arms open wide.

wow what a crazy yet amazing couple of days it's been. this past weekend, we spent a lot of time at the church, where we did more orientation and spent the afternoon playing different sports with the Thai's (soccer, basketball, badminton, etc). my little new friends, princess belle and sammy, also taught me some star wars games. i have no idea what the game was about...i just loved sitting there and admiring these two precious children of God. that night, i went to dinner with my ministry group. (my team member, abby and i are partnered with four Thai girls who are part of the Campus Outreach here in Thailand and get to translate english to girls we meet in the schools). i rode on a motorcycle on the way to dinner with my friend Earn, which was a blast. we went to a small restaurant where we got to cook our own food. we had some fish, pork, tofu, fried rice, and green spaghetti. yes, green...i was puzzled at first, but then i thought, "why not?" it was delicious.

during dinner, we went around a circle and shared our testimonies with each other. listening to the Thai's testimony was truly an inspiration to me. they stand against what their own family believe and boldly proclaim the name of Jesus. they told me about how they continually pray for their family, hoping that one day they can understand and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. i was speechless...i admire their faith and hope in the Lord so much.

on sunday, we got to sleep in until church at noon. when we got to church, we had lunch first then moved into a bigger room for worship. we sang some songs in english then we sang in our own languages. it truly was a beautiful glimpse of heaven...every nation and every tongue praising the same God. i loved every second of it.

today was our first day at the school. we got ready by 9:30 am, went to the church for teaching on how to best form friendships, then went straight to the schools. i was nervous because i had no idea what i was getting myself into but also definitely excited about meeting the students. i met three girls at first and sat and talked to them about school and learned a little about them. after they left, i sat with two new girls and talked to them, with my ministry partners, Earn and Aw there to translate. i learned about where they were from and what they like to do. one of them responded by saying she likes "liking" pictures on facebook, i laughed hysterically because of how much we related to each other. they also said they like going bowling so we made plans to go with them next week. i'm so excited.

                                                            my sweet princess belle.

                                                   on our way to dinner. so. much. fun.

                                              pretend like it's not green and you're golden.

                                               soccer with the Thai's...this is for you Surf.

                                              my ministry partners...i love these women.

i've been here for about 6 days and i already feel like i'm learning and being stretched in so many ways. the Thai people are such an incredible people to be around and i'm so thankful for the time i get to spend with them everyday. although things get bababobo jing jing ( really crazy, in Thai) sometimes, i'm loving every second. i'm so humbled by the way the Christian Thai's live their lives, completely abandoning themselves and surrendering everything to the One who is worthy of all. they challenge me to do the same.

-milc