Tuesday 11 March 2014
2nd March

Attended the church’s Sunday service which starts the same time as WAC’s service on Sunday! They had a bible study session before that though at 9am. It was in Thai and I could roughly figure out what it was about with the little Thai vocal that I know. Something about prayer and worship.

Played guitar for worship as they had a lack of musicians for the church. Jeraldine played the bass.
We sang ‘Come, Now Is The Time to Worship’, ‘Our God’, 'There Is None Like You', 'Here I Am to Worship' and 'Still'.

On that day itself, another dude came to look at the songs that we are playing and joined in playing the drums just like that without practising with us the day before. Quite grateful for the percussion although he is not really good at knowing when not to play. Didn’t know how to correct him =\ . It was really interesting to play the worship songs in Thai. As the whole Thai congregation was singing the songs, I was singing them in English and it’s amazing how though we have different tongues, we are still praising and worshipping the same God at the same time. It’s just like what the Bible describes in Revelations 7:9 and I’m experiencing this in real life and this is just one of many other tongues that Earth has.

The sermon comes after that and it’s quite different in the sense that we had to rely on the translator to interpret what the sermon is about. We also shared with the congregation the video that Bynes made over the night on what we did in the school. Aunty Janette shared her testimony again and we sang Still in Thai for the congregation. Afterwards, we were given farewells gifts by the Pastor. Rice crackers with pork! The packaging was really nice heh.

Had lunch after the service after the chairs were removed. After being in Thailand for seven days, I really like and appreciate how we tend to sit in the long table style and have lots of food spread before us. Realised this is our last home cooked Thai meal and I really enjoyed the meal. There was this really good egg omelette, watermelon and non spicy tom yam soup.

After eating we had to rush to the airport and we got all our luggage ready. All of the Thai helpers wanted to come and see us off heh. Had our final goodbyes after checking in and the helpers presented us with farewell gifts as we entered the gate! Got a nice notepad and pen :D.

On the flight back, I was already missing Thailand and everything in it. From the serene countryside to the school, students, helpers, the people that we have met and the culture. Had quite a heavy heart as the plane took off. Funny how initially I was wishing the mission trip could be shorter as I was afraid but at that time I wished we could have stayed longer. Definitely did not regret choosing to come to Thailand. Hope I do get another opportunity to come back and by then hopefully I would have learnt Thai enough to converse!

#36: Again witnessing a glimpse of how 'every nation, tongue and tribe would bow down to Him’ would look like as the sermon and worship was conducted in a different tongue but is about the same God.
#37: For the farewell gifts that we got
#38: For the safe flight back to Singapore

1st March

Woke up slightly later than the weekdays as we had no more classes. Kinda sad yet relieved at the same time...sad that we would not see the students anymore and relieved cause there's no more stress to teach heh.

Went to set up the stuff for the party after having a really quick breakfast. I was in charge of setting up the projector and the sound system. But since no one is around to help with these I went to help to settle the gift packs for the time being.

Before we knew it the time had already come for the party to start! By right we should have started at 10am but not everyone was here yet. Some students from our classes came! There were some from my class as well. Started to play mass games like fire hunter squirrel that we played for one of the morning games at school. Played the pictionary acting game also from one of our class games.  It appears I'm not good at drawing at such a short notice.

Had delicious food afterwards when we finished our last game which is a variation of foosball except with real people. It was really nice eating while enjoying the scene of dandelions flying around you. (But also quite annoying when they get into your food). It was quite sad that some left before lunch though.

Went back inside the church building afterwards for songs and testimonies. Bynes and Aunty Janette shared their testimonies in between songs. Gladys then shared a mini sermon after that on eternity and the purpose of our living. Found out an interesting parallel that was going on. We started songs at 2:30pm and the sermon started somewhere after 3pm Thai time.
That's around the time that DI starts its encounter and sermon! Pretty cool that across the world we are doing similar things.

Ended off with photo taking. Lots of Polaroid shots were spammed. The photo booth was well utilised heh.
I got a gift from a student who wasn't from my class (Sheena and Aunty Janette's class). Apparently she was waiting for this time to give to me as according to Aunty Janette she was holding on to it throughout the party. Was touched by the gesture heh. Even though I didn't teach her nor do I know her name. Turns out the gift was a hat. What's cool is that it is a size 7, which is actually my hat size.

