10: TEN

I would love for my readers to reply in the comment section of this blog post with questions/topics you would like answered/discussed in my Countdown posts. Because, some days, like yesterday and today, are pretty normal. Teaching. Dishes. Laundry. Etc. So, I'd love some new ideas to keep these daily posts exciting! But, in the meantime, I'm on my own for being creative. So here is an acrostic of neat things God has been doing/praises/things you can also pray about! (So really, there's no theme in this acrostic at all... I'm not even sure if you can have acrostic-paragraphs... acrostagraphs?)

The "New Thru 30" NT reading plan is almost finished! -- I'm currently in 1 John. Despite having a rather large daily reading load, and despite it taking me 3x as long as it should have, I've really been enjoying it. Reading deep has value (of course!), but reading scope (to see the Big Story) has also been really good. I think it has helped me keep perspective because I'm not bogged down for months in the same book.

Engaging in the Word -- One of the women in my small group has committed to reading through the Bible on her own. And she's doing it! Pray that the Holy Spirit does His work as she reads... that He softens her heart to the Truth and helps her to understand more about God.

Notes from students -- I love being able to hear back from students about their experiences in my classroom. But more than wanting them to like me (which, let's be honest, I want), I want them to leave having a better understanding about the God who made and loves them. I know I haven't done that perfectly (or even close!), but I pray God uses this last week to really help them to see that the difference in my life is Christ.

(People: please leave me something, anything in the comments-- so I don't have to resort to haikus tomorrow!)

11: my fun list...

...Of 11 Cultural Things That Aren't So Unusual Anymore

11.   Always carrying toilet paper in my bag for use as napkins, tissues, or in the public restrooms (which we call "toilets" here). And, there not being soap provided in the restrooms (no worries, I'm always packing the hand sanitizer!)
10.   Toilet talk and illness symptoms not being taboo. This includes acquaintances and friends asking lots of specific questions about your health problems and/or specific symptoms.
9.    Taking every picture at least twice
8.    Adults liking and sporting cartoons on their person/phone/bags/etc.
7.    Smelling everything before you eat it
6.    Covering your mouth while using a toothpick or while talking on the phone
5.    Taking trips, but not planning the details of them
4.    Umbrellas when it's sunny and gorgeous outside
3.    90 degree weather= women in sweaters, 70 degree weather= women in sweaters
2.    Squatting
1.    Riding on motorcycle taxis

[Proof of #9! Since next Tues is a holiday, today was my last day with this class!]

12: conversation

In the past 24 hours, I've specifically asked three different people, in addition to my blog readers, to pray for me to have opportunities to share the Gospel up until the time I leave Thailand. I'm not sure what I was expecting those to look like, but today, God blindsided me.

I had registration for most of the day, which amounted to being a quiet catch-up day at my desk. The Thai girl who has sat behind me in the office for the past 1.5 years came over to ask me to help her translate some things into English (as in, she gives me the rough translation and I polish it up!).

Even though I see her all the time, I've never really sat down and had a conversation with her. Today, we talked. She is a talented linguist (fluent in 5 languages!) and has been at the BSC only a little longer than me. I learned so much about her. She shared with me about her experiences in Catholic school growing up, but how she had decided to remain a Buddhist. I was able to share a little with her about my faith and the differences between a relationship with God and religion.

In my mind, today was going to be an uneventful day. But God gave me the opportunity to start to build (even at the tail end of my time here!) a relationship with her. What a huge blessing!

It was also really convicting, because I think of my classroom and my church as being a mission field... not so much the office. The office is my "get work done and get out" zone. I am friendly, but not particularly chatty. After all, I need to prep for "ministry/teaching" and so does everyone else there. But even the preparation is ministry. Every thing. Every time. Every place. Every person holds the potential for relationship, conversation and investment. Even if that's only for a few moments, days, months or years.

Today was my reminder: to not forget to see where you are-- and to notice the people around you.

13: on building a community

For a great re-cap of my small group's trip to Koh Kret today, check out Steph's post! [click here]. A big "amen!" on all that she wrote and shared.

Our small group (minus the three who weren't able to make it):

[Back L-R: JJ, Steph, Onn, Thep, Front L-R: Aom, Me, Nicha, Jum, Aey]

Here are a few of the things God's taught me in the past 4-ish months of leading this wonderful small group...

