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 :)