English Camp! (and a few pictures from before)

Cara and Elizabeth help a Thai university student with her English homework.

Learning about the handicraft ministry and the women who work there.

Last night we got back from English camp about 9pm. We spent two days at a resort in the tropical rainforest on the River Kwai (yes, the same famous one with the bridge from World War II - but we were farther down the river). We left early Saturday morning - early by Thai standards. Most things around here don't really get going until around 11am or noon (this is my kind of place!), but we left at 7:30. We arrived in time for lunch and a group building ropes course to bond with our color teams. We taught several different classes. Megan and Janelle taught the older kids - 11-14 year olds. "It was really fun and it was very interesting to see how much the kids knew English already - they could talk to us pretty well. They're always so happy and smiling. We taught time and storytelling, and did a nature walk with them to make a poster," said Megan. "We played a lot of games like red light, green light and duck, duck, goose. We played a lot of card games too with the Thai people and that was fun."

Elizabeth and Janaya teach about phone conversations.

Other people led classes on things like counting, introducing yourselves, telephone conversations, ordering in a restaurant, music, movies, acting, and US slang and idioms. We taught a lot of English, but also had a lot of conversations and laughed a lot. The resort was gorgeous - a lot of flowers, a beautiful swimming pool, a wonderful river walk.

A few girls got the chance to room with some Thai students. "It was a good experience. It was interesting to see the difference between American and Thai culture when we were staying with them," says Sam.

Many of the people here ask us why we are here. We explain to them that we are here to teach English and to tell them about Jesus, and they smile and nod. But they don't seem to truly understand why we would travel this great distance to tell them about these things. Please pray that we have planted seeds here that the Holy Spirit will continue to grow through the ministry of Dave's team.

Today is our Sabbath day. We're headed to downtown Bangkok for shopping, massages, eating, and a little sightseeing before a busy week working at the mercy ministry at Mahathai with VBS, volleyball, cheerleading and about a million other things. Please continue to pray for our health and strength and for our ministry here. We're doing very well and we love you all!

Everyone at English camp! Can you find us??