Ok, so I don’t know if the world is going mad (or just the dorm..) over here or what…but here it goes.

Two days ago, I was feeding this little bird that was in one of the orchid plants hanging up outside, which was all fine and cute until L-CE picked up the little birds DEAD sibling.  Sad…then as I was going ‘aahh!’ Deborah told me to follow her to the kitchen.  She proceeded to show me this giant RAT she caught somewhere in our rice field..siiiick.

It only gets worse from here. 

 I caught a cold this weekend (this is not the bad part).  I walked over to Lara’s to have a chat and make her feed me lunch J because I always go over there at the perfect time when she is feeding her kids!! She gave me a box of juice to take home for my cold and I stuck it in our big fridge in the kitchen when I got back.  Last night at dinner I went to the fridge to get my juice and staring me in the face right when I opened the door is this giant grilled rat.  Maybe I had a heart attack or something…but seriously the thing is huge!

There’s more, just wait…

So yesterday a bunch of kids were standing around our fish pond thing that is really a big cement bowl, and all of a sudden I see this snake thing slithering around.  I yelled at L-CE “there’s a snake in the water!”  She quickly ran over and said…, “no, its an eel, it’s good for the blood, we eat it!”  A few minutes later we found out one of the boys found it in the little canal right next to our land.  So at dinner, again I went to the fridge to get my juice (I put it on the opposite side of the rat from the day before),  as I held my breath I now noticed  staring me in the face is a refrigerated eel. 

These are some Thailand delicacies I think I will skip out on trying.  I’m a rice and banana kind of girl!

My sister came to visit me this past weekend which was pretty great.  It was good to see a familiar face.  We visited the kids at the dorm and a Lisu village in Chiang Dao mountain for a day.  We went down and stayed in Chiang Mai for 3 days which was pretty cool.  We did a fun zip line tour called the Flight of the Gibbon in Mae Kompong which is about 55km south of Chiang Mai. 

Right before she came, the annual festival of Loy Gratong was being held all over Thailand.  It is centered around the lunar calendar when the moon is full in November.  It originated from a Hindu tradition where they would create these beautiful “Loy Gratong’s” made out of banana tree trunk & leaves, orchids, candles, and sparklers.  They light the candle, say a prayer, put some money on the Loy Gratong and send it floating down the river with all their sins from the whole year.  The Buddhists in Thailand adopted it many years ago, but now it’s just a big social party!

            The first night, Enoch, Chuleeporn (his daughter), and I snuck out after everyone was asleep so we could go see what all the commotion was about.  This was a week I will never forget.  I saw everything from fun jumpy houses like at the state fair, to Thai boxing (front row seat!), to Thai pageants (including the weirdest men’s cross-dressing dancing pageant).  Plus, everyone was blowing up firecrackers every second (literally), and floating the beautiful lanterns in the sky.  I even saw a man fall over after drinking a bit too much.  These Thai’s sure know how to party it up!

            So I thought that Chiang Dao “Loy Gratong” was pretty exhilarating, then when I went down to Chiang Mai two nights later with the Cooper’s so I could pick up my sister the next day, we all had an experience nothing like Chiang Dao.  You would’ve thought bombs were going off because people were lighting fireworks as big as bowling balls that they sell everywhere, and the sky was full of probably at least 1,000 beautiful lanterns.  It was soo much fun and a bit scary!

Besides all the fun, things at the dorm are going quite well with all the kids.  Christmas is coming up and we’re getting ready for the big Lisu gathering about 5 hours away in a village.  The girls have been practicing dances to Christian songs and they make me dance to them too.  I pretty much have no rhythm, and there is definitely the girl’s dance team at New Life Church from high school that can attest to this, but it is quite fun with a bunch of girls, because I think they think I’m actually good..they make me think of stuff to teach them.  They always change it because my ideas pretty much stink! 

