We are currently back in Bangkok. Sadly AFCO ended this morning when the group left back to the United States.
My prayers have been answered and will be able to stay in Chiang Mai for the remainer of my summer. Thank you to all of those who prayed for me. Thank you Jennifer.
My days in Chiang Mai while the rest of the group was in Chiang Rai was filled with Karaoke, movies, bible studies, devotionals, and coming down with cold like symptoms. Please pray that i feel better.
It was a lot more uneventful when the Aggies were gone. I was able to get to the know the Thais a little bet better.
I will be in Bangkok for another day or so then head back to Chiang Mai.
Please Pray for the Aggies safe travel back to the United States, my safe travel back to Chiang Mai and Garrett Bradfords safe travel to Guatemala this wednesday.
Kap Kun Ka

The past few days have been pretty laid back. Sunday we went to a church about 45 minuets from where we are staying. We had a sermon in thai and english, we performed and then had lunch. After lunch we headed back to our churches and had the rest of the afternoon free. Some people went bungee jumping. I stayed at the church building and learned some more thai, wrote im my journal and went to a coffee shop. We then had 3 hours to shop at the Walking Street. I didnt buy anything so i just walked around with my thai friends, that was a lot of fun.
The next day we went to the Umbrella Factory, where i got Manuels bible painted and my journal decorated.
The group traveled on to Chiang Rai yesterday I have decided to stay in Chiang Mai until they return, then head back to Bangkok. I have decided that staying near a hospital is a good idea. Chiang Rai is pretty primitive and most of the trip will be spenton a raft on a river.
Yesterday i spent the whole day at Payap Christian Zone. It was pretty quite and uneventful since it was the interns day off. Nonetheless it was great to just hang out Thais Thai interns ACU interns and Jeremy Hegi. He is leaving back to the states this friday. Please pray for him as he he prepares to return home and to have a safe flight.
There is a possibilty that i will get the privilege and opportunity to stay in Chiang Mai for the second part of the summer. I ask for your continual prayers that this all work out. The Lord has answered my prayers and that opportunity is becoming more and more of a reality.
Its amazing how the kidney stone lead into what has been and will be one of the best times in my life, learning thai, building relationships, learning so much about myself but most importantly builing and having a closer relationship with our Lord.
AFCO ends July 3rd. I have learned so much in these past few weeks and I have had so many incredible experiences that i would have not had if i had not come on this trip to Southeast Asia. I praise the Lord for that.
Thank you
Kap Kun Maak Ka Pra-ong!

PS
Please pray for the Thai that just had a motorcycle accident right outside the internet cafe.

We just finished a one day english camp at a school up in the mountains. It was such a beautiful sight. It was about 1 & 1/2 hours from Chiang Mai. It was an elementry type school. We played games, sang songs, ate some good cafeteria food. It was a fun day starting at 5 am and ending about midnight. The camp was from 9 am to 5 pm. It was great fellowshiping with the Thais at the church. Its a very small but growing church. My thai is getting better i can hold a conversation in thai. Its mainly introductory phrases and responces. I can say where Im from, what I study, how many brothers and sisters I have, where I study and a lot of things of that sort. I can also ask these questions.
The other day we went to the "Night Bazzar" a night street market. Its a big interesting cheap (at times) place to shop.
Its been great getting to know the thai young people and all the interns at Payap and Ma Cha Christian Zones. I am staying at Ma Cha. Its across from Chiang Mai university and right near the mountians.
Chan raak pra tet thai! I love Thailand!
Kap Kun Ka!

Brazil 4-1 Japan !!!!!!
The US is out of the running for the World Cup after their 2-1 loss against Ghana.

Sawatdee ka!

I realized that i used the word "weary" incorrectly so lets use "terrified"
Im having the best time in Chiang Mai. I am doing very well with speaking understanding remember and responding to Thai. It incredible! The people here are awesome and they are good teachers. We have done some performances at some universites and just been hanging out with the college students. We have been put into TAG teams which is 3 Aggies a Chrisitan Thai and a non christian Thai. They take us shopping and we get to know the thai people, its awesome. Not to much to report.
Chan raak pra tet thai!!!
Chan chop pood pasa thai!!
Kap Kun Ka!

I visited the doctor this morning and i have good news and bad news. The good news is its very very small. The bad news is its still there. The doctor said i could pass the stone without even noticing it OR i could have such severe pain that i would need to return to the hospital and only an injection of pain medication would relieve me of such anguish. So lets pray for the first option. I am fine now but am weary every time i used the bathroom.
Im currently in the airport on my way to Chiang Mai. Its great to be back with the group and am very excited to get to Chiang Mai. Ive heard so many good things about that place.
Kap Kun Ka!

