[month seven]

My sluggishness in posting this last month is due to the crazy nature of our "winter-break" and a lot of new changes with my life here. So, here is the 7-month catch up...

After a lovely Christmas (blogged about here and vlogged here) and after our trip to Laos (recorded in a 3-part installment that now has working videos!), we arrived home in Bangkok. It was early on Sunday morning. Turbo, one of our Thai friends at LifePoint, had invited everyone to his family's holiday home in the country. So, we left from church for our next journey... to Suphanburi! While there, we enjoyed western toilets, hot showers and home-made meals! His family was the definition of hospitality, and it was so fun to get to know them while also bonding with the folks on the trip. Some of the highlights? Getting to trek through a cave, hike to a waterfall, ride a water buffalo, and make home-made Pad Thai! Here are some of the pictures, and a video (!) from our time there.

Feeding one of the buffalos... nom nom. (video credit: Brittany)

[That's right... I can "Kii Kwaii" / "Ride a buffalo!"]

[A poor 5 legged buffalo. They have to tie up his extra leg so he can walk.] 

[Claire, Brittany and Nisa at the Smiling Buffalo Village!]

[The state park we visited... can't pronounce it, but it was beautiful!] 

[Nisa, Chao, Diane, Claire] 

[Outside the cave]

[Inside the cave]

[Turbo and his sweet girlfriend, Nam]

[Some of our group... what goofs we are!]

[Wading in the water to the waterfall]

January has marked the official beginning of a lot of new things... including a new position as guest house manager at the BSC! It's a lot like being an RA: helping manage rooms, unlock doors for folks when they leave their keys in the room, facilitate building community, etc. I love it! And not just because the position comes with the perk of an apartment.

So, over break I moved one door down the hall, and now have a fully functioning kitchen, furnished living room and bedroom. The apartment was in desperate need of some TLC and a fresh coat of paint. Which, ended up being one of my big winter-break projects... along with cleaning up the community laundry room area and the downstairs community lounge (which had been slowly taken over by extra furniture, dated books and dust bunnies). The kitchen and living room transformed from a pepto-pink into a nice ice-blue (kitchen) and oatmeal-beige (living room). I'm officially all moved in now and have been making use of the larg(er) toaster oven by experimenting with some new recipes!

[The finished kitchen!]

The guesthouse has some new folks who have joined our ranks for a few months! Five members of the Logos: Hope ship are staying here to prepare and scope things out for when their boat compatriots arrive Feb 20th. Marcell is from Germany; Madeleine is from Sweden; JongMin is from South Korea, and Jimmy is from Thailand! They're all around our age, and have been a fun and welcome addition... it's neat to be living in a place that is so international. What a unique experience to get to meet and eat with people from literally all over the world as one family in Christ!

Classes for Term 1 have begun! I had my first week of night classes last week, and this week I will begin teaching a Business course (hitherto referred to as my BMA class). The BMA course is designed for business professionals and is 4 hours of classroom time (plus breaks) twice a week in the mornings. Because of this course, I only have 4 night classes this term.

I've started attending a new small group with LifePoint this term, and I am thrilled about it. Today was our first "official" meeting and it was, in one word: refreshing. I love being spiritually led. And despite balking against it from time to time, I love being challenged and held accountable. The Thais and Americans leading my new small group are bold in laying out biblical expectations over our lives. I love (and need) that. 

And lastly, many of you have asked about running... am I still running, how's it going, etc. Well, the holidays (and spending days on end in buses and vans on my bum) were not conducive to running... but I'm back home and have picked up my runs again. And yes, I have entertained thoughts of doing another race for fun, we shall see!

Thanks so much for your prayers and financial support. If there are specific things that you would like to know (or know more about) always feel free to shoot me an email or comment on my posts!