No more English Camps

The week of April 21-26th marked my last week at Agape and my last English Camp. English Camp was really fun and a great way to finish my English teaching at Agape. It was funny too because we had a visitor to Agape. His name is Don and he is a supporter of Agape. He wanted to speak to the children, but he doesn't speak Thai and he heard that I can speak a little bit of Thai, so he had me translate for him. I think it was really neat for the kids, because they were able to hear my Thai. I actually did a really good job translating, so if anyone needs a translator I'm your girl :) It's hard to believe that I was already down to my last week. My Thailand journey began on July 24th. I arrived at Agape, and had no idea what the next year of my life was going to look like. I trusted God, but when I arrived at Agape at 5:30 in the morning and was asked to go up in front of the kids and introduce myself, I saw 130 faces staring at me, wondering the same thing as me "What is she going to do?" I told them my name was Andrea and that I was so incredibly happy to be able to be there with them and that I was going to teach them English. It was said like I knew what I was doing, but inside I wondered if I would really be able to teach them English and if I would be able to do a good job and if I would be able to reach them. From that day on, I fell in love with those children more and more every day. I trusted God and somehow I always had something to teach them. I had the opportunity to start my day every day with singing songs with my favorite kids and ended it by going into their rooms every night and telling them "Good night, I love you!" My every day started and ended with these children. As I tried to teach them English, they unknowingly taught me so much more. I learned so much about love, about God and about me. About the person God has created me to be. I learned what's important in life, and it wasn't what I was always putting such an importance on. They taught me true joy, true laughter, and true friendship. These children would come into my room every day just to sit and color and fill my room with their laughter and joy. In the beginning of my time at Agape, the sounds that filled my room would only be in the Thai and Karen languages, and as time went on it began to be filled with the English language. The children's English had improved so much and every time I heard them talk, it made my heart jump. I found lasting brothers and sisters and friends at Agape. The children will forever be a part of my heart. I will miss everything about them. I will miss not going into their rooms and telling them good night, not hearing them running around outside as I try and plan my lessons, their hugs, their kisses and most of all their love all the time.

My last night at Agape was filled with celebrations and tears. The children sang songs that theywrote for me, put on a little show, and gave me gifts that filled my arms tooverflowing. Each gift was a hand-made gift from their hearts that willtouch me forever. All three of us (me, my dad, and Cherise) were given a Karen shirt and skirt that were made by Pastor's wife and the children walked out to us and put them on us as they sang a beautiful song, where they stated they would miss us and would pray for us. As this all happened tears couldn't help but have escaped from my eyes and fall down to thebeautiful clothes that were so lovingly placed on me. I was also able to give the children the gifts that I had made for them (I made them picture frames, that I meticulously decorated with the help of Cherise. A penny was glued on each frame to give them a piece of my home. And I gave each of them some American candy bars because they love them so much) andI sang them the song that I wrote for them. I wrote the song and Teep translated it into Thai for me. I attempted to sing the song in Thai and the children all said they could understand everything I sang :) The children wrote me cards and they were written in English, thanking me for the knowledge that I had given them. It was one of the most rewarding things seeing how well they wrote and spoke in English. It was a night that encompassed a year of my life that I will never forget.