Phuket

This is a picture of our trip to an island paradise called Phuket. Now, this picture is not actually from Phuket, but from an island that is a one hour speedboat ride from Phuket called Phi Phi Island. I might have put a picture of the ride up, but we were afraid that if anybody got out the camera, it would fly out of the boat! This was probably the most enjoyable vacation that I had in Thailand. The resort that we chose on Phuket was the absolute nicest that I have ever stayed at. The resort had many attractions that provided entertainment for hours. Probably my favorite part was windsurfing in the lagoon that had kayaks, catamarans, and a wind surfer. I loved the feel of the wind in the sails that made you glide effortlessly through the water.

Phi Phi Island is one of the biggest tourist places in the area. It is the main island destination in that area. It has everything that you would want for a perfect tropical island, white sand beaches, clear, blue water, scuba and snorkeling, and endless restaurants and shops along the streets. It is a beautiful place to visit and/or stay for a vacation. This was a trip that was very relaxed and very enjoyable.

The other major plus was the big breakfast buffet, and as a result, we, as a family, did not eat very big lunches while we were there. The last major part of the vacation was being able to share the vacation with the Ferguson’s who live in Malaysia temporarily.

Feeding Baby Tigers

While in a Thai zoo we had the chance to hold and feed baby tigers. Though the tigers were little, they were amazingly strong. You had to be careful of their claws, they were sharp! The babies ranged from the size that you see there to Zekey size. They all still fed from a bottle and were very playful. Holding these miniature tigers was an incredible experience. The baby tigers were altogether playful, ferocious, and cute.
Here are some facts about tigers. They can get a whopping 11 feet in length and 660 pounds. They live in tundra, tropical mangroves, forests, even grasslands. Almost all tigers have patterns made of over 100 different stripes!!! The White Tiger is not an albino but a color variation. Another variation is the Golden Tabby, which is shown in the picture.

Thai Class

Our Thai class is a fun part of the day that we look forward to all the time and I would gladly recommend it to anybody who asks for a good place to rian phaa-saa Thai (study the Thai language). After about a month in Thailand, my mom decided that to get a full high-school credit, I needed to have more instruction in the Thai language than I was having at that point in time. My mom started asking around, and doing some research. We finally decided to go through Thai Language Solutions for multiple reasons; the most important was its short distance from our apartment. We go to school every day of the week, but we have different teacher’s different days of the week.

Our Monday/Wednesday/Friday teacher name is Ao (the one on the top), pronounced oh, and our Tuesday/Thursday teacher name is Jang (the one on the bottom). Our teachers differ in teaching methods, interests, and physical stature. Ao is a sterner teacher, but she still knows how to have fun. She usually teaches from the book, and requires more “paper” work. She prefers watching movies, sleeping, and going to her boyfriend’s farm. She is typical Thai height and dark skinned. Jang is our teacher who reads, has a Face book, likes shopping, and is embarrassed about the subject of having any affiliation with a boyfriend. She is much less strict, resulting in not as much work accomplished in a class. She prefers conversation and the whiteboard to actual homework. She is much taller and lighter skinned than the average Thai. Both of the teachers know English, but there have been some times that we have edited papers for them or taught them some English.

One of the funniest stories in Thai class comes from both of the teachers. We walked in to our class one day, and Ao said we were going to learn about simple question structure. She said that a popular question in Thai is do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend (same word). She said we should try it on the other teachers present at the school. We tried our newly learned Thai skills on Jang, and she turned a very bright red, said no, and wouldn’t talk to us for the rest of the day. That day, Ao printed of a picture of a Taiwanese singer, Wan Leehom. She said if Jang had a boyfriend, this would be it. Noah and I showed the picture to Jang the next time we saw her, and it has been a topic of great humor for us and great “distress” for Jang.

Giving all to Him

I'm doing a study of Roger Youderian. He was one of the 5 men that were killed while reaching out to the Aucas. In this paragraph I will cover his background before he came to Ecuador. On January 21, 1924 a servant of God was born. Born in Sumatra, Montana his family was of Armenian descent. In 1943 he joined as a paratrooper in the USA Army. Stationed in England he participated in the Rhine Jump and the Battle of the Bugle. While in the Army he assisted a Chaplin. In 46 he left and went back to school till 1950 eventually in 1953 becoming a missionary to Ecuador.

When he left America had a wife and a daughter. While there he taught the Shuar people about Christ. on the third of January, 1956 he landed near an Auca camp and after 3 days met an Auca. 2 days after that he was speared while trying to get help. He died at age thirty-one, giving all to him.

You can read more in Torches of Joy.

5000 and More

It had been a long day following The Teacher. My stomach grumbled at me, but I paid no attention to it because He was speaking. Then after He finished speaking He told his apostles to get food for the crowd. They looked for food but only found five loaves and two fish. Jesus said, "Have them sit down in groups." And He gave thanks.
The apostles started to hand out food. The others must have been hungry. Everyone ate seconds and some thirds. It was amazing! Afterward I helped pick up the leftover food. There were 12 baskets of food left over. I promised myself I'd never forget this day.

Luke 9:10-17

In and around the town of Mae Sot, this type of structure was one of the most common. “What is it,” you might ask? A home is the correct answer. The houses in Mae Sot are almost all on stilts. The roofs on the houses are usually thatch and tin. When you see these, and the families coming in and out of the houses, it makes you very grateful for your own luxurious dwellings.



This picture captures one of the best things about the kids at the school, their joy. All of the kids there almost constantly had huge smiles on their faces. They always enjoyed any attention or anything that we did for them or anything we did with them.

Zeke's Six!

Our fourth "arrow" turned six on September the eighth. Zeke loved the attention he got for his birthday. We went to eat lunch at McDonalds (he was in it for the toy.)
His birthday cake was ordered by our wonderful Thai friends from the university. Swensons delivered the ice cream cake to our apartment. They had a little trouble finding our building. Our thai friends had the correct address and spoke to them. This a relief for me, because the 3 times we have had things delivered here, it has always involved a 15 minute conversation, and Chuck still wondering if food would really show up. (It always has, so don't be worried that we have had to go hungry.)
Before the cake was delivered, I had an extra special treat. Our thai friends came bearing food to cook and plans to teach me how to make a couple of thai dishes. I learned how to make pork larb, seaweed soup, and mussamun curry. They also graciously brought pans and bowls, because my kitchen has 3 pans and 2 serving bowls. It is not fully equipped

We had fun cooking in the kitchen and the students teased Orawen that she might have forgotten to cook since it had been 10-12 years since she had done it. Orawen, Chuck's colleague here, is stirring the curry. She had not forgotten and it was wonderful! I have since tried my hand at it, and got fairly close. My critics are not severe, just hungry boys.

Several of the girls from the lab cleaned and chopped vegetables and spices. The lady at the stove is Mam and she made the larb and one soup. My larb is just not quite right, even though I watched and sampled plenty!

Zeke got some new plastic animals and a helicopter. Thankfully the batteries are currently dead, because it was really loud. I did not realize how noisy it would be when we got it. Zeke also got an inflatable pool toy (a whale) and has had so much fun riding his whale.

There is also a picture of three girls with the seaweed soup. Wi, who was in the US the last year, is in the front with the spoon. Am is in the middle and Tom is in back. Am may take us on a day trip to the old capital, as it is near where she grew up.

Zeke and Noah have had such fun on their birthdays that Micah has declared he is going to have a birthday in Thailand too. He does know that he needs to turn 4, but since his last was in June, he is just hoping.

May your birthdays be filled with food, fun and joy in your Creator who made you for this time!