Sa Wah Dee Ka! (Hello) After only a couple days out here in Hueipueng, a mountainous village in the city of Chiang Rai, I've already fallen in love. Let me explain...
After arriving in Chiang Rai airport and walking out the sliding glass doors, I was greeted by a sticky, hot sensation. And I'm not talking about mango sticky rice. Our living conditions are also a very new experience for me. Our bathrooms are only flushable with the aid of a bucket of water/bowl, we find geckos that don't save us money on car insurance, it constantly rains warm water, I share a shower with about ten different species of moth, and I CAN'T BREATHE. But at the same time, I was greeted by gleaming smiles as our vans approached the orphanage we are staying at. I am bowed to respectfully by every student as I walk across the campus. And did I mention how CUTE these kids are??? God has definitely blessed our team with many new friends and experiences. Our lives have been touched by the kindness and attitudes of the people we've met in the country of Thailand. Yet again, I have experienced the power of prayer. My God conquers all and I am living, no, BREATHING this mission trip experience and listening to what God wants me to do for the first time. I'm still learning day by day. I can only hope to find more God moments as my team and I continue our work here.
Love,
Jackie
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
"Show me how to love like you, have loved me..."
Hey there!
It's been an interesting time here so far in the rural parts of Chiang Rai. Plenty has happened and I have learned much. First off, shout out to my fellow EPIC CPPers. I hope all is well in your respective missions trips. Or at least I hope your summer has been productive.
Teaching English to 11th graders has been fun. Despite only being able to see them 3 times up to Wednesday, they've been well behaved and listened to us, their teachers.
Regarding the title though... as a side project, in the evenings we've been teaching the younger kids at the nearby Chinese school. We've been switching up the grades and today Doris and I got these little demonic 2nd graders. Super difficult and frustrating, the only keeping me from smacking some kids was the bridge of Hosanna... "show me how to love like you, have loved me..." perhaps its all worth it to have Making Melodies ingrained in their minds thanks to Justin. Only time tells...
on a side note, matt, stu, caleb and I had a pretty cool jam session in the afternoon. Matt on guitar, Stu, Caleb and myself rapping/percussion. It caught the orphans attentions, so it was fun.
There's plenty more fight in me to face these upcoming thailand days. Peace out
-Josh
It's been an interesting time here so far in the rural parts of Chiang Rai. Plenty has happened and I have learned much. First off, shout out to my fellow EPIC CPPers. I hope all is well in your respective missions trips. Or at least I hope your summer has been productive.
Teaching English to 11th graders has been fun. Despite only being able to see them 3 times up to Wednesday, they've been well behaved and listened to us, their teachers.
Regarding the title though... as a side project, in the evenings we've been teaching the younger kids at the nearby Chinese school. We've been switching up the grades and today Doris and I got these little demonic 2nd graders. Super difficult and frustrating, the only keeping me from smacking some kids was the bridge of Hosanna... "show me how to love like you, have loved me..." perhaps its all worth it to have Making Melodies ingrained in their minds thanks to Justin. Only time tells...
on a side note, matt, stu, caleb and I had a pretty cool jam session in the afternoon. Matt on guitar, Stu, Caleb and myself rapping/percussion. It caught the orphans attentions, so it was fun.
There's plenty more fight in me to face these upcoming thailand days. Peace out
-Josh
greetings followers!!!
how nice of you to stop by and see what we're up to!! this is adrienne even though I'm under nor's account. this is the first time i've blogged so I want to just share some highlights of the day!!
- STICKERS!! At the Thai school I decided to pass out some stickers to a group of young girls, but then the word started spreading and before I knew it there was a FLOOD of kids swarming for stickers. it's amazing how simple something like happy face stickers can make kids go CRAZY!!
- LEAN on meeeee. Matt & I have been teaching our kids "Lean On Me" GLEE version!!! We weren't sure how their English levels would be, but we've been able to teach the first 4 stanzas!! it's quite beautiful listening to them. we've even added hand motions =)
- CHICKEN! just now the kids at the orphanage chased after a chicken and DROWNED it and then defeathered it. grosssss!!!!
