Sorry it's been so long!

Hello Everyone!

My apologies for it being so long since I last posted on my blog, it’s been so busy here on the base! Between book reports, learning traditional Thai dance and being sick with bronchitis I’ve been stuck at the base a lot not really being able to escape to an internet café. So, now I will try my best and catch you guys up on a few highlights of the past couple of weeks.

I know that one of the biggest highlights of my trip so far was going to the elephant camp this last Saturday. We had a scientist come from Connecticut last week to talk to us about Creationism and on Saturday him and his son invited students to go to the elephant camp with them. It was a bumpy ride up the mountains to get to the camp but it was totally worth it! For only 15 dollars we were able to ride elephants on a trail for about 30 minutes (we even got to ride on their heads!). And after, our speaker decided that he wanted to go river rafting at the camp too. And since it was a last minute decision he treated everyone to it plus ice cream afterwards. We were so incredibly grateful! It was an awesome experience and I was so excited to cross “river rafting” off my bucket list J. It was also great bonding time with my classmates and good team building!

On the base, things have gotten quite busy. The realities of our lecture phase flying by and our China mini outreach coming up in about 2 weeks has finally hit. An hour of our free time is now being used for Traditional Thai dance practice, because we are going to be doing Thai dances during out outreach in Kunming, China. Thai dance is not as easy as it looks. For the most part it is very slow and most of the movement are in the hands and fingers, but it requires so much balance I find myself falling every few seconds. The positions they make you put your fingers in too amazes me. Thai dancers stretch their fingers like ballet dancers stretch their legs. I don’t understand how professional Thai dancers get their fingers to stretch back so far! I can hardly make mine straight!

As for the schooling the past couple of weeks have been very interesting. Last week as I said a very successful chemist named Jeff Romine came from the States to our little base. He was very informative and professional with his presentations, I felt like I was back in a college class! Dr. Romine had a good heart though.  Him and his son stayed at our base so they were very involved with our activities throughout the week. It was great talking to them and getting to know them.

            This last week we have been learning about telling stories. A team from a ministry called Simply the Story (STS) came and ran workshops in how to professionally tell stories and get every treasure out of them as possible. We hope to be able to use this new skill in both our mini and long-term outreach.

            As for the bronchitis. Yesterday I finally went into Chiang Mai and got checked out by a doctor. I’ve been fighting a cough and sinus thing for about a month now. After I realized there was no way it was going away on its own I decided to go to a doctor. He took one look at my throat and told me I had bronchitis. Yay! To be honest I’m just glad that I can finally get better. But please continue to pray for healing especially since China is coming up.

           Well, I hope all of you are doing well at home. Remember that I am constantly praying for all of you.

Blessings,

Hanna

Below are some photos from the elephant camp. Enjoy!

Sarah, Venessa and Gam

It's like riding a small dinosaur! (At least what I imagine it'd be like riding a small dinosaur)

So gorgeous!

Quite the bumpy ride!

Victory!

One Month!

           It’s crazy to think about that I’ve been in Thailand for over a month now! Ah! I arrived here on September 6^th and now it’s October 9^th. My God is so good! I can’t believe how far He has taken me in just one month. It has been a hard month I won’t lie, I’ve dealt with a lot of homesickness and confusion about if coming to Thailand was the right choice for me. But God has been faithful. In this past week He has spoken to me through quiet times, dreams, and other people. I am no longer struggling with homesickness and I am confident that this is where I am supposed to be. Jesus has supplied me with a wonderful family here. He has given me roommates that I can invest in, talk to, and pray with. Through multiple attacks of physical sickness and homesickness I have learned to be humble and ask for prayer. God has really been showing me the power of prayer and how much it can be used to encourage one another. My roommates are very passionate with prayer too, they firmly believe in its power to change lives and to trust God for the results. That has also been a significant learning curve for me while I have been here. I have always had questions about prayer and the purpose of it. But through intercession time and praying with my friends I have began to realize why it is so important especially in the mission field. I always thought it was simply a one-way channel of giving requests from God and hoping that he eventually answers. But with YWAM I have learned that it’s very much a two-way channel and that we need to be very expectant of God to answer, because He will. But what we need to accept is that “no” and “wait” are answers too.

            Anyways, long story short, prayer is just one of the many things I have grown in while being here in Thailand. I am so beyond excited to see how I continue to grow through the rest of school, China outreach, and the main outreach.

            I also have a prayer request. My classmate Lauren and I have been fighting a nasty cold in this past week and a half. Please be praying for healing because it just doesn’t seem to want to go away. My symptoms are drainage and coughing (which keeps me awake at night and its very irritating) and Lauren’s is stuffed sinuses. Thank you so much for your prayers because I know that they are heard and God uses them according to His good and perfect will!

Blessings,

Hanna

Sunday Night Walking Street Market

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday was an awesome day. A large group of us ventured into Chiang Mai early in the morning and attended church. There are a few small churches around Chiang Mai so we all went our separate churches. A few classmates and I went to the TLC Center, which is a small church full of staff from all of YWAM Chiang Mai. The service was translated so there was a good mix of local Thais and foreigners.

After church, a few of us went to the Central Airport Plaza mall which is the largest mall in Chiang Mai. It was huge! Since we were all waiting to go to the walking street night market at five we decided to burn some time by going to the movie theater at airport plaza and saw Stolen. After seeing the movie and doing some shopping, we went to the gate entrance and walked around the famous sunday night walking street market and did more shopping. It's so hard to use self control at the markets because everything is so beautiful and so cheap!

My classmates Sarah and Gam and I decided that we were tired and wanted to leave the market early and go to a cafe and wait for everyone else to finish shopping. On the way to the cafe we ran across a massage place that had very reasonable prices. With the pain in our feet from walking around all day we decided to treat ourselves and get a one hour full body thai oil massage. It was amazing! And it only cost 7 dollars! Definitely was the highlight of my weekend.

Once the massage was over it was time to meet up with the rest of the team and head home. We got home at 10 pm and crashed because we were all exhausted from walking all day. 

Below is a few pictures of our adventure on Sunday. 

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Hanna

All the western girls after church

The famous gate entrance into Chiang Mai

Sunday Night Walking Street Market!

Ronald McDonald, Thai Style!