I'm in Thailand!

So excited!

Here's my first blog post from Thailand :) http://focusteamthailand.blogspot.com/2012/06/unexpected.html

Journey of 10,000 miles

Me and my siblings (Josiah, 12, and Emma, 6) at Rocky Mountain National Park for a peaceful family vacation in our beautiful home state!

It's been a long time since my last post, but I thought, being the night before I leave for my trip to Thailand, it was time to get my blog up and running again!

This week, I'll head to Bangkok to teach English at Santisuk English School for four weeks. I'll teach two classes, two hours a day each, four days per week. The rest of the time I'll get to hang out and live life with my students! After four weeks in Bangkok, we'll head up north near Chiang Mai, where we'll work at a home that rescues girls from impoverished communities and teaches them life skills in order to keep them from being trafficked. I'm so excited to be a part of these awesome ministries!

But with great excitement comes a bit of anxiety. I've never travelled abroad, and  six weeks is a long time! I hate to say that I'm reliant on technology, but not being able to call my parents, boyfriend, or friends with the click of a button is a really weird and slightly unsettling idea. Thank God for Skype!

Emma, a.k.a. my favorite sister, and I holding hands while crossing a creek on our family vacation. Earlier tonight, she gave me a big hug and said, in her whiney little girl voice, "Erica? I really think I'm going to miss you." And then I cried. I'm going to miss her (and Josiah) too!

(Here's a secret about me: As much as I long to see the world, experience new cultures, and just understand why things work the way they do, I'm a home body at heart! I can't go too long without having a consistant place to call home with people I love around me. Nonetheless, I'm so excited for this transient chapter of my life!)

Knowing this about myself, I know that I'm going to have to deeply rely on God to come out of these next several months in relatively good shape (as if I normally don't... ha!). I know that He is the only one who I can draw strength from because no person — including myself — is strong enough, wise enough, or loving enough to get me through!

Praise the Lord for bringing me to this time of life; I'm certain that I have much to learn! One of my favorite sayings is, "The years teach much that the days never knew." I know the next six weeks will fly by, and I won't know what hit me.

Prayer requests

That no matter what I'm feeling or thinking, God would keep my eyes, ears, and heart open to learning about and loving the people around me. That the Spirit would continuously live though me as a witness to who God is and how He loves us all. That my inability to speak Thai won't hinder my ability to connect with the people there. That my team and I would stay safe in our travels and life in Thailand. That God would give me wisdom for how to handle every situation (whether dealing with safety, people, etc.).