-SHOWERing....our entire team is currently sharing TWO showers due to plumbing issues so right now as we wait for our turn to shower in the loft, we get to update the blog =). it's great because at the end of the day when we've seen each other all day, we get to see each other more haha.
PRAYER!
-please pray for some of us as we're sharing our testimonies in our classes at the Thai school. pray for effectiveness and their receptiveness.
okay, i must give up the computer now!! thanks for reading!! God is good!
<3 adrienne
how nice of you to stop by and see what we're up to!! this is adrienne even though I'm under nor's account. this is the first time i've blogged so I want to just share some highlights of the day!!
- STICKERS!! At the Thai school I decided to pass out some stickers to a group of young girls, but then the word started spreading and before I knew it there was a FLOOD of kids swarming for stickers. it's amazing how simple something like happy face stickers can make kids go CRAZY!!
- LEAN on meeeee. Matt & I have been teaching our kids "Lean On Me" GLEE version!!! We weren't sure how their English levels would be, but we've been able to teach the first 4 stanzas!! it's quite beautiful listening to them. we've even added hand motions =)
- CHICKEN! just now the kids at the orphanage chased after a chicken and DROWNED it and then defeathered it. grosssss!!!!
-SHOWERing....our entire team is currently sharing TWO showers due to plumbing issues so right now as we wait for our turn to shower in the loft, we get to update the blog =). it's great because at the end of the day when we've seen each other all day, we get to see each other more haha.
PRAYER!
-please pray for some of us as we're sharing our testimonies in our classes at the Thai school. pray for effectiveness and their receptiveness.
okay, i must give up the computer now!! thanks for reading!! God is good!
<3 adrienne
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
NL + AW + AM = BFF!
Allison and I have become best friends!
We stay up praying and reading the Bible.
Mother Adrienne watches over us and plays us nice music.
We like her.
Today we took roommate photos! They were special.
The little girls (Steph, Ashley, Jackie) admire us
and like to copy our style.
We don't mind, we know we're cool.
Our new role model is Lillian,
the coolest girl on the playground.
We constantly are in awe of her bright red Crocs
and funny jokes!
Bye Bye America, we miss you.
Love,
Noreen and Allison!
___
edit: Quick apologies for the last post. As you can tell, by the end of the day we've lost coherence from long days of teaching and sweating. Allison, Adrienne, and I are really enjoying rooming together (I hope they think the same, haha). I've been really blessed by our group devotion and prayer times and even the encouragement throughout the day. The tire of the long days are washed away with cold showers and falling asleep to the sound of rain. Praise God for amazing roomies, good food, nice people, and constant faithfulness!
fun fact: the roosters crow at all hours of the day. It's SO WEIRD!
We stay up praying and reading the Bible.
Mother Adrienne watches over us and plays us nice music.
We like her.
Today we took roommate photos! They were special.
The little girls (Steph, Ashley, Jackie) admire us
and like to copy our style.
We don't mind, we know we're cool.
Our new role model is Lillian,
the coolest girl on the playground.
We constantly are in awe of her bright red Crocs
and funny jokes!
Bye Bye America, we miss you.
Love,
Noreen and Allison!
___
edit: Quick apologies for the last post. As you can tell, by the end of the day we've lost coherence from long days of teaching and sweating. Allison, Adrienne, and I are really enjoying rooming together (I hope they think the same, haha). I've been really blessed by our group devotion and prayer times and even the encouragement throughout the day. The tire of the long days are washed away with cold showers and falling asleep to the sound of rain. Praise God for amazing roomies, good food, nice people, and constant faithfulness!
fun fact: the roosters crow at all hours of the day. It's SO WEIRD!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
We've Arrived!
After LAX, Taipei, Bangkok and ChiangRai airports, and a two-hour drive by van, we've finally arrived at our ministry location. Praise God. We are in the mountains of ChiangRai, surrounded by the green trees and vegetation. It's hot and humid, and we're treated to the periodic rain.
We've lost track the total hours of travel, but by the looks of everyone, we were wiped out by 9:00pm (local time).
We're staying in the dormitories at the church, with three-four to a room. Some of the rooms have bathrooms, some don't. (Last night, the water for three of the rooms did not work. That had everyone showering and cleaning up in one bathroom. That's missions living. We should be grateful there are bathrooms!)
