Hanna & Thailand!: 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!