...and the Thailand adventure continues...

One of my worst decisions ever.........drinking Pepsi at 10:30 pm. But I guess that means now I don't have an excuse not to write a blog. So here I go! My mom has been bugging me for what feels like months about it. I think I have tried about 5 times to write an update but the words just won't come. I literally feel like words can't even begin to describe my life in Thailand. For example, at this very moment I am chatting with one of my students from last month. She and I are very close and she just told me that I am her first foreigner friend....and then went on to say that I am her best friend. It's times like these that I am sure that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

The last time I wrote I was asking you to pray because I needed direction as far as the upcoming future. Well, I could feel your prayers because since then I have had this feeling that my work here in Thailand isn't finished and that there is so much that I can do here. So, I'm planning to come back to Thailand in October for a year. It's so amazing for me to see how God has been orchestrating and moving me into this direction for almost two years now. I remember last year around this time after I hurt my knee, I was so confused about what God wanted me to do...I was supposed to go on two missions trips that summer and I couldn't. I just didn't understand why He wouldn't want me to go. But now I can see that if I wouldn't have hurt my knee, I more than likely wouldn't be here.

Tonight I was talking to my friend, Nan, and I was just telling her how exciting it is to be here and to hear about the people who are accepting Christ. She said, "It's still like this in America though." But I beg to differ. It's just different here in Thailand....I don't even know how to explain it. I think people are more open and serious about their relationship with Christ--maybe because it's harder to be a Christian here. I told her that I want to be apart of something that is real and effective for the cause of Christ.

I have an awesome praise. The past few weeks I have really been praying and looking into coming back here in October. I felt a huge peace about it, but I wasn't really sure about any details. It just so happens that one of the women that I have become extremely close to is leaving for a year to study in the Philippines and her room will be vacant for some time. She really needs someone to stay in her room because she doesn't want to lose it. It works out perfectly that I plan to come in October because I can just live in her apartment until she comes back. The only problem was that she really needed someone to stay from the months of July, August, and September. She couldn't afford to pay the rent and it wouldn't work for me to stay there unless she found someone for those months. We talked last week and I suggested that we pray about it for a week and see what happens. I just found out yesterday (4 days after we started praying), that someone will stay in the apartment until I get there. Coincidence? Ironic? I think not. Isn't that just awesome?! So now, when I come back, I will have a beautiful and amazing place to stay and at the same time I'll be helping out a friend who really needs it. It's so exciting to see the way God works.

I am so excited to see what God has planned for my future. I know that I do want to go to college, but I don't want to rush into it especially since I don't know exactly what I want to do. I would ask that you please remember me in your prayers. There are still many details that need to fall into place and I just would ask that you pray for wisdom and guidance as I leap until the unknown of this super exciting but super scary adventure. I know I will have to trust God to provide the funds and everything else I may need, but I know that He will if He wants me to be here.

Well, the Pepsi is starting to wear off...and 6am is going to come very, very, very soon. Thank you everyone and I will see you in about 4 weeks (I can't believe I'm coming back so soon!!!!). I love you all!

-Bethany

Crazy, busy, awesome..

I visited a beautiful sunflower field

So the title of my post pretty much sums up the past week. There are so many things going on and I feel like my head is going to explode..in a good way of course. I know I haven't written in a long time, but I promise it's not because I'm being lazy!!

My two classes are wonderful. I feel like I'm becoming closer to them everyday. Plus it's really neat to have two different classes because every group gives me a different experience. Some of our favorite things to do in class are play games and sing. Even though they're mostly all adults, they still get into the singing and the games--it's quite cute. Last week we played the game "telephone", the one where you whisper a sentence in the ear of the person next to you and it goes around until the last person has to repeat it. Well it's a difficult game for people who speak English, but even harder for people who speak English as a second language. As you can imagine, there was much laughter and confusion as we played. After a while, they all persuaded me into letting them say a Thai sentence. It was all good until they told me that I had to play too.........yeah....So I had to listen to the person next to me whisper a Thai sentence in my ear. Literally all I heard was, "Wa yaa wa wa ya nom wa wa ya." I tried my best to say it exactly the way I heard it...apparently it wasn't good enough. They didn't understand me at all. Everyone was laughing so hard that we had tears coming down our faces. It was great.

