Seriously????????

Well, the day started off ok. We made it to the Bangkok airport about 3:00am and got on our way right at 5:30 headed to Tokyo.

Then, none of the tv's on the airplane worked, so I got a nice 5 hour nap. We were really excited that we had a quick little layover in Tokyo and booked it to the Gate.

Unfortunately, we're still sitting in that gate. Our flight has been delayed 6 hours and we won't leave until 9:15 tonight (Tokyo time...not sure what that is in Tampa). Fortunately for us, they gave us a few coupons, like an in-flight cocktail or beer...I don't even drink!!!

Then, we'll go to New York City where we will have missed our connecting flight and we're HOPING to get a red-eye, but the Northwest rep said we will most likely have to stay in a hotel and get a flight home Wednesday morning.

So, all of my wonderful ideas of being home Tuesday night at 10:30 are DONE!!!! I had a lot of fun and saw some wonderful things, but to be honest, Gate #14 at Narita Airport in Tokyo isn't that great. I'm ready to come home. So, please send up a prayer and some good thoughts that we get a flight home tonight. I would like to spend some time by myself soon :)

Jungle of Cambodia

Today was our first day off this week and we're wrapping up our trip with some very exhuasting sightseeing.

Mr. Thay, our driver, took us up into the mountains of Cambodia. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the mountains and the country, then it took an additional 45 minutes to get to the top of hte mountain. We had to buy tickets to drive on the road. Apparently a rich man cleaned all the landmines out so tourists can go up the mountain. Then he charges them to drive on the road so he can build hospitals and schools for the people out there. Very nice of him :)

The problem with this country is, they haven't all caught on to indoor plumbing. So, I needed to use the restroom and had to use an outhouse :) There is tile in the ground surrounding a little sunken toilet. It is not pretty. They also don't use toilet paper, so thank goodness for Wet Wipes. Too much information, I know, but if I had to see you, you have to hear about it :)

Then, we met a tour guide at the top of the mountain and he shoed us the Lingas in the river. They are carvings of stone in the water from the 9th century. Apparently a Hindu King commissioned his people to carve images of their gods into the stone. Then, the spring started to bubble over and create rivers and waterfalls that now cover the carvings. The water is clean and clear though, so we can still see them.

Then we hiked up the mountain to see the beautiful Kulen mountain waterfalls. The spring was clean, so we went swimming and hung out on the rocks for a long time. It was beautiful. Then, we hiked back up hte mountain and bought some pineapple from the village people for lunch.

Now we're back at the hotel resting before dinner. Tomorrow, we go to Angkor Wat and prepare to come home!!!

Last Day of Church

Yesterday, we finished the conference in KomPong Thom iwth teaching and goodbyes. Dad spoke in the morning about water baptism in Jesus name. Then, Nick and I said our goodbyes telling the people how much we had enjoyed our trip and that we can't wait to come back. It was awesome. Bro Frizzell taught as well before we headed to the Lake for baptisms.

We went to a lake just a few kilometers (????) from the church to baptize. There was a little shop and some huts with hammocks. People were out there taking naps. Must have been their equivelant of a park.

Dad had enough faith to go into the lake to baptize. Dad, Pastor Sarun and one other person did the baptizing. Yesterday, they baptized 140 people in Jesus Name. We baptized one woman's entire church.

Over the last few days, 35 people received the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues. It was awesome!!! It was wonderful to listen to the teaching about Oneness and see it received with a hunger by people who just want more and more of it. It was a very liberating exciting feeling.

I took hundreds of pictures, but here are a few of the baptisms. We will have plenty to tell you about when we get home. The funny part is, they were truly rejoicing and having fun when we were finished. The Pastors were in the water splashing the kids and then they some of them joined hands, prayed with thanksgiving and then sang a song. It was awesome.

They brought us little parting gifts. We all got Khmer scarves and shirts and I received a pretty hairclip. They came in Walt Disney World bags :)

Another busy day

You have to take your shoes off to enter the church

Nick & Mowgli (she doesn't speak English, so not sure of her name)

Me teaching this morning...men and women...Amazing :)

Today was another busy day in Cambodia. We were up and in the car by 6:30 headed to the KomPong Thom province to preach and teach. Nicholas and I did a little bit of that today.

