We've been in Thailand for two and a half weeks now, and I'm loving it! There are quite a few differences between Chiang Mai and home, so I'd thought I'd share some of those with you. Crossing the road can be challenging as most intersections don't have stop signs or traffic lights unless it's a major road. Sidewalks exist but often aren't designed to walk on; or if they are people park mopeds on them. And sometimes people drive on sidewalks.  It's hot. And humid. And rainy. Get used to it. Bug spray is more important than sunscreen. Tattoos...

I have been in Chiang Mai for a little over a week now and I love it. So far I have taught two English classes at a college, played with kids in the slums, met a family in the slums that invited a couple of us to their house, and I talked to a monk named Danny. Out of all those ministries so far, I feel most lead to the slums. We normally do one of these ministries during the day and three times a week we do bar outreach at night.  To make sense of my story that I am about to tell you, I need to throw a little bit of information at you first. On days that we do bar ministry only half...

Our squad arrived in Bangkok last Saturday night, and arrive in Chiang Mai Monday morning.  In addition to familiarizing ourselves with the ministry we're partnering with (Lighthouse in Action), we've been spending a lot of time getting to know each other.  So we thought we'd introduce our team to our friends and family so that you'd know who was blogging during the next three months. As a team we came up with three words to describe each person, so here they are! Our fearless leader Abby Dapron – Encouraging, cuddly, joyful 22, Missouri Instagram: abdapron...

So, we’ve been home for a little over a week and it’s finally starting to hit me that this chapter of my life is over. I’m not in Thailand anymore; in fact I’m roughly 8,600 miles away from my prior home in Chiang Mai.  The weeks leading up to us leaving, we talked a lot about the dreaded “re-entry.” We talked about reverse culture shock, feelings we might have, and just coming home in general. After hearing the whole spiel, I wasn’t happy about it, but I knew I could handle it. I was ready to be uncomfortable in my once comfortable American...

There is this saying in Thailand when comparing two things, “Same, same, but different.” Now this may sound silly at first but no other phrase so perfectly captures my experience in Thailand. I came to Thailand broken and continued to break over the course of my trip. Somewhere in the middle however came a breakthrough and while I am still the same girl I am, well, different.   Ok, pause. I am sure some of you have been thinking, “Great you changed. But what about Thailand? Why haven’t you shared anything about your ministry?” Let me reassure you, ministry...

For the last few weeks I have been doing a bible study through the book of Job. Maybe you have heard of Job and his story of suffering. So let me take a minute to tell you of my own story. Long story short, I have suffered. I do not say this out of self-pity. I just have no other word to describe my journey. I have had daily headaches (yes, every single day, nonstop) for eight years now. With this I was diagnosed with a disease called Fibromyalgia. Maybe you have seen commercials with old people saying something like, “I was living with pain, all over.” Yup, that’s me, 20...