You all have a new sister in Christ!! My friend, Jum, who I posted about previously-- decided today to follow Jesus and surrender her life to Him. Jum had an appointment to meet with Jill (IMB) today, and she asked me to join her. I was humbled and ecstatic. During that time Jill went over, in Thai, the Gospel. As she explained her way through, Jum was nodding and affirming what Jill shared. At the end, Jum prayed and began her new life as a child of God! God is faithful. Praise Him who removes the scales to allow the blind to see!
Second news second.
This week I've baked over 200 cupcakes, plus cookies and sheet cakes. I'm in a losing battle with my dishes. My bed has been turned into a giant cooling rack. And I've never bought (or had Steph buy for me!) more butter in my life... but it's been totally worth it!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (tonight), and Thursday are party days. And what's a party without cake and games?? Tonight Steph and I merged our classes for a group competition of Jeopardy and Minute-To-Win-It! I headed up the cake and Steph mastered the games. It was really fun to get to have a more relaxed environment for our last Wednesday class of the term.
Here are some pictures from this evening :)
[Boss and Poy are my 1:00 Wednesday Class]
[Minute-To-Win-It: "Mummy"]
[Minute-To-Win-It: "Face the Cookie"]
[Minute-To-Win-It: "Bite Me"]
[Minute-To-Win-It: "Card Ninja"]
[Some of my 5:00 Wednesday class]
[Some of my 7:00 Wednesday class]
[Beam and Ton]
Last, but not least!
After classes, Steph and I met up with my friend Air to say our goodbyes. I met Air through a guy named Supot, who tutored Claire and I in Thai before we came to Thailand.
[Air, Steph and I at "After You" dessert cafe]
It's been a busy/full/fun/emotional day to say the least! But I'm thankful that everything got fit in and finished :) Another day down. Only one more "sleep" left in Bangkok after tonight!
Thais don't do jokes like we do. Funny things here are mostly physical comedy (think: Mr. Bean). No joke books, no "telling a joke," and definitely no "knock-knock" jokes. As a teacher of English and culture, whenever relevant to the lesson, I try to incorporate a little rabbit trail on knock-knock jokes. After all, who doesn't love a good knock-knock joke?
Well, class after class, term after term, they've died. My classroom has become a graveyard of killed jokes. No one gets them. No one laughs. They just stare at me with these open blank faces that say, "I'm trying, but I don't understand." And so I explain, give examples, draw diagrams, but never have I had success on this topic. You would think after so many failed attempts I would give up. But alas, I only have 17 days left to successfully communicate the idea of jokes to this country. And so, I persevere.
We were talking today about different types of conversationalists, and the topic of the "interrupter" got me thinking about the "interrupting cow knock-knock joke". I decided to try a new approach. This time, I started off with a brief, and comical, history of my long failed attempts of explaining these jokes. From there I moved on to a lesson on "the sympathy laugh." After I was convinced they understood the history and proper use of these laughs, I proceeded to teach them the knock-knock outline and tell them my burner-jokes (you know, the warm up ones- for them to get the hang of it). Then, I finally felt like we were ready for the debut of the "interrupting cow knock-knock joke."
[For those of you who aren't familiar with this joke. Here's the full three-part version of "the interrupting cow" -- source]
I won some sympathy laughs, so that's worth something! Perhaps someday, a future teacher can build on my work and get all the way to the "interrupting sloth" stage of the joke. But until then, I'll just keep trying!
Do any of you have knock-knock (or general joke) favorites? Please share them below in the comment section. I'd love to have some more recommended/vetted ones for the next time I find myself explaining them in class!!
Last post I ended with some specific prayer requests, and they've all turned into praises this week! So, here is a little follow up so that you can rejoice with us :)
- Jet-lag: Steph and I are both sleeping through the night, and it seems that my brain has returned to it's normal functions (instead of short-circuiting every hour or so).
- Claire: She's back in America, people! And, on her flight from Germany they didn't end up charging her extra for all her overweight bags (praise!). Believe me, they probably should have, because they were very overweight.
