Ba Bong Village!

Well I'm back from the village! It was such a hard, but good 10 or so days. Its hard to just write one blog of everything that happened but I'll do my best.

The village is 3 hours away. We rode in Jeepneys and I almost died by stomach sickness, which was not the best experience. Anyways, we get there and go into our host homes. My host home was the village chef's. The moms name was Mywan and she had a son and her husband. I loved them dearly. Esther and I both stayed there which was incredibly fun. The village looked alot different then we were all expecting, which is a very sad reality: Many men come to that village to get girls for prostitution.
Out of an entire village, there was only maybe 20 or so children, with only a few of them being girls. The rest of the village has given up their daughters so that they can have nice houses, small cars, etc. I dont think my house specifically did this but the other ones have for a fact. Just the thought of that made me so sick.

The first day we woke up at 5 to go to the market with Mywan. We didnt know where to go, plus it was dark, so she started to direct Esther and I by touching our butts in the direction to go. It was the funniest thing...ever haha. I loved my host family.
The days in the village seemed to last for forever. We were in bed by 8 every single night because we were exhausted. Funny thing is we didnt ever do that much..

We did a VBS with the village kids too. These boys were the ultimate precious kids Ive ever met. They were very similar to the ones we met in Bohol last summer. My favorite, Om, was the most tenderhearted boy I've ever met. He would sit in my lap with me and I would just play with his hair for long periods of time. He loved hugs and smiling and blowing bubbles with me. He was precious.

We visited a church and did some stuff there too. For the first time it dawned on me that someone can be half way across the world and get the same revelation from God that your getting. These teenagers were so on fire with God and just had such a pure love for Him. That was so awesome to see.

We taught English for two days. The first day, Amy and I got strongly hit on by the principle of the school. And had the stereotypical boys yelling they loved us haha. But was fun to play teacher. The next day was amazing though. We had younger kids and I made friends with a group of girls probably 10-13 years old. I had the best time with them playing games and loving on them. It reminded me of my purpose in the village and helped me refocus. Plus I love the joy I feel when I'm playing with these children.

We were also in a Thai parade. Bahahah... okay so once a year all the surrounding villages of a sports day. We all wore red jerseys and marched with our village. We participated in the aerobics part and then cheer leaded the rest of it. Ive never cheer leaded with old Thai women which was definitely an experience.

Another highlight was cutting the women's hair... without a translator..
enough said.

The village overall went really well. I got very homesick though, worse then all of DTS. I missed my family insanely. But at the same time I had very good quiet times where I really felt God and heard Him speak to me. It amazes me that God speaks the most in our weakest moments.
I also ate more then I ever have on outreach. Seriously I probably gained 5 pounds of straight rice and oil(boy do they love oil). ugggh gross.

Now were back in Chiang Mai where I will have internet access everyday, so I'll be posting more often. Thanks for praying for me!