here's my heart: take and seal it

Coming Home

2008-08-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if anybody is even reading this anymore, but I am in the short countdown of hours until I must leave Brisbane and start slowly making my way back home. We actually have to fly back to Thailand before we go to the States (unfortunately not back to Chiang Mai), so it will be a very long trip. I'll be arriving in Houston early on Saturday morning. My heart and mind is in a whirlwind of emotions as I have to leave people that I love on this side of the world. I'll definitely be leaving a big piece of my heart in both of these places!

This summer in Chiang Mai and Brisbane has been an incredible blessing to me, and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you when I see you again. I'll be reporting on my trip to my wonderful home congregation on the Sunday after I return, and I am very much looking forward to sharing with them what God is doing in other places around the globe.

I can't even wrap my mind around all that I've learned and experienced this summer. I know that God will continue to teach me through this even long after I've returned to the States. I must thank you, people who have loved and supported me, for all that you've done for me and been for me while I've been away. I hope to be able to see you and thank you in person very soon!

May the Lord bless you today.

Back in Brisbane

2008-08-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly update that Katie and I made it to Brisbane yesterday afternoon. It has been such a blessing to see a lot of people again and catch up. Hope to catch a few minutes to post later about everything.

I'll be back in Texas on August 16 after two weeks here in Australia. Thank you for all of your prayers and keep them coming as my summer wraps up!

...I don't know when I'll be back again.

2008-07-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

It's hard for me to believe, but I leave Chiang Mai this Thursday, July 31. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with many of you in person!

We are rushing around very crazily this last week, trying to fit everything in before we go. Last week, we were able to spend a whole morning at a retreat center to practice the spiritual discipline of solitude. This was a garden that is set up specifically for people to be able to come and pray and spend time with the Lord. Even though it was a little challenging to be quiet and alone for several hours, it was such a great experience! I am really learning how much God can teach us when we allow ourselves to be still before Him.

Each of the interns got to teach the Sunday morning ladies' Bible class for a week, and this past Sunday (our last one here) was my week to teach. I was a little nervous as I was preparing my lesson - I spent the last year teaching Bible class for one year olds, and I knew teaching these girls would be quite different! I taught from the book of Philippians, talking about how Paul shows us several examples of unselfishness and humility. I hope the lesson went well and that God used me to touch somebody's heart. At the end of class, we had a time for all of us girls to say thank you to the Thai girls here. It was such a sweet time of fellowship and sharing what we mean to each other, and it was such an encouragement to me! We fought back the tears (those are reserved for airports and airplanes!) and laughed and hugged, enjoying God's great blessing of sisters in Christ.

I taught my last English lessons last week. There was one group of students that I came to really enjoy, and I am going to miss them. I am praying that they will start to become more involved with the Christians here outside of English class, but I am thankful for that connection that they have to the Zone. Teaching English classes really taught ME a lot - I had to learn to think in new ways to try to explain a language. I had to really examine this language that I use without thinking. Although learning and living in the Thai language has been difficult, I think it has been such a great growth experience!

I hope to get another chance to post before I leave CM. I've learned so many things, felt so many emotions, and experienced God in so many ways. I only wish I had the words (and time!) to share them all on this blog.

God has given me another great blessing - an opportunity to visit Australia, where I interned two years ago! I am so excited to visit my friends there again. I can hardly believe that this time next week, I will be back there! I am so thankful that God opened this door for me. I have missed Brisbane very much and I am looking so forward to visiting my friends there. It is a weird feeling to be so sad about leaving Chiang Mai and yet so excited about returning to Brisbane...all at the same time!

May the Lord bless you as you have blessed me. I'll be seeing you soon!

