I uploaded some pictures from my trip to Chiang Mai and a garden in Northern Thailand.
We just finished up our last week of lectures. This coming week is a preparation week for our 5-week outreach to central Thailand (1-2 hours from Bangkok). I’ll be working on a farm and working with a sports ministry for the last two weeks.
I’m glad that lectures are completed. It was a great learning experience, but a LOT to process. It’s about time for a break for a week before outreach starts! It’s hard to describe all that this DTS has been for me. I’m not sure where to start....so I won't here. It's 2AM! I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time.
So what else. I think I’ve gained back a bit of weight from the two care packages that my friends and parents sent to me. Outreach should help me lose it again. I shaved my head. My hair was slowly leaving my head anyway. I might as well do it now and save everyone from my comb-forward. There is one last picture of me with hair on my head. The others with the hat are me adjusting to my new hair style (or lack thereof). I’m pretty much used to it now though. At first I was a bit freaked out. Okay, I will see most of you in 1-2 months!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Outreach #2 - Nan - No Plans
The second outreach I did here in Thailand was quite different than the first. For this outreach we had no plans. We knew the province we were going to, but that was it. We were going to go there and then pray and ask God where and what he wanted us to do in that province.
We got on a bus and 4-5 hours later arrived in Nan, Thailand. We got our stuff out of the bus and sat down and prayed for God to show us where to go. The word “Luang” came to me and some others felt God was telling them we needed to get on another bus and go somewhere outside of the initial town we arrived at. Luang turned out to be the name of a town only 45 minutes away, in the same province. We got a hotel in the city of Nan for that night. That night we prayed again and another person in our group felt I should lead the first full day of outreach. Each day was to be led by a student in the team and not by the leaders. My response was to jokingly say that I felt God was telling me to go last. I was quite nervous about leading a day and being responsible for making the decision of where to go or to stay in Nan. The next day we went prayer walking around Nan in the morning. After that we had an prayer time where we asked God when we should leave Nan or if we should stay. I got the work “bai mong.” I knew mong was a Thai word for time, but I didn’t know that “bai” was Thai for one. Bai mong was then 1 PM. Another student in our group also felt God was saying 1 PM. So I decided we should go to Luang at 1 PM!
We arrived in Luang and I decided to find accommodation in this tiny village first. We went to a restaurant and they said we could stay at their shack behind their place. We later found out that there were no hotels in this town and this restaurant was considered the best one in town. The Lord is faithful! We could have easily been stranded in the town with nowhere to stay. That night we met with the head of the town and she wanted us to put on an English camp for 5 days for the children of the village. They were very gracious in accepting us into their town. There were even two long-term missionaries in this town which the DTS leader, who was on our team for this outreach, just happened to know. He was previously unaware they were working in this remote area of Thailand. I don’t think this was mere coincidence to find these people. They were very helpful with the things we did in the area in the coming days.
So we taught English camp for 5 days. Twenty-five students showed up the first day, but by the last day over forty came. The last day of camp we asked if they would like to know Jesus more and many of them prayed with us. We also did prayer walking in the afternoons and talked to the local people, well the Thai’s did on our team. I went with them and got the conversations translated. Thai village people are very kind and welcoming!
We then went back to the city of Nan and talked to people on the street about Jesus and went to the larger hospital in Nan. We prayed for people in the hospital and I held very basic conversations with them when a Thai wasn’t around to translate.
Overall it was an amazing outreach where God showed how faithful he is. Several adults made commitments to Christ and a lot of the children we taught English to did. One of the leaders on our team prayed for two women who were then miraculously able to walk when they hadn’t been able to before. Both women decided to become Christians right then and there.
We went in not having any plans and just asking the Lord to guide us. God certainly did that. There were too many situations that worked out so well on this outreach for me to believe they were just mere coincidences.
We got on a bus and 4-5 hours later arrived in Nan, Thailand. We got our stuff out of the bus and sat down and prayed for God to show us where to go. The word “Luang” came to me and some others felt God was telling them we needed to get on another bus and go somewhere outside of the initial town we arrived at. Luang turned out to be the name of a town only 45 minutes away, in the same province. We got a hotel in the city of Nan for that night. That night we prayed again and another person in our group felt I should lead the first full day of outreach. Each day was to be led by a student in the team and not by the leaders. My response was to jokingly say that I felt God was telling me to go last. I was quite nervous about leading a day and being responsible for making the decision of where to go or to stay in Nan. The next day we went prayer walking around Nan in the morning. After that we had an prayer time where we asked God when we should leave Nan or if we should stay. I got the work “bai mong.” I knew mong was a Thai word for time, but I didn’t know that “bai” was Thai for one. Bai mong was then 1 PM. Another student in our group also felt God was saying 1 PM. So I decided we should go to Luang at 1 PM!
