A CHANGE OF BLOGS!

I'm so sorry for the delay in update:

This blog address is officially full of Posts, so please visit my NEW link instead!!! 

asifiwerewind2.blogspot.com

Take a Look!

Heres a quick follow up from last weeks post (stories) about Matthews find durring our search for Lahu Villages...This week they drove back to find the village from the map that a group of Lahu boys drew for him when we were together last week. Keri made an awesome video of their success there, Take a Look!

http://youtu.be/qfjwgoNQWVA

Its Official...

Flash Back....now becomes Fast Forward

This was a picture taken on the streets of NYC on the very last day I was in States before I borded a plane and started my Asia adventure...Im about to complete a full circle. Said with tickets in hand, I leave one adventure December 2nd to start another. 

My mom can back me up when I say, ever since I was little I always told her I would live in New York City one day...ok, well take out the "city"part, and its actually happening...at least for a little while :)

Im so excited to finally live near Roscoe!

&

Let living out of a suitcase continue....

With only about two more weeks (IS IT REALLY ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS??? ok I just counted...16 more days shesh!) left in Thailand the moments that I havent been out in service...which have been few...I have been trying to soak up every ounce of sun, every bite of my favorite food, and every moment of my favorite people. 

The thought of leaving is so bittersweet, its exciting to go somewhere, but then you get attached to people there, and its just one more friend to leave when you go...

The water at the quarry was EXTRA clear that day, so pretty!

We had the company of Tyese's Parents Jan & Dan last week. They requested to go to the quarry all day, we didn't complain. Time flies here, they have come and gone, and arrived safe back home earlier this week. Only to see them soon back in PA for a litte visit I'm sure!

As I mentioned earlier, I have been in Service Service Service!!! Im pretending as if im a special Pioneer this month so I can get ahead before im going to be back in the cold, freezing, icy weather hehe. We have the C.O. vist this coming week and Tom & Liz arrive the Week after! So much to look forward to!

Our internet at our house died for unknown reasons....SUPER frustrating, and I'm pretty sure we all feel lost from the world a little...

So if it takes awhile to get back to you, dont worry. I love hearing everyone, let me know how you are!! 

Stories!!!

Story Time!

Since I have been back home from bangkok it has been service, service, service!!
Im not sure if it was the encouragement from the recent convention I received, or the amazing experiences in the ministry, but it has been an AWESOME last two weeks. 

Last Wednesday 

A large group of us headed a little further out of town to walk a territory. As Sharon and I meandered down the road too start the morning we pass a small temple area placed just off the side of the road. A women was inside bent down on the floor bowing to the communal statue, burning incense. She must have heard our chatter because she interrupted her praying, turned to us and asked "by ni?" (where do you go?) we explained that we came to talk to the people that lived here about a positive hope for the future. She got up off the ground and insisted that we walk to her house with her, of course we didn't refuse her offer, so minutes later we were sitting in her backyard with water in our hands munching on a banana she cut off the tree next to us.  We talked for a long time using the Truth Tract to guide our conversation. While she did speak decent english at times she didn't understand, so she abruptly took out her phone and called her daughter who lived in Bangkok that spoke English to translate for us. Sharon took this opportunity to witness to the as well daughter for at least fifteen minutes, how unexpected! 

We met up with others around lunch time. Matthew and Kerri, Sam and Tarra, Cheri and I decided to push through for the afternoon planing on visiting some interested ones. Matthew said he had to go back to one women he attempted to talk to earlier in the morning to clear up some things.....
Apparently this is kind of how the conversation went between the householder and him...all in broken Thai. He told her that he would come back with his wife later to talk to her. She replied (all in thai) "danger, danger!!" What? why would it be dangerous he asked....She said "oh, no no, so dangerous  how old are you?" He replied. She said, "I am ten years older than you, oh so dangerous." oh no, he thought, I dont want YOU to be my wife, I want to bring MY wife back to talk to you. 
Hahaha, oh this is such a classic example of how wrong conversations can turn when there is a language barrier. 

Anyhow, all 6 of us go to see her again, to clear up this little misunderstanding. Passion fruit trees that lined her property were weighed down with all the fruit left on the branches, so she picked a whole plastic bag of them for us while feeding us little dried fruits as we waited...what a lovely lady. In the meantime her daughter pulls up on a scooter and she can speak english, shwew! She asked if we had eaten lunch, we told her we hadn't yet, just on our way to find a place. She said that we could join her at a small restaurant close by if we wanted. Of course! Over lunch she said that she had a son and was seemed happy when we gave her the article in the Awake! about succeeding in school. When we got up to pay and the owners of the restaurant said there was no need, lunch was on them, and it was a pleasure having us there. How nice!!! People are so giving in Chiang Mai, it amazes me. 