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

2008-07-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

Time left in Chiang Mai is ticking away, and we are busy as usual learning from the Lord and making some incredible memories. Here are some favorites from the past several weeks:

P'Pui and I visited this lady, Jalearn, at the leprosy village about a month ago with the Aggies. We went back to McKean's this past Saturday to visit the residents again, and it was really neat to see and talk to her. She even remembered us!
This is Tan, a girl from the Chueng Doi who was baptized this past Sunday. All of the Christians gathered around this waterfall (which I now realize I didn't get in the picture) and rejoiced over our new sister! I've been so inspired with how joyful the baptisms are here in Thailand.
My favorite Thai food...garlic pork over rice. I seriously eat this just about every day. I'm not sure what that green stuff in the background is; I just wanted to show a little variety of Thai food. :)

At the Umbrella Factory, where these amazing painters can hand-paint just about anything you want! This guy painted several things for me.
Me in my all-Thai outfit...Thai coke shirt, traditional Thai pants, sandals from Walking Street, and purse from Night Bazaar.
At elephant camp! These elephants were amazing! They played soccer, painted pictures, ran relay races, and posed for pictures!
Me and a baby elephant...how cute! :)
My team at the Payap lock-in last week. Yes...that is me that they are wrapping up as a mummy.

The other girls were "Miss Thailand" and a beautiful bride...and I am covered in head to toe in toilet paper. 555!Being goofy!
A view of Chiang Mai from a look-out point up in the mountains.
What an amazing yet incredibly challenging summer this has been. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts!

The Beginning of the End

2008-07-16T02:30:00.001-07:00

It hardly seems possible that I leave Chiang Mai in two weeks. This summer has been an amazing blessing and stretched me in so many ways. I get too sad when I think about leaving all of my new, dear friends so soon, so I am just soaking up every minute and making the most of it.

Our schedule has continued as normal, with our equipping times, lunch on campus, English lessons in the afternoon, and various activities at night. This past weekend, we hosted a lock-in at the Zone for the students. I got wrapped from head to toe in toilet paper (like a mummy) for one game, which made for some pretty hilarious pictures!

My English students have become more consistent in showing up for lessons. Leah and I teach five students for one lesson: Kik, Gift, Aom, Boom, and Tum. We really enjoy our time with them, and we've tried to make contact with them outside of English classes but haven't had a whole lot of luck. We do seem them around campus fairly often, so I am praying that they'll keep coming to the Zone and hanging around more often. Xin, a girl I met early in the summer, and I have been building a friendship and ate lunch together earlier this week. I ran into her one night when we were at the Night Bazaar, and she came up and said hello and introduced me to her friend. She always tells me that she wants to spend more time together but then repeats that she has a very busy schedule. I hope and pray that she and I continue to build a relationship as well and that she can meet other Christians here. Sai and James, English students who are actually high-schoolers, are really sweet and I enjoy my lessons with them. Sai is really cute, and she giggles so much when I try to pronounce my Thai words! She tells me that she will teach me Thai if I teach her English. All of these students are ones for whom I am praying to meet more friends at the Zone, become involved in the community here, and study and learn more about Jesus.

Several of the guys that frequently hang out at the Zone have been studying the Bible with Chris, which is exciting and encouraging. Chris and his wife Casey are six month apprentices here, training to be long-term missionaries. They have been such a blessing to us here. They have two adorable daughters, Maggie and Melanie. She, of course, is "Little Melanie," and some of my fellow interns find it funny to name me "Big Melanie." I prefer "P'Melanie," the term that Thais use to address somebody older. It just has a better ring to it. :)

I've been having some problems uploading my pictures lately, so sorry that there are no pictures for this post. I'll have to add some later. Thank you for taking the time to read this post of random ramblings. I'd love to answer any questions you may have, whether about Thai culture, Thai Christians, what food we like to eat, what Thai words we can say, or anything in between! :)

May the Lord bless your week.

Sa-nook mak!

2008-07-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

The Chueng Doi and Payap church joined together this past Sunday for their monthly service project. We got to spend a whole afternoon at an orphanage with some adorable Thai children! We had a wonderful afternoon, singing, playing games, reading Bible stories, and laughing with these precious kids. I'll let these pictures do the talking...

These boys were so cute! They loved the "catch her eye" game.

Waving goodbye to us

On Friday and Saturday, we had another English camp up in the mountains. We invited our English students from Payap to come, so it was a great time to get to know them better. The scenery was absolutely beautiful!