Bowling with my students!!

The nice part about my 1 pm class is that most of them are young and have a lot of free time since they are on summer vacation. The other day, I took a few of them bowling for the first time. It was hilarious. The funny thing about Thai culture is that most of them are timid and aren't encouraged to try new things, so most of my students have never gone bowling before. It was so cute and fun to try and teach them (with my awesome bowling skills....not. I think I scored 65 points), and see them get better as we continued to play. In level 1, every student has to write 3 essays. After bowling, one of the girls wrote her essay about the friends she has made at SES and that she really loves spending time with her teacher outside of class. It seriously warmed my heart to know that even though I'm exhausted, my students are being encouraged.

My dedicated class hard at work :)

I'm really excited because tomorrow, Caitlin and I are going to attempt cooking for some of our friends...we're going to make Fettuccine Alfredo. We'll see how it turns out! I don't know..but it should be interesting for sure because we only have two electric burner things..I can't wait to cook my own food! I never thought I'd miss cooking, but the idea of being able to make what I want when I want is something that we take for granted. Most people don't cook/don't even have a kitchen! It's crazy! Eating out is nice, but sometimes it's nice to just be home.

yeah..I learned how to play the ukelele.

Also, I have a prayer request. Before I came to Thailand, I applied to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I hoped to major in TESOL (teaching English as a second language). I kind of said in my mind that either I would get into Moody or would come back to Thailand and do some ministry here for a longer period of time. Well, a few weeks ago, I found out that I was not accepted to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but I was accepted to the Moody campus in Spokane, Washington. That was definitely a change in direction for me. Plus they don't offer TESOL. I also found out that I can't get a long term visa in Thailand unless I have a 4 year degree..so I'm kind of stuck and don't know what to do. Not only that, but I have to send a confirmation to Moody with a pretty large deposit BEFORE I get home. I just don't know what to do. I talked to some people about coming back to Thailand and studying at the international school really close to SES (they offer TESOL). I would just ask that if you think about it, could you pray for me for direction and confirmation about what I'm supposed to do? I think I assumed that coming to Thailand would make more clear to me what I'm supposed to do...but it hasn't at all. All I know now is that I love Thailand and the people and could see myself living here someday. I really appreciate you all! Please remember Caitlin and I in your prayers, and also our students. The most important thing we want is for them to hear about Jesus. Thank you all so much!

-Bethany

Day 1 of month 2...success.

First of all I am very sorry because I didn't even take one picture today...but other than that, today was a HUGE success..I don't want to get ahead of myself though.

Yesterday was really exciting for me. First of all, a bunch of our friends from Lad Krabang came to Ladprao to visit us!!!!!! I was so happy because Caitlin and I have missed them very much. It seems like it has been a month since we saw them last, not only a week. We went to the mall and went to Karaoke. Seriously, going to Karaoke with 4 boys is possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever seen/experienced in my life. They literally had no shame. I think that people from all over the mall stopped to see and hear them. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. PLUS all the songs were in Thai, so I didn't even understand what they were saying. Yeah, it was great.

I didn't get home last night until 8 pm and I still had to prepare all of my notes and things for my classes today. I was a little stressed about it, especially since I have a 7 am class and had to get up early. But I am very thankful to say that I got a good night's sleep and was very ready to start my day today.

My first class was amazing. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. It helped that I already knew three of my students from the church. This class is a level 3 class and it is my first time teaching that level, so everything was new to me. But I felt so natural teaching. My students are wonderful. I have 9 in that class and they all seemed really excited about learning. It was a great way to start this session. Three of them had breakfast with me after and I think I'll be spending a lot of time with them!

