Some pictures from this week :)

 Making bracelets at "Lights in the Community" the day before I got sick.

 These two girls were the sweetest!

 Thursday night small group! Talking, Pizza, Dutch Blitz

Valerie (Canada), Andi (Texas), Me, LJ (Staff-CA), Jerome (Staff-New Zealand), Santy (Indonesia)

Fragile and Forgiven

This week has been a tough week. I felt like I was completely drained emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Thursday I went back to lectures. Our topic was Repentance & Forgiveness-not light stuff.

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." 1 Corinthians 4:7

As I spent time alone with God, Thursday afternoon, I felt like I was a fragile clay jar. Almost as if someone could tap me and I would shatter into a million pieces. But then I remembered the treasure that was inside me, the Holy Spirit, Jesus. Because of His power I am no longer totally fragile. For...

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." 1 Corinthians 4:8-9

Because of God's power I will not be crushed, driven to despair, abandoned, or destroyed! But that was just the beginning of this special time with God. Then He started pointing out to me things in my life I needed to repent and ask His forgiveness for. Things I need to lay at His feet once and for all.

"The cross before me, the world behind me. I will follow you. NO TURNING BACK!"-Hymn

Then came today...
We started out the morning talking about forgiveness.

"Forgiving doesn't mean you have to forget the sin, it means you won't use someone's past against them. Sometimes that means you choose to live with the consequences of another person's sin."

"Forgiveness is a choice.
1. Will
2.Mind
3. Emotions
Forgiveness happens in this order. If we forgive based off of emotions we will never feel ready to. Or if we forgive based off the mind we will think of plenty of excuses. BUT if we forgive with our will (which should be in line with God's Will) we make the commitment to the CHOICE of forgiving. God will take care of your emotions and mind."

Awesome stuff! After that we had Application Time. This can also be called Repentance time. We came to the front of the room, prayed out loud to God asking for forgiveness for the sins we knew He wanted us to lay at His feet, then our speaker and mentor prayed over us. It may sound totally weird but it was a really incredible time of not only coming before God but also learning what it means to be vulnerable with this team/family. A lot of growing happened in the 5 hours (not including breaks) it took for everyone to be prayed over. I cant believe it but 5 hours passed in the blink of an eye. Today was one of the scariest things I have ever done but I feel like my physical, emotional, and spiritual cup that felt so empty this week has been completely filled by God :)

Outreach Location:
I really wish I could give you all the name of the country but they postponed the announcement until Tuesday. I will post about it as soon as I find out!

Prayer request:
-Since being sick I haven't handle Thai food as well (especially chicken and rice). Please be praying I become okay with the food again!

Sickness-Health and Home

I got food poisoning. I think it was that instead of the stomach flu that's been going around (over half of the team has gotten it now). The reason I think it was food poisoning was because I didn't feel nausea except for a time period of 4 hours (soon after I are a questionable dinner) on which I threw up at least 5 times. Everyone with nausea had it for a day if not a little longer. I woke up this morning with no nausea but I did have headache and I was totally exhausted. I stayed in bed all day and just started moving around an hour or so ago. My body is so weak right now. Besides sleeping I have working on homework and spent some time with God. I am also thankful for my family here, they have been so great at taking care of me :)

I shed my first tears today. Well my first tears over being homesick. I managed to keep it all together even though there were numerous times I felt like breaking down in tears on the flight. Took me 3 weeks but I finally shed those tears. For those at home, I miss you all so much! You have no idea how badly I want to give you all hugs and see you all face to face again. I also really miss the Imperial Valley sunsets. Anyway, my mini pity party. Thanks for all your prayers, family and friends, I couldn't do this without you all. My outreach location gets announced in t-minus 2 days!!

Weekend happenings and ASEAN

So my weekend was a little nutty...

