Food, Lanterns, and Reflections

Sunday was a fun filled day. We were able to sleep in for the first time in a while. We went to a Thai church service. They had a choir and orchestra from a local school that sang and played music for the service. We then went out for lunch. After lunch we hung out at the guest house getting things sorted. We then went out to Sharon's house for a very delicious dinner. After dinner we all gathered around and watched Ratatouille and ate popcorn. Once the movie was done we were given a surprise. Sharon and her sister Carol gave us lanterns to let go into the sky. After a short walk to a near by bridge we started lighting them. After some....... interesting trial and error we got them floating away. It was a really cool experience and we have many pictures and video of them. Today we went to breakfast at a place with american breakfast. They had the best bacon we have had all trip. We then had a debriefing retreat with Sharon. It was a good chance to think about questions she gave us and write in our journals. We then went to lunch with one of the people in charge of the Office of Education Ministry. The rest of the day we have spent relaxing, going to the market to do some last minute shopping and just getting ready for our last evening here in Thailand. Please pray for us and our journey home. We will be leaving here at 5 A.M. to fly to Bangkok, then from Bangkok to Hong Kong, and finally from Hong Kong to New York City.

Summer Service 2012

Eric Juengel

City of Love, Horses, and Children

On Thursday, we had an early morning. We had to be ready to leave Chiang Mai at 7. We loaded up the van with our backpacks and pillows and embarked on the 5 hour drive to Nan. We arrived in Nan and had lunch with the director of the Christian school there. We then went to the school where they attempted to feed us again. We were treated like VIPs. The tour tram came to the school to pick us up. We went on a tour of the city of Nan. Two things that the tour guide told us in broken English that stuck out to us were: If you jump in the river in Nan, you will find a boyfriend or girlfriend there. The other thing she told us about was a temple that if you lit two candles at, you would also find a boyfriend or girlfriend. We quickly named Nan, "The Paris of Thailand/The City of Love." We went back to the school, where they fed us yet again. About 30 minutes after we arrived back at the school, they took us to dinner. They feed us a lot here! After dinner, we hopped back in the van and drove three hours back to Lampang. 

On Friday morning, we woke up and got a tour of Lampang on horse drawn carriages, then we went to a ceramic outlet which had very interesting ceramic items. We were then taken to the school where our sixth and final English Camp would take place. We had lunch and then set up for the camp. We went to see a temple that was built during World War Two. We went back to the hotel and had a couple hours of downtime. We all spent the time differently. Some of us napped, while others watched movies or walked around Lampang. We had dinner at the hotel that night. One thing we cannot complain about here is the food. 

Saturday, we had our last English Camp! It was awesome. The kids, as always, were shy at the beginning of the day, but by speech time at the end of the day, we were all amazed. This was probably the closest scoring we have had for speeches all summer. Each of our ambassadors really stepped up and did a wonderful job. We were all a little bit sad at the end of the day, as Sharon, our host and scheduler, called us up front for a picture with our last English Camp kids. We broke everything down and hopped into the van for the hour-and-a-half drive back to Chiang Mai. When we got to Chiang Mai, we were told that we were going to go out for a really good American meal. We were not lied to. We had some of the best burgers that we have had all trip. We were all soo full when we got back to the guest house.

Jennifer Subic,

Summer Service 2012

Smiles, Elephants, and Dances

After setting up our English camp on Friday, we actually DID the camp on Saturday. The students were, as always, beyond eager to learn all that we had to teach them...which still confuses me a bit, seeing as we barely know what we're doing up there half the time :P We could tell by their smiling faces that they enjoyed singing songs and doing the hokey pokey with us. Or they were just laughing at us, one of the two :) Sunday morning we packed up and traveled back to Chiang Mai. We then spent the rest of Sunday and Monday relaxing and exploring Chiang Mai. We visited a couple of ministries, including a youth ministry and a drama ministry. The evenings were spent exploring markets, both large and small, where I'm sure each and every one of us bought more than we expected to buy. Be on the lookout for gifts back home ;)

And then it was Tuesday. Do you know what happened Tuesday? WE GOT TO RIDE ELEPHANTS!!! It was pretty awesome. We visited the Chiang Dao Elephant Conservation Camp where we were able to ride elephants, touch elephants, feed elephants, watch elephants bathe, work, and paint. This was all followed up by a relaxing bamboo raft ride down the river. We were once again amazed and astounded by God's creativity and imagination.