Me and P'O

Me and P'Pui enjoying the view

Another really neat way that we've been able to serve this summer is with the youth group. All of the missionaries' kids are teenagers, and just a few months ago they decided to become more active with official youth group classes and activities. It has been really fun and encouraging to be a friend to these high school girls. Several of them are half-American and half-Thai and all of them speak English really well. They seem to really enjoy spending time with us, and we are certainly enjoying our time with them! In Bible class, I am often impressed with the comments they have to contribute. I'd imagine that growing up as a missionary's kid isn't always easy, but these teens are awesome!

I got three new English students last week. My students that were previously signed up with me never showed up for class, so I get to start with these new students this week. I had one lesson last week with Sai and James. Sai knows English a little better than James does, but they are both eager and enthusiastic learners and I think our lessons will be a lot of fun.

We celebrated the 4th of July...at the American Consolate in Chiang Mai! We had to show our US passports and go through airport-type security to get in. They had red, white, and blue, American music, ice cream, and hot dogs. Some of the interns even entered a watermelon eating contest! It was so fun and even refreshing to be in a big group of Americans. We had to leave early and get back for cell group so we missed the fireworks, but at least for an afternoon we were proud to be an American. :)

Here's an interesting fact about Thailand: for each day of the week, there is a certain color that people try to wear. My Thai friends have explained that it is not mandatory at all (and in fact, more people don't than do), but after I was made aware that Monday is yellow, I noticed a LOT of yellow shirts! Sunday is red, Monday is yellow, Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Friday is blue, and Saturday is black. I forgot today and wore the wrong color, but I'm going to try to see how often I can wear the right one. Maybe the Thais will see me and think, "that farong (the word for foreigner) at least knows a little bit about Thailand!" :)

God is blessing me immensely and teaching me so much about Himself...and about myself too. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Some random things

2008-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you all to know...

I am so excited for my brother Alex, who will be attending Harding University in the fall! He's an amazing kid, and I'm really proud of him. I cannot wait to watch these next 4 years of his life play out.
Congratulations to one of my very best friends, Shannon, on her new job and upcoming move to Rwanda, Africa to teach first grade! She is a wonderful person who has blessed my life over and over, and I'm so proud of her for taking this step of faith. God will provide!
Tomorrow some of the guys who regularly hang out at the Zone have appointments to study the Bible with us. God seems to be really opening their hearts, so I'd like to ask that you'd pray for them!
P'Wah, our fellow Thai intern, is anticipating an interview for a job that she'd really like after this internship, so it would be great if you would say a prayer for her.
Last Sunday after worship service, all of us interns recited John 1:1-18 from memory. This was a requirement of our internship, and it has been really neat to have that memorized as we've been studying the book of John in equipping time. Memorizing and reciting Scripture took me back to home-schooling and Bandina days. :)
I got two letters in the mail today! There is just nothing like receiving some snail mail, especially when you're across the world! A huge thank you goes out to the Jains and the Frys - y'all are awesome. :)
If you haven't read The Five Love Languages, I recommend it.
Happy 4th of July to everyone! We'll be at another English camp in the mountains, so we're not sure how much we will get to celebrate. We will be thinking of all of you at home while we have a mini-celebration in another country of Red, White, and Blue.

Sometimes...It's still Thai to me.

2008-07-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Learning a new language is a different kind of experience than anything I've encountered before. Never before this summer have I been the minority, the one who doesn't speak the language, who doesn't look like everyone else, who doesn't understand most of the words spoken around her. Don't get me wrong, I am genuinely and completely enjoying it, but at times I realize just how exhausting it is! The constant concentration and feeling of "being on your toes" drains you more than you would think it does. Even when speaking English, we have to be intentional about using simple words and sentence structure so that our Thai friends can understand.

Now before I sound like a huge complainer, I have to say that it really is a lot of fun! The feeling of accomplishment is amazing when I am able to converse a few sentences with someone who only speaks Thai. We are taking Thai classes from an incredibly patient, wonderful lady, and our vocab is growing and pronunciation is improving. It is an important goal of ours to learn and use as much as we can. Sawatdee kha, phuan dichan! Chan rak khun le chan kit-tuung khun. :)

If you've never been to Thailand, you really should come. The people here are amazing!

Kwaam yin-dii pra-ohng...