Saturday morning we had Nak Suu (the Rugby program). I helped with registration and taught English. English went well although we did run into a problem with the fact that some of the kids are Cambodian so they didn't know how to speak or write in English or Thai. registration on the other hand was a nightmare. Okay it really wasn't that bad but the girl who knew how to do everything left me with someone who had no clue what they were doing and another lady who knew the ropes but she speaks in a whisper and has a strong accent. Kind of hard to work with when music is blasting and you have a ton of kids that have strong accents when they tell you their name. Sorry, little vent time haha. I am just happy I didn't lose it. Five girls from our DTS will be competing on the girls rugby team for the BIT (Bangkok International Tournament)!

Saturday night we threw a surprise dance party for Shaneen. It was her 21st birthday and she loves dancing so we transformed the classroom into a dance floor. It turned out GREAT!!

Sunday I chose to have quiet time with God (a rare, hard-to-get time when you live in house with 11 girls that the downstairs also doubles as the Ark International office) instead of going to church. It was great not having to wake up before 7am and getting to spend 2 hours alone with my Daddy :)

My day began at 5:45 this morning for morning exercises. This morning was actually a lot of fun, we played ultimate Frisbee! For the rest of day I had morning chores, lecture, hospitality jobs, took a hour nap, and got to hang out and have dinner with Andi while everyone else went to dinner. Having a quiet house is such a blessing!

As for other happenings...
The beautiful 70s weather we had all last week is leaving us :( Its starting to feel like we are actually in Thailand haha.

Manuel, Miriam, Amiee, and Sarah all started throwing up and having stomach problems this weekend but thankfully they are all on the mend now. Please be praying that no one else gets sick!!!!!

Thailand happenings...
I just found out about this weekend.
In 2015, Southeast Asia will have open borders. It is called the ASEAN union (basically the same idea as the European union). There are pros and cons to this treaty. One thing that makes me so sad is that the people of Thailand (and surrounding countries) have no idea this is happening because the governments felt no need to tell their people. Oy, my Thai roommate, was telling me this. Other fact, I heard they will make English the national language. Countries apart of  ASEAN are: Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei. Please be in prayer for Southeast Asia.

Weekend is almost here!

I am exhausted. I even drank coffee this morning so I would stay awake during lecture! Yay for the weekend!!

At morning exercises I ended up pushing myself too hard that I fought nausea for a full 45 mins or so.  But thankfully that passed in time for me to do morning chores. That was a little hectic cause we had some extra jobs. But I still made it to the classroom in time! We had intercession and then Linda spoke to us again. We wrote letters to God and then spent time listening to God. We also spent time encouraging each other through Gods word. That was really nice :)

During the afternoon we had our one-on-ones. We call it two-on-ones cause there are 2 leaders and one student. My leaders are Lea and Gabie. After that we had a meeting for Nak Suu (rugby program that's on Saturdays). I am helping with registration and will be an English teacher. Yep, you read that right, English teacher. Thankfully it's only for 20 minutes haha. I am excited about it! Youth night is going on tonight but it was my free night so I just worked on homework. It was nice having some quiet time, definitely helped me.

Prayer requests:
-Patience as I teach tomorrow.
- I will be committed in my quiet time, especially when I feel emotionally drained.

Yesterday-The Bleeding Women

Thursday: We had a great time of worship and then Linda (from YWAM Thailand) spoke. She is with us until Monday talking about 'Hearing Gods voice'. At this lecture, she had us find a object that best describes us. One team member chose an iPhone cause she is complicated but she has a lot of knowledge, another chose a speaker cause while he doesn't look like much he is creative (like the speakers). I chose my Thailand bag. Because while I wouldn't consider myself bright, I am bold. Anywhoo (Jerome and I have decided that anywhoo is far better then saying anyway) we then started reading the story of the bleeding women from Mark 5. We talked about how this women had been a total outcast for 12 years; she probably hadn't had eye contact with anyone during that time and most people looked at her like she was invisible (she was unclean due to the bleeding) and she was only called 'women'.  As Linda told the story she had us act it out. I ended up being the bleeding women. We guessed that when Jesus spoke to the women he got down on his knees and looked her in the eye and (bible says) he called her 'daughter'. Can you imagine? You were an outcast for 12 years, feeling no love or acceptance because people couldn't be around you. Then Jesus knelt down to your level, looked you in the eye (first person to do this in 12 years) and called you 'Daughter'. Well in that moment I was in the place of that women and I broke. Like BROKE! In that moment I was an outcast being loved for the first time in 12 years! I literally started sobbing in front of the whole classroom (for those who know me well this is totally not like me. I DO NOT like to cry in public). It was totally awesome though! I am sure that bleeding women felt exactly how I did. Except she probably felt it10x more intensely. God loves us SO much :)

