Here I am teaching transportation (bus, car, truck, etc.) and these children could have full on conversations with me. There was definitely a lot of modifying I had to do to my lesson. It's making me a better teacher....learning how to adjust my lessons on the spot :) The English camp was held at a beautiful resort. The food they fed us was delicious. I have decided that shrimp is one thing I will not eat in Thailand because they leave the peels on them (the Thai people eat the shells right along with the shrimp) and if you do decide to peel it to eat it, the poop is all still in there. It's quite disgusting. Anyways, this shrimp was peeled, clean and delicious. I really got to live it up for a day. I was actually eating shrimp....I love the simple things that bring me joy! I also got to meet foreigners that were teaching at the camp as well. I met Fiona from Canada and Paul and Stan from France. It was really fun!

After camp, they drove me to Hope Church in Mae Sot so I could do my last practice for our dance that we were doing at the Hope Church Conference (this is where all the Hope churches in Thailand come together. There were 2000 people who attended). When the girls got dropped off at the church they just brought my luggage with them because we were sleeping at the church that night and leaving for the conference early the next morning. We all laid out our mats on the ground in the room. You couldn't even see the floor because it was covered with mats. We got to have one big slumber party and it was a blast!! The girls are so precious!! We had awesome bonding time! God continues to give me more and more love for these children. Eleven of the older girls went to the conference with me. I am constantly praying that I am a good example for them. I'm not old and wise, but hopefully God transfers my love and some wisdom to them :)
The conference was a powerful time. We had amazing worship and they put on dramas and presentations. We had anointed pastors who gave the messages and I met many wonderful people. My two favorite people I met were two old women. I was washing my hands in the bathroom and these two little old ladies were just about walking out of the bathroom. I was the only foreigner at the conference so they just stared at me and kept talking to me in the sweetest voices. I could only understand a little bit of what they were saying, but one got on either side of me, grabbed my arms and we walked arm in arm back to the worship hall, as they continued to smile and try and talk to me. It was wonderful walking with those two precious women.
Saturday came and it was time for us to do our dance. We went backstage, put on our dresses and all the ladies sat around and did all of our hair and make-up. When I finally got a chance to look in the mirror, I looked like a doll. Everyone kept telling me, "Soy mak mak" (very very beautiful). I'm sure I was blushing, but you couldn't tell because my cheeks were already so pink from all the blush they put on. We all peeked through the door to see what the crowd looked like and our excitement grew as we saw all 2000 people staring at the stage. We all walked out there and everyone did a wonderful job. All the girls looked beautiful and I was so proud of them. I was told I did a good job too :) It was so much fun!!

When the girls and I returned from the conference we were told there was a foreigner at the orphanage. We have a girl who is staying with us for 3 months from San Diego. She's really sweet and she's going to do awesome things for the orphanage. Her name is Terra (please keep her and her mission in your prayers). I also just went with Noah and we picked up one more foreigner. Her name is Deidre and she is also from San Diego. They are both right around my age and I have had so much fun speaking actual fluent English with them. Deidre is here for 10 days and we are making the most of her time here. We have a lot planned for this weekend, and we're really looking forward to it. Saturday we are having a Fall Festival for the children. We have lots planned. We also brainstormed and created a drama we are going to perform for the children Sunday night. We're pretty proud of our creation. We also casted the Karen staff that are at the orphanage in our drama. It's going to be a blast! So God hasblessed me with the company of not only Nung Farang (one foreigner) but Song Farang (two foreigners). He's too good to me :)

Tomorrow, I start teaching again, so please keep this next term in your prayers. The children's English really is improving. I'm so proud of them. They're more confident in speaking with the foreigners we have here now, and I love to hear them say things I've taught them. It's great!!! Anyways, life is incredible! God keeps teaching me and I'm enjoying more than anything this adventure of a life He's given me, the life He's given to all of us!!


*new pics

My feet are killing me!

