Off to the villages!

so, today we're traveling again to the villages were I'll be for mostly the rest of the time. I'll have a small stop here in Chaing mai again before flying home. so I thought I'd post one last time.

Here in chaing Mai we havn'et really done any work, mostly play :-)

We had a great day playing with some animals like tiger and elephants and monkeys! oh so fun, can't wait to put up pictures.

Hope you all are doing well. Time is going so fast.

Rachel

Thailand!

So... I'm here! well, I mean I have been for the last week, but I've just been to lazy to hit up an internet cafe....

so yeah, just traveled up to Chiang mai today and hit up the night bizzar... the markets are crazy! such fun times! there's so many interesting people to meet from all over the world here.

The last week we've been in a smaller village outside of Bangkok doing some aweseom ministry. like 300+ kids have been saved and like 50 or so adults... we've seen amazing healings like a man's leg growing out 2 inches and a woman who was wheelchair ridden after an accident got up and started to walk!

We were staying at an orphange and had great times playing with the kids -- learning thai and throwing around the rugby ball.

now we have a couple dayz to chill and shop and do some interesting things. There is this foot spa thing that has tons of little fish that come and bit at your feet... I think Im going to try and do that tomorrow! it looks completely awesome!

I just love experiencing the food, culture and ways of life here! It's totaly different at first, like the squat toilets... lol

It's been so fun to meet up with my NZ friends again... it's just like no time has past at all! It just feels like coming home to be with them again.



List of things to do yet
- major shopping excursions!
- more sweet healings
- touch a monk (they are not allowed to touch women and if they do they have to do all these cleansing rituals... it totally ruins there day!)
- and well... lots of other stuff

till next time,
Rachel
Ps. Thanks so much for all the texts! I'm getting them all and am so grateful for all the prayer and love.

Prayer Requests

Forgot to post up prayer requests for my trip

1. Traveling by myself to and from

2. That our teams words and actions will be effective for the kingdom of God (um, yeah, the most important!)

3. For all you prayer warriors out there -- binding the enemy in Jesus name from sickness, contention in the team, and all the other things that Satan uses to throw a wrench in our minsitry!

4. That I would survive without my beloved family and friends! I'll miss you all :-)

Two days till go time!

Ah! I'm getting super nervous about my trip! I have so much to do, and I really, really don't feel like doing anything!

So today -- my alarm didn't go off, which tuned out to be fine. And i've gotten alot of trip stuff done, but not so much studying.

Thats when i ask myself the question -- what's more important to me?

and of course I answer myself -- THAILAND!

So my hoping to pull up my grades in a certain class (Chemistry) on the final is now secondary on my list.

Oh well, I won't care what I got on my exam in 5 years anyway -- but I will still care about Thailand!

Can't wait to see my NZ Friends (talor, Zek, & chris)

love, love and more love

Rachel

Pictures always make things more interesting!

Here's some of the places I'll be going:

Bangkok: I'll be flying in here -- but not staying unless I'm stranded @ the airport

Chiang Mai

First semester is coming to a close!

Time is moving right along and now I'm about to finish my first semester at TCC! and as you might assume... i am supposed to be writing a final paper.

I have now gotten over my inner drama of thinking that my life was temporarily meaningless. It's been an interesting semester but it's ending well. I have a super busy weekend planned and I can't wait.

Schedule includes:

- Visiting my adorable niece and in-potting-training nephew ( he pooped in the toilet for the first time today. My sister-in-law cried. )

- Finishing the paper that I'm currently supposed to be writing but I'm not.

- Packing for Thailand (leaving on Wednesday!)

- Leaving for a mini road trip to Indianapolis

- Pulling an all-nighter of fun and random adventures with our nomad friends

- Having Christmas get together with the "other" side of the family

- and yeah...other stuff

Next tues-wed is finals.

Then it's party -- not in the U.S.A :-)

Jersy Boys!

Tuesday night our floor went to:

Then we stopped @ millennium park to take pictures

Basically it was amazing.

Cant Take My Eyes Off You (2007 Remastered LP Version) - Frankie Valli

Thats just the way I roll...

WHY AM I SUCH A PROCRASTINATOR!!

Every time that I write in this blog it's because I am avoiding something. Yes, My names is Rachel and I am an avoider. I really should work on that. I just finished a movie, two tv shows, and a box of mac and cheese... basically everything besides my homework. blah. I have a quiz and an exam tomorrow and i keep telling myself it's so easy. ( I'll keep telling myself this until I am up the whole night studying and dragging myself into class the next morning looking like I got ran over by a truck. )

It's official. I have a problem.

Too bad there's not a drug for it. I'm sure they come up with it soon. But in the mean time... off to find something else to feed my avoidance problem.

Cheers!

There is a story about a girl who lived and didn't care, she laughed, cried and loved with her whole heart.

Every time her heart was broken she healed, stored the memories inside her mind and moved on.

She was strong, beautiful, alive and great.

