Getting a Good Start to a New Year

After reopening from almost 3 years of Covid restrictions, closures, and lockdowns and life getting back to normal, my teaching schedule picked up and I spent the year planning, teaching, and scheduling lessons as well as adding free Bible and English Camps to my calendar. I absolutely love teaching and love being with my students! I count it a huge blessing and honor to be welcomed into many of their homes to teach and build relationships and trust with the families. Some of you have asked what it is I actually do. Although I do teach from my home some, I guess you can call me a traveling teacher because I do just that most days of the week. I go from home-to-home teaching students of different ages and levels. Unlike other native English speakers who travel to teach English, I teach at a very discounted price that basically covers the cost of transportation to and from (toll road and gas). If I had the funding, I’d totally do it for free because this is a big part of my ministry. Going to these homes opens doors to minister to and love on children and develop relationships with their families. But sometimes I spend longer in traffic to and from than I do teaching the class I went for. In fact, there have been many days when I’ve spent twice as long or more on the road than teaching. Do you know what that means? It means I have even more opportunities to share about why I’m here! When others know I spend longer driving and planning lessons than I do teaching, they want to know why. When they see how little I charge compared to other native English speakers, they want to know why. They ask what’s in it for you? Today’s society is very much of a “what’s in if for me” mindset. “What will I get out of it?” “Of what value is it to me?” “Is it really worth it?” They can’t understand why I do what I do. My simple answer of “I don’t do it for me” always surprises them. But honestly, I’m genuinely not looking for any personal benefits. I’m not looking to gain riches or glory or even be considered something special. No. I do it all for God’s glory. That’s why I’m here. Are there days when I don’t feel like getting up in the morning? Yes. Are there classes that don’t go as planned and sometimes end in frustration. Yes. Are there sometimes certain students I’d rather not teach on any particular day? Yes. I’m human and face daily challenges with my humanity and all that comes with it. But you know what? I suck it up, put on my big girl pants, and keep on keeping on because I know the long-term benefits of maybe just one more child coming to know the love of Jesus Christ far outweighs all the challenges and difficulties I face daily. These classes develop trust between me, the students, and their parents allowing me to continue teaching them. This trust is what has allowed me to open up my home for free Bible camps to these students. Even though they are mostly of Buddhist background, the parents trust me enough with their children to leave them at my house for a 5 hour Bible Camp every month! My Thai housemate doubted me when I shared my plans for the Bible Camp. She said no one would come. But they came. And they keep coming every month! Sometimes more and sometimes less, but there’s almost always at least 4. And oh, the joy it brings my heart to share about the love of Jesus! And to see their excitement to hear the stories each time! My students are always so interested in the Bible and always ask questions. Those questions sometimes continue being asked days and weeks later during their private lessons or an English Camp. They remember the stories so well and are like sponges absorbing every detail they can. They've even started inviting their friends! This. This is why I do what I do. This is why I may teach for 1 hour but spend more than twice that time driving and preparing for the lesson. Children coming to know the love of Christ is far more valuable than what’s in it for me personally. Are you interested in hearing more of my story? Guess what! After serving in Thailand for more than 5 1/2 years straight, I’m now in Texas! I will be her until March 30th and am loving seeing everyone! If you’re interested in meeting with me personally, please contact me by email (clmoye77@gmail.com) or by Facebook Messenger to schedule a time. But if we don't get a chance to meet this trip, you can keep up with my story through Facebook as I make regular posts about life and ministry in Thailand.

God Answers Prayers

I have been steady teaching most days since my last update. I've added multiple students since then as well. I now have a total of 14 students ranging in age from 2-55 years old. Most are in person at their homes. Two adults are online students. And one 8 year old is at my house. I'm loving teaching and love having children and adults at so many different levels! It usually means more work, but I really enjoy getting to teach different subjects and difficulties. My full teaching days tend to be Tuesday-Thursday, but sometimes my Mondays or Fridays end up being full too. All of these students is just one example of how amazing God is and how He answers prayers! He knows and sees my heart and has blessed me immensely. For pictures of my students, feel free to check out my mission page at https://www.modernday.org/field-workers/clmoye77/ It has pictures, names, and ages. It also has details of other ministries I am involved in from time to time. My new home I'm renting is good. It has given me so much more space than before. This extra space has allowed me to open my home to students. And I now have a kitchen! I'm so excited to be able to cook for myself again. I also recently bought an oven which allows me to bake again! Cooking and baking has been something that brings me joy since I was old enough to do so.I enjoyed baking cookies with my students and I made some delicious banana blueberry bread with butter sugar glaze!