As for the rest of the day, we went to the monthly YWAM Thailand meeting and then went to eat at a market with our small groups. I am in LJ and Jerome's small group (Andi-Texas, Valerie-Canada, Santy-Indonesia are all in my small group). 

Holy, Baking, and Community

Today was super busy! For class today 2 team members presented a YWAM foundational value and then we spent time writing encouraging notes to put in everyone's encouragement box. Sam spoke to us again today and it was so good! He talked about holiness, truthfulness, and faithfulness. We talked about how God calls us to be holy, because He is holy (1 Peter 1:15). Some people believe it is not an achievable goal. But that is usually because they think holiness means 'sinless'; BUT holiness actually means 'set apart'. Holiness is achievable because God doesn't call us to do things He couldn't do, for God is just! When Jesus was on earth he was completely sinless even though he was totally human and faced EVERY single temptation we face with 10x more intensity because Satan probably worked extra hard to get him to fall. But Jesus didn't sin, not because he was focused on being sinless, but because he was focused on God. I just really wanted to share that cause I thought that was just awesome!

After lunch is was constant movement. My room in in charge of cleaning lunch dishes this week so I had to that and then immediately get started on the cake for Community night/Sopos birthday. Community night is when the DTS group and Ark staff all get together for dinner...there is usually a country theme each week and this week was Australia. We worked all afternoon getting the cake made for the night and I do have to say it was the best carrot cake I have ever had! Community night was lots of fun :) We split into 2 groups for dinner , some go to Sopo and Nicole's house (next door to our house) and others go to Lea and Rachael (down the street). I was at Sopo and Nicole's home and it was lots of fun hanging out with Sopos kids. I spent a lot of time talking with his 13 year old daughter. While talking to her I realized how much I miss my Next Wave youth girls (shout out to all you beautiful girls-I miss you!!). After dinner everyone came together for dessert and  Happy Birthday song. Tradition is to also have a time where you pick what type of animal the bday person would be like and then say 2 encouraging words as to why. For intense: Sopo as a elephant cause he leads well and cares for his family. I thought that was so cool! Anyway, today was a fun but busy day (felt like I was back at home and back into reality haha.) . I need to go to sleep now; morning exercises before dawn. Goodnight from Thailand :)

 

Lights in the Community

We awoke before the sun again for exercising. But today we did Zumba! So much better then running! We had an hour of worship with Sopo (the founder of ARK International) leading. During lectures we continued on the topic of God's nature. Our speaker, Sam, gave us many great stories that showed us how much God loves us :) We also spent a lot of time talking about how God is Just. We serve such an amazing King!

This afternoon we headed over to a Thai school that we do an after school program at. We had crafts, sports, and music workshops. I helped with the crafts and had a great time :) I found out today that Bangkok thai is different then Chiang Mai thai. So some of the thai I learned on my summer trip did not help me at all. In the second picture is my new friend...a Sugar Glider (flying squirrel). One of the girls I was making a bracelet with owned 2 of those little guys. They were so cute! A little about the school: The school we went to is a Buddhist school (those are the only public schools in Thailand). I think it is totally awesome that we are welcomed onto the campus, knowing that we are Christians, to spend time with these kids :) On the way home we all started singing our different National Anthems in the back of the Sung-tow (back of a truck with covering). We heard the National Anthems from USA, Canada, Indonesia, and France!