She changed the world.

She never took no for an answer and pushed until the walls in front of her broke.

She ran until her feet bleed and then she learned to fly.

Who is she?

You are her. Pick up your broken pieces. Self pity is for the weak and lonely, but you are not that.

You are loved and surrounded

Breathe easy, breathe slow.

Dream.

Watching the leaves change

.... is what I'm doing today.

Enojoy. The. Moment.

It won't last forever

Midterms!!! Can't believe that Fall is in full swing and giving me tons of reasons to wish that it was summer again... oh me oh my.

I used to think that following my dreams was the most important thing that you could do in life, so I would pursue them with vigor and ease, but now, I'm lost in a cold, dark reality. How am I coping? Lots of TV, Facebook, and late night movies (this basically means I have a chronic headache). According to everyone else, nursing, and TCC is my destiny. If I'm fulfilling my purpose then why do I feel so unfulfilled? It doesn't add up.

I was talking to an old friend yesterday and realized that it's time for some soul searching. What if I'm in the wrong place?

There is a school in California that sounds just perfect for me. I'm thinking about applying next year. I only have one life, i want to live it right. How do i know what's right? I need answers, I need an open door. I want something more than average, more than normal, more than fine.

My life is important, I am not a nobody floating around the world voiceless and aimless. I am who I am for a reason. Is this pride? No! It's the truth, and not just for me but for every person. You are who you are for a reason! Life is not supposed to be waking up each day hoping that tomorrow will be better, or that your big break will come soon. Take your opportunity now! Don't wait for everyone else to change, you change first.

This is my life, it's my choice and my responsibility to make it count.

Now... its back to the books

The story of my life

I always thought it would be fun to write about all my adventure as a kid. The scrapes and scrapples and all the different aspects that growing up brings. So, here it goes...

The first big even in my life happened before I was even born. My mom, very prego with me, was alone in our little farm house doing the things that good house wives do while her other children were playing outside.

Heather, my oldest sister, her friend and my brother Stephen were playing in the barn, and it being winter thought it was just a bit chilly and decided to turn on the heater . Well, apparently the turbo heater was just a little close to the insulated walls of the barn... and yes, the barn caught on fire.

it started out as a small little fire, but as it traveled up the wall the trio began to get a bit agitated, they ran to the door to get out and found that it was stuck... it wouldn't open for anything! Apparently it was a bit tricky to open. trapped inside a burning building with nobody within calling distance turned from a horrible situation to a panic! 3 year old Stephen decided to give his try at the door ( yes he is still the stable, level headed one of the family), and what do you know... it got it open!

They raced to the house to tell mom, who didn't believe them. She told them to stop goofing round and go play. By the time they finally convincing her that it was really on fire, had her panic attack and finally got a hold of the fire department and my dad ( there weren't cell phones back then), the barn burned to the ground.

If you go back to that old house now, you can still see some bricks and the foundation of that burnt down barn. We build another one and eventually all the things we lost were replaced. But we still tease my sister about being an arson every once in a while.

The moral of the story -- 6 year old should not play with turbo heaters.

Who I am meets who I've been

So, the point of this blog was to start from the beginning and write the story of my life, but I'm taking an intermission from that (which I haven't even started) to complain about the present for just a bit.

I thought that this whole college experience, moving away from home, living in a dorm, enjoying the life of independence would be a positive time in my life. Putting aside the fact that I hate to study. Don't get me wrong it started out just great! I love my roommates, our little suite is decorated cute, and life should be peachy and drama free.

But here's the thing, in this world, I'm just not finding my place. I feel like I must have something in my teeth all the time or a wart on my nose or something because the world is passing me by day after day and I'm stuck in the abyss of a melodramatic nothingness sinking into something that I vowed to myself I would never do.

There is one thing that this world has to many of and that's ordinary people. Where is my soap box? Where is my stage, this is my life, my world, my change to make a mark on this period of history. Why do I feel like I'm wasting my life with exams and episodes of "Gossip Girl?"

So here I go, off to another Tuesday, what is my goal tomorrow? Not just existence, I must find a way to be remarkable.

"This is your life, are you who you want to be?"

- Switchfoot

Classic, but applicable to everyday

"It's a new day... and the world is waiting on you to show your face."

Me as a Non-studier

So tonight was Grey's Anatomy night. Grey's Anatomy night is not just sitting down and watching an average, hit tv show. It's a change to let out the tears that you've been meaning to cry but have not yet found their way to the surface. However, when the room is full of people it makes it quite hard to vent sadness and/or frustrations.

Tonight it just happened to be both. Not only is it Nathan's 21st birthday which bring back the sadness of a world left behind only appearing in dreams and far apart phone calls, but i also have a theology exam tomorrow which I have not even begun to study for.

But until I feel like studying, I'm going to amuse myself with writing an autobiography over blog spot -- care to join in for the ride? It's time to explore who I am, and how I got there. What better avenue for self reflection than telling your own story?