Kwaam yin-dii pra-ohng...

The intern team - CM 08!

Equipping time
Leah and I riding an elephant!

We are getting settled back into a routine, which is nice after a busy week with the Aggies. We sent them off in fine fashion last weekend, floating down a river in bamboo rafts, staying in a small Christian village and watching their tribal dances, riding elephants, and swimming at a waterfall. What a blessing of fellowship! I was lucky enough to ride on the raft with the college minister, Kelly, and his wife Sara from the A&M group. He grew up in Thailand, and then they came back as missionaries for 18 years. I felt incredibly lucky to have hours upon end to listen and learn from them. They had so many stories and wisdom to share, everything from their own approach and struggles in ministry to a mini-lecture on Buddhism and the Thai culture. How often do you have an entire day and a half with nowhere to go, nothing to do, but talk, laugh, share life experiences? How often do you get a day and a half with nowhere to go, nothing to do but learn from mature, Godly people? I feel incredibly blessed to have had that chance.

Our daily schedule begins with "equipping time," which is where we meet for teaching and discussion time. That time together as a team has been really neat. We are all learning a lot from each other's perspectives. We also get to learn from the missionaries who are here, which is really great. Robert and his family left a few days ago for the States for their furlough, but the rest of the team will be in Chiang Mai. We are going to miss Robert and his family so much! He was such a blessing to us and I learned a lot from him. God has really gifted him in several ways.

At lunch time, we go eat on campus at Payap University. We try to talk to people, make new friends, and invite them to the Zone and English classes. We have little flyers we pass out, but they are in Thai. Even though we know the info that is on the flyer, it's funny to us American interns that we can't read what we're passing out! The Thai students are so friendly to us, which is a wonderful quality of their culture. Of course, it still is extremely awkward to try to initiate conversations with complete strangers, especially with the language barrier. We are learning more bits of Thai and most students know their fair share of English, so we get through conversations that way. Please pray for us that the Thai students hearts will be opened, and that we would have the courage to take the step of faith to talk to them! Many of the now-Christians at the Zone were met by interns and apprentices just like us.

The afternoons are for our scheduled English classes. This week has been a little disappointing for me because none of my English students have shown up for their appointments. Hopefully I will have better luck in the rest of the week.

This afternoon, our team of interns decided to put into action one of the spiritual disciplines we studied about: prayer. We wanted to completely cover the Zone, our team, the students, and Thai Christians in prayer. We each signed up for a 30 minute block and prayed for 4.5 hours straight. It was a really neat experience, and I think it challenged and inspired us all to develop a more intimate, close prayer life with the Lord. We challenged each other to pray for students we had met by name. I prayed for a girl named Xin I met last week who was really friendly and open, and she even came to cell group for a while. A few hours later, I saw her through the window, walking right outside the Zone! She came up to the window and said hello, so I went outside to talk to her for a little while. I hope and pray that relationship will continue to develop.

We started taking Thai lessons this week! It is so exciting to being learning. Speaking their language is a way of connecting with Thais that nothing else can quite measure up to. We learn a lot from our friends, who love to help us learn new words, phrases, and correct pronunciation. They usually do have a laugh at us, though...those five tones don't always come out of our mouths correctly!

The American interns are cooking the meal for cell group tomorrow...this should be interesting! We hope the Thais like our food and tastes. :)

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. The Lord is changing me every day, and I thank you for being a part of that!

The Whirlwind Week

The Aggies are in town...and brought with them a jam-packed, exciting, busy, amazing week! We skipped our day off this week, so I know I am little behind on blogging. I'm going to try to catch up quickly with some highlights, but there are so many stories and memories that I'll just have to fill in later. This week was filled with some big events and definitely a whole lot of excitement.

I went bungee jumping! I had heard weeks ago that we were going with the Aggie group to do this, and I made up my mind to do it; I knew I'd be scared and would want to chicken out, but I decided that no matter what I would do it because I knew I'd be glad I did. And I was! It was AMAZING, and it can't really be described in words! Here's a link to my facebook album with all the pictures from that: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058547&l=b846f&id=54600445. One of my friends also got a VIDEO of it, so I am trying very hard to get that uploaded to the internet so you can watch it and hear me scream!

We have visited several incredible places this week, including a leprosy rehab colony, a combined Sunday morning worship service of all the churches in Chiang Mai, a beautiful waterfall that we climbed on, the biggest Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai (one we climbed 306 steps to get to), favorite restaurants of former Thai missionaries, Night Bazaar and Walking Street (vendors set up along the streets), and an umbrella factory. So much fun - and so much reflection that has barely had time to happen!