So there's a lot of updating to do. I have been so busy the past couple days and haven't had any time to update my blog. I finally made myself sit down tonight and update all my wonderful friends and family who read this journal. So I have had an exciting week since I last updated you. The teachers once again came to the orphanage and showed me around town (that makes it sound like they paraded me around town.....which is funny because sometimes I feel like they do parade me around. They take me to see all their friends, I'm pretty spectacular here in Thailand :)). They took me to a buddhist celebration and to a buddhist temple. The celebration was fun. I saw Thai dancing and other Thai traditions. As you walk into the entrance into the temple grounds it's lined with children. Women carry tin bowls that are full of candy and 1 baht coins wrapped in tissue paper. They throw them up in the air and the kids go crazy. They tackle each other to get that 1 baht coin. I went to stand in the middle of them to videotape and get some close up pictures and I seriously almost got knocked over. I also had the wonderful experience of eating ice cream Thai style. Kruhawm asked me if I wanted some ice cream and I'm not one to turn down ice cream so I said sure. I was picturing some chocolate chip ice cream (which is really good here and it just happens to be a strange yellowish brown color...but delicious none the less) in a cone. But instead I got ice cream that I don't know the flavor of scooped into a hot dog bun with peanuts and coconut milk poured over it. As strange as it sounds it was delicious! It was definitely strange though to be eating ice cream out of a hot dog bun, but delicous none the less. It was sad to see a lot that they did at the celebration. They made little homes, they looked like dog houses, and they were homes for their dead family memebers. Not only did they build a home for them but they also gave them food, toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc. They also gave all these items (and more) to the gods through the monks. I kept thinking of all the poor people who could get a lot better use out of all those things than the dead ever could. The teachers also took me to one of the prettiest temples in Thailand. It was absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived we, of course, took our shoes off before we entered the temple. We had to place our shoes on the rack and run across the hot marble floor to the entrance. Once we entered our feet touched beautiful hardwood floors that connected with the red and gold walls and ceiling. Surrounding us were gold buddhas. One of the monks gave us a tour. He took us through the three levels of the temple. The top level is considered the kingdom of the gods, the middle level is the level for humans, and the lower level is the level for the dead. Kruhawm wouldn't even go down there because she was so afraid of ghosts. They kept asking me if I was afraid, but I tried to explain that my God is greater than any ghost and He protects me. He keeps me safe, so I do not have to fear. As we walked around the temple, I noticed some monks cooking something. We walked over and saw them baking bread. I bought some of that monk bread, and I must admit it was so good. Fresh out of the oven, delicious bread. I also shared my bread with the fish and dogs. One dog fell in love with me, he wouldn't stop following me (ok I'll be humble, he could care less about me, he really wanted some more of that monk bread :)). After we left this temple we went to a Burmese temple (I swear they love to take me to temples. I think they're trying to convert me ;)). This temple housed one of the largest buddha's in Thailand, and also a gold buddha that must remain behind bars so no one steals him (he's actually real gold). When we went and looked at the gold buddha behind the bars, the teachers were awe struck by it. I explained to them that it makes me so sad. There are hundreds of people starving in Thailand (in the world) and here we have a statue made of pure gold. It's sad. I think of how many people we could feed with all the money put into building a silly statue.....but in America, we seem to fall in the same way. We build churches that have beautiful stained glass windows or that have zip lines running from one building to another and yet we have people around the world starving. God doesn't live in a statue, He doesn't live in a church, and yet we try to spend more and more money to confine Him to those things. I think of the way Jesus preached. Out in the open, traveling from town to town, feeding the poor, eating with the prostitutes, and going into the temples that were created and showing us how we have made a mockery of it. Who cares if there are beautiful stained glass windows in a church or a choir with beautiful robes when all I can think about while they sing in their beautiful robes in front of the stained glass windows is how many people we could have clothed with those funds or that we could have fed. There are millions dying every day of starvation and yet we worship a God who has commanded us to feed the poor and clothe the naked in our million dollar buildings. Jesus' following was immensely great and he had no zip line or Starbucks. Here I see golden buddhas, in America I see golden pulpits....how have we all come so far from the story of Jesus.
Ok, moving on :) My week also consisted of a 2 day AIDS prevention camp. We had some people come from the government to talk to our youth about ways that they can prevent AIDS. They shared their ways and Pastor shared the Bible's ways. They played games and the children really enjoyed it. The past 3 days we have also had missionaries here from Korea. They are here teaching Bible studies to the pastor's of the churches that Pastor has started. It's awesome because the Pastor only speaks Korean, so he has a translator who translates into English and then Pastor Winai translates into Karen. When we pray, it almost brings tears to my eyes, to hear the prayer in Korean, then in English, and then in one of my favorite languages...Karen. It's definitely powerful!
I also attended church on Sunday in the Pacharoen village. We celebrated one of our children's birthdays. As we drove to the village our morning was filled with fog. The cold season is definitely on it's way and I love the changes in the weather I get to experience. I have really been popping my Echinacea pills though and taking some good ol' Airborne because I can feel a little bit of a sickness coming on (please keep my health in your prayers). I had the opportunity to teach Sunday school to all the village children. I taught them a song (I've got the joy, joy,joy, joy down in my heart, where?....etc.) and they did such a good job singing it. They performed it for all the adults, it was adorable! The classroom that I taught the children in was completely made out of wood. The children sat on benches that looked like they just chopped trees down and placed them as seats (I put pictures up of the children singing and of the classroom.....they were precious children).
Today was a wonderful day! Me and Kawee went to Mae Sot with a teacher from the Catholic school in Mae Sot. They have asked me to help teach in their English camp that they are having and I told them I would love to. Today I sat down with the leaders of the camp and we just did planning. After we finished Tawnoo (the teacher) dropped me and Kawee off in Mae Sot and we got to walk around Mae Sot until May came and picked us up. It was a really fun day with Kawee and really good bonding time :) May came and picked us up and we went to one store to buy a Karen dress for me. I had to buy a Karen dress because I am going to be a dancer this weekend. The past couple nights me and eleven of the girls have been going to Mae Sot to Hope Baptist church to learn and practice our dance that we will be performing at the camp we go to this weekend. We leave Friday for the 3 day church camp. It's going to be a blast! I am learning a dance that includes Karen dancing, Thai dancing and Burmese dancing. It's so much fun!! Kawee also just informed me today that we will be performing this lovely dance in front of a crowd of 1500 people. That's crazy!! Anyways, tomorrow is our last night of practice. We take off early Friday morning for camp. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. I have to wake up, do English camp all day and then practice, practice, practice that dance at night. And let me tell you, it's not the easiest dance ever. It's definitely awcamangai (exercise) and my feet are killing me :)