This morning we visited the Old City (where Chiang Mai used to be located before a giant flood wiped it out) and saw temple ruins. We then traveled to a rehabilitation center and learned about its history as a leper colony. God is working in this place in ways we can't even wrap our minds around. Our dinner this evening was followed by a display of the traditional Northern Thai dance, which a few of our group members enthusiastically participated in. The culture continues to surprise and delight us. We're heading to Nan tomorrow, where our final English camp will take place this Saturday. Keep us in your prayers as we head into our final week here in the Land of Smiles :)

Emily Wyble

Summer Service 2012

Families, Mountains, and Villages

Hello everyone. Sorry that it's been so long since our last post. We have been busy and have had little reliable Internet access. On the 26th we went to Payap university. We had lunch there and were given a tour of the university. We met some of the Christian volunteers that work in the dorms there. After lunch we went to McGilvary Theological Seminary. We watched a presentation about the history of the seminary and got a tour. We learned about a Thai artist that uses Thai art style to paint different bible scenes. We bought posters of his paintings. Later that night we went to Bill Yoder's house. We were so happy to have cheese, real cheese on crackers. We also had chicken and mashed potatoes with cake and ice cream. It was so amazing and we greatly enjoyed the American food. We spent the evening talking with Bill and listening to his stories of his many years as a missionary in Thailand. The next day we went to Bo Sang to visit an umbrella village. Afterwards we went to San Kampaeng ceramics. We watched the workers making and painting ceramics. Between the two places we did a lot of shopping. That evening we went back to Payap University to have dinner and then met with a professor from McGilvary who gave us a presentation on mission in Asia. On the 28th we went to a market then met at Esther's house to watch a presentation about the Free Burma Rangers group. They are a group that helps villages in Burma that have been attacked by the Burmese army. They help provide them with early warning and evacuation as well as supply food and medicine to the Burmese people. Afterwards many people from Payap came over for spaghetti night at Esther and Rob's house. It was an amazing dinner. We got to meet and talk with many new people and learn about what they do in Chiang Mai. We spent the next day at Prince Royal's College setting up for the English camp the next day. Afterwards we stopped and got some ice cream. Saturday was the English camp between 4 local schools. The camp went well and we had fun teaching the students about ASEAN. July 1st we headed out early in the morning to travel through the mountain to Fang. We really experienced Thai time at the church there. The service started an hour later than it was supposed to. After church we had lunch with the church members. Then we met in the church and in sports draft fashion were picked by our Thai families. Over the past four days we spent a lot of time with our hosts and truly became part of their families. We got the chance to harvest and plant rice in a paddy. It was a good experience. We took lots of pictures to help capture our experience. We were also taken up the mountain to see different villages and visit a school for Burma students. The mountains were so amazing. We were above the clouds at some points. The road was an interesting ride with its hairpin turns and super steep inclines. We were also taken to the the Thailand-Burma border. We got to look into the Burma side base camp. I got a picture of a Burmese solider looking at me through a spotter scope. Throughout our time in Fang we were treated so well and we can never repay our families for the love and hospitality they showed us. We truly became sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters to our families. The experiences we had there will be with us for the rest of our lives. Today we left Fang and drove to the river to travel by boat to Chiang Rai. We took two boats, one of which wouldn't start so they had to switch boats in the middle of the river. Along the way we stopped at a Lahun and Karen village. I got my picture taken with a good size python. I was pretty excited about it. The rest of the river ride went well. It was so beautiful. We enjoyed some bananas and corn on the boat ride. We all stayed dry except for Marshall who got hit by a rapid wave. This afternoon we arrived in Chiang Rai. We walked around the city and got dinner after a nice long afternoon of napping. Tomorrow we go to set up for our next English camp. Eric Juengel Summer Service 2012

Beach, Nok Air, and Bus Rides

The last couple days have been some great days full of relaxation and teaching. We have been very fortunate to have an extremely balanced schedule. On Thursday, we got an off day and got to go to a beautiful beach on the Gulf of Thailand. We spent the whole day at the beach, playing in the sand, the gulf, and the pool. It was a wonderful day to just relax. Don't worry! Nobody got too burnt. We reapplied regularly.  

