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!!!