- Steph: She's still doing well-- she had her first week at House of Blessing this past week, and her classes here at the BSC start tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be posting more about it on her blog in the near future.
- For logistics: Phones, meetings, paperwork... it all got done (and smoothly to boot)! Yay God!
[Our 4th of July Party at LifePoint! Check out Tiffany's awesome flag-cake!]
This next six months is off to a big start. Here are some highlights of what has started and what is coming:
The LifePoint college interns arrived last week and have begun MTS (Missions Training School) which I'm joining in on. It's an intensive 6 week program with 4 hours of "school/class" in the morning and then ministry opportunities in the afternoons and evenings. I've been attending the morning sessions and then taking care of my regular ministry responsibilities while the interns do theirs.
[Interns leading activities at Thursday English Classes at LifePoint...]
[...And building relationships]
Tutoring at Rahab resumed last week (We're meeting on Tuesdays now)! It was so good to see the girls again, and in the last two months we've had 2 new girls join Rahab. It is so exciting to see girls coming out of the bars and into Rahab. Please pray that their hearts will be softened by Christ's love and the Truth. Pray that God's light would shine in Patpong.
Classes at the BSC started tonight for me. I am teaching 12 classes this term (9 regular classes, and 3 tutoring engagements). My Monday classes started off sooo good! We talked about hobbies in my 5:00 class and family trees in my 7:00 class. The students all seemed engaged, talked, asked questions and laughed. I couldn't have asked for more on a first day... or a Monday!
This Thursday, I officially begin the first of my LifePoint ministry responsibilities. I'll be helping every Thursday with Cafe Boly, the non-profit coffee shop associated with LifePoint: BKK. I say non-profit because all (yes... 100%!) of the profits go to ministries that work to help get women out of sex-trafficking, like: OneLess. And! Cool story: The founders of OneLess are from LifePoint: Smyrna and have committed to come to serve in Thailand for the next 3 years, and are flying here tomorrow! Brittany runs/manages the Cafe, and wants for the Cafe to be ministry both financially and also relationally. So, 6 different LP folks have committed to "adopting" a day at the Cafe, where we will come, sit, and engage the people who come in and invest in the Thais who work there. I also will help bake treats for the bakery! People, pastries and Jesus... what's not to love?
[Celebrating with Leigha on her Sweet 16!)
[L-R: Monica, Me, Steph & Chelsea]
[A few of the LifePoint Ladies!]
Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Steph and I as we seek opportunities to be obedient to the calling God has placed on us... to make much of Christ. We could not do what we are doing without your support and your prayers!
I know I don't include enough pictures, so this post is making up for that! I wanted to share some glimpses from this term... partly because this is the last week of classes and it's leaving me a bit nostalgic.
Friday Night Life: During the term we have a free weekly program that anyone can attend. We have worship songs, an English game and some kind of English lesson/activity/role-play. Claire has been doing an awesome job with this responsibility as our new "Friday Night Life Coordinator" extraordinaire!
[Role playing "going to the bank." In the front right is Wut, one of Claire and my students!]
[Tar and Geng leading us in worship]
[Aom... always with a big smile on her face! Although, as of a week and a half ago, she no longer is sporting the braces :) ]
[After one of our Friday Night Life programs]
[Claire's students... but they wanted us all to join in the photo]
BMA (Business Course): My twice a week intensive English/Business course. Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30am-2:30pm I had these lovely students! At our half-way point in the term we were discussing "decision making skills" and I had them discuss and decide what item they wanted me to bring to class. They decided on a cake! Then, on the last day of class they surprised me by taking me out to lunch and gifting me a beautiful framed photo of all of us and a couple scarves.
[My BMA class this term!]
[The surprise luncheon!]
[They ordered all my favorite foods... and even made sure the fish was headless... the way I like 'em!]
[Me sporting my new scarves! What thoughtful gifts & students!]
