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.

The wai ( traditional Thai greeting) may seem insignificant to those who've not lived in Thailand, but for those of us who have, it's rather important. For Thai, it's not simply a greeting, but also a sign of respect to elders and those of higher social status. It's used as an act of appreciation when receiving a gift. It's also used when saying goodbye. Thai children grow up learning the grace of this action; they don't ever question when or how to perform it. For me, it's been slightly stressful.

I know that it sounds stupid that I've often stressed out about my wai. Do I wai too often? Are my hands too far up, or not far enough? Do my elbows stick out too much? I've frequently chastised myself for waing to students in spur of the moment greetings. On many occasions I've neglected to wai my elders. They've always graciously overlooked my mistakes, but it's embarrassing and frustrating to me. I can assure you that it didn't help my frustration, when one of the Thai ministers at our church mentioned that foreigners always mess up the wai.

I tried harder.
Made many more mistakes.
Felt ridiculous practicing in front of the mirror. (Really, I did!)

On my way to church a few weeks ago I passed by one of the elders. Teaching supplies and my Bible weighed down my arms, but still I greeted him. I raised my hands and carefully placed them to my lips, the tips of my thumbs on my chin. I inclined my head slightly. I smiled and waited.

He beamed.
Actually told me, "Wai suwai," ( beautiful wai)
And returned my greeting with a delightful wai of his own.


For those of you who have never lived in Thailand this simple encounter may seem ridiculously uneventful, but it sent me floating through the rest of my day.

I'm being held hostage by the rain.

Yes, it seems that the rainy seasons has FINALLY arrived. We've waited and waited for the rain to come, but this past week the floodgates have opened. Yesterday at GrapeJam, we all arrived soaked to the bone, and we left....well, really late. Kristin and I couldn't close up the Grapevine at 11 as usually because we felt cruel to send students out in the storm. So we waited and waited and waited. After several games of spoons, and some crazy pillow tossing match, the rain still hadn't stopped. I suppose we finally locked the doors at ummm...3 o'clock. Campus ministry is fun!