Today was the prison ministry day! We had a long 2 ½ hour drive through the Thailand mountains and finally arrived in a different province. It was so beautiful! We were next to a body of water and there were palm trees and mountains all around! It felt like we were in Florida or Hawaii rather than Thailand!

The prison was crazy. We breezed through several gates and soon were in walking around among the inmates. We had guards with us, but only two or so, and none of them were armed in any way. Honestly, it was a little scary. I have never even been inside an American prison, let along a Thai men’s prison! And the fact that Ashley and I were American girls meant that a lot of the inmates were quickly aware that we were there.

There was a Thai pastor and three Thai students who Tutu, Eric, David, Ashley and I went along with. We all were seated in the front of a old-fashioned partially outdoor schoolroom. The inmates who wanted to attend our little “service” quickly filed in.

I am not going to lie- I have never been so intimidated in my life. Ashley, Eric and I each prepared a little message to give to the men, but I felt so inadequate to speak to a room of men, who were older than I was and had definitely experienced a lot more than I had in my easy-breezy American life so far… What do you say to a group like that?! There were about 20 of them in the little class room, but many more working out or hanging out outside the room were paying attention most of the time as well.

The Thai students began by leading a few Thai worship songs (after we introduced ourselves) and my fears began to melt away as I watched some of the prisoners passionately worship Jesus.

After the Thai students got done leading some songs, Eric, Ashley and I sang two worship songs in English. We each prepared a small 5-10 minute sermon/sharing from the Bible. Eric and Ashley both shared with a salvation theme. I shared out of Philippians. I explained how Paul was a successful man, but counted everything as a loss compared to knowing Christ. He also went through very difficult times once coming to know Christ, but Paul writes about forgetting the past and looking forward to the promises he has for us. It went extremely well- a lot better than I could have imagined. They were all very appreciative and open and very glad that we were there.

We went to the women’s side of the prison next. On the way over we were told that we didn’t have as much time compared to the men’s side, and that we shouldn’t share what we had prepared, it was too long. When we got there, on the spot they just asked us to sing a song. After the first song, we were told we had more time, so we sang another. Then, Tutu asked me to share my testimony. So, I got up and was about to share what I had prepared, but she said no, just to share my testimony. Out of a room of about 50 women, only 2 in the front were Christians. She said they just wanted to know about my life, so just talk about my life in the United States to them. So… completed unprepared and mad at Thai culture once again… J I just prayed! This was a time when God could have the spotlight because I had absolutely no idea what to say! I just talked about my life in the states, my hobbies, school, what I want to do… and I’ve found that there is just no way to talk about my life without saying something about God. I’ve never really felt that I have had much of a “testimony”. Especially compared to the women in the prison, I have not gone through any horrible things in my life. But God has blessed me so much and been so consistent in sustaining me throughout my life that it was incredible to be able to share with the women the love I have for the lord and what role he plays in my life. The two Christian women up front were really excited to hear me say those things and I pray that it was of some encouragement to the other women as well. When I got done, Ashley was asked to do the same kind of thing, and she did a great job of thinking on her feet J

Honestly, being in the prison with those people was a really new experience for me, but God works in ways that we do not even know and I just pray that maybe something unplanned was accidently said that will plant a seed that we probably will never know about.

Day 28

Today Ashley and I went to Thai cooking school! This was so much fun! I loved it! We learned how to cook Pad Thai, spring rolls, cashew chicken stir-fry, Hot and sour soup with shrimp, green curry, and sweet sticky rice with mango! They were all made from scratch and all the most incredible recipes I have ever tasted! After preparing each dish in our outdoor kitchen stations, Ashley, I and two guys from New York would sit and eat our dishes! It was awesome because the food was incredible and I was so proud that I had actually made it!! We took a break half way through the course and the lady, Yui, took us on a tour of the market and showed us what everything was and how to recognize and pick out ingredients! She was so fun and so kind and made it an incredible day. It was an awesome way to get more familiar with Thai culture.

Kaillie, the other intern, came to Thailand today and we got to catch up with her and visit the kids at Doi Saket Orphanage 1. So fun… but tomorrow is our last day! Crazy…  

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Today was church! We got up early and all gathered at the Doi Saket 1 orphanage. We didn’t have any specified role in the service today, but when I was least expecting it, someone leaned over and asked me to get up and play a piano song on the spot during the offering! Thank the Lord that I have a musical background!            J

After church we had a pretty relaxing afternoon at Tutu’s house. We practiced our music for the prison ministry on Monday, but other than that just rested up.

Ashley, David, Eric and I went to the Walking Market again tonight. It was a lot of fun just spending time with friends. I love our friends in Thailand J David cracks me up- we have so much fun laughing with him!

