students.

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!

snapshot.

I would never want anyone to think that my life here is glamorous or exotic. Okay, it does have its moments, but most days are just normal days, with me figuring out how to best love and reach out to the people God has put in my life. Because of that, I don't want to only post about Phuket Laos the big moments... I also want to capture the normal and small moments. Both for my own recollection and because most days of my life are comprised of small moments: little interactions, conversations and victories.

So, here are two snapshots from today:

Rahab. (Sound familiar? I posted about their ministry here.) Well, it's been almost 6 months to the day, and God has opened the door for Claire and I to work with a few of these women! Today we traveled to the the heart of the Patpong red-light district, through a little door, up an elevator and arrived at the doors of Rahab. Claire and I will be going every week to teach two classes for the women. My class (which has three women) is starting with the very basics, because two of them do not know their alphabet. The women have such a great sense of humor, every few minutes the room was filled with us laughing about something! Sometimes it was us laughing at ourselves because of how ridiculous our faces looked as we concentrated on making certain sounds, other times it was because of a misunderstanding or my charades, but between all of our laughing and cutting up, I think they learned a few letters, too. I am so excited about continuing to get to know and work with these women.

Tonight one of my students (June) stayed late to talk with me. After some standard small talk, she shared with me that her sister and brother-in-law are missionaries in Thailand! She lives with her parents and her father is a pastor in Pattaya. It's a small thing, but I love meeting Thais who are missional. I also love having fellow Christians in my classes. I know it's never "me against the world"... if it was we'd all be in trouble! But it's so refreshing to know that I have a sister in class who has the same heart as her Father: for Thais to know Him. She said that she would like to come to our Friday Night Life program tomorrow- I hope she does! It means so much more when Thais share Christ with Thais in Thai. Please pray for believers like June who are here in Thailand trying to reach their own people! Many of you know the challenge and burden of being evangelistic in your own backyard... please do not neglect to pray for Thais who are also trying to do that.

[month four]

I feel like I just wrote my "month three" post... It's hard to believe it's time for another one already!

This morning I was able to catch up on a lot of the correspondence that has fallen to the wayside over the past few weeks. It was so refreshing to block off a chunk of time and be able to write real emails to folks and catch them up a bit on life here. I love getting mail and I do try to be responsible and reply to it all. In addition to catching up on emails, I also dropped off my absentee ballot, went for a run and painted half of my fingernails. What more could you want from a day off?

...Besides getting caught up on laundry. My room looks like the laundry monster threw up all over it. (In my defense, I am currently sharing one washer/dryer with 13 other people!) But today, today is also the day it all gets washed, and, if I'm feeling ambitious, perhaps even folded and put away.

Running and training for the Half-Marathon is going well. Some days are really hard, but I am making progress and I count every long-run completed as a total miracle! I'm in my 14th week of training, with only 5 weeks until the race. If you would like to sponsor my run (which is to benefit the Kelley's adoption) click here to read more! My goal is to raise $500, and as of today, almost $300 has already been pledged!

Term 6 ended on Saturday and we have three weeks before the next term starts (although two of those weeks I'll be busy with mini-course). This term was different from others because the majority of my time was spent tutoring rather than in a classroom setting. It was a nice change of pace and I love having that opportunity to get to know students on an individual basis.

[Some snapshots from the first week of mini-course]

I finished my first "pleasure read" since I arrive in Thailand... The Hobbit. Wan, one of the girls I tutor, wanted to practice reading, so I picked the book! While we didn't get through it all during our time, I did finish it on my own. The last time I read it was when I was in middle school, so it was like reading it for the first time. I'm looking forward to the first movie installment coming out this December!

So, there's a little update on Liz. Overall, I'm very happy here! God is teaching me so much about myself, ministry and what it means to love others. I love having Laura and Claire with me as well... it has been wonderful to be able to process and grow with them. While I can't believe we're 1/3 through our first year here, I am so grateful for all that God has done and is doing. Please keep us in your prayers, and thank you so much for your continued support and partnership!

[Some of our Thai, American & Australian friends at the BSC... after one of the Friday Night Programs]

learning thai.

I say "learning"... but take that with a grain of salt. So far I've succeeded in saying that a little boy is "toothless" (instead of handsome), that "I cough" (instead of "I'm embarrassed") and "2nd floor" (instead of "I teach") and that was just today.

Thai is hard! There are 5 different tones, which result in 5 different meanings for many words. "Cow" can mean: enter, white, rice, knee, etc. So much room for "farang error!" My Thai friends are very patient with me, and while my "Thai" is often met with quizzical looks and "mai cow jai" (I don't understand), they have been teaching me a lot!

Ting gave me a small notebook last month to start recording the Thai words I was learning. So far I have over 80 words in my notebook, not all of which I have mastered, but I am practicing! Ching-ching (really)!

Tonight, on our way back from Victory Monument, Aom challenging me to count to 100 in Thai, which I have never done. Numbers have been a bit of a struggle for me. Not because they are particularly hard, but because I don't practice them enough to really be fluent in them. It took almost the whole walk back, but I did it! (Nung, song, sam, sea, ha, hok, jet, baa(d), gaow, sip...)

As hard as it is to get the tones right and figure out where to place words in a sentence, it has also be so rewarding. My friends and even my students have been very encouraging of my efforts to speak in (albeit broken) Thai. It is also fun (sanook) to be able to pick out words that I recognize when I overhear conversations in Thai.

Noo and Aom are also teaching me a song (well, chorus) in Thai... They said this song was really popular ten years ago, which I believe based on the music video! Haha. The chorus is "mai ow na greng jai" which means "I don't want you to feel like your being a bother". "Greng jai" is a very common phrase in Thailand-- it means "I don't want to be a bother/be inconvenient". It is usually used to turn down someone's offer... but usually if you offer again, they will accept. Especially if you couple it with "mai ow na greng jai"!

