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Well, as slowly as January went, February flew by! I can’t even believe that it is almost March! February started with the conference on the beach and ended with preparations for my move to the southern part of Thailand to help with tsunami relief. I am very excited for the next couple of months, but first things first, let me tell you about everything that happened in February.
Conference in Cha Am
The conference was a wonderful time of refreshment, encouragement, friendship, worship, inspiration, and much much more! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it.
We drove 12 hours to the beach in Cha Am, Thailand to a fantastic hotel with all the amenities. It even had an actual bathtub! Oh, and it also had a massive swimming pool, was located right on the beach, and served wonderful American food. More things than I could begin to describe happened, so I’ll hit the highlights. 1) I got to watch the Super Bowl on TV! Yes, at 6:00 in the morning I got up to watch it. I can honestly say that I have never watched the Super Bowl in my pajamas before. :) Of course, I didn’t eat your typical snack foods, but I did manage to eat a Snickers bar, Oreos, and Pringles for breakfast. Yum! 2) I spent many an afternoon relaxing on the beach reading a book or using what little Thai I know to speak with the vendors walking by selling things. 3) I played volleyball on the beach two days in a row. The strong wind made for interesting games, but it was fun nonetheless. 4) I went banana-boating in the ocean and had a blast get knocked off by the waves. 5) I went down to Hua Hin, a town about 15 minutes south, with some friends and hiked Chopstick Mountain which looks out over the ocean. Very beautiful during the sunset!
By far the best part of the conference was worshipping with other Christians in English! I have missed that so much and it was great to have the opportunity! It was also great to meet new people who are working all over Asia as well as make new friends from the States.
Dadda’s Visit
On the way home from the conference, we made a brief stop in Bangkok to pick up my dad who flew in for a week. It was so great to see him and I can’t even express how much it meant to me that he came to visit! We had a wonderful time together seeing the sights throughout Ubon and Sisaket provinces with the Bakers, playing cards, and just being together! We drove with the Bakers and Kim to the Cambodian border to a place called Khao Pravihan where there are some Khmer ruins. When you start the hike you are in Thailand, but along the way enter Cambodia where the ruins are located. It was quite the hike in the humid 98 degree weather! But, we all made it to the top and it was well worth it. We also made it to the Laos border as well for some shopping at the markets there. Other than that, dad got to see what everyday life is like here in Ubon. He came to school with me each day, as well as, coming to Bible Study on Thursday and church on Sunday. The time went by very quickly, but I enjoyed it very much. It was a very special time with my dadda!
The Northeastern Polytechnic College
Our time teaching at Poly came to an end on February 25 with the exception of having to come back to Ubon in mid-March to grade finals and give final grades. To be honest, I didn’t feel much emotion over being finished. It was definitely a rough go teaching for the last four months, so I’m not sure what to feel. Plus, with the excitement of moving south taking over, I am ready to move on. I think though when we hop in the car and leave Ubon, other emotions will surface. To be fair, there were many great experiences at Poly and there are definitely things and people I will miss.
Here’s a funny story from my last day of class: My English 4 Class was given the assignment to write a report on a person, animal, country, etc. The requirements were very reasonable (in my opinion). I wanted twenty sentences in a five-paragraph essay format. In any case, I wasn’t sure what to expect or what I would get. Upon receiving the papers, I realized that for the most part, every student had just copied whatever information they could find. I had 4,5,6+ page papers turned in! Much beyond the twenty sentence requirement and it must have taken a loooong time to copy all that! Wow! Things in Thailand are definitely very different. Two funnier stories came out of all this though. First, I had a student who turned in a paper on Orchids. It flowed along very nicely in English way beyond the student’s level of understanding. Well, about a third of the way through the paper, the subject changed to something about trees. I was trying to find the connection between the orchids and the trees sections without much luck, when I came to the last third of the paper which abruptly changed to speaking of Pubs, alcohol, etc. I was bewildered (still am)! At least orchids and trees are both plants of some sort. Where alcohol comes in I will never know. Second, another student came and handed me her paper, which I put at the bottom of the pile I was grading. When I got to this paper she had written on Venus Williams, I noticed that the first page was simply a statistical bio so I skipped it. Turning the page, I began to read the paper she had written. Hmmm, something was odd. I couldn’t read and understand what she had written. She had turned a paper in written in FRENCH! It was all I could do to not just start laughing out loud! I didn’t know what to do! Eventually, I called her to my desk and told her that she had written (or rather copied) the paper in French and that I didn’t understand French. She had to redo the paper. Wow, after advancing enough to be in an English 4 class, she still didn’t realize that what she was copying wasn’t even English. Oh well.
Prayer Requests
1. Communication within the team along with unity. Right now things are going well between all of us.
2. Pray for safe travel for Greta, Kim, and I as we drive to Khao Lak on Sunday and Monday, February 27-28.
3. Pray that we will quickly adjust to life in southern Thailand and our new responsibilities. Pray for a great impact these last two months working with people who have lost everything and are looking for hope.
4. Pray for safe travel to Australia March 31 – April 7 to visit a friend and make my last visa run.
5. Pray for the English/work camp that we are doing March 18 – 24. We will be bringing some students and church friends down on a bus to do a combined English and work camp. We will be working from 8:00 – 5:00 everyday rebuilding houses and then teaching English for a couple hours in the evening. Pray for the bus ride as Kim, Steve, and I will be with the students on the 24 hour ride. Pray for safety and sanity. :)
6. Pray for continued health. I am doing well right now.
7. Pray for my feelings of homesickness.
8. Pray for the Thai people, that God will open their hearts to Him and they will see the truth of Jesus.
9. Pray that ultimately everything I do will glorify and honor God! That people will see Jesus through me.
10. Pray for my attitude as it is sometimes focused on the wrong thing due to frustrations. Pray that I won’t let circumstances steal my joy and take my focus away from my purpose.
11. Pray for accountability in prayer for me. I sometimes feel hypocritical asking all of you to pray for me and then I fail to pray for these things myself. For some reason, I find it easier to pray for other’s issues than my own. Pray that I will lift my own needs up to God. (I am seeing some progress in this, praise God!)
12. Pray for me as I begin to think about life when I get back to the States. Pray that God’s direction will be made clear to me as far as where to live, what kind of job to get, where to go to church, what sorts of ministries to be involved with, as well as how to make an impact in my own city in the States. Pray that I will take what I have learned and how I have grown and apply that to my life in the US.
Praises
1. A safe trip to Cha Am.
2. A wonderful conference.
3. An amazing time with my dad.
4. Wrapping up teaching.
5. Water and electricity that work most of the time.
Words of Encouragement
Philip. 1:6 (NLT)
And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.
Philip. 1:9-11 (NLT)
I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Philip. 2:3-4 (NLT)
Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.
Philip. 2:13 (NLT)
For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.
Philip. 2:14-16 (NLT)
In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them. Hold tightly to the word of life, so that when Christ returns, I will be proud that I did not lose the race and that my work was not useless.
Philip. 3:8-9 (NLT)
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
Philip. 3:13-14 (NLT)
No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
Philip. 4:6-7 (NLT)
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philip. 4:13 (NLT)
For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
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7. February 2005
