The Simple Life

The pictures are... in cute hut on Payap campus, at Carrefour (which is like Walmart/mall/ foodcourt all in one, we go there almost every other day!), cooking food for cell group, dinner at cell group, and at a church family's house for lunch on Friday.

One thing I love about the life here is how simple everything is. It has been so great to get away from TVs, cell phones, school, work and just... be. My life back home is so busy. I have two jobs, school, many student organizations and add on a social life. My life is cram packed with stuff, things and busyness. It has been so cleansing to get away from it all, come to the beautiful city of Chiang Mai and just live for God. My sole purposes are to be daily transformed by God and show others His love. Not that we don't plan events, teach lessons and other activities but it all centers around those two things. Another aspect of this simple life that I love is no makeup, no dressing up and no getting ready. Just shower and go... I love it! We spend so much time everyday on ourselves, making ourselves look good, entertaining ourselves, making us happy, that we get lost... in ourselves. I really want to bring this simple life back with me to Abilene. Less TV, less cell phone, less noise, less time spent on appearance, less time busy and more time just living for God. It sounds, well... simple but unfortunately coming back into all the 'noise' I think it will be difficult. God has truly continued to transform me in amazing ways and I hope I can continue this when I get home.

This past week has been very low key. Sunday we had to recite John 1:1-18 to the entire congregation. I was kinda freaked out but it ended up being a great experience to have to memorize God's word and then share it with others. That night we had a big goodbye dinner for the Reagans who left for America on Tuesday. They go visit friends, family and their supporting church once a year for a month, so unfortunately they get back the DAY after we leave. We are so sad to see them leave! Jordan, one of the other interns here, fixed is an amazing Italian dinner from scratch that night... I was very impressed. The next day Katie and I went to the train station to say good bye to the Aggies as they left for Bangkok. We were pretty sad but its nice to know we can see them when we get back to Texas! Tuesday through Friday were all very typical days. Every morning we had equipping time which includes studying a chapter from John, 1 hour of quiet time, and studying a different spiritual discipline. Equipping time is such a great way to grow and be transformed through Gods word and thoughts from each other. After that we go have lunch on Payap University campus where we invite students to the zone for cell group, movie night, church and English classes. Then we teach English lass all afternoon and that night we usually have some activity with the students. I've already formed great relationships with many of the Thais and I hope that they continue to grow. I am not very talented in new languages and although we do take Thai lessons twice a week, I struggle just to get just a few sentences out. I do have five more weeks here so there is plenty of time to learn more! Thursday was cell group and the interns fixed American food for everyone; BBQ chicken, potatoes, green beans and watermelon! It was so much fun to cook and be able to share a little bit of our culture with them! Lastly, on Friday one of the sweet families from another church nearby had all the interns over for lunch. We had so much fun at their house playing/ talking with their two teenage daughters and just fellowshiping together!

Picture Albums!

I just added tons more picture to Facebook so here they are...

Sports camp and waterfall with the aggies
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058583&l=d9a9d&id=54602099

Bungee Jumping
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058749&l=06e78&id=54602099

Week with the Aggies
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058752&l=6885c&id=54602099

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058802&l=a2f03&id=54602099

Rafting/ Elephant Riding Trip
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058805&l=e18fd&id=54602099

WHOOP!

Above pictures are: with a sweet couple at the leprosy village, at the Buddhist temple, the rafts we floated on, my rafting group, the hut/house we stayed in one night and lastly the elephant ride.

This past week with the Aggies here in Chiang Mai has been AMAZING!! A group of about 20 Aggies are on this trip called AFCO where they travel around doing different mission work in Asia. This is also the group Leah and I spent a week in Cambodia with. Here is a brief summary of our wonderful week with them...

Friday: Aggies arrive, yay!!

Saturday: Sports day at the waterfall with Thai students and then shopping at Night Bizarre

Sunday: We went to church at this village church, went bungee jumping with Thais and then went to this thing called "Walking Street" which is full of crafts and entertainment.

Monday: We went to a Christian leprosy village which was incredible. This village is now a rehabilitation center mainly for the elderly. We were able to sing Christian songs with many of the lepers and then we got to visit their little homes in the village. They were all such sweet people and they taught me a lot about faith and happiness. We were also able to buy lots of souvenirs at the gift store there to help support this village. After that some of us went to see a movie, The Happening (which isn’t 'happenin' by the way) and then just hung out at the zone the rest of the night.