We both stressed that we are only here for a few days and we don't speak the language and have very little influence here in this country. So, it is the obligation of those people we are teaching to share their new found faith with others. They are very excited to be taught and they hang on every word imaginable. There is a pastor here who is very excited we are here and she is bringing some of her chruch members to the service on Friday so they can be baptized. She beleives what she is being taught is important and she needs to teach it to her church.


There is a beautiful little girl at the church. She kind of reminds me of Mowgli from the Jungle Book because she walks around barefoot with her hair all tousled. She normally won't talk to us, but we gave her some candy today, so she smiled at us all day long.

Our driver pcicked us up around 3:00 this afternoon and drove us past this old bridge. It was beautiful. Cars are no longer able to drive on it because it's protected. While standing there, I felt like I was in the early 1900's...aside from the motorbikes everywhere. A man went past in a horse drawn cart carrying hay. The whole ride home, we passed bikes with giant pigs tied to the bacg. Our driver said "Pig today...pork at my house tomorrow". His English is very good so he tells us a little bit about everything. Almost to the hotel, they stopped traffic with AK47's because their equivelant of the "Secretary of Homeland Security" was coming through. The police just held their rifles out and ushered you to the side. It was crazy!

We had KFC for dinner again tonight. One thing is for sure...at KFC, you know you're getting enough food! Then, we headed to the Angkor Nightmarket to buy some souveneirs. You have to dodge some booths though because they will follow you all around.

Tomorrow we have church again, so hopefully I will have more pictures. Have a great day...I miss everyone and am almost ready to come home. Now, I'm going to work on some homework...Cambodia or no Cambodia, the Master's program goes on :)

Cambodia...

Well yesterday we arrived in Cambodia on our little two propeller airplane with about 50 other people. I tried to post last night, but we're really in hte boonies here in Cambodia :)

We were only flying around 15,000 feet, so I could see the ground the whole time and got some great pictures of the land and the clouds. The airport here in Siam Reap is a little tiny place, probably smaller than Target. I checked in the quickest so I piled up everyone's luggage. Bro Frizzell took a picture of me because he said it's a shame they brought me along to handle their paperwork, passports and luggage. Once an assistant always an assistant I guess :)

After settling in to the hotel, we went to KFC for dinner and stopped at a convenience store for some water and lunch for the trip to the country today.

Today we left the hotel at 6:30am and met up with our driver for the 2-hour trip into the Khom Pong Thom province. Along the way, we passed cows in the middle of the road, a temple he called the "Angelina Jolie Temple"...he drove her and Maddox once when she was here...he was very excited about it. He was a talker, so we learned everything there was to know about "his" country.

We got to the church around 8:30 and sang some songs in Khmer, then Bro. Frizzell preached for awhile. Dad spoke for about an hour and we broke for lunch. They laid out mats on the floor so everyone could take naps after eating. The room was probably 100 degrees with a few ceiling fans to circulate the air. But, that didn't stop them. They worshipped and sang and just had a good time. After lunch, Dad preached again. We broke a little early today. Tomorrow Nick and I will speak to the young people.

We're headed to get some dinner now...we were going to the Angkor Wat, but I think that might wait for another day! I took some pictures and will post those a little later.

Headed to Cambodia

Last night, we met up with "O" and she took us on the sky train to a mall across town in Bangkok. One thing is for sure, as Americans, we have no idea how to do a mall!! This mall was 5-6 stories high with the biggest food court I have ever seen. Inside, they had Masseratis, a Lotus, Audi. Just cool.

Then, we went back to the hotel, made our phone calls and went to bed early. I was up at 4am to do a chat for school, and woke Dad and Nick up...so we were all up before light.

Now, we're sitting in Bangkok's airport waiting on our flight to Siam Reap, Cambodia. I think it's a little over an hour flight, then we'll set up at the hotel and go over the agenda for the next few days.

Nothing too interesting today, but the conference starts tomorrow and we apparently have a several hour drive to get to the village every morning. Once we get to Cambodia and look around, I'll post some pictures!

Have a good day!!

We had church :)

Today we went to the Filipino service here in Bangkok. The church services are held in a little conference/ballroom type of room at a hotel across the stree from ours. Bro Frizzell met us at our hotel and took us over there this morning.