The restaurant owner is between me and Cheri, then Tarra, Sam, Matthew, and the Women that invited us to join her for lunch!

After getting lost more than once, a train of three scooters finally found where my call was. She was actually home and invited us in to talk, I left the Truth Tract the first time I stopped by, this time she wanted to go over the second point, 'will war and suffering ever end?' She speaks English well and despite being a Buddhist she teaches at a local Christian school.  She said that she didn't even really understand her "own beliefs" as a buddhist and had many questions about Christians, what heaven and hell was and what the future holds etc. After showing her basic answers to some of her questions from my Thai Bible I showed her the coupon for the Bible Teach book on the back of a meeting invitation I gave her, she filled it out eagerly and handed it back to me! Exciting!

However, durring long days, we tend to get a little crazy sometimes: like Ruth here hehe...

Ruth decide she wanted to create a jacket with matching gloves attached to the sleeves... she's keeping that skin as white as she can while shes out in service! 

Thursday 

I went with Nee on a few of her bible studies and return visits. After checking in with a couple of her calls we were about 45 minutes south of town. I found myself standing in the door way of a shack looking down at women that had to be in her eighties sitting folded up on a weaved bamboo mat that gave her little cushion from the concreate floors beneath her. Her jaw was bouncing up and down as if she had a stroke in the past and the one front tooth in her entire mouth didn't prevent her tongue from flopping side to side. Her cataract covered eyes looked up at mine, and she started yelling in excitement. She insisted I sit on the floor next to her...I did...she put her hand in my lap. Nee said she was really surprised to have a foreigner in her house and she just wanted to touch my "white skin" haha.  While we were there she carried on with her work, I watched her in amazement. She rolled cigarets from a bowl of dried tobacco sat beside her and a stack of dried banana leafs in front of her. She sells 100 of the for 40 Baht. Thats nothing. Not being able to participate to much in the conversation I timed her, it takes her about 2 minutes to finish one, so to make 100 would take her over 3 hours, and thats with zero brakes. So she would make under $1.30 for over 3 hours of work....hard work for her age. I think back to most of the ones in the States that are her age, plopped in a recliner or bed in front of a tv...and here she is curled up on a concreate floor rolling cigarets so she can live on less than $2 a day, so sad.  Despite her condition of living, there was nothing but smilies on her face. She offered me a cold corn cob, I can assure you it didn't look the least bit appetizing  but she instead to share with me what little she had, how could I refuse that? So there I was, sitting on the floor, with her tobacco covered hand in my lap, eating my corn cob showing her pictures of the paradise from the Learn From God brochure...oh, never a dull moment. 












Next we headed to one of my calls. He was home too! Tyese and I had come to our limit with words we could say to him in Thai...he needed more. Nee was the perfect person for him, she went on using the Pathways to Peace and Happiness Brochure. As I watched him it looked as if he had a "lightbulb"moment he said it Thai "I understand!!" He had many questions he wanted answered, Nee said that we could come back once a week for an hour and answer one question at a time. She showed him the coupon on the back of the brochure for the Bible Teach Book, he wanted us to bring the book back and study next Thursday! 

Afterwards Nee drove me to see her families house and woodshop...on the way I was sitting on the back of the bike, breathing in the fresh air, looking out at the surrounding rice patties with the stalks bowing just waiting to be harvested. Putting my arms out, enjoying the light crisp breezes making the suns rays more bearable on my skin, gazing at the rolling green mountains in the background, thinking this is one of those moments....one of those moments that no picture could capture. Somethings can be so simple but yet so wonderful, and unless you were there, in that moment, no one will ever understand how lovely it was.  



Sunday

Before meeting I have my three little Filipino bible studies...they are so cute! Two are twins about 8 years old and there older sister is 10. They bring their Bible Story's book every Sunday to their Mothers restaurant so we can read together. For their parents being Buddhist, their memory/knowledge of what we have studied from the Bible together amazes me.

Tuesday

Moises, Meriko, Jordan, and I accompanied Matthew and Kerri in their hunt for Lahu Villages today. They are still mapping out were the Lahu villages are for their "territory". We drove about 250 Kilometers total today (a little over 155 miles). Most of the villages are empty because everyone is working in the fields *tis the season* its just the really old ones and the really little kids are home....oh and the dogs, roosters, and pigs. Kerri was saying when they asked someone when would be a good time to find people home they said "January or February" haha....nope, not "weekends, or after 6 p.m." Just the months of January or February  when there's not fields to tend to....well ok then.

However, Matthew found some Lahu Boys to chat at while we were in town for lunch... They drew him a map of another unknown village we can visit, what a great day!   

So Beautiful! 

October has come and gone in a blink of an eye...

