Wildlife Sightings

While chillin' at King's Park on a nature walk with three of my favorite missionary kids and Crystal (their mom), we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife! That's a great part of living in Thailand.

We saw a couple kids jump out from under a bridge. Maybe from being a teacher, I thought they were up to something. It looked like they were holding something in their hand, so I asked what they had. Then, out pooped this Rhinocerus Beetle. Cool, huh? A dark, hard skeleton and some funky jaw snappers.


And the moment I've been waiting for!! The sighting of a monitor lizard coming out of the water! Since I've been here, my friends speak of all their sightings, and I never see one!
This is a common occurance in my life--
Friend: "Oh look Melanie, a shooting star!" Melanie: "Where?"
This guy had hopped out of the lake and was crossing the walking path to the canal on the other side. Quite slowly he walked, so I could really enjoy it. (Ok, this isn't my picture, it was googled.)

Let the Little Children Come

Last night, nine girls came to the Mahathai commmunity center with us to pray for their communty. Over the last two months of hosting this prayer meeting, we've had a range of four different adults come, one grandmother, two mothers, and the community leader. We've struggled with whether to invite the billions of kids following us like the Pied Piper around the community. No, I love them. But they struggle with praying at the prayer meetings. They can't stay focused. We keep reminding each other, Jesus said "Let the little children come unto me." Did he let them come to everything?

Last night, the 9 girls just clapped and sang along, leading worship themselves practically. Then as Pramote shared a small message from the Bible, you could have heard a pen drop. He spoke of God's faithfulness being like the sun rising each morning. Pramote tried to ask them what they see first every morning. They answered, "my mom and dad" That made me smile.

Then we prayed together for their community. I'd find myself opening my eyes, having their little eyes looking at me. And then I would see them close their eyes, clasp their hands, and pray too. We pray here outloud and all together. What a blessing to see God working in the hearts of these 9 children. Its so fun to imagine how Mahathai will change as these girls are Godly influences there.

Fruity Tooty

Coconut, pineapple, banana, strawberry, watermelon, orange, lime, or cocoa! "Ban" or fruit shakes rock here in Thailand. Iced coffee rocks too, but I'm not a coffee drinker. So, I'll stick to these. While eating in the market, its fun to order a ban from my friend. Only 50 cents. If you come visit, I'll buy you one!

More English Pictures

Rachel and my English classes chillin' after a hard two hours of learning English.

I'm not trying to be a supermodel in the middle of the group. There just weren't any more desks!

Southern Belles of Thailand

Today I found myself using an umbrella against the sun as I walked down the street. As I looked around me, I wasn't the only one. Previously, the only image in my head was a lacy parasol that ladies of the high society use when they walk in their big dresses through the gardens. Nope, surprisingly now, I've joined the club--minus the lacy umbrella and big dress. The sun is strong here at 15 degrees latitude. I passed a church member's store the other day without an umbrella. She stopped in mid-calculation to give me her umbrella. She said she'd pick it up on Sunday after church.

House with One Heart

YWAM, Youth with a Mission, has a dormitory and mission house in our neighborhood. We've been partnering with them a lot in our different ministries, mercy, campus, and church planting. They offer housing to college students in their dormitory which is called Ban Jai Dee-aw "House with One Heart." These college students attend bible studies and worship within their dorm to and learn about Christ. Since its a non-denominational mission group, YWAM has encouraged these students to visit our church on Sundays. Two of the girls sing with our worship band every Sunday. Right now, that makes our church primarily composed of college students and kids! What a lively and challenging body for God to work in!

Did you know...

...I have worn flip flops for 14 months straight! I think I have beat the record for most of my hippie friends in Asheville!

Barefoot and Teaching?

Every week, I teach my English students barefoot! When I first came, it felt impolite and informal to not have nice shoes on while teaching. But in Thailand, as in many Asian countries, we must take off our outside shoes when coming indoors. Even at some restaurants!

One of my Thai roommates, coming back from an American visit, remarked on how she got to keep her shoes on. I told her how wierd it was for me to take mine off at church and while teaching. Funny, how different we are.

Missing My High School Reunion

My high school has our ten year high school reunion soon, which I will be missing. Thanks to Facebook, I have caught up with almost everyone from that phase in my life. I enjoy the shocker of telling them I'm in Thailand. It's also a shocker to tell them I'm a missionary. Though God has placed the idea in my head in high school, God was still growing me in how to walk as a Christian. As I write my high school friends, I feel like I'm still right in that point in my life. But at the same time, so much has changed. I'm sure that will be how it feels all my life.

I grieve lots of different losses on the mission field. Living here means growing distance between my friends, missing my niece and nephew's many milestones as they grow up, and not being able to sit by my granddad while he's in the hospital. Yet, being a missionary has its amazing honors as well, following God's desire for my life right now and being able to talk about Jesus with people who have never heard of Him. May God receive the glory from the sacrifice.

Carving Chicken

Over in America, its a tradition of who does the turkey carving--so professionally and smooth. Well, last night at a birthday party, I helped prepare the chicken. We don't have turkey here. It's way expensive. (I did hear about a lady who smuggled one by plane here last Thanksgiving.) Here, you just grab your battleaxe, or big knife, and just chop it in smaller pieces. Right through the bone. No need to divide the pieces from each other beautiful, just hack it up! It was kinda fun to have whack at it!

