136 Days in Counting

Happy New Year, everyone! It's hard to believe we've already passed the threshold of a brand new year. 

It's also hard to believe that I've been here in Thailand for 136 days already. These past few days have been wonderful, growth-filled days. I am truly an abundantly blessed girl.  

I've had great intentions to share more on this blog about my time here. But due to the busyness of my schedule here, I haven't had an abundance of time to write updates. Teaching four classes everyday, practicing songs for upcoming events, trying to work on finishing a college class, playing games with the students, being entertained by the four girls who come to our hut whenever they have free time (which is quite often), preparing to give worship or chapel talks, or teach the 9th & 10th grade Sabbath school class, going on runs with some of my fellow teachers and more... keeps me pretty busy. (Christmas was a busy time too. I'll have to write a post about that sometime soon.)

I'm thankful to have a purpose in life, like so many people don't have. I'm thankful to be a missionary working with such sweet people. 

Even though I don't have the time to put a lot of thought into writing a blog post, I thought I could share some pictures of my students and others with you. Pictures speak a thousand words, right? There's so much more to share, but this is a start. 

My 10th grade class - they all have very unique personalities. I wish you could meet them all!

 The 9th graders - They are all wearing their class shirts that I helped design for them (except for the two day students who didn't realize they were supposed to wear their class shirts that day).

 Some of my sweet 9th grade girls - One of them had to leave this term. :(

Teacher Raquel with some of her students before she left. 

 These students love to take pictures with us! 

 Moo Koh Paw is one of my 10th graders on the left.
She's one of the ones who is always visiting my hut. She keeps me laughing. 

 We went on a nice outing a few weeks ago - the views were breathtaking!

 Here's a cute little munchkin. He's almost like the school "mascot." 

His mom is the girl's dean here at the school. 

 These girls were happy to be moving into their new dorm. 

We had the dorm dedication & ribbon cutting at the beginning of this term. It has been a long time in coming - we're so thankful that the girls and boys have a nice new place to stay now. 

This is one of the two new girl's dorm buildings. 

 Mr. Adams (Papa Doh) with little Timothy cutting the ribbon at the dorm dedication.

Girls carrying their few belongings to their new dorm.

This little guy gets this contagious smile on his face when I come to visit him. 

Please pray for him though - he recently broke his leg again. His bones are so weak and brittle. 

Important note: If you are email subscribed to this blog and you've been seeing some weird posts - Don't worry, it's not me... Those email subscriptions were still connected with my old blog address - which I don't have anymore. My old blog hannahmariepowell.blogspot.com has a new owner now. So you should just unsubscribe to the old blog and then then try to subscribe to my new blog.
Sorry about that.

Moments of Friendship

We're back into the busyness of unending lesson planning and teaching. Thankfully the pinkeye epidemic is ending. I've never been so thankful for healthy, pain-free eyes. 

I know that I will greatly miss this place when I leave. I am beginning to build stronger friendships with the students. I enjoy those special friendship moments. 

Like when Naw Nu Nu, one of my 10th graders, asked to have a bath with me in our little outhouse. So yes, that's what we did - in our bathing sarongs of course. :) She chatted to me in broken English while we sudsed up. I was able to learn more about her. There's one thing we disagreed on - She loves durian, and I do not like durian (at least not yet). She also says she wants to preach the Gospel in Burma, for which I am very glad. 

Or the time Sharon and I went for a run down the country road that borders the school. We passed by fields of growing rice, loud motorbikes, and friendly people walking by. We then cleared the path up to the banana hill with machetes to get some more exercise. At the top of the hill, we talked about our students while we got moistened by the gentle rain and enjoyed the view I never tire of. (It's the same view as the picture at the top of my blog.)

Or the time after supper when I was coming down the steps from the Stecks house and noticed two of my 8th graders shyly waiting for me near my hut. They had come to visit Raquel and I until the time came for evening worship. We walked arm in arm for the last few steps to my hut. We shared smiles and laughs and they taught me a few words in Karen (of which I've forgotten already). 

Or special evening prayer times and talk times with my mission partner - Raquel. It's been meaningful sharing our hearts with our Savior together and praying for our friends and family. 

Or Sabbath afternoon story time on the sandy beach by the river with friends. We were reading an old favorite - Nyla and the White Crocodile. The breeze felt great and the view of the beautiful mountains topped it off. 

Or when July Paw slipped her arm through mine and looked up at me with her sweet ever-ready smile as we walked out of the missionary meeting on Sabbath night.

I'm especially thankful for my Friend that sticks closer than a brother. I've been soaking up the moments I've had with just Him and I lately. There's nothing that tops that experience. Oh, that I would prioritize this time more in my life.

Being so far across the ocean from my dear ones in the US has caused me to realize even more how privileged I am to have Jesus in my life. 

He's loves us more than anyone else in the whole world. 

He's that Friend that we all want and need. 

He will never ever let us down. 

He's never too busy to talk. 

He's always there.

I encourage you to get to know Him better. You won't regret it. 

 Riding in the back of a truck is normal here.
We had just finished eating delicious Thai food at a nearby restaurant.