Home

After 30 hours of traveling I arrived home safe and sound yesterday.

But I'm not ready to be back. I wasn't ready to leave. My heart still longs to be where I left it... In India with all those precious orphans.

It's hard being back. Definitely a big adjustment. There are lots of errands to run and things to get done and the normalcy of life will kick into high gear soon.

People ask questions and I don't know how to answer. I have no idea how to get across what I've seen and experienced. I wish you could have been there to see it. It's so hard to try and explain something so foreign. But I will try.

For now I think I'm going to go back to bed. Jet lag woke me up super early, but I think I'm about to fall back asleep.

I love you all.

Ohhhh India

Namaste!
I have arrived safely in India and am now at an internet shop in Dwarka. It is the same one I would use 2 years ago when I was here. So much is the same. I have missed this place.
The first full day I was here I got to go back to the orphanage where I spent some of the most amazing weeks of my life. It was bittersweet. There were many familiar faces, although much taller by now, and I just spent the day hugging on them and telling them how much I have missed them. At the same time there were many faces I was looking for that I did not see. I knew many would be gone, but to go there and not see them was heartbreaking. It used to be such a happy place full of smiles and laughter. Now it seems the laughter and smiles are gone, but I hope to try and bring them back.
We are actually living in another orphanage that has about 20 children from 5 months to 15. They are precious! We walk them to the bus stop every morning and pick them up in the afternoons, we help them with their homework and serve their food and keep them entertained. It is a joy being there with them.
I would do anything for these children... lie in lice infested beds, sit in piles of dirt, sleep on the floor, and walk through sewage (all of which I have done... but that's another story!). Those completely diminish in the face of these precious ones. When I am sitting holding these sleeping children it is one of the most content feelings I have ever had. It is but a glimpse of our Father's love for us.
Saji and Gracie are our "uncle and auntie". They are amazing. I love them so much!! They are tons of fun and take great care of us and the children.
I've gotten to go to parent-teacher conferences at their schools which was really really cool. It's all taught in English but the children are still struggling in that so they never know what their homework is or how to read out of their textbooks. I worry about them when we are gone, how they will manage. Dr. Frye, if you're reading this, it reminds me of the article you wrote about comprehension, and if their rate is slow then it hinders their comprehension. That is a big problem here. It's all rote memorization. They have no phonics or even vocabulary training. I've been working with them on that :)
Two days ago one of the boys fell off of the roof into the street and had to be taken into the hospital (which is nothing like you would think of a hospital in America). The other kids were so worried and prayed and prayed for him. Praise the Lord he only had 1 fracture and is doing much better. Please pray for their safety and their schooling! Once our team leaves it will just be Saji and Gracie to take care of all these little ones and it is a big job!
I love you all!! I only have one more week left, and I plan on making the most of it! I hope your summers are all going well and will hear about it soon.

Last days.

We have one more full day in Thailand. It is such an odd feeling. It doesn't seem like it's been six weeks already. I am very sad to go but excited to get to India and see all the kids again... it's been 2 years!!

We got to go to a party the US embassy threw to celebrate the 4th of July yesterday. It was like a carnival. There were booths set up everywhere with games and big floats that you could play on and all kinds of "american" food. The Soy Dogs (odd name for a band, I agree) played good ol' US rock and roll and we even got to see fireworks! It was a fun day. We got to spend it with our friends that we met the first week we were here. I'm really going to miss them! We've met so many people from so many different places while we've been here, it's really been neat.

Tomorrow is the last day to finish up any shopping and tie up all our loose ends and then Tuesday we all part ways. Kristina flies home to GA, Daniel goes to Japan, and I go to India.

This could be my last post while I'm overseas. I'm not sure what my internet situation will be in India. But I will definitely post when I get home and let you know how it went.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement!!

Close to the end...

Well... it's almost over. I can't believe that I've been here in Thailand for over 5 weeks. I have met some amazing people and have had the time of my life. I wish so badly that I could stay!

This past week we were in Mahachai with a missionary family who is church planting. We met a lot of new believers and got to see what it looks like to plant a church, because honestly I had no idea! We did a lot of prayer walking and hung out with a small group of believers doing bible studies and prayer meetings. One day we took a boat out to a fishing village. It was incredible! There is a small group of believers there and they don't get visits very often. They called me doll because I am so small and pale. All the Thai want to have light skin, they think it is beautiful. I keep telling them in America it's just the opposite! I guess no one's ever happy. They even wear long sleeves and gloves in this heat so that they won't be exposed to the sun. But that trip was a real blessing to get to go and encourage those families.