My 1 pm class was really good too. They were mostly junior high girls. I have 9 in that class too. At first I thought it was going to be a more difficult class, but it turned out to me a lot better than I thought. They were all really shy at first because they are only in level 1 and their English isn't very good, and because they are young, but they quickly warmed up to me and it was a really fun class. Afterwards, I planned so many things that I want to do with them. They want to go bowling, ice skating, eat ice-cream..yeah, I'm really going to like this class. :)

After my 1 pm class, I had the privilege to meet one of my mom and sister's students, Nan. She came all the way to the school just to see me! She isn't even taking a class. I was so excited because I feel like I already knew her, but I didn't! She brought me a ton of desserts and we played games..I was so happy to meet her. Plus she has all these plans to take me places and do things with me. I feel so much better tonight than I did last night because I know so much more about the way my schedule will look and what my classes are like. Thank you all so much for praying!!! I really appreciate you and your consistency in praying for me. 

-Bethany

Songkran Festival!!!

My sweet friend Faa

My past week has consisted of many things...but it all circles around Songkran Festival (Thai new year). This is the biggest holiday in Thailand. They celebrate Songkran like we celebrate Christmas. Everyone goes home to their families and they get a week off of school and work. One of the main attractions of this holiday is the 3 day water festival. It's basically a continuous water fight with adults. People sit along the side of the road with water guns and big buckets of ice water and soak the poor, unknowing pedestrians. It was fantastic. I was so ready the first day. We went to this big market called JJ Market and walked along the road. At first I wanted to go to the market to buy things (souvenirs, gifts..etc), but I soon realized that would be impossible since it was water day, and I dove (literally) into the water games. I bought a water gun..I soon realized that the combination of the water gun and the fact that I'm foreign made me a major target. I was drenched. It was so much fun though.

I have powder paste all over my face!

Day two of water day happened to be Sunday, so our church went to the park for our service. I learned that on top of water, another tradition they have is to get a type of powder that is very similar to baby powder and mix it with water to make a paste. They then take the paste and plaster it on the faces of everyone. Again--since I have blonde hair and green eyes...I was a target again. So I left the park that day with nasty powder paste on my face. It was certainly entertaining.

so cute!

Day three of water day was none other than our moving day. We were sad/anxious/excited/nervous--pretty much every emotion you can imagine--about moving to Ladprao from Lad Krabang. First of all, packing up all of our things was very difficult. I have no idea how I fit everything the first time, but the second time was not easy. I finally finished and we moved to our new home. Everything is different. But I know we'll get used to it eventually.

During the week off, we had the privilege to go on vacation with the Cable family. Steve

If you can see--the dolphin is going through the hoops

Cable is the founder and Pastor of Santisuk English School and Peace Fellowship Church. His daughter is close to my age, and we had a really good time going to the beach, eating delicious food, relaxing, and just enjoying eachother. There was one day that we went to this Dolphin place and we saw a show! It was my first time ever seeing Dolphins in real life and they did these awesome tricks. SO GREAT!

Charissa on left and Heidi in the middle

As you can tell, we are having a really amazing time. I do have a request of you though. Next week we will start our second session of classes. I think Caitlin and I both are nervous about it because we both have two classes with at least 10 students (I only had one class with 4 students last month). My schedule is Monday through Friday: my first class is from 7-9 AM and my second class is 1-3 PM. I am already feeling tired and I haven't even started teaching yet. So if you could pray for me this upcoming week, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much!!


-Bethany

Thailand Highlights

Hello! I know it has been so long since I wrote, and I sincerely apologize. I have just been over the top busy, and when I get home the only thing I want to do is sleep. Since so much has happened in the last week, and I can't write every detail, I think it would be best for me to share a few highlights.

