Neener's Travel Blog

Saturday, January 25, 2014 It turns out there is no warm up phase to DTS or any fluffy topics to ease you in.  It is intense right from the get-go.  But, as LJ (one of our lovely DTS staff) said, God was ready to do this with me.  There has been immense change in my life in these past few days.  God has healed my heart in so many ways.  I'm being super vague about it right now, because I feel really inspired to write a short story about it - I feel that will explain it better.  I will say, though, that God has really shown me how much he loves me, and the love of the King of kings is a beautiful thing. As far as working in the community, this week has been incredible!  On Tuesday we did an after school program in the slum.  I was in the arts and crafts group.  We made friendship bracelets and colored the armor of God.  It was difficult, not knowing any Thai.  I didn't even know any of the rudimentary key phrases like I knew in Spanish while in Costa Rica.  But it still work

Sunday, January 19, 2014 I have officially been in Thailand for a week!  More than a week actually.  It's kind of weird to think about.  It feels like it's flown by, but also like I've been here forever. Our first week was very easy as they allowed us to settle into life in Thailand.  We did three days of personality/unity training - learning about ourselves and others, what ways to communicate best with different personality types and appreciating each other's strengths.  It's been fun getting to know each other better and getting to see right off the bat how we're likely to operate in a team (and under stress). We went to visit the community that we'll be volunteering in, running an after school program with the kids.  It's a slum community, made up largely of Cambodian refugees.  We met the woman who has started the ministry in this community, and she reminded me so much of Norma in Costa Rica.  I saw a lot of similarities between Guarari and th

Blog Post 1 Monday, January 13, 2014 The Beginning I'm in Thailand!  I left on Wednesday, January 8th at 1:30pm and flew to San Francisco.  I stayed the night in a hotel, and got to Facetime with my family.  Mandie (our dog) was very confused by my face and voice, but lack of physical presence.  I left the next morning at 11:00 for Tokyo, and then went from Tokyo to Bangkok.  The time change became very confusing for my mind and body.  I arrived at around midnight on Saturday. We live in sort of a middle class village.  The houses are absolutely beautiful, and are much nicer accommodations than we all were expecting.  Our classroom is about a five minute walk, near the entrance of our village. We have 12 girls on our DTS - no boys!  All of us are used to hanging out with mostly guys, so we were a bit apprehensive about it to begin with, but we all get along great already.  It's been a lot of fun getting to know each other in these first few days.  We're a fairly di

For the past month I have been getting asked the same questions over and over.  And over.  Andoverandoverandover.  I always try to answer them as nicely and truthfully as possible.  And believe me, the hundredth time I got asked these questions, I had to try really hard. So here is an outlet for all my sarcasm.  And the whole truth.  Because honestly, I dumbed it down for most people. 1) Are you ready? What is that supposed to mean?  Mentally?  Physically?  Emotionally?  Spiritually?  Because no.  No to all the things.  I'm not ready.  How am I supposed to prepare for such an experience?  It's going to be different from anything I've ever done, so how could I possibly prepare?  And physically ready is also a no.  I will likely not pack until the day before I leave.  So just assume that I am not ready in any way. 2) How many people are going to be on your DTS? (and other specific questions about my DTS) I don't know why the answer to this was so hard to impress up