- Never underestimate the importance of consistency. Sometimes we had only one or two people come, but we would still meet. Consistency communicates that each person is important and valuable and worth investing in.

- Take time to be a community. This thought was first introduced to me by my college pastor, Doug. Yes, small group is first and foremost about the glory of God through learning and studying His Word. However, a well timed trip or outing to break the routine allows for friends to be invited and integrated into the group... It also reinforces the philosophy that you are a family. As Christians, we are more than just "Bible learners," we are people. And the group needs to see that, too!

- Be generous. Especially in Thailand, to be generous is to care. As a leader and a member of the group, being generous is a way to show investment. Celebrate together: birthdays, accomplishments, spiritual birthdays, etc. Give gifts or give time, but give generously. As I was reminded recently while reading in Romans, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another..." (13:8a). Create love-debts within your group!

- Push through the awkward. I started learning this lesson about two years ago when confronted by Doug about my inclination to bail out of uncomfortable conversations (Agh! There was a pause in the conversation, I'm out of things to talk about, better go, bye!). I'm still far from proficiency, but Thailand has given me a lot of practice in this area! Your relationships will have awkward moments because we're all a little awkward at heart. Don't let it deter you from continuing to pursue the conversation. You never know what sort of a lovely conversation you might have once you push through the awkward. People notice if you care enough to keep conversing.

- Value the friends of your group! God has grown our group entirely by the friend-invites (and friend of friend invites) of our original two members. When friends are brought, include them, invest in them, and treat them well. Nothing makes someone want to invite more friends, than when the friend they did invite is included and valued.

- And lastly, and also foundationally, have some people commit to pray for your group. For those of you who have been specifically praying for this small group since my first post on it August 18th, thank you! God is hearing and honoring and answering your prayers! Please don't stop :) There are still a lot of transitions ahead for the group, and we need your continued prayers.

14: blessed

Occasionally, I have fleeting moments of guilt when I have experiences ripped straight from the pages of National Geographic or the Lonely Planet Guide. Here I am, half-way around the world, a missionary (admit it, you just imagined a mud hut and bucket shower)... But in this journey, I have also been given singularly incredible opportunities to revel in God's magnificent creation.

Yesterday in my quiet time, I read the following verse from 1 Timothy 6:17b, "...Put [your] hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." I think that as long as God is in His proper place, as the giver and provider of the beauty in His creation, it's okay to enjoy it. In fact, he wants us to! Pastor Doug used to always pray that "God would enjoy watching us enjoy His creation." Well, enjoy it, we did!

Today I had the privilege of spending the whole day with three of the folks in my small group and one of their friends in the Lopburi province.

[L-R: Jum, Jo, Aey, Thep and I]

The day started off visiting an area famous for their beautiful sunflowers. We found out upon arrival that we were a week early... but some of the flowers had bloomed, so we took advantage of them in our photo op!

After that, we had lunch on a canal... actually on the canal. 

[The "bridge" to our floating lunch]

[Jum, Aey and her husband, Thep and I]

[Finished... and full!]

After that, we went to a dam, where I purchased some fresh sunflower seeds (if you come to Spotswood on Dec. 15th, maybe I'll share!). Then it was off to our unplanned dayscursion adventure at... Monkey Temple! I'm not sure why "give a monkey a piggy back ride" never made it on my bucket list... (what was I thinking!??) It's now there and checked off.

The highlight of my day was definitely the wonderful company I was with... but the monkeys were a close second! ;)

[The Guardian of Monkey Temple] 

[Jum and the baby monkeys. They were in search of new friends... or more food!]

[Jo and the monkeys]

[They were everywhere... on the streets outside, climbing poles, in apartment windows, crazy!]

[I was taking a picture of some of the monkeys when this one jumped on my leg!]

[Monkeys got the memo, free rides for all!]

Can I just reiterate how happy I am that God made monkeys? What a lovely lot of creatures. I am so thankful for the sweet friends God has given me here, who treated me to such an incredible day. I am so blessed.

Prayer Request: Our entire small group will be going to spend the afternoon together tomorrow (Sunday). Please pray that God would open up conversations about Himself, and that He would continue to bind us together as a group. I am hoping this trip will really help them to connect with Matt and Alli, as they'll be leading once I leave.