The first highlight is sports camp. There were over 60 people from SES at Ladprao and Lad Krabang. It was a blast. Imagine: 60 people, a gym, no air conditioning, 100 degree weather...yeah, that about sums it up. It was fun to get to know and spend time with so many new people. One evening before dinner, one of the girls had a guitar out and started to sing. Eventually, a bunch of people were gathered around her singing worship songs. It was so cool--especially since many of the people that came are not Christians. Before going to sports camp, I was nervous about playing the sports because of my knee injury, but I soon realized that my knee is so much better than I think it is. I ended up playing every sport and my knee didn't hurt at all--everything else did though..

Another highlight of my week is Wednesday. Tuesday night I finished my class..it was bittersweet to know that I am 1/3 of the way done. It was sad to know that it was over, but I knew that I would still be spending time with my students even though we didn't have class. So on Wednesday, I planned an "outing" with a bunch of my friends. I love the fact that in Thailand everybody seems to hang out all the time--even if you invite them last minute. It ended up that four people came with us to see a movie at the mall. We decided that we wanted to go see a Thai movie. It was possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. The movie had English subtitles, but the way some of it was translated cracked us up. It is amazing though, because it's very easy to follow along and understand what is going on in the movie. Since then, we have made so many references to the movie. It was extremely fun. The next day, we went back to the same mall with one of the girls and we taught her to ice skate (yes, there is an ice arena in the mall). She was so scared at first, but it was very fun. I love being able to experience these things with the people here.

I think the main highlight for me this week was Wednesday night. We knew that we had to cover a class because Dondon (the teacher) was going to be out of town. We were told we had to teach at 6, but on our way home, we found out we had to teach at 5 instead...Well, we didn't have any time, so we rushed to the school to start the class. Caitlin and I both were exhausted from our busy day, and the last thing we wanted to do in the world was teach a 3 hour class..but we did it anyway. Well, at the end of the class, I invited both of the students to come to get dessert with us, and they both said yes! We were so surprised. It ended up being so much fun even though we were both really tired. Today, Dondon told us that both of the girls want to spend more time with us, so they are coming with us to this place called JJ market tomorrow. It's so exciting because I know they aren't Christians and it's so good to know that they will be spending time with people from the church and people who are Christians. I'm just really excited about it!

If you think about it, please pray for Caitlin and I as we move from Lad Krabang to Ladprao next week. We're both feeling really sad/excited about it. It's going to be really sad to leave here because we may not see the people we've become so close to any more, and exciting because we have a whole new adventure to look forward to. Thanks for your prayers!!!

-Bethany

23 days already?!

On our way home tonight, we were with two of our friends from the church. As we were walking, the two boys began talking in Thai and laughing...As usual, I asked what they were talking about (I'm a curious person!). So they began to fill me in about this girl that we passed earlier. Apparently, one of the boys thought she was very cute and wanted to give her his number. Now this normally wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm pretty sure that I have the same conversation every single day with these guys...So i began laughing and said, "YOU LIKE TOO MANY GIRLS!!!!". The boy I was with quickly responded, "I like every girl........but I only love one girl." Well, that totally made me laugh!

The last few days have been really good. Yesterday was super fun--especially because we went to Karaoke! I have been wanting to go for quite a while now. Karaoke is a big thing in Thailand. It's so interesting, because the connotation of Karaoke in America usually has to do with a bar or a restaurant, but here, there are buildings that are only for Karaoke. I went with my students after class last night and there were four of us altogether. The thing you have to know about Thai people is that the majority of them are very shy and reserved. They don't really like to be noticed and will mostly stay in the background--so the idea of them singing karaoke was making me laugh before we even got there. When we got there, I was surprised to find that there are individual rooms to be used. So, the four of us were in our own little room where we could pick the songs we wanted. I chose the first song, because I assumed they would be too shy to start, but to my amazment, they completely transformed before my eyes. The shy, sweet, and reserved students I had come to know became crazy, hilarious, and obnoxious singers. It was fantastic! I will never ever forget that night...