 

Special notice: We know that from March 31-April 4 we will be in Cambodia for a conference. We will be staying in Cambodia for one more week to do some outreach then we are coming back to Thailand for about a week to do a camp with the kids. I get to be a camp consular! Anyway after Thailand we leave for outreach. Our outreach location will be announced next Friday. We were also told that they are splitting our team for outreach. I am not excited about that. Please be praying for wise decisions for our outreach location and team placing.

 

So happy that there is no exercise in the morning! Goodnight from Thailand :)

Our schedule begins.

It was dark. 6 am. A normal person would be still asleep having sweet dreams. But not I. On this dark morning at 6am I was running. Well running and then briskly walking. Anyway...yep we started morning exercises which was running around the neighborhood. I briskly walked with Val haha. We also started morning chores-Kayla and I are working in the kitchen. We did a fantastic job :) For worship this morning Lea and Dillon played ukuleles while Santy was on the box. It sounded great! We played a game and then got into lectures. We are discussing the nature of God and Sam and Pat (a couple who live here in Thailand doing ministry) spoke. They talked about how complex Gods creation is and how we view our relationship with God. This week my room is in charge of doing lunch dishes which was a little hectic today cause we had to be back at the classroom for a workshop. Our workshop was only an hour long and about working with children. After that was done we had our work duties. For my hospitality team we figured out our week responsibilities and made a couple of thank you cards today. We have 2 birthdays to celebrate this week so we have a lot to do. Kayla and I walked over to 7/11 to get some groceries. I have been drinking tons of milk since I have been here! Tonight we went out to dinner as a team and now I am finishing this blog post and then going to sleep. Another dark 6 am morning ahead of me... Haha. Goodnight from Thailand :)

SUNDAY FUNDAY

The first picture is of my weekly schedule so you all have an idea of what my life will look like for the next 11 weeks. The next picture is the map we have in the classroom. I love how it shows where all of us come from (poor Jerome got cut off in the picture-my bad).

My Sunday: I started out my day Facetiming my family J It was great seeing all their faces! We went to church today! The church, Bangna Christian Fellowship (BCF), is on the 9^th floor of a hotel and has a Thai and an English service (like how we have Spanish and English services at home). The service was good and they preached on Ephesians and unity of the body of Christ. Towards the end of service the pastor had a picture of some Thai food on the screen and a little kid (probably around 4) ran up to the front and looked at the pastor.

Pastor: “Hey Matt, what do you want?”

Kid: “I want to eat!”

That kid is the best hahaha! After church we all got dropped off at Central Mall. This mall has to be one of the tallest malls ever built. It has over 5 levels. My heights fear was starting to slightly kick in on the last escalator. Kayla, Sarah, Shaneen and I all got McDonalds and after walking around the mall a little we took a taxi home. This taxi ride was better this time. The driver surprised me by calling someone who spoke English so I could give directions and she could translate what I said into Thai. I guess my directions in Thai haven’t improved but I am learning! We are now enjoying a wonderful afternoon just chilling. I am getting some much needed alone time, which is fantastic!!! So yesterday I was told that out of all the Americans (there are 4 of us) I had the strongest accent. Found that interesting. Tonight we were on our own for dinner which was entertaining. Anyway I am now getting ready to go to sleep. 6am exercises start tomorrow and I hear that we are running (UGH!) (I think I am going to die). Please be praying that I survive haha. Our morning chores and work duties will begin tomorrow as well.

About to eat crab legs for the first time!

My TEAM!!

My DTS team!
Back row: Gabie (DTS Staff, Costa Rica), Andi (Texas), Amanda (Wisconsin), Rachael (DTS leader, married to Lea), Melinda (Canada), Me!, Manuel (Germany-official babysitter of his daughter Amiee while his wife, Miriam, takes the DTS).

Middle row: Sarah (France), Lynne (Canada), Valerie (Canada), Shaneen (Canada), Miriam (Germany-wife of Manuel and mother of 15 month old, Amiee), Kayla (Ohio), Lauren-Jean {LJ} (DTS Staff, California), Oy (Thailand), Santy (Indonesia).

