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!!