We have met some awesome friends in Bangkok and will get to hang out with them this week and see what their ministry is like. They are interning from Crown College. We have had a lot of fun with them the few times we've seen each other and will be spending the 4th of July with them.

Well.. I'm out of time. Thanks for reading and I'll update again soon hopefully. Love you all!

What a Weekend!!

Words cannot describe how amazing this weekend was... the best days yet! We had our cooking class Friday night and I learned so much! And the food was amazing. After a great dinner with funny stories about experiences the missionaries have had here my teammate Kristina and I met with two of the students at the bible college to practice their English. They just wanted to talk with us and have a conversation really so they can put what they know into use. One guy, Kohngaow, is a student from Laos. There are not bible training facilities there due to governmental restrictions so he is studying here. The other student is Lei and he is from Thailand. We talked for awhile but they have a curfew so it didn't last long. Saturday we got up and went to ATC (Antioch Training Center). ATC was founded and is run by Korean missionaries. They house students in highschool (which here is grades 6-12) and they go through an intense discipleship program. There are 13 students there now. They go to public school during the day but are discipled at night and then on the weekends they visit children in surrounding villages and then on Sunday run the church service and sunday school for the children. They are an amazing bunch of kids! We taught them English from 10-3. Previously we have just done basic vocabulary and sung some songs but we didn't expect for these students to be so advanced. We were wracking our brain to try and come up with stuff. We ended up teaching nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, and we conjugated the verb to be. We also taught emotions and directions. Finally we ran out of material and everyone was tired of studying so we just played some games. One girl, Juang, is very dear to my heart. We became quite close. Her English is incredible and she is also studying Korean! She has such an amazing heart and I have enjoyed getting to know her. After teaching English all of the students went out to visit the children that come to Sunday school and we got to go along! They split up into pairs and take off on motorcycles to different villages in the area. It was quite an experience riding on a motorcycle in Thailand, but I survived :) . The two girls I went with didn't know much English so they couldn't really translate for me but it was obvious that people were surprised to see a foreigner... I got a lot of stares! Some of the children we visited wanted to give me something, so we had Som Tam. Som Tam is a very popular dish in the North East, it's like a papaya salad but it is sooooo spicy!!! I ate as much as I could to be polite, but my mouth was on fire!! After visiting all the children we went back to ATC and I helped Tuai cook dinner. We chopped up a bunch of leafy vegetable things. He is going to university but is interning with the youth at ATC and has been there for 5 years. Before long it was time to go. We really wanted to stay but they wanted us to come back because they thought we would be tired. We had another wonderful meal here at the bible college and then met up with Kohngaow and Lei again for a little bit. This morning we went to ATC for church and then went to an HIV orphanage to play with the children. These children are so precious and so starved for attention. They ran right up to us and clung to us the whole time we were there. None of them spoke English but it didn't matter, you don't need to know English to play. We had water ballons and made animal noises and spun around and played some hand-clapping games and sung songs. It was a blast! We were only able to be there for 2 hours... not nearly long enough! Then we went out to dinner and went to a village for a service tonight. The ATC students also ran this service, they are quite amazing! We got there early to talk and hang out and stayed as long as they would let us afterwards. It is so sad to come and get to know all these wonderful people only to leave them shortly after. My heart is so sad to have to go. This is practically the end of our ministry time here. Tomorrow we are driving a few hours North for a free day of shopping and eating Vietnamese and Italian food. I would almost rather stay here, and I would ask if it weren't for the fact that the students will be in school. Tuesday morning we will go to chapel at the bible college and then hop on a bus to Bangkok. It seems like every time I leave a place here my heart aches to stay, and so it goes with every place we have been. Several times people have asked me to come back and work, either to teach the missionary children or to live and work at ATC. It hurts to have to say no. Only the Lord knows where I will end up.

Last days in Kohn Kaen

Here's another update for those of you that actually read this :P

We finished up painting yesterday! It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to be done. We practically painted the inside of two whole houses. As menial as the work seemed it really was a joy to be able to help these missionaries out and be a blessing to them in that way. I have really been praying that whatever work I do I do it for the Lord.

Tonight a woman who works at the college is going to teach us how to cook an authentic Thai meal!! I am really excited about that. I have loved (most) of the food here. Some of it is spicy but a lot of it is just soooo good! Everyone is amazed because they see me and assume that because I am little that I won't eat much. In one village all of the older women were laughing and when I asked my friend what they were saying she said that they had never seen anyone eat so much. I am glad that I can make them so happy :) They love it when people like their food.

