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