Tuesday: We woke up and headed over to Shawn Todd’s house, one of the missionaries here, and had an amazing breakfast. We had equipping time and some alone time which was so nice to just stop in the middle of a busy week. After that we went to visit this beautiful temple and got a glimpse of the Buddhist faith. It just hurt me inside to see all of these people bowing down to the statues. I just wanted to run up and tell say, "Don’t you know that there is something so much greater than a statue to worship?" It really made me sad and just kinda shook me up. After that we headed over to Chuang Doi (another church here in Chiang Mai) and had cell group and taught English there for awhile. That night all of the Aggies, Thais and us went to see Kung Fu Panda which was HILARIOUS!!

Wednesday: We woke up and Robert had equipping time for us and the Aggies, and some more quiet time. We then went to this very cool umbrella factory where we watched the whole process of making these Asian fans and umbrellas. You can also have paintings done there, and by paintings I mean you can take anything in the world and they will paint on it for you. Tons of Aggies got their bibles painted on, and others just bought things there to paint. I plan to go back later and get some things painted myself. That night we had a talent show/ movie night at the zone. Us ACU girls decided to do a Sing Song Act about Thailand which is on my Facebook profile if you would like to check it out. It was so much fun and most of the Aggies knew what Sing Song was and LOVED our act. We then watched a very interesting Thai movie about and elephant and then went to sleep.

Thursday: We woke up and had more equipping time with Robert and the Aggies again. After that we went out in small groups and had lunch at the Payap university campus which is right next to The Zone. We passed out fliers about the Zone and invited people cell group that night. It was so much fun getting to talk to all of the Thais on campus and it was great to see so many show up that night at The Zone. We fixed dinner and had cell group at the Zone, which was awesome as usual.

Friday: We left early in the morning for our weekend rafting/elephant trip. We arrived in Chiang Rai in the afternoon and then floated down the river on a bamboo raft for 6 hours. It was the most peaceful and beautiful experience of my life. They divided us up into small raft groups and Leah and I got put with four of the biggest guys on the trip, so we were a little cramped. They are all great guys so we had TONS of fun. I loved just watching the mountains as we floated down this peaceful little river... that is an experience I will never forget. We arrived at a small Christian village late that night. They had prepared this big feast and then festivities for our visit there. They sang for us and then taught us some traditional Thai dances... it was so incredible. It was so awesome for them to share their faith to us through music and dance. That night we stayed with our raft groups in some of the small huts in the villages. So many families opened up their homes for us, and we pretty much took up their whole home. They showed such great Christian love and hospitality.

Saturday: We woke up the next morning (for me it was 4am to the sound of tons of roosters crowing) and then got back on the bamboo rafts for another 4 hours. At our next location we took 2 hour elephant rides through the mountains. Those things don't have seatbelts, so I almost went flying off the elephant several times. I was more scared on that elephant than I was Bungee jumping... no joke. It was so awesome to see this beautiful greean mountain scenery from the back of an elephant. We went to a waterfall after that and then left the Aggies to head back to Chiang Mai for church the next day.

I had so many life changing and incredible experiences that I could just ramble on and on about from this week. This was probably the most amazing week of my life and God is just healing me and allowing me to grow and change in powerful ways.

Waterfalls and bungy jumping!!!

The last two days with the Aggies here have been SO AMAZING!!! I missed them so much and it has just been so good to catch up and hang out with them. Each one of them is so great and I'm so excited to have formed all these new friendships, so when I go visit my best friend at A&M I can see them too!!

Yesterday we had sports day at this park/ waterfall location. The ACU, Aggies, and Thai students were evenly distributed between 6 different teams. There were three different sports; water volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee and kickball, that we rotated around at. It was so fun having so many different people come and unite together as teams. My team was called "Blue Ling", which means blue monkey. Blue Ling ended up winning the overall tournament and as our winning prize we got to attack everyone else with water balloons. It was pretty awesome until Robert nailed me with a HUGE water balloon. After that, we ate lunch at the park and then groups of us walked down to the waterfalls. These waterfalls were so beautiful. It was awesome because of the clay that the waterfall was flowing on, you could walk/climb down the whole waterfall, which was very long. There were tons of different paths to climb and little pools to sit in and at the bottom was a big beautiful waterfall...it was so amazing. We had so much fun just playing around in the water. That pretty much took up the whole day and then that night we took the Aggies to Night Bizarre.

This morning we drove to this village church that was hosting a church service for all of the churches in Chiang Mai. We were able to worship, fellowship and eat lunch with all of these wonderful christian Thai families, it was great. After that we came back to the church to change and then went BUNGY JUMPING!! (don't freak out mom and dad!!) Surprisingly I wasn't that scared at all, I was just extremely excited. It was the greatest rush I have ever got in my life just jumping off a platform into open air...I LOVED it!! Several of the Thais went with us but most of them chose not to jump... but I think we convinced some of them to come back another time! From there we went to Walking Street which is this street type market that is open every Sunday night. They have every kind of goods, clothing and souvenirs you can think of and it it SO huge!! We walked around for hours just trying to see it all. Luckily we will be here the whole summer so we have many other Sundays to check it out. Having the Aggies back has boosted my spirits so much. I love the fellowship with them, I feel like they know what Christan fellowship is supposed to look like. After a wonderful but exhausting day I'm off to bed...Happy Fathers day (that's to any dad that's reading this!).