Friday was an early day. We had a 7:40 flight with Nok Air out of Nakhon Si Thammarat. We landed in Bangkok around 9:00 in the morning. We pretty much instantly hit the ground running. We went to the Bangkok Christian Guest House and dropped off our bags. We then were told which stop to get off of the SkyTrain at and found our own way to Bangkok Christian College. We had lunch in BCC's cafeteria, which looked a lot like a mall food court. After lunch, we set up for our English Camp on Saturday. We had the afternoon off to spend our last day in Bangkok. Some of us explored the city and found a giant fashion mall while others rested at the Guest House. 

Saturday, we had our English Camp. It was (in my opinion) the easiest English Camp we have done yet. The students had great English skills. We had a lot of fun, because they could understand what we were saying a lot better. They had so much fun singing "I am a C", the "Hokey Pokey", and "Jesus Loves Me." The camp was a great success! 

Yesterday, we went to church at an English speaking Anglican Church. It was so nice to finally hear a sermon in English! I think that we all drew something valuable from the sermon. Immediately after church, we went back to the Guest House and got our stuff loaded up into the van. By noon, we were on the road for Chiang Mai. We spent about 12 hours in the van, trying to find the most comfortable ways to sleep! We arrived at the Education Ministry, where we are staying in Chiang Mai, at around midnight, got settled in our rooms, and went to bed. 

We woke up this morning and got have our first experience in a Thai grocery store. We bought breakfast stuff for while we are here in Chiang Mai. Some of us bought some comfort foods, that we haven't been able to get thus far, like poptarts, salt and vinegar chips, and nutella. After the grocery store, we went to Sharon Bryant's house (our host) for breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, toast, and mango. We visited a temple and the King and Queen's Summer Palace and Rose Gardens today. The temple had 305 steps that we had to climb and was a great place for people watching. The gardens were absolutely beautiful with spectacular flowers. We had dinner, then we headed back to the Education Ministry for a night off after a couple early mornings. 

We have a couple of fulls days ahead of us in Chaing Mai this week. Tomorrow, we head to Payap University to meet with Esther Wakeman. Please keep us in your prayers.

Jennifer Subic

Summer Service 2012

Students, Seafood, and Caves

After a long day at the English camp on Saturday, we spent the majority of Sunday just recuperating at the hotel, enjoying naps, a relaxing dinner, and banana splits.

Monday was far from relaxing, however. We attended a flag raising ceremony, visited and taught at three separate schools, went to a shadow puppet museum, a Buddhist temple, a rubber plantation, a couple of shops, AND to top it all off...we only played the most competitive and impressive game of basketball in the history of mankind. No big deal :)

Tuesday began with a two hour drive to Trang (on the west side of Thailand). During this time it was decided that the lines on the road were more like guidelines and stopping at red lights was purely optional. Needless to say, we were relieved to arrive at our hotel. Lo and behold, we discovered a pool there, the first we’d come upon while in Thailand. We did not have our bathing suits and decided to take the tiniest tuk tuks we could find to the nearest mall to find some. Another mode of transportation we were relieved to finally be rid of. We spent the rest of the day in the pool, until all of our fingers were blue and pruny.

Today (Wednesday), we worked with another school in Trang. We were surprised after lunch with the opportunity to go cave spelunking. Let’s just say it got a little too close for comfort at some points. We ended the day on the beach, watching the sunset and enjoying all the delicacies of the sea. We were given time to once again appreciate the beauty of God’s creation and the hospitality of the Thai people.

Sorry about the very short and very factual blog. Sleep has moved up in my priority list.

Emily Wyble

Summer Service 2012

Ministries, Parks, and Trains

Hello all! We have had an action packed couple of days. We have done so many things and had so many new experiences all packed into about 4 days. 

On Wednesday, we were scheduled for a day that many of us knew from the beginning was going to be a very tough day. Little did any of us know how hard the day was going to turn out to be. We were set to go to visit three different ministries of the Church in just one day. 

