Miss Congeniality?

Here is the funny story of the week (that has been the ongoing joke all week as well.) On Monday while at lunch, Khruu Ooy said that she wanted me to be in a beauty pageant for the Loy Krathong festival that is coming up. Amm (our communication liaison i.e. translator) explained what Ooy had said. They explained a little bit and we all laughed thinking it was pretty funny. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that I discovered that they were not joking one bit. I believe it is ironic how the Thai idea of beauty is so different than the American idea. We came up with a slogan: blonde, blue, height, white. They were banking on the fact that my super white skin would win the contest. The "bank" was a major draw for the contest; winners received a lot of money. After trying to tell them I thought a beauty pageant sounded like cruel and unusual punishment Ooy informed me that I had two days to decide. For the next few days my roommates and I discussed the crazy idea. We decided that one of us should do it, but none of us wanted to be that one. After many jokes and some not so brilliant ideas (one involving taking pictures in a lime green dress with our landlord's extremely unique lime green "sports" car and another being the idea that I wear a traditional Mexican outfit (instead of traditional Thai dress) since I'm from New Mexico. Therefore, I would be an American wearing a Mexican outfit in a Thai beauty pageant) we decided that this year we would go watch the pageant if it looked benign we would consider doing it next year. Actually, we are hoping that everyone forgets about it by next year so we do not have to come up with another way to politely decline.

Looking Up

Life is moving at a much slower pace now than at the beginning. At first I struggled immensely with that fact. However, I am starting to see the blessings of our situation. When moving to a foreign country for service I expected to be constantly busy doing good things. At the beginning life was very much as I thought it should be. After many changes and disappointments I began to be disillusioned. I thought: "If we have come so far why are we not doing more, why are we just wasting time?" I'd like to share some things I've been learning.

First, God often does not move quickly. I read last night a quote from the Encounters with God Bible by Blackaby. He said that perhaps God isn't so much waiting on time as He is waiting for a heart that is ready to fully obey as soon as the answer comes.

Second, just because things do not appear to be working out that does not mean that God has ceased working. It is easy to say that, but hard to believe what we can not see. I guess that is why faith is so difficult.

Third, with a different perspective this time has now become a blessing. I am thankful for the extra time to spend in the Word and with the Lord. During this time we are making preparations for next school year. These preparations are not interesting but are necessary and I, therefore, must remind myself to work wholeheartedly even when writing a teacher's handbook. (The upside is that since I'm writing the handbook I can make any rules I want. My roommate thought it would be funny to include that teachers must enter beauty pageants for community service, but that is a different story.) We are actively seeking and planning how to best reach the community. It is also possible that we will receive training on community outreach and information pertinent for working with children. We might also be able to continue working with the children that were attending our school by tutoring or other activities. We are also looking into working in Thai government schools teaching English for the semester. I realized the other day that part of my frustration with our work for this next semester revolved around the fact that I felt highly incompetent and unprepared for some of the work I may end up doing. The realization of this fact caused me begin praying that God would prepare my heart for whatever work I would be asked to do and that He would enable me to do each job well so that I will glorify Him.

Besides, today I can say that I watched a Scottish English teacher and a Thai secretary play a fascinating game with rubber bands. I saw a huge frog that looked as if he had been burnt (maybe he narrowly escaped becoming someone's dinner). I also learned how to drive a manual motorcycle (just in case ;)) And had time to download sermons from my old church in Lubbock. (Today is the last day of vacation before 2nd semester starts, therefore, only a limited about of staff is here today and no new projects were started.) Big praise: we had one of our team members who had left rejoin us today. Our situation is not much different but with a better attitude things are looking up.

My Favorite Day

Of all the fun times we've had throughout my parent's visit today has to be my favorite. We got to have lunch and get to know some good friends of good friends of ours from the States. We had a great visit and it was really neat to form more connections in Thailand. We have been discovering that to make life sustainable (anywhere but especially in foreign missions) you really need to have a community of people that you are able to really do life with. People who you trust, enjoy being around, and who encourage you in all areas of life. Also, this evening we (Brittany, Amy, Misty, Mom, Dad, and I) got to visit ZOE home, the home where most of our students live. The kids were so excited to see us. One of my little 1st graders even came right up to Dad and wanted to be held. My student was so excited to be tall. It was so neat to be able to see where our kids live, meet their parents, and hear more about the ministry. We have been inspired and encouraged again and again by the workers and kids at ZOE. They really shine the light of Christ in a tangible way. Both of our visits today were such blessings and encouragements to me.

Here is a picture of Dad with one of my students.
Another picture of Dad and my student who was thrilled to be so tall. He had just been smiling really big but the camera was a bit slow.
Just to give a picture of little hill that our elephants went up. They were able to ascend and descend at places much steeper than this picture.

A picture of us at Khum Kantoke, the Northern Thai dinner and show.

Dad with the monkey.

Dad and I on our elephant. I'll get pictures of Mom and Amy from Amy's camera and post them later. (We swapped cameras for the trip.)

The sinks in the bathroom at the Jungle Restaurant. The restaurant is very good and the bathrooms are especially cool. :)

Mom and I took an all day cooking class. We visited the local market to get our food and then made a variety of Thai dishes. We met people from about 5 different countries.