Today we went on campus of Payap University for the first time. Since tonight was cell group, we wanted to invite people to come tonight and also get the word out about the free English classes that we interns will be teaching. We went around lunch time and simply walked up to students and started talking to them. Before we left the Zone, Robert prayed that God would bring 10 new people to cell group that night. Honestly, I was skeptical. Would 10 new people, meeting us for the first time today, actually come?

I had several fun conversations with Thai students while on campus. It struck me how nice and open they were to me...and how differently from that someone would probably treat us if we were in the States. It also struck me how nervous and uncomfortable I was, especially at first! I have been reflecting this afternoon how we must often get out of our comfort zone to truly follow the way of Jesus. Many of the That students were interested in the English classes, so we gave them the flyers with all of the information. I tested out the little Thai I've learned (they laughed at me) and we invited them to cell group.

Isn't it cool when God answers in an overwhelming, awesome way? The Zone was packed tonight for cell group. We eat dinner together before our devotional time, at which we definitely had well over 10 new faces (I'll have to ask for the exact count, but I'd guess it was close to 15). A few left after dinner, but many stayed and worshipped, talked, and laughed with us. God is really doing some cool things in Thailand, and I am experiencing this humbling and exciting feeling when I realize that I get to be a part of it. I am absolutely loving it here and can't wait to see how God will continue to move this summer!

Last night we had a talent show. Aggies and Thais performed songs, skits, and magic tricks, and we ACU interns decided that this group needed a taste of the talent that ACU is famous for...Sing Song! The five of us wrote and choreographed a Sing Song act (in a span of 24 hours, thank you!) about our time in Thailand. And with a group of about 20 Aggies, we couldn't resist poking fun at them a little bit (any of you who know Aggies know all of their little quirks!). We changed the lyrics to their Aggie War Hymn and received a lot of cheers and laughs! We finished up with our own version of the end of our own alma mater, "O Dear Christian College." Thankfully, this fantastic two minutes is also on VIDEO! It is on my computer and I am trying very hard to upload it to the internet. As soon as I get both of these videos online, I will post a link!

Here are some pictures from this whirlwind week...

This is how you greet someone in Thailand - even Ronald McDonald!

Leah and I with a few of the Thai girlsMy "certificate of courage," right after bungee jumping -

I was still shaking when this picture was taken! Friends at the Buddhist temple. This was an incredible experience,

one that I don't think I've processed yet at all. Maybe more on that later.And in the midst of all this busyness, the Lord is still quietly and gently transforming my heart. To God be all the glory.

English Class

I taught my first English class yesterday! English classes at the Payap Christian Zone work more like private tutoring sessions than a big classroom. Yim and Nok were my students yesterday and today, and I will work with them two afternoons every week. I've never taught anyone English before! These two girls make my job easy: they are very nice and eager to learn.

Payap University (nearby where the Zone is located) will start its new semester on Monday, June 16. Once the semester opens, we'll begin going on campus to meet new people and invite them to come hang out or learn English at the Zone. Many of the now-Christians here first came to the Zone for this very reason. Our hope is to be a magnet and a bridge to connect these students to this group of Christians.

Our morning equipping times are such a blessing. We are studying the book of John, and I have probably never studied a book of the Bible this intensely before. God is really teaching me a lot. This internship builds into our schedule a very important gift: every morning, in the middle of our equipping (devo and study) time, we split up and spend an hour in quiet time, just us and God. This discipline is so important, yet so difficult to practice in the busyness of our hurried lives! Robert reminds us that quiet time is for coming into the presence of God: and when we come into the presence of God, we will be changed. Yes, it can be very challenging to be quiet, but I am learning that if we never slow down, never stop our hurried lives, never simplify, we won't be still long enough to listen to God among all the noise.

A big group of A&M students from Aggies for Christ are coming into town tomorrow. They have many activities planned and we should be busy with them next week, so I apologize in advance if I don't get to the blog as much.

I want you to know that I think of you at home often, and I continually thank God for you. God is doing amazing things in my life this summer, and I know that I would not be here if not for you! Thank you for reading my blog, sending the emails, and leaving comments - they make me smile. :) May the Lord bless you immensely today as you have blessed me!

And on the seventh day, we rested

There's one thing I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of in Thailand: singing in Thai. Sunday was our first time to worship with the Christians at Payap. We sang lots of songs during the service; they are all sung in Thai, but next to the written Thai is the phonetics in English so that we can sing along. Most of the time, we know the tune so we know which song it is and what we're singing, but even when we don't, I love listening to the Thais sing! They sing very loud and with so much joy - it reminds me of singing in Dominica. Here are the phonetics to "Blue Skies and Rainbows," which we have sung several times. I'd really like to be able to sing this in Thai from memory by the time I get back to the States:



Tong faa lae sai roong lae saeng jaa sa-wahn laa
Bpen sing tii chahn hen muea jai chahn mii pra-jaow
(Chorus)
Chahn roo waa pra-yay-soo mii
chii-wit yoo waan nii
Pra-ohng yoo nai jit-jai chahn
Mai mii waan tii chahn ja mii kwaam glua tdaw bpai
Praw-waa chahn roo pra-yay-soo yoo glai glai.