2008-06-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

The intern team - CM 08!

Equipping time
Leah and I riding an elephant!

We are getting settled back into a routine, which is nice after a busy week with the Aggies. We sent them off in fine fashion last weekend, floating down a river in bamboo rafts, staying in a small Christian village and watching their tribal dances, riding elephants, and swimming at a waterfall. What a blessing of fellowship! I was lucky enough to ride on the raft with the college minister, Kelly, and his wife Sara from the A&M group. He grew up in Thailand, and then they came back as missionaries for 18 years. I felt incredibly lucky to have hours upon end to listen and learn from them. They had so many stories and wisdom to share, everything from their own approach and struggles in ministry to a mini-lecture on Buddhism and the Thai culture. How often do you have an entire day and a half with nowhere to go, nothing to do, but talk, laugh, share life experiences? How often do you get a day and a half with nowhere to go, nothing to do but learn from mature, Godly people? I feel incredibly blessed to have had that chance.

Our daily schedule begins with "equipping time," which is where we meet for teaching and discussion time. That time together as a team has been really neat. We are all learning a lot from each other's perspectives. We also get to learn from the missionaries who are here, which is really great. Robert and his family left a few days ago for the States for their furlough, but the rest of the team will be in Chiang Mai. We are going to miss Robert and his family so much! He was such a blessing to us and I learned a lot from him. God has really gifted him in several ways.

At lunch time, we go eat on campus at Payap University. We try to talk to people, make new friends, and invite them to the Zone and English classes. We have little flyers we pass out, but they are in Thai. Even though we know the info that is on the flyer, it's funny to us American interns that we can't read what we're passing out! The Thai students are so friendly to us, which is a wonderful quality of their culture. Of course, it still is extremely awkward to try to initiate conversations with complete strangers, especially with the language barrier. We are learning more bits of Thai and most students know their fair share of English, so we get through conversations that way. Please pray for us that the Thai students hearts will be opened, and that we would have the courage to take the step of faith to talk to them! Many of the now-Christians at the Zone were met by interns and apprentices just like us.

The afternoons are for our scheduled English classes. This week has been a little disappointing for me because none of my English students have shown up for their appointments. Hopefully I will have better luck in the rest of the week.

This afternoon, our team of interns decided to put into action one of the spiritual disciplines we studied about: prayer. We wanted to completely cover the Zone, our team, the students, and Thai Christians in prayer. We each signed up for a 30 minute block and prayed for 4.5 hours straight. It was a really neat experience, and I think it challenged and inspired us all to develop a more intimate, close prayer life with the Lord. We challenged each other to pray for students we had met by name. I prayed for a girl named Xin I met last week who was really friendly and open, and she even came to cell group for a while. A few hours later, I saw her through the window, walking right outside the Zone! She came up to the window and said hello, so I went outside to talk to her for a little while. I hope and pray that relationship will continue to develop.

We started taking Thai lessons this week! It is so exciting to being learning. Speaking their language is a way of connecting with Thais that nothing else can quite measure up to. We learn a lot from our friends, who love to help us learn new words, phrases, and correct pronunciation. They usually do have a laugh at us, though...those five tones don't always come out of our mouths correctly!

The American interns are cooking the meal for cell group tomorrow...this should be interesting! We hope the Thais like our food and tastes. :)

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. The Lord is changing me every day, and I thank you for being a part of that!

The Whirlwind Week

2008-06-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Aggies are in town...and brought with them a jam-packed, exciting, busy, amazing week! We skipped our day off this week, so I know I am little behind on blogging. I'm going to try to catch up quickly with some highlights, but there are so many stories and memories that I'll just have to fill in later. This week was filled with some big events and definitely a whole lot of excitement.

I went bungee jumping! I had heard weeks ago that we were going with the Aggie group to do this, and I made up my mind to do it; I knew I'd be scared and would want to chicken out, but I decided that no matter what I would do it because I knew I'd be glad I did. And I was! It was AMAZING, and it can't really be described in words! Here's a link to my facebook album with all the pictures from that: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058547&l=b846f&id=54600445. One of my friends also got a VIDEO of it, so I am trying very hard to get that uploaded to the internet so you can watch it and hear me scream!