Exploring Caves

Thursday night is the cell group for the church here. Usually all the college girls cook dinner for everyone. We were having cell group at the zone that night so all the girls where busy in the kitchen near by. I walked by to see what was going on and to see if they needed help. They were excited and quickly showed me what to do. They were fixing foods I've never even see or heard of but i did my best to follow their directions. After a quick devo we just hung out and played cards for the rest of the night.
The next day Robert told us to be ready and waiting because we were having "mystery equipping". So the next day he took us in to the mountains to these hiking trails in this beautiful forest. We all went our separate ways and had alone time. I sat on this big rock that overlooked this little stream flowing down the mountain. It was powerful to sit in Gods creations and just be with Him. After equipping time Robert took us exploring through all of these incredible caves. We would have to squeeze through these small holes into pitch darkness to get to some of these places. In a couple large caves we would spread out in every corner and sing or pray to God. Our voices would echoe in the large empty caves but it was just so powerful. After one chain prayer we just all stood there in complete silence feeling the spirit move around us.
Every fourth Friday night all the churches in Chiang Mai get together and have a devotional. Last night the Reagan's hosted it and we helped get stuff ready and planned fun games. I love worshiping and fellowshiping with the people here because they are so passionate about their faith. They have song books so we can sing along in Thai and we even sing some songs in English!After getting back from Roberts the AGGIES GOT HERE!!! These are the Aggies Leah and I spent a week with in Cambodia, so we are pretty excited to see them again. Today we are having a sports day with the aggies and Payap students at a beautiful waterfall. Exciting!!

check out cave pictures....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058261&l=bfa5f&id=54602099

Pictures!!

Just FYI I added links to my picture albums at the end of almost every post...going all the way back to Cambodia! So just click on the link at the end of the posts and the albums should pop up...enjoy!!

Refining Gold

The last few days have been very nice and relaxing. During this time of rest and rejuvenating, God has been working in my life in powerful ways. After our sleepover/ movie night at the Reagan's on Tuesday night, we woke up and had equipping time and breakfast in Roberts kitchen. We studied John chapter 2 and also the spiritual discipline of "burning for God". This is the chapter in John where Jesus clears the temple and also where he turns water into wine. As we do with every chapter, we read it, watched a clip that reenacted the chapter, then discussed. I don't think I've ever so intensely studied Jesus actions and discussed the background of it all so indepth. Robert also showed us this form of meditation that puts you INTO the Bible story so that you can feel the emotions and concerns of the situation. For instance we imagined that we were a young child sitting at the market with our grandpa who was selling goods when Jesus walks in and starts knocking over tables and pulls a whip out. We then put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus and tried to imagine his feelings and thoughts entering the temple. Today while studying chapter 3 we talked a lot about baptism and the difference between baptism with water and baptism with the Holy Spirit. Robert does such a great job of not just imparting knowledge but encouraging in depth conversation. I don't know that I ever been so excited to study the Bible before. As I mentioned we discussed the spiritual discipline 'burning for God' yesterday and today we studied 'meditation'. We talked about the on going battle of God pulling us closer but us being unknowingly resistant. The resistance can come from guilt, sin, regret, distractions, lack of trust or many other things. A Scripture that really has impacted me recently is 1st Peter 1:7. This scripture has really put the last year in better perspective for me. Robert shared wisdom of this scripture by explaining the metaphor of refining gold and how it related to us. Just as a Goldsmith refines gold by putting under a flame so that all the impurities rise to the top and they can be cut away; we are refined because being in God's powerful presence bring our impurities and struggles out in the open so that God can remove them from our lives. This is a great image to describe what I experienced at the house boat. I was in Gods presence and all of these struggles, wounds and questions rose to the surface. The last few days I have continued to feel God refining me, and can I say, it's not always fun. Its kinda painful to look your struggles and wounds in the face. In the past, my solution is to hide all the impurities and pretend like they aren't there but unfortunately that leaves this big gap between me and God and a unspoken wound that only grows deeper. I've had a lot self realization and recognition of who I am during this time. It is kind of over whelming when you see everything that you need to improve in your life but as I'm learning i realize this is just part of my walk with Christ. He breaks us down to make us strong. Just like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, "For when I am weak then I am strong". So I'm recognizing that I'm weak and I still have a lot of healing but I am very convicted that God is healing me and refining me in His own time.