Front row: Jerome (DTS Staff, New Zealand, Lea's nephew), Lea (DTS Leader, married to Rachael), Dillon (DTS Staff, Missouri).

Floating Market Fun

Today was actually cold; like San Diego weather! You all probably think I am crazy for being so excited about the weather but I oh well :p We took off this morning to go to a floating market. To get there we had to take a ferry and then we had to take a motor taxi (in other words a motorcycle taxi). We doubled up on the bikes so it was the driver, Kayla and I on a bike for about 5 ish minutes. It was AWESOME!! The market was cool but very busy. We kept getting water flung on us by a Buddhist monk. At the market I ate crab legs off the full crab body for the first time. It was...crunchy (and blegh!). After the market we went to Kings Park for lunch and some hang out time. This park is beautiful and is a common picture taking place for weddings and graduation (lots of both there). This park also had a maze and a workout area. Amanda and Jerome competed against each other  in hula hooping (these are weighted hula hoops-pretty sure they both have bruises now) for 6 minutes straight. They walked, jumped, did full spins while hula hooping and making lots of smack talk- Jerome: "I need more meat on me" (this dude is built like Brodie). On the way home Gabie got off the Sungtow without pushing the button to slow down. She ended up wiping out pretty badly. Thankfully she is just scratched up...no broken bones and she didn't hit her head. Tonight we all went to the classroom for a movie night. That was a nice and relaxing hang out time. PRAYER REQUEST: we had reports of 2 bombings in downtown Bangkok. I am safe but please keep praying for those involved and around the riots.

Let the weekend begin!

Another beautiful day; I am going to be so sad when the days get super hot. Class was REALLY good today! We discussed how to work with different personality types and how different types deal with stress. We then sent time praying over all the different personality types (we took the personality test on Wednesday, I was a I). We got our One-on-One, small group, and Weekend assignments. My one-on-one is with Gabie (with Lea). My small group is with Andi, Val, and Shanty and my leaders are Lauren and Jerome. I feel really bad for Jerome and Dillon getting stuck with so many girls haha. For weekend assignments: we have weekends off until February. For the month of February on Saturdays I will help with Nak Suu (the rugby program). During that month is the huge International tournament that I will be a photographer at-I am sooo excited!!!!! In the month of March I will be helping with youth nights on Friday nights. I am so excited to get into the weekly routine. After lunch today was free time. I worked on homework (daily devos, book report etc) and then went to 7/11 with Kayla, Andi, and Shaneen. Right now I am just chilling watching a movie with Kayla and I just got introduced to Sarah's family in France via Skype! Apparently 'chilling room' is the same in English and French haha. We get to go to the floating market tomorrow-excited!!

Prayer requests:
-I get updates about the riots downtown because we had to sign up as travelers with the US embassy. I got an alert that the riots today turned violent-couple of casualties. I am totally safe where I am but please be praying for the country!

-As always please be praying for team unity!

Assignments

Today was yet another great day weather wise! I am getting so spoiled! For lecture, we continued our series about team building. Learning the personalities of my team members will be helpful. After lunch we were assigned our morning chores that start on Monday. I am in charge of cleaning the kitchen with Kayla. We also got our work duty assignments; I am on the hospitality team along with Kayla, Shaneen, and Lynne. Hospitality team job includes planning special things for birthdays, taking care of the guest speakers, and cooking for community nights. I am so excited!! This evening we went to the slums by the port that Ark does a lot of ministry at. It's about an hour away from where I live so I got to see a lot of Bangkok. All I can say is: Bangkok is huge. We stopped at a church in the slum area to meet the pastor and then went to the neighborhoods. One neighborhood looked like Laketown from The Hobbit!! Most families living in these neighborhoods are illegals from Cambodia. Many of them are not able to get healthcare and have to work in hiding. We had dinner in a market nearby. After dinner, Kayla and I went home early with Manuel&Miriam, and Amiee (15 month old their daughter), and Lea (our director). On the way home Lea gave us his testimony of how he found Christ on his DTS. He actually wasn't a Christian when he started but God had a awesome way of getting to his heart during his lecture phase! He also shared his love story with his now wife Rachel :) "With God I have a beautiful wife, 2 sons, have traveled to 28 countries, and serve others. If I had pursued fame and fortune I would be all about myself and would be miserable." -Lea. I am so thankful for being in a quiet house for almost an hour! Everyone just got back and I am going to head to bed soon so...goodnight from Thailand :)