The church is also an orphanage to about 40 kids. We had some interaction with them but the intense heat and our jet lag limited our fun. Some of our team members led combined children and youth Sunday School today--which began at 6:3oam! It was a good time of interaction. We look forward to spending more time with them.
God is hearing our prayers, even by delivering us to our destination in ChiangRai. Continue to pray for us. We begin on Monday teaching conversational English at the Thai government school and hosting English classes at a Chinese-Thai school and at the church.
****
Leftovers. The church's staff made us dinner on Saturday evening. It was a meal of rice, vegetable soup, ground pork with vegetables, and stir-fried chicken. It was a very rustic dinner, a down home meal. One table of five couldn't finish their dinner (we'd been eating all day with the airplane meals), so some orphanage children assigned to clear our tables came to take the leftovers. Before the plates could make their way into the kitchen, the children had eaten all the leftovers. We were informed later that due to very limited resources, both money and food, the children rarely eat meat. The episode reminded me of when I was young and my mom told me to appreciate what I have b/c there are people in the world who don't have what I have. For some on our team, this is their first exposure to poverty. This is their first exposure to 90% of the world.--jchow
We've lost track the total hours of travel, but by the looks of everyone, we were wiped out by 9:00pm (local time).
We're staying in the dormitories at the church, with three-four to a room. Some of the rooms have bathrooms, some don't. (Last night, the water for three of the rooms did not work. That had everyone showering and cleaning up in one bathroom. That's missions living. We should be grateful there are bathrooms!)
The church is also an orphanage to about 40 kids. We had some interaction with them but the intense heat and our jet lag limited our fun. Some of our team members led combined children and youth Sunday School today--which began at 6:3oam! It was a good time of interaction. We look forward to spending more time with them.
God is hearing our prayers, even by delivering us to our destination in ChiangRai. Continue to pray for us. We begin on Monday teaching conversational English at the Thai government school and hosting English classes at a Chinese-Thai school and at the church.
****
Leftovers. The church's staff made us dinner on Saturday evening. It was a meal of rice, vegetable soup, ground pork with vegetables, and stir-fried chicken. It was a very rustic dinner, a down home meal. One table of five couldn't finish their dinner (we'd been eating all day with the airplane meals), so some orphanage children assigned to clear our tables came to take the leftovers. Before the plates could make their way into the kitchen, the children had eaten all the leftovers. We were informed later that due to very limited resources, both money and food, the children rarely eat meat. The episode reminded me of when I was young and my mom told me to appreciate what I have b/c there are people in the world who don't have what I have. For some on our team, this is their first exposure to poverty. This is their first exposure to 90% of the world.--jchow
Friday, July 16, 2010
Airport...Waiting...Airport...Waiting...Airport
Praise God, the first long flight is behind us. We have arrived in Taipei without much ado. Now a 1.5 hr layover.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
We Need Prayer!
Thanks so much for supporting us.
Join the Thailand Team on Wednesday, July 14, at English-Speaking Prayer Meeting, for prayer. (7:30, Praise Center). Both our team and the India team will be prayed for before we leave.
In the meantime, please pray for a few immediate things:
a) One of our team members is sick, and of this writing, there's only been slight improvement. Pray that God would be complete healing upon her.
b) Pray for good whether upon our arrival in ChiangRai. It's currently monsoon season, and this can make roads tricky and cause delays.
c) We have lots of materials and supplies to gather before we leave. Pray that we'd be able to secure these items before we go.
Kup Koon Krup!
Join the Thailand Team on Wednesday, July 14, at English-Speaking Prayer Meeting, for prayer. (7:30, Praise Center). Both our team and the India team will be prayed for before we leave.
In the meantime, please pray for a few immediate things:
a) One of our team members is sick, and of this writing, there's only been slight improvement. Pray that God would be complete healing upon her.
b) Pray for good whether upon our arrival in ChiangRai. It's currently monsoon season, and this can make roads tricky and cause delays.
c) We have lots of materials and supplies to gather before we leave. Pray that we'd be able to secure these items before we go.
Kup Koon Krup!
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