Just an update of whats going on. We started teaching English classes yesterday where college students can sign up for an hour session twice a week. We will be doing these English classes every afternoon after equipping time. Every night we do something different but always just hanging out with the Thai students here. Last night we had this amazing candlelight, quiet worship (where we got to sing worship songs, in English...yay!!) that was so powerful. Then we went to "night Bizarre" which are just the shops downtown that are tons of fun. I love getting to know all of the Thai people here at the Zone. They are so welcoming and accepting of all of us. It is hard to communicate sometimes because some of them speak very little English, and we speak VERY LITTLE Thai. A lot of times we just hang out downstairs, sing, talk, play ping pong or other random stuff. I really am loving it here! Tomorrow two new interns come, Jordan and Emily, who are coming for just a couple weeks AND the Aggies get here tomorrow too!! Which I am SO excited about! It is going to be a crazy and busy week with them, but i know it will be amazing. Blessings to you all!

The pictures are of movie night at the Reagans, breakfast the next morning, Melanie and I drinking our 7-11 slurpies (all the portions are smaller here, even the drinks!), candlelight devo(the flash makes it too bright), and our new purses that we got at Night Bizarre for only $3!!

English Camp

Sunday morning we woke up and walked right upstairs for church here at the Christian Zone. The church here is pretty small and consists of college age students or recently graduated. One thing I really liked about the service is that during communion we all got up and made a big circle around the communion table. Then we just passed the break and wine (grape juice actually) around the circle. It felt like a real church family gathering for a meal together. Robert preached in English because there were several Americans there and his wife Jan translated in the back. After service there was a baptism at the Christian Zone from another local church. We were able to meet David Allen's wife and daughters who are related to a family from my church home (the Bowers). It is always powerful for me to witness baptisms, and here in Thailand it is even more powerful because there aren't that many Christians here. It is always wonderful to see a young person dedicate their life to Christ, and be so excited and passionate about their new life. It helps me to remember my baptism 9 years ago now and what a powerful event/decision that was in my life.
After lunch at the restaurant across the street (i had Cashew Chicken, which is VERY good!!) we headed out for English camp. The English day camp is at this village school up in the mountains of Chiang Mai. We drove for 2 hours through the most twisty and curvy roads I've ever been on. It also didn't help that I was riding in a truck bed that has this covering and benches. We were all pretty nauseous on arrival. That night, we stayed with this sweet Christian family that lives near the school. Between sleeping on a concrete floor, mosquitoes flying all around, a late night phone call about the Zone flooding, and a rooster that started crowing at about 4am, I didn't get much sleep that night. I've never woken up to the sound of a rooster before and I also didn't know that they could crow for hours straight...but good to know, they CAN! I don't think I've ever been so mad a a rooster in my entire life :).
We arrived at the school at about 9am. I was in charge of leading silly songs so I got up in front of hundreds of Thai 8-12 grades and started singing... they all stared at me. After awhile they loosened up and started doing the motions with us but for awhile, they just stared. We sang songs like "If you Love Jesus", "Form Banana", "Fruit of the Spirit", "Deep and Wide", "Peace like a River" and others like them. I actually have a video of Leah and I doing the "Form Banana" song because Branson (Roberts son) decided he wanted for us to forever remember how silly we looked. I'll try and see if I can add it. Anyways, after an hour of songs and games we divided up into different grades. Katie, P O, P Wa (random Thai culture fact, I add a P in front of their name because they are older than me) and I taught the 11th and 12th graders. We first went over the alphabet, then body parts, then different emotions. We tried to just make everything fun and mainly work on pronunciation because they knew a lot of the words. At 12 in the afternoon we all went down for lunch with the students, and then we were able to go to the main court yard area to play with the kids. It was so much fun seeing all the school children play all these new and different games I had never even heard of. Little children were just running around everywhere, which is so different because in America it is just so much more structured. From 1-2pm we went back to the class room to work with the students. We reviewed a lot from the morning and then also taught then some foods. We played a couple guy vrs. girl games which they LOVED. It was so funny because in class all the girls sat on one side of the room and the guys sat on the other. They didn't come near each other or even talk much. It was just very different. When they did play against the guys, the girls would just giggle and smile a lot. It was pretty cute. We played a spelling game and then "Catch her eye" which I had played a lot in villages before. They were jumping up and down and cheering which was drastically different from their usual quiet attentiveness and sitting in perfectly straight lines from earlier. I loved getting to teach and interact with these students. It taught me a lot about their culture but also a lot about teaching students who speak different languages. One thing we all found pretty funny is that the teachers and principle at the school kept calling us the "native speakers". I don't know I've ever been called a "native speaker" before. They were so gracious and appreciative of us. It was a great experience and I'm excited because we will be able to do this more through out the summer.
We got home last night and we all crashed for the rest of the night. Today is our day off (its usually Monday but since we were at English camp its today, Tuesday) and we were able to sleep and just relax. I got to talk to my parents on Skype for about and hour which was so wonderful to get to hear their voices and hear about what was going on at home. Robert took us and his children to this little Mexican restaurant across town that was DELICIOUS. It is owned by this Texan, who knows how to make some good Tex Mex! Now I'm just catching up with my journal and trying to rest. Tonight we are having a sleep over with Erica, Roberts daughter, at the Reagan's house, which we are all so excited about. I think our plans are to watch High School Musical and Hairspray...exciting!!

