I made it through the wilderness

I don't think I've really explained what our equipping time consists of. All 5 of us interns, P'Wah (The Thai intern) and Robert meet everymorning about 8:30. We go through a new chapter of John and then watch that chapter from the movie "Gospel of John". That takes about 1 1/2 hours. Then we have our hour of quiet time, and we meet back and go over another chapter from our Spiritual Disciplines book. Its quite a morning but very rewarding.
Well today we had "mystery equipping time." We were told to wear jeans (Which I did not. I learned my lesson last night, but I did wear long shorts) and tennis shoes. He drove us out to these hiking trails leading through the woods. We had our quiet time out there this morning and met back up for discussion. It was nice to be somewhere so peaceful, even if I did get 10 mosquito bites!! haha. Afterwards, we went exploring. We found lots of caves that we went inside. Some were pitch black. Everytime in a new cave, we sang a song. It was really hot outside AND inside the caves, I literally had sweat dripping off my face. It echoed and was beautiful and really neat to listen to. We came back and I ate lunch at Burger King, and had starbucks!!!! So far its been an all-American day!
The power had been out a few days in our bathroom, so we were having to take showers in the dark. The power came back on today but now we don't have hot water. I usually take cold showers anyways because it is soo hot here. Everything is so cheap here except for american food. That is more expensive than it is in America! I won't eat it that much, I'll stick to rice. The Texas A&M interns come in tonight. There are about 20 of them and I think they will stay on the 3rd floor of this building. Luckily we don't have to share our 2 bathrooms with them. They will be here for a week.
Once I get some pics downloaded Ill post some pictures of the trails we went on. Luckily, no one got hurt!
Random fact- the chocolate milk here is amazing. Its really funny because in America, everybody tries to drink water, so water is more expensive than most drinks. Here in Thailand, No one really likes water, so the water is very cheap. Its about 7 baht (25 cents) while the chocolate milk is about 25 baht (almost a dollar). I found that interesting, but I buy the chocolate milk anyways!!!
That is all we have done so far today. Our days are go-go-go! I'm looking forward to Monday, our day off =). I am still loving the time we spend together here though with other people, getting to know them, and getting to know God.

Another Great Day

Last night we spent the night at Robert, our missionary's, house. We hung out with his family and enjoyed the night, but hit the bed early. We got up at 8 and I made some pancakes for everyone. They were GREAT (at least I thought so..!) and then we had some equipping time. We read over John 2, watched the 2nd chapter from the movie, The Gospel of John, and went around so each person could teach something about what they learned. Then we had our quiet time. That is such a great way to start off the day! We ate some lunch and headed back the Payap Christian Zone. At 3:00 we had some new Thai people we hadn't met before come over for English class. Melanie and I took 2 of the girls and taught them. We went over descriptions, such as hair color, hair styles, body types (thin, muscular, pretty) and other things. It was the first time I met some Thai students who did not know that much English, but I loved teaching them. They are coming back tomorrow for another lesson. This will actually go on about 3 days a week, where we spend an hour teaching them. When the Payap University opens, we will go recruit more Thai students that we can teach.
Tonight we are singing some songs just to Worship. After that, we're going to the "night bizzare." Its an outdoor shopping area. Should be fun! The Aggies for Christ (students for Texas A&M) are coming on Friday. They'll be here about a week, and we will do everything with them while they're here.
I just wanted to share that its been a great day so far. I definitely feel God has brought me to the right place. Thank you for your prayers!!

English Camp

Its been awhile since I've been able to post anything. The desktop computer here has broken, so I don't get a lot of opportunity anymore to go online, but I'm still trying! Church on Sunday was great. We meet on the 3rd floor of this building in a big open room with a baptistry in a corner. We had about 20 people there, and they are all very passionate. They love singing. They sang all the songs in Thai, and had the phonetics for us English speakers to sing along with them. For communion, we all stood in a circle, prayed over it, and then took it. It was quite different, it lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Afterwards we left for a village up in the mountains where we taught an English camp. The ride was about 2 hours through a windy road up the mountains. One of my teammates got sick because of it. Well we got up there and stayed the night with this family who had about 50 chickens just running around outside. They didn't have a very big house but let all 15 of us stay there. We were woken up around 5:30 by a rooster. None of us were very happy at that time haha.
That morning we met up at the school at 9:00. We had an hour to teach songs and games to everyone in the school. We sang songs like "peace like a river" and other fun songs that got them up and moving. We were on stage singing the songs and doing the motions. We got really into it asw well as you can see. Then we broke off ito grades and each of us interns were paired with a thai intern and taught a grade. I was paired up with the 11th and 12th graders with two thai interns and Terri, one of my teammates. We went to their classroom and they sit with guys and girls separated from each other. They already knew the alphabet, so we taught them parts of the body, food, and played games with them. After that inividual grade time, we met back up as a big group and did a few more songs and a closing game. They had a good time and so did we. Before they leave school everyday they all stand in line and sing the Kings song. We've learned that everyone stands still to pay respect whenever that song is being sung/played. We got back from that last night and I was exhausted. I went to bed around 9:00 and slept in till 9:00 today. I got a full 12 hours of sleep and feel well rested today. Today is our day off so I had some time to update my blog. I put a link on the side of my blog to my facebook album where I have put up lots more pictures from my trip.
We ate at a Mexican restaraunt today for lunch. It was actually owned by an American and I was relieved that I didn't have to have somebody translate what I was saying. AND it was great mexican food for Thailand. I love Thai food, but sometimes I get tired of eating rice all the time.
I wore jeans for the first time today. I'll NEVER do that again. I was way too hot today and I changed immediately when we got back!!!
We pass a lot of cows on the side of the rode when we drive somewhere. The cows here are very skinny, almost sickly looking. I would be concerned, but they all look that way. I suppose its because they dont get fed all these preservatives or nutrients or whatever America feeds their animals. We also passed an elephant on the side of the road, that was really cool! I can't wait until we get to ride on top of one. We should do that in a few weeks or so, we also are planning to go bambo rafting sometime.
Also, I had some letters to mail today, so me and Whitney decided to walk around to find a post office. Well I think we were out for about 30 minutes looking! We kept asking Thai people where it was. Sometimes we'd have act out what we were looking for. It was really funny (and hot) walking about helpless, but we eventually found it. We have a lot of adventures here in Thailand! Well that is about all for now, I will update this next time I get a chance!