Regular Night Class: I always forget to take pictures of my night classes and I hate that! I did remember to photo-document one class this evening, though: my 5pm, Level 5, Tuesday class (which is 4 people if everyone shows up)! Teaching them feels like a large tutoring session. I sit down at the table with them and we have a lot of time for discussion and helping them with specific struggles they are having in English. This class has also adopted my dear friend Brenda as their class pen-pal and have enjoyed writing her a couple letters over the course of the term. Today in class we were talking about talents and hobbies, and when the topic of drawing came up, we had to show off our awesome sketching skills... check out them elephants.
[Nice, Nat, Ploy and I]
Also, in my Level 6 class at 7:00, I used some verses from Proverbs in my lesson on "English Proverbs." After class, one of my students, Jum, asked if she could learn about the Bible since she was a Buddhist! I told her that you cannot be both a Christian and a Buddhist, but that everyone is welcome to come to Church, read the Bible and learn more about Christ (Buddhist or otherwise). I told her that we are not born into Christianity, so every Christian was, at some point, something other than Christian looking into and learning about God... and of course that is okay! I invited her to some of the events at my Church and am praying she comes.
Tutoring: This week is just beginning, but it has already had some really exciting moments. One of the guys I tutor, Sit, started our time asking me about "my religion's leader who just resigned." (He was referencing the Pope.) I told him that I'm not Catholic and gave him a quick summary on Catholics v. Protestants. Which led to discussing religions in America, including a short digression on Mormons. In the past, I've brought up my faith before and been able to share parts of the Gospel with him. As with most Buddhist men, he spent some of his life serving as a monk, but he seemed open to hearing me talk. This time, however, he asked me: "What is the meaning of the cross?" What more of an open door could I want?? I excitedly explained that it was originally a torture device used by the Romans, and was the way that Jesus was crucified... which led me to why His death was significant, his subsequent resurrection and the meaning of all of this to my life. I love every opportunity to share the Gospel, but I love it even more when they are the ones doing the asking! Sit will be applying for a doctorate program either in the States or England, and wants practice speaking... so we talk for 3.5 hours a week. (Which leaves lots of room for deep conversations!) Please pray that the things I share would continue to sink into his heart, and that he would continue to ask questions!
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!
While we were visiting dTan, she took us to the village school. It had around 35 students in grades 1-5. If a student wants to study past grade 5, they have to travel into the city.
[The entrance to the school]
[The school yard where the kids played]
[The school and the classrooms. There were only 2 teachers for the 5 grades, so they move back and forth between classes.]
We taught the kids "The Hokey Pokey", sign language to "Jesus Loves Me", played some games and then shared the Christmas story with them (dTan translated our English into Laos). After sharing about Christmas, which none of them had heard of, we gave them gifts. We had brought gifts for the students with us (pencils, erasers, rulers, mini globe-balls, candy, and matchbox cars/hairbows) and the kids loved them. Even the teachers liked the mini-globe balls... We were able to show them where Laos was and ended up teaching them a mini-geography lesson! Laos was a closed country until recently, so they know very little of the world. One of the teachers didn't realize that South and North America were different continents, so having the globes were very helpful in explaining!
[Playing a simplified version of "Simon Says"]
[Claire handing out gifts]
The kids singing "The Hokie Pokie"
[The 1st graders with their Christmas gifts]
[dTan in the middle, and the two village teachers on her right and left]
The first grade class was a little shy in the beginning. I don't think they knew what to expect, and dTan warned us that the kids might be scared of our pale skin and think we were ghosts! By our visit to the 2nd/3rd grade classes, they all started to warm up. And by the time we got to the 4th/5th graders, all the students from the other classes were peeking through the windows and cramming in the doorways to see what was happening!
After we shared in all three of the classes, we went outside and played with the kids. The students don't have any equipment, so the balls we'd given them became their entertainment. I turned into their circus seal... the kids would lob the balls to me and I'd bounce them off my head. Then we played soccer, but really it was just "keep-the-ball-away-from-the-farang." Getting to play with the kids was really the highlight of my time in Laos. It's awesome how far a smile goes when you don't know the language! I couldn't tell them all about Christ's love, but my prayer was that through the Christmas story and interacting with us, they would begin to understand God's great love for them.
[dTan walking back with the students after their morning classes]