We have visited several incredible places this week, including a leprosy rehab colony, a combined Sunday morning worship service of all the churches in Chiang Mai, a beautiful waterfall that we climbed on, the biggest Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai (one we climbed 306 steps to get to), favorite restaurants of former Thai missionaries, Night Bazaar and Walking Street (vendors set up along the streets), and an umbrella factory. So much fun - and so much reflection that has barely had time to happen!

Today we went on campus of Payap University for the first time. Since tonight was cell group, we wanted to invite people to come tonight and also get the word out about the free English classes that we interns will be teaching. We went around lunch time and simply walked up to students and started talking to them. Before we left the Zone, Robert prayed that God would bring 10 new people to cell group that night. Honestly, I was skeptical. Would 10 new people, meeting us for the first time today, actually come?

I had several fun conversations with Thai students while on campus. It struck me how nice and open they were to me...and how differently from that someone would probably treat us if we were in the States. It also struck me how nervous and uncomfortable I was, especially at first! I have been reflecting this afternoon how we must often get out of our comfort zone to truly follow the way of Jesus. Many of the That students were interested in the English classes, so we gave them the flyers with all of the information. I tested out the little Thai I've learned (they laughed at me) and we invited them to cell group.

Isn't it cool when God answers in an overwhelming, awesome way? The Zone was packed tonight for cell group. We eat dinner together before our devotional time, at which we definitely had well over 10 new faces (I'll have to ask for the exact count, but I'd guess it was close to 15). A few left after dinner, but many stayed and worshipped, talked, and laughed with us. God is really doing some cool things in Thailand, and I am experiencing this humbling and exciting feeling when I realize that I get to be a part of it. I am absolutely loving it here and can't wait to see how God will continue to move this summer!

Last night we had a talent show. Aggies and Thais performed songs, skits, and magic tricks, and we ACU interns decided that this group needed a taste of the talent that ACU is famous for...Sing Song! The five of us wrote and choreographed a Sing Song act (in a span of 24 hours, thank you!) about our time in Thailand. And with a group of about 20 Aggies, we couldn't resist poking fun at them a little bit (any of you who know Aggies know all of their little quirks!). We changed the lyrics to their Aggie War Hymn and received a lot of cheers and laughs! We finished up with our own version of the end of our own alma mater, "O Dear Christian College." Thankfully, this fantastic two minutes is also on VIDEO! It is on my computer and I am trying very hard to upload it to the internet. As soon as I get both of these videos online, I will post a link!

Here are some pictures from this whirlwind week...

This is how you greet someone in Thailand - even Ronald McDonald!

Leah and I with a few of the Thai girlsMy "certificate of courage," right after bungee jumping -

I was still shaking when this picture was taken! Friends at the Buddhist temple. This was an incredible experience,

one that I don't think I've processed yet at all. Maybe more on that later.And in the midst of all this busyness, the Lord is still quietly and gently transforming my heart. To God be all the glory.

English Class

2008-06-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

I taught my first English class yesterday! English classes at the Payap Christian Zone work more like private tutoring sessions than a big classroom. Yim and Nok were my students yesterday and today, and I will work with them two afternoons every week. I've never taught anyone English before! These two girls make my job easy: they are very nice and eager to learn.

Payap University (nearby where the Zone is located) will start its new semester on Monday, June 16. Once the semester opens, we'll begin going on campus to meet new people and invite them to come hang out or learn English at the Zone. Many of the now-Christians here first came to the Zone for this very reason. Our hope is to be a magnet and a bridge to connect these students to this group of Christians.

Our morning equipping times are such a blessing. We are studying the book of John, and I have probably never studied a book of the Bible this intensely before. God is really teaching me a lot. This internship builds into our schedule a very important gift: every morning, in the middle of our equipping (devo and study) time, we split up and spend an hour in quiet time, just us and God. This discipline is so important, yet so difficult to practice in the busyness of our hurried lives! Robert reminds us that quiet time is for coming into the presence of God: and when we come into the presence of God, we will be changed. Yes, it can be very challenging to be quiet, but I am learning that if we never slow down, never stop our hurried lives, never simplify, we won't be still long enough to listen to God among all the noise.