*check out the new pics I've uploaded :)

Let's go fly a kite!

Today I had the honor of flying kites with some of the children. The kite was a makeshift little thing made out of newspaper, sticks, really thin string, and a water bottle to wrap the string around, but it was the prettiest kite I'd ever seen. Our time flying the kites was full of laughter and joy! The kids became even happier (if that's possible), as their kites went higher and higher. I loved it! I've never had so much fun flying kites.
Kruhawm came and picked me up today and took me to the preschool in Huai Bong. The teachers there had made me lunch and wanted me to come and eat with them. They were so sweet and the food was delicious!! I also was escorted on another bike ride. The teachers truly are too good to me. Pastor explains that they just love me so much. I can definitely see their love, and I pray that they can always see mine. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining. It was funny because I rolled my sleeves up so I didn't get a weird farmers tan and I soaked up the sun, while everyone else covered up with their jacket and wore their hat because they like to be white. They have dark skin and they want white skin, we have white skin and we want dark skin. The grass is always greener on the other side :) We rode our bikes to Krusookit's wife's school. She is a teacher in Wang Pha. They set a mat on the soccer field and we ate dinner picnic style. It was great! Krusookit cooked all the food for me and it was delicious! He made fish and Tom Yom Gai. It was a delicous dinner with great company. Another wonderful day with wonderful people. I can't get over how blessed I am!!


