If I had to sum up Thailand in one word it would be unforgettable, which I know is kind of a no duh but let me explain. It is quite possible that never in my life will I ride an elephant, raft down a river on a bunch of pieces of bamboo tied together, ride on the back of a songthaew, live in the middle of a rainforrest, visit a temple during Buddhist Lent, help build a house for a 71 year old woman,and most importantly I may never be in Chiang Mai, Thailand again.
Here is a look at our elephant ride...kinda scary but totally worth it!
It only took us one hour to tare down the house the older woman lived in before, it was basically made up of random pieces of wood and tree branches. It was hard not being able to communicate with the workers and the other people in the village we were at but it didn't stop us from working with them and having a good time. My favorite moment came toward the end of our trip when we had a bunch of people come out to the village and bless the new house. It was amazing to see the worker's reactions to us when we sang a couple of worship songs and then prayed a blessing over the house, many of them had tears in there eyes, I wish I had a picture of it but my camera battery had died so i'll have to wait to get a picture from someone else and put it up. During the blessing all of us gathered around the woman and kneeled in front of her, as it is custom to be lower than your elder, and we prayed over her and the house and by the end she was in tears, it was one of those moments I will never forget. Then she sprinkled water over us as a thank you!
This is a before and after of the house, sorry I don't have the finished product but like I said my camera was dead
My crew also go to work at a school in the village where helped build the house which ended up being so much fun! The kids were full of life and so anxious to be loved. In the morning we told them a Bible story and then we split them up by grades to do crafts, english, and PE with them. It was definitely hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the week!
Another awesome thing about being at the school...they had karaoke!
While were there our team had the pleasure of adopting 3 students from SouthWest Baptist as part of our team. They truly became one of us, they traveled with us, had team time with us, poured their hearts out to us, made us laugh, and truly made our time in Thailand better than you can imagine. Two of the girls, Emily and Lydia, were part of of our crews and will be there for 6 months (so jealous of them right now) and Shawn was there taking pictures the whole time was there for a month. It was really hard to say goodbye to them but at the same time I am so excited for them and I know God is going to use their time there in mighty ways!!!
The day we left =(
Last but not least, for now anyway, my team was so great! We got along great and had a blast together. It was hard for us to be split up when the International World Changers team came but I think it made us appreciate each other that much more. I love you guys, thanks for an awesome experience!
This was after the Khantoke, which is a traditional a Thai dinner and Thai dancing...pretty sweet!
This was after our elephant ride...best ISP picture EVER!
Thanks for sticking with me through this long post, it was actually quite therapeutic. Im gonna post all my pictures on facebook if you want to see more, and I am always up for personal photo viewings and story time if you are interested. Now im going to get ready for the day because I am going out to Riverside to see Brie, Jeni, Chase, Taylor, Janelle, Chris and Heather and I can't tell you how excited that makes me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