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This morning we found a snake in Tutu’s bedroom! Without knowing it, it had been at my feet the whole time I had been praying this morning. Aaron pointed out the crazy metaphor J.

Ashley and I spent the morning baking a double chocolate cake for the nursery kid’s graduation party tomorrow! I am so excited for that!

After the cake, we went back to Tutu’s and helped load all of the instruments into the cars to take to the orphanage for the big concert tonight.

The concert went well J Before the concert, all the kids spent time in worship. Then Zack and his friend did really well and started the concert off with some popular love songs. It was so good and so fun! The kids got to eat cookies and got Coke during the songs.

Eric, Ashley, Zack, Daniel, his girlfriend, and I all played in one big band. We played severl upbeat worship songs. The kids were so cute- dancing around and everything! It was really fun, but challenging to communicate through the whole preparation process. I was frustrated because we could have been a lot better prepared, but because of the mis commnications and such, we didn’t get to practice barely at all.

After the concert, Ashely and I went into Doi Saket and got my favorite Thai dessert- Roti!!! Mmmm!!! It was so good!

I am staying overnight at the orphanage tonight! Tomorrow is a big day of preparation for the party and playing with the kids! I can’t wait!

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Today we got up and went with Ashley and David up one of the mountains to visit the main 

pagoda in Chiang Mai- Doi Set Hep. It was beautiful and the statues and architecture are breathtaking, but this was the first temple that we actual observed people worshipping in. We had to take our shoes off to go up to the actual place of worship and it was surreal. There were 

groups of people meeting with monks and making first time 

commitments along with countless others who were carrying flowers and incense around, bowing to the idols. It was so crazy. I really didn’t know what to think.

            In the afternoon we hopped in the back of the truck and road through the mountains for an hour to go to Wiang Pa Pao, the widow’s farm. It is so beautiful there! It is a farm growing corn, lychee fruit, other fruit, pigs, chickens, fish and more! The widows live there, help with farming and sew bags and purses to sell as a type of micro-enterprise. Tutu said that in the future they want to look into planting a certain kind of tree that attracts silk worms so that the widows can 

make silk as well!

            When we got there, we watched them kill and slaughter a pig for us to eat and to take back for the orphans. Talk about fresh meat! It was delicious.

   The farm provides food for the orphanages. It doesn’t completely feed the kids, but helps cut down the price of food a lot for Asia’s Hope.

            We spent a hot, bug-filled night, wonderful night at the farm, then headed back home the next afternoon, but not without praying first. There is a big need for support for this farm. The farm does so much for Asia’s Hope by providing food for the orphanages, a place for the widows to live and support themselves, and eventually- they want to have an orphanage there too! Some of the widows actually have orphans 

that stay at other Asia’s Hope orphanages, so it would be awesome to possibly move them out to be w/ their moms! Please pray that support would be raised to pay for this farm!

            We got back home in the afternoon and Ashley and I went in to the orphanage to play with the kids and help them with their homework. The language barrier is so difficult for me! I have even taken a course in teaching English as a secondary language, but was completely unable to help a girl with her English homework! It has definitely been the hardest part about this trip.

            Ash and I went to the store to pick up some party supplies for four of the nursery students’ graduation to the “big kid” dorms! We’re going to make it a really big deal for them and I am so excited!

            We then went back home and practiced the music for the concert at the orphanage which is tomorrow! It should be really fun!

            Busy busy! Please keep praying for Wiang Pa Pao! 

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Today Ashley, David, and I woke up and headed to the Day market. This was a really cool cultural experience. It was humungous and spanned across several blocks! We tried some really good cultural food from the roadside J Mmmm… spring rolls, cut up mango, fried pork balls…

Ashley’s mom sent some money over for the orphans in the nursery and Ashley and I picked out new outfits for each of the littlest ones at Doi Saket 1! We are so excited to give them to them and dress them up all cute!

We went home for the afternoon to practice for the prison, but Tutu’s other sons never showed up for practice. We’ve learned to roll with the punches since being here. Even if something is planned, it really doesn’t mean it will happen. So… you just learn to be flexible J

We got some Mexican for dinner, which was great! Then went with Ashley to her Bible study that she goes to on Monday nights. This was awesome! It was just for “foreignors,” so there were no Thai people there. The room was filled with people from every other part of the world, though, it seemed… Norway, Denmark, England, America… it was really awesome to see so many different people joined together as one body of Christ in a foreign country! Each person was in Chiang Mai working with a different organization. Some were with Partners, International Justice Mission, Free Burma Rangers, some were teachers… it was really great! We are looking forward to next week! 

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I had my first bout with sickness 

this morning. It wasn’t too bad, but prompted to chug some medicine before headin

g off to church.

Thankfully, God kept me healthy through the rest of the day.