**I put up pictures so check them out! (click the link to the right labeled my thailand pictures :))

It's ok, eggs are good for your hair, but I'm not sure about the paint

Our last two days of youth camp were great!! We spent our days exercising, studying scripture, listening to our guest speakers, trying to see which team could get the most points, and having some of the most powerful worship services. Our last day was the day we had games for the children. We had four stations set up for each team to go to and my station was the last station that the children would go to. The game I had planned for the children was really fun! When the children came to me, first I picked 4 children and they had to put a blindfold on. I told them they had to do sit-ups blindfolded and we would see who could do the most in one minute. Once they were blindfolded and in the ready position, I quietly picked four more children and handed each one of them a plate with whipped cream all over it. As the children came up to do their sit-ups the children smashed the plate of whip cream in their face. It was hilarious! Then I had the children get into groups of two. Each pair had to get one rolled up newspaper, one egg, and one pantyhose. The rules were that one of the children had to put the egg on their head and then put the pantyhose over their head to keep the egg on. Then the other person had to get on the person with the egg on their head's back. They had to try and crack everybody elses egg with the rolled up newspaper while protecting their own egg. I read them the scripture verse Psalm 46:1 and we said it in English and Thai. I explained that just as the person on our back was protecting our egg and protecting us, God also is our protector and He won't ever let our egg break. Anyways, it really was a blast!! Teep and Surichai had their army station. The kids had to go through the obstacle course and they again got their faces and hair clobbered with paint. It was so funny to see them all!! May played a game with the children and if they lost, they had to come to me and I got to put make up all over their face. We definitely had some crazy looking youth walking around! We finished our camp with the children performing dramas. I taught one group a drama. It was a drama that I did back when I was younger at church. They did such a good job performing it, I was so proud! One group did an awesome drama, where they didn't do any talking so I was able to understand it. The drama showed a girl who was walking with Jesus, she fell away and began to follow the crowd, then they left her beaten on the ground. She returned to Jesus and He accepted her with open arms and forgave her. Then she fell away again, and was once again battered and beaten and she ran back to Jesus and He once again forgave her and hugged her and loved her. She fell away again and when she returned to Jesus, He took off His white robe and put it on her. She was washed clean! She jumped up and down and rejoiced. I was in the back of the room in tears. It was so powerful watching these youth portray such truth. We mess up all the time and yet Jesus forgives us and welcomes us back. It was such a portrayal of the amazing grace we're shown all the time, and these youth get it. They actually get it. It was powerful! I was so tired that night because we ended up not going to bed until about 2:00 am. Which normally isn't late for me, but I've turned into an old woman here and I like going to bed about 10. That's probably because I try to get all the kids in bed by that time and then I'm exhausted, so I hit the sack. Anyways, the next morning we had an awesome church service. Pastor baptized two of the boys, and it was precious! After lunch many of the children went home to their villages. Since they are on winter break they have time to go to their villages and spend time with their friends and families. They will be returning in about a week for the AIDS seminar that we are having. The government is sending someone to talk about AIDS and preventions.
Life has been a little slower with most of the kids being gone. My class is down to about 40 and I'm not teaching at the Huai Bong school. It's really been fun having a smaller class and being able to do a little bit more one-on-one.
Today was a blast!! I'm truly so blessed here! I'm surrounded by so many people who love me and are so kind! They would give me their shirt off their back if I was to go without. They take care of me so much! I want to serve them and bless them, and they continue to serve me and bless me! But I'm learning that's how it works. We serve and bless and obey God and in turn we are blessed more than we could ever imagine. No wonder God wants us to love others, not only is it good for them but amazing for us!! (not that that's why we should love or serve, it's just an added bonus :)) Today, as I taught the children Kruhawm drove up on her motorcycle and brought me lunch. If the teachers don't take me out for lunch then they bring me lunch to the hostel. They're seriously amazing! They always bring me tons of fruit too. There's no way I can eat all the fruit that I'm given. I've told them I like bananas (they are so delicious here in