One of my writings.

I wrote this to my dad on his birthday. I just read it and had to chuckle. I hope you all like it too!  

Today is a day.

By: Danielle Opel

Today is a day that is a day that I will do something.

That something is nothing and nothing is something and that is what Gerald did say.

He pulled up the Heap that sputtered and spat,

Quivered and tweeped, fluttered and flexed.

“Come one, Come all,” Gerald did say,

“Come on out and lets go play.

Just push the Heap up that hill,

and all the way down with what fun we shall squeal!”

So we huffed and we puffed, with Gerald at till,

 we pushed and we pulled that heap up that hill.

At the top we did stop,

and fell down with a flop.

And that is when we heard that ornery Gerald hollar.

As we looked up that heap was nowhere in sight

 For down the hill the heap went spiraling without a fight.

Gerald let out a “Yippy ii o!

Hop on board for there is no way to slow!”

So we hopped and popped to our feet

and down the hill we ran after the heap.

There stumbles and tumbles, scrapes and bruises

for he who slowed down was the one who looses.

We all jumped with great spunk into the trunk

and away the heap flew.

Faster and faster we went

 until the path was all spent.

And there in front of us arose

a big tree with considerable pose.

Those in the back we all did flee,

all except Gerald, he ran into the tree!

There was a zoom and a boom and a sputter Dee spat,

 A clash and a bang and a tire that was flat.

As we looked on quite amazed with fright,

Out flew Gerald, it was quite a sight!

He flew through the bushes, and great big weeds,

through brushes, and brambles, and right past trees.

Onward and outward, and downward he rolled,

out of sight which left us quite dreaming of old. 

So onward and outward and downward we ran

Until we found Gerald stuck like a clam.

So hurriedly we offered him a chain made of man.

Fool hardily we offered him a helping hand.

Suddenly we found ourselves all pulled in.

The water was all the way up to our chins!

As we all grumbled, sputtered and spat,

With a great big splash Gerald let out a heartfelt laugh.

“It’s hot and it’s fun,

 we all worked hard in the sun.

Come on let’s play!

Let’s not waste this day!”

So we splished and we splashed

and had many a laugh!

We sank and we swam

until it became lame.

All tired and sore

we climbed up to the shore.

We all laid asleep about to drift,

when suddenly we realized something was amiss!

Gerald was missing, not in sight.

Off with the chips, without a fight!

So we scrounged and looked, we pillaged with funk

until we saw Gerald lying by a tree trunk!

He was napping quite nicely I would like to say,

quite tuckered out by all that hard play.

So we nudged him, and budged him, and begged him to say

what had become of those delicious chips that day?

He denied he had ever seen them

Or that he had ever eaten them.

But all I can say is that he is the last one

 that had the bag that day.

We all went home tired and wet,

And without supper, went straight to bed.

And when the parents asked what we did that day, Gerald piped up, “Today was the day that was a day that I did something. That something was nothing and nothing is something. Man, I had fun today.” 

 

Study Abroad.

Hello All!
I am officially a student at KBU (kasem Bundit University). I have studied for 2 weeks now, so I have a pretty good idea what class are like. I study 6 days a week, morning and afternoon. I am taking 7 subjects. Most classes are 4 hours long. I usually study 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. All my classes but one class are begginer classes. That means we study all the basic stuff like the alphabet, writing correctly, basic speaking and reading, and the phonology of speaking thai. For me it is kinda boring because I am past basic level, however i have to take these classes. I figure it will be a easy A and a good review. My other class is a higher level class. Normally 3 or 4 year students study it. But my advisors thought I should try it since I know so much. I enjoy this class alot. It is challenging, but good for me. The reading is the hardest part. Thai uses a different word system for writing then speaking, so understanding the meaning is hard some times. I do understand when the teacher speaks. I am gonna give it my best and hope I do well! I am lucky enough to have a thai friend that likes to help me do my homework. :)

It is hard studying 6 days a week. By the end of the week I am worn out, but I have been trying to protect Sundays as my day of rest. I also do not get alot of homework. So the evenings are restful.

One thing that is different about studying here in Thailand is that students must wear a uniform. It consists on a white button up shirt, and black pants, or skirts for girls. There are 2 kinds of skirts, straight or pleated. They come in different lengths. I like the ones that come to the knees. We are also required to where a belt and pin that come from KBU. You are allowed to wear any kind of shoes as long as they are nice. NO FLIP FLOPS! haha Everyone thinks it is great that in America you can wear whatever you want.
All of my class mates are Chinese. Most can not speak thai and only a little English. So I think maybe I will try to learn some Chinese. haha I know a little already! They are going to teach me how to cook chinese food! I love Chinese food! It is so good, much better then in the states.  