            This week I’m starting to teach them the words to Silent Night so we can all sing it together.  The Lisu know the tune to Silent Night, so the tricky part is getting them to pronounce all the words correctly.  But hopefully after we go over it a hundred times or so maybe it will stick.  If they do good with this one, I think we’ll work on ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ because it’s a bit more fun and upbeat, but still repetitive enough so it’s pretty easy.  J

            I’m super excited for the big Christmas celebration.  4 days of feasts and celebrating Christ’s birth.  A new way of life this holiday season, and I know it will be great.

God has been doing some pretty amazing stuff in my heart lately.  He’s been teaching me that it’s ok to be alone, even though it’s hard sometimes, but really I’m not alone.  He miraculously shows me bible verses that just build up my confidence in Him everyday.  Thursday when I was teaching the kids a Bible verse, I had searched through my Bible, pretty confused and stressed, and came across some old Parkway notes which had Matthew 6:21, and knew that would be good for the kids to learn.  That night as I did my Experiencing God Bible study, about ‘walking with God’ of all the verses to be typed in the margin, Matthew 6:21 was right there.  God does pretty cool things all the time. J

“Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be”

This morning I taught the Parable of the 3 Servants to all the kids and made 3 of them be the servants and act it out.  I think they all thought I was crazy, but I know the point got through better and it was funnier too.  Sometimes looking like an idiot is good.

A little girl fell asleep on my bed today with me.  It was probably the most precious thing ever.  I love all the little things.  There is so much beauty in everything I’m seeing.  Even if I’m alone, it all is beautiful. 

Your prayers are affecting my life and my heart.  Thank you for your faithfulness.  I need spiritual warriors to support me and pray for me.  Healing is slowing being brought where it needs to be and guidance/direction is definitely being given.  God is good.

last night i listened to this song by Ray LaMontagne  - Be Here Now...
it all makes sense reading the words, and again i realized why music moves my soul so much.

don't let your mind get weary
and confused you will be still, don't try
don't let your heart get heavy
child, inside there's a strength that lies

don't let your soul get lonely
child, it's only time, it will go by
don't look for LOVE in faces, places
it's in YOU, that's where you'll find kindness

be here now, be here now
be here now, be here now

don't lose your FAITH IN ME
and i will try no to lose faith in you
don't put your trust in walls
cause walls will only crush you when they fall

be here now, be here now
be here now, be here now

sometimes it's very hard writing on here,
because it's exposing part of myself to the world,
part's they may not like to see.
my friend heather posted this video about cardboard testimonies
it's about how everyone has their past,
this history that scares us, that burdens us
and we all need to be RESCUED.
there is one i personally know who is great at rescuing if you are in need.

Jesus, tease us
there's something about Your name
Master, Saviour, Jesus
i've been DIRTIER than you'll ever know
i've left earlier than you wanna know
(amazing because it is - the almost)

                                                                      follow this link to make you smile...
              http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/cardboard-testimonies/

c.11/06 Versailles, MO Thanksgiving
sometimes this feels like freedom and rescue of the greatest kind

happy thanksgiving next week.  there's is much to be thankful for.

It rained last night from about 9 or 10 pm to 11am this morning.  Crazy rain to say the least.  I think I heard the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard in my life.  Oh, and yes, this really is the kind of scenery i see most all the time.  soo beautiful!

I have a new favorite movie. Pride & Prejudice, the newest version.  I borrowed it from Lara the other day and have since watched it a handful of times (this is embarrassing, I know…but I have no other movie options) on my laptop while laying in bed recovering the last few days.  I quite like this movie.  It made me think back to 2 years ago in the girl’s dorm at MCC when the older version with Colin Firth played over and over again for days at a time in our suite which simply caused me to hate the darn movie.  Not that I didn’t like hearing the root menu played over a thousand times, just the whole movie in itself.  So, sorry to all my suitemate girls, because I have definitely had a change of heart about dear Jane Austen.  i'm borrowing Anne of Green Gables next.  ha....i know i definitely watched that one with my sister's when we were littler.

