Hello! This has been a busy busy time filled with both good experiences as well as not so fun experiences. Let's start with the good stuff :D. A few weeks ago was Mother's Day. One woman in our church, who is on staff at our church, is still single, but has spent countless hours discipling girls in our church. They decided to honor her as if she was their mother. They even made a family tree of people she had discipled (her daughters) and then people her disciples discipled (grandchildren), etc. There was about 20-30 people on this board and it was amazing to see and a true testimony to how one person's ministry can be multiplied. I had never seen anything like that before and it was amazing to me :D.
My church has been holding a special team care for students who have not yet accepted Christ for about 2 monts now and it is very encouraging to see. We had 5 college guys come from the states to help for the summer and this team care is a result of that. We have a few boys coming who were Christians once, but walked away and now they have come back! Praise God. There are also about 2 or 3 people coming consistently who still haven't fully accepted Christ. Last night there were 3 new girls who had not come before and hung out with us during team care. Pray for all of these people. Daeng, Nicky, Ree, Game, Lie, Nicky, Wa, Kat, Toon, and a few more whose names are escaping me (SORRY!).
Now for the bad stuff. Pray for the political situation in Thailand. I'm not exactly sure how much you hear about it in America, but if they say anything good about the former prime minister, ignore it. All of his claims are crazy and he knows how to appeal to the democratic mindset, yet when he was here, he would pay thousands of people to vote for him. Not exactly democracy, right? His wife was convicted, got out on bail, and fled. He fled as well. Everyone sees the current government as his puppet and thus are just as angry and agitated as before. There are protests pretty much everday (though not in my district, so I'm okay) and yesterday the opposing political party siezed a tv station and had other massive protests. I don't forsee another coup, but things are divided with the political situation. Please pray that things will calm down and people will be civil once again. Corruption is a part of government, especially here, and people are frustrated with it.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I really appreciate and value all of them. Please don't hesitate to update me on your life as well! I miss you all greatly! If you ever want to take a trip to Thailand, please let me know! I would love to see you.
8/27/08
8/4/08
Graduation CRAZY!
Well, graduation is definitely different in Thailand than it is in America. One reason could be because education is still a fairly new thing in Thailand, well, compared to America. Kasetsart University is one of the oldest universities and it is only 67 years old. The girls are required to wear makeup and there are so many other rules. One of my friends was worried because he had a black tie and not a navy blue tie and only the knot actually showed. They're pretty strict here. He ended up finding a navy blue tie :D. Here are some pictures.
These are pictures of me with Ting and some of her friends who were also my students last term. All I have to say is after looking at these pictures, I'm glad Thai people like white skin because I am on the verge of opaque. They are all working in different computer programming companies now.
Here are some other interesting things from graduation. The boys surrounding my friend are doing their dorm cheer as a sendoff now that he has graduated. Also, many of his family members came from his hometown to help him celebrate. For gifts people usually give flowers, little knicknacks and stuffed animals.
Here are people from my church standing with the proud graduate. This is my friend saying thank you to his parents. His dad folded all of that money into flowers! In total, my friend took over 600 pictures at his graduation. I was in awe!!!!!!!
One thing that I have enjoyed about this graduation is not to take education for granted. It is a very big deal when people complete a degree of any kind and I think this whole event has reminded me of all of that.
However, I don't think I'll get used to being like a celebrity in Thailand. I went to take a picture with one of my students who graduated (I forgot my camera, so I don't have that picture yet) and her mom was watching me trying to figure out who I was there to see. When her daughter came up to me and I gave her a hug, her mom was stunned. Not only did she have a hired photographer taking pictures, but her mom couldn't miss the opportunity as well. Then, she e-mailed me saying her mom told all of her family that her daughter has a foreigner visit her on her graduation day. It's cute honestly and I really liked my student, so it's fine. However there are some days I wish I could blend in better hahaha.
After that week, I was able to have a week just to relax. I had to proctor a few exams and was able to rest from all my running around. Now, I have started teaching again today. It's nice because my students have actually said they missed my classes. I enjoy teaching them.
Please pray for one American professor. While I was proctoring one exam, I was reading my Bible. The other teacher came over to me and saw what I was reading and proceeded to tell me that he had never read the Bible before, but had started reading it from start to finish. However, his views were rather interesting. He was telling me God was weak because Moses could tell him what to do, God was a bad judge of character because he picked people who decieved and lied, etc. in the OT. Also, God was a murderer because he killed so many people. If he's truly God, he would find a way to do things that didn't involve killing people. There were other things too, but those are the main ones. It was quite interesting. I'm sure I'll be seeing him more and I offered to babysit his kids as well. He's a really nice guy who wants to help people, which is why he teaches. Just keep him in your prayers. God bless :D
These are pictures of me with Ting and some of her friends who were also my students last term. All I have to say is after looking at these pictures, I'm glad Thai people like white skin because I am on the verge of opaque. They are all working in different computer programming companies now.
Here are some other interesting things from graduation. The boys surrounding my friend are doing their dorm cheer as a sendoff now that he has graduated. Also, many of his family members came from his hometown to help him celebrate. For gifts people usually give flowers, little knicknacks and stuffed animals.
Here are people from my church standing with the proud graduate. This is my friend saying thank you to his parents. His dad folded all of that money into flowers! In total, my friend took over 600 pictures at his graduation. I was in awe!!!!!!!
One thing that I have enjoyed about this graduation is not to take education for granted. It is a very big deal when people complete a degree of any kind and I think this whole event has reminded me of all of that.
However, I don't think I'll get used to being like a celebrity in Thailand. I went to take a picture with one of my students who graduated (I forgot my camera, so I don't have that picture yet) and her mom was watching me trying to figure out who I was there to see. When her daughter came up to me and I gave her a hug, her mom was stunned. Not only did she have a hired photographer taking pictures, but her mom couldn't miss the opportunity as well. Then, she e-mailed me saying her mom told all of her family that her daughter has a foreigner visit her on her graduation day. It's cute honestly and I really liked my student, so it's fine. However there are some days I wish I could blend in better hahaha.
After that week, I was able to have a week just to relax. I had to proctor a few exams and was able to rest from all my running around. Now, I have started teaching again today. It's nice because my students have actually said they missed my classes. I enjoy teaching them.
Please pray for one American professor. While I was proctoring one exam, I was reading my Bible. The other teacher came over to me and saw what I was reading and proceeded to tell me that he had never read the Bible before, but had started reading it from start to finish. However, his views were rather interesting. He was telling me God was weak because Moses could tell him what to do, God was a bad judge of character because he picked people who decieved and lied, etc. in the OT. Also, God was a murderer because he killed so many people. If he's truly God, he would find a way to do things that didn't involve killing people. There were other things too, but those are the main ones. It was quite interesting. I'm sure I'll be seeing him more and I offered to babysit his kids as well. He's a really nice guy who wants to help people, which is why he teaches. Just keep him in your prayers. God bless :D
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