I think that maybe a combination of singing last night, not getting enough sleep, and having the air contitioning on too high last night, made me a little sick today. I woke up with a  sore throat and I still don't feel the greatest. I think it was a little bit of a blessing though, because I ended up not having class since only one of my students could make it today. I definitely think it was a God thing, because I don't think I would have had the energy to teach for 2 hours today.

Tonight for dinner, I was really hungry--even though I wasn't feeling the greatest. So I told my friends that I wanted chicken and vegetables with rice. I was looking forward to it because I haven't really had a lot of vegetables since we got here...So, when my food finally came, I took a bite and immediately my mouth was burning! I looked at the person who ordered for me and said..."SPICY!". But they informed me that they ordered the food not spicy. Apparently, what is not spicy  to them is way too spicy for me. I ate a little bit, but I couldn't eat it all! Then to top it off, after I finished, one of the boys took a big bite of one of a red pepper. He told me that it was not spicy, just sour, and that I should try some. I'm not sure why I believed him...and I'm especially not sure why I didn't get the warning signs--the amount of water he was drinking, or the sweat pouring down his face--but I decided to taste it..WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE! My mouth  was burning for 30 minutes. Yeah, it was kind of dumb.

Well, we've been here for three weeks now. I'm loving it more everyday! Please, please, please keep us in prayer. We really appreciate you all.

-Bethany

APRIL FOOLS!

I've been thinking for so long about what to write today and I'm having a really hard time coming up with something. But I figure that if I just write, something will come eventually..I guess I'll start with yesterday afternoon. We were on our way home and I realized that it was the last day of March. Caitlin quickly reminded me that the next day would be April fools day. It was obvious that none of the people we were with had ever heard of it. So we informed them. I didn't really think that they really understood what it meant, but today I was proved otherwise..

We were getting ready to head out the door this morning and we both got Facebook messages from one of the girls we were with yesterday...it said, "Hello Bethany, I have been hit by a car. I am now in the hospital". Caitlin and I looked at eachother and immediately began to panic. We started to plan a visit to the hospital to see her and I wrote back to her asking if she was okay and if we could go see her. Her next response was this, "April fool...:p". AHH! Can you believe it? She completely got us!!! It was hilarious. 

At the school today, Fai, one of the girls I have become particularly close to, has been asking me to help her sing harmony. She has a beautiful voice and leads worship on Sunday mornings, but she really wants to know how to harmonize. Well, I began playing guitar and singing and remembered that she wanted to learn, so I started playing a simple worship song that we both knew and I taught her the harmony part. It was so fun for me to teach her. I could tell that she was trying so hard and after about 30 minutes of practicing, we had the song down perfectly. I was singing melody, and she was singing harmony like an angel. It's the little, spontaneous things that make Thailand different and wonderful. 

In the English classes that I'm teaching, some of the things that I have to teach are so funny, and some of the things are normal for us, but I've never really thought of them before. For example, I had to teach that when someone says, "Water?" it means, "Do you want some water?". Or if someone says, "Tired?" it means, "Are you tired?" Those are things that are completely normal and natural to us, but are super confusing to my students. I was so excited because tonight when we went to dinner, I was sitting with them and I noticed that one of the girls had not finished her dinner. So I said to her, "Full?", hoping that she would understand and remember what I had taught in class earlier. She immediately got a huge smile and I knew that she remembered and understood what I was saying. It was definitely encouraging and cute. 

One of the best things since we have been here for 3 weeks now is that people in our neighborhood are beginning to recognize us. We go to the same coffee shop almost everyday and order the same thing. At first it was so difficult to try and order, but now we just walk up and the lady knows exactly what we want! We also have quite a few restaurants where we eat lunch and now they know what we want! It makes me feel so special that they remember me! 

It seems like everyday is a new adventure, and I can't wait to see what other adventures are in store for us. Please keep praying for safety, good health, and most importantly that God would be working through us. Thank you so much. 

-Bethany