A big group of A&M students from Aggies for Christ are coming into town tomorrow. They have many activities planned and we should be busy with them next week, so I apologize in advance if I don't get to the blog as much.

I want you to know that I think of you at home often, and I continually thank God for you. God is doing amazing things in my life this summer, and I know that I would not be here if not for you! Thank you for reading my blog, sending the emails, and leaving comments - they make me smile. :) May the Lord bless you immensely today as you have blessed me!

And on the seventh day, we rested

2008-06-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

There's one thing I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of in Thailand: singing in Thai. Sunday was our first time to worship with the Christians at Payap. We sang lots of songs during the service; they are all sung in Thai, but next to the written Thai is the phonetics in English so that we can sing along. Most of the time, we know the tune so we know which song it is and what we're singing, but even when we don't, I love listening to the Thais sing! They sing very loud and with so much joy - it reminds me of singing in Dominica. Here are the phonetics to "Blue Skies and Rainbows," which we have sung several times. I'd really like to be able to sing this in Thai from memory by the time I get back to the States:

Tong faa lae sai roong lae saeng jaa sa-wahn laa
Bpen sing tii chahn hen muea jai chahn mii pra-jaow
(Chorus)
Chahn roo waa pra-yay-soo mii
chii-wit yoo waan nii
Pra-ohng yoo nai jit-jai chahn
Mai mii waan tii chahn ja mii kwaam glua tdaw bpai
Praw-waa chahn roo pra-yay-soo yoo glai glai.

We just returned from doing an English day camp in a little village in the mountains called Baw Geaw. (Side story: the road up to the village was very windy with lots of turns, and most of us got a little nauseous - especially me. I had to get my friend P'O to pull over the car so I could throw up on the side of the road!) We worked with the students in grades 7-12. Each of us ACU interns were paired with a Thai staff member, who helped so much with the translating! I worked with P'Pui and Erika, who is Robert's 14 year old daughter. (Erika and her brother Branson speak both English and Thai very well - I'm so impressed by them!) P'Pui, Erika, and I (that's a picture of three of us) taught the ninth-graders (that's a picture of some of them that stuck around to take a picture with us). We started the day with songs and games with all the grades together, and then we split up to teach. Our class learned words to use to introduce themselves, like "Hello", "My name is," "I am 15 years old," etc. Then we taught them some questions to ask, like "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" We moved on to teach transportation and direction words, and words of things you would buy at the store or market. The students were so excited to learn English and were a very captive audience! Even though we didn't work with the younger children, that's a picture of just a few of them. (Grades 1-12 attended the same campus.) They were so cute! They would stare at us as we walked around, and then giggled a lot when we talked to them!

Leah and I rode home with our new friends, P'Gahn and P'O. We started talking about when and how they became Christians, and their stories were just amazing to me. Both of them grew up in Buddhist homes, and they are still the only Christians in their families. P'Gahn said that he had always had a negative few of Christians until he met the people at the Chueng Doi church. He said it amazed him how these people truly cared for him and loved him, so then he decided to study about this God that they served and eventually became a Christian. His parents are still Buddhist, and they aren't so willing to listen to him talk about God, so he says now he prays for them and tries to show them Jesus through his love and his lifestyle. P'O had a similiar story: he grew up as a very strict Buddhist and was even going to become a monk. He said, though, that he was always searching for something that he was missing as a Buddhist: love. When he met the Christians and started to learn about their God, he found that love he was looking for. He is also still the only Christian in his family. Then they told us that about 70% of the people in Thailand are Buddhist, and 25% are Muslim. Only 1% of Thailand is Christian - and that includes everything from Catholic to Protestant. When they tell people that they are Christians, it's something that is really weird. They are definitely in the minority. P'O and P'Gahn are interns as well, but they are working with the Chueng Doi church (we are at the Payap Christian Zone church). Leah and I were amazed at their stories - they are only a few years older than us, but they have had endure so much more as Christians than we ever have. What really struck me about their stories is what attracted them to Christianity, what made them decide to completely change their life. It wasn't just a new list of things to believe, but it was love: the love of Christ that others first showed to them. What an encouragement and call to us to remember to show Christ's love to people!