15: missions accomplished

When Laura was in Bangkok, she became friends with a girl named Carter, who introduced her to two ministries: Second Chance Bangkok and Antique Cafe. I had never been, although Claire and Laura were big proponents of both. Today, Steph and I decided to try to find both of these locations and simultaneously knock out some Christmas shopping!

I wish I could take credit for our accomplished missions of the day... however, they would have been a complete failure without the many Thais who stopped to help, walk, talk and escort us around (sometimes in circles!) but eventually to where we needed to be. A big thank you to the lovely nationals, all 17+ of them, who helped us find these places.

Mission #1: Second Chance Bangkok- a ministry in the Klong Toey slums

Today was a comedy of poor directions. First there was our taxi driver who got us to the general vicinity of Second Chance, but said the address we had was for a region rather than a place. He gave up trying and dropped us off at this lovely green building, instead. The bright side? He gave us a discount on our taxi fare because he couldn't get us to the right location.

Inside the building (it seemed to be like a Thai-DMV), a team of no less than 5 green-shirted employees looked at our map, called numbers, and tried (with no success) to help us get to Second Chance. Finally, one of the men drew a map and started talking in Thai to the women. I couldn't understand much, but he did say "not correct" three times... which of course, didn't inspire any confidence on my part. After that, two employees took us down to the street, (and, after talking with two women on the street) loaded Steph and I on the back of a moto (yes, all three of us on one moto) and off we went. He had to stop approximately three times to get directions... and eventually dropped us off in front of a building in Klong Toey that was not Second Chance and drove off. 

The two guards there tried to help us, too. By God's provision, one of the guards mentioned "Helping Hands" which is the parent ministry of Second Chance and name-dropped Poo (short for "Chompoo"), who works for HH in her ministry, "Cooking with Poo". After lots of nodding and "yes yes-ing", the guard walked us to her place. There, we explained our mission, as well as our twisted tail of failed attempts to the souvenir shop at Second Chance. 

[Cooking with Poo's Culinary School in the heart of the Klong Toey slums]

[Can you read the sign on the left? Gotta love a good pun!]

Poo was incredibly sweet and friendly. Her English was also excellent. She led us through the meandering slums back to the main street, flagged us two motos, and sent us on our way to Second Chance. I'm so thankful that God placed her there, and that she was willing to help us!!

[Poo leading the way!]

Once we arrived to Second Chance, it took a couple more tries to get upstairs to the souvenir shop. However, the employees were very gracious and allowed us to go shopping, even though it was past closing time (our trip there ended up taking 3.5 hours... whoops).

I don't want to post any big spoiler pictures of my purchases, as Christmas is coming and some of my readers will be receiving gifts from there... but I will share one picture. Below (left) is a Christmas card made out of recycled fabric and paper. The employees of Second Chance up-cycle donated items and resell them. Cute, right?

If you are in the Bangkok area and want to go gift shopping, they will be selling items at the Sirikit Convention Center on Dec 11th.

Mission #2: Antique Cafe

I won't bore you with more details of our lost cabbie, confused moto drivers and random valet who eventually helped us find the Cafe... (Although I am going to include directions for future sojourners!) While we did find it, it had, unfortunately, closed an hour before we arrived. Perhaps I'll try this one another time!

[Ride the BTS to Phrom Phong, take Exit 5 and continue down the street (in the direction it pops you out) for about a 5-7 minute walk]

[When you see Au Bon Pain, on your right-side, turn right.]

[When you see this sign on your left-hand-side, turn left]

[Antique Cafe will be on your left. Warning: They close early, and aren't open on the weekends!]

16: butterflies and such

Today started off meeting my Mongolian friend, Tseka, at Mo Chit station (BTS) to introduce her to my favorite park circuit! After walking around JJ Park and pointing out Queen Sirikit Park, we made our way to the Train Park. Here we stopped for some lunch, and I was treated to delicious "nam tok" and sticky rice. Yum!

In the Train Park, there is a free butterfly garden. I've run past it many, many times, and always think, "I'll come back to see it someday..." Well. Today was that someday. Loved getting to see all the cool butterflies (and moths) and, in true Thai fashion, photograph everything!

