Teresa's a pepper

The Thailand Team has voted and the ballots have all been counted - today was the best day yet in Thailand! Before I get to why that is, I'll give you a rundown of today's activities...

(side note: we have uploaded over 400 photos tonight - we know that it's a lot, but this afternoon was really awesome and we added some photos taken by some of the youth, including John G...)

The morning began the same as the previous two - the team met for breakfast at 7am and then we had our quick planning huddle. The team scattered to finish last minute details for the day and our friends began to show up around 8:30am. Kim started us out with some great icebreaker games to get the blood flowing and give us all a chance to learn more about each other. We were blessed again today to be led in worship by our youth friends - it's amazing how talented they are and how eager they are to praise God with the talents that He has given them. After the younger kids split off with Teresa, Storm shared the devotional with the youth and discussed a part of the Team's verse for Thailand (2 Peter 1:3-9) and discussed the significance of increasing our knowledge in Christ, maintaining self-control in our lives, and the benefits of persevering in troubling times. After that the youth split up into small groups and discussed submission - a lot of really good conversation came out when discussing submission to government authorities with youth from certain parts of the world.

After lunch the team met back up with everyone and this is when it got really good. Don't get me wrong, up to this point we were having a fantastic day, but today's afternoon activity, in the opinion of the team, eclipsed the activities from the previous two days. We all hopped onto four vans and drove to the outskirts of Chiang Mai. After approximately 30 minutes we stopped at the Blessing Orphanage, an orphanage run by the Calvary Community Church. This orphanage, as we found out, is very different than other orphanages. At Blessing the kids there are not there to be adopted, rather they will spend their entire childhood at the orphanage. It is their church's vision to raise these orphans in Thailand, but under the influence of Christianity. Their church knows that, if adopted, the kids will most likely not receive an upbringing that is centered around Christ.

Only in it's second year Blessing can have up to 35 children, but currently has 20. When we arrived we immediately went into the inner courtyard of their facility and met with the kids. From the moment we walked through the gate we were immediately impressed with the kids, as well as the workers running this ministry. Individually the orphans stood up and told us in English their names, ages, and year in school - the kids were between the ages of 1 and 11. After a quick time of getting to know each other we let the our group interact and play with the orphans. Some stayed in the courtyard to play games and work on art projects, while others went outside to play basketball, soccer (sorry, football), and baseball. One of the Blessing leaders told us that the kids had been asking for a week or so to learn how to play baseball, so a group of us went over and began showing them the basics of batting, running the bases, and fielding the ball. I am not lying when I say that after only a very short period of batting instruction that some of these kids were knocking the ball over our heads! And the joy that was in the faces of these children was just amazing!

Snack time ended the games and both groups met back up in the courtyard. After snacks the kids went and grabbed their musical instruments. Six of them sat in the courtyard and played us two songs - very cool. After that the girls got up and danced for us. A few of the youth repaid the gesture and played the guitar while the rest of us sang along to praise songs. What was really cool is that the orphans already knew the English words to the songs that were chosen to sing, so they were able to sing along and learn knew motions!

The Team and the youth were very sad when we had to leave at 4:30. It truly was a great experience to meet those orphans and the leaders that are sacrificing so much to care for these children and raise them in a Godly environment. This morning we had no idea what to expect later today for our 'service time at an orphanage', but God truly was in control. We praise God for allowing us to see a glimpse into an awesome ministry here in Thailand.

After dropping the MKs back at the hotel at 5pm we hurried to get prepared for our evening festivities. Tonight the Cave was taken over by the whole conference for open-mike style performances, but first the jazz ensemble from the Grace International School played a jazz set for us that was just amazing. After their performance Pastor Lyall hosted Jeopardy: World Venture Edition. Pastor Lyall was a hit and the crowd really seemed to enjoy the competition. After Jeopardy we opened it up for musical performances (and a juggler, good job Caleb!) and several different groups of families and friends got up there and led some praise and worship. In between some of the events tonight Kevin put up a slideshow of pictures from this week, and we all shared in some ice cream and other desserts while we mingled.

Sandy from World Venture surprised us tonight during the show and called us all up to the front. WV had bought Thailand journals for each member of our Team and is having the youth and kids write messages to us for us to take back home. We are so excited to read their comments and to take something back with us in which we will be able to remember them and this experience.

Although we don't want this week to end, we know it must... and tomorrow is our last official day with our new friends. Tomorrow morning will be spent in the Cave followed by a trip to Elephant Park! The Team and youth have been looking forward to riding the elephants for a long time and are really excited that tomorrow will be the big day - you can obviously expect a lot of photos!

Praises/Prayer Requests:
Catharine Coon recieved her luggage! She thanks everyone for the prayers.
The Team praises God for an awesome day at the orphanage.
The Team praises God for their safety and health thus far in the trip.
The Team asks for prayer for strength to not become complacent with the trip winding down and to continue to seek God's will for the rest of this week.