Life is Beautiful, it's true.

Life is Beautiful. My title says it all. I am at such a beautiful place in my life. I want for nothing. And better yet I'm receiving things that I didn't even know I wanted. The gifts, tangible and abstract are flowing freely my way. I am continually filled with such joy and excitement, I literally cannot contain it. I cannot smile big enough to express how I feel. I am so utterly overwhelmed by the love of God. I walk around like a giddy girl who is love with a permanent smile on my face.

And yet at the same time I see and hear the stories of the broken hearted, the lost, the destitute. Those who have experienced such injustice and live life without the knowledge of the hope and love of God. I am completely overwhelmed with their sadness and pain. I cry out and pray for them as if they were my own flesh and blood. And I start to see that this is how Father God feels.

God has infused me with His love and I cannot help but lavish it on others and at the same time have compassion on those suffering. It's not just compassion, but empathy, I can feel their heart cry deep in my soul.

To list all the blessings from God would take pages and pages and pages. Oh, how my soul sings how good He is. The Bible is true, for if we fully believe it in soul and mind, there is nothing to worry or fear. For we live in God's Kingdom and He has full ability to provide for our every need and loves to lavish His love on us.

I have never had this many friends in my life at one time as I do now. Friends that know me, that love and care for me deeply. I turn to the left or to the right and there is someone whose got my back, who if I have a problem would drop everything and come immediately. To feel such great love not only from God but from all those around you is like nothing else.

LOVE.

Everything comes back to Love. LOVE is the greatest weapon and the greatest cure. The Bible says PERFECT LOVE casts out all fear. When you've experienced the perfect love of the Father... that's it, there's nothing else to worry about for you know He's always got your back and will carry you through whatever trial comes your way.

My Life.

"I heard a call, 'Come follow',
That was all.
Earth's joys grew dim,
My soul went after Him,
I rose and followed-
That was all."

--unknown

The Lumineers - "Ho Hey"

Loving this song right now. Heard it on a little tv show called Hart of Dixie, thanks CW.

Module 5: check.

The end of another class. They seem to go by so fast now. I can't believe Module 6 is next, which is the last module- after that there are 8 or so elective classes you can chose from to study.

From left to right: Mr. Jung, a Korean pastor I've studied with for the past 3 months. Tony and Jay, my Korean buddies. Kozue, the Japanese girl who I've studied with for 3 months as well (I'm sure she looks familiar from past class photos). My cute teacher, who loves to laugh as much as I do (especially at my classmates failed attempts to read properly :). And Selina, the 16yr Chinese girl- who honestly already speaks fluent Thai having lived here for years growing up. She spoke good English too, so I finally had someone in class to joke with and ask for translation when needed. It was fabulous. Strangely enough she lives in the building next to mine (of all the ones in the city, right?). Her mom studied Module 1 at the same time, so we would all ride the bus together to school. She reminded me of the little sister I never had. ;)

Hope Module 6 can compete with this class....I've got high hopes.

Mom comes to Bangkok

My mom came out mid-October for 9 weeks or so to visit the family, especially the grand kids- Skype just doesn't do justice when it comes to children.

She was able to spend a full week with me before heading down south to my brother's. I had school everyday and homework, but we were able to fit in some shopping days for sure! We checked out the new mall that just opened near my school and house- it is amazing, so extravagant! We ate at some delicious restaurants and of course saw a couple movies in the plush theaters of Bangkok.

It was real good for my mom to understand where I live, how I go to school, where I shop for groceries, etc. Now that she has lived it and can picture, there's no more worry. My life, although extremely different, is very safe.

Mom's arrival: 1 suitcase for me, 1 for my brother, & 1 car seat for the grand kid

At my church sitting with my Thai friends that God has blessed me with. They practice their English and I Thai- my mom was able to understand half the conversation. ;)

I wanted Mom to experience all forms of public transportation in Bangkok, so we took the river boat taxi along the canals of the city. Bangkok is called the Venice of the East.


We went to my friend, Celeste's, coffee shop who helps lady-boys
and enjoyed some delicious cupcakes and coffees.

We went to Lumpini Park, which is like the Central Park of Bangkok.
Such a nice escape, even in the midst of the big city.


We found a great restaurant at the top of the new mall with the booths shaped liked little cabanas overlooking the city and river. It was beautiful!
You can see the sky train to my left and my school is in one of those high-rise buildings
Thai Ice Tea- part of every Thai diet


Great fun to finally share this part of my life with my mom.

Classmates

This past month of studying at school as been fun. Module 5 is different from all the others, I feel more grown up. Now we're like in late elementary school. We have mastered how to read and write, so now we get to read stories about Thai culture. We learned about Thai fruit, the big weekend market, the temples, the canals that run through the city like Venice, and of course the elephants of Thailand. I love learning about other cultures and customs, so I really enjoyed it. The teacher speaks Thai the whole time, so my vocab and understanding has greatly increased.

Also during this module I made good friends with a group of Korean guys. Pretty hilarious. I studied with 2 of them in the past and this module I studied with the other 2- not knowing at first they are all buddies from South Korea. They are studying Thai because they are tour guides in Korea and have lots of Thai clients. We usually ate lunch together after class- introducing me to delicious Korean food, becoming one of my top favorites now. Each week I crave Korean food at least one day a week. One day they picked Subway to go eat at (I think because of me: American=sandwiches). I ordered my sandwich and quickly realized, they had never been to Subway before- had no clue how to order the sandwich. It was pretty funny, but they did say it was delicious!