Thailand), so they always give me bananas. I had enough bananas to give to every girl here at the orphanage. They all would have gone bad if I didn't share them. I love to share them though. I get to see such grateful, happy faces when I share. It's such a good feeling!! As Kruhawm dropped off lunch for me she told me she would be back at 4:00 and we were going to go on a bike ride to Mak Usa Hot Springs. She came and got me at 4:00 and I rode my bike as she rode her motorcycle to her house. We dropped the bike off at her house and she told me to get on her motorcycle. Little did I know I was in for one of the weirdest things I've experienced so far. We drove a little ways down the road and met up with her mom and sister walking. Her sister handed me her baby and Kruhawm told me to have the baby stand up in between me and her on the motorcycle. That's what they do here. No car seats or seatbelts, just little babies practically driving the motorcycle themselves. I held onto that baby so hard. I was so nervouse the whole time we were driving and tried to explain to Kruhawm that this would never, ever be allowed in America. We drove about 5 minutes and then we stopped at an older man's house. Kruwahm took her nephew, and brought him to the man. The man grabbed the babies face and started to blow in his mouth. I was like "what the heck". The baby started crying and he blew in it's mouth three more times. I know I had the strangest look on my face because Kruhawm looked at me and started laughing. Then as if that was not weird enough, Kruhawm got her bottle of water and gave it to the man. He opened up the water bottle and then blew in her water bottle four times. I tried to ask her why he was doing that and she told me she didn't knwo how to explain in English. Anyways, right after he finished blowing in her water, we got back on the motorcycle and left. That was it. We got her nephew and drove all the way to the man's house, so he could blow in the little baby's mouth. Seriously, it was the strangest thing. I still have no idea why he blew in the baby's mouth or in the water. We drove back to Kruhawms house and she gave her nephew back to her sister. Definitely an experience I'm not going to forget. Oh the things I get to see in Thailand :)
Anyways, Kruhawm went into her garage (it's actually a little garage like thing she made out of wood) and got her bicycle and me, her, and Krusookit all went on a beautiful bike ride. The view was extraordinary as we rode our bikes. I wish everyone of you could have experienced that bike ride. My words and pictures could never explain how wonderful it was. It took us about an hour to get to Mak Usa, and I loved every minute of it. As we rode to Mak Usa Hot Springs, the sun was setting. It was gorgeous. There was a cool breeze and it sprinkled just a little (phone tuk neet noy-it is raining a little bit). As we rode past the river, orange, pink and purple were reflected onto my face. The sunset was amazing! It's the greatest feeling to be riding so free amidst all the color of God's glorious sunset. I felt like the sunset was just for me. It was God's gift to me. I couldn't help but just thank Him as I pedaled for all that He does for me. He blows me away. I kept thinking how I could never deserve to be here and yet God continues to make every day more and more amazing! He truly is so good to me! It was really funny because as we rode our bikes along the pretty much empty road we came up to a man who was just peeing right there. I was cracking up. I get two funny experiences in one day :) When we got to the Hot Springs we had a lovely dinner in a little restaurant as we heard the water rushing down the waterfall next to us. It was amazing! By the time we finished dinner, it was pitch dark. There was no moon and no stars above, only lots and lots of gray clouds. We had to ride the whole hour back. It was so much fun! The roads here in Thailand are not the best paved roads ever, so there are lots of holes. I could barely see Kruhawm riding in front of me, none the less holes in the ground, so it was like a roller coaster where you had no idea where you were going next or when you were going to hit a dip. It was a blast! Every time I roughly bounced over a hole in the road I busted out laughing. I couldn't see Krusookit or Kruhawm but I always knew when they hit a hole also because I would hear "oh, oh". It was so funny! They kept telling me "slow, Andrea, slow". Because when I get going down the hills, it's such a rush to just let my bike go fast, so they wanted to make sure I was safe, so they kept telling me to go slow. But I was definitely not going to be speeding down the hills when I could barely see a thing. I'm not that much of a daredevil. Tomorrow, they are coming to get me and we are going on a bike ride again. How did I get to be so blessed? I'm so thankful that a simple bike ride can make me so happy. I'm learning how to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Many may see ordinary mountains and trees as they drive, but I see extraordinary creation. To think they were created simply by God speaking them into existence. I see God all around me and I don't want to leave His presence. It's amazing!!!