There are 4 sexes here at KBU. Boys, Girls, Ladyboys, and Toms. Ladyboys sleep in the boys dorm but wear the girls uniform. Toms are girls that want to be boys. They sleep in the girls dorms and dress as a boy. The other day I  saw a girl that I am sure was a boy the day before. haha It has become an everyday thing here.

I have offically began to hand wash my clothes. For any of you who have done this, you know how hard it is. The man who invinted the washing machine knew what he was doing. I wish I had enough sence to use it. haha Actually, the clothes get cleaner if I hand wash them, so I do. The first time I did it, it took me 3 hours to finish the clothes. It was awful. But now I am quicker. I only take 2 hours. haha ;)

My room mate it great! I can trust her completely. She is really sweet. She is very patient. I feel kinda bad for her cause she has to deal with my mess. If you came into out room you know where the thai is and where the American is. haha

In the evenings I spend time with my friends, mostly with a girl named rabbit. We go eat, to the market, and shopping together. I also do homework and Iron my clothes. Let me just talk about ironing clothes. It is the hardest thing ever. It took me 30 minutes just to do one shirt. You have to get all the creases just so. I think I will make a lousy house wife. haha I don't like cleaning, it takes me hours to wash clothes, and I can not iron worth a dime. haha I am ok at cooking, great at making messes, and excellent at keeping the couch warm. ;) haha

Spiritually things are going ok. It is hard not to have another believer to encourage you daily. I try to be intentional about my times with God. It is hard, and full of distractions. I am finding that God finds other ways to help me. Like being with a good friend, or providing a bible study just when I need it. I do ask that you keep praying that I can stay strong and focused on why I am here. I am struggling with home sickness alittle. If you see my family give them a hug for me. I am ready to see them all. They have been a good support to me. Gee I miss them.

Thank you all for your prayers and Thoughts. I love hearing from you!
Love from Danielle!




Here is what the uniform looks like. This is on Campus.  

Flash Date

Hey everyone! Here is a quickie! I made it back from Laos. My visa is all set. It is good to be back. I realized I really feel at home in Thailand.I love it here. The thing I like most about my KBU home is the evenings. I sit out with friends. We talk, sing, and, hang out. 
Everyone who was returning to America has officially returned. My new team most is Spanish speaking. I am feeling excited about being here. But it is still very hard. I am struggling alot with not being able to speak well. I can speak, and I am pretty good, but when you are with friends you realize how limited you really are. I have also had some struggles with people and my faith. Some people here think my faith is silly or I have to much faith. They tease me alot, I know they are only joking, but it is really hard some times. I ask you to pray that God would help me to stand firm in him. School starts  on June 17th. I have no idea what classes I am taking or what my schedule is. When I went to sign up for classes, they told me, on the 17th og to this class room at 10 am. Then go to the office. :) Yep, this is Thailand! haha I am ready to start. I think it will be good. Oh and just a side note, students here have to wear an uniform. So i will put up pictures of it when i get a chance! :) I would love to here from you all!

New Beginnings!

So I have been here on the KBU campus a little over a week. I have lots to tell, so I will start from the beginning! I moved on a Sunday. The night before I made sure everything was packed and ready to go! Sunday I got up and showered. I looked out side, and to my surprise I saw dark clouds. Of course it would rain, and it did! It pushed our plans back around 2 hours. The people at JP Mansion said it was because I should not go. haha I am loved there! The family and Rhonda helped me move. After a visit to the office I was able to move in. I really like my room! It is cozy. I spent most the day on Monday unpacking and getting organized. It is different living alone. Not as bad as I thought it would be. My room mate is working right now and living at home. She will come here in June when school starts. Tuesday started out really bad. I had a tough morning. I went to the office for my visa stuff and ID card. The visa stuff was not ready at all. Luckly I was able to get my ID. I then went to the bus station to buy a ticket to go to Laos for my visa . After an hour of travel and being sent to various levels of the station I found out that you can only buy the bus ticket on the day of travel. I just wanted to cry. I did not want to go back to KBU. That evening I tried to get internet, but that, too, was a fail. I was headed to my room, to recollect my self and go try to meet some people who had invitied me to play volleyball when some girls stopped me and talked to me. The invited me to go eat with them. I of course agreed. On my way to put my laptop away another group called me over. We begin talking when the group of girls who invited me to play volleyball walked by. They called me over to play volleyball. I told them sorry I could not cause some friends invited me to go eat. After going to eat with the first group of girls, I thought I would go see about meeting the volleyball girls. But on my way there, another group of people called me over and began to talk to me. I found out they were Christians. It was fun! We sat around, talked, and sang.
 I could really see God's hand in bringing me here.
I