For more pictures click on this link

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057971&l=2cd63&id=54602099

In memory of...

I mentioned previously that Malee, the first convert for the church here in Chiang Mai, passed away this past week. She had been struggling with breast cancer for awhile now and had not been doing well lately. I wanted to share a little bit of her story with you because it touched my heart and I hope that it will touch yours too.

Robert told us that she was one of the most Christ-like people he had ever met. Malee did not make much money but needed very little. She lived a simple life and saved what little money she did have or gave much of it to the church. Everyday during her lunch break this women who was battling breast cancer on her own, would go visit this man who had been diagnosed with AIDS. She would clean his wounds and give him a sponge bath, I believe everyday. Apparently, no one even knew she did this. She did not expect anything in return nor did she publicise what she was doing. She was imply being Christ. I am floored by this woman's act of service. I think that if I was battling cancer, taking care of someone else would be the last thing on my mind. I have never heard a more clearly painted picture of Christ. I'm sure there are many more wonderful stories abut this women and I am sad to have never met her. She will live on in the hearts of people here in Chiang Mai and many other lives that she has touched. We were able to go to part of her funeral Friday night, and although it was very difficult to be at a funeral so soon after my grandfathers death, I am blessed to have gone and learned more about her life. What also touched me is that two of the songs that were sung at her funeral (in Thai of course) were also sung at my grandpas funeral; It is Well and When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.

I also wanted to say a little bit about my two grandparents that passed away this year because they have both been on my heart a lot lately.

Moie (Sarah Crites) was one of the happiest people I know. She was always so excited when we came to visit here and always had a big hug waiting. She is by far the best cook I know and Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner are not the same without her famous mashed potatoes and pies. She was a devout woman of faith who raised two great Christian men, one being my dad. She wasn't herself these last few years due to dementia but I try to remember the Moie from several years ago. The Moie with the huge smile and wonderful laugh. Right before she passed away I got to sit in the hospital and tell her what a wonderful grandma she had been through the years. She couldn't talk back at this point so she would just stare, listen to me and squeeze my hand in her own way of saying "I love you too".

Dad Dad (Curtis Martin) was one of the greatest Christians I know. He was a great man of God. Out of all my grandparents I was closest to him. We always had a special bond since I was a little girl. It also helped that he lived in Abilene with me so I was able to spend a lot of time with him these last few years at ACU. Just a few months ago he met me at Firestone to get my oil changed and then we went and got Arby's for lunch together. These are memories I'll cherish forever. He was always taking care of his girls, whether checking on our cars, taking us out to lunch or just offering a giant hug. I always had the best talks with him about my life, faith or pretty much anything I could think to talk about. He was used to listening to all his "girls" just rattle on. Up until a few months ago he took care of his own little farm, goats, sheep, dogs even miniature donkeys at times. You just couldn't keep him indoors, he just had to be doing/fixing/building something. He was also one of the funniest people I know and was always teasing me about something, whether it was a boy, my clothes and the new "trends" or just pickin at me for no reason. I truly can't put into words what an amazing man he was. I miss him like crazy and wish I could call him up and tell him all about my trip here. He knew I was doing mission work this summer and although it worried him I was going across the world, he made sure to tell me how proud he was of me. I hope through my work this summer, I can make him proud.

Skype and mail

My mailing address for the summer is...

Payap Christian Zone
113/1 M. 1 Payap Road
T. Nongpakrang
A. Muang
Chiangmai 50000
Tel: 001-66-53-260-388

Feel free to send me mail! Sometimes mail is just more fun than emailing!

ALSO, for all my close friends and family, I do have skype here. If you dont know what that is, it basically means can talk to you through the computer for free because cell phones and land lines are way too expensive. Its free to download Skype so just go to www.skype.com download it, create a user name then add me as a contact. My user name is terri.crites. Easy huh? I'll try to get on skype whenever I'm on the Internet or just message me and we can set up a skype date :) (not that I have that much time, so please dont be offended if I cant talk long). Its pretty much just like AIM but you actually get to talk instead of type! So go download it or add me as contact and then let me know!