Called to play for worship for tomorrow together with Jeraldine on bass. Really interesting worship and the worship leader had to communicate with us through signs. The Thai people sing with much gusto and emotion! Truly every nation and tongue will come to worship His name.

Went to the night market and saw lots of delicious food. Amazing sights to take in. Bought strawberries, chendol and a 20c drink. Went to Amazon again to get awesome green tea frap. Went back to church later.

The helpers had a surprise for us and told us to shower first before coming down. They gave a performance of songs and dances and also each of them represents each of us. Danced in a circle to some songs played on Youtube. We then took photos with our equivalent self heh.

Really appreciate the effort they put in to rehearse and even dress up (funky hairstyles, powder on faces and marker tatoos)! Although I was really tired and I looked dead I really appreciate what they have done.

#29: That some of the students came for the party!
#30: The beautiful scene of dandelions flying around us while we were playing and eating lunch
#31: How some of the students present were touched by the stories shared
#32: Getting a gift from one of the students
#33: The opportunity to serve the Thai congregation in musical worship
#34: Witnessing in real how every tongue will come to worship Him
#35: How the helpers went out of their way to surprise us with a performance

28th February



Today is the last day for us teaching them. I do feel a little bit sad that this is the last day. Probably not going to see them again unless we come back to Thailand again. Which is unlikely since they would want a different team to step up and go.

Taught them adjectives today and the comparison terms. However, during one of the little breaks we had in between teaching, the students crowded around us asking for our signatures, Facebook names and our phone numbers. I guess it’s because it’s the last day heh. Spent quite a long while signing and writing on each of the student’s booklet. Which is alright I guess since we always have a lot of free time to spare and there’s one less worry of what fillers we should use to spend the time.

We had lunch and this time the food was prepared by the teachers in the school! The food was really good, and some of the teachers prepared some really good sticky rice. The sticky rice had coconut milk and other flavours which I can’t really pinpoint out. A great lunch for the end of the camp.

After lunch, we played an adjective game as well which was pretty funny. Just like the game we played back on DI’s birthday. The one where each group had to send a representative that best fulfils an adjective like ‘longest’, ‘biggest’. Of course it would always be something unexpected and the looks on their faces and their subsequent laughters were priceless. We had longest arm, shortest finger, longest hair, strongest muscle…just to name a few. We kinda went over the time but that was fine as they had a lot of fun playing the game.

Soon we all made our way back to the stage as we had some sort of a closing ceremony to wrap up the four days of the English camp. Each of the classes had an opportunity to take a class photo with us. Something like the formal photos that we have back in Singapore as well. We did a chicken dance with the school as well. Then comes the song performance. We did pretty well I guess heh. Sang that song which I always refer to as that Toyota advertisement song and ‘What Makes You Beautiful’. Ended off with a bow on the stage. The students then came up on the stage to give us roses which I thought was nice heh. Really sad that this was the last time we are probably going to see them unless God wills it.

Earlier on in the day we collected the drawings that the students did yesterday (and over the night for those who brought it back as homework). Got to admit that some of the drawings were extremely beautiful and well done. Some had a lot of effort put into it, like how one drawing was done in full colour. Some were pretty funny as well like how one student drew fire on the exhaust of an ambulance heh. We wrote words of encouragement on the back of each drawing which took us quite awhile. Did it over lunch and also during the lessons when we were free. Passed it back to the homeroom teacher for her to pass to the students some other time as the students were scattered around the hall.

Took a truck back to the church and then we went out after resting awhile for a Thai barbecue dinner! We took different transports to go to the place. I went with Jojo's motorcycle and it was cool experience but really different and unsafe as the people here do not wear helmets when they ride motorbikes.


The Thai BBQ was really good. Though my only nitpick was that the ingredients were not labelled heh. Sometimes I have no idea what it is until only I’ve eaten it. (I almost ate some liver from some animal lol). Maybe it’s just my lack of BBQ experience heh. The BBQ was quite something. Instead of being flat, it was actually domed shaped. With the bottom of the dome being a reservoir to steamboat your food. I find it difficult to keep my food on top of the dome and more often than not, my food will turn up in the steamboat section. The locals are very pro at this type of BBQ/steamboat heh. The place has very nice milk green tea and black tea too! Thai style! The best part (or worst part depending on how you look at it) is that it is free flow.