The first ministry was called Samaritan's Creations. It is an organization that gives bar girls (which often work as prostitutes as well) an alternative way of living. They give them job skills, a secure environment, and a place to live. The ultimate goal of the organization is for the women to be able to go back to their villages and take the name of Jesus with them. We spent time learning about the organization, hearing some stories from some of the women, and shopping for jewelry and purses made by the women. 

The next ministry was called The Hub. It is a ministry that offers the children that live on the street a place to come during the day. They offer them food, a shower, and a safe place to learn life skills. We spent some time there hearing about their work and hearing about the future plans that they have for The Hub. 

The third ministry that we got to experience was (in my opinion) the hardest one. We were granted the opportunity to hear about the MST (Men and the Sex Trade) Project. They believe that some of the men that go into the red light districts are hurting, in need, and trying to fill that hurt and need with the intimacy that the Red-Light District can offer them. The MST Project goes into these Red-Light Districts to bring the love of God the these men in an area where they will least expect it. They often strike up conversations with men in the Red-Light District that develop into long-term relationships with discussions about life and God. The way in which we got to experience this ministry was a prayer walk through one of the Red-Light Districts in Bangkok. Three gentlemen from the MST Project facilitated this prayer walk. It was really hard for all of us, but in the end, we all felt like we brought light to an area of immense darkness. 

During the last four days we have gotten to experience multiple modes of transportation. On Wednesday alone, we all experienced one new way of travelling, and some of us experienced two. We rode in the back of a pick-up truck that was transformed into a bus! We also took the Subway, which we had not yet experienced in Bangkok. After hanging out with some Thai friends in Lumpini Park on Thursday, we hopped onto an overnight sleeper train to head for the southern city of Nakhon Si Thammarat. 

When we arrived in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Friday, we were welcomed with a huge lunch at the school that hosted our English Camp. We spent a little bit of time setting up, and getting to know the campus, then we were then taken out to dinner, where we were served 6 courses of seafood. Immediately following dinner, we went to another restaurant where were served dessert with coffee and Thai tea. It's so hard to comprehend the hospitality of the Thai people, until you truly experience it. 

Today, we had our second English Camp. Two schools attended with about 50 children each. It was a great success! It ran absolutely smoothly, and the children's English improved over the course of the day. We sang songs, played games, and taught the children about the ten countries that make up the ASEAN economic and political cooperation that is coming in 2015! 

We will be posting again in a couple days, and we thank you so much for your prayers and love coming our way! Our team is thriving and truly becoming the family that we wanted to become. Check back soon for another post. 

Jennifer Subic, 

Summer Service 2012

Teaching, Boat Rides, and Piercings.

Greetings friends and loved one,

      It has been a week since we first arrived here in the Venice of the East. We have already experienced so much and still have much more to go. Saturday was the first ASEAN English camp. ASEAN is an economic community between the nations of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Philippines. Our day started at 8:00am. We traveled to Nakhon Pathom the day before to set up the gym for the camp. We were assigned a nation and were split into pairs. 5 of the Christian schools were represented at the camp with 25 students from each school. They were split into groups of 11, and were assigned a home country. We spent the day singing with the children, teaching them about the various countries of ASEAN that we were assigned to, and helping them practice their English. They even taught us a few things. We had a lot of fun with them. The kids were amazing and loved to learn and were excited to be there. They were very generous, sharing their team prizes of cookies and crackers without any prompting. Emily was surrounded by kids giving her their treats. On Sunday we went to the Sapanluang Church, which is a bilingual Thai/Chinese church in Bangkok. The service had two preachers, one would speak in Chinese and the other would translate in Thai. We had to wear a radio and earpiece to listen to someone translating it into English for us. Afterwards one of the ladies from the church took us to a restaurant a block from the church. We then went to a Sunday Market. The market really opened our eyes. It was very crowded with so much going on around us. There were beggars, booths everywhere, and it was pretty cramped. It was hard to tell where you were, and we just had to go with the flow of the crowd. We moved carefully as a group as I was made the group watchmen making sure nobody was left behind or went anywhere without someone else. One of the highlights of the market was the fried mealworms we ate. We have video proof of it. Later we went to possibly one of the nicest malls, it had a Lamborghini and BMW dealer on the 4th floor in the mall. We went to the movies there. Yesterday we took a boat to the Grand Palace. We took lots and lots of pictures. We had a tour guide lead us around teaching us about all the different temples there. We also saw the temple of the Emerald Buddha. It was very hot out and we got lots of sun, leaving some interesting tan lines on us. Then we went to a really nice Christian jeweler. Sarah and Judy decided to be wild and get their ears pierced. Today we went to the FEBC radio station and learned about how they use their radio station to send the Gospel to unreached people groups. The work they do is amazing, even bringing whole villages to know Christ. We got to help do stuff around the station. We even got to do recordings that will be used by the station!!! Tomorrow we are going to visit programs that work with prostitutes and a program that works with street child. We continue to learn the culture and try many new foods here. Please continue to pray for us and that we have safe travels as we prepare to travel to Nakhon Srithammarat on Thursday night.
Eric Juengel, Summer Service 2012