We arrived in Luang and I decided to find accommodation in this tiny village first. We went to a restaurant and they said we could stay at their shack behind their place. We later found out that there were no hotels in this town and this restaurant was considered the best one in town. The Lord is faithful! We could have easily been stranded in the town with nowhere to stay. That night we met with the head of the town and she wanted us to put on an English camp for 5 days for the children of the village. They were very gracious in accepting us into their town. There were even two long-term missionaries in this town which the DTS leader, who was on our team for this outreach, just happened to know. He was previously unaware they were working in this remote area of Thailand. I don’t think this was mere coincidence to find these people. They were very helpful with the things we did in the area in the coming days.
So we taught English camp for 5 days. Twenty-five students showed up the first day, but by the last day over forty came. The last day of camp we asked if they would like to know Jesus more and many of them prayed with us. We also did prayer walking in the afternoons and talked to the local people, well the Thai’s did on our team. I went with them and got the conversations translated. Thai village people are very kind and welcoming!
We then went back to the city of Nan and talked to people on the street about Jesus and went to the larger hospital in Nan. We prayed for people in the hospital and I held very basic conversations with them when a Thai wasn’t around to translate.
Overall it was an amazing outreach where God showed how faithful he is. Several adults made commitments to Christ and a lot of the children we taught English to did. One of the leaders on our team prayed for two women who were then miraculously able to walk when they hadn’t been able to before. Both women decided to become Christians right then and there.
We went in not having any plans and just asking the Lord to guide us. God certainly did that. There were too many situations that worked out so well on this outreach for me to believe they were just mere coincidences.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
First DTS Outreach
I just finished my first outreach. We stayed at a place called Baan Nam Jai (Home of the Open Heart) for just under two weeks. I did jobs like moving dirt around, picking weeds, cleaning up a tool shed, weeding a garden, planting flowers, and the always easy office work. I’ll just run through schedule and make a few notes afterward.
6:30AM - Breakfast
7:00AM - Quiet Time/Reading my Bible
7:30-8:30AM - Worship or Prayer Meeting
8:30AM-12:30PM - WORK TIME!
12:30-1:30PM - Lunch
1:30-3:30PM - Office Work/Teaching English
3:30-5:30PM - Free Time
5:30-6:30PM - Dinner
We had two hours of team time in the evening after dinner. We also had different duties ranging from breakfast/dinner clean-up to laundry to planning team time at night.
The biggest news was that the “bamboo palace” fell down during our stay there. This was the place where the women slept and we all hung out. We noticed in the beginning that it was starting to lean. The foundation was just wood posts stuck into the ground. Ryan, the only other guy on the team, and I stayed in another building. We were hanging out in it when we noticed the tilting was getting REAL bad. We then managed to move out all the stuff, including a small refrigerator. About 10 minutes later it collapsed, just after we took a picture in front of it! It really felt like God was holding it up just long enough for all of us to get our stuff out.
The outreach didn’t feel like a ton of work. I only had to work four hours in the morning. The afternoon work time was mostly office work. It didn’t feel like we were “roughing it” since we were staying just outside Chiang Rai. We traveled the least amount of time of the outreach groups. Most of them headed out to remote villages.
I enjoyed the time with my fellow team members. They are all pretty cool and easy going. Our leader is a bilingual Thai woman. Our team consists of two Thai women, one Indian woman, one Malaysian woman, three Aussies (one guy), one American woman, and me. I hardly even notice all the different nationalities. At this point I’m very used to being in the minority. There is only one other American guy in our class of 34.
After outreach all the groups met at the top of a huge waterfall. And yes, I did go behind it! On the inside it felt like a torrential rain storm though. I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a lot of fun, albeit cold.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
6:30AM - Breakfast
7:00AM - Quiet Time/Reading my Bible
7:30-8:30AM - Worship or Prayer Meeting
8:30AM-12:30PM - WORK TIME!
12:30-1:30PM - Lunch
1:30-3:30PM - Office Work/Teaching English
3:30-5:30PM - Free Time
5:30-6:30PM - Dinner
We had two hours of team time in the evening after dinner. We also had different duties ranging from breakfast/dinner clean-up to laundry to planning team time at night.
The biggest news was that the “bamboo palace” fell down during our stay there. This was the place where the women slept and we all hung out. We noticed in the beginning that it was starting to lean. The foundation was just wood posts stuck into the ground. Ryan, the only other guy on the team, and I stayed in another building. We were hanging out in it when we noticed the tilting was getting REAL bad. We then managed to move out all the stuff, including a small refrigerator. About 10 minutes later it collapsed, just after we took a picture in front of it! It really felt like God was holding it up just long enough for all of us to get our stuff out.
