Chailand

So I apoligize for my lack of writing, I have had limited amount of internet access time over the last 2 months, however I am back in North America and now have it whenever I want, so there will be more to come. I also apoligize for the fact that I know that I am going to forget some things and I will think of random stories later, but I will attempt to describe my last 2 months in Thailand and China.


I arrived in Bangkok the first week in December, and we stayed there for a week having orientation and learning about the people and customs of Thailand. We then headed off to mid-Thailand where we stayed in a village. We stayed with a family who just planted a church and we ran a kids program, teaching english and just playing games with kids from ages 6-12. It was so great. We met and talked with a lot of families in the village, and living like the locals. We then left there after 2 weeks and headed North to a home for girls ages 8-18. It was a safe haven for girls who normally would have been sold into prostitution by their parents or taken. We hung out with the girls and ended up going to 2 differnt villages with them. The first village was nestled in the mountains and so beautiful, however you could tell that there was a huge amount of spiritual heaviness there, but the girls that we stayed with were so on fire for God and wanting the best for their village and people that they would do anything and we learned so much just from them. We then headed back after a few days and had christmas, which was the hardest part of the trip, then after a few days back at the home we drove off to another village with another group of girls. At this point I didn't want to go to any villages at all, however I felt a huge sense of peace about it, and the village was great. They celebrated christmas on the following weekend so we went out caroling, piling into the back of trucks and going to fun group dinners with the whole village. It was then time to head back to Bangkok for a few days of debriefing Thailand and then we headed off to China. China was amazing, we ended up visiting diffent places in the Yunnan province. We stayed mostly in a ciry, Kunming, and visted the universites and just hung out with people and had great times. My favorite part of China was when we went on a road trip to Dali, Li Jiang, and Li Ming. I had such a great time visiting the different places. In Dali we ended up renting bikes and biked around the nearby villages and through the rice feilds and back roads of China. It was so great to see that part of China and get away from the city. Li Jiang was also very nice, we stayed in Old Town Li Jiang and I was taken over by its beauty of cobble stone roads, the river canal running through out it, and its amber lit roofs at night. However Li Ming was the most beautiful place I saw in all of China. Tucked in the mountains we stayed at a really nice guest house, with beds that heated up thank goodness because it got quiet cold. One day we ended up climbing to the top of a mountain and saw a spectacular view. We then hiked the next day to a village 3 hours away. It was such a beautiful place!



All in all I had a great time. I was challenged in a lot of differnt ways and I also learned a lot about myself. Besides being sick for a good part of Thailand, and struggling with being in the villages in poor living conditions and not having any medication at all, or missing home and family so much at christmas time, I had a great experience and wouldn't trade it in. Thanks again to everyone who helped me out along the way to and on the trip. Without your help in everything I couldn't have done it. So thank you.



cheers, mallory