Tomorrow we are planning on teaching English and then Sunday we are going to an HIV orphanage. I am very excited about that! I will do whatever they ask of me while I am here, but my passion lies with children so when we get the chance to work with them I am elated.

On another note, I have been reading a book by Charles Spurgeon called "How to Have Real Joy" and I just can't get enough of it! He is a very articulated author and just really makes things make sense. Being a Christian and knowing that Jesus died for us and that God loves us should produce enough pure joy in us to last a life time! If nothing else, that should make us wake up each day with a joyful song in our hearts. But how often we forget that! Pure joy comes from the Lord and is not dependent on our circumstances. It is there in the good times and the bad.
There is a prayer in this book that I especially like so I thought I would put it on here. May it be your prayer as well as mine.
" Lord, help me to glorify you. I am poor; help me to glorify you by contentment. I am sick; help me to give you honor by my patience. I have talents; help me to extol you by using them for you. I have time, Lord; help me to redeem it, so that I may serve you. I have a heart to feel Lord; let that heart feel no love but Yours and glow with no flame but affection for You. I have a head to think Lord; help me to think of You. You have put me in this world for something, Lord; show me what it is and help me to work out my life's purpose, for I desire to say amen. I cannot do much; my amen is only a weak one. Yet, as the widow put in her two mites, which was all she had to live on Lord, I put my time and eternity into Your treasury. It is all Yours. Take it, and thus I say amen."

....catching up

Okay, so let me fill you in on the past few days.

We went to a village to teach English for 2 days. We stayed in the pastors house. Sleeping on the floor wasn't bad, but unfortunately we didn't have mosquito nets so we got eaten quite a bit.
The kids were wonderful though. We taught from 9-3. Everything from sports to prepositions to occupations, fruit to directions to colors and shapes and more. It was very basic but the students ate it up. And of course we played some games and sung some songs. The kids were anywhere from fourth to seventh grade. It was neat to be able to do this through the church because it is a wonderful outreach to the community. Most of the students are Buddhist and hopefully they will continue to come back to the church for services and stuff. Eventhough we were only there for 2 days we got pretty close to the kids. It was sad to leave. They all got our autographs and asked for our numbers and birthdays.

The next day the missionaries in Udon were baptizing the new believers in the prison. We stayed an extra day so that we could babysit their kids. It was fun but a lot of work! We had 5 kids under 5. We fed them breakfast and lunch and put them down for naps and changed diapers and watched a movie and played hide-and-seek and all kinds of things. It was great to get to spend some time with them and play.

After babysitting we hopped on a bus to come to Kohn Kaen. This was quite an adventure! They crammed a ton of us onto this bus... we were standing practically on top of each other in the aisles for 2 hours.

Now we are in Kohn Kaen at a bible school. We are painted some of the missionaries houses. It is quite a task! We paint from 8-4 pretty much every day. I am the only one who has ever painted before so I'm kind've "in charge" I guess you could say. Do pray that we would continue to love each other and work as a team. Being cooped up in a house all day together working hard has a tendency to cause tension. Hopefully tomorrow we will get done with the painting and move on to some other things.

Well... that's pretty much it, the short condensed version at least. I wish I had time to write more but there's lots to do.

Love you all!!

~Liz

Father's Day

I have loved all of the traveling that I have been able to do over the summers, but one downside is that I always miss Father's Day and my dad's birthday. So... I thought I would take this opportunity to say a few of the wonderful things I love about my dad :) (of course he is MY dad, so I'm a bit bias)

My dad is my hero. He's the best guy that I know. He is one of the hardest working people that I know and has always taken care of me. I have never been in need. (A great example of our heavenly father!). He has such a friendly and understanding spirit and is loved by employers and his customers... they consider them his friend. We have even hung out with some of them on vacations! He has such a compassionate and forgiving heart, a living example of a love that keeps no record of wrongs. He has been such an example for me simply by the way that he lives his life. He is such a great leader for our family as well. We have so much fun when we are together, which is rare now so it makes it that much more special. Some of the best times I can remember have been had with my family, and it's not just because I have to say that :P It's quite true. If you have ever gotten to hang out with my family you know how much fun (although slightly crazy) it can be.

Happy Father's Day dad!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Udon

so I finally have a few minutes to update.

My time in Udon has been absolutely fabulous!! I don't want to leave.