The outreach didn’t feel like a ton of work. I only had to work four hours in the morning. The afternoon work time was mostly office work. It didn’t feel like we were “roughing it” since we were staying just outside Chiang Rai. We traveled the least amount of time of the outreach groups. Most of them headed out to remote villages.
I enjoyed the time with my fellow team members. They are all pretty cool and easy going. Our leader is a bilingual Thai woman. Our team consists of two Thai women, one Indian woman, one Malaysian woman, three Aussies (one guy), one American woman, and me. I hardly even notice all the different nationalities. At this point I’m very used to being in the minority. There is only one other American guy in our class of 34.
After outreach all the groups met at the top of a huge waterfall. And yes, I did go behind it! On the inside it felt like a torrential rain storm though. I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a lot of fun, albeit cold.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
DTS Happenings
It's kind of hard to describe since it's not a whole lot of "knowledge" but rather more internal things that are a bit personal.
But week one was on "intercessory" prayer which is letting God speak to you about what he wants you to pray for and then sharing these things with the group and praying for them. It's a bit different but very interesting to see what happens. During the last day we had the two speakers prophetically pray over us individually. I had this happen once before and both times have been very encouraging.
This week the speaker is talking about the nature (what he is) and character (what he chooses to be) of God. It's a lot of information to take in but it's been interesting. It takes a lot of time to process it all. But since the school is Bilingual the speed is 1/2 what is normal so I have time during lecture to think about things a bit.
But week one was on "intercessory" prayer which is letting God speak to you about what he wants you to pray for and then sharing these things with the group and praying for them. It's a bit different but very interesting to see what happens. During the last day we had the two speakers prophetically pray over us individually. I had this happen once before and both times have been very encouraging.
This week the speaker is talking about the nature (what he is) and character (what he chooses to be) of God. It's a lot of information to take in but it's been interesting. It takes a lot of time to process it all. But since the school is Bilingual the speed is 1/2 what is normal so I have time during lecture to think about things a bit.
DTS Homework
We have 5 pages of writing on various things we are learning that week in a journal. This includes a study of one Bible character per week. We also have one Bible verse to memorize each week. During the 6 months I also have to read 4 books and do 1 page book reports. Next week I have to do a 3-min. oral presentation on "patience".
DTS Schedule
DTS Schedule:
6:15 – Exercise and then shower
7:15 – Breakfast
7:30/7:45 – Quiet Time
8:15 – Studying a few verses in Proverbs
8:30 – Worship or Prayer Time
9:30-12:30 – Lectures
12:30 – Lunch
1:00-2:00 – Prep for teaching English
2:00-3:00 – Thai Class
3:00-4:00 – English Class (I teach)
4:15-5:15 – Mandatory/voluntary sports time
5:30 – Dinner
7:00-8:30 – Small groups or some activity
10:00 – Lights out (if I can get to bed by this time)
So as you can see, not much free time!!!!
Weekends are the only time to do homework.
6:15 – Exercise and then shower
7:15 – Breakfast
7:30/7:45 – Quiet Time
8:15 – Studying a few verses in Proverbs
8:30 – Worship or Prayer Time
9:30-12:30 – Lectures
12:30 – Lunch
1:00-2:00 – Prep for teaching English
2:00-3:00 – Thai Class
3:00-4:00 – English Class (I teach)
4:15-5:15 – Mandatory/voluntary sports time
5:30 – Dinner
7:00-8:30 – Small groups or some activity
10:00 – Lights out (if I can get to bed by this time)
So as you can see, not much free time!!!!
Weekends are the only time to do homework.
Thailand Trip
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to go on a trip around the Chiang Rai province. The first place we went to was called Phu Chi Fa. It is the highest point in the area. It was quite foggy out but still a nice view. The peak had several rocky outcroppings.
The next place we went to was a pseudo-hill tribe village near Phu Chi Fa. It was a bit of a disappointment but still enjoyable. Next was an out-of-season flower business where the picture of the tulips comes from. It was a lot of walking for a few flowers. The last place was probably the highlight of the trip. I’m not sure the name of the waterfall. It was fun to hike around in the woods of Thailand above the waterfall. The one tree in picture must be at least 200-feet tall and 8-feet wide at the base.
The next place we went to was a pseudo-hill tribe village near Phu Chi Fa. It was a bit of a disappointment but still enjoyable. Next was an out-of-season flower business where the picture of the tulips comes from. It was a lot of walking for a few flowers. The last place was probably the highlight of the trip. I’m not sure the name of the waterfall. It was fun to hike around in the woods of Thailand above the waterfall. The one tree in picture must be at least 200-feet tall and 8-feet wide at the base.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Northern Thailand Trip Photos
On Saturday, February 3rd I was able to take a trip around the Chiang Rai province with a bunch of the other DTS students. We went to Phu Chi Fa, the highest point in the area, a waterfall, and a flower business (off-season though).
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