Frosty in Thailand

Rachel busted in my room the other day screaming, "Frosty the Snowman!" Yep, the Thai radio station was playing the song! Why? Maybe they liked the melody or the beat? She said the DJ's were speaking all in incomprehendible Thai, but she heard the words "Frosty the Snowman" and was perplexed. But she heard them right. I always liked teaching because of all the daily surprises there. I'd have to say living here might keep me all the more entertained.

You Know its Hot When...

...your Thai housemate comes back from a visit to America and remarks, "It's really hot here."

Will You Come?

I walked through Mahathai today inviting people to pray, "We're praying this evening in the community center. We'll be praying for everyone in this community. You are invited to come. Everyone's invited to come." Thai people are too sweet to say no directly to your face about anything. Instead they'll say, "Sorry, my grandchild just peed all over my pants" or "I have to finish sewing this and making my husband's meal before he comes home" or "I have to prepare for my guests coming tomorrow." As I write this, it makes me think about that parable in the Bible where the man invites many to his house for his banquet feast but all his friends excuse themselves for various excuses of their own.

Four kids came as well as two teenagers, one woman, and one man, the community leader. We prayed for their health, their studies, Thailand's government instability, and for God to demolish the strongholds of evil spirits in the community. Praise God for those who said yes to the banquet this evening. Please keep praying that when God extends the invitation to his banquet in heaven, our friends at Mahathai will accept Jesus Christ and come.

Jolting Grace

Today while walking, I was just sulking. Ugh, it's early....ugh, why am I here...ugh, why am I feeling like this, God? While looking ahead, an orange-robed monk was walking toward me on the same side of the road. Oh, it's 6:30am, the monks are out for their alms walking. Passing a road on the right, a older woman was kneeling, holding up her offerings for the monk who would reach her soon, pleading under her breath toward her god. She feels like me today. Why were we given this life? What are we to do with it? Who are we? Kneeling and pleading for relief.

The monk ahead had turned, and stood over another neighbor. Chanting in the Pali language, this young man bestowed on her blessings in exchange for her offerings. She kneeled before him with hopes of these blessings.

My heart breaks. I should see this every morning. The reminder of our inability to be God ourselves. The inability to make ourselves better. God jolted me with the reminder of how He came to us. He sent His son to die for us. For those ladies on their knees, for that monk, and for me. Forgive me for my complaining. Thank you, God, for your gift. Please help me to share it with everyone around me here.

To Market, To Market

Our Market, or "da-lad", is about one minute from our house, all I have to do is cross a crazy intersection. And here I am. At the most beautiful place and best smelling! Ok, I'm lying. This one part smells wonderful. Then walk toward the meat and fish section and it's a whole 'nother story, for another blog post. :)


You can buy a bouquet of orchids for only 30 cents! Most of the strings of flowers you see however, are bought to string on cars, buses, house spirit houses or temple idol statues. That is why they are in such abundance here.


The fruit is also amazing here. Living in the tropics brings a lot of heat and bugs, but also a lot of delicious and crazy looking fruit! Some of my favorites are the pink one in the middle called Dragonfruit. It is dalmation spotted on the inside. The big fruit on the far left is like huge grapefruit/orange combo called Som-o. Welcome to the market!

The English Team

We four ladies teach and lead the English program for our church plant. Rachel is in the front, Pawn and Yu on the sides. Aren't we crazy? Wouldn't you love to be under our instruction? Paul also teaches with us, but he just wasn't there for the crazy picture!

The Pearl and the Blowfish

A couple weeks ago, Rachel and I took a vacation to the beach of Phuket. One day, we visited the South Sea Pearl Farms. There I met my favorite part of the whole trip--this crazy blowfish. The video takes about 30 seconds--but the blowfish will deflate before your very eyes! He makes this hilarious farting noise that I'm disappointed to say I couldn't capture on video as well. But you can hear some Thai and me laughing. Below are some other great pictures from the Pearl Farms. The farm is set over water, with strings of oysters hanging from the wood below the water. Below Rachel and I are riding a long tail boat to the farms. Also while we were there, I noticed these boats, which were destroyed by the tsunami a while ago. This area was seriously hit. Can you see the pearl? It's pretty amazing that nowadays farmers breed pearls and don't just go searching for them.






Our tour guide is holding Pearl, the daughter of the pearl farmers who reside in water homes at the farm. It was really interesting to get out of the hotel and see some of the people who live in Southern Thailand. There is a much larger Muslim population here. On the way to the farms, we passed quite a few squatter communities, where every house had a bird. The tour guide said they have bird singing contests every year for money. The people were very friendly. I enjoyed learning more about the lifestyle of those who live near the water.

Wow, What a Storm!

Last night, I was awakened by some serious thunder! My room shook. The lightning came in through my curtains and made it feel like daylight. Normally, I love thunderstorms. But this one was past fun. It was extreme. I thought of my friends who live in the squatter houses with tin roofs. How can they handle this. Finally, I went back to sleep.

This morning, as I opened my curtains, I imagined seeing complete destruction. How could anything still be standing after last night? But everything was normal out back. Our streets were flooded- at least halfway up my calf in some places. And when it floods, its a wonderful smell of sewer and dog poop. Looking down the street, I saw a shoe under water. I waded around, making jokes with the neighbors about swimming. Flooding is a common thing in the streets around here, but this was higher than usual.

By this afternoon, the street was dry in front of my house because of the sunshine. I think about how God made the climate different here in Thailand. Raining never pitters down all day long here. It gushes. It dumps. It pours. The palm trees do look beautiful in the rain, like God made them especially for this weather. And before you know it, its evaporated already and the sun's out again.