We just returned from doing an English day camp in a little village in the mountains called Baw Geaw. (Side story: the road up to the village was very windy with lots of turns, and most of us got a little nauseous - especially me. I had to get my friend P'O to pull over the car so I could throw up on the side of the road!) We worked with the students in grades 7-12. Each of us ACU interns were paired with a Thai staff member, who helped so much with the translating! I worked with P'Pui and Erika, who is Robert's 14 year old daughter. (Erika and her brother Branson speak both English and Thai very well - I'm so impressed by them!) P'Pui, Erika, and I (that's a picture of three of us) taught the ninth-graders (that's a picture of some of them that stuck around to take a picture with us). We started the day with songs and games with all the grades together, and then we split up to teach. Our class learned words to use to introduce themselves, like "Hello", "My name is," "I am 15 years old," etc. Then we taught them some questions to ask, like "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" We moved on to teach transportation and direction words, and words of things you would buy at the store or market. The students were so excited to learn English and were a very captive audience! Even though we didn't work with the younger children, that's a picture of just a few of them. (Grades 1-12 attended the same campus.) They were so cute! They would stare at us as we walked around, and then giggled a lot when we talked to them!

Leah and I rode home with our new friends, P'Gahn and P'O. We started talking about when and how they became Christians, and their stories were just amazing to me. Both of them grew up in Buddhist homes, and they are still the only Christians in their families. P'Gahn said that he had always had a negative few of Christians until he met the people at the Chueng Doi church. He said it amazed him how these people truly cared for him and loved him, so then he decided to study about this God that they served and eventually became a Christian. His parents are still Buddhist, and they aren't so willing to listen to him talk about God, so he says now he prays for them and tries to show them Jesus through his love and his lifestyle. P'O had a similiar story: he grew up as a very strict Buddhist and was even going to become a monk. He said, though, that he was always searching for something that he was missing as a Buddhist: love. When he met the Christians and started to learn about their God, he found that love he was looking for. He is also still the only Christian in his family. Then they told us that about 70% of the people in Thailand are Buddhist, and 25% are Muslim. Only 1% of Thailand is Christian - and that includes everything from Catholic to Protestant. When they tell people that they are Christians, it's something that is really weird. They are definitely in the minority. P'O and P'Gahn are interns as well, but they are working with the Chueng Doi church (we are at the Payap Christian Zone church). Leah and I were amazed at their stories - they are only a few years older than us, but they have had endure so much more as Christians than we ever have. What really struck me about their stories is what attracted them to Christianity, what made them decide to completely change their life. It wasn't just a new list of things to believe, but it was love: the love of Christ that others first showed to them. What an encouragement and call to us to remember to show Christ's love to people!

Today is our day off, so we are relaxing around our dorm style apartment and getting caught up on blogs, emails, and sleep! We are learning how important it is to have times of true rest. Robert and his kids took us to a Mexican restaurant, which was surprisingly good for a Mexican place owned by a Canadian living in Thailand! By the way, that's a picture of all the interns and Robert in front of the Zone. This was the night we went to the funeral for Malee. Thais wear black and white to funerals, which is why we look like a checker board!

A few more cultural points of interest...

• When someone is older than you, you have to say a "P" in front of their name. It's one of the ways Thais show respect to their elders, which their culture heavily emphasizes. That is why I typed P'Pui, P'Gahn, and P'O like that: they are all older than me.
• You have to take off your shoes before going inside anywhere in Thailand. You also cannot point your feet and especially cannot direct the bottom of your feet towards someone older than you. We are all trying to be very careful to pay attention to the way we are sitting!
• Going to the bathroom is always interesting in other countries. In our apartment and in most large places, bathrooms are the same as the States. In more rustic places and in some homes, however, they have (as Americans have nicknamed them) "squatty potties." I think there are pictures in some of my teammates' Facebook albums, but just imagine a sink placed in the ground.
• The Thai language is a tonal language, which means that the same word stressed/emphasized differently means a completely different word. (There are five tones.) This makes it even easier for us to mess up on our Thai! It's hard to explain this without being able to make the sounds. What is interesting to us is that P'Pui's sister's name is the name as hers': just in a different tone.

May you be blessed by the Lord today. Thanks for taking the time to read about my experiences here!

