Oho! It has been one busy past week and I apologize for not keeping up with my blog! I'll try to give a daily run down of what has happened beginning with last Friday. Also, there are pictures of the past week and a half of some memorable moments in the previous blog, enjoy!

Friday the 13th: Robert took us up for a "Mystery Equipping Time" in a mountain area called Crazy Horse. After some bible study and prayer time, we went cave exploring. We crawled down one that was barely big enough to squeeze through and we crawled down in pitch black. I was a little nervous that I might grab a snake! It ended up opening into this huge, amazing tavern, so it was well worth the few moments of fright. That afternoon, Jordan and Emily, a young married couple from ACU, arrived and they are joining our team for a few weeks. It was surprising and refreshing to see a familiar face all the way around the world. That evening us ACU girls planned games for cell group at Robert's house and we learned some new Thai songs. P'Poi french-braided my hair and Thumb, a new guy we just met offered to put a dred in my hair which I decided to decline ;) Later that evening the Aggies for Christ arrived and they stayed with us at the Christian Zone for this past week and we have spent a lot of time with them.

Saturday: Thai college students, Aggies, and ACU interns all went out to a National Park for a fun day of kickball, ultimate frisbee, waterball, and some waterfall climbing. It was a great way to meet new people and get to know some of the Aggies better while experiencing the beauty of Chiang Mai. After heading back to the Zone and showering we all went to the Night Bazaar downtown. It was really crowded and a lot of people were shopping. Mostly we were glad to get some Roti and a subway sandwhich!

Sunday: All of the sister churches met under one roof (and the church literally was just a roof, the building was in the process of being built) for worship. We saw people from the hilltribe villages come all the way down for worship and many many people from all around Chiang Mai came. It was very crowded! After church, we all ate together outside and some of the Thai girls gave me a Thai name, "Wan", which means "sweet". That afternoon, some of us decided to take the leap and go bungee jumping. It was pretty fun, I got lots of pictures to show when I get back, In the evening we went to something similar to Night Bazaar but it was called Walking Street. I liked it better because it was less crowded and the shop people were less pushy, but both were good experiences to get more familiar with the Thai culture, though I don't really think I did much shopping.

Monday: (I updated a bit about this last week) we went out to McKean's Rehabiliation center and went to Friendship Village where we encouraged the residents. It has been one of my favorite outreaches so far, and I think one of the interns at another church has a contact there so I may see if we can go back soon. I really wish we had had the opportunity to stay longer, but the conversations and experiences were definitely worth the few hours we had. That night we went to a cook your own restaurant and some we got to fellowship with some of our Thai friends that we don't get to see too often, so that was a pretty good end to the day.

Tuesday: Was a LONG day! After equipping at Sean Todd's house (who makes the best french toast ever!) we went up into the mountains and immersed ourselves into Thai culture by exploring a Buddhist temple. I was unsure of what to think of the experience. It was definitely a long hike up all those stairs in a skirt, and so much of the temple was dedicated to strange gods and other offerings. I had a brief conversation with Jordan about it afterwards, who asked me what I had though. His perspective was that it was like going into some of the great cathedrals of Europe and that it was good for us to try and understand Buddhism (without becoming Buddhist) if we are to try to minister to a culture that is primarily Buddhist in their religious and lifestyle beliefs. After leaving there, we spent the rest of the afternoon at another Chiang Mai church where Sean is leading. Sean wasn't able to be there, so Gahn, Katy, Jarred and I took over his English class and (tried) to have some conversations with his Thai students learning English. It was pretty fun, mostly we talked about jobs, food, family, and favorite movies. I taught them some important words: goober and cheesy. We really did try to help them practice their English, it was just fun to throw in some American terms that are fun to use. A little bit after English class, we had cell group and P'O led us. It is always fun for us to sing Thai songs, we are given the phonetics and can pretty easily follow the tune. After cell group a group went to see Kung Fu Panda, but I was so tired I headed off to bed.

Wednesday: Wednesday morning us ACU interns, and some former Apprentices, John and Julie, got up early and went to have Breakfast at Bake and Bite. They gave us some good advice on the ins and outs of ministry at Payap and answered a few of our questions about different things. After Equipping time with the aggies and interns we had quiet time, and I followed mine by nap time! The Aggies went to the Umbrella factory, where one can get Bibles and other things painted but I slept a bit too late to want to go. I stayed mostly because I had an English lesson planned with Hom, what I didn't realize was that Hom went with the group to the Umbrella factory! It was pretty funny, I wasn't upset, she probably had more fun and learned more English that way, and I am glad she is getting involved a bit with people at the Zone. Later that evening we had a talent night, and of course us ACU girls put together a Sing Song act about Thailand! We videotaped it, and posted it to facebook. It was a lot of fun, everyone had a really good time.

Thursday: This week the new semester started at Payap University, and we were so excited to finally go on campus altogether to begin the focal point of our ministry. I have been on campus a few times, going jogging and using the post office. We went to different lunch spots and had lunch with the students, trying out our Thai phrases and passing out flyers inviting them to the Zone for English lessons, cell group, and movie night. We were lucky to find some who spoke a bit of English and willing enough to translate for their friends. We ran into our friend, P'Pun there and she wanted to introduce Hilary and I to some of her friends and teachers. I think her English teachers were glad that she was helping us get around and using us to practice her English. Thursday night we had cell group at the Zone, and we were happy to see some new students who came from Payap! Unfortunately, some of them were a little intimated by all of us (it was very crowded) so after hanging around a bit they left. It was a bit discouraging, but if I had been in their situation I probably would have left too.

Well, this post has gotten very long already and I did not make it through the entire week! Since we had a busy weekend, I will save that for the next post. However, the pictures above should give away some insights into what our weekend entailed!