[I don't know any of the Thai alphabet, but one of my students taught me how to write my name in Thai!]

I think that come September I will sign up for a Thai class to help with some of my Thai grammar and tones. I am learning a lot just by listening and through my many impromptu Thai tutoring sessions-- but I think having a class to lay a foundation would be helpful. Right now, I can only talk to people about a limited number of things... shopping, food, and very basic pleasantries. I would love to be able to share the Gospel not only with Thais who speak English well, but also with those who are in the lower-levels of English. I think that learning more of the language would really help with that.

Thank you for all your support, and "Praa-jaow oii pawn" (God bless you)!

The BSC

[A view from the 15th floor of one of the nearby buildings of the BSC (white building with the steeple). The rectangular building on the right side (with the white car parked in front of it) is where Claire and I live.]

Well, classes are officially under way! Tonight was my first class-class. It is my only level 5 class. Levels 1-4 are taught by Thai teachers, and level 5-9 are taught by the farang (foreigners). I had 19 students on the roster and 16 showed (which made for a really tight classroom). To help lighten the mood and get people talking, I had the students play a mingling game which got a little lost in translation... but I think they enjoyed it? (I'm not sure they would tell me if they didn't like it, but I did warn them that games will be a staple-part of the class!) Afterwards, I had them fill out a little survey about themselves and we discussed it together. 

Highlight of the Class
(This is mostly for the enjoyment of the umw girls... who perpetually must tolerate my conversations on the following topic!)

One of the questions I asked was, "If you could have any animal as a pet, which one would you want?" The best answer? "A sugar glider." That's right, people! Not only did I find out that the Thai people know about and love sugar gliders (aka: sugar bears), but also that they can be purchased at J.J. Market. I think I just made weekend plans.

tutoring.

Every day in Thailand is a little different. Right now, we are between terms. Term 3 ended the week we arrived, and Term 4 does not begin until July 2nd. In the interim, Claire and I have been given one-on-one tutoring assignments. While instructing one-on-one for 1.5-2 hours per session can be a little tiring, it remains one of the bright spots of my day. I currently have six tutees, and I individually tutor each of them once/twice a week.

Mam: I tutor her on Mondays and Tuesdays. She is so sweet and thoughtful. We talk a lot outside of class and she has offered to take Claire and I around Bangkok! She works as police officer, and is trying to get a job with the Immigration department at the airport. She needs to be proficient enough in English to pass the exam for this position-- this is where I come in! We have been working together to practice scenarios and vocabulary that she might encounter at her job. I get to role-play the angry/sad "farang" (Thai word for the foreigners), and she has to walk me through filing a fake report. It is a lot of fun, for me at least! And I am getting to teach her some conflict management tips also... I-messages, diffusing situations, collaborative and positive phrases, etc.

Dr. Thom: I tutor him on Wednesdays and Fridays. He is the quintessential Thai: hospitable, friendly, generous. From our first lesson, he has exerted extra effort to help me acclimate to Thai life. He gave a me a great lesson on the titles that Thais use to address people, and also made a map for me with all the places I should go to eat and where the young Thais hang out. He's in his 20's also, so his advice on what he thinks Claire and I would enjoy is very relevant. He also marked which places are safe to go alone/not alone and what time of day to visit them. He is quite thorough! Yesterday was our last lesson together and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him; I pray that some seeds were planted and that I'll have the opportunity to teach him more in the future and continue sharing Truth with him.

May: I tutor her on Wednesdays and Fridays also. She is in high school, and very involved in ballet. She is planning to go abroad to further develop her talent, which is one of the reasons she is committed to improving her English. I've only tutored her twice, but she (like all Thais) is very respectful and eager to learn.

Mint: I am tutoring Mint every Thursday. She is my age and is incredibly proficient at English... most of the Thai's have trouble with their L's, V's, Th's, and R's, but her pronunciation is wonderful. She signed up for tutoring because she is in a Business class that has regular oral exams. And while her English is great, she doesn't have the scope of vocabulary that she needs to excel. I tutored her for the first time this week and we had so much fun. She has a great sense of humor and we role-played various mock "entrepreneurial" ventures that she had to generate for her oral assessment.

Fourth: I mentioned her in a previous post, but she is one of my Thursday tutees. She is going to be studying in America for a year, and we're brushing up on American socializing (Little things like... tipping in restaurants and how to use a knife), culture and history. She is a student at a very prestigious and highly selective high school in Bangkok. From what I understand, you have to "test into" the high schools, and schools only accept students with certain scores. (Can you say, "cream of the crop?")

Aeh: She will be my new Wednesday and Friday tutee starting next week!

As always, the purpose of tutoring is not exclusively to teach English, although, that is an important part of it! But rather, to build relationships and bridges to Christ. I've been able to share what I believe with a few of them and had partial conversations with others. I hope that as we get to know each other, they will become more comfortable opening up in more serious and spiritual dialogues. One of the things that I am increasingly convinced of is that-- no amount of being persuasive or clever or smart is going to win the Thai people to the Lord. It is only the the power of God which can soften their hearts. Yes, I need to be faithful to share-- but I also need to be faithful to pray, pray, pray! Because that is what will make a difference when I speak. The Holy Spirit is the only person who can make the Gospel make sense to their hearts.

Pastor Doug often quotes someone who said, "I heard the gospel, I heard the gospel, then praise God! One day I heard the gospel." The only difference between the first two and the last one is the Holy Spirit. Please pray that God soften hearts to His Word. That they not only recognize their need, but also see and accept Him as the solution for their need.