Learnt more about the life of one of the helpers there. Her name is Gib and she had a really difficult life and yet how she can have a smile on her face and live with joy really amazes me. Without Aunt Nara to translate, I wonder if I could have that conversation, which is something I really thank God for. Aunt Nara later told us that actually all of these helpers have their own story to share. When we got back to the church, she initiated a sharing session for them to share with us their stories. However, at this point I was really exhausted and tired. I had trouble staying awake and I felt bad when I literally slept through one of the helper’s story. So I had to call it a night and went back to bed. Sigh I’m not really a night person lol. Heard that the sharing session ended at about 4:30am. Regretted not being able to stay awake.

#24: God for what He has done in the duration of the camp.
#25: The teachers for not only helping us, but preparing us a great spread for lunch.
#26: The artistic talents that God has blessed the students with. And how some really took the drawings really seriously.
#27: Opportunity to ride pillion on a motorcycle through the streets of Thailand
#28: How the conversation with Gib started the ball rolling for the sharing session later on at the night, although I couldn’t be a part of the whole thing

27th February
 

Each day seems to see me gaining more confidence and experience in teaching heh. Today we did not have Aunt Nara or the home room teacher but we had Jojo helping us again. It’s good since the students are already familiar with Jojo.

I realise that things don’t go according to our plans. Like how we would end up doing stuff not on the lesson plan or we omit certain things that are on the lesson plan. But thank God that even though things don’t always go as planned, everything can still fall into place by the grace of God.

Take for instance today, we went through what we needed to teach pretty fast, since it was just mainly vocabulary of body parts and symptoms. There was a lot of time left so we decided to go through all the games that were in the lesson plan, something that I found out later that the rest did not manage to do. I was quite worried because without a good translator like Aunt Nara with us, we have to spend more time explaining the games through actions rather than with words. I was also worried because what if the message was not clear? What if we are unable to facilitate the game because of lack of understanding? But thank God everything went into place and I’m sure everyone had a good time playing through the games despite having to wait 10-20 minutes watching me and Pearl explaining the game to JoJo in a charades fashion.

Once again, Jojo was a big help managing the class in games and facilitating the forfeits. I could never get tired of watching the Thai forfeits although I don’t understand what they were saying/singing when they do the forfeits.

Ended the day rather tired as we played the games together with them. To end off the class, we asked them to draw a scene from the hospital. The Thai students are actually really good with drawing. Since we were running out of time, we asked them to do it tomorrow. Little did we know that some misunderstood and took it back as homework.

Aunt Nara suggested we perform a song on the last day and the song chosen was a Thai love song that was used in a Toyota advertisement 'Da Endorphine: Ying Roo Juk Ying Ruk Tur’
Spent time learning the song back at the church and the Thai helpers helped us to pronunciate each word properly to the point that we sound like natives singing the song heh. Afterwards we had to go visit one of the church members at their house. His name is Somchai (if I’m not wrong). Went there to bring encouragement through songs and testimony.

Some very nice biscuits were served. We sang the Thai songs that we had learnt prior to the trip, ‘Still’ and ‘Here I Am to Worship’ and also an English song ‘Blessed Be Your Name’. Aunty Janette then shared her testimony and we ended up praying for the family. It was an interesting experience as we prayed in English and then it got translated into Thai.

Went back to church after that for rest.

#18: Jojo helping us again!
#19: Things falling into place by the grace of God
#20: Witnessing the joy on the students as they played the games. Really thankful that they listen to us and wait for us to convey the instructions of the games.
#21: How everyone came in to help us learn the Thai song, from the helpers for English camp and also the daycare church helpers as well
#22: Opportunity to visit Somchai and his family and sharing and praying with them
#23: Able to play the songs without prior practice.

26th February



Woke up later than the second day. We had porridge with egg for breakfast! Really great especially the you tiao that they provided. It's so much different than the ones we usually eat. Had a morning devotion before that and prayed together before setting off from this place.  Took a different ride to the school today as we had to go together with the helpers as well. The van had no space for all of us but it didn’t matter because the pastor rented a tuk tuk for us! All of us in the team agreed to go into the tuk tuk. Was quite the experience heh. Amazing that the tuk tuk could carry all of us to the school.

Today I felt less of the fear and the can't do attitude. Probably because I've already gotten through the first day of lessons and have already gained some experience from teaching so I know how it should be like.

Had mass games in the morning and it's lessons time after that. Aunt Nara came in and stayed mostly throughout the class. Half of the morning and then half of the afternoon sessions after lunch. She was a great help and I really thank God for her as things would definitely be different without her. From the way she handles and teaches you can just see that she has many years of experience in this area. I've learnt much from her as she gives me and Pearl feedback and what we should do to teach.

