Back from Nan!I will be able to share many details of this trip and the whole summer very soon in person as I am leaving Bangkok tommorrow to head back to the good ol' U S of A. I have to say it a very bittersweet feeling as I have truely grown to love the people here. I wil probably shed a tear or two. I will more extensively write when i get back to America for sure while things are still fresh in my head. Nan was great. We were crazy busy everyday. We travelled overnight by bus and got there early in the morning pretty exhausted to then turn around and leave to go river tubing and elephant trekking. It was pretty insane I must say. The river was filthy but wet and refreshing in the heat. The rapids were far from intense but our two non English speaking guides thought we were crazy enough to take us to a favorite spot of thiers where we climbed up on a high ledge and jumped off the edge into the river. It was a blast and a little scary. It's all about the adrenaline rush right? Then the elephant ride turned out to be quite an adventunre for me as I pulled a few arcobatic elephant stunts. The bench on top of my elephant was not securely strapped on and could not hold the 3 Americans that were intended for it so the guides grunted and motioned for me to jump from one elephant to another...so what did I do..I jumped of course...I ended up sitting on the elephant's head the whole 3 hours journey. My only seatbely was the 80 pounds tribal guide behind me that kept grabbing me so I didn't slide off the elephant and down his trunk. Yeah it was awesome pretty much. Our elephant was really hungry however and took down a few trees which happened to fall on me before getting to his mouth. I only fell off once... The kids in Nan were great! We went to different school each day and taught English by playing games and rotating stations where they could practice thier Speaking, Reading Writing and listening abilities in English. The kids loved all of it and enjoyed being entertain by the stange group of crazy "Fa-long" as we are lovingly called. One day we drove out into the hill country in the back of a pick-up truck (called a "song-tou") for about and hour or so to reach a small village. I taught second grade students for the day with my friend Jeremy. We did colors, numbers and general greetings. We were in a totaly different world since the kids really spoke very little Thai. They spoke thier tribal language to each other, our translators didn't even understand. The kids were big fans or the head shoulders knees and toes song, duck duck goose and my learning train i took them around on. We formed a line and walked around stopping and learning the English words for flower, water, grass, cow etc. It was a precious time. Itw as followed by an evening at the village Christian church! There are 17 Christian families in this small village. That was really encouraging. We did a skit and performed a few songs and then the local missionary shared the gosple. It was so fun playing with the kids and just loving on them. The missionary couple here in Nan, Neu and Nooch his wife are amazing servants of God. They are surrounded by oppositon and have even recieved threats but they keep on being faithful and allowing God to use them. I will include pictures later after I get back to the states. Back in Bangkok we have a going away party in which many of the students from the university came to send us off. I was awesome to see how far so many of them have come along. I would say at least 100 students were able to hear the gospel at least once in some shape or form from one or all of us this summer from our team alone. God has been so gracious. One students in particular, Pboo has not only read his Bible but has marked every verse we have told him or shared with him in the Bible we gave him. He has a sticky note on each of those pages and has commented on thise sheets what he likes about each verse. He reads his Bible more than most Christians and he is not saved yet...He maybe has 20-25 yellow tabs in his new testament. God is defiantely doing something in his heart. He says he wants to become a Christian after he becomes a monk for his family. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit so burdens his heart so he will know he cannot do that first but that he must respond when the Spirit calls. Either way, I am overwhelmingly full of praise to God for this. Many students have responded with positive reactions such as this. Praise be to Him! I am back in Bangkok now and this is probably my last email from here...: ( and I must go finish packing before we leave to go see a movie with students. We are seing Ratatoulle (or however you spell it). Can't wait to see everyone. I will update the prayer list more extensively when I get home, I promise. Thank you so much for all the prayers you have lifted up this summer...I am truely grateful first to the Lord and then to you. | 
