Last Minute Update

Once again, plans have changed! We just found out we'll be leaving tomorrow morning for a village located about 5 hrs. in an unknown direction. Pretty ambiguous, I know. It'll be fun as always though! As far as I know we'll be staying there for the next couple months, until Christmas break (Dec. 11). They've decided to keep everyone together in the same group, which I'm very excited about. I hear there's a possibility we may be able to check our email every once in a while, so that's good news too. Man, life just couldn't get better. I'm not sure if we'll get cell phone reception. We'll see... So, I hope life is treating you all well back at home! Miss you all- adios.

First picture!

Part of our group after walking up to a scenic overlook- the view was beautiful and it was really nice to see everyone again after being apart for a while.

A Short Break

Aright, we're back at the "ranch" (academy) again. Since I know you've all been religiously checking this extremely interesting blog in anticipation of more news, I guess I'll give a little update. We spent the last week up in the mountains in a village known as Bukjan ("bok-jon"). While there we pretty much kept the same schedule as we had been, except we were having worship with the villagers every morning at 5. People here are very dedicated. When I heard that the church members met every morning at that time for worship I was pretty shocked. You would never hear of people in the States even considering that. Good grief, it's hard enough to get people to come to a mid-week Bible study in America. So the mornings all started out pretty early: getting up at 3:45 or 4 to read, etc. then we'd have corporate worship at 5, breakfast at 7, and then head out to different villages to do health work. There are 2 nurses in our group and the rest of us are learning to administer natural remedies and things of that sort. Usually we'd head back around 5pm, have a short break (eat some sacred American food like peanut butter crackers), and head to the evening meeting at the church around 7:30. I say around 7:30, but it really means more like 8 because nothing in this country is ever done on time. At the meeting one of us would talk on health, then Michael would give a Bible talk.
On Sabbath we were divided into 2 groups. One stayed at the local church, while the other (my group) went to a nearby village. There Rob spoke on the 8 laws of health then Michael gave the sermon. In the afternoon a bunch of villagers came to the church to have their blood pressure taken, etc. One of the ladies that showed up was a practicing spirit medium. She was an older, haggard looking woman- the exact picture you think of when imagining a witch doctor. We ended up having the opportunity to read the Bible to her and pray with her. We also explained the serious danger of tampering in the spirit world. She appeared fairly receptive and was open to the idea of coming to church the following week. Keep praying- God is working.
That evening we found out we'd be taking off the next morning, so after a tasty "farang" (foreigner) breakfast (which we get once a week!) we loaded up and headed back to the academy. So now we're here for a few days. I'm very grateful for this time of relaxation since many of us are on the verge of getting sick. The late nights and early mornings are catching up to us. Yesterday they took us to Chiang Mai. I was pretty excited because I had plans of buying some running shoes. I found some decent ones, but they didn't have my size, so hopefully we can go again and I'll have better luck. I miss running- it'll be good to get back into that routine. Brian, who'll be in my group these next couple months, just bought a soccer ball too! Now if that's not reason for excitement... A group of us just got back from playing with a bunch of the local academy students. Very fun.
As for now, we're all just hanging out here at the center, hoping to recover from our nagging colds and coughs and waiting for the next word. We've been divided into 3 groups. I'll be spending the next 2 months with Nola (missionary from Cambodia whose helping us for a while), Brian, and Ying (our translator). After these 2 months a group of us- Rob, Alison, Phoebe, & I, are planning on taking a trip to Cambodia for Christmas. We get two weeks off so we're thinking of visiting Ankor Wat and some other sites. Should be fun! Okay, this post is mega long so I'll wrap it up. Hope school/work is going great for you all back home! Alright, better jet.

Off Again

A lot has changed since my last post. They switched up our groups, for the millionth time, and sent us off to two different villages. Our group has spent the last week in a small village up in the mountains. On Sunday we were out walking around and an old lady pulled us into her hut and out of the blue started dressing me up in a native Hmong costume. After a while she had us all decked out in the colorful garb and we ended up going around the village inviting people to the meetings at the church. Each night a different member of our team spoke at the local Adventist church about the 8 laws of health. Tuesday night I spoke on proper rest. The next day we went out visiting sick people. Some reoccurring health problems seen in these parts are gout and high blood pressure. I ended up doing massage on a stroke victim who was paralyzed on her right side. I also gave her some exercises to do to help strengthen her limbs. Our leader keeps saying, "Oh! Emily can do massage and put together exercises for these people since she's a physical therapist." Uhh, not quite. I have to remind her that I'm not- kinda funny. Doing the exercises and massage is good experience though. One day we got a call from a frantic mother whose boy was very sick. It was a 15 year old kid that was having severe stomach pains. We started doing a bunch of natural remedies on him. The house was absolutely filthy. When I walked in I noticed these huge beetles hanging from the ceiling on some twigs (apparently they enjoy fighting beetles here in Thailand- kind of like cock fighting). I was instructed to give a onion rub to the boy, so I sat down and proceeded with the treatment. In a few minutes I felt a bunch of wet globs of an unknown substance falling on my head. First I thought it was a leaky roof, but Ricky started laughing really hard and then told me to look up. I was sitting right under the disgusting beetles and they were going to the bathroom on my head. So gross. It actually was pretty funny though-- I entertained the whole group that's for sure. Strange things like that have been happening to me. Like the other day a nasty dog left his mark all over my backpack. Good times, good times. On Wednesday our group hiked out to visit some church members at their job site. On the way one of the Thai girls in front of me screamed and jumped back-- it was a long, bright green poisonous snake. Close call. After visiting the church members we begged our driver to take us to the village where the other group was. Even though it had only been 4 days since we'd seen them there was a lot to catch up on. Friday was a blast because they got to come to our village for an American breakfast (cornflakes, soymilk, bread & fruit--sounds boring, but it was amazing because it didn't include rice), then in the afternoon they took us to town. That day they had announced that each group would be staying one more week in their respected villages. We never know what's going on until right before something happens. I'm still, at times, finding it difficult to adjust to the oh-so-laid-back mentality here. It's quite different than what I'm used to. I'm pretty laid back as well, but I generally like having a tentative schedule. Those of you who know me also know I appreciate organization. I guess it's been good for me though. So they'd announced we'd be staying another week in the village, but the next day they informed us we'd be heading for another place. So we had to pack up that night and take off. They said we'd be going to a very primitive village way up in the mountains-- one that got electricity just last year. I was pretty excited for something new, but, once again, they just changed our plans. The other group (Brian, Alison, Holly, Mem, Ying, Bee, & some other Thai girls) have been working in a village that's struggling with spiritualism and things of that nature. Apparently they encountered a demon possessed man as well as a Buddhist monk who was attempting to get the villagers to come to his meetings (instead of our group's meetings). So since they've been having challenges we've decided to join our groups and help them out for the next week, which I'm very excited about. It'll be interesting I'm sure. For now though, I'm just glad to have this short window of time to check my email before we go back out. I did buy a cell phone so I'm not exactly totally disconnected from the outside world when we're in the villages. In all I've been having a blast. Life is great! At times it hits me that I'm in Thailand. I know people who would probably never dream of doing things like this. I love it- might as well live life to it's fullest and experience as much as I can. Alright, this is getting too sentimental- better get going. Pray for us, especially while we're in this next village. Thanks a ton!