We had church this morning. Church is held at the Prek Eng orphanage 1 for all of the orphanages in Chiang Mai. Once again, I am amazed by the staff workin

g at these orphanages. Along with all of their other duties, they completely put 

together and run a full-blown church service every week for all of the orphans, the staff, and sometimes orphans that have “graduated” and are now at surrounding universities.

The worship is a lot like ours, and although they sing in Thai, they only sang one song I didn’t know! They sing contemporary Christian worship, just like at Crossroads! Crazy! A lot of the orphans did special music.

The orphans love the Lord so much. It was incredible to see them yell out and jump up and down praising Jesus. They are such incredible kids. Occasionally babies would wander around the aisles, haha.

They took communion and offering and then it was Eric and I’s turn to teach. Eric spoke on faith and did a really good job. He used the illustration of being on a soccer team and having faith in teammates and how we need to have that same faith in Jesus and to have a personal relationship with him. I built off of that and talked about trust.

Trust is something that God has been pounding into my head over the past year of my life. Specifically trust in decision-making and when we have to wait on him. I encouraged the orphans and staff that God is faithful and that his way is always better than ours. He is fully worthy of our trust, and even if he seems to not answer us right away, he never leaves or forsakes us.

It was interesting speaking through a translator. Tutu’s youngest son, David, translated. He did such a good job! When I was praying about speaking today, I realized how much room there was for God to work in what I was saying. I realized that the words I said would go through my mouth, through a translator and into the ears of people who could potentially take what was said a number of ways. There was so much room for God to work that it didn’t really make me too nervous to actually speak. I just prayed that God would twist the words to form whatever he wanted the group of people to hear. Because I don’t know! It was just a cool thought.

After speaking, I shared a song that I wrote. Music is a really big thing with the orphans, so that was a neat way to connect, even through a language barrier. 

Anyways… after church, and playing with the kids, Tutu, Eric, Ashley, David, Birdy (a graduated orphan), and I went to get Callsoy for lunch. It was incredibly delicious, oh my! And I got some Thai iced tea, which was very interesting. Kind of tasted like cream of wheat and milk and tea all mixed together.

We all just rested through the afternoon. It was really nice. I really needed it. Ashley and I ran to the store in the evening to get some DV tapes for my video camera and to exchange some America money for baht. It is hilarious, though, because in Asia they only accept bills that are perfect and crip and not torn or marked on or anything! So I had a good looking bill, and it still got denied once because it was “too old” according to the date… ridiculous. But thankfully the second place we went coorporated.

We picked up dinner to go and some awesome fruit smoothies. It still surprises me how cheap stuff is here. We got dinner for three and three smoothies/ frappaccinos for probably 4 dollars. Woo!

When we got home (only Eric, Ashley, and I were home), t

he doorbell rang and movers from the music store had arrived to drop off all of the instruments for the upcoming concerts! Tutu has been saving u

p a long time to buy instruments and music equipment to use for ministry, prison outreach, and possibly a recording studio someday word has it? Maybe? J

Anyways, they unloaded and I couldn’t believe how much stuff we had! Brand new sound system, soundboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mics, mic stands, music stands, amps, a drum set, a double kick pedal… I still don’t even think I got it all! So we are SO excited for the upcoming concert outreaches now! The prison concert got pushed to Wednesday, but another is not planned for the orphans Friday night! It is going to be so fantastic.

So we played the night away with all of the new equipment. Good day. God is so good and is blessing this ministry so much!

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So, there must have been a misunderstanding as of why all of the children thought it was acceptable to put all sorts of nasty crawly bugs all over me and in my hair tonight. J

Today was the last day of English Camp, and pretty much all of the older kids were back in school, so it was a pre-school day! The little ones are so adorable!

It is crazy what these kids have been through so far and they are still so young! Pretty much all of the orphans are rescued out of the hill tribes, and the hill tribes have their own languages! So most of the kids don’t even know Thai when they come to live in the orphanages. One of the littlest girls (with a Mohawk) is still just trying to learn Thai. Talk about a hard transition!

But the kids are so good! It is incredible how well behaved they are. One of the littlest boys sometimes is a little hyper and overwhelming compared to the other kids, but when you consider their stories and what they have been through, it is amazing to see how good they really are. This little boy specifically had been abused by his father. And he is so young.

I helped Ashley cook the American lunch for the Campus Crusaders (spaghetti, garlic toast, salad, brownies...). It was so good!

After, the kids watched Kung-fu Panda, which is great. Disney movies are always more fun in Thai. Ashley and I spent some time cleaning the learning center building today. The kids have been in it all week and it was a mess! I asked her if her intern position had a “job description” or how all of the staff functioned in their tasks. She said for the most part people just did what needed to be done. And stuff just got done. They don’t really have set tasks.

