a few random things!

I've decided that I love Tuesdays! They are just great days! Tuesdays are the days that my host brothers study late at school and my Khun Mee doesn't pick me up at the market until 6pm. So that means I have nearly 1 1/2 hours to do whatever I like. The first few weeks I didn't really know what to do with myself, but then last week I decided to go and sit in the little bakery and get a coffee and listen to a sermon on my i-pod. This coffee shop is a bit over priced...for Thai, it's only like 3 US dollars, but for Thai food it's not cheap. But it's so worth it for a once a week escape!! I had a cookies and cream frost last week and again this past Tuesday. I now have a frequent shopper card with two punches on. I'm on my way to a free drink....I think. The card is in Thai so I can't read it. haha. I just sit there in the a/c and relax and have a little time to myself.
The sermon I listened to last week...was entitled "The Making of a Leader". It was the Jacksonville sermon from 1/18/10....incase you were wondering. And the pastor was talking about these windows of influence that we have in our lives. We have influence on people and sometimes that influence is only for a short period of time. The way I see it, right now I have a window of time in which I can impact people in Thailand...my host family, the kids at my Internship, the teachers at my internship, my friends....the list goes on. This is just a small window in the big picture of my life. But it is an important one. Right now I'm surrounded by a dominate Buddhist culture. I am a Christian in a country that lives a very different religion. And I have this window of time that I am able to live my life in a way that will influence the people around me. This window will shut in a few weeks for my host family and at my internship. These windows of influence will happen all throughout my life. But the question is how will I feel about the impact that I had when this window shuts. I may never know the full extent of the impact that I have on these various people in my life right now, but I hope that at the end of my time here I can feel good about the impact I've had. For me that means, did I live my life in a way that stands out differently than the way the rest of the country lives their lives. Where my internship is concerned my desire is not for these children to learn to speak English fluently in my short time with them. That just can't happen. But my desire is to just provide these children with some love, encouragement and a classroom experience that is fun and enjoyable. The children may not remember my name after I leave, but I hope they can remember the fun they had learning English with us and the love we showed them.
Ok, that's all for my little rant about my window of influence. I just found it encouraging that I have this small window of time to influence the people around me and my prayer is that I can use it to be all that God wants it to be!

I'm sure you are all still wondering about my host family situation. Things have definitely gotten much better from the time I first moved in. It was definitely a challenge at first to adjust to living with these people. There are good days, and then there are days that aren't so good. I was really encouraged by my Khun Mee this past weekend. Saturday night, after all the festivities of the day, she called me to make sure I had gotten to Lauren's and had dinner and that I was all settled in for the night. I thought it was sweet that she called to check on me and find out about the weekend. She also asked to see pictures of the beauty contest when I got home on Sunday afternoon. So that was also very sweet. We have been talking much more at dinner than before. She sits and talks to me for a little while after we are finished eating. It's in English, so my Thai is sorta at a stand still, but I think I'm getting to know her better through this. She even showed me her wedding pictures the other night. In contrast to these great moments, there are times when I feel somewhat disconnected from the family, but I'm starting to see that that is more of the culture coming through than them not liking me. So thank you all for your prayers. God is answering them and when these good things happen I know it's because people are praying for me!

Check back again for MK's insights into Thai culture. I've been reading some cultural stuff for my Internship seminar and I've discovered a bunch of things...pretty interesting. But I've given you enough to read for one sitting! And this weekend is our "Wat Stay". We are going to a forest temple to learn about Wat's and Monks and Meditation. We are staying over Saturday night and on Sunday morning, really early, we get to walk with the monks to collect alms. Should be very interesting. So check back next week for that story!