Off to the mountains again

The last couple days have been pretty busy getting ready for English camp and just hanging out with everyone here. Friday night we went to a funeral for the first convert here in Chiang Mai, Malee who died from breast cancer. I'll tell you more about her story later when I have more time. We are leaving this afternoon, Sunday, after church and headed up to a village in the mountains to do a English camp. We are all spit up with different Thai students from the Zone and we will be teaching different grades, 9-12. We've been planning out lessons, getting material ready and all that fun stuff. I am in charge of songs (yay!) so we had to write all of those out and draw pictures to show what we are singing. It is only a day camp but I am super excited and can't wait. I mean teaching is my degree so it should be pretty beneficial! I just loved visiting the village children in Cambodia too, so I'm sure this will be just as wonderful. I'll be back late Monday night so i won't be in contact with anyone till then. I love you all and hope yoour having a great weekend!

I also wanted to say feel free to comment and respond to my posts. I would love to have feedback or advice! God Bless!

Coming to His presence

The last two days here in Chiang Mai have been pretty incredible. Yesterday, Wednesday, morning we went to eat breakfast at a local missionaries house in the area. Here we met the other Chiang Mai missionaries such as David Allen and Shawn. After a wonderful breakfast we had equipping time where both Shawn and David spoke to us. Shawn spoke about evangelism and sharing the word with others. One comment he made that really hit me hard was "if you truly believe that the only way to get to the father is through Jesus then not sharing the good news is like hating them". I'm sure I butchered his words, but the were very powerful. We believe in this amazing God and that his son came to to die so that we might live eternally and we choose not to share this? The thought of just keeping it to ourselves sounds so foolish. Later David talked about the importance of a personal relationship with God. He highlighted the importance of quiet time, time in the word, personal prayer time and journaling. These are all things I really want to focus on this summer and areas of my life that could really use improvement.

After our equipping time we went to this little street restaurant for lunch and then to get coffee for dessert. At the coffee shop we had a question and answer time where we could ask the three missionaries, Robert, Shawn and David any thing we wanted. They told us a lot about how the mission field was started in Chiang Mai, how they joined the Chiang Mai team and just the history of the church there. It was so interesting learning about the roots of the church here and the hearts of these wonderful missionaries. What really floors me the most about the missionaries and this internship is that they are truly concerned and care about OUR spiritual life. They want us to have a closer and more personal relationship with God. They want us to grow in our spiritual gifts and they are putting in a lot of time and effort to help us in all of these areas. Every day we have "equipping time" which is where we study the bible, have group discussion, an hour of personal quiet time and prayer. They are truly training us to be better soldiers for Christ and I am so excited to learn from them. This is truly going to be a life changing summer... it already has been!

From the coffee shop Robert took us five ACU interns as well as the Thai intern Wa, and a few other Thai students (one of the sweet girls Poi I actually got to room with) to a "house boat". If you don't know what that is, no worries I had no clue either. We got on this small ferry type thing and we floated down this river that was tucked in between beautiful Chiang Mai mountains until we reached this floating house. The rest of the evening was spent playing in the lake by jumping off this huge platform thing and eating dinner. The view from the house was indescribable. Beautiful green mountains surrounded this lake we were on. It is impossible to not feel the power and immenseness of God at a place like that. We had a 24hour retreat where we got to know each other, had some devotional time and talked about our summer. It was kinda like a big relaxing/ fun kickoff for all the interns. It was perfect. This morning after eating breakfast, we had an hour of alone time. As I have mentioned, this past year has been very difficult for me. For the past couple months I have just been telling myself and others "I'm fine" or "don't worry about me", kinda like hiding behind this mask of not wanting to be weak or show others my weakness. During my alone time I just stared at this incredible view of the lake and mountains and my heart started to break. There is something about being in His beautiful creation and nature that brings me into Gods presence in a powerful way. What I learned about God during this time is that you can't wear masks when you come into His presence. He strips them away and sees you for everything that you truly are. So I realized that I may not be fine right now and I do have a lot of healing to do but I have a peace from God that He is with me and I will be okay. Its crazy to me God's perfect timing. That He brought me to this place, for this internship, this summer, to be transformed when I needed transforming more than ever. He put me here in Thailand to be healed and to do amazing things through Him. I just have to learn to give everything to Him and know He will be my strength.

This pictures are as follow...me in amazement of God's beauty walking to the ferry, me jumping off into the lake from this large platform in front of our house boat, me with the four other wonderful ACU interns standing on dock of the house boat, a group shot of us eating dinner and the view I had during my quiet time.

For more pictures click these links...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057839&l=06e3e&id=54602099

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057966&l=baa7b&id=54602099

I'm here!!