It was a small group, probably 10 people at most. About half of them have the Holy Ghost and are rooted, the other half are new to church and to salvation in general. Bro. Frizzell spoke to them for awhile about the importance of learning what the church is all about so that when he is gone to the US on deputation, they will be strong enough to go on. After that, Steve (a member of the church) led them in worship with his guitar. We sang "Here I am to Worship" (the song I was going to sing...) and a song I wasn't familiar with, but it was beautiful. The video is below so you can hear them singing.

After that, Bro. Frizzell asked me to sing something, so we sang "Jesus Messiah". They hadn't heard it before, so it was a new one for them. Afterward, Steve led us in "Friend of God" and "Blessed be the Name of the Lord". They all sang so beautifully and had a wonderful spirit of worhsip. We thoroughly enjoyed the worship service. There were a few young ladies new to the church (one was baptized last week) and they just added a new level of worship. They were exciting to watch!

Nicholas testified before Dad got up to preach. He spoke about how large this city is compared to ours at home. There are 15 million people in the city of Bangkok and he expressed to them his burden for this city and that they HAVE to take the gospel out because this city needs God. He's right, this city is full of people who have lived generations worshipping idols and gods who do not hear them, and they need to hear of a God who does hear and will answer.

Dad spoke to them about the wonderful thought that no matter how big your city is, or how many other people have needs, God will weed through everyone else just to find you. He spoke about how amazing it is that in this city full of noise where it is never quiet, God would quiet things down long enough to hear their cry of hunger and bring them to this place. When Dad was done preaching, they all came to the front and prayed and many of them were very touched and have a sincere desire and hunger. Before leaving, Bro. Frizzell spoke to them about the need to communicate with God at all times. Regardless of the craziness of this world, they need to seek him.

At the top is a picture of the whole group. They were very excited to be a part of the picture we're sending home to America. They wanted everyone to know they are serving God in Bangkok.

Tonight we will go out with Bro. Frizzell and then come back to the hotel to pack for our trip to Cambodia tomorrow. I will hopefully post later. I hope everyone has a great day at church. We miss you!!!!!!!!!

Bangkok - Day 2

Today was another fun, free day. We start working tomorrow and Monday...just in time for the jetlag to wear off (hopefully). I'm feeling a little under the weather, but think it might be exhaustion, dehydration & starvation...or a mixture :)

Our missionary had some things to do today, so he hired a driver to take us into the country and the "jungle" of Thailand. I'm not 100% positive how long we drove, but we left at 9am and didn't get back to our hotel until 6:30...so the trek was long.

Our first stop was the Damnoensaduak - "Floating Market". We got on a little gondola type boat with a huge engine. We drove down the river that is lined on both sides with houses. One house will be completely gorgeous and the other house is a little tin shack made of all different color tin. It's the oddest image ever. Little canoes are sitting in the water in front of each house. A few houses have little signs in front for either Coke or Pepsi...if you pull up, they'll sell you a drink.

Further down the river, their are Thai people in little boats full of souveneir type merchandise or fruit they're waiting to sell you. As you pass by, they use a hook to pull the boat closer and hassle you into buying something. Some of the little markets are actually on the ground, so you get off theboat and venture over there to look. The deeper you get into the river "neighborhood" the more shops and boats there are. I took plenty of pictures, but I only posted one so you could see how packed it was. My Dad bought some cool hand painted picture and some little spoons, I bought little gifts for the girls at church :) It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen. That in itself was worth the trip.

Next, our driver, Panya, took us deep into the country to the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery - "Tiger Temple". I'm not sure of the whole story, but a monk travelled to that part of the country and started a monastery where he took in all kinds of wildlife. They've hand-raised all the Tigers that live on the property. So, Nick, Dad and I were able to have our pictures taken with real tigers. I hugged a little cub, Dad shook his paw, and Nick KISSED him!! It was pretty cool. I guess it's something I will never get to do again.

Lastly, we visited the Bride over the River Kwai. The bridge was built at the start of World War II. It was built by prisoners of war and foreign labourers. Now, a train runs across the bridge, however, we were able to walk on the bridge before the train came. Apparently, you have to be careful how you say the name...one way is appropriate, the other is a not very nice word :)

After our 2-3 hour trek back to the hotel, we rode a tuk tuk to the mall to eat at the food court. Since the food wasn't very good, we went to a pizza place. Turned out, that wasn't very good either. So, we're back at the hotel now...Nick and Dad are sleeping and I'm going to start some homework.