Sawatdee Ka!
Nothing new to report. Today was nice, i got to sleep in til 10 am. Went to Central Festival, which is like a mall. Had lunch, bought stuff, went to the movies and wrote some notes at Starbucks. Taking it easy for the time being. Im ready to join the rest of the group tomorrow. We will fly out of Phuket to Chiang Mai at noon. I will see the doctor tomorrow morning to see how everything is. Please continue to pray for me concerning my current situation.
Kap Kun Ka!
Brasil 2-0 Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A friend of mine in Brasil told me about the celebrations that went on when they won, pretty crazy over there hehe
Thought i would post some pics or AFCO '06

Hello folks!
These past couple days have been rather....unplanned....i guess i could say. Friday morning I woke up as usual had breakfast and was ready to pay my bill for the time I spent at Ban Raya. I then realized i need to return to my room for more baht. On the way back to my room I felt a rather unusual and sharp pain radiate throughout the ride side of my stomach. A friend took me back to my room and called for help. Sara Davidson, which is the wife of Kelly Davidson, which is the leader of our trip, came to my aid. By this time the pain was hitting the right side of my body at full force. There was no way to console it, after vomiting some pain relievers. I asked for a doctor. I went to a clinic at a hotel on the otherside of the island. The nurse said I was showing signs of appendicitis. So we called the hospital to let them know I was coming. I then rode half an hour to land. The pain by then had decreased significantly. I got on an ambulance and arrived at the hopital. Soon after that i got into hopital clothes and got to my room. I had an ultrasound and X-ray to see what was going on. I was on an IV and pain medication. The pain was coming and going but less severely. Turns out my right kidney was swollen and I have a kidney stone. I spent the night in the hopital and was well taken care of. I have to return to the hospital for a check up early tuesday morning before my flight. I am at a hotel, currently the group is on a two day trip and I will join them when they get back to Phuket then were off to Chiang Mai. Right now I am doing very well. Please pray the pain will not return and the passing of the kidney stone wont be too unbearably painful.
Kap Kun Ka!

Hello folks!
These past couple days have been rather....unplanned....i guess i could say. Friday morning I woke up as usual had breakfast and was ready to pay my bill for the time I spent at Ban Raya. I then realized i need to return to my room for more baht. On the way back to my room I felt a rather unusual and sharp pain radiate throughout the ride side of my stomach. A friend took me back to my room and called for help. Sara Davidson, which is the wife of Kelly Davidson, which is the leader of our trip, came to my aid. By this time the pain was hitting the right side of my body at full force. There was no way to console it, after vomiting some pain relievers. I asked for a doctor. I went to a clinic at a hotel on the otherside of the island. The nurse said I was showing signs of appendicitis. So we called the hospital to let them know I was coming. I then rode half an hour to land. The pain by then had decreased significantly. I got on an ambulance and arrived at the hopital. Soon after that i got into hopital clothes and got to my room. I had an ultrasound and X-ray to see what was going on. I was on an IV and pain medication. The pain was coming and going but less severely. Turns out my right kidney was swollen and I have a kidney stone. I spent the night in the hopital and was well taken care of. I have to return to the hospital for a check up early tuesday morning before my flight. I am at a hotel, currently the group is on a two day trip and I will join them when they get back to Phuket then were off to Chiang Mai. Right now I am doing very well. Please pray the pain will not return and the passing of the kidney stone wont be too unbearably painful.
Kap Kun Ka!

PHUKET, THAILAND!!!
I am currently on an island callen Ban Raya. Im at a place called Paradise. ( suprisingly i have an internet connection) I went suba diving and snorkeling yesterday. Scuba was a little scary at first. My ears couldnt handle the water pressure. I would reach the bottom and a burst of pain would fill my left ear. I would shoot up. I tired 5 different times. On the last try it finally was gone. I have to equalize contantly. I spent all day in a bathing suit. White white sand with the clearest waters! My time in Kuala Lumpur was very very eventful and exhausting but a rememorable experience. We are vacationing here in Ban Raya. We get to have a nice little break to relax and rejuvinate for our weeks to come. Only a little under 3 weeks left. Today i went to 4 beaches and pretty much swam all day. The diving team on the island is from Findland. There are about 7 of them. Ben Yan Yona Alexsi Jesse Tommy and onther gentleman whose name i cant recall at the moment. There is also one Swede, Manganus. Yan speaks spanish, he spent 3 1/2 years in Spain. I only speak to him in spanish. I learned a couple a Finish phrases yesterday. They are all really nice and were pretty patient with me. Tomorrow we leave the island and head into Phuket. This is a much needed vacation for all of us. These pictures are pretty self-explanatory.
Kitos! (thank you in Finish)

FISH!

The United States lost against the Czech Republic.......