Another answer to prayers... I have been praying about starting some type of teaching ministry at my home. The first thing I offered was a Saturday English Camp to happen once a month with possibly adding more. I sent that information to my students who are capable of listening and working semi-independently and EVERYONE answered back with a YES of interest! I was so excited! Then I spent some time in prayer about offering a Sunday Bible and Morals English Camp. I finally sent out information about that and boom! 4 out of the 6 answered back with a YES! I was finally seeing God work a miracle, answer my prayers, and make my dream a reality! I offered both days of camp last week and they went great! All the children had fun and loved it and can't wait to come to the next one! I was blessed beyond measure by the four who attended the Bible and Morals camp and their great interest in the biblical Easter story! It was truly an amazing day and I couldn't have been any more happy with how it went! For the next time, I'm considering making the camps a full day. This will allow me more time to do more teaching. With a one woman show, that means lots of time is used in transitions and lunch preparations which cuts way down on the teaching time. But I'm so excited for the next two camps! If you'd like to support me and my outreach and ministry, please follow this link https://www.modernday.org/field-workers/clmoye77/ and at the bottom of the page is a place you can donate. You can donate one time or sign up for a monthly payment. Now that I'm moving forward with having children come to my house for classes, expenses have increased for meal and snack costs, teaching materials, craft materials, etc. Your support will be a huge blessing to me and my ministry!

There are many things that are going well here. Covid is still ever present and I wear a mask everywhere I go. If in public, outside of teaching, I wear two masks. I have managed to avoid getting Covid so that's a huge praise. I just keep praising my God for protecting me and leading me in every day life. Things do still go wrong from time to time. Not everything is perfect 100% of the time. But that is life. Life is not perfect. Things go wrong the same as they do in everyone else's life too. I have emotional ups and downs and I have physical ups and downs. For example, last Friday, I slipped and fell and busted my bottom. I'm still in pain and had to cancel classes for today. Due to the pain, I am unable to lower myself to the floor to sit and teach my students. I love all my students and enjoy teaching them so it's quite disappointing when I have to cancel on them. Another example: Just like many other teachers, I have days where my students just don't listen, don't do what I've asked them to, or cry. Nothing is perfect and I never expect perfection. We are all imperfect humans living in an imperfect world. I also still have some sad days where I really miss my sweet Lucy or feel homesick from time to time. I would love to visit America some day soon. Because of Covid and travel restrictions, it's just been too hard to travel. But restrictions are starting to lessen so hopefully soon. Especially since I will be starting my 6th year in Thailand here in a few months and have yet to visit home! Anyway, all that to say God answers prayers! My dream of opening the Love English Learning Center from my own home is becoming a reality and I couldn't be more excited to see what God has in store for this ministry!

Christmas in Thailand, Year 5

It has been a doozy of a year with it being the 2nd year of the Covid pandemic, school shutdowns, lockdowns, late to the game vaccine availability, and the death of my precious fur baby of almost 14 years, Lucy. But things seem to be on the upside now, as long as Omicron doesn't go and blow up here in Thailand. I still miss my Lucy terribly, but otherwise, I've been teaching every day for the past few months which has been great! It was great introducing American Christmas culture to my Thai kiddos and seeing the Christmas magic dance in their eyes as they sang Christmas carols, made Christmas crafts, and even decorated mini Christmas trees I brought for them. That has helped ease the loss of my dear Lucy during this holiday season. I love being with little children and seeing the lights in their eyes as they learn and understand new things. I have some pretty amazing students. Even though I haven't reached my dream of opening my own center from my home yet, I've enjoyed being involved in students lives and welcomed into their homes to teach and even celebrate Christmas. I'm looking forward to continuing on this way in the new year and working to open my own classroom from my home in the future. Funding is currently limited so I'll continue to teach from the homes of others for now. I will make sure to post again soon and include pictures of my students. Teaching has kept me so busy with planning, printing, preparing, driving, and actually teaching that I haven't had a lot of free time lately. But I'm enjoying 2 weeks off for now so I'll make a big effort to get back on here and post a longer update. This is just my quick Christmas update! I wish you all the merriest and joy-filled Christmases and may the new year bring much peach and many blessings! Until next time, lots of love!

