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Every Saturday we have larger events that are either for everyone on the team or organized just within each ministry group. These are fun events to invite our new Thai friends who we are meeting to and spend the day exploring the city. The Temple was one event, and this past Saturday we visited a local orphanage, spending hours holding, hugging and simply loving on the kids. It was such a sweet morning!We brought coloring sheets of the story of Jesus, boxes of crayons and bags of bright, shiny balloons to entertain the 20 or so three and four-year-olds, and they loved it all! It was neat to listen as
the Thais shared with them about Jesus, and they tried intently to color in the lines. OK, there wasn't a lot of that with three-year-olds, but I tried intently to help them with the task.We spent the entire morning playing with the toys, eating lunch and then preparing for nap time, and all the while we just held children in our arms who might not have ever been held before - or at least not in the last month, even year.
I wasn't kidding. They ate them. Scorpions, Maggots, Cockroaches, Killer Crabs. They ate them all.
Loving Thailand (and crazy memories), Holli
One of our favorite things to do so far is to go to the night market on campus. This is also a favorite of the Thai students, as it is packed out by 4 p.m. every afternoon. Hundreds of tents are set up behind The Complex, which is similar to UNF's newly constructed Student Union Building, and sell everything from clothes and shoes to smoothies and squid on a stick. (I'm not sure what this is called in Thai quite yet - I haven't been brave enough to order it.) For a smoothie (second picture), you pick the cup with the fresh fruit in it that you want, and then they dump out whatever is in the cup and mix it all together. My favorite thing to eat are the strawberry smoothies (straw-berri bun) and waffles! These aren't leggo my eggos, these are hot from the griddle, coated in sugar crystal Thai waffles!
Everything is so cheap though: a pair of jeans is just 100 baht, which is roughly $3 in American currency! My routine smoothie and waffle cost just 35 baht together. That's right, $1. Beat that Jamba Juice! :o)
It has been fun serving the Thai students because of this by buying their dinner or treating them to their own treat.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk from our apartment to the center of campus, which is where the night market is at. During that time, we all must walk single-file because the driving is absolute madness on the roads. There are literally a thousand motorcycles zooming all through the streets - nearly 80 percent of the students have and drive motorcycles around - and they aren't too fond of stopping, or even slowing down, for a line of Americans. I feel like a line of little ducks following whoever is leading us to campus that night. I can only image what the Thais are thinking ...
Sawadeka, Holli
After nearly two days of traveling, we made it to Thailand! On one of our long flights, Hannah excitedly woke me up (which I wasn't thrilled about at the moment, having spent hours trying to get comfortable) and pointed to the window. Boy was it well worth waking up! The view (pictured first) from the window was none other than Santa Claus' home: the North Pole. We saw many more breathtaking sights, from Moscow to Singapore and then entering into the city of Khon Kaen. God is truly the God of the nations, and his creation around the world is astounding!We have spent the past two days getting to know the team and being orientated to the Thai culture. Last night, two of the boys experienced a Thai classic: fried bugs! It was like George Clooney and Brad Pitt walking on South Beach ... the paparazzi was going crazy as we were all taking pictures and laughing the entire time! Nothing brings a team together like a bag of dead, crunchy bugs. We also took a trip to the local market, the Lotus, which was quite an adventure. A few of the Thai Christians lovingly came along and helped translate "Milk," "Laundry Detergent" and other simple necessities for us.We are on two different ministry teams for the summer, which has helped us get to know the other girls on our team, and a lot of different Thai students as well. Our ministry teams go to different lunch spots on campus and eat with the students every day. Here is a taste of our lunches this morning:HOLLIOk, so the actual taste of my lunch was scrumptious! I tried one of the student's favorite meal: wet pork noodles with all the fixins' and it was yummy! :o)The Lord also blessed our team with a taste of ministering to Thai students, as we met nearly 10 girls at lunch today! There are six of us partnered with the Thai staff girl, Pi Betsy, and we are ministering to girls in the English Department. (That's right, they are studying English! Praise the Lord.) As I was talking to one of the girls, we realized she lives in the same building as us just two floors up! What a sovereign God! She is planning to come by later this afternoon with her friends and hang out. I am so excited for the relationships God is going to form and to be the hands and feet of God in these girls' lives. What a privilege!HANNAH I am ministry partners with a Thai girl that is on staff here at KKU. She actually went to a Summer Beach Project in Jacksonville about 8 years ago. We have lunch in the Humanities department, with the goal of meeting freshman girls each day. The freshman girls wear white shoes with their uniforms so it is easy to tell them apart. Their semester just started so the freshman have only been here for about a week. They are extremely eager to talk to us and practice their English. Everyone here has studied English since Kindergarten so it is easy to hold a conversation with most of them. They are eager to teach us Thai and I think I'm doing pretty well!Yesterday we met 4 girls and were able to get their phone numbers. We are looking forward to meeting them again and inviting them to some events that we are planning. They want to come and hang out with us at our apartment soon! All of the people here are very friendly so it is easy to become friends with them. We just asked if we could share their tables and they were glad for us to sit with them. I am excited to go back next week. Tomorrow is our day of rest! WooHoo!Lagon (Goodbye)
As I think of the two months ahead, I am continually encouraged by God's sovereignty! The journey up to this point has been anything but "according to the plan" - and that is exactly how God planned it. Proverbs 16: 3 says that if we commit our work to the Lord our plans will be established. Our destination and team have changed, but the work is the same: to declare God's glory among Thai college students. I know God has great things for all involved in the project this summer.It is this truth I claim as I prepare to get on a plane for 26 + hours and travel to an unknown place, unknown people and unknown adventure. There are a lot of uncertainties, but I have been encouraged by David's prayer that "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." (Psalms 23:4) I have nothing to fear, for I am a child of God and have been called by Him. God is leading me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.Hannah shared her heart with me today and what she's praying for as well: safety and unity for our team, and for God to open the hearts of the students in Thailand who we will be ministering to.And praise the Lord for supplying all of our financial needs to minister in Thailand.So for now, thank you and continue to pray and praise God for all he has done and will do. I'll see (write to) you on the other side of the world!