Prayer requests:
-To find alone/recharge time. Living in a house with 12 girls makes this really hard.
-Team unity

Lectures and transportation begin!

Today was great! Another beautiful day weather wise! We officially started lectures today. Our lecture topic is team building for the next 3 days. The Leadership Development Team from YWAM Thailand are the speakers for the training. They are an awesome team of leaders and I love all of them! We have discussed personalities on the DISC personality format. 1 thing that really stood out to me during the lecture: Averyl (one of the speakers) told us that what it takes you to learn in 5 years of living, you will live and experience in these next 6 months. All I can say is: wow. Quote that stood out to me: "When you are in the Valley, farm it. You won't get it from the mountains." -Linda (speaker).

After lunch it was free time. Kayla, Andi and I went to Ikea to get bedding and bins. Dillion drove us over but for a ride home we took a taxi. This was our first time taking a Taxi without any Translator or DTS leader. Needless to say this turned into a slight adventure. Our driver had no clue where our neighborhood was and all I could say in Thai was "straight, left, right, and stop here". Not totally handy when your not completely sure where you're going. We ended up getting off to early and after a good laugh we got another taxi to take us the final stretch home. It was a good experience, I officially know how to handle taxis and can direct them to my neighborhood. Tonight we went over to Lea and Rachael (our directors) house for dinner. Gabie (staff and from Costa Rica) made fajitas and salsa! It was wonderful have some Mexican/Costa Rican food! Now the day is coming to an end. I am so excited to see how God is going to be working in my life in these next 6 months! Prayers for teamwork still appreciated and needed :)  Goodnight everyone! :)

Tuesday

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was 70 degrees as we walked to class at 9am. It still got warm in the afternoon but not as bad as the day before. Class time was spent doing worship and going over our schedule for the weeks to come. The last week of lectures we get to go to a conference in Cambodia! We got to have a chill afternoon and then we headed to the mall. Right as we were leaving  the bench on one side of the truck collapsed and left a few girls with some bad scratches on their backs. Andi, who's luggage was left in Beijing and still hasn't arrived in Thailand, got the worse of it. Please be praying for her and that her luggage would arrive soon. The mall here is HUGE! Took us forever to find our way around. Lots of the stores are in America so I am coming to this place when I need to see some familiar things (and the mall has TONS of ice cream places so I will be here often haha). We ate at a Pizza place which was great :) our waiter was the sweetest waiter ever! I got asked to be to one of the photographers for the. Rugby tourney in February! This tournament is a International Tourney (so it's BIG) that Nak Suu puts on for fundraising. Nak Suu is the rugby ministry that Ark runs. I am really excited to be a part if this! Some if the girls are starting to have their 'I am having a hard time adjusting' breakdowns. Please be praying that we are considerate towards one another! There are a couple of girls I am having a harder time working with but beyond that I get along with everyone really well. So please be praying that I have patience & understanding with everyone! Off to start another day! Side note: it's kinda awkward trying to eat breakfast as your roommates give a house tour to their family via Skype. They always choose to introduce me right when my mouth is full haha!