Today is our day off, so we are relaxing around our dorm style apartment and getting caught up on blogs, emails, and sleep! We are learning how important it is to have times of true rest. Robert and his kids took us to a Mexican restaurant, which was surprisingly good for a Mexican place owned by a Canadian living in Thailand! By the way, that's a picture of all the interns and Robert in front of the Zone. This was the night we went to the funeral for Malee. Thais wear black and white to funerals, which is why we look like a checker board!

A few more cultural points of interest...

When someone is older than you, you have to say a "P" in front of their name. It's one of the ways Thais show respect to their elders, which their culture heavily emphasizes. That is why I typed P'Pui, P'Gahn, and P'O like that: they are all older than me.
You have to take off your shoes before going inside anywhere in Thailand. You also cannot point your feet and especially cannot direct the bottom of your feet towards someone older than you. We are all trying to be very careful to pay attention to the way we are sitting!
Going to the bathroom is always interesting in other countries. In our apartment and in most large places, bathrooms are the same as the States. In more rustic places and in some homes, however, they have (as Americans have nicknamed them) "squatty potties." I think there are pictures in some of my teammates' Facebook albums, but just imagine a sink placed in the ground.
The Thai language is a tonal language, which means that the same word stressed/emphasized differently means a completely different word. (There are five tones.) This makes it even easier for us to mess up on our Thai! It's hard to explain this without being able to make the sounds. What is interesting to us is that P'Pui's sister's name is the name as hers': just in a different tone.

May you be blessed by the Lord today. Thanks for taking the time to read about my experiences here!

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. - John 1:16

Sawatdee Kha

2008-06-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

Katie and I were really excited about all the stuff they give you on international flights! This picture is from the beginning of the trip - by the end of the 14.5 hours in such a small space, we weren't so thrilled about the plane anymore. :)

This is the first time that I've experienced being in culture that doesn't speak my language. Fortunately, there are enough American missionaries and Thais that speak English (some very well) that we don't feel isolated from the culture, but it is certainly a mind-opening experience. We all attended our first cell group (small group) with the Payap church last night, which was spoken alternately in both Thai and English. How powerful it was to listen to their singing in Thai; although we may not understand the words, we understand their hearts. The joy of these Thai Christians is really touching, and I enjoy observing their close relationships with each other. At the end of the service, we sat in the middle of the circle as the group surrounded us and prayed over us - people speaking in either their native Thai or English. All of us interns have been overwhelmed and touched by the love they've show us.

We spent a night on a houseboat earlier this week with our fellow Thai intern and a few other Thai young people, which is where most of these pictures are from. Wa (I need to check on the English spelling of her name), the Thai intern, and I were roommates, so that's a picture in front of our room. Pui, Poi, and Ohng also came with us. Robert talked to us alot on the houseboat about the daily equipping times that we'll be having together. I am so excited about this internship, and I'm just really impressed with how much these missionaries put into it. They sacrifice a lot of time to spend teaching and mentoring us.

Believe it or not, we are actually learning some Thai! Wa and Pui were so patient this morning as they taught us some basic phrases. We've learned the Thai for "thank you": "khob khun kha", and we try to use it often! We get really excited when we can say a phrase, or when we recognize a word that a Thai person says. It is such a different language from our own. It is difficult for us to remember tones and make some sounds that English doesn't have, but it's really important to us to learn as much of their language as possible.

We are actually attending a Thai funeral tonight, which should be an interesting cultural experience and probably one that most foreigners don't see! Thai funerals usually go on for about a week. A lady named Malee passed away, who was actually the first convert as a result of the work of this missionary team in Chiang Mai. At cell group last night, Robert shared some amazing stories about her. She truly showed the love of Jesus to people.

One more wonderful thing about Thailand...they have Tim Tams! :)

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

I'm here!

2008-06-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

We made it!

After many hours on several planes, we have safely arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We arrived in Bangkok late last night, where we met up with our teammates and spent the night at the church there, and then caught a flight up to Chiang Mai this afternoon. I must say again here how thankful I am for your prayers and support. I was reminded by every flight the expense of traveling, and I am grateful for I know none of this would be possible without so many of you.

