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| Thailand Part II |
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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