A Yellow Song Taw

                 2 Peter 3:9,”The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some understand slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

                 As I’m on this adventure that God has prepared for me I get more and more excited about each day. Last Monday was another one of God’s many crazy adventures that He had planned beforehand. Whitney, Tonji, and I had decided to go to the new campus night market which is about a 30-40 minute song taw ride from our apartment. We went to go hang out with some Thai students that we had called but after we got there we realized none of them were coming because they had a big homework assignment they had to get done. So we decided to head back and so we took a yellow song taw. (Side information: a blue song taw goes close by our apartment like a 3 minute walk, the yellow song taw takes us to the old campus that is a 20-30 minute walk to our apartment which we knew at the time but there wasn’t any blue ones around so we didn’t mind walking.) So we started toward old campus and I told them that this night would be better if we got to ride a motorcycle.When we got to the entrance of old campus where we were supposed to get off because down the road is where our apartment is at; I said that we shouldn’t because it should turn around soon and Whitney said yeah let’s keep riding, and Tonji said I think we should have gotten off back there. The song taw turned into old campus and we kept riding hoping that it would turn around. 

                    It never did it kept going deeper into old campus. It finally stopped and everyone on the song taw got off except the three of us. The song taw driver got out and asked us where we were going (note: this was all in Thai). I told Whitney we should call Kowit (one of our Thai students that has excellent English) so that we could explain to him what had happened and he could explain it to the song taw driver. Instead Whitney explained to the driver in the best way she could where we lived or close to where we lived with lots of hand motions and the name of an intersection so he said he’d take us there for 100 baht and we said no no and we got off the song taw. Then the song taw driver said he’d take us to a road (we thought he meant the entrance where we had just come from) so we said okay and he took us out the back entrance of the university. At first we had no idea where we were but we got off because we thought we could figure it out. So we got off and I paid him. (my reaction: I’m having the time of my life!, Whitney’s reaction: wasn’t thinking about what we needed to do next, Tonji’s reaction: thinking of every possible way to get home, Whitney and I weren’t thinking whatsoever…haha). Right after I had paid the song taw driver. Whitney was like that motorcycle is coming right for us and the person on the motorcycle looked like an angel because it was very dark outside and there was a light behind the driver that made him look like one. 

                   As the driver got closer we realized it was our student Kowit! He asked us what we were doing and we said we’re lost! So he called Aim (a fourth year students who is amazing) and Jamesbond (this is his Thai name, his English name is Jacob) and they took us home and we were saved. (Whitney got to say that she was saved by Jamesbond that night, how many times can you say that? And as she was riding on the motorcycle they were passed by a bicycle because we asked them to go slowly). On that Wednesday night Whitney got to tell some Thai students about this story and then she related it back to the gospel and how Jesus finds us and saves us when we’re lost! It’s very cool how God uses our lives to point back to Him and his salvation…..and the adventure continues…..

First Times

Hey Everyone!

Even though I’ve lived in Thailand before I’ve had a lot of firsts while I’ve been here. First time I….1) ate a chili pepper in my meal (probably the most painful experience I’ve ever had in my mouth), 2) wash my under garments in the shower, our laundry lady does not do these so by the end of the summer I’m going to be an expert undergarment shower cleaner (but don’t ask me to do yours when I get back to America), 3) have been here without my parents, I love my parents dearly and I miss not having them here with me, 4) have used a calling card, I have memorized all the numbers on that dear calling card so that I can talk with my family and Tony, 5) have had a toilet in my house that does not flush, I have to use water from outside of the toilet to wash it down, it’s not as weird as it sounds, 6) have  led an English class daily at a university and at our home(I don’t know who said that I could teach English, whoever it was has never heard me speak), but despite that fact all of the students are very sweet and outgoing, 7) received a Thai name, a girl named Pat named me Som-O which means palmetto, I didn’t even know that was an English word, I have never heard of the word but apparently it’s a fruit, 8) probably have friends that know my name but I don’t know theirs, 9) have had Chai Yen (iced tea it was amazing), 10) lived with bats and had a rat in the kitchen, 11) lived on my own (I have never lived not in my parent’s house) with four other amazing Christ focused Georgia girls!, 12) that brings up another first, first time I’ve lived with Georgia girls, 13) have got to sit in on a summer missionary meeting and not have to go upstairs, (before when I was an MK Andy and I had to go upstairs and not get to listen in but now I’m a SM so I get to sit in on the meetings!) 14) have had crab (we went with some Thai students and they ordered peppered crab, it was really good!) 15) have lived in a 5-story apartment! (it’s a great home except for our mr. ratburn and bat buddies) There is probably a lot more but right now I can’t think of any so the adventure continues……

Housing

Hey everyone I thought I might just describe the house I live in. I live in a 5 story house with 5 other girls. Our first floor contains an air conditioned living room of sorts, a bathroom with the infamous squatty potty, and our kitchen. The second floor has a balcony off the back and is another teaching room. The third floor is our living quarters where we have about 6 or more fans to keep us cool at night. I probably sweat in the bed all night lol but it's one of the coolest floors. We also have a bathroom on that floor. All our toilets are not automatic we have to flush it down with water from a bucket. The fourth floor contains materials for us to use in English teaching and materials for learning more about the Thai people. There is also a bedroom that contains a queen sized bed but it's very hot and there's also a bathroom which is considered one of the most important because all the smells that we might of had on the third or first floor are eliminated. Our top floor is our roof. We can see all around the city but the other downside is it's the batcave for a lot of bats. One girl went up there to play her guitar and when she wanted to come back down the bats were going crazy. She hasn't been up there since. For about two days our water has been out. So the first night we went to the missionary's house and took showers. Thankfully it came on last night so we received refreshing showers. Yesterday before it came on we had to take buckets of water upstairs in order to flush our toilets because our water meter was running water. I live in the middle of the city so it's easy to get around.
The public transportation are called song tows and today we got from our house to the mall, Ser Thai, all by ourselves. We got some mango stem and a fruit smoothie! We also got to see a baby elephant which was amazing!...and the adventure continues.