Our Day in Pictures

We got an early start this morning, ate a delicious breakfast at our guesthouse, and picked up my roommate Amy from our house. Our agenda for the day included: the temple on Doi Suthep, Phu Phing Palace, and Doi Pui. After a bit of a confused start (I couldn't remember which road to turn on) we started our "trek" up the mountain. Hundreds of windy curves and several ginger pills later we arrived at the temple on Doi Suthep. After climbing several flights of stairs mom was not happy when I informed her that we were almost to the actual stairs. We counted about 305 steps. After Doi Suthep we traveled even farther up the mountain to the Phu Phing Palace. The palace was not how I imagined it would be (I think I expected it to look more like a temple).
My favorite part of the visit was the beautiful roses. After the palace we traveled down a pretty rough road to a Hmung Village. I was surprised that the first building I saw was a school. Maybe we'll move there next. :) On our way back down the mountain we decided to stop and walk to a nearby waterfall. The waterfall had a trail that went up about 1,900 meters to the top. We only went to the second level but had a great time wading in the water. We ate some "farang" (foreigner) food at a restaurant called the Queen Victoria. The day ended on a great note with Dad setting up Internet at our house. We are so spoiled. Here are some pictures from the day...

Mon Tha Than Waterfall (one part of it)

Wading in the water.

Dad, Mom and I in the palace garden.

Just some of the roses from the palace garden.

A little pond right in front of the palace.

The Phu Phing Palace.

Amy with a beautiful flower on the palace grounds.

Mom with the "Mom" dragon statue at the Doi Suthep temple.

Dad about half-way up the stairs to the temple.

This is actually a picture from one of the temples we visited several days ago. This is one of the oldest temples in Chiang Mai.

The Eagle Has Landed

Well, technically my parents and not the eagle have landed. But they are way better than the eagle anyway. Yay! My parents have arrived safely and have been to the Sunday Night Market, some of the oldest temples in Chiang Mai, ridden on tuk-tuks and saungtaws, sampled some authentic Thai food, met the staff at my school, worked on fixing computers at our new school building, and have eaten some Finnish meatballs. I'm sure it doesn't get much better than that.

Here is mom's side of the story. :)

Thailand is a beautiful country of very nice people and way too much humidity! Mountain View Guest House is an old, quaint, Swiss Family Robinson-style teak and rattan abode with wi-fi and air con. Emily has amazed us with her negotiation skills with tuk-tuk drivers. She says that she is not exactly negotiating the price but whether they understand her Thai.
We've been able to spend some time at the new school. It's got a lot of character but needs much more cleaning to make it inhabitable. (Emily's interjection: Mom doesn't know that we already battled the mice, threw out junk that filled up several rooms, and mostly got rid of the filth that was here previously.) There will be a carnival on Saturday to introduce the school to the neighborhood. We'll get to meet most of Emily's kids and then later might be able go to visit the largest orphanage/home. Jeff is amazed by the bamboo scaffolding and ladders used here, he would like to bring one home to try it out. Emily shows no fear driving on the left side of the road. When I noticed the speedometer showed 100, I was alarmed until I realized it was kilometers per hour! The only downside has been that Jeff has not been able to relinquish control of the gearshift and parking brake. He thinks that because he is sitting in the left seat he is the driver. Emily has repeatedly told him since she has the steering wheel she out ranks him! On our outings Mom just closes her eyes. I think that is probably best. :) More to come...

Elephants, Bowling, Temples, and Bamboo Rafting

Sorry these pictures are a little out of order. They capture a random assortment of the activities that keep us busy in Thailand when we are not writing lesson plans, renovating an old school building, teaching our kids, driving, and living our normal day to day life.

This first picture is from the Maesa Elephant camp. It was great fun to see the elephants close up.

This is Brittany and I at the Elephant Camp.

Brittany and I eating our delicious ice cream cones with sprinkles from Dairy Queen.

Elephants are actually really prickly.

This is a picture of a bamboo raft from our trip. It really is as rickety as it looks.

This picture is from our bamboo rafting trip awhile back. We ate in a hut at the bottom of that steep hill. They sent the food down in a basket using a pulley system. This was when we went bowling for Brittany's birthday. We listened to old remixed American songs and bowled with our opposite hands. It felt for all the world like we were back in the States.

This is from the White Temple on the way to Burma. It is a beautiful structure. These sculptures are underneath and beside the bridge that leads to the temple. The hands are supposed to represent people reaching out of hell. It was very haunting.

This is the White Temple. It was absolutely stunning and really sparkled in the sun light.

Praise!

I apologize for not writing recently. I have not known what to write because things change so rapidly. However, life is sort of settling down. (I'm a little afraid to say that.)Things still change day-by-day but most really important things are staying stable. One new terrific thing has happened though. Amy is here!!! Amy is the teacher who will take over one of my classes. We have not yet decided who will teach which grade. She has moved into my tiny room and we are adjusting to having to maneuver around our two fans to get anywhere. Even though they are inconvenient the fans are necessary and will not be moving. :) Please pray for her as she has a lot to get used to and big challenges to overcome.

Also, I wanted to say a big thank-you for all of you who are supporting me. I have not clearly communicated how grateful I am for all of your love and support. This would not be possible without you. Life here is definitely stretching and growing my faith and I am really enjoying being involved in our team and community here. We know that God is with us and is working in ways we cannot see. Our hope is that our perseverance and struggles now will pave the way for a Christian school that will change lives of children in Thailand for many years. We are committed to not giving up because we believe that God has brought us here for this purpose. So thank you for being a part of this battle.