I Have a Dream

So I recently sent out an update on my dream and vision for my future here in Thailand. I truly believe this dream was put in my heart from God. This dream is to find a space and open my own English center that would be called Love English Learning Center. Love because all lessons and activities would come out of Christ's love for the students as well as my love for them. I want to follow this vision and make my dream a reality more than anything else in life. Yes, the dream is a bit big. But I guess the more simple dream is to continue living and serving in Thailand with other English Centers. In this, I may not have my own space YET, but I still get to serve out of love and teach.

I absolutely believe this dream was placed in my heart for such a time as this. A time when Covid has run rampant in our lives, our communities, our cities, our world. A time when children could use the stability of a safe learning environment to not only learn English, but be loved and experience the love of Christ. A time when families have lost their income due to Covid, but still want the best for their children's education. A time for me to reach beyond my means and try to make this dream a reality. For now, I can provide and be this through other English Centers, but eventually hope to raise enough support to open my own space! You can't even imagine how many ideas and how much excitement I have for when I get a space of my own and all the skills I can work on teaching my students at no cost to them!

But what happens when you follow your heart, and your dreams aren't becoming reality? When you've tried all you can, but you just can't get the funding to make it happen? What happens when you have to consider the reality that you may never get to live out your dream or heart's calling from God? How are you supposed to live with yourself if you're not living from that dream? Do you just let it die and feel a bit of yourself die in the process? Do you accept defeat and try to move on and live without a dream anymore? How do you find contentment in not living out your heart's call, your dream, your vision for serving others well and sharing the love of Christ with others? How can you live in joy if you're not living out of that dream? So many questions. If I say goodbye to my dream, am I saying goodbye to living a fulfilled life? Will I be doomed to live a life just going through the motions unable to find true joy? A life of mediocrity? Numb and always feeling like something is missing? When I came to Thailand, it was the first time in my life that I felt like I was truly living out my purpose for life. Like I had finally found my heart's calling and this is where I was meant to be serving. Yes, there have been ups and downs. Yes, there continue to be ups and downs. And yes, there will always be ups and downs. There will be tears, sadness, and loss. There will be laughter, joy, and successes. At the end of the day, I feel like I'm where God has led me to be. At the end of the day, I keep holding on to hope that it will still happen. That it is still a possibility to continue living and serving here in Thailand. That God is on my side.