We have been in Thailand for less than 24 hours, yet there are already so many things that I could fill this blog with. In just the little time I've been here, there has already been so much to soak in! We will start tomorrow with our "equipping time," which is when the mission team here spends time teaching and mentoring us. Then we are going out on a boat for some time to talk, get to know each other, ask questions, and just enjoy each other's company as we prepare to serve together.

We already have had one of those "we can tell they're not from around here" moments - Robert took us to a Wal-Mart type of store (I'd tell you the name if I knew how to spell it!) today so that we could pick up some necessities. As we are checking out, everyone in the entire store suddenly stops what they are doing and stands very still, hands at their sides. We don't realize this right away, so we're carrying on, talking as normal. We finally see what's going on and remember what we've been told about the King: he is highly respected and well loved by the people here. The King's song is played every day at 8am and 6pm anywhere there is a radio, and everyone stops everything to listen. Needless to say, we got some odd looks when we were talking during the King's song!

I am still recovering from jet lag, so I'll be off to bed early tonight. Please feel free to post a comment on the blog or email me at melaniesmith86@gmail.com. If you have a question about something in particular, I'd love to try to answer that for you.

A few points of interest...

The currency here is the Baht. One American dollar equals about 30 baht. We are getting used to the change and have to stop frequently to try to calculate what we're spending in dollars so that it makes sense to us! I try to keep the equation in my head that 100 baht equals 3 dollars, which helps a little bit.
The time difference is exactly 12 hours, which is the easiest it could be. When it's 3:00 in Chiang Mai, it's 3:00 in Texas - just switch the AM and PM.
My teammate Katie accidentally ate an extremely hot pepper at dinner tonight. We have been advised to say "my pet" (obviously, that's just how it sounds to us in English - I have no idea how it's actually written) after ordering all of our food, which means "not hot." After Katie's surprised look and red face tonight, I think we'll all remember that!
In Bangkok, almost every sign I saw had the English translation directly under. We're not so lucky in Chiang Mai. The Thai language doesn't even use the same letters that we do, so it really looks like squiggly lines to us. One very good thing is that the numbers are the same, so we can see and understand how much something costs.
After a 14.5 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, I think I have developed a little bit of claustrophobia.

All my bags are packed; I'm ready to go...

2008-05-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

I really hate packing. It is one of my absolute least favorite activities. It is now 1:48am. I will leave for the IAH airport in just over two hours, and I am just now finished packing.

At least I will sleep a lot on the plane tomorrow. :)

Next time I post, I'll be across the world!

Websites

2008-05-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! My time to leave for Chiang Mai is getting very close! Two of my teammates, Terri and Leah, are already on the other side of the world. They are in Cambodia this week doing a camp for children who live on the streets there. You can read more about it on Terri's blog - just click on the link to the left.

As my own departure gets closer and closer, my excitement, anticipation, nervousness, joy, and a million other emotions are escalating! I've told a few of my friends recently that I feel like I am standing at the edge of a diving board in my life right now, ready and waiting to dive headfirst into some unknown waters. I will be in Thailand this summer, a place I've never been, and come back to leave quickly to move to Alabama...another place I've never been. I graduated from ACU a few weeks ago, and it's still weird to think that I won't be going back after the break. From here on out, everything is new. It has been very comforting to remember that the Lord is the same wherever I go - and He is faithful!

I wanted to share some websites with you so you can learn more about the team in Chiang Mai.

This is the link for the team: www.chiangmaiteam.org

My teammates and I will be working most closely with the university ministry, and this is their website: www.payapchristianzone.com

I received the Chiang Mai team newsletter in my email today, and as soon as I figure out how to post that on here, I will share it with you!

Blessings to you all.

Two weeks...

2008-05-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings! Two weeks from today, I'll be boarding a plane for the long ride to Thailand. I can hardly believe that it is almost time to go. I still can't believe how blessed I am to have this opportunity! I want to send my deepest thanks to so many people for making this all possible.

This is my first blog ever, so be patient with me as I figure it out. I'm looking forward to writing and posting pictures to keep everybody updated on my summer!