The Boat races were a lot of fun. We spent 3 days of watching kids on a sugar high, that was entertaining. Since that we have been busy with the boys and Kai and I have been getting involved with some of the other ministries here. Last week I was able to go out with a dental team, I was the flashlight holder. I got to see everything cuz I had to make sure that the dentist could see the tooth he was working on. It was fun but it was hard to breathe through a mask with the humidity, I survived. We went out to a village about 3 and a half hours away. It was a bumpy ride and sometimes we weren’t sure the van could make it. In the end, we got there and back without having to leave it behind. So basically all day we pulled teeth cuz there isn’t much you can do when the teeth are past a certain point or they would require too much after care that can not be provided so they are pulled and the people are just happy that it doesn’t hurt anymore. Also I visited a safe house for women and children who are coming out of human trafficking. When I first got there they were very excited and asked if I was the American English teacher so I said well I can try. So I will be teaching them English. Please be praying for them, they are going through a lot of transitions right now. This week I have not been back yet because they are moving. They found a new house for them to live in because they were having trouble with the guy next door. Today is Thanksgiving, so Happy Thanksgiving to you all. It is weird cuz for us it just seems like any other day. The kids went to school and we had bible study and all the stores are open!!

Please be praying for the next couple of weeks they will be busy for us. Also I need prayer
that the Lord would show me what I am supposed to do when I get home and that I would not lose sight of what the Lord has taught me while I have been here or what he has promised for my future. I also will need a job so there is a lot to pray about. Thank you all so much for caring enough to check on me and pray for me. It has really been a huge blessing.
See you all in a couple of weeks.
Eat some Chocolate pie for me!! (AWWW Aunt Kristie I missed making bread with you this morning)

pictures of Thailand, taken through train and bus window

Pictures coming soon!!!!!

Part 2

At Starbucks, by the way it was the first day they were selling Toffee Nut Lattes which are amazing with vanilla added. Sarah and I decided to have a western day and by that I mean buildings with AC, nice bookstores, movie theaters and food that you don't get sick from. So we hopped on a public bus and off we went to the Paragon Mall. Paragon Mall is huge and has very expensive stores for the rich like Valentino. We made our way to the train station and got on a night train to Chang Mai. We got to CM around 7 am and then we ate at a nearby cafe and headed for the bus station where we got on a public transport bus to Pai a cute little town in the middle of nowhere. There are 762 curves on the road from CM to Pai and it was very fun!!!! On our way there we stopped at a store and in a shack/store that was next to it we happen to see they had the election news on and it was right as Obama was being announced as the winner.as we passed by to get back on the bus(funny way to find out, in my opinion). We had met a girl (Inez) from Amsterdam on the bus and we talked and decided that the 3 of us would travel together cuz she had wanted to go to Laos but didn't want to go across the border alone. Inez is a model who makes about 35$-45$ an hour, She was in her 7th week of travel in Thailand when we met her. She will be going home and working for 3 months and then moving to Dubai where her boyfriend lives. We rented a hut that all three of us stayed in cuz there wasn't many rooms left that were in our price range. We rented motos (small motorcycles) and rode out to the Hot Springs. It was the most beautiful drive I have ever seen. We got to see people working in the rice fields and then it started to rain so we pulled over and dashed under a open hut on the side of the road, we put the motos in as well. We hung out till the rain mostly stopped and then continued on our way,. We passed the elephant camps, and beautiful fields and mountains. The pictures just do not do it justice. I will try to get the ones that I took with Inez's camera cuz they at least look decent. Until then you will have to see these and let your imagination run wild (haha that sounds like a commercial). One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that the Thai people love their King, every day at 6 am & pm they play the national anthem and everyone stands still till it is done. I got to see this while waiting at the train station when suddenly everything stood still and this music was playing over the loud speakers. Also on Mondays people wear yellow and on Tuesday pink, to show their support for the King. This was also played on the bus and before every movie that is played in theaters.
First of all let me say that this whole next day was very interesting and I was constantly praying. I don't think I have ever prayed nonstop for so long before.
On our second night in Pai, Sarah and Inez got sick and Sarah wanted to go home to the states but I told her she had to get her suitcase from Siem Reap home before she could do that (I knew she would change her mind when she felt well again). So I went to the pharmacy and got some Anti-cookie tossing pills. Off we went, starting the 26 hour journey home which worked cuz the pills knocked her out. We got a bus to CM and let me tell you I felt everyone of those curves on the way back with every muscle in my body as I was keeping Sarah and her backpack somewhat still as she slept in my lap. The aisle filled with people and things and people fell on us and the challenge was keeping us safe from falling things and keep us on the right side of the bus as all of us were thrown around. I think back on this and laugh at the memory of how sore I was. Remember what I said about a video game? This would be a level, it would be great. Then as I was standing at a window getting ticket prices from one of the window in the train station in CM I was just really praying really hard asking for wisdom and guidance cuz I really didn't want another bus ride like the one from the border to Bangkok again. As I looked up in English it said in little letters Government buses. I was so happy and bought the tickets and then we went to a coffee shop I had seen around the corner(I have a coffee shop sensor) and chilled out till our bus left at 6pm. We got to Bangkok at 4:15 am and then we got a bus to the border and got across the boarder by 10:30 am and then we shared a Taxi with a Swiss couple who preferred speaking French. We arrived in town around 1 in the afternoon. We dropped some stuff off at the Naritas and then headed to Common Ground for some much needed caffeine and catching up on Internet. We were there about 5 min before our friend Jon walked in. I hadn't seen Jon in like a month because he was in Phnom Penh and so we caught up while Sarah updated her Facebook . We started talking about how much we love this one Indian food restaurant in town and so we all decided to go there for dinner and we were still having too much fun so we went for more coffee at a cheap place called Coffee and Tea World. We had a grand time deciding if Jon's drink tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios or not (it did taste like milk that had H-N-C in it) and if you could only pick one cereal to eat what would it be?? I think it is a toss up between Lucky Charms (the marshmallows are so addicting) and Frosted Shredded Wheat (you can pretend it is kinda good for you) .Lucky Charms won and Sarah felt it could only be Captain Crunch or Berry Blast, Jon said Lucky Charms cuz I am right about the marshmallows and Reese's Puffs. That is only part of the madness that went on. I found out that everything is funny when you have been up for more than 35 hours, and have meaningless conversations about cereal. It is called sleepmadness and you can tell if you have when you see a piece of paper fall to the ground and sadly find humor in it. That is where the trip story ends and where I will leave off for the night, I am rubbing my eyes cuz I am sleepy. Thank you so much for all your prayers, we so needed them and I can't wait to see you all and give you details of the trip :). Keep praying for things here and I will give you an updated prayer list soon!!