A quick scooter ride from our house took us to the bus station where we would ride for 9 hours to arrive in Bangkok. A 15 minute taxi dropped us off at the airport to kill time for our first delay of 4 hours. We then flew for 1.5 hours to arrive at Karbi. Upon arrival a 20 minute local bus would take us to a restaurant to wait for 1 hour for a tuk tuk to drive us for 15 minutes to wait at the ferry dock for another 2 hours to catch a  2.5 hour ferry ride so we could arrive at our destination. THEN WE WERE FINALLY THERE: PHI PHI ISLAND!!!!

After it took a freakishly long time to get from Chiang Mai to the beach, we decided instead of traveling to different islands as i did last time we would just plop ourselves at Phi Phi and soak up the sun. 

Our days consisted of: 

laying, smoothies, hiking to the prettiest beach every morning, napping, sun, snorkeling, reading, looking for sea shells, swimming away from els, chasing fish, running for shelter from giant thunderstorms, people watching, oh and pizza and beer...every night! 

Im so proud of my mom, she learned how to swim while I was away, and she went snorkeling for the first time!!! The fish were so curious, they would encircle our legs when we stepped in the sea.

My moms company did not deter my “style” of staying in super ghetto rooms (if you could call it that) in super beautiful places. Its SO pretty there! After dinner one night we sat on the beach in the dark, later on the way we passed the typical collage student trying to ‘have a good time’ on a vacation they probably wont remember due to multiple games of beer pong and two for one priced “beverage” buckets. Being probably the only two sober people on that block i thought: gah, people are so stupid when they drink to much...dancing on a table...i mean really?? Why people come to such a beautiful place and trap themselves inside a bar is beyond me, but i must share the response said by my mom: “getting drunk and dancing on tables is like eating corn nuts, unless your having some too, they are just gross” haha oh my....

After seeing the sights, and getting enough sun to last me for awhile it was time to head back to Bangkok for the District Convention. 

As Tyese pointed out: its like their in bend (Chiang Mai) and I was in San Diego (phi phi) and we are meeting in San Francisco (Bangkok) for a District convention....kinda seems crazy when you put it that way. 

But we did in fact meet up with Tyese and Cheri in Bangkok along with....STEVE AND CHRISSY?!?! How fun to randomly spend a day with them in the city before they headed to see Tom and Liz in Nepal, I think everyone from bend should just all come here :)

Friday: First day on District Convention....I would venture to say one of the last conventions held in the world for 2012. I was so excited to see and hear from myself the encouraging talks that everyone was able experience months ago.  It was more difficult than I expected to get a taxi there, and even with printed directions IN THAI ALONG WITH A MAP, most still didn't seem to know where it was...however, we somehow managed to direct them there, as if we knew the city ourselves or something?  

The English was held in a school auditorium that was filled with plastic picnic chairs, nice and cozy! There was also a Thai and Japanese convention held on the other side of the street. 

Outside there were lunch stands lined up with not the greatest thai food i have ever had, the temperature of the food was neither hot, nor cold, but the fact that we didnt have to pack a lunch was awesome. 

By Saturday a Thai women caught on and quickly set up a little stand right outside the doors selling pencils, pens, and notebooks....i would say she’s one smart cookie. 

I think friday morning was my favorite out of the whole weekend, the attendance was 515 for English, Japanese was in the 400’s and Thai was 1,500 ‘ish’ (including 40 that were in Thai sign language).  Many brothers and sisters traveled from Cambodia and Malaysia (that are on the international construction project on the branch) to come to the English. 

And then came friday night....Airport time, Good Bye Mom....the three weeks flew by....but she safe at home now.

We were able to catch up with many we had met from the one day assembly a few months ago, and meet others that had mutual friends with ours from bend....such a small world!!!

On Saturday, 3 were baptized and Sunday had peak of over 600 in attendance! I can say that I have never listened to a convention with parts given by so many people around the world...a different accent every time someone spoke!

I have to say, I wasn't sad to leave BKK, we didn't find very good food and there was way too much traffic. We arrived back in Chiang Mai this morning after a long night bus ride, it feels good to be home. 

PAI

I LOVE PAI...

We endured a 3 hour long bus ride racing through 762 curves in the road, blah. We were finally in the hills, the air was cool...crisp...ahh, so lovely. I actually bundled up in a flannel, mmmm.  Our days consisted of drinking chai tea, frolicking in waterfalls, eating tasty street food, driving through the country side, and swinging in hammocks sipping mojitos listing to live music.  

Im slowly turning Asian....cant stop taking pictures posing next to strange things haha. 

Elephants!!!

Mai, she was so sweet...with a little bit of spice, I must say. 47 years of age, she wanted us in the water more than on her back! 

So Much Fun!

True Story...

Speaking of...I must show off my amazing gift from the most wonderful guy in my life. I love it so much. Thanks Roscoe <3