We've only been here a little more than a week? Really? It seems like so much longer. In this week I've Discovered a love of Thai pants and bought 4 pairs (they are just so comfy) Met some awesome Thai friends who are my age and gotten to hang out with them a lot Suffered from dehydration and learned that the cure for that is to actually drink enough water Spent almost all of my money buying the delicious smoothies here at Zion (living above a cafe is not good for my wallet) Gotten closer to a group of strangers than I ever thought was possible in such a short time Learned so...

If there's one thing I've learned after a week in Thailand, it's that I don't really know much at all. I don't know how getting all my hair chopped off by a woman who didn't speak a word of English (okay, that's an exaggeration, she knew one word- "cut") could turn out to be such a wonderful expression of the freedom I have in Christ, and how God could continue to use it to challenge my standards of beauty and the things I often run after to feel like I'm enough.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to transition back...

I had so many expectations coming into this trip. I thought we would be going to Phuket, we ended up on the opposite end of Thailand in Chiang Mai. I thought we would be going into the bars every night making friends with prostitutes. I never thought that I would mostly be making friends with college students. At first I struggled with this. A lot. This looks nothing like I thought it would. God, I thought you called me here to do bar ministry, why haven't we gotten to do that? I found myself disappointed and discouraged wondering why I was here in the first place. Well, through some...

This week has been a hard week for me for two reasons. There is so much desperation and brokenness in Thailand. I have been sick. It is so hard to wake up knowing that there are so many people here who do not know the Lord. So many people who do not know true hope. There are so many here who work, work, work, just to appease a god that does not talk back to them. There are people here living in slums, having barely enough to survive. There are people who feel like prostitution is their only option. There are people who are forced to prostitute. Men who take advantage of this because they...

I hear the constant clink of coins into metal bowls, in devotion to false gods. I smell incense and the aroma of burnt offerings, in devotion to false gods. I see flowers on a multitude of altars, in devotion to false gods. I encounter young boys who have set their lives apart to be a monk, in devotion to false gods. I watch  hundreds of people bow to Buddha, touch golden idols, and participate in rituals, all the while hoping that maybe the next life will be better. It makes me sick; they are in complete devotions to lies. I literally feel like I have stepped into...

I don’t know where to begin. Basically Jesus has been rocking my world, but I am still processing so I will save that stuff for another blog…I know you all will be on the edge of your seats until then! So lets get down to the fun stuff! You might be asking what the heck am I doing in Thailand with a team of 17 other girls that I just met for the entire summer?! ……Well here it is: we are working with an organization called Lighthouse in Action in a city in Northern Thailand called Chiang Mai! Lighthouse is an AMAZING ministry that seeks to reach the people of...