Now, you may ask me why. Why is it so difficult to live out the dream? What factors are contributing to the roadblocks on the way to making this dream a reality. The dream of opening my own learning center called Love English Learning Center here in Thailand. Or the smaller dream of continuing to serve through other English Centers here in Thailand. The number one roadblock is funding. Currently, I won't even have enough monthly funding to pay my current rent for next month. If I can't even pay my basic needs to stay here in Thailand and continue serving at other English Centers, etc, how can I even think about finding a bigger space to open my own center and all the expenses that come with that? Honestly, I don't know how I will make ends meet starting next month, but I'm still not prepared to throw in the towel and retreat back to America. If I leave now, I risk never being able to come back and live out my dream here in Thailand. I'm very much afraid that if I leave now, I will officially be saying goodbye to my calling and purpose. Even if I put my own English Center on hold for now and just continue to serve with others, I'd at least still be living out that calling. But even then, I still need funding to stay here. I no longer have enough monthly support coming in to meet my living expenses. The second roadblock has been Covid itself. Due to Covid, we've been on countless lockdowns and school/english center closings for the past 2 years. It's super hard to show possible financial partners that I'm actively serving when we've been shut down so much due to Covid. The country has opened but with major restrictions and quarantines making a visit to America extremely difficult and expensive due to all the hoops you have to jump through in order to get back. It's been about a year and a half since my airline tickets to America were canceled due to Covid. I NEVER imagined Covid would still be causing problems 2 years later. I assumed I'd have time to plan a trip back to America and meet with possible supporters and find the funding to make my dream happen before I was in this boat of having no more saved funding left. But here I am. And here Covid still is. My city is still on lockdown, restaurants are only open for delivery and take out, businesses have earlier closing hours, and there's a ban on traveling outside of the city. Plus, there is news of a possible Thailand lockdown again. Covid is on a rampant spread, hospitals are full, and there's only the option to receive a crappy Sinovac vaccine which isn't fully effective against Covid. I have no idea what the new lockdown will be. It may just close Thailand again. Or it may increase restrictions. Have to wait and see. The news often talks of possible changes in lockdown and restrictions a day or two before any decisions are made. You may ask what. What have I done on my own to try and make staying in Thailand possible? The first thing I did was try to find a paying job. A job that would still allow me to serve for free at the English centers some too. Really terrible time with Covid to try and find work. And then there's the added problem of my not having a degree. Yup. I'm officially lame here because I dropped out of college before getting a degree in anything. It doesn't matter how many years of teaching and classroom experience I have (20+ years) from America as a teacher's assistant. To Thailand, the degree means everything. It doesn't even have to be a teaching degree! Any degree is acceptable for a lot of teaching jobs! So frustrating. I do however have a Teaching English as a Second Language certificate. Some folks say that's enough, but I still haven't found any schools willing to accept just that. Still searching. Second, I've tried finding some paid tutoring jobs. Just to earn enough to survive tightly so that I could devote the rest of my time to serving free of charge. But then Covid. Either folks don't have the money to study privately OR they're so scared of Covid that they're avoiding meeting others. I actually had one job lined up, but then we went on lockdown again and the parents backed out because they're so scared of Covid. Another thing I've done is develop quite a stock of teaching materials both hardcopies and online resources through this time of Covid. I've spent time online hunting free resources, activities, curriculum, etc. I've purchased teaching items as I found super cheap deals and promotions. I've spent time going through my resources and dividing them by skill and becoming familiar with what all I have so it can be utilized fully when I finally do get to teach again. I'm so beyond ready to start teaching again, it's unreal! I want to actually put to use everything I've gathered! Currently waiting to hear back from one more mom who's interested in tutoring for her 5 year old daughter. Praying that's a go soon! And third, I tried sending out a vision letter, both hard copy and email, to those in America to try and find monthly financial support. I know everyone has struggled through this time of Covid, but it's still my hope that there are those who believe in my calling and vision and would like to support my ministry here. Below are just a few pictures of the materials I've acquired during my time here. Still more I'd like to invest in, but I have to wait until things are more certain and I have funding coming in. I have quite the shopping cart lists on two of Thailand's biggest selling sites!

You may ask who. Who do I teach? That all depends on the English Centers and random word of mouth folks I've tutored. I've taught adults, teenagers, and littles. Mostly, I've taught and tutored for free, but there has been an occasion or two where I was paid a little too. I've volunteered in schools, 3 English Centers, and 2 churches here so far. I've privately tutored around 10 people both online and in person. I've also taught a range of subjects including math, history, and English. Let me tell you, teaching math in Thai is DIFFICULT! I have no idea what a rhombus is in Thai! But my biggest desire is to teach the littles before they enter mandatory schooling to prepare them for school and give them a good base knowledge to start with. I would also like to introduce them to the love of Christ from a young age as well. I would then hope to continue teaching them as they get older as well. That brings me to the how of it all. Yes, I have a dream. Yes, I believe that dream is a calling from God, my purpose. To keep living this calling out, I need monthly financial supporters. I need you. Please pray about and consider making my service here in Thailand possible. To allow me to continue to serve here where my heart has found it's home in service. I don't expect everyone to donate. And I don't expect all that donate to give huge or outside their means. Honestly, $15 a month would pay for my internet. I can usually eat for under $10 a day. In normal times, my travel expenses are usually around $50-80 a month depending on which English Centers and how often I'm teaching. My biggest expense is of course rent, which is $350-400 a month depending on utilities. These are just a few examples, but as you can see, money goes a bit further here. Any monthly donation will help me continue to live and serve for free here in Thailand! You can give through my organization's website at https://www.modernday.org/field-workers/clmoye77/ Or if you'd prefer I get the full donation without admin fees, you can give through Zelle using some online banking apps or downloading the Zelle app itself and using my email clmoye77@gmail.com. I pray that you will prayerfully consider supporting my outreach here in Thailand and possibly supporting the expansion of my ministry to include the Love English Learning Center in the future. If you have questions or just want to talk, feel free to send me a message! We can go over more details if you're interested or we can just chat about everything. We can arrange a video chat through Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Zoom, or Skype. These typically all work well for me here in Thailand. Don't be afraid to reach out to me. You are important and I appreciate the role you play in my life and ministry.