Today was the end of Week 4 teaching... only two weeks left! After classes tonight, I headed over to Chelsea and Monica's place for their open-house/goodbye party. There was quite a crowd! We stayed until late talking, taking pictures (lest we forget we're in Thailand!) and enjoying some general tom-foolery. Chelsea leaves this weekend, and Monica will leave in a little over a week. They will go back to the States for the holidays and then return to Phuket to begin their work with SHE Ministries.

And, as it's officially Thanksgiving in America, a very happy Thanksgiving to all of you! May your time with your families be sweet and special. Praying that God blesses you richly today with many memories made and moments shared. And, in memory of all us photo-happy folks in Thailand, don't forget to capture some of the moments :)

PS: For a quick pictorial lesson on how we park cars in Thailand, check out Steph's post! [click here]

17: jokes

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!!

18: politics

The political situation in Thailand is not great at the moment, and we could really use your prayers! While I don't understand everything that is happening (or why), I have been trying to read a lot to gain a better understanding of it... and it's complicated. A pretty accurate article was posted yesterday which overviews the more recent developments, you can read it here.

[Tens of thousands of protesters gather at Democracy and Victory Monument -- source]

Some articles are a little fear-inducing with phrases like "deteriorating fast", "rising tensions", "increased security", "riot police", and "toppling the government". But, as I keep having to remind myself, God is in control of this, too. Being on the ground with all the political energy steaming from the streets, it'd be easy to work up into a frenzy. But despite the news, the hype and the sheer number of Thais wearing red, white and blue and sporting whistles... they are choosing to remain (with only a few small exceptions) non-violent in their protesting.

The good news is, you always know where they are by the noise! When I got off the BTS at Phaya Thai yesterday, they were marching past the BSC. I took the video below from the BTS platform. The BSC is behind the trees.

However, as of yesterday, the protesters have now begun occupying government buildings in an attempt to force the current prime minister step down, and to establish a new government. This has caused them to set up in all of Bangkok what they call ISA: Internal Security Act (think: martial law), to help contain the situation. It's currently in effect until December 31st.

There is no real threat to foreigners, especially if we avoid rally sites and marches (which, we are doing as much as possible). The plan is for these protest/rallies/occupations to be resolved before the King's birthday (Dec. 5th). As exciting as it is to be on the front lines of history, it would be best for the nation for this to be resolved as quickly and diplomatically as possible.

[Marches throughout the streets hold traffic at a stand-still.] 

[Some of the marchers and "whistle-blowers" -- source]

So, how can you pray?

- Pray for safety. Not only for the foreigners, but also for the Thais protesting, and the riot police and officials working in the occupied government buildings.
- Pray for a peaceful resolution and compromise.
- Pray that God would bring stability and justice to this country.
- Pray that the airport will remain open (in 2008 the protestors shut it down) so that we can fly home on December 14th!

19: water park

Before I left for my brief furlough in the States, and before Claire left Thailand, we had a nice (almost) week-long trip in Chiang Mai that was integral for helping both of us process our past year in Thailand and the experiences we'd had. I wanted for Steph and I to also have something similar... while we didn't have a week to spare for that, we did have a day, today.

The morning started off with a goodbye breakfast with our friend Dylan. Dylan was here when Claire and I first arrived and left the day after the Spotswood #thailandorbust Missions Team of 2012. He has since come back to Thailand to live and study and continue with missions. It really came full circle that we've both been to good-bye parties for each other now!

After breakfast at The Coffee Club, Steph and I headed off to The Mall Bang Kae (we found the fastest way there is by BTS to Wongwian, and then a 100B taxi ride) to spend the morning at a roof top water park! (One of the perks of being in Thailand... every season is good for an outdoor swim!) While on our way to the top floor, we had to walk through "Fantasy Land" which was like a little slice of Disneyland. <3. 

The water park was a total blast... There's little that can make a Liz happier than racing down a treacherous water slide. And tube-flipping. There was a lot of that, too. 

In addition to four giant slides and many kiddie slides (Which were also quite fun... hey! We had to try everything!), there was also a lazy river... complete with a human-car-wash feature. I guess they don't want you to get too lazy on the lazy river. 

Our post-water-day picture! Complete with swim cap forehead lines. Don't laugh, we had to rent swim caps... they're mandatory here.

It can become so easy to race through life without reflection. It's good in different seasons to pause and be circumspect. A lot of good conversations and decisions came out of today. I am thankful that we made time/space this afternoon for thinking and preparing our hearts for what God is moving us towards next.