Cashew Chicken and Moo Ping

I made it to Mahasarakam! You know the lady that I asked you to pray for. On the plane ride we got to sit by each other the whole way over from LA to Bangkok. It was crazy how it happened. We talked a little bit and I asked her if she knew about Jesus and God but I think it all got lost in translation but I'm going to keep praying for her. She returns to San Diego in a month and she's visiting her two sons that live in a city that is about 5 hours from where I am now. I am still trying to recover from jetlag which will still take a few days but right now I'm trying to stay up. Today we went on an Amazing Race around the city! It was awesome! There are so many places to explore and meet new people! I hope each of you has an amazing summer serving God in the place where he has place you! I can't wait to let you know more about what goes on this summer.....and the adventure continues.

Continued

So as I was getting excited about  getting my boarding pass for Taipei something happened: 

 I was the first one in line and I was glad to finally be getting out of LA. When I walked up to the counter I put my carry-on bag on the scale and it was about 4 pounds over the weight it needed to be and he said that I needed to fix it so I told him to take the next people while I figured it out. After I had appropriated the weight to both my backpack and my suitcase, the people in front of me were not given boarding passes because I think (as much as I understand Chinese ;) and hand motions) they didn’t have the visa they needed. I felt so bad but also glad that it wasn’t me worrying about that. When it was my turn I put it back on the scale and it was over a pound and a half so I was going to pay the penalty for having a luggage overweight and THEN bom bom bom (for effect)….he called another lady over and she explained to me that my flight from Taipei to Bangkok had been cancelled. I was like oh my goodness I’m going to be stuck in LA forever and I’m never going to get to see my parents again…I was overreacting just a little bit. The lady then asked me to follow her. She then explained to me that I was going to get on a Thai Airways flight that leaves at 11:20 tonight on Saturday and would arrive in Bangkok at 6:20 on Monday so I was like awesome! I also received a $20 voucher to use at any restaurant! And God works in mysterious ways there was another woman that was also going to be on that flight and after the airlines lady had explained everything to us she left us for a little bit to get us our ticket for Thai Airways and guess what?! She was Lao! Her family was also there. So I got to talk with this lady! She’s actually lived in Thailand longer than she lived in Laos and now she lives in San Diego. Her name is Nataalia. I was so excited I got to talk to her family and I impressed them with my Lao (the three words that I know). And then they left and I got to talk to her for a while but I’m so excited because we have a flight from LA to Bangkok together! I can’t wait to see what God does through this trip! He’s already worked in amazing ways! Therefore because of this I would ask you that you would pray for Nataalia and for myself the courage to tell her about Jesus! *Right now your reading after I’ve already taken the flight with Nataalia but I know God already knows the prayers of his people and if you would pray for her even after it has already happened but that you would pray right now that I would be God’s instrument. And also if you could pray for Nataalia that God would unveil her eyes to his glory. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17,”But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” ….and the adventure continues.

Airplane and Layover Food

So I’m sitting at the airport and already I had two things that were almost put a damper on my trip. First when I was checking in Tulsa the flight from Taipei to Bangkok was not available on United Airlines but fortunately they just did not have that flight in their system so it was okay. Then after I had gotten to LA I almost had a bad but not terrible incident. At the first stop I lost my wallet yes at the first stop. I know the drill make sure you have everything whenever you go anywhere. I was ordering at McDonalds and all I ordered was a coke. I had other things on my mind anyways at that point I was hungry and there were no fries and I did not want to have any change when I got to Thailand because I couldn’t exchange it and there was a guy behind me that wanted to order and I was in his way so I picked up my drink and went to a table. About 2 hours later I got up to look around and I went to a shop and decided to buy something. All glory goes to the Lord for this because if I hadn’t of bought anything I wouldn’t have realized my wallet was missing. So I called my mom like any 20 year old does when they’ve lost something. I went back to McDonalds and the lady whose register I lost the wallet at said something to the point of ‘oh you lost your mind are you crazy.’ Apparently they had called my name over the intercom but they had called me Nicole which is my middle name…but it wouldn’t have mattered because I wasn’t listening anyways. Probably reading or talking to Tony or my parents. Okay so now I’m sitting at a table thanking the Lord for getting me this far! Right now the terminal is really crowded so I’m sharing a table with two Asian men…haha their Chinese food looks amazing! Especially since all I’ve had today has been a rice crispy treat and a dr. pepper. I know God works everything together for his good and I’m glad that he’s given me the faith to trust in Him. James 2:22, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.”   ….and the adventure continues.

Preparation

Hey Everyone!

So I decided to create this blog so that I could be in contact with everyone more easily as I prepare and go on my trip to Thailand.  Right now I am 12 days away from leaving! I'm getting so excited but nervous as I get everything packed and ready for when I leave.
God has really been working on my life.  He has been teaching me that I can not let anything come in between me and Him.  It's got to be him and me.  I really have to make sure that what I am doing in my daily life and what I am thinking are honoring and glorifying to Him!  He's been dealing with me about making Him first and foremost above anything or anyone else.  He loved me so that I may love others but that can only happen when I let everything be in His hands.  It's even harder to let something go that I really care about but if that's what God wants I want him to be the center of everything.  Luke 9:23-24,"And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

Thanks for reading
In Christ,

Amy