Half Way There!

HEEEELLOOOOO!! We promised we would come back with more amazing and cool posts so here they are!

WARNING: There are a lot of pictures in this post. We first settled with just 10 pictures. but thennn we realized we have 10 people on our team and 10 would never suffice to describe our amazing journey here. so here we gooooo!

Its already day 15, meaning we have passed the half-way mark. Time is going by so fast! But here are some pictures from the past few days of our time here in San Kamphaeng, Thailand.

The beautiful skies of Thailand!

The pastor P'Up and his wife P'Mem. They take us everywhere and they take such good care of us! Please pray for them!

The girls!

The boys~

A Buddhist shrine at Doi Suthep.

As we were visiting the temple and looking out into Thailand, P'Up quoted Missionary Daniel. He said, "False religion has taken the best place in Thailand to view God's creation."

The boys teaching the highschool boys how to play "american football".

Tina and Melodie taught K-Pop dances! The San Kamphaeng High School kids dance very well. They even performed a few routines for us. :)

Before we begin class, the students gather and participate in Buddhist meditations.

Some of our students.

We like to play games in class. This is Kevin's team. (=

One of the third grade classes that we teach at Khanta Elementary School.

Some of the kids in our body worship station at VBS Camp! They loved dancing to the song "Jesus, You're My Superhero!"

Tina being attacked by the kids. Just kidding! They all wanted to give her high fives. She is so loved by the children!

Patan Elementary school. This was the first elementary school where we led VBS Camp. Please pray for the children of Patan Elementary School! They need your prayers!

Korean cooking class! We made kimbap last week. This week, we made joomukbap. :) Things didn't always go according to plan, but we were able to stay flexible and prayerful. As a result, all the members of the class had a lot of fun.

Cha-Yen (Thai milk tea). Our whole team loves this drink. It's only 10 baht here (about 30 cents)! IT IS SO DELICIOUSSSS. Yumyuymymymymymmm.

Now here are some individual shots of us with our kids.

Khrue ("Teacher") Rot-May! (Rachel) Rot-May means "bus" in Thai. Apparently, it's a cute name here. Khrue Rot-May and a few of the upperclassmen girls at Bannoy Elementary School.

Khrue Jak! (Jason) This kid is in love with Jason. Whenever Jason comes into the room, he runs to him and gives him a hug and a kiss.

Khrue Prik-Thai! (Tina) "Prik-Thai" is a hot pepper. This is one of Tina's favorite kids. hehe.

Khrue Tono! (Joel) Tono is a famous Thai celebrity. P'Up really likes this name, so he gave it to him. This is a picture of Joel and one of his favorite kids from Nong Kong Elementary School. :)

Khrue Em! (Esther) This is a student from a kindergarten class. Esther is really good with the kindergarten kids because of her experience with the kindergarten ministry at Sarang.

Khrue Kewin! (Kevin) This is James. He is the smartest in his class, so he knows a lot more English than his peers. This made communicating with him a lot easier.

Khrue Saay! (Susan) "Saay" means "sand" in Thai. The pastor told us that it is a cute name here. This is Lau. He is one of the biggest flirts here in Patan School. He likes to blow kisses and wink at us.

Khrue Jennii! (Jane) This is Neung. He is Jane's favorite kid. She will come back from Thailand with a new boyfriend. hehe.

Khrue Chaay! (Ying) In Thai, "Ying" means girl. HAHA. So we gave him the name "Chaay" which means "boy." :D Ying's favorite kids are always the trouble makers, like the one in this picture.

Khrue Miw! (Melodie) We call this little girl "The Tasmanian Devil." She is very sweet and nice, but can be very loud and can create quite a mess at times. Nonetheless, we still love her. (=

This picture is regarding a team prayer request.

This is "Russell." We call him Russell because Kevin said he reminded him of Russell from the movie "Up" when he first met him. During the VBS bible story station, P'Aop was explaining to the children that God created the earth, but he would answer, "Buddha created the earth!" He began telling his friends not to listen to P'Aop or Rachel by telling them, "They are Christian. They are going to try to convert us. Don't listen to them." After that, they stopped listening to the teachers so it became really difficult for the teachers to lead classes.

We felt discouraged at first, but we realized how strong of a foothold Satan has here in Thailand and in the schools. Now, we are even more motivated to pray for the children here and love them with Christ like love.

Like the Bible says,

(We found this in the corner of a classroom and we are assuming that Grace wrote that before she left.)

So be strong all you STEM'ers, missionaries, and E-College! And please continue to pray for the Thai people and for our team!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

- For our team's unity and depth

- For the sick people on our team

- For the church of San Kamphaeng to grow

- To finish off strong with the rest of the VBS Camps and the teaching we have left

- That we would we see ministry not as a burden but as a blessing

Love,

Thailand Team 2010