We took a bus from Bangkok... it took us about 9 hours to get here. When we finally arrived Stacy and Jim picked us up. Stacy is doing a 2 year internship here and Jim and his wife Kathy and 3 kids have been here for several years. We got in and got all settled. We have been staying in a really nice house... across the street from Stacy and Jim and Kathy even. The house has been empty for a few weeks because the owners just left for home assignments in the states. Stacy has kept us quite busy, she is with us all the time and occassionally we go to Jim and Kathy's or another missionary family Jon and Joy's who have 2 young boys for dinner and maybe some games.

The first day we were here Kathy and Stacy took Kristina and I with them to the prison. They meet with the women there about once a week and have a bible study. This particular week the girls were encouraged to bring friends and we just had a fun day of games and teaching English. We sung "head and shoulders knees and toes" and believe it or not there are 3 verses! You can learn a lot of body parts :) We also taught fruit and some action words. It was a blast. There were about 15-20 women. You would never know that it was a prison. The women were so nice and kind and fun. Most of them seemed to be in their late 20's perhaps. I wish we could have stayed longer. They are having a service on Sunday to baptize all the new believers but unfortunately we will not be here anymore. These men and women in the prisons are being trained to be church planters when they get out and they are trying to put together a half-way house where they can live and get back on their feet and get reconciled with their families.

We also did a short English lesson for the children of the guards at the prison. It was a lot of fun and we played tons of games and taught some songs. The kids are so precious! It is a great ministry to reach out to the guards and their families.

Stacy also took us on a prayer drive. We drove all over this area and she showed us places that they had ministries and different churches in the area. We got to stop and meet with some people that work with Compassion International. We also stopped at some Buddhist temples and things like that. Here there is a lot of spiritual darkness. They mix parts of buddhism, hinduism, and even animism. It is so sad. They burn incense and give food and money to the "spirits" and have spirit houses everywhere where they can live to keep them away from their houses.

On Sunday we went to a small house church, there were maybe 8 people. It was in Thai but that was okay, it was neat to hear all the passion in their voice. Then we ate lunch and spent several hours teaching English. We taught prepositions and then played some games using those words. They also taught us a song in Thai and we taught it to them in English.

Sunday night we went to an International church that spoke English. The next day we helped them move into a new building. We carried 250 boxes of books up 4 stories!! It was quite a work out, but it was such a joy to get to be a part of their work. They have a wonderful ministry and now will be in a place where the church is very visible and their light can shine and be seen.

Today was our day off. We decided to drive to a waterfall. It is a few hours away. We were almost there when the brakes on Stacy's car decided to stop working. This made for an interesting day. We spent some time on the side of the road. Some nice Thai men stopped to help us and got us to a mechanic and we spent some time hanging out there and ate some lunch. Jim ended up driving out to get us and we went on to the waterfall. Unfortunately the car part was not available so Jim drove us back and we will take a bus tomorrow to go pick it up.

Tomorrow us girls are hanging out with the MK's (missionary kids) to babysit and play while Daniel and the parents go to the prison. I am very exicted, they are so precious!

Thursday we leave to run an English camp in a smaller village and then Saturday we will take a bus to Kohn Kaen.

I don't want to leave Udon. Stacy and the families here are amazing and their ministry is so neat. I have loved my time here. But I am also excited to see what God has for us in Kohn Kaen.

Thanks for the prayers! Love you all!!

ChaingMai

sorry it's taken me so long to write an update... it's been super busy.

last thursday my team took a night train into ChaingMai. It was really neat! The beds folded out of the wall and it was covered with a curtain.. it was like having our own little fort :)

In ChaingMai we met up with a Hmong team at a Hmong center where pastors students can go to get a better education (kind've like a boarding school). The kids were awesome but it was very frustrating because we couldn't communicate. We drove up to a Hmong village to do some ministry. It took about an hour to get there, we rode in the back of a pick-up truck and of course it started raining, but we had tons of fun. The village is actually the same one that the man who holds the longest hair in the guinness book of world records. He died a few years back but we saw his family and the house that he lived in. It was neat to be with the Hmong team and get to see them get a closer look into their culture.

We went back to Bangkok a few days later and then the next day were back on a bus to Udon, which is where I am now. It is so amazing here, I love it! I wish I had time to let you know what's going on here, but there's not much time on the internet, so that will have to be for a later time.

Thanks for all the prayers and support, I love you all!!

