Keeping up to par

Well, here I am again. I bet you never thought you'd see a new post from me! Regardless of what kind of thoughts you had in the past, I am here. This post, however, is no ordinary post. This post is the kind of post that only comes along once (maybe twice or possibly more) in a lifetime. This special post is from Thailand. That's right, the land of all things Thai proudly presents to you Chelsea's newest post. I feel as if this post is somehow superior to all other posts. It is the Ferrari of the posting world. It has the same basic structure and ideas that are associated with other posts; however, this post has that foreign feel that you cannot get from any other post. It gives one, namely me, a sense of unparalelled power. In Thailand, I control what does and does not get posted! Okay, so it really isn't that much different from the others except that it is more expensive. I guess the Ferrari thing wasn't too far off!

Enough about me, let's talk about you...well that was fun! Just kidding! If I could listen to you, my readers, speak, I would. Since I am half way around the world though, that isn't going to happen. I suppose I should tell you about what we've been doing here then. Well, there are two things that have seemed to be the focus of this trip: eating and looking ridiculous while trying to speak Thai. Or was the focus God? I can't remember; it must be the jet lag. Anywho, we got to Bangkok and went to bed...or at least I think we went to bed. That whole traveling thing is such a blur. I honestly do not remember half of that trip (it was like a full day or two of traveling). The next morning, we got up, ate, walked around like tourists, and then headed to the airport to travel some more. We went north to Chaing Rai on an hour long flight. There, we met with our missionary, Mark Duhreen, and helped out with an English camp (CVC English Youth Camp: Higher Living 2006). We did that for two days (The first day we got there, we didn't actually help with the camp because it hadn't started yet. We just met some people in charge and got an idea of what we'd be doing. Oh, and we ate...a lot). The afternoon of the camp's second and last day for that group of students (there were two more groups that would be there for two days each), we got into the STL vehicles and headed to Chaing Mai. That's where I am right now. We got in to the hotel last night. We've been staying at some really nice places. When we got here, we went out to eat and went shopping at this market place. They have some amazing deals! The only bad thing is that I wanted to use my credit card and most places don't take it. That's to be expected, but I was just dumb before I left and only brought $100 cash. Although, I suppose that's not too bad. Anywho, today we got up, ate, and helped Mark some more. First, we went to the college campus in Chaing Mai. We went to the cafeteria and passed out flyers for the English class offered at Mark's church (TLC church). It was so cool getting to talk with the students. They are so much fun. Same with the students at the camp. Everyone just loves having a good time! The University students were very good at English. I sat down and had some short but good conversations. The coolest was when I was sitting at a table changing some of the info on the flyers and some students sat next to me. They happened to be English majors so it was easy to talk to them. They were so awsome! This one guy barely even had an accent. Actually, one girl lives on the same block as the TLC church. I really enjoyed that. We then went back to TLC and stuffed some bags with Book of Hope and tracks. We were doing a thing called "Christ in Every Home." It's this thing that is trying to allow everyone home in the world to hear the name of Jesus. It's so cool. We walked around the streets and passed out the bags (we split in to groups though). My group decided to break the rules and go down a street we weren't supposed to (not like it mattered too much). There was a guy who told our interpreter that more people were on a street near by. The thing was, they were there doing some sort of ritual to the devil. Freaky, I know. This girl from Austin, Savannah, was with us and she said, "Let's go." So we prayed, and walked down the street. I was kind of freaked out, but at the same time, felt an overwhelming sense of God's presence. We almost got right to the ceremony when we turned around. I was really excited about getting to do that. Thailand is such a spiritual place. I really believe that there will be and already is a serious spiritual battle going on here. I know that there are people here that God is preparing for this battle. Okay, I would love to say more, but I have to go. Please pray for Rachel ( a girl on our team). I just found out she's having surgery; so we are going to the hospital to visit. Well, see you soon!

Coffee Break

Hey! It's me again. Suprising, I know. Well, as most of you know, Saturday was my grad party. It went very well. I had so much fun and got to see people that I hadn't seen in a long time. Not to mention, I got to sit around and eat while I watched my family slave away (mwahahahaha)...you're right, evil laughs just aren't my thing. After the party, I got to go home and watch a movie (Walk the Line) with my neighbor Kim. I have to say that she is the greatest ever! She pretty much decorated the entire place on something like four hours of sleep. I kept telling her to go home and take a nap, but she said she wanted my family to enjoy the party. If I were her, I would have said get your own decorations and gone to bed. No, you're right again, I most likely would have done what she did, but it's fun to pretend that you're evil. Maybe it's wet ink on my fingers talking, but I think I'm going crazy. Oh yeah, back to my point. The movie...wait, that wasn't my point. Uh...my point was...RIGHT! Sunday came, and after church but before Reid's grad party, Trevor and I opened up some of my cards. It was fun for me because Trevor opened and read them while I recorded how much money I was getting. I must say that even though money is far from my favorite thing, when God showers it down at graduation time I am VERY thankful. Don't get me wrong, I could honestly care less about how much money I get because I know that God's going to take care of me. The thing is, it's nice to see God taking care of you right before your eyes.

Okay, so it's now Sunday night and Trevor and I had only opened half or so of the cards. My mom wanted me to come home so she could look at them with me, but I wanted to hang out with Britt before she went to Sparta and I went to Thailand. When I got home, I was crazy tired but decided to finish opening the cards anyway. To my suprise, I finished before dawn and actually got a little sleep. Monday morning came and I woke up at the crack of 10:30 to the phone ringing. My friend wanted some help with last minute homework so she could graduate. I helped her, went to work, came home, and started working on...(scary music)...THANK-YOU CARDS! At first, it wasn't bad. I went through the cards and wrote down on a little piece of paper who gave what. It was fun, like playing secretary or something. Unfortunately, I didn't get paid for overtime and couldn't quit. Of course, I didn't even come close to finishing last night. This morning I knew that if I didn't finish them soon, I'd be up at 2AM Friday morning scrambling before I left for Minneapolis and Thailand. From 9-11AM and from 12-2PM I have been doing nothing but thank-you cards. It wouldn't be so bad if I just said, "Thank-you. It really meant a lot to me." But no, I wanted to make sure that people knew that I really was thankful and not just a copy-paste machine. After four grueling hours of heartfelt sentiment, I'm only on the Helstroms. THAT'S IT! Do you know how many people there are on the list after the Helstroms? Obviously you don't, so let me clue you in...about a million! Actually, I don't mind it. Even though I rant and rave about how horrible it is, I like taking time to thank people for their time spent on me. Well, that kind of ruined my post. Now I don't have anything to talk about. Oh well. I need to go to work anyways. I guess my coffee break is over. So much for the coffee.
-chel_c

Shooting the Moon

Okay, so I have a new goal. It's an amazing goal, hence the title, "Shooting the Moon." I know that every time I post (which is once every ten years) I say that I am going to try and post more (that, or I just say that I'm giving up on posting). Well, here it is. Since I will not be home next year and am going on a bunch of trips this summer, I probably never see anyone. Therefore, my goal is to update my blog...we'll start with once a week and possibly work up to once a day. Now, if I don't have a post every single week, please, DO NOT come to my house with pitch forks and torches in an angry mob. I most likely didn't post because: A) I was out of the country and didn't have access to a computer; B) I was at camp and God distracted me; C) I just didn't care enough to post anything. Whether you agree with the excuses or not, I ask that you would bear with me as I attempt to shoot the moon. Well, I should probably get back to cutting cantoloupe for the party tomarrow. See ya!