So I am FINALLY in Chiang Mai, my home for this summer. After picking up the Katie, Melanie and Whitney last night (which by the way we SCREAMED when we saw them walk around the corner with their bags) we took the girls to grab some quick snacks at the local 7-11 we have become regulars at and then went back to the Bangkok church to spend the night. We flew out at 1pm this afternoon (Tuesday). Flying into Chiang Mai, all I could see out the window was beautiful green mountains. It is so gorgeous here. The air smells clean, everything is green and just wonderful. The Christian Zone that we are staying as is great too. Melanie and I share a room but everyone else has their own. We are living in what you might call "dorm rooms" with bunk beds, a sink and a dresser. It was so nice to unpack and just get settled somewhere. We went to this large supermarket and stocked up on goods and foods then came back to the Zone to just relax. Tomorrow we are headed out on a house boat to stay the night. I don't really know what it is but apparently its really fun. I don't have much new to say except for that I love it here and I and so excited about this summer! The four girls I'm working with are just so amazing and so is Robert Reagan, the missionary we are working with. I'm pretty tired so I'm headed to sleep. I hope everyone of you are having a wonderful summer!

This is me

I’m sitting by this large pond in the middle of this huge and crazy busy city, Bangkok. It is so wonderful to get away from people and this busyness of life and just spend some time being quiet. I find that this is when God talks to me the most. Maybe it’s not that He’s talking to me more, maybe I’m just actually listening to Him. I began to think about this past year and how it has truly been the hardest year of my life. Between my last two grandparents passing away and some major personal issues, it has been almost unbearable. All I can say is that I wouldn’t have made it through the past year with out Jesus. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. The poem “Footprints” has never meant so much to me than it does now. Some times when I felt like God wasn’t there; I realized that he was actually carrying me through it all. And what is even more amazing is that he taught me so much through it all. God is truly amazing. (On a side note I would like to say that my family and close friends have been wonderful, and they also helped ENOURMOUS amounts this past year…love y’all!)
As I sit here in this park trying to focus on God and searching for words to speak to Him, I’m at a loss. So I just sit here, sit in his presence. After awhile the song “In His Presence” just pops into my head and I find myself starting to sing in the middle of this park. I love worshiping God through song, especially when I can’t find words on my own. Song after song kept flowing out of my mouth, so I sat there in the middle of Bangkok…singing. People nearby must have thought I was crazy. Being in God’s presence can just be so difficult sometimes. God being with us isn’t hard, because He always is, but us accepting and recognizing His presence can be so difficult. I decided that this would be my goal for the summer, practicing is presence. It was hard to feel His presence in pain and it’s even hard to feel His presence when everything’s is great but I want to feel his presence in everything. Being more aware of God and his presence helps me to accomplish three main things.

• Focus better. I feel like I am so easily distracted even ADD at times. I can hardly say a prayer without something distracting me. Random things come to mind such as friends, boys, worries, the future, and much much more. For instance right now I am VERY distracted by this crocodile sized lizard that is swimming towards me…although I think I am more freaked out than anything. (See picture above)


• Be still. I really want to learn to be still with God. I want to find God’s peace and never let go. I also feel like we become still when we stop worrying and fully trust in God. The past year has taught me a lot about trust and now I don’t worry as much because I know God is taking care of me and my life.


• Love more. This is important to me because, well, it is Christ’s greatest commandment. Also my favorite bible verse in 1 John 3:12 “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us”. Many people here in Thailand have not just “not seen God” but they haven’t even heard of Him. I love that is says “if we love one another God lives in us and His love is made complete in us”. Wow. That is so powerful. I pray that they Thai people can see God in me and see His perfect love.

Bangkok...the New York of Thailand

We got back to the Bangkok Church of Christ with AFC late Friday afternoon. That night some of the Aggies showed us around the city and took us to this place called "The Big C". The Big C consists of two levels of a Wal-Mart type center, once level of a mall, one level of a food court and the top level a movie theater... this thing is pretty huge. We got pizza and went to see the movie "Prince Caspian" which was pretty good and very funny!

The next morning we woke up at the church to say good bye and see the Aggies off as they headed to their next adventure. It was so sad to say good bye to them because we got so close. Both Leah and my eyes were tearing up as their bus pulled away. The rest of the day Larry Henderson took us around the city to see all the major cites and large temples. We even climbed to the top of this huge temple with insanely steep steps...let’s just say it’s good we didn't fall down them!

