The Park 

You know those nights when you get home after a long days work and can only think about going to bed?? Well, that was yesterday. Therefore, I didn't update the blog. So, today will have to be extra special. I loved today. I think it may have been the best day so far (every day seems to get even better). Like the past few days, Caitlin and I got up early and walked to the park (with iced coffee of course), and did our devotions. There is absolutely nothing better than reading about how amazing and awesome and wonderful God is and seeing the beauty of his creation at the same time. I'm reading the book, "Good to Great" by Chip Ingram, and today I read a part of the book referring to the beauty of God's creation. It says, "'The heavens declare the glory of God' (Ps. 19:1). It's impossible to dwell on the beauty of creation and continue to be self-absorbed. My times of soaking in the grandeur reminded me how small my focus had gotten and how big my God is. It restored great thoughts to a mind that had become overwhelmed with a lot of trivial ones."

A book in Thai!!

We walked around the park for a while and we found the library! It was so cool! We had to take our shoes off before going in, and when we got in there, they took our bags from us. Apparently we couldn't have anything with us to go into the actual book part. It was a really cool experience to look through the books and to try and find some in English (I only found 2).

Eggs and rice

For breakfast, we went to a little restaurant and had eggs with rice...and it was absolutely wonderful. One thing that I do notice about Thai food is that it all seems to be the same. At home, I usually have a main dish with a few side dishes...like chicken with potatoes and green beans....but here it's just like rice and chicken...or pork and rice. So it gets a little boring to me, but I am learning what I do like and what I don't like.

My amazing class!! 

Our afternoon at the school is always enjoyable, but I think today was better than ever. When we got there, Caitlin had to teach right away, so I played ping pong with the people hanging out there. By the way, my practicing is paying off because first of all, I woke up sore yesterday..so that's an obvious sign of hard work, and secondly because I won a few games today! Isn't that GREAT news?! A little while before my class was supposed to start, one of my students' moms came in and asked me to take a picture with them...and Caitlin told me that later she invited us to her hometown to go swimming whenever we want! Thai people are so sweet and thoughtful.

 My class went so well today. One of my students was out of town, so there were only three, but it was fine because we had so much fun anyway. I can tell that they are starting to feel more comfortable with me because they have started asking questions, and during the singing time today, they were really into it. I tried to make them do a rap version of the song, but they just laughed and said "NO!!!" haha and when they messed up the song they would laugh so hard that we had to stop because everyone was cracking up.

Dinner!!!

After class we all went out to eat to this Thai restaurant that specialized in seafood. I had no idea what to order because I couldn't read the Thai menu, and because I didn't even know what I would like. So everyone ordered for me. I ended up with seafood fried rice. Very delicious (in Thai "aroy mak mak")! We also had fried Calamari (squid). At first I was a little nervous, but it was actually really good! And to top it all off, we had coconut ice-cream! It was wonderful. It has been so fun to get to know my students the people from SES better. They are so fun and lighthearted and just enjoyable to be around.

Coconut Ice cream

I am so thankful for this opportunity I have to be here! Please continue to pray for Caitlin and I and the people we come in contact with. Love you all!

-Bethany