Taxi, Tuk-Tuk, Bus and Train!!!!!!

Hello!
I am back in Siem Reap, Sarah and I made it to Pai, Thailand and then our 2nd night there Sarah got sick and so we came home. None the less we still had a very interesting adventure. I guess I should start at the beginning so that would be at the “Taxi stand”. The “stand” is a random parking lot with Toyota Camrys and drivers and tuk -tuk drivers all trying to “help” each other find customers so the driver who takes the people pays the whoever helped. Thankfully Lara was with us at this point, and she was able to negotiate a very good price for us. So we threw our bags in the trunk and off we flew. I have written about the roads before. They are very bumpy and on some it really makes me think of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland, except there are more possibilities cuz you are not on a track.
While on our way Sarah and I decided that we could make a really cool video game where while you are driving you have to dodge Cows, Dogs and other cars cuz they either stand in the middle of the road or come at you on the wrong side of the road.
Since our driver was in a hurry to get to the border town, we had a grand time bouncing around. The only thing keeping us out of each others laps was our hands grasping the seat with white knuckles. That bumper sticker you often see in the states took on a whole new meaning, you know the one that says “ Get in, sit down, hold on and shut up” well the shut up part is not needed cuz you are speechless as soon as you take off. I wish I could find a way to share with you what it was really like cuz as I reread this it just doesn’t do it justice. SO we got to the Thai Boarder in 3 hours and 23 min which is quite fast when you consider the condition of the road. We strapped on our backpacks and went to get stamped out of Cambodia, where we found out that Sarah had been scammed coming into the country. They said that they sold her a 3 month visa and charged her for a 3M but they gave her a stamp that was only good for one month so she had a 5 dollar fine for every day that she was here over that first month, thankfully we found this out now instead of finding out when she was going to leave in January.
After taking care of that, we started walking across the bridge to the Thai side where we waited in line only to be told that we had to fill out both the arrival and departure cards before they would process our passports. We were not the only ones, we found the papers and went to the tables to fill them out and the people who were in front of us were there, and soon the people who were behind us joined the crowd. So we had to stand in line again thankfully it wasn’t too bad of a line but that all changed when the lines stopped because the officers stopped the lines to change the T.V channel and then they couldn’t decide or agree on it and so after like 10 min of some people going through and other lines being completely stopped they found some Karaoke that they liked and then finally the line started to move, I was laughing SO HARD. I was in the line with the officer who controlled the remote.
So we got through and started to walk to where all the tuk-tuks are so we could hire one to the bus station. We were hounded by people asking what we were doing and where we were going so they could “help” us find transportation or a tour. Thankfully I had been warned about all these helpers and so avoided them (I had instructions from a web site called tales of Asia, they were very helpful) so as we pulled up to the station and this lady yells at our driver and he took us there before we were stopped she was asking if we were going to Bangkok which we were and so she wanted us to get on this bus cuz it was leaving so I was trying to ask questions like when would we get to Bangkok? How many stops it makes? and stuff like that as Sarah jumps on the bus. I figured this was not the government bus we wanted but the worst it would cost us was an extra half hour in stops to go with this other company (Lesson Learned: Don’t let people pressure you into anything) . We left at 12 and got to Bangkok at 5, It is only suppose to be 3and a half hours, It took 5. So they dropped us off at the bus station that is a long way from the city center where we had planned on staying. Then we got a Taxi, before we left Sarah had agreed to pay the high rate for the taxi of 450 baht which is about 14 dollars(this is really pricey for over here) the ride was suppose to take 10 min without traffic and 30 with. Well it took 2 hours, and he was trying to convince us to go to a guest house he knows that would be much closer and cheaper to get to. We told him no we already knew where we wanted to go and that we didn’t need another option. After about 10 min more I very firmly told him that we did not need or want to go to his guest house and that we told him where we wanted to go, we were paying him to take us there and that is what we wanted nothing more, nothing less.
