Week three...

Hey family and friends,
Well, we have had one long adventure filled week!
We worked last week at several different schools all the while going back to the school we have been at for the last two weeks. We visited tiny country schools that had never had foriegners/Christians visit there. We also visited an all girl school and another high school, and went back to the high school we visited last week (the one near the 100 year market). With every school came much dancing (they tried to get us white people to look elegant...interesting!) alot of food (Wow! They blessed our socks off with overwhelming hospitality and thoughtfulness for foreigners.) and most of all smiling children who spoke from wonderful English to just a smattering of shy attempts. With every school it seemed we left just a small piece of our heart with the sweet students,
The major event for the weekend was the English Camp that we helped run over Saturday and Sunday. We were divided up into ten teams. My team, called the Ninjas consisted of Panda (He reminded me a ton of my brother Christopher.), Setta (The class clown.) Nurse (The oldest ) Benz (The social butterfly.) Pond (The quiet one.) and finally Cake (who was an avid student and loved to read and take lots of notes!).
We were all headed about three hours north, but half way through the drive we stopped at the famous museum for the Thailand-Burma Death Railroad. This museum and the adjacent cemetery hold so much fascinating and yet revolting history from WW2. It was a bit overwhelming trying to explain as much history to the kids as possible. We then drove further north and found the resort we were staying at. Yep, Resort! It was beautiful! It was situated right on the River Kwai. It was so beautiful and jungly! We had classes that afternoon, game time, swimming time and then ate some of the best food ( Which included french fries!) since arriving in Thailand.
After supper we were watched the live show that the resort puts on called The Light and Sound of the River Kwai. The outdoors half an hour presentation told of the history of the area and the Death Railroad....it featured a miniature bridge which “blew up, actors, and finally fireworks! The Americans on the team were especially excited for the fireworks because it was July 3rd! After the show we got to meet the owner of the resort who we found out was a teacher for years and out of his love of history and in memory of personal friends who worked on the railroad bought the resort, which boasts of a 15 acre museum and the Light and Sound show.
Sunday brought more English classes and games and then after lunch and a broken down bus (the transmission went out as we were going down a hill) a long and sad goodbye to all the students and teachers which had opened their hearts and schools for us. We were so sad to say goodbye, but trust that God will tend the soil of such tender hearts.
After a short stop at the Bridge over the River Kwai, we headed with our local Thai contacts to a surprise for our team for the evening, We found our that they had rented a barge on the river. It was so delightful to spend the Fourth of July floating down a river, the night concluded with lots of food, meeting new friends a dance mash and finally worship on the river.
The next day we jumped on a night bus and headed ten hours north to Chaing Rai, which is only 45 minutes from the Burmese border.
We are working with the Chaing Rai YWAM base here for the next three week. We will be doing street evangelism, teaching English in schools, playing sports and helping in the YWAM ran smoothie shop. I am excited to see what God has in store. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to adjust as a team and to the culture that we are serving in.