**Check out my pictures. I'm uploading some pictures from camp!!!

I can fly!

The past two days have been absolutely wonderful! I was surprised by 2 of the teachers and some children from the Huai Bong School with a bike ride. They all came to the orphanage and invited me to go on a bike ride with them! I love to ride my bike here, so of course I said "for sure!" They explained to me that we were going to ride our bikes to the mountain! The mountains surround us but I rarely get to go out to them so I was super excited! We started out on our beautiful bike ride. There was a nice breeze and it felt even cooler as I raced bikes with the children. I was winning at first, because I'm such an awesome bike rider, but then I figured I should probably let one of the children win :) As we rode our bikes I wanted to capture every moment, so I clumsily took out my video camera and started recording. As we watched the video later at dinner, you could hear me laughing the whole time because I was shaking so much from riding, so the video is all bumpy. I'm sorry for all those who I will force to watch every video I've taken while I've been here. I'm not the best recorder :) Anyways, we made it to the top of the mountain through walking our bikes uphill, because none of us were strong enough to ride it up, and as we flew downhill we all had a blast letting go of the handlebars and letting our hands and feet go free. I felt like a kid again! It was a blast! On our way up, we stopped at a little hut that was in the field. And just in time too because it started to pour rain. As we sat under the leaf roof in the bamboo hut we ate some dragonfruit and listened to the rain hit the leaves. We all laughed as I tried to speak Thai and they tried to speak English. Once the rain stopped we headed back out to our bikes and our butts met nice wet seats. But really, here, no one cares if your butt is wet, or if your hair gets messed up from the rain. Everyone's so real here. No superficialities. I love it! On our way back down the mountain the sun began to set. As I rode my bike across the red dirt that paved the road, I was surrounded by green fields and trees and the sky was full of oranges, purples, and pinks. It was even cooler now because the sun was setting and the breeze surrounded me and gripped me. I wanted to stay in that moment forever. I felt like I could fly! Like I could just fly right up to Heaven! I could feel God whispering to me in the wind and holding me as the wind wrapped itself around me. It was absolutely peaceful and glorious and beautiful! Once we finally made it down, the sun was completley set. It started to pour again, and I loved it! I couldn't stop laughing as the rain whipped at me as I rode my bicycle. Something about riding in the rain just brings joy! We ate a wonderful dinner, where they once again served me way too much food. But it was delicious! Yesterday, the children and teachers came and surprised me again with a bike ride!! They are so good to me! This time as I rode with the children I sang "If you're happy and you know it" and they loved it! We rode through the streets of the Huai Bong village clapping our hands, stomping our feet (well actually just stomping our pedals since we were riding our bikes), and shouting hooray! Nothing but smiles graced the children's faces!
Two nights ago we had the honor of celebrating Pastor's birthday! He turned 56. Me and May got him a cake for his birthday. It's funny in Thailand, the icing on the cake just tastes like butter. It's really gross. I had a tiny piece and I felt like I was eating sweet bread with tons of butter. It's not really sweet at all. But when they eat it, they think it's really sweet. Strange. Anyways, I was the one who got to bring the cake, with lit candles on it, out to Pastor Winai. He prayed to finish up our worship service and while he prayed we turned off the lights and brought the cake out to him. He was so surprised. All the children and staff sang to him and tears filled his eyes. After he blew the candles out, he looked to me and sincerely thanked me and then told me he thanks God that He brought him another daughter......that daughter is me! Then he brought tears to my eyes! I am truly blessed with a father in Thailand. Pastor is such a wonderful, kind, selfless spirit and he teaches me so much daily! We cut the cake and gave Pastor a piece and, being the kind man that he is, he gave away every piece that we continued to give him. Until there was only one piece left and we told him he had to eat it. He never wants to keep anything for himself. How different from a lot of the people we encounter every day.
Anyways, yesterday marked our first day of our youth camp! It was a blast! We have about 120 youth who are attending our youth camp. It will last 3 days. Yesterday the children arrived at about noon. We ate lunch and everyone registered. We started our camp with a crazy obstacle course. Seriously we would probably get sued for doing what they did with the youth. They had the children race through a tunnel covered by tree branches. The tree branches were infested with giant ants. So as the children came out the other end of the tunnel the ants were biting them all over. We, as staff, weren't aloud to brush the ants off. Right when they came out of the tunnel, two of the staff put colored paint all over their faces and drew on their faces with lipstick. Then the children had to get down, without any time to brush the ants off, and crawl under string. They weren't aloud to touch the string. The boys had to crawl on their backs and the girls on their stomachs. It was hilarious! The ants even started attacking me, and as I screamed and jumped up and down (because one crawled up my pants and bit my butt), all the children just laughed at me! After each team completed the obstacle course they had to line up and thank me in English and then thank the other staff in Thai. Then they had to make their team flag. We have four teams- pink, orange, green, and blue. I'm the staff for the pink team. We had free time in the afternoon, and I played some hardcore badminton. I never knew that game was so much fun and a really good workout. I was playing against Teep who informed me that he was the champion in badminton in his school. He was really good, but I must admit my skill was definitely comparable :)
This morning I woke up at 4:30 am. I had to lead my exercise class this morning. It was awesome! The sun wasn't up yet, so we ran around the field in the dark, being careful not to fall in the holes that are on the field and then we exercised in the hall as the sun rose. After we exercised we sat quietly with our eyes closed and just absorbed God's presence. It was amazing to be sitting in the presence of God with 120 youth as God's beauty surrounded us. The best way ever to start the day!! I loved it! So this marks the second day of our youth camp! After we exercised, the children showered, ate some breakfast (rice of course), and then jumped right in to their Bible studies! They're such great kids! I look at them and I know great things are going to come from them!!