Culture, History, and Adorableness

Well our first experience on the sky train was a success. We are not lost wandering the streets of Bangkok. I know that was a big concern :) We made some new friends who led us safely to the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) headquarters. After taking a tour of the building we were further instructed as to the do's and dont's of the Thai culture. Some are being engrained into our minds so if you notice any strange behavior when we next see you (I mean more so than usual), it's automatic and please feel free to ask about it. We'd love to share this amazing world with you. Another aspect of the Thai culture we were blessed enough to receive was a view of the traditional Thai dance. Just beautiful. Pictures do not do the dancers justice. Their choreography, combined with the costumes, were spectacular. Just don't ask any of us to demonstrate :) June 7th was fairly relaxed for us. We met with our friends from the CCT again and learned about all the work they're doing to help God's children throughout the world. Please send out some prayers for their work and for the obstacles they have yet to overcome. Later that night we all sat down and received a more in-depth history lesson on Thailand in general. We're so blessed to have such opportunities as these and I am sure I speak for the group when I say we try our hardest to take advantage of every resource available to us. Today was our first day visiting the actual schools where we'll be teaching English to the beyond adorable, exceedingly eager Thai children. Already they've shown us more and given us more than I feel we can ever give back to them. I can count to 3 in Thai and I'm 20. They can count to at least 60 in English. They're 9. See what I mean? It doesn't stop us from trying though, and tomorrow I plan on working my hardest to bring both English word pronunciation and God into their lives...not necessarily in that order :) Please continue to pray for us. We appreciate all of the support and love you offer and hope to share that same love and support with God's beautiful children here in Thailand. Emily Wyble, Summer Service 2012

Resting, Bahts, and Thai Food

We made it to Bangkok!!! Day one in Thailand was spent catching up on some sleep, getting money converting, and getting some really detailed information about our trip. We had a traditional Thai breakfast of (basically) chicken and rice soup this morning. We had group devos then met for orientation with our host, Sharon. We got some really detailed information about everything we will be doing during our time here. We then had dinner which was also a traditional Thai meal of rice and chicken with cashews. After dinner we learned a little bit about Thai customs and got our plans for tomorrow. Now it's time for personal devos, blogging, and journaling, then off to bed. We're getting up early in the morning for our first experience on the SkyTrain. We thank you so much for your prayers! Jennifer Subic, Summer Service 2012

Greetings

Greetings all. We have had a good first few days of preparation. We had some good team building activities as well as bible study. We have been preparing our minds and bodies for this wonderful journey God is going to be leading us on. We left New Wilmington at 4am for JFK. We then flew out at 4pm. We traveled northward passing the north pole and down though Russia, Mongolia, and China. The flight took 17 hours and we landed in Hong Kong at 7pm Monday night. Being my first time flying I was nervous but thanks to the guidance of my fellow team members I was able to have a fun first very long flight. The view from the plane was amazing, especially over the ice of northern Canada and the Artic Circle. We are waiting for our next flight to Bangkok. Sharing our stories and devotionales while we wait. We are very excited to get to Thailand and catch up on sleep, and then begin our orientation. Please continue to pray for us as we work on our Thai and try to get accustomed to the time change and our new surroundings. Eric Juengel, Summer Service 2012