Here's Milk the issuer of my "Thai Passport."
Beau's givin' some cheesy smiles in the background.
I love those guys.

Pictures for Khao Yai Retreat 2006



Please pray that this year we'd have a great and safe weekend on November 17-18.

Back in August Grapevine took a group on a service trip to teach in the village schools in Roi Et. It was an awesome opportunity for Bangkok people to experience life in rural Thailand. We taught the students English, but we learned so much about ourselves and each other. Partnering with the Muang Thai Church in their ministry in Roi Et has been incredibly beneficial for us and our students as we learn to share our time and energy with those in need.






We got to join in a local festival while in Roi Et, which included games, food, music and a parade. Here's Patzy showing the boys how to shoot a toy gun. Final score: Patzy 4, both boys 2.


After a difficult morning helping local farmers planting rice, we all gained a greater appreciation for the rice we eat every day!

Halloween fun at Grapevine! Even though most of the students had exams during the last week of October, the staff couldn't miss the annual Halloween party. Here we are all dressed up. (I'm a CEREAL killer, just in case you couldn't tell.)

Students makin' creepy luminaries to decorate Grapevine.



Yes, even when bobbing for apples I'm a bit dramatic.

At Grapevine, I'm always putting on wild theatricals. And I'm always looking for someone to perform with me. In the above picture Moses and I put on our meanest faces as we celebrate the success of our pirate skit.

We designed Fun On Campus to meet new students and hang out with our friends after their classes. We play games and hand out homemade snacks. The students get a chance to practice English and learn about all the fun that happens at our Grapevine events.

Graduation Day! A very special occassion for some of my favorite people: Jack, Greg, Jaa, Goi, Allison, Zula and Moses

On Tuesday August 28th we had our Opening Night of the new Grapevine. We celebrated with lots of music, food and singing. And while we still have some moving in to do, we were and are still very excited to see the dream become reality. Thank you so much for your prayers concerning the process. Maybe some of you can even come and visit. It's so much more "sanook" (fun) in person.
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Here's a picture of Moses in the still unorganized office. Can you find the special Michal Ruth contribution in this picture?



Greg adores the tile (which delights me because it reminds me of chocolate and suede) and the frames for the lights were built by our own Andy May.



Students usually enjoy Allison's amazing Farang (Western) food, unless it has too much cheese in it.



Intern Goi waves goodbye to students at the end of great night

Below are some pictures of the first steps to the remodeling of our new room.

Look at my pretty blue bike. It took me a long time to replace my stolen bike, and it's taken me a long time to get the picture on here. But finally you can see it. Here's a special thanks to the Vestaburg Church for the special offering to replace it.

On May 4th- 7th, team leader Greg and I had the chance to attend a youth camp with the students from our church. It was a very intensive time of Thai language study for me. All the events were in Thai, and it was the most Thai I'd ever been exposed to in such a short period of time. But inspite of the headache, the experience proved beneficial. Two of our students from the Grapevine were able to attend with us (Intern Goi and new believer Jah), and both were encouraged by the weekend.


Pictured below: Students stop for a photo shoot on the way home from the retreat

Jah - "“At Grapevine everyone loves you. They don’t care if you rich... pretty...funny. I became a Christian because I touched the love of God.”



I'm so very excited that "the girl next door" my neighbor, Jah, has decided to open the door to the Christ. She has already told her Buddhist parents about her commitment to Jesus, and they received the news well. She has only been attending Grapevine since November, but has been a regular at all events. She was also able to attend a Christian youth camp this May with our church, and was encouraged to worship and share with other believers. Please keep Jah in your prayers as she begins her new walk with Christ.

Teacher Pook at the AUA Songkran Festival

I have anticipated the Songkran New Year's Festival ever since I first started studying about Thailand. It is one of the most exciting holidays of the year. The celebrations include many activities including games, visits to the temples, a ceremony with water, and water fights. My first taste of the festivities took place at my language school where my teachers comically recounted the events of a family's Songkran Holiday. Several of my teachers performed Thai dances and even did a show Thai boxing match.



Students at the Festival


Teachers Performing Traditional Thai Dance

Of course, the school festival only began the interesting experiences I had during this year's Songkran. On Friday, one of my students invited me to join her on a trip to visit "The 9 Wats." The Thai believe they will have special luck if they visit all 9 of the most important temples in Bangkok in one day. So we set out to conquer the task, and the heat, crowds, and starvation finally conqured us. We made it to 5 of the 9 before we called it quits. We still had plans to make it to Khao San road for the city wide water fight. Just picture the road so full of people and water and squirt guns that you can hardly move. Imagine your clothes soaked through as the sun starts setting and you actually begin to shiver. Imagine hundreds of people smearing white paste on your face and telling you "Happy New Year!" It's amazing and fun and very exhausting.

I don't know if you've all gottena chance to know my team, but they're pretty funny. And they constantly support and bless me. I don't know how I would survive without their wisdom, their friendship, or Allison's mashed potatoes.


(On left) Andy our techie/handyman/guitar player and his lovely and funny wife Jen the "on the bubble girl"
(Middle) Greg Coley (the man with the van/team leader extraordinare) and his wife the greatest American cook in Thailand/ great idea first lady Allison, with their children Zula and Moses.
(Then) Me the crazy artsy fartsy theatre girl
(Finally) Kristin the '06-'07 does it all Intern



Many of you have been praying for our very first Thai intern Goi. Here she is, and isn't she cute? She's also my Thai tutor and good friend. We're so excited to see how the intership works out this coming year. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to a multicultural team. Also continue to pray for Goi as she raises her support.

During March and April, 6 Grapevine Students, Greg, and I helped our local church with a summer education camp. About 60 highschool students from Roi Et lived at the church for a month learning English, Math and Science. Every year the church uses this time to increase the kids exposure to the Christian life, and enhance the missions work they do in the village. It is especially encouraging to see the students singing worship songs and participating in services every Sunday and Wednesday. For our students at the Grapevine, the program porvides an opportunity to help in community service while enhancing life skills and deepening relationships.

I think the students were especially fond of "Teacher Mic, " because she was the craziest.




Or maybe because they knew I'd knock 'em silly if they didn't participate.

Here's some pix from the annual TU - Chula game in Janurary. This is THE (only?!) football game of the year. Players, cheerleaders, students, faculty, reporters, alumni celebrities, and yours truly prepared for months for the event. Yes, even I was prepared months in advance for the game. People waited in lines for HOURS to buy the cheer shirts. (I didn't....I've got connections! Thanks, KJ and Uh-Oh and Beau and Kwang) I did, however, help count the millions of colored squares that make up the above pictures of the King. The game was a tie, which for an American was a TERRIBLE way to end, but the Thai students were happy all around. The most important part of the event (or so I've been told) was the cheerleaders who all looked fabulous in their glitter and heels.

We are considering moving The Grapevine to a new room a few doors down. The size and shape of the room is much better than our current location and we would have a new office space. If we move, however, we would have to do some construction and painting. Please keep this decision in your prayers.

This semester at Grapevine we've introduced a monthly girls sleepover called "The Period." Through games and crafts and movies and devotions we've tried to bring the ladies of the Grapevine closer together and closer to God. Our topics have touched on issues especially meaningful to girls such as self-image, encouragement from sisters, and love in relationships. We have played truth or dare and done some dancing had a tea party and cried over silly girl movies. Most of all we've learned to talk through issues and open ourselves up to love and be loved.