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. - John 1:16

Sawatdee Kha

Katie and I were really excited about all the stuff they give you on international flights! This picture is from the beginning of the trip - by the end of the 14.5 hours in such a small space, we weren't so thrilled about the plane anymore. :)

This is the first time that I've experienced being in culture that doesn't speak my language. Fortunately, there are enough American missionaries and Thais that speak English (some very well) that we don't feel isolated from the culture, but it is certainly a mind-opening experience. We all attended our first cell group (small group) with the Payap church last night, which was spoken alternately in both Thai and English. How powerful it was to listen to their singing in Thai; although we may not understand the words, we understand their hearts. The joy of these Thai Christians is really touching, and I enjoy observing their close relationships with each other. At the end of the service, we sat in the middle of the circle as the group surrounded us and prayed over us - people speaking in either their native Thai or English. All of us interns have been overwhelmed and touched by the love they've show us.

We spent a night on a houseboat earlier this week with our fellow Thai intern and a few other Thai young people, which is where most of these pictures are from. Wa (I need to check on the English spelling of her name), the Thai intern, and I were roommates, so that's a picture in front of our room. Pui, Poi, and Ohng also came with us. Robert talked to us alot on the houseboat about the daily equipping times that we'll be having together. I am so excited about this internship, and I'm just really impressed with how much these missionaries put into it. They sacrifice a lot of time to spend teaching and mentoring us.

Believe it or not, we are actually learning some Thai! Wa and Pui were so patient this morning as they taught us some basic phrases. We've learned the Thai for "thank you": "khob khun kha", and we try to use it often! We get really excited when we can say a phrase, or when we recognize a word that a Thai person says. It is such a different language from our own. It is difficult for us to remember tones and make some sounds that English doesn't have, but it's really important to us to learn as much of their language as possible.

We are actually attending a Thai funeral tonight, which should be an interesting cultural experience and probably one that most foreigners don't see! Thai funerals usually go on for about a week. A lady named Malee passed away, who was actually the first convert as a result of the work of this missionary team in Chiang Mai. At cell group last night, Robert shared some amazing stories about her. She truly showed the love of Jesus to people.

One more wonderful thing about Thailand...they have Tim Tams! :)

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

I'm here!

We made it!

After many hours on several planes, we have safely arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We arrived in Bangkok late last night, where we met up with our teammates and spent the night at the church there, and then caught a flight up to Chiang Mai this afternoon. I must say again here how thankful I am for your prayers and support. I was reminded by every flight the expense of traveling, and I am grateful for I know none of this would be possible without so many of you.

We have been in Thailand for less than 24 hours, yet there are already so many things that I could fill this blog with. In just the little time I've been here, there has already been so much to soak in! We will start tomorrow with our "equipping time," which is when the mission team here spends time teaching and mentoring us. Then we are going out on a boat for some time to talk, get to know each other, ask questions, and just enjoy each other's company as we prepare to serve together.

We already have had one of those "we can tell they're not from around here" moments - Robert took us to a Wal-Mart type of store (I'd tell you the name if I knew how to spell it!) today so that we could pick up some necessities. As we are checking out, everyone in the entire store suddenly stops what they are doing and stands very still, hands at their sides. We don't realize this right away, so we're carrying on, talking as normal. We finally see what's going on and remember what we've been told about the King: he is highly respected and well loved by the people here. The King's song is played every day at 8am and 6pm anywhere there is a radio, and everyone stops everything to listen. Needless to say, we got some odd looks when we were talking during the King's song!

I am still recovering from jet lag, so I'll be off to bed early tonight. Please feel free to post a comment on the blog or email me at melaniesmith86@gmail.com. If you have a question about something in particular, I'd love to try to answer that for you.

A few points of interest...

• The currency here is the Baht. One American dollar equals about 30 baht. We are getting used to the change and have to stop frequently to try to calculate what we're spending in dollars so that it makes sense to us! I try to keep the equation in my head that 100 baht equals 3 dollars, which helps a little bit.
• The time difference is exactly 12 hours, which is the easiest it could be. When it's 3:00 in Chiang Mai, it's 3:00 in Texas - just switch the AM and PM.
• My teammate Katie accidentally ate an extremely hot pepper at dinner tonight. We have been advised to say "my pet" (obviously, that's just how it sounds to us in English - I have no idea how it's actually written) after ordering all of our food, which means "not hot." After Katie's surprised look and red face tonight, I think we'll all remember that!
• In Bangkok, almost every sign I saw had the English translation directly under. We're not so lucky in Chiang Mai. The Thai language doesn't even use the same letters that we do, so it really looks like squiggly lines to us. One very good thing is that the numbers are the same, so we can see and understand how much something costs.
• After a 14.5 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, I think I have developed a little bit of claustrophobia.