mushroom farms, borders, and markets...

We have been accomplishing random tasks at the Sila House. One of the major work projects has been to begin work on building mushroom farms. The Sila Home has an incredible vision of becoming a self sustaining, community living organization with various ministries. We've begun digging trenches, post holes, and a well to help with getting them started. We've spent a couple days teaching English at a local school. It can be very interesting walking into a room full of 42 Thai speaking second graders to attempt to teach them an English lesson-without a translator. We had a variety of stories to share afterwards!
Most evenings we have been running children's programming that usually involves some sort of craft, game, or fun activity. I have really enjoyed getting to know the children here. Even with the language barrier, we have been able to really connect with the kids. We organized an evening of fun games and activities for New Year's Eve and even were able to join in on some of the traditions Sila House holds each year.
This past Wednesday morning we took off toward the northern border to renew our visas again. There are many markets filled with odd food and a variety of trinkets to keep us occupied for a while. We are currently staying up by the Mynmar border to renew our visas for the last time tomorrow. Then we will head back to the orphanage to spend a few more days working on projects, teaching English at another school, and spending time with the children. It has been nice to have a couple days to spend in a new place that allows for some rest and exploration. Then we will all be ready to head back to have a strong last week before we begin our outreach debriefing.

Sila House...

We are spending the remainder of our outreach in Chaiprakarn, which took us about another eight hours of traveling to get to. We arrived Christmas Eve night. Just in time to join in the Christmas celebrations at the Silas House. On December 25 and 26 we spent the days playing games with the children and preparing for two different Christmas programs. On Christmas night the church had a program for the community that we joined in with by performing two of our skits. On the 26th we celebrated with the kids at the Sila Home with another program and a few more skits. Everyone is really enjoying our time at the Sila Home, we've really been able to connect with the children and the staff. We're scheduled to run numerous activities with the children in the evenings, help with manual labor in the day time, teach English at some local schools, and share teachings and testimonies during Sunday church services. We have a lot planned for the next few weeks, but we all are realizing that the remainder of our outreach phase is going to fly by. It's crazy to think our team will be saying goodbye to each other as we split off to head to our internships. It'll be fun to see where everyone ends up and how God uses each one of us during our internships.

Two of the children from Sila House.

Playing games with Agape Home children before leaving.

Christmas celebration dinner with the kids at Sila House.

Field workers in Chaiprakarn.

One of my new friends!

hill tribes, fevers, and Christmas celebrations...

It is hard to believe Christmas is next week. When I think of Christmas I usually think snow, wood furnaces, Christmas trees, and family. This year it's sunshine, cold showers, sugar cane, and our DTS team. Today we had a Christmas Celebration day at the Agape House where community children were invited to come play games, enjoy meals, and participate in our Christmas program. As a team, we've been planning different programs that have been presented at schools, different hill tribes, and here at the orphanage.
One of the biggest things we are learning as a team is flexibility. Our plans and schedules tend to change quite often and it has been quite trying on our team at times. It's one of the big differences in Eastern vs. Western culture. I think we're starting to get the hang of it though. God has been using our circumstances to challenge us to be faithful with the small things He has placed before us, to give 100% in planning even when we are not sure if what we are planning is going to be used or performed. We are also starting to cross of tasks from our list of things to accomplish regarding manual labor at the orphanage. Yesterday the guys lined different sports fields while the girls deep cleaned some showers. We're hoping to finish everything on our list on Monday and then head back to a local school on Tuesday.

I think every member of our team has taken his or her turn getting sick within the last two weeks. Some have been knocked out with fevers and sore throats while others are getting zapped with the flu. We were dropping like flies for a few days, but we are definitely on the up swing now. We only have three days left here at Agape House. Then we head across the Myanmar border to renew our visas and go up north to the next orphanage.

Agape House...

