Sa-nook mak!

The Chueng Doi and Payap church joined together this past Sunday for their monthly service project. We got to spend a whole afternoon at an orphanage with some adorable Thai children! We had a wonderful afternoon, singing, playing games, reading Bible stories, and laughing with these precious kids. I'll let these pictures do the talking...

These boys were so cute! They loved the "catch her eye" game.

Waving goodbye to us

On Friday and Saturday, we had another English camp up in the mountains. We invited our English students from Payap to come, so it was a great time to get to know them better. The scenery was absolutely beautiful!

Me and P'O

Me and P'Pui enjoying the view

Another really neat way that we've been able to serve this summer is with the youth group. All of the missionaries' kids are teenagers, and just a few months ago they decided to become more active with official youth group classes and activities. It has been really fun and encouraging to be a friend to these high school girls. Several of them are half-American and half-Thai and all of them speak English really well. They seem to really enjoy spending time with us, and we are certainly enjoying our time with them! In Bible class, I am often impressed with the comments they have to contribute. I'd imagine that growing up as a missionary's kid isn't always easy, but these teens are awesome!

I got three new English students last week. My students that were previously signed up with me never showed up for class, so I get to start with these new students this week. I had one lesson last week with Sai and James. Sai knows English a little better than James does, but they are both eager and enthusiastic learners and I think our lessons will be a lot of fun.

We celebrated the 4th of July...at the American Consolate in Chiang Mai! We had to show our US passports and go through airport-type security to get in. They had red, white, and blue, American music, ice cream, and hot dogs. Some of the interns even entered a watermelon eating contest! It was so fun and even refreshing to be in a big group of Americans. We had to leave early and get back for cell group so we missed the fireworks, but at least for an afternoon we were proud to be an American. :)

Here's an interesting fact about Thailand: for each day of the week, there is a certain color that people try to wear. My Thai friends have explained that it is not mandatory at all (and in fact, more people don't than do), but after I was made aware that Monday is yellow, I noticed a LOT of yellow shirts! Sunday is red, Monday is yellow, Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Friday is blue, and Saturday is black. I forgot today and wore the wrong color, but I'm going to try to see how often I can wear the right one. Maybe the Thais will see me and think, "that farong (the word for foreigner) at least knows a little bit about Thailand!" :)

God is blessing me immensely and teaching me so much about Himself...and about myself too. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!