Scavenger Hunt and more

The DTS has begun! I am so thankful for the fact that they give us a week to settle in. Yesterday morning we went to the classroom for the first day of orientation. That consisted of learning about YWAM Perth, YWAM Thailand, Ark International, and the their vision for reaching the children. We watched some powerful videos talking about the importance of reaching kids-I encourage everyone to look up the '4-14 window' movement. After class we had lunch and headed out on a scavenger hunt around Bangkok. I am so thankful that Oy (who's Thai) was on my team cause this hunt involved getting on buses and in taxi's and finding places I have never been to. I did get to see YWAM headquarters though and I do know how to do a taxi (haven't quite figured out buses yet). After the scavenger hunt I was EXHAUSTED so I stayed at the house with Kayla (USA-Ohio) while everyone went to dinner. We attempted to cook dinner-after all how hard could it be? Well after almost burning our hands from trying to get the stove lit (its gas but requires a match to light it) we decided to use the microwave...that was in Thai. We did figure it out and had a good dinner! It was wonderful having the house to ourselves. Having 12 or more people constantly in the house and get a little overwhelming at times. Kayla and I both needed recharge time! God has really blessed me with an awesome team though :) Well its getting late so I better get rolling-I still need to make a slideshow for class today :)

Settling in

Another morning in Thailand :) Yesterday was a chill day. Andi, Kayla (arrived last Saturday night-also from the USA), Sarah and I walked around our neighborhood and went to a street market nearby. We went to lunch with our directors Lea and Rachel (Lea is from New Zealand and his wife Rachel is from Austraila, they have 2 little boys and have lived in Thailand for 5 years) and another couple from Germany also doing the DTS (Manuel and Miriam and their 15 month old daughter Amiee). The restaurant was in the middle of a Ikea like store. That afternoon all of us girls hung out in the lounge room talking about our different countries (USA, CANADA, AND FRANCE). So cool! We had a Thai dinner with our directors and staff and then went over to our classroom for games. Anyway, I need to get going, orientation begins soon :) (Oh and thankfully exerising at 6am doesnt start until next week-Praise the LORD!!).

First day!

It is 9 am on Sunday here. Thankfully, since I have arrived we have a really relaxed schedule. Things start up tomorrow morning...with 6 am excerises (prayers that I don't die much needed haha). My roommates are Andrea (U.S.A), Sarah (France), Oy (Thailand), and Melinda (she hasnt arrived yet). Sarah and Andi both love Pride and Prejudice (we will be great friends haha). I will introduce the rest of my DTS later once I figure out how to spell everyone names! Yesterday afternoon we walked around our neighborhood called Banga Villa. It was childrens day so we got free food by the market section :) We also went to a street that you have to pay 1 baht to enter and leave, its full of venders and even has a 7/11. Anyway, off to get my day started. Hope all is going well on the other side of the world :)

I have arrived!!

After 20+ hours (it felt like days) of traveling I arrived in Bangkok!! Flights went smoothly, praise the Lord! Bangkok is definitely hotter and bigger then Chiang Mai. There are 12 of us doing the DTS (all girls). I haven't met anyone yet cause they are all still out to lunch. But I have met two staff members, Jerome and Lauren, who picked me up from the airport. The house is nice, hopefully I will have the chance to put pictures of my new home sometime this week. I still can't believe I am really here. Prayers for adjusting to new surroundings and regulations would be very appreciated. I am a little nervous about getting into the swing of things. Also, please be praying for our teams unity. I am so thankful for everyones prayers and support :)

This picture is of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand that I saw while I was there in summer of 2013. So excited about going back and getting to see a whole new city! For those of you who don't know I will be living in Bangkok, Thailand for the first 12 weeks of my 6 month trip.

Less then a Day Away!

Hi Friends and Family!

I can't believe the time for me to leave is here! I will be leaving LAX at 11:25 p.m. tomorrow night. I am flying 14 hours and 45 minutes to my layover in Taiwan. After a 3 hour layover I will fly 3 hrs. and 40 min to my destination-Thailand!! :) I will be arriving around 11:50 a.m. on Saturday Thailand time. California time: 9:50 p.m. on Friday (14 hour difference). Prayers that I don't go nuts after being in a plane for almost 15 hours would be appreciated!

Love,
Brittany