There are no words to describe the glorious time I had at Camp Shine. We played games, had tea time, lessons, group discussions, skits, learned new songs, made lots o' friends, worshiped, swam, played water polo, ran around, wrote notes and fill pockets of love, stayed up late (or early) and simply had so much fun with one another! I was blown away by what I learned during worship and what all i learned from the kids in my group. Blown-away. Here are some pictures.
We arrived to Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Today we went to TAR college and 4 of us went to to the cafeteria of the university. The four of us were told to seperate and "go fishing." It was very scary to completely go out into a place you've never been to,where most of them do not speak english and make contacts. After a while it wasnt bad at all. A very different experience. Tonight we had "American Night" the Aggies cooked pancakes with eggs and bacon and it was great! We had a good turn out a lot of the people we met, came. Tomorrow i will do about the same thing. Please pray for us. Mission work to the max!
Xie Xie
Mexico 3-1 Iran :)!
Portugal 1-0 Angola :)
Argentina 2-1 Côte d'Ivoire :)
Australia 3-1 Japan :(
La Copa Mundial!! I am currently keeping up to date with the US vs Czech game via internet, but currently the score is 3-0 Czech. COME ON AMERICA!
Brasil plays the 14th (thailand time) I hope there will be a TV around. I will go to lengths far and wide to find a TV I must watch their games. First game is against Croatia. Sorry Croatia and pretty much sorry for anyone who goes agains Brasil. BUT we will just have to wait and see:)
Here are some pictures from camp.

view from my hotel room Making the group posterBrendon is blindfolded!Group 1 girls!
Veronica, Abigail, Cassandra and Sydney
Elizabeth and IAaron, Mr. FunnyManAdrian, Kevin, Ryan and Reagan swim time!Brendon and meSunset

I am now in Kuala Lumpur.
Camp Shine was thee best time of my life. More details to come later.
I am tired.
Thank you

Yet more awesome times in Singapore. Sadly, our time is near its end here.
Yesterday we toured the city/country of Singpore. We visted a WWII museum. Learned about the lifes and times of the people of Singapore under the cruel ruling of Japan. I enjoy history so i really enjoyed that stop. Next we headed for lunch. We ate indian food consisting of many spicy things and fish head curry. Some of us also ate the eyeball of the fish head. Fish eye isn't all that bad. Its small so its pratically gone by the time your done chewing it. There is a hard part, which is the cornea, that one simply does not swallow. Ive eaten yet another delicacy. After lunch we went to Chinatown. Small shops up and down an alleyway sort of spot. I ran into ladies from Argentina and California. I heard them speaking spanish so I took the opportunity to chat for a moment. I bought a couple of things. My glasses are now my souvenirs. They are great! Its great to see again! Next, we took cable cars above the city to Sentosa Island. We didnt get off due to time restrictions but it was a nice view and nice photo ops. The cable cars did stop in the middle of the ride. Luckily i was at a stop so I was not dangling in the air. It was only a few minuets or so, nothing to worry about. That was our tour of the city/country as a group. Since we are abundantly blessed, soon after out release our host father took us to Sentosa Island. It was a short bridge ride over. We got up close to see the Merlion. Half fish hald Lion symbol of Singapore. The bottom half is the fish, which represents their status as a port city, and the Lions head is from a founder of Singapore. He states he saw a lion in the mists when he landed on this island. We then enjoyed the musical fountain light show. Too awesome! Had some dinner walked around and then headed home, too tired to even ride the elevator.
Today we spent the day painting Singapore Christain Home for the Aged. We painted a very large room. Not only walls but the ceiling as well. After our task was done we headed to Moulmein CoC to help with the big finalle of VBS. 7 of the Aggies helped the church with VBS these past 3 days. We performed and enjoyed ourselves helping head kids songs. Since it was a fiesta themed VBS we had mexican food after it all ended. Although the authenicity of the mexican food is questionable, i enjoyed fajitas and 7 layer dip. We then headed home and enjoyed some time with our host family.
Tomorrow morning we will head to camp in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Its a 4 day camp that will host about 100 people. This includes the 28 of us Aggies, then Singaporeans and Malaysians.
My time here in Singapore has been nothing less of amazingly incredible. I do wish things werent to westernized and expensive. Nevertheless I love Singapore! More specifically the youth that was to accepting of us and hung out and helped us around the city/country.
Didnt learn but 2 phrases of mandarin. Its not used much by the Singaporean youth.
On to malaysia to learn Melayu! (at least i hope) :)
Xie Xie!