They hardly speak English, so Thai is our communal language, which helps us all practice more. They are really sweet guys that looked after me like a little sister. It was funny to see me surrounded by these 4 Korean guys all speaking Korean, but it was nice to have that community. I know so much now about Korean culture (considering most of my classmates are always Korean) I really want to visit. It looks so beautiful, with four seasons and all, maybe now I'll have some places to stay when I visit. :)

Occasionally we would go bowling or play pool- they do that often- making them quite superior, which makes playing with me not too fun I'm sure.

At the bowling alley. These guys play 3-4 days a week,
at least 4 hours each time....ridiculous.

Kozue and I, we've studied together these last 3 months.

My friend Tea. We get along real well. He comes from a Christian home, his mom is a pastor in Korea, so he's able to understand that aspect of my life more than the others. We make each laugh a lot as we try to figure out this Thai language and use it properly. I checked out his Korean church (45min. long) and he came and checked out mine (3 hrs long)...I think I got the better trade off! ;)

I love watching good pool players, it amazes me. These boys are
huge competitors, every aspect of life is turned into some sort of competition.
And rock, paper, scissors is used to solve any decision- it really is too funny.

This has been a fun month, but sadly like all seasons there comes an end. 2 of them have left back to Korea. Oh, the ebbs and flows of life....I wonder what's next.

Girlfriends

My friends and I were able to all meet up and have a ladies night. They are all such a blessing in my life. Living in this big city with out them would make it so much harder. I love how God is always faithful to provide.

We tried a new restaurant we found good reviews on located right on the river. It was beautiful, quaint, and right across from one of the famous temples. Sunset was beautiful followed by the lights reflecting on the water.

Wat Arun

Celeste and I

Sandy and Emily, on the right, I've known since I moved here- they work for Night Light and Bethany on the left just moved out here for at least a year to help with Celeste's ministry to lady-boys. Bethany studies at my same language school, so now I have an American buddy I can speak English with on the breaks-- such a nice change. I'm realizing how necessary it is to communicate with someone in your own language- not being able to can be really exhausting.

The rest of the crew. Sarah Beth on the left, I met for the first time and we discovered we have very similar hearts for ministry in Thailand- very similar- we're curious to see how God will connect the dots. Natasha on the end in stripes works for World Vision and has been seen on CNN reporting during the flood crisis. Then there's Natalya on the right, my Colombian fire-cracker friend- she is so Latin- full of emotion and expression and speaks the best street Thai slang around. She is amazing and constantly has me smiling. So in our group we have me: Natasha, the other Natasha, and Natalya. Let's just say we're all trying to adjust- never being friends with same named people- it's an adjustment. ^_^

After dinner we checked out the night flower market in China town. It was really fun and really pretty. Those bunches of roses were about $1. If only I lived closer. I would buy one everyday.

We finished the evening at this funky little place
listening to this amazing jazz band

The Thai lady was incredible- her singing voice was amazing- she sounded like
Zooey Deschanel (from Elf and 500 days of Summer). Then when she spoke,
she totally sounded Thai with her Asian accent, it was adorable.

School Celebration

It's time for a little catch-up, sorry for the delayed posting.....

My Thai language school recently had their 10 yr anniversary of being open. They had a big celebration for all the students to come and take part in. As with Buddhist tradition they brought in many monks to saying blessings over the teachers and the building. It was interesting to see....but I'll admit it lasted quite a while. At least I was able to make some new friends who were in some Modules below me, while we waited for the ceremony to finish so we could enjoy all the delicious food.

Interestingly enough I was sitting with a group of Korean guys (actually this isn't very interesting considering they make up about 75% of my school ^_^) chatting and getting to know each other. Also on the couch was a Thai lady, over-hearing our conversation. I told the guys I'm a missionary and go to church. The Thai lady quickly perked up asking what church I go to. Wouldn't you know it, we go to the same church!?! She is the girlfriend of a Austrian man studying at my school (that's why she was at the party). Somehow she's never seen me, I don't say that in an egotistical way as in everyone should know me. But you can't miss me at church. There's only 2 other white females and I'm the only tall, long blonde haired one....so I'm just saying.

She speaks decent English and we planned to meet at church the next week. We met and sat by each other and had lunch after together. The next week her boyfriend came too. I love being able to chat with Thais at church and get some practice. That has been a fun God connection.

All the teachers inside with the monks with the students watching

some of our classrooms have amazing views of the city, it is the
best when you get a classroom with a window.

all the yummy food and desserts

With my Module 4 teacher

Module 4 at school was all about reading and writing and learning all the special rules. It required a lot of work and lots of hours on homework. I would go to school for 4 hours and then do at least 3 hours on homework each night! Ugh! But the more you put into it, the more you get back, so nothing is wasted. ^^

Last day of class. We started with 9 students, but ended with 4 (2 Korean men and my Japanese friend) it is a hard module that requires lots of time. I really should take 'first day of school' pictures and 'last day' just to compare.

This is Discipling

A cute and interesting clip of walking out the Christian life.

For all the single ladies:

This is powerful, it speaks for its self.