Yesterday morning, Sunday, Leah and I woke up and went to church service. They had headphones that translated to English so we could understand. The translator was this sweet lady who kept laughing at Larry while he was preaching, it was pretty amuzing. It was so interesting to see how church is done in another culture so different from ours. It was pretty similar to your normal Church of Christ service except for the obvious language difference and that the bread and grape juice tasted pretty different! I loved hearing common church songs sang in another language. Even though we don't know the language we know what they are singing since we know the song too. After service we met many church members and then ate lunch with everyone. It is awesome how they do church here. Every Sunday they go to church, class, eat lunch together at the church, have gender specific prayer time, then afternoon activities, evening worship, dinner at the church and then many people play volleyball or basketball together. The church just pretty much spends the whole day together, in community. That is so powerful to me. The church is truly like a family to these people. I think that the church in America could learn a lot from these churches. We always think that we are too tired or we just don't want to be around each other that long. We truly have a lot to learn.

Leah and I have been pretty exhausted these last couple days just by going so strong in Cambodia and then walking around tons of Bangkok the next day! So we are feeling a little "under the weather" / having slight culture shock. So I've kinda been in this funk the last couple days because I just feel like I'm in this strange waiting period because I just got finished with an amazing week in Cambodia, everyone leaves and we are just waiting for the ACU girls to get here so we can start our internship in Chaing Mai. We also had to do all of our laundry from Cambodia on Sunday. They do wave a washer here but you have to fill it up with water yourself. So we go to the roof, which is up 5 flights of stairs, fill this huge basin with water, bring it down a couple flights of stairs pour the water into the washer and then repeat until its full. You also have to do this for the two rinse cycles. We pretty much spent all day Sunday walking up and down stairs doing our laundry. After washing them we hung them on a line on the roof. It was quite and experience but it does make me grateful of my washed and dryer back home.

This morning Larry took as to a snake farm which was very interesting and now I know lots of random information about snakes!! After that we bought sarongs for ourselves (which are these wrap things you use after a shower) and also bought them for the other ACU girls who are getting here tonight.. yay!! Later on we decided to go get Thai massages. I kinda liked them, kinda didn't. We had to get in these weird clothes and then they bended and prodded me in all sorts of crazy ways. They don't hold back. After this we decided to go to a large part in Bangkok so that we could have some quiet/focus/prayer time. It was a long walk to the park but very worth it. I had a lot of good focus time and Leah and I prayed together by the side of this nice peacefully pond. My next blog is a copy of the journal I wrote sitting by the pond. We are about to go get the girls from the airport and I am SO SO excited. I just can't wait to see them! I just can't wait to get this summer rolling!

The pictures are of me kissing a snake at the snake farm, Leah and I getting Thai massages, walking up steps to temple, and washing clothes.

For more pictures click this link...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057840&l=e2795&id=54602099

Fun things I learned in Cambodia...

• I never knew how much I would miss toilets. (Most places have these things we call “squatty potties” which are kinda like a toilet, but more just like a hole in the ground that you have to pour water into to flush)



• Always carry toilet paper (you have to carry around your own or you are out of luck, wish they would have warned Leah and me)



• Tuk tuk's are a fun way to travel, and sometimes the only way!



• Don't touch the monks



• I LOVE fruit here especially pineapple. America just doesn’t do fruit justice.



• How to take a dip bath. Pour quickly or you just might freeze.



• That shower curtains do have a purpose. The showers here are just shower heads on the wall next to the toilet…so pretty much the bathroom is your shower and EVERYTHING gets wet.



• You’re weird if you don’t sweat, and by sweat I mean your whole body is dripping. I have never sweat so much in my life… the humidity here is crazy!



• Air conditioners are a wonderful gift from God. A gift we don’t get to experience quite often.



• I like driving on roads that are paved. Driving hours in old bus down a dirt road with lots of insane pot holes leads to much nausea.



• That rice is served with every meal, even breakfast and dessert. Glad I like rice!



• I love AGGIES! The Aggie group we spent this week with was AMAZING… I could go one forever about how much I love them!



• I miss clean streets. Not many trashcans or street cleaners. So pretty much just trash…everywhere.



• Don’t ask what’s in your food, you probably don’t want to know.



• It is smells horrible it’s probably not going to taste wonderful.



• Just because its looks disgusting doesn’t mean it tastes disgusting. (only most of the time)



• Keens are my new favorite shoes.



• I actually like living out of a backpack… I should try it more often. It’s a lot better than rolling around luggage.



• Mattresses are nice.



• Crickets are pretty tasty, roasted crickets actually. (well maybe not tasty, but not horrible)



• Pancakes just taste better here!



• Sometimes I wish I didn’t have a nose…walking through streets you smell all kinds of crazy stuff



• Never buy anything in America…again. North face backpack - $12, cute skirt $3, T-shirt $1. Everything is crazy cheap here.

The pictures are as follows... Aggies, tuk tuk, shopping, fruit, monks and eating Cambodian food