looking back on the month of January

I have been in Thailand for almost a month and it has gone by soooo quickly. It still just feels like I arrived a few days ago. I love everything here I love the culture, food, and the people especially the children. Since arriving I have had the opportunity to be involved in some ministries here the first has been youth night and the second is nak wing or live life and helping start a new ministry in the community we live in Bagna Villa.

Some of my favorite moments from this past month have all involved kids. My favorite memory is from Nak Wing where we drive to the slums and go out into the communities and pick up the kids and bring them to this church and teach them about basic health. I got to go out and walk into the slums and just see where the kids live. As soon as the kids see you they come running out and jump on you and give you the biggest hug ever. We picked up around 16 kids and piled them into the sung tow and I sang songs with them like head and shoulders, twinkle twinkle little star, and they taught me a song about an elephant. When we got to the church we all went inside and learned about fruit and veggies, played games, did a craft, passed out vitamins, juice and apples. During this time I met 3 siblings and they captured my heart although we could barely talk we still played games (mimic the American and clapping games). The whole evening they just clung onto me and wanted to sit on my lap and followed me around.

Next memory was at youth night where I just went and played with one of the young boys. Neither one of us spoke to each other but just played in the street with a balloon for about 30 minutes trying to keep the balloon from touching the ground. Something about the simple things here is what I love just getting to be with the kids makes my day and I get so excited to just be around them. The more time I spend with them the more I realize that God speaks through all languages and his love is universal.

Some interesting things I have done since I have been here is go to the beach for a weekend, ride a mototaxi, eating bugs, experience a torrential down pour, riding the bus, taking a ferry, seeing a floating market, and just walking around the streets of Thailand and seeing all the sights and interesting smells of Thailand.

Oh and one more cool thing that I learned this month is that I am going to India for outreach and to Chaing Mai and Bangkok