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.