And since I haven't written a new blog update in so long I feel like there has been an awkward silence between us. (Between whoever is reading this blog and I)
So...yeah.... I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up to date as much as we'd both like but here's what the past month has looked like and can give a few clues into why it's been so long; (I promise I'm going to get better at this updating thing)
If I summed up this last month into one word I'd prolly say "SCHOOL." Lots and lots of school! Here's why:
-the last month I've been taking a class called Intensive Thai at Payap University just outside downtown Chiang Mai; so for the last month every Mon-Fri morning I'd wake up around 7, eat some breakfast, have some time with the Lord, hop on the scooter and drive the 20-30 mins to class. Sounds like a typical day of heading to work or college for the most part; except here's the catch...I'm learning how to READ. I still feel like I'm a 5 year-old trying to "sound-out" words and phrases with the teacher standing over me correcting my (many) mistakes. And for 3 hours every day we'd drill over the Thai alphabet; 44 consonants and the 18 vowels. (And you thought 26 letters total was a pain!)
I first described it as "trying to read an art class" because literally the letters ก ข ค ย ะ ๊ ็literally look like squiggles or something you'd doodle when bored in class.
But thanks to God and the perseverance and ability to learn languages he's given me, I can honestly say that after a month of intense studying and lots of homework I can read/write Thai. (We won't go into details of how many words per minute that means.)
The title of the book is "How to read and how to write"
-The other reason is because after Thai class I'd drive back home, eat lunch with the 6 Thai staff (plus Lydia the precious 2 year-old), then teach English classes for 2 hours.
(We're working on commands in the beginner class)
By the time English classes are finished it's usually around 3:30 or 4 o'clock. With the remaining hour or so before the girls get back and dinner happens I'd squeeze in some emails and maybe run a few errands if it were possible.
-After dinner I help out with ChatChai's devotionals by playing guitar every once in awhile and leading worship with a few English songs they know and then we all hit the homework. Its pretty awesome that I have so many Thai experts to help me with my homework and then they come to me with their questions on their English and math homework.
So there's this month, well the weekdays anyway. In between the busy school days and nights God has been blessing me incredibly with community! I've been hanging out with friends I've met on the Southern side of the city and going to their home church on Sundays after playing soccer in the mornings. I've also been able to go to a night of worship that happens once a month and also randomly found out about an annual Ultimate Frisbee tournament in which over 60 people came and had a blast at! God's been blessing me extraordinarily with all these things and allowed me to make friends (both westerners and Thais) and continue to invest in the different relationships and have begun to have real accountability with a few guys.
All in all I can't get over how awesome God has been this month! It's been a lot of work and I'm always exhausted by the time Saturday finally rolls around but always ready to hit it again by the time Monday morning's alarm goes off.
One of the major responsibilities included in my job description is acting liaison for the One Girl sponsorship program we've launched. We're trying to get the sponsors more connected with their "adopted" girls with updated photos, videos, bios, etc. rather than the one photo they received when they first signed up to be a sponsor. This is a major undertaking but seeing real fruit come of it ready.
Well that's it for this month, next month should be a little less fast-paced as far as school goes because I'm done with the Thai class and will start taking private tutoring every other day or so instead of EVERY day. Thus enabling more time to work on the projects going on at BHJ and stuff happening this summer.
As always thanks so much for the prayers and support, one big prayer request that you could life up on my behalf is roommates. I'm looking for a place near BHJ but a little closer to the city as to be able to still go to tutoring and community things. I've found such places at extremely affordable prices, the only problem is roommates. I'm having difficulty finding other guys in the city looking for a place in the same area as me. But I'm not too concerned, just need to be patient.
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