Two languages, one heart

This past weekend we had an English Camp for the students we teach English to every week. Many members of the church here at Zone came too. We all piled into the truck and left for this beautiful cabin in the mountains. There were about twenty of us total that stayed in one big cabin over looking a valley. They had to make two trips just to get everyone there. I was excited because all but one of my English students ended up coming and joining us for the camp! Since I was in the first group to arrive we just hung outside on the deck of the cabin. I have so much fun just spending time with all the Thais here. They are all so much fun and so open to us. Some of the high school girls taught me this dance while others played card games, it was just fun and relaxing. That night we played silly games and then had this great devo right outside on the deck. I love singing under the stars and out in Gods creation. Singing in Thai is wonderful because not only does it help us feel more connected to the Thais, but their words and versions of Christians songs are just so much more beautiful. As we worshiped we could hear crickets, birds and other creation noises all around us worshipping God right along with us.

As I've mentioned before, the language barrier is the hardest part of this internship. Most of the Thais speak English pretty well but some don't speak much at all. Its a struggle to form relationships with the Thais that don't speak much English. Many times at the camp, the Thais would just start talking to each other and we would be lost trying to understand the bits and pieces of Thai we have learned. During the devotional that night many times people would pray and share in Thai, which is wonderful but sad that we can't understand them and hear their hearts speaking to God.

The next day we woke up early to more games and worship. We played games to help improve their English, such as spelling and communication games. This was pretty difficult because of the language barrier too. Leah and P Wah, the Thai intern, were in charge of the games so Leah would explain it in English and P Wah would explain it in Thai. Sometimes we would all get confused because we weren't hearing the exact same rules. In the end we all had so much fun even if there was a little confusion. We had noodles for lunch, played a few more games and just relaxed on the deck. We did get to go exploring for a little while, where we walked through fields of coffee plants, and banana trees to find this small pond with a cute gazebo out in the middle. After hanging out there for a while we headed back to get packed up and head back to the Zone. Overall the "English Camp" felt more like a Payap Christian zone retreat but nonetheless, it was very uplifting and fun!