**I'm going to put up pictures from camp after camp is all over, so check for new pics in a couple days!!

A Hug

As I sat in worship and chatted with Noah I noticed that Bybooa was not in worship. I went to her room to see if she was in there to tell her that she needed to come to worship. When I walked in I saw her sitting at her table, doing some homework. I told her that it was time for worship and that she needed to be there. As I told her this, she lifted up her face and I saw very sad eyes. She told me she was very sad. She felt like she was not a good person, not a good student, that God doesn't love her, and that she misses her mom and sister. After she finished saying this she broke down into tears. I sat there and held her as she sobbed. She was crying so hard she shook in my arms. As I held her my heart broke for her and I cried too. I rocked her back and forth and held her for over 30 minutes as she cried on my shoulder. Bybooa has to live at the orphanage because her family is way too poor to take care of her. After she calmed down a little bit, I tried to explain to her in the little bit of Thai that I know and easy English words that she knows that God loves her more than anyone could ever love her. And that God is captivated by the creation He made in her. I prayed with her and she kept thanking God for all that He does for her. It was a powerful time. As she explained to me that she really misses her mom and sister, she told me that I am her mom and her sister. It brought even more tears to my eyes. I explained to her that although I may not be her real mother, I love her like she was my own daughter. She asked me if I missed my mom. I told her yes, but I can talk to my mom on the phone. After I finally left Bybooa, about 2 hours later, I did call my mom. I couldn't imagine being 15 and not having my mom there to hold me when times were rough, or lay with me when I'm not feeling well, or tell me how beautiful I am. This is such an important time in a girls life. Good thing we have a God who takes care of us. God provided my arms to hold Bybooa, my heart to love her, and my voice to tell her how beautiful and wonderful she is. God knew exactly what she needed. She needed love and she needed a hug. I have love and I have arms that hug. Maybe that's my mission here. To be the arms that hug, the heart that loves, and the voice that encourages. I couldn't ask for a better mission!!

3 more months

So I'm legal now :) I was able to cross the border today, thank God! Pastor had spoken with some people a couple days ago who were crossing the border into Burma and they said it was safe to cross but that I should cross as soon as possible. I didn't have to cross until October 20th, but we decided it was best if I crossed today. Me and May went into town to do a food run for the kids and I took care of some shopping I needed to get done. While we did this, we decided to take a trip to the "Friendship Bridge", so I could cross into Burma and get my stamp so I am able to stay another 3 months. Everything went well. I had to walk the bridge by myself. It's not safe for the Karen people to go to Burma with me, so I made the 5 minute trek across the bridge by myself. I felt like I was walking the plank.....I was a little nervous, just praying that everything would go okay. The guards on the Thai side and the Burmese side were really nice. I chatted with them a little while they took care of all the Visa stuff. I was so thankful when he told me I was clear to head back to Thailand. That meant it was all taken care of. It only cost 500 baht, which is a way better price then if I would have had to take a bus to Chiang Mai and then a plane to Malaysia. Anyways, Pastor told me that he is working on getting a work visa for me. Please keep this in your prayers. If I have a work visa I will not have to cross the border at all. I will be able to stay in Thailand until it's time for me to go home. This would allow me more freedom and it wouldn't matter what the border situation would look like.
We had a busy day today. We spent the whole morning and afternoon shopping in Mae Sot. We went to the Tesco Lotus, which is the grocery store here. As I mosied my way through the isles, I spotted some spaghetti sauce and next to the spaghetti sauce were noodles. I was so excited!! I have been craving some American food lately. I bought myself some spaghetti and I'm going to have it for dinner tomorrow, I'm really excited!! I also bought my supplies for my English lesson tomorrow. I'm teaching the children about ordinal counting (first, second, third, etc.), and I'm going to teach them this by having them follow a set of directions. For example, "First we do ............. Second we do.............). We are going to make Oreo Pops (which are Oreo cookies that they put on a popsicle stick, dip in chocolate, and then sprinkle sprinkles on them). The kids are going to love it!
Tonight, we were blessed by the presence of a group of missionaries from Syngapore. They spoke English fluently and they were a blast! They played games with us and gave a short message. They were such nice people! It was really fun being able to chat with them. They invited me to the church they are attending on Sunday, which is called Hope Church. This church also has planted churches in Los Angeles and Chicago. I'm really excited to go to their church and hear a sermon in English. Also, Sunday's my day off so I will be able to hang out with them on Sunday. I also was asked by the Pastor of the Hope Church to attend a camp they are having October 26th-28th. It's a youth camp and me and 12 of the girls from Agape are going to be going. I'm really looking forward to it!
Anyways, tomorrow two of the teachers are coming from the Huai Bong school and we are going to clean all the girls hair. Me and Krudam went to the clinic and spoke with the doctor and nurse and we got them to donate the medicine for all the girls who have lice so we can kill the lice. We're going to clean all their belongings and their hair. Some of the girls have lice pretty bad. It breaks my heart to see these little, innocent girls scratching at their heads. Well, hopefully, they won't be anymore tomorrow. It's so cool that the teachers are coming to help. I had just told them that I was wanting to buy the medicine and clean all the girls hair. She suggested we go to the clinic and see if they would donate and they did! One bottle for each girl! And the teachers said they wanted to help me! So many people in the village are being connected with Agape now and wanting to be a part of it all!! Praise God!! He's truly working!!