Arrival

Me and my teammates arrived in Bangkok yesterday. It is so good to be here. Many things are familiar to me, but again there are many things that are not. Driving down the road in the sweltering heat I recognized the clothes hanging out to dry on all the balconies, the bamboo scaffolding that seems to be pretty unsturdy but is still used, and people sleeping on the sides of the road. It is very similar to India, yet it seems more modern as well. Bangkok is one of the tenth largest cities in the world, there are 12 million people here! It is seriously huge, I've never seen anything like it. There are skyscrapers everywhere and sooo much traffic! Their taxis are hot pink, mom would like that! But at the same time it is quite obvious that we are far from America.

Despite the fact that it is such a large city, I have found that very few people speak English, which has made things very difficult. Thai is such a difficult langauge with all of the different tones. We had some language lessons yesterday from friends Pen and Yao. They taught us how to greet people, ask someone's name, say our name, ask what something is, and thank you and goodbye. Then we came out on the streets and practiced. Pen and Yao took us on a short tour of the area. There is a huge store called the Big C where people shop... it's basically like a big mall with a grocery store in it as well. There is exotic fruit everywhere! Much of it is very good, some of it is a little weird. So far I have not had any horrible experience with food. They eat noodles for breakfast, I personally think that is pretty awesome!

We are currently staying at the C&MA guest house in Bangkok. Amazingly people are also there from Samaritan's Purse, which is the company my sister works for. They are doing Disaster Relief. I actually know one of the men and several others know my sister. What a small world! I have always wanted to run into someone random that I know in another country and now I have. It's pretty cool.

The guest house is very nice. We have beds and showers and airconditioning... much more than I ever expected! It is absolutely beautiful. We woke up today and had a great breakfast and we were supposed to go to a park to practice our Thai, but as things like this go, they are always changing. There is a prayer meeting today and the man that was supposed to lead it had to leave at the last minute, so now WE are doing it! We had to plan for 2 hours of time with 10 people, some of whom know little English. It should be interesting, but I am excited to be jumping right into ministry.

We leave for a Hmong village tomorrow. We will be on a train for 13 hours. I'm pretty excited! We'll be there until June 2nd, so you won't hear from me again probably until then.

Love you all!!!

Hong Kong

It's been a looong few days of travelling. I've been in the air or in an airport for over 33 hours. I'm almost done! We just arrived in Hong Kong... it's 12 hours ahead of you, so It is about 6:30am here Monday but it's 6:30pm Sunday there. Still trying to get used to the time difference. We have one more flight and in a few hours we'll be in Bangkok! I am very excited. This has to be short... we are at the airport, but know that I am safe and sound! More to come soon....

1 more day!!

Sorry It's been so long since I have posted, I have been quite busy trying to get everything together and spend time with family before I leave.

I leave Saturday afternoon to fly to LA to meet up with my teammates, Daniel and Kristina. We fly from there to Bangkok. Daniel is from CA and Kristina is from GA and they are both students. They have never been out of the country before so I am very excited to get to experience their reactions. They are both great and we have been emailing back and forth and have gotten to know each other a bit. I am excited to finally get to meet them!

As I said in my last post, it is going to be 2 full days of traveling before actually arriving in Bangkok and then once we get there we will also be doing quite a lot of traveling to minister in several different small towns besides Bangkok. After being in Thailand for six weeks I leave my two teammates who are returning to the US and I will be flying by myself to India where I'll meet up with a few people for about two weeks before flying back to the US. Please pray for safety during all this traveling. Also pray for my two teammates and I that we will get along and be able to work together well.

Well... you won't be hearing from me again until I am across the world! Thailand is 11 hours ahead so while you are going to bed I will just be waking up. That just blows my mind sometimes! I should have access to the internet while I am there and will try to update this weekly. Have a wonderful summer everyone and thanks for following my trip!!

What I'm Doing....

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site.

I set up this blog as a way of communicating with you all this summer. This is an easy way to keep in touch and you can come on here and read about what I'm doing, where I'm at, and what God is teaching me. I'm not sure how often I will be able to update it because I don't know how much access I will have to the internet so check it every so often to see if there is a post.

I will be in Thailand for six weeks and India for three. I fly out of Greensboro May 24th and land in Bangkok a whole 2 days later! (That's a lot of traveling!!). Then on July 8th I fly to India where I will be until July 23rd.

I am so excited about this summer!
I will post more details before I leave about who I will be with and what I will be doing. And I would love to be able to keep up with what you are up to, so comment and let me know!