Here guest houses pay the driver a little if they bring them customers (the GH that do this are not normally ones you would want to stay in) when we were getting out I got the bags as we handed him the money he said no 450 each to which I said no we agreed on 450 for both of us all the way here and that was all we were going to pay ( I had been warned about this also and had made the terms of the price clear and confirmed them twice before getting in the car) and then he started to call me names and so I stopped him told him that we had agreed on a price he could call me whatever he wanted but that was all the money we would pay him, he stared at me shocked as I quickly shut the door and walked away. Down the street with tons of people and where no cars were allowed. A I looked back on the days events, I wanted to laugh uncontrollably, and now thinking about it, I do.
I was very happy as we checked in to the hostel and walked up and down the street looking at all the different vendors and I got to try Pad Thai which is very yummy. One lady was just strolling down the street with her push wagon and when we ordered some she just stopped right there and started making it, fried up an egg and put some sauce and noodles and some spices and then she had lots of toppings to choose from. It was Amazing, we had only eaten PB and crackers and Oreos on the bus so we were really hungry. The Pad Thai was so fresh and yummy and hot MMMMMM and then we got fruit shakes (fruit shakes are the “Thing” over here, U get to pick the fruit) it was like 1.25 for dinner and dessert. Then walked around some more and listened to the live music and the we crashed and slept in till like 8:30 it was great!! The next morning we went to Starbucks which was a 2 min walk from our hostel door. Let me tell you how ridiculous it was that I felt like I could cry when I stepped in the door and smelled that coffee. You don’t realize how much you really enjoy something until you don’t have it anymore(OK, OK I AM ADDICTED), I felt at home which was great cuz I was having a really hard time with culture shock coming for Siem Reap to Bangkok(CRAZINESS) I was really jittery and really weird shocked that the roads were so good and that there were 7 elevens all over the place and stuff like that, and people, people, people everywhere. Sarah works at a Starbucks so she was really happy to be there, she just had the job for the summer but really loved it. So she felt like she was home too, it was a GREAT end to such a crazy day. More later, I will take a while to type the rest of the trip. Right now in Siem Reap we are having the Water Festival and they have boat races and stuff so I am kinda busy playing with friends. Thank you all so much for all your prayers, we needed them and I could tell they made a difference.

Hello Everyone!
Sorry it has taken so long to update, things here have been really crazy.
Yesterday we had a Halloween/Harvest party for the kids (mostly missionary kids and some non christian friends). So we made good food and put up decorations and played games. The kids were very cute, most of them were only dressed-up for 10 to 15 min and then just ran around and played. So I thought why did we spend a week thinking about what we were going to be and then a day or two making the costume and then only wear it for an hour max. Hhhmmmm. Well me, being the party pooper that I am wasn't about to spend all that time and money for one short kids night. I did wear the nice outfit I brought with me and my hat. I was told I looked like an Irish pop star. I guess that sometimes when I answer a question quickly or am surprised at something, I tend to have an Irish accent (I don't hear it but whatever). This is something that I get teased for. So when one person suggested that I looked like a pop star someone else heard that and added the Irish part. They tell me I say " I du-know" and " yea" alot and I guess that makes me sound Irish.
Anyway
Prayer
I am going on a trip to Thailand and Laos with Sarah and would love it if you would be praying for:
Safe journey
Smooth roads and train tracks
Health
That my action and reactions on this trip would point her to the Lord
Wisdom for where to stay and what sight seeing we should do

I will tell you all about it when I get back on the 14th. I will try to take lots of pictures.
Thank you all so much!!