I was around in the afternoon just to play with the kids. At Prek Eng 1 orphanage they have some fun play set stuff that they can play on. It was fun to run around with them.

The Campus Crusaders came back for dinner and provided a favorite Thai dish for all of the staff and orphans. I usually love spicy food, but this one was crazy hot! I’ve learned for the most part not to ask what I’m eating, but just to enjoy the taste. Eric and I learned the other day that one of our favorite dishes has the broth of pig blood. Oops.

After dinner the kids did some dances and sang some worship. Thank you’s were given for a good week and then all the orphans had ice cream! It was quite the event. But the evening was not done yet. We had FIREWORKS! And SPARKLERS!

It was a very good and very tiring day. 

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So, it has been a struggle since being in Thailand. The culture is very different even just from Cambodia. And even though Eric and I were on our own for most of the activities in Cambodia, we didn’t realize until now how much American “backbone” and organization we had while there. Since being in Thailand it has been hard to find a way to help with anything. The Thai’s communication is very indirect and they are the most hospitable people I have ever met! That is why without realizing it, we ended up at the mall watching a movie rather than at the orphanage helping with English camp. The communication was not clear and no one would tell us how to help or what they needed from us.

It has taken a couple days to transition to being here and to figure out how to be of any assistance. The children’s needs are being met by the orphanage staff. And they are incredible people! They have dedicated their lives to raising these orphans and they are doing an incredible job at it!

I’ve finally figured out how to get rides out to the orphanage at the beginning of each day, whether with Tutu, her son David, or the intern Ashley. Once here, though, unless Ashley tells me how to help, really you are on your own again to figure out where you could be useful. It has taken being very observant and also just feeling out what a normal day for the orphans is.

The campus crusade students are running English camp for the orphans, so the staff has gotten a bit of a break, which is great for them.

So…. With that being said. Today was a great day! It was really encouraging because I really feel that I am getting the hang of the culture and what my role in it is. I woke up early and came with Ashley so I could be present at the entire English camp. The orphans painted for one of their activities today and it was so adorable! They did such a good job! Some of them are really artistically talented! I saw that some of them were spilling some paint on the floor, so I grabbed a wash clothe from the kitchen and had officially specified my first job! I can’t tell you how much joy I had cleaning up the orphans’ mess. It allowed the Campus Crusade students to continue in the work they needed to do, while taking care of a job that one of the staff wouldn’t have to worry about later.

One responsibility that the staff still does have during this week of English camp, however, is cooking lunch for the campus crusaders. I helped with that! We cooked in the outdoor kitchen at the orphanage for a while. I peeled so many mangos that I lost count! It was fun to be a part of that process, though.

During movie time in the afternoon, I spent some time uploading my pictures onto facebook so that Crossroads would have them for their church service this weekend. I’m sorry that the pictures haven’t been working on here, but they are all up on facebook (of Cambodia at least), so feel free to check those out! I will try to start getting some up here as well.

Tutu picked Ashley and I up later. Her, Eric, and David had spent all day shopping around for instruments. We have a concert in a woman’s prison on Monday, and they have to buy a guitar, a bass guitar, a drum set, a P.A. and microphones, so they did a lot of shopping! Tutu has been saving up for these things for a long time to have for ministry, and now, because of the concert, is the time to buy them! So Eric has been able to help a lot with that. Tutu took us all to Thailand’s version of Walmart pretty much, haha, Carfour. Ashley and I picked up things to make spaghetti, brownies and cookies so that we could cook an English lunch for the Campus Crusade team tomorrow.

After we all got dinner. The food is SO cheap in Thailand! Eric and I both got a big dinner and water bottles for under $2! Crazy…

It was already pretty late by the time we got back to Tutu’s house. Ashley and I went over to Mike and Debbie’s house (other missionaries who are currently in the States) so that we could use their more powerful oven for baking. We made the brownies at night and spent time in the kitchen dancing and listening to music for the wedding that we have to prepare for!

So, although it has taken a few days to transition to Thai culture, I feel that I finally have gotten in the swing of things and it is great to feel that I am a help here. It really takes a lot of initiative. We are never given a list of tasks to do in a day. When we wake up we are responsible for getting where we want to go and once we get there (which is usually the orphanage for me) we are responsible to find how to help as best we can. Ashley has been an angel and I’ve talked with her extensively about allowing me to relieve her of some of her mundane responsibilities and we have a pretty good thing going now. Most of it has involved cooking lately.

But tomorrow is the last day of English camp and then next week all the orphans will be back in school! So the daily routine will be interrupted once again! We have a lot of music responsibilities to practice for! (the concert in the prison and the wedding). So we are starting to get busy already!

We found out that we will be sharing from the Bible or giving our testimony at the prison on Monday, so please pray that God will speak through us! Thank you so much for your prayers so far! They are helping so much!

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