Khao Yai

Hi! This past week has been pretty busy, yet nothing out of the ordinary. Teaching is moving right along. My students have had a few small projects and my writing classes have had their first in-class writing exam. I'm also starting to see signs of school becoming a normal routine rather than being fun. It only took 4 weeks. How I remember being a student and having that feeling. hahaha. I've been able to chat with my students a good bit. One of them carried a small tape player for me and walked all the way to my office while we chatted. I've also been able to chat with some of my students from last term. Pray that God will develop these relationships and that I will be able to share Christ with them.

I invited two of the American college students to come into my Listening and Speaking 2 class and just talk with my students. One of them was able to share his testimony and tell them why Christians go to church every Sunday. Many times students feel Christians have to go to church and do many other things. They're a little surprised when they find out we actually want to go to church and want to read our Bibles, etc. Praise God!

My church took some students to Khao Yai this weekend. It's about 2 hours away from Bangkok in the mountains. It's gorgeous and a nice change of pace. We went to a waterfall, swam in a natural spring, and played a lot of games. There were 32 people in all. It was quite a trip! The waterfall was beautiful and it was nice to get to know some girls who are students at KU. I have already seen 2 of them at school a few times and talked with them briefly. More relationships :D. Pray that God will show me which students to really devote time with. Sometimes it can get overwhelming as there are so many people, but God always brings certain ones out to devote more time to and really pour into those relationships.

busy busy week!

Hi! Well, I am learning what it feels like to work two jobs! My teaching has been going great at the university. I teach 4 classes on Monday and Friday, 3 classes on Tuesday-Thursday. My students are mostly great, but there's always some who would rather chat than listen to the teacher, which is expected. But I have been having fun getting to know them. I have run into my students in several places as well. I live in the same building with at least 2 of my students, 2 of them came to hang out at a church event, I ran into 3 students at the National Museum, and sat with one of my students on the bus while I was going to the park. It's a little unexpected for me since last term I hardly ever saw my students outside of class, but it's a nice change :D. One thing that helps is that I live a lot closer to the university. One of my students gave me a Thai snack today after class. Apparently that's not normal for students, which is good because it means she doesn't see me as high as other teachers. Sometimes the student-teacher relationship is hard to overcome. It has also been encouraging that some of my students from the past year are still coming up and talking to me. :D

Then, after work, I head over to the church to hang out with friends and help with events they have to reach out to students at the university. This past week we had a game night on Friday night which was a lot of fun :D. Two of my students came, which was really nice :D. I met those students at the English Camp too. It is nice to see the relationship develop. Their English is really good :D. In addition to my two students, every time I sat down, someone else would come up to me and want to practice their English. While I totally welcome people practicing their English with me, it is a tiring event. After 5 people, I need a break. However, from 6:30 to 10:45, there was no time for a break. We built a lot of relationships, played Uno, Phase 10, ping pong, or some other games, and enjoyed hanging out with people. My students had a good time and I hope they'll come to other events too.

On Saturday, we took some of the foreigners and some of the students from the game night to the Grand Palace and National Museum. It was a lot of fun, but also a long day of walking around in the sun. It was this day I ran into 3 of my students. They actually had smiles on their faces when they saw me and talked with me for several minutes as well as a few of the foreigners who came into their class one day. Normally foriegn teachers do not talk to their students outside of class, so my students were probably a little shocked, but I like talking with them.

After all this running around, it was nice to rest on Sunday. Spending time in the parks is my favorite way to escape.

Please pray for 2 events we're having this week. First, Tuesday night we're having a concert with my superstar friend. He's a Christian and closely affiliated with my church and he's giving a free concert to attract students. Also, one of the foreigners will be singing some songs as well. Pray this will be a good time. Also, this weekend we're having a retreat for students. It will be fun and a good time to share the gospel and build relationships.

May God bless you all as you go through this week with God leading you.

Ajaan Danelle

This week, I thought I'd let y'all see me at work :D. There is a summer team who has come to help out at the church for the next 2 months and I thought it would be fun for my students if they came in and helped the students. While they were there, one of them was taking pictures and I asked him to give them to me, since it's probably one of the only times I would be able to get pictures.


I divided the students up into 5 groups, gave them questions, and put one foreigner in each group. The students had to ask the questions, write the answers, and introduce their foreigner to the class. Some of them were nervous, some were confident and funny. The foreigners had the most fun I think. The class was laughing and having fun.


This group of students was really good. They were confident, spoke loudly, moved around, and didn't sound like robots. One girl even had a yellow Clueless pen that she kept using to add emphasis. It was funny.

It was a good first week of class, although I was tired. After not working for 2.5 months, it's taking a bit to get back into the swing of things. However, by this time next week, I should be moving in full stride :D. Please continue to pray for my students.

Photo blog

Since the internet is working, I thought y'all would enjoy some pictures. This is a picture of everyone who picked up the foreigners from the airport after the 5 American college students arrived.


This is of Nott and Michael with some kids from the orphanage.

This is Michael and Arm just goofing off. I don't think they planned to be twins that day.

Some people think riding the train is romantic, but I see nothing romanti about this scene at all. It was hot and no air conditioning. We were on our way to Ayutthaya.

We were almost to Ayutthaya. We just had to get on a boat to cross the river. Then, we rented bicycles and rode all over Ayutthaya to see the ruins. It was a lot of fun.

This is the whole group at the first place we stopped. I think this city was built in the mid or late 1400s. No machines at all, yet they built some amazing places! Imagine each person in this picture on their own bicycle riding around a fairly quiet town. Do you see why we caused such a stir? hahaha

Can you tell he studied to be a veternarian? Arm is playing with an elephant. I wouldn't have the guts to do that. haha. We thought the foreigners would want to go elephant riding, but they all voted no. I think a combination of jet lag and bke riding in the sun made them too tired.
Who says there's no beauty in Bangkok???? I thought the sky was absolutely gorgeous. Can you see the rainbow behind the main cloud? Pictures are never as good as real life.


Thanks for taking a peek at these photos! I love pictures. Very very sorry there are no pictures from the mission trip. I'm working on that.