Megan

December 14, 2006

Dear family and friends –

 Well incase you haven’t heard, I arrived home safely from Thailand on the afternoon of December 12^th. The journey was long, but I was excited to be home to see my family and a few of my friends who have stopped by in the meantime. Although I am so glad to finally be here again with the ones I love, it was very bittersweet to leave Thailand and I’m still adjusting back to life in America. Since being here I have enjoyed such things as driving on the right side of the road (weird still), having a washer AND dryer for laundry, hot showers that don’t involve pouring a bucket of water over my head, toilets that you can sit on and flush with a handle, food other than rice, and cold weather that requires wearing socks. I’m still adjusting to all of these familiar, yet very foreign things and tasks.

 I haven’t updated in quite a while from Thailand, and I apologize for that. My last month got pretty busy, but it was also the most encouraging, fruitful time of my whole six months. I watched my relationships grow to be very deep and personal and I saw my language skills really develop and strengthen to new levels. Multiple times I found myself amazed at the conversations I was able to fully engage in with people. I began to feel so comfortable and at home in my last month and although it was encouraging to see this happen after 4 or 5 months of adjusting and learning, it made it all the more hard to leave and say goodbye.

 In my last month I had a lot of great experiences and to keep this short I will just name a few:

·        Learning about the culture on deeper levels through my research for a culture study paper and an indigenous Book study

·        Learning to harvest rice (which truly is back breaking work)

·        Doing a C media/information distribution in one of the districts of my province. This is part of an ongoing project the Thai C's have started in order to get the Good News into every home in the province. This was an incredible experience for me for two reasons: I got to experience the Thai body on a deeper community level and I got to work along side them and see what it is like to give the Good News to those who are unfamiliar with it.

·         Having to testify in an official Thai court about the theft of my camera. I had to look at the kids and identify that yes, they were the ones who stole my camera. (not fun). But I also got to say that I am willing to give them another chance because I have forgiven their actions and I don’t want to see them go to jail.

·        A goodbye camping trip in the mountains with some of the believers in the town where I lived. This was probably one of my best experiences in my six months as I got to see the sincerity of my relationships and the safety of being in the Body even as I was in a foreign culture

the six single girls that slept in one tent. It was madness, but so much fun

·        Just spending lots of time with my friends and seeing these relationships grow to mean more to me than I ever thought possible.

I probably had about 6 various groups of people that I had to say goodbye to at different times and I wasn’t anticipating how it made me feel. It never felt right to be saying goodbye to them and each time I felt this inter turmoil that what I was doing went against the nature of who I am. I feel as though we are not meant to have to say goodbye to people, but because of the fall we experience it in many different areas of our lives. There is something inside of us that believes in the eternal, and even though our lives don’t reflect this (seeing as how we are not immortal) we long for eternal life and continual everlasting relationships. For some of my relationships I do have the hope of heaven, but for others, I am not sure of where they are with the Father. I think in my heart these people were the hardest to part with.

Melissa and I also spent 2 days at the beach in southern Thailand before we officially left to kind of debrief from our time and have a day or two to catch our breath and reflect before heading back home. (I promise I did not steal this picture from a travel brochure). I think this was a really good time for us to just transition from our life with those we love in Thailand to our life with those we love in America. I had been looking forward to the day when I got to see everyone in America for so long, but as the time neared I realized that it meant leaving everything I love in Thailand behind. It gave me a chance to kind of digest the goodbyes I had said and to fully anticipate meeting everyone in America again.

 Ok, well this has gotten rather long. Please know that I have appreciated your emails, letters, and yarpers more than you will ever know and I truly believe they are what got me through some really hard times. It has been amazing to be able to experience this journey with all of you and I am thankful that the Father has allowed our paths to cross. I would love to see each and every one of you very soon, seeing as how I am finally back in the country! Please don’t be a stranger if you see me. ;)

 That I may know Him,

 Megan

 Melissa and I at the mountain overlook as the sun was rising. There was also a thick layer of fog that looks kind of like water… beautiful

the group that went to go see the sunrise. I love these people

I also have tons more pictures so if anyone is interested in seeing them I am more than willing to show them to you! Unfortunately the program I used to post albums with is no longer allowing me to do so, so I guess I’ll just have to do this in person with all of you. ;)