Latest and Greatest News from Thailand!

 Mission Statement: To share the love of Christ with the people of Thailand.

 
Vision Statement: To enrich the lives of Thai children, youth, and young adults with English language skills to improve their way of life, increase their chances at better jobs in the future, and introduce them to the love of Christ through relationship, teaching, and acts of service.

Introduction:

I’ve been serving in Thailand for the past 3 1/2 years, with my support organization being Modern Day Missions. My main field of service and ministry is teaching English as a second language to enrich the education of children, youth and young adults. I’ve found that learning English gives them hope of a better future while sharing the love of Christ through relationships. Because I’ve chosen to provide these lessons free of charge, it enables the lower-class and at-risk population to participate. This means providing English lessons to those who would most likely never be able to receive such teaching. I also serve in other areas of Bangkok such as delivering and handing out donations and meals to communities in need. I have a heart for the people of Thailand through acts of service, teaching, and loving well. I work to build relationships with everyone I meet here and share the kindness of Christ.

Qualifications:

For the last three years I’ve taken Thai language classes through Rak Thai Language School in Bangkok. This has enabled me to pass the Thai Competency Test, where I received a certificate for Competency in Thai Language. I also have a certification in Teaching English as a Second Language. These qualifications will allow me to be a viable and trusted teacher.

The Problem:

In Thailand, just like the United States, COVID-19 has caused frequent lockdowns and school closures. Unfortunately, I’m having to explore other outlets for helping and have recently been re-evaluating my long-term plans for serving here. These lockdowns and shutdowns have closed most volunteer teaching outlets for me. When we’re not in lockdown, I serve at a small English Center connected to Our Home Chapel, a church I was serving under before they cancelled its English teaching ministry due to COVID-19 and lack of students. At the English Center I help my ministry partner, Lena Lehualani (a Cross Cultural Worker from Hawaii), in her classes with Thai translations. Currently there are not enough students for me to have my own class as participation has decreased everywhere. I also serve with a second English Center for once a month English testing and special events. With the issue of COVID-19, I started to re-vision my goal and dream for serving in Thailand.

Vision:

While living in Ranong, Thailand, the vision of a long-term ministry was placed in me. After relocating to Bangkok and finishing my Thai studies, the pandemic hit. This had me re-evaluating how I  could better serve the people of Thailand, and that vision was prompted to the forefront of my mind once again.

This vision starts small, teaching from my home, ideally a larger space to live in, where I can also welcome children, youth and young adults to study English for free. I will call this ministry and center the Love English Learning Center because every lesson and activity will be based on God's love for all.

I would be able to teach English by:

• Incorporating activities and games
• Practicing English language skills through cooking, cleaning, community outings, serving others in the community, learning teamwork, and how to make presentations to others
• And after building trusting relationships with families or individuals, incorporating Bible stories and songs into the lessons

When the ministry grows, I would be able to invite other trusted teachers to join me. As it grows further, I would hope to build partnerships with Thai partners to create a foundation. A foundation would open doors for inviting others to come and serve under a visa.

I have a heart to teach the Thai people. I have a heart to love the Thai people. I have a heart to serve the Thai people. I feel a calling to share the love of Christ through teaching English to the Thai people, which will not only give them hope for a better future for jobs, but hope in Christ as well.

Seeing the joy on students' faces during lessons and special
activities is the biggest blessing one could ask for.

What is needed?

Prayer Partners. Scripture tells us the harvest is great and the workers are few. My heart’s desire is to work with God in His Thailand fields. In this time of uncertainty and the chaos and instability COVID-19 has our world in, I would love to offer and be that consistent, stable presence so many of the children need. I believe with all my heart that Christ has placed me here in Thailand for such a time as this. Through prayer and seeking God’s direction, I have been reassured that my time here is not yet finished. It is God that placed a vision and dream in my heart, and I have faith that He will help me carry that out. Please join me in prayer for my ministry and outreach here in Thailand.