Yesterdays combined worship was great! Kevin and Kennth lead singing. They are boys from the youth group. They sang with passion and made the rest of us do so. It may have been one of the best worship singing I've ever experienced. After service I got some new glasses since a leg on my other classes broke and were unfixable. Later that day we had, what I like to call, Aggie fun time from 2 to 4. It was basically fun with the Aggies from 2 to 4. (haha) We played several games, sang, learned new songs and had a devotional. We then had no obligations for the rest of the night. Church services here are usually held only Sunday mornings. We all then decided to hang out the the youth and went to the mall and caught a movie.
Today was our "free day" It was amazing! A very fun filled day with the youth. We met and went to the zoo. The zoo was very nice. There was a display of racoons. Which is different for us, but I dont think Singapore would have racoons running around. We watched a Polar Bear feeding and an elephant show. We spent about 5 hours at the zoo going from exibit to exibit. We then headed to dinner. After a while on the buses and MRT, public transportation in form of a train, we got to a "hawkerstahl". Its basically a big outdoor food court. We had dinner right near the beach. We had stingray, and let my just say I LOVE stingray. One wouldnt think it would be good but believe you me, its so good!Its very tender and doesnt have a real strong fishy taste. I recommend it! We then just walked along the beach and had a great time. I just want to thank Kevin, Brendon, Grace, Andris, Joel and Aaron for showing us an awesome time!
These past two days have been a little more layed back. But with that said, I am so tired when i reach my bed.
Tomorrow we will be officially toured around the country of Singapore. Looking forward to seing some of the major sights.
The World Cup starts soon! GO BRASIL!
Xie Xie for reading!

I am currently in my 7th visited country. Singapore translates to "Lion City". The past couple days have been wonderful. Im am very excited to be in Singapore. This country is very clean very regulated and, rightfully so, very safe. Learning Mandarin is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Its nice to be able to communicate better with the Singaporeans, since they all speak english. Its nice to be able to read all the signs. I have started signing the songs in our performances. Since i lost my song book, I need to do something with my hands. We have been paired up by 2's and placed with host families. Yesterday morning my roommate and I went for a swim in the nice big pool at the apartment complexes. Singaporeans build up not out. There is not much space on this island. There have been some loop holes for the "Thai Diet", if american food is offered you are allowed to eat it. Its impolite to refuse food. It was great to have tuna sandwiches and potato chips after our performance last night. Today was also very eventful. Our host family took us to see some sights around the city. Andris, 16, is a sweet beautiful girl, and her father took us. We are very lucky to stay with her and her family. One of our stops was at the Haw Par Villa, its like an outdoor museum of chinese mythology. We then headed to the church where there was a combined youth gathering. The youth of about 5 churches around Singapore. We played games, had devo, ate dinner and got to know a lot of the youth. A friend told me that pictures make the best souveniers. Singapore is not as expensive as the US but by no means as cheap as Thailand. Tomorrow is combined worship assembly. I am looking forward to another schedule filled day. From 2-4 we will(after church) be having more fun times getting to know the youth via games and fellowship. Im pretty much taking it day by day, but this Monday will be a "free day". We will be able to explore Singapore without a schedule. It seems, though, we are all going to the zoo. Singapore is said to have an exquisite display of animals. Singapore is also home to the worlds first Night Safari. I shoupld perhaps check that out, if there is time. Its great to go to sleep exhausted every night, it tends to make you feel like you got all that you possibly could from that day.
Dont be afraid to leave comments! :)
Xie Xie

SINGAPORE!!

"This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalms 118:24 This past couple of days have been so great. Tuesday was a very eventfull and rewarding day. We visited 2 schools. At the first school we were paired up and placed into classrooms. We were to be the teachers for however long they gave us. Our first class was very lively. Picture taking is always an attention grabber. We taught colors, numbers, animals, shapes and other things. I learned how to say that im 19 years old "Sip Caow Pbee" The kids got pretty crazy pretty much at anything we did. It was great! Our second class wasnt as lively. They were still great though. We then left because it was ours and theirs lunch time. The bus started driving away then I hear my name "NamKaang, a little girl told me to give this to you." It's a beautiful beautiful bracelet. Silver bangle with small orange beads. P'Rung gave it to me. She said they refered to me as P'NamKaang. Which is really neat. P' is showing respect for an older person. At the second school we sang and i signed two songs. We taught them several actions songs, then had some new and different fruit. When we cooked dinner for the natives, we cooked spagetti. Although not american, spagetti was something they have never had. They enjoyed it!
The next day we packed up, had breakfast, had a short gift giving ceremony sang, prayed then headed back to Bangkok.
We are now heading to Singapore. Im currently at the airport and will board in about 10 minuets. Singapore will be very very different from Thailand. Kelly said we might experience culture shock. I'm looking forward to visting another country, learning another language and eating some good food.
HORRAY for plane rides!!
Oh one thing I'd like to mention. Its so humid in Bangkok that my glasses fog up as soon as I step out of an air conditioned room.
Kap Kun Ka!