You want me to put what on??

Tonight was so extremely fun!! I laughed so hard tears were streaming down my face! I'm keeping my English lessons simple this week and playing more games. The children are finishing up their term and taking final exams. Next week starts "winter" break. They just call it a break in between terms but I'll call it winter break :) It lasts for one month. So I also get a one month break. Not from teaching entirely though just from teaching in the Huai Bong School. I'll still be teaching at the orphanage every night. Anyways, tonight I taught about the four seasons. It's difficult to explain Autumn to them because in Thailand there are only 3 seasons. They have the cold season (we refer to this as winter), the hot season (we refer to this as summer), and the rainy season (do we have this in Arizona??? I'm guessing this would be like our spring and autumn combined). So I taught about the seasons and what each one of them is like. Then I had the children get into groups and they had to write clothing items that they would wear in each season. I had already taught a lesson on clothes so this was review. When I began the lesson, I walked into the room with a jacket, scarf, gloves, and beanie on and asked the children which season they thought I was dressed for. I could see them all get excited and engaged in the lesson as I walked out looking ever so silly (dressed in winter clothes when it was really hot outside). After they brainstormed clothes that they would wear in each group we discussed it all as a group. Then we played two games. The first game one child from each group had to run up to the board and the first one who spelt the item of clothing I said got a point for their team. You should hear them cheering for each other, it's awesome! They all raced quickly to get a point for their team, but team Nemo took first place, team Minnie Mouse took second place and team Spiderman, well came in last place and only got one point. It was a sad day for Spiderman :) After this game, I had one more game planned. I had packed a pillowcase full of some of my clothing items that would be worn in each of the seasons. It was packed with everything from socks, long johns, shorts, and t-shirts, to my bathing suit. We picked 10 children to sit in the center of our circle that contained my 80+ students. They had to pass the pillowcase full of clothes around until the music stopped. When the music stopped whoever had the pillowcase had to stick their hand in without looking and pull one item out. Whatever item they took out they had to put on. God definitely wanted to bring me joy tonight, because it worked out perfectly who put on each item. Somoo had to wear the skirt and the bag stopped once on one of the boys and he pulled out the bathing suit top (we all just about died laughing) and then the bag stopped on him again and he pulled out the bathing suit bottom. This turned us all hysterical. (I got pictures of it all, so check out kodak......seriously hilarious!!!). They were all such good sports! I kept thinking they would never go for this in America....we'd be way too shy! Anyways, they all loved it! I love to laugh so much, it refreshes me! I definitely got my fill of being refreshed tonight! There was so much joy flowing through that place! We all had a blast!
Anyways, I have a border run coming up here real soon. If you don't know what a border run is, it means that I have to cross the border to get a stamp in my passport. I got a one year visa, but the rules of the visa is that I cross the border every three months and then I can remain in the country for one year. I think they do this so the Thai government keeps tabs on me or something. Anyways, I don't know if you've been hearing, but there are protests going on in Burma right now to protest against the civil war that has been going on for decades. These protests have been causing a lot of uproar and the Burmese soldiers are not really fond of that. Anyways, the border that I want to cross is only 15 minutes away and that border is the Thai/Burmese border. We're not sure if the border is exactly safe, so we're praying about what it's going to be like. If the border is not safe then I'm going to have to go to Chiang Mai by bus and then to Malaysia by airplane. That's a lot more expensive then the simple 15 minute truck ride to the Burma border. Anyways, please keep this situation in your prayers. Also, keep all the events going on in Burma in your prayers.
Other than this, still just teaching the children at the Huai Bong School and more and more kids are coming to the lessons I teach at the orphanage. This week, I have been testing the children in English. It's been a busy Monday full of testing and the rest of the week will be the same. They need an English grade for their report cards and I'm their English teacher, so testing is calling my name...."Kru Andrea". My classes will be smaller over the break because many of the children will go home to their villages, so it will be nice to work with a smaller class, although I'm really growing fond of my large class.....they're so much fun!! October 11-13th we're having a youth camp here, so that's going to be a blast too!! I have one station where the kids will come too and we will play crazy, wacky games and they must listen to directions only in English.....we'll see how that goes :) I'll definitely be putting pics of that up!! Anyways, my night was great!! I laughed enough to last anyone a month....but I know there will only be more laughter and joy tomorrow......Praise God!! Life couldn't be any better!! I'm off to sleep now so the joys of tomorrow can come quickly!