Financial support partners. A huge part of this ministry is the backing of faithful supporters. I can see the end of my money looming and I still sense I am called to serve the people of Thailand. By July, all previous support and funding raised will have been used up and I need to find new supporters in order to stay and serve in Thailand. I also need to increase my monthly budget to meet the vision for ministry growth. This includes:

• increase in housing cost in order to find a space large enough where I can both teach and live
• Teaching supplies such as paper, notebooks, dry erase markers, pencils, and other small classroom necessities
• Classroom supplies such as tables/chairs or desks, whiteboards, printer, etc
• Teaching curriculum teacher/student/workbook books and audio/DVD. (A list of these things can be provided to those interested in purchasing and shipping directly to me)

To fulfill the vision of sharing Christ’s love with the Thai people, the Love English Learning Center would have a need of $2,250 per month. For startup, the Love English Learning Center would need about $2,500-$3,500 up front in order to begin renting a new place (move in cost is usually first and last months’ payments) as well as buy necessary teaching supplies and curriculum. It is my goal to find housing that is already furnished to avoid having to buy furniture necessities such as a bed and kitchen appliances.

Conclusion:

This vision for ministry and service allows me to:

•  build deeper relationships within a Thai community
• offer English lessons to different levels and age groups throughout the week and not be limited in service, hours of operation, travel time, or staff to student ratio
• serve more freely and more often than I am able to serve through my current English Center volunteering.

This is my heart: To serve daily by loving others well and sharing the love of Christ through service and relationships.
Please prayerfully consider financially supporting me on this journey through a monthly donation or a one-time gift. You can CLICK HERE to choose a donation option that fits you best or use the following link: https://www.modernday.org/field-workers/clmoye77/

Thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support!

 My current areas of ministry and service are:

§  ULC English Center- assisting teachers in classes and special events

§  Bangkok Community Help Group- service projects for needy communities

§  Fun with English Center- English testing and special events

§  RTL School- assisting teachers with computer needs, translations, and Thai conversation practice with beginners

 

Big God, Big Dreams

I can't believe we're already into the 3rd month of a new year! Time just keeps flying by! And yet, it seems that the majority of us are still waiting for this pandemic of Covid to lessen and go away. I feel it very much. Covid has been getting worse here in Thailand. But I'm happy to see America getting the vaccine and hope that the vaccine will be available here soon. I'm praying for an end to this terrible illness that has swept through the whole world over.

So what have I been up to during this time? Well, I've been serving with 2 different English Centers as well as serving with a Community Help group. But as activities and numbers have been limited due to Covid, I've spent some time re-evaluating my plans for ministry here. And that's where I was reminded of a big dream that my big God gave me. It is my hope and prayer that I can raise enough support to continue ministering to the children, youth, and adults of Thailand. An
update is going out as I type this brief blog. If you're interested in the update and want me to email it to you, please send me your email address. I will write a longer post here about it at a later time.

For now, enjoy some pictures and videos from English teaching and camp.

Is Covid Giving You the Holiday Blues?

 I feel like the whole year has been spent in waiting. I was supposed to go visit home back in February for the first time in almost 3 years. To say I was excited is an understatement.

But then Covid. My flight was canceled. So I've been waiting for Covid to get better and for Thailand to reopen so I can plan a new trip home.

I was just beginning a new ministry with a new church.

But then Covid. The church had to close. Once reopening, the students just haven't come back and so the church canceled the Saturday classes I was helping with.

I was helping with the church's English Center too.

But then Covid. The English Center closed and since reopening, not enough students have returned for me to have my own class.

I've checked with lots of other volunteer opportunities.

But Covid. They just don't have the numbers to have enough work for their paid staff; let alone volunteers.

I've taught online for the church's English Center some through this time.

But again, Covid. People stopped studying, schools reopened, job demand is down.

