Moons

Tonight I saw my third full moon since I have lived in Thailand.It may be kind of strange that I find comfort in the sight of the moon, but somehow as I look at it and realize my loved ones in America are viewing the same celestial object. It seems to shrink the distance. It also marks the fact that I have been here for a long time... a fact that hinders my happiness during some parts of the day. At home it is time for spring breaks and time with family, but I will be spending my spring break travelling around Thailand. Hummm... When I state it like that I guess it doesn't sound so bad, but for a little baby like me I am homesick! lol. Oh well, I guess I am going to have to enjoy my time with the white sands.... ;)

Things are ending school wise already and today I finished my internship. I wasn't prepared for the things that happened at my internship, something I am not worthy of.When we got to the school that three other girls and I teach English at we were greeted by my little buddy, a 14 year old named Bow from Agape Home with major facial deformations. She knew it was our last day and over and over she would sneak out of her classroom to see us while we were waiting to teach and gave me several notes saying she didn't want us to go and that she loved us. It was a confirmation that even though I thought we didn't deeply influence the children in our internship, we seemed to effect her. Later, as my class was ending, the Principle had all the 5th and 6th grade classes I taught came into my classroom and gave my companions and I gifts and a notebook of the student's written thank yous for teaching them. It floored me. We had asked to teach at their school, didn't really do a great job (in my opinion ;-) ) and added a lot of complications to their teaching schedule, yet the children loved learning English from us and the teachers thanked us over and over again. As class ended and I walked outside of my classroom groups of children surrounded me and asked for my address and phone number. They asked where I was from, and just spent several moments staring at me... These Thai children, in their dirty little uniforms and cute pigtails or buzz cuts, are so precious and I can truly say that each of them are so beautiful because they are God's children and He whispered in my ear how much He loves each of them. It was amazing. And I got to spend some time with them. I will never forget the way they impacted me and what I learned in that place.

The second part of my internship ended today as we drove into the parking lot at Agape Home. We ride from the school to Agape in the back of a large truck, turned into a covered taxi type vehicle. It was our last ride with our beloved Agape kids and it was hard to be happy. My companions and I hurried to change into our play clothes from our teaching uniforms. But before we started to play with the kids Christie, one of my fellow internship ladies, said we should pray for the Agape Home and for the leadership team at Agape. We gathered the ladies around us, Avis ( who founded Agape) Laura ( who is a long time employee/ second in command) and Elle ( a woman who invited us over to her home for an American meal and is a huge part of Agape as well) and we had a wonderful time of prayer and encouragement. It was so very hard to say goodbye, but Laura said good wisdom to us. Even though we may not know what ways we impacted the children, we did and later in their lives something that we did will stick out in their journeys and impact them in some way. I left feeling both blessed and sad. It was a hard day today.

On a lighter note last weekend was a huge goodbye/ thank you dinner for our host families and it was sooo much fun! It was on the edge of a lake and it was beautiful enough to have been my wedding reception. lol. For the dinner several people were asked to perform different things and I was allowed to sing Unforgettable by Nat King Cole. It was so fun to sing a song that my Ajarns ( professors) loved and it could say how our families were unforgettable to us now. Kind of corny, but hey, it was fun!

Thank you for your prayers, they have been a big help.If you could pray a renewed prayer of spark in my time over here that would be wonderful. I love this semester and even as I write I am encouraged of the things that are to come, but my heart longs for something familiar, something American. Oh what I would do to drive a car, hehe. Also please pray that I would continue to have an open heart for God's plan in my life and that I wouldn't be afraid when He wants to teach me something. Thank you so much, it is very comforting to know I have a team cheering for me at home ;)
Love to each of you!Sawadeekah,Kt