Tomorrow Dad preaches at the Phillipino church here in Bangkok, and Monday we fly to Cambodia for the conferene at the Bible School. Should be a busy few days, but hopefully I'll have good pictures and good news...

Talk to you tomorrow :)

Adventure in Bangkok

So, today we ventured out into Bangkok and had a fantastic time. First we went to a tailor here that my Dad knows and had our measurements done so he can make me a couple pretty skirts. He does them relatively cheap, so I thought I could get a few of those :)

After that, we met up with the missionary and we rode the sky train (couldn't get any pictures, I had to hang on for dear life...) to the Emporium which is their mall with a grocery store. The missionaries were meeting with a travel agent, so we walked around for a bit.

Next, we rented a little boat to travel down the Chao Phraya River and checked out the really nice houses built next door to the tin shacks with laundry haning in the wind. The water is absolutely filthy, so it's definitely not beautiful or anything! We saw a montior slithering through the water and some kids jumping off a really high bridge. The missionary said if I spend one minute in that water, I would probably die...Noted...I'm not going in the water!!!

We made a stop on the river to the Wat Arun Rajwararam (The Temple of Dawn). It is a royal temple dedicated to the 2nd reign of the Chakkri Dynasty. It costs 50 Thai Baht (approx$1.50) to climb the steps and go into one of the temples. Since our boat was waiting, we just climbed the extremely steep steps and took pictures from the top. We found a security guard sleeping, some kittens climbing up the temple, and some really cool gifts.

After that, we continued down the river and saw some Monks in their orange robes reading books on lawn chairs by the river. Interesting sight. Finally, we stopped at the Thonburi Snake Farm. Nick held a pyhton (I touched it, but no holding for me), and I held a monkey. It was soooo cool. We watched a cobra show and watched them feed a Tiger dinner.

Finally, we grabbed some Thai food from a restaurant called the Gallery. I had to take my shoes off to go inside the building. You'd be amazed how clean the floors are :). Now, I've been working on some homework, Nick and Dad are sleeping, and I'm thinking about turning in as well. Hopefully I can figure out how to post some pictures....

Talk to you later!

We Made it!!!!!!!!!

Well, after a 6.5 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, we made it. Our missionaries picked us up from the airport around 1:30 am and we got all settled by 2ish. They brought us some snacks and water...we have to be really careful about what water we drink.

We're staying at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok off of Sukhumvit (apparently the main drag). We went down for breakfast, but haven't ventured out yet. I think today we're going down the river in one of hte banana boats to do some sightseeing.

The weather is about the same it is in Tampa, hot and muggy :)

Jet lag is definitely a bummer. I'm still not quite sure what day it is and just finally figured out the time change. We're 11 hours ahead. A little dizzy and tired, but overall hanging in there. Catching up with my mom and then Mike on Skype, so I'll post some pictures later!!

-Christina

Headed to Tokyo

I'm sitting in the Detroit airport (very nice by the way...) waiting to board my 14 hour flight to Tokyo, using my internet rights I purchased from the airport. No free interenet in Detroit people...

We're trying to rearrange seats so my Dad, Nick, and I can sit together. Right now, we're a little spread out. We can't very well play UNO if you're in 3 different rows, so we're trying to fix that. The Delta rep told me they will feed me constantly and play movies the whole flight, so I'm thinking these 14 hours will go by quickly.

On the flight from Tampa to Detroit I sat next to this elderly man who had just taken a 70 day cruise around the world and he hit every place I'm going, so I got some great tips from him. The guy on the other side of me just came back from New Zealand...he retired from the MI school district and travels constantly...I'm thinking teaching in Michigan might be a good career....Just sayin'

I should arrive in Tokyo at around 5:00pm tomorrow (4:00 am Tampa time), so I will be in your future :) We have an hour layover, and then will head to our final destination of Bangkok. Hopefully I'll have internet access in Bangkok and can update you about the horrors of a 14 hour plane ride, after my nap of course...

Talk to you soon!!!