I have also found out that I am addicted to playing hearts on the computer.  I know how to play, but I am just no good at all.  I tend to lose about 70% of the time.  I’m starting to think the computer cheats and just doesn’t want me to win.  This picture is a few of the girls on my bed listening to my ipod and probably helping me play hearts on the computer...ha..

I’m discovering so much about myself being here in Thailand.  Friday night’s the kids always get to watch a movie.  After a long day of Bible camp and playing games and singing songs last week, they just got to sit and watch a movie.  I was playing a game with some sticks with 3 of the little girls and wasn’t quite paying attention, but then I looked over and heard screaming and saw blood and people beating each other up…and people dying.  The reality is the culture here is different than in America.  Thai culture is entertained with brutality and excitement in this way, where people beat each other up, kill each other, and shoot guns, and this is all so cool.  I know that in America, I have grown up at church and we would watch those cheesy, but classic movies like Extreme Days, McGee & Me, Superbook (which I think we still have some on VHS at my house), The Princess Bride, or The Neverending Story 1-100 (sarcasm).  These movies are just silly, but don’t teach kids to do bad things.    

            Not once or twice, but I think 3 times have I actually had a toy gun pointed at my head and shot.  It just made me want to cry. 

            I walked out of the room on Friday night and left the movie and went in to my own little makeshift room.  I was not going to sit there while we claim to be a Christian ministry, yet let our kids watch things like this.   The problem is, Thailand isn’t the only place like this.  I met a man named Bob the other day who is a pastor at a church in Florida, who came to visit Thailand this week, because he is looking for something new after living in China doing missions for 6 years.  I boldly said that at my church we would never watch movies like that and at lunch yesterday he quickly disagreed.  Not that its all violence we promote, but other thing subtly…this is again, sad.   Maybe I’m being too harsh, but this is how my heart and my head feel about this. 

            We had a staff meeting a few days ago where I brought up this fact about the movies, and Barnabas fully agreed, saying he would never let his kids watch this kind of stuff.  So I know at least I have had a positive impact on this small thing.

 this picture is from the Lisu village where i bought my new favorite hat.

Me and Lisa were modeling different types of hats the Lisu people wear.

Yesterday I watched Martha and Lisa try to catch a chicken for dinner with the slingshot.  It was really hilarious.  Apparently using a slingshot is much harder than it looks.  The chicken is still running around the backyard with its dear life, and we ate pork for dinner instead.  Haha…also the pig had 8 babies 2 weeks ago.  They run around the whole yard so cute!  I would try to put one in my suitcase for my return trip along with a few orchid plants, but probably wouldn’t get very far due to immigration/customs.  Bummer.

I’m reading this book right now called By Searching by Isobel Kuhn, who is a missionary woman from Canada who attended Moody Bible Institute and came to work with the Lisu people (who I am working with).  Yet all this took place between 1920-50 I think.  She died fairly young because of illness, but her writing in this book is very spunky.  She was young and single and seeking out what God had planned for her life.  I see a lot of myself in her which is a little scary.  I’ve started doing the “Experiencing God” workbook about knowing and doing the will of God.  I have a feeling that my last 3 months here are going to be radically good for change in my heart and what I can accomplish through God’s guidance as I am here in Thailand serving and loving all the kids. 

Last thing. This is a picture of the last day of Bible camp last week.  We all got ready to go outside for what I thought was going to be a game.  Everybody put their hats on and was all ready to be out in the sun, and we see a bunch of these big sacs lined up, and I’m thinking great, sac races!!  All the kids start getting in them and jumping around before anything was explained, ready for some good fun.  Then PSYCH..it happened.  We were all told to walk over to the corn field next door and finish picking/shucking all the corn.  I just laughed then proceeded to walk over and try to help out while getting attacked by a giant weed that stabbed a bunch of thorns in my foot.  All in all, it was a great Bible camp.