Mud Slinging in Thailand

The first full day we were in Chiang Mai at WonGen ministry cafe for New Years eve.  We got to spend the evening with our new missionary friends from Texas. It was a magical New Years Eve! After a day of training, eating ice cream, and getting to know all the new faces at WonGen, we headed out to the Red Light district with the team from Texas. Since we weren't going to be here for the month it was such a blessing to get the chance to visit The Red Light district and meet some of the girls an in the bars whom the other team had been building relationships with over the past few weeks.

After a soda at the bar we headed a few streets over to join the in The New Years Festivities with the rest of the city. The streets were packed! Everyone was sending up lanterns so, of course, we had to as well. At first mine failed and everyone scrambled as a fiery lantern fell out of the sky. It started floating back up at the perfect moment. As my lantern floated away into the sky the midnight fireworks went off right behind it. It was beautiful.

 
After spending a few days at the café we headed to Mae Ai Village. In Mae Ai we are staying with local families. There are 2 girls staying in each house. It’s been great getting to know other girls on the squad better. I’ll admit it has also been great to be able to have just one roommate for a while instead of 7. While I miss our team being together you can imagine a few months with 4 guys and 4 girls all living in one room, with one bathroom, no washing machine, and 8 different opinions on every matter from when we can turn out the lights to who should use the bathroom first.
  
 My Host Family here in Mae Ai

All of the girls here this month have had such a great one on one time with our roomates and it’s been awesome to really get to know Rachel. So far we have spent two days separating garlic cloves with the ladies in the village, one day in the rice fields sloshing around in knee high mud and building walls with the mud in order to keep the water in the field, and with the rest of our time we have been using Hoes to turn a field of grass into a dirt land for planting gardens. Every afternoon we get to go to the nearby basketball court and play with the children in the village.

 Working hard in the fields

Overall it has been a great month so far!  We have dealt with a lot of spiritual heaviness and attacks probablly related to the fact that less than 1% of the people in Thailand know that Jesus came to set them free and therefore they have MANY golden statues and idols that they worship sitting everywhere. None-the-less we haven't let it bring our spirits down. We know that God is in control of our lives here and Satan doesn't stand a chance!! 

Here is a short article about the villiage we are in you should read it it's really interesting!! http://www.ywamthai.org/maeai 

ONE LAST interesting fact…. 
I only have $4,196  left to raise in order to be fully funded for the rest of the race!!! My FINAL deadline is in one month. The quicker I meet the deadline the sooner I stop asking you to send more money !!! Yay so click the link now and help me stay on the race!! Click Here to Support Me 

Thank you to all my supporters!! it is my hope to send another update by mail soon!!!! If you didn't get a newsletter in the mail but you would like one please e-mail me your address and I will add you to my list 🙂  [email protected]