We are staying with an incredible family this month and I wanted to talk a bit about them. The main couple is Nun and Ram and their 3 month old baby girl-Esther. They have a ministry in Thailand that not only hosts teams like ours during the year (and they are ALL incredible cooks!-we are getting spoiled on this delicious Thai food!), but they also teach English for free in schools and in turn the schools allow them to talk about Jesus. The other couple that lives here is “Pa” and Mae…Pa’s real name is something different…he is ADORABLE, and he is Ram’s father. The last couple living here is Ram’s sister Ptip and her husband Pastor Samong (sp?)-they are here to help cook as well as care for Esther while we go to schools. This week we didn’t have any schools to go to, so we have been doing manual labor around their home…I honestly know how to build a cement wall now…no joke…don’t be jealous, I am actually really proud of myself as when I was first shown how to do it I was like…uhhh, not sure if this wall is going to stay up :o) (I can do ALL things through Him who gives me strength though right???), we also teach English and play with the kids who come over everday after school that live nearby. We also all worship together at night with their family and it’s incredible. We have one “free” day a week and this is usually Saturday, this past Saturday we were able to visit a local waterfall, it was so much fun, however it took us a while to be daring enough to swim (there were some deep places and rocks that weren’t visible) :o)
On another note, God has really been growing us individually and together as a team (my new family-no offense to my Mom and Dad and siblings!!!), as one can imagine living together 24/7 (literally) with 4 other females…things are bound to arise and there have definitely been some struggles, but as any friendship or relationship that is worth anything goes, the struggles bring you closer together and cement your relationship for the better. Thank You Jesus for bringing out some pretty difficult things in each of us, but using it all for Your glory and making us better and more loving women! I am truly starting to love each of these girls deeply for who they are in You! :o)
“All of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image!” ~2 Corinthians 3:18
Below are some pics of the family we are living with, as well as our waterfall adventure, wall building, and other random pictures on walks in the village, enjoy!
This is Ram and her baby Esther, she is definitely a motion baby!!!
Esther up close, she sleeps like a boxer :o)
This is Mae cutting grass to make a mat, she also makes really beautiful skirts :o)
Playing a counting game with pre-schoolers :o)
Pre-schoolers up close, I had them take a letter of the alphabet and copy it in upper and lower case.
My team-mate Courtney and I and Ram’s husband (slave driver) Nun mixing the wall foundation-not easy!
Pouring the cement into the trough for the garden wall.
The team in Ram’s rice field, shortly after this I fell into a pile of fire ants…
Nun and Ram…amazing couple for Jesus!!!
As usual I am the only normal one here…we are having coffee before teaching English at a school :o)
Other side of the table (above pic-Courtney, Alison, and this pic Kim and Katy)-my team :o)
This is how we eat every meal-usually it’s on the floor on mats, but at schools it’s like this-family style, what you don’t see is the whole dried fishes-of course my team-mates had a competition to eat the fish eyeballs…they did too :o(
Baby Esther and Ram-can you say cute???
Outside of the preschool building.
Awkward angle because I’m taking it :o)
This little girl was so beautiful to me, she didn’t smile in this pic though :o(
Me learning to “spackle”, I have it down to an art now :o)
Umm, can you say beautiful??? Her name is Urn I think :o) It’s really hard to understand Thai!
This is the infamous “Pa” (not to take the place of my real Pa!) He does everything around the house, as well as Nun, he is also so adorable…more pics of him to come. He is a Jesus lover and sings worship songs to us every night almost in Thai and takes us on “tours” around the village (shows us off!), he speaks NO English, so it’s interesting :o)
Umm…I got a love note from this girl (her name is Cat-for real)…my life is complete :o) (These are the kids that come over after school)
Lovely Alison finishing up the garden wall :o)
Different view :o)
Steps down to the waterfall :o)
Getting closer :o)
I had to put this in, this is the stick I was using to feel how deep the water was/where the rocks were…
Made it down :o)
Kim lead the way to the rock we wanted to take a pic on, it was scary because there were huge rocks hidden under the water, and I am also a little scared of whatever fish may be lurking too…
Success!!! I felt like Ariel in the Little Mermaid :o)
Team pic :o)
This was behind a church we went to on Sunday…Christians have very little room to bury their dead here, this is where this gentleman’s wife is buried.
This is the church and some of the people that attended, we all ate on mats outside afterward, and got a ride…
home in this! These are the common trucks here, so much fun!
We were all sunburned by the time we got home :o)
And this also happened…made me look even cooler to the locals :o)
They gave us some “work” shirts for wall building :o)
Much harder than it looks…the cement is so drying, the first layer of skin came off of my hands…:o(
This is Ram’s sister Ptip and brother in law right after worship :o) I can taste her coconut peanut chicken now…
Mae and “Pa” :o)
One of the many Buddhist temples in the village.
Latest team pic, I wish you could see how much wall we finished!!! (Alison, Katy, Kim, Courtney)
One of the last pics before I left my sis at launch :o( MISS YOU TYE!!!