One thing I noticed right from the first day of class was that the Thai students are actually really open. They are not afraid/reserved to actually play with their classmates of the opposite sex and hitting each other playfully on the head. Quite contrary to what we were briefed. Also, it seems no one wears spectacles! They also pay quite a lot of attention to you when you teach especially those who have taken a liking to you.  For example, a group of 'fan girls' were fascinated and copying me when I was spinning my pen during the break.

Had an interesting exchange as well where we were not the only teachers in the classroom. We were going through vocab and after each word, the students would then teach us the Thai version of that word. It was amazing as we went back and forth learning the new words (especially for us) and it was an enjoyable experience with all the laughter (mostly due to our incorrect pronunciation of the words). Really liked the enthusiasm they had when shouting out the Thai words to us in one accord heh.

Ended the lessons at just the right time and I could see the students are getting more at ease and comfortable with us. At the end of the lesson, a few of them actually stayed back to help us with stuff. Although there really isn't much for them to help except carry the already light stuff that we have to carry to the van, the gesture was appreciated and I thank God for these little things.

After lessons we went back to the church and decided to get drinks from the cafe. Had a different ride as well! This time it was a lorry. The helpers wanted to eat cake so we just tagged along on the way.


The cake and ice cream shop we went to serve really delicious food. An amazing experience was that we actually got the owner of the shop to come to the Sunday service that we are going to. It was a really smooth transition from saying that we are currently staying in the church to her saying that she knows that church to us inviting her to just come over.

Left the shop and then got the drinks which were really good. And they are light on the wallet as well. Six times cheaper than Starbucks.



Ended off the day with an amazing dinner as always.

#12: The opportunity to ride in a tuk tuk heh
#13: For Aunt Nara helping us today when we had no one around to help us
#14: The exchange of language that happened. When we learnt the Thai words to the English words that we taught
#15: When some of the students stayed back after class to offer help
#16: The opportunity to ride a lorry in Thailand heh
#17: How we got the owner of the shop that we were eating in to join us in church on Sunday

25th February

Today's the first day of lessons. To be honest, I was really afraid. As the van pulled up to the school and went further into the compound, all of the students turned their attention to us. They were having an assembly and in one segment they had a ‘educational performance’ for the school (not sure of the correct word to use here) of greetings in the different languages that they have learnt as well such as Malay, Chinese and English. Unloaded the stuff from the van and we proceeded to some sort of a hall where we got introduced.

Found out that the class size for the primary school students got changed from about 40 to 76. However, the secondary class stayed the same so thank God for that heh. Also found out that classes ended at 3:30pm instead of 5:00pm as we had planned. So we had to modify our timetables to adhere to their timetables. Turns out in the end that we didn’t had to since we found ourselves having too much time at times.

Had introductions. We got them to say their English name and to say what they like. Went around the whole class when we got to a group of girls. They pointed at me and said something in Thai. The homeroom teacher translated it as they like me cause they find me good looking or something like that. I was like whutttt.

After lunch, we had a helper came in to help us. His name is JoJo and he was a great help as he can engage well with the kids. The homeroom teacher is not always around to help us and this was really appreciated. He helped to facilitate funny forfeits, something we couldn't do because of the language barrier….and our lack of forfeits. The Thai forfeits seem more interesting than the ones we have in Singapore! Though his grasp of English is not as good, he was a tremendous help. At times he will help to teach in Thai in his own way and I could somehow catch what he is doing and work from there. Like how we created a competition out from a lesson when he formed two groups and let me facilitate the competition.

Ended off with a game of dog and bone which we took quite awhile to explain as we had to act them out. Was really fun but I was quite worried as most of the students were barefoot (seems like a norm) and the ground was really sandy. But all in all everyone had fun trying to take the bottle heh. 

Went back to church and the helper in the church went to buy for us amazing drinks! It’s only 25 baht (one singapore dollar) and the drink is HUGGGGGE. Not only is it huge but it’s super delicious. The drink lasted all the way to the night as there was a lot of ice as well heh. Went out again to the supermarket as we realized that the snacks that we bought were not enough. Or we were too generous in giving out the snacks as rewards heh.





#8: For Jojo being a timely and immense help
#9: For God bringing me through the first day and enabling me to teach the lessons
#10: For the wonderful drinks that the church helper bought us!
#11: How God just held everything together despite the change of plans