There are around 90 children at Agape House, the orphanage we have been staying with since we arrived in Mae Sot. Each morning the children start worship at 5:00 am, complete chores, and get ready for school. Each evening is ended with another worship time.
We have been very busy since arriving here. The first two days were spent teaching English and playing games at a local school. On two different nights we piled into the back of trucks to hold on during the trek up to two different Karen hill tribes where we presented open air programs and spent the night before coming back to the orphanage. Time has also been spent clearing out the sports fields, building and putting up soccer goals and a volleyball net. We are also in the process of organizing a variety of after school activities to facilitate for the kids when the come back from school each evening. It feels as though we are just getting started here, yet we only have two more weeks left in Mae Sot. May and Noah, our hosts, have been blessing us with incredible meals and providing opportunities for us to run into the market and we even had a chance to go to some hot springs where we all enjoyed hot showers for the first time since arriving here.
As a team we have been fighting off sickness as it seems everyone is trying to take his or her own turn of getting a head cold or sore throat. We soak in our times of team worship and intercession. During each debrief we recognize ways that God is teaching and growing our team. We pray that we will continue to be open and learn what He's showing us to improve our ministry.
Sometimes it is hard to think about what is ahead when there is so much going on in the present. We have so much left of outreach, yet internship phase is creeping up on us in a few weeks also. I'm still not set on where I will be for internship, but as of right now I am thinking about two different options. I have been looking into going to a YWAM base in Argentina, South America to help out with different mercy and sports ministries they facilitate or I am open to helping out with a ministry here in Thailand. Please pray for clear direction!
We'll see where God sends me...

A few more glimpses...

Prayer walk through poorer part of Ambergris Caye, Belize




















View along the shore by our YWAM base













Scrumptious bugs in the Thai marketplace




















Walking in Bangkok & South Korean meal

And we're leaving Bangkok...

This afternoon we found out we'll be leaving Bangkok tomorrow morning at 6:30 am to catch an 11 hour bus ride up to the northern part of Thailand. We're going to be staying at an orphanage outside of Mae Sot, which borders Burma. For our first half of our outreach we'll be helping out at the orphanage, digging wells, working alongside some schools, and partaking in ministry with some hill tribes. As people have been praying for our outreach they have received words such as "saturate." We are hoping for God to allow us to saturate people with love, joy, and truth.

Since arriving in Thailand we've had some time to rest and adjust to the time change. We are twelve hours ahead of Central Standard Time. We've also been introduced to the "squatty potty." The three rules we were given during our orientation were
1. Do not sit on it.
2. Do not jump on it.
3. Do not put toilet paper in it.

I'll let you figure out why these rules are so important.

Random Info:
-The currency in Thailand is the baht. 1 US dollar = 31 Baht
-We are all LOVING Thai food, and are attempting to master the chopsticks
-It is offensive to touch anyone on the head or to point the bottom of your foot at someone

The beginnings of Outreach...

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic as we've officially transitioned into Outreach Phase. Our first two weeks we spent doing local outreaches on Ambergris Caye, Belize. We had opportunities to teach Sunday school, lead youth group and Bible studies, tutor at the local school, and help out with manual labor at our YWAM base and at our neighbor's small grocery store. I think we all appreciated being able to spend some time reaching out in different ways to local people and ministries.

After our local outreach the "sailing" students and the "diving" students combined to form the "Mexico" team and the "Thailand" team. We have 15 students and 2 staff on our Thailand team. On Tuesday we left the Destination Paradise base to take two different water taxis to get us to the Belize/Mexico border. After crossing the border we took buses and taxis to get to Cancun, Mexico. From Cancun we flew to LA, then to Seoul, South Korea. From Seoul into Bangkok, Thailand. One of our teammates has a family friend who lives in South Korea and was actually able to meet up with us at the airport. We were able to see some of the city, go to the market, and eat a Korean meal before heading back to the airport to catch our next flight. We were all pretty pumped to be able to get out into the city instead of sitting in the airport all day. Little did we know how much of a different climate we were heading into... We left the 90 degree Belize weather in Belize and walked out into the 35 degree South Korean weather! My flip flops didn't do much to keep my toes warm that day. After four days of travel we finally are at our first stop in Thailand. We're staying at another YWAM base for the first few nights to rest and to learn more about the culture.
So, we've officially begun outreach, something we have all been looking forward to. It will be exciting to see what all God has in store for us as we join Him in the ministry He is doing in Thailand.