So I wait. I wait for Covid to get better. I wait for an opening somewhere to help long term. In the waiting, I do still help others. I do still help out at the English Center with my ministry partner Lena. I just don't have my own classes. Job demand for Cabin Crew is zero so there are no longer those students seeking one-on-ones. I continue looking for volunteer opportunities. I help teachers at the Thai language school with little things such as computer problems, downloads, powerpoints, phone issues, English, etc. I help my best friend with English daily. I help other students at the Thai language school as the opportunities arise. Just today, I had a student from China at the Thai language school approach me to ask for help with some English documents she had. I have weekly video chats with one previous cabin crew student who chose not to continue with those studies but loved chatting in English with me so asked if we could chat weekly. I help the Thai teachers' kids with math and English when needed. Everyone at my Thai language school knows that I'm always available to help if needed and they've moved past that fear of asking for help and freely ask these days. Not in an overly abundant overwhelming way. Just in small things here and there. So yes. I still serve. Just not in a specifically laid out and scheduled kind of way.

Do I want to serve more? Absolutely YES! Do I want my own classroom? ABSOLUTELY!

But Covid. I feel like in a way, my whole life has been put on hold due to Covid.

Yes, I'm sure I'm making a difference in people's lives little by little. But oh, how I'd love to have something that is routine and mine. Something to plan and prep for. Something to create fun holiday lessons for. How I'd love to teach about Thanksgiving and why it's a holiday in America! I want to have something that's uniquely mine. That can incorporate English, Bible, American traditions, life skills, songs, and games. I've been creating a new vision for how I can make that happen and I hope to share it with everyone very soon.

With all this being said, what about the holidays? This is usually my most favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years. I love this season. I love spending all these holidays with family, friends, and community. 

But Covid. Covid changes everything. I can't travel home to visit everyone and do the holidays the American way. And even if I could visit America, no one can really celebrate the traditional American way because of Covid. Here in Thailand, Thanksgiving and Christmas are not really celebrated. You can find Christmas decorations and hear stores playing Christmas music, but that's usually the extent of it. In fact, my Thai language school has classes all the way to Christmas day. Last year, they had classes all the way to Christmas Eve.

I usually enjoy decorating for Christmas. Last year the school borrowed my tree and I decorated it for Christmas there.

But Covid. This year, the school will not be doing a Christmas party because of Covid and no large gatherings so they won't decorate with a big tree and will just do small decorations. I live in a small space; just a room with a bathroom. No space for Christmas decorations. So yes. I'm beginning to feel the holiday blues. Yes, I have adapted quite well to life in Thailand. But when I don't get to do anything related to my American roots, I feel like I've lost a part of me. It makes me feel sad.

Because Covid, I feel like everything I tend to look forward to during the year has been canceled or cut out. Thai or American traditions. Everything. Nothing has been the same since Covid. I miss celebrations. I miss having the opportunity to travel back to America for a visit. I miss teaching. I want to use my creativity and passion to brighten the world and the lives of students and others I come into contact with. But I can't do that in the way I envision because of Covid. It has been a tough year. I never imagined almost a year later, there would still be Covid and it would be a worldwide pandemic. I thought I'd wait it out for a few months. But those few months quickly turned into half a year and now almost a year. Will it ever get any better? When?

I've been trying to get myself into the holiday/Christmas spirit by checking out all the Christmas decorations around town, listening to Christmas music, and watching Christmas movies on Netflix. Unfortunately, the Christmas movie pickings are a bit slim on Thailand Netflix which is a little disappointing. But I was excited to see they had The Grinch finally and watched it this past week! (I have checked Netflix for this movie every year since coming to Thailand and this is the first year they've added it.) Don't get me wrong. I am not unhappy where I'm at. And I still love Christmas. It just feels weird and off this year, as has the whole year. Nothing is as expected. There have been more stressors. It just doesn't feel like a real Christmas season to me yet. Maybe because I'm still waiting for everything to get better. For Covid to go away. But I know I can't blink or will it away. I just need to stop waiting for things to get better and kick back and enjoy the way they are. Enjoy the little things a bit more and stop waiting for the big things to come. The big things will come in time. But sometimes knowing a timeline would be helpful. Will things work out in my favor? Will things work out the way I'd like them to? Will my hopes and dreams for my ministry in Thailand become reality? I don't know. But let's let that go for now and live in this present moment. With that being said enjoy the Christmas decoration pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I am very thankful for all of the wonderful family and friends I am blessed with all over the world. I'm thankful for the life God has given me. I'm thankful for my precious Lucy dog. And I'm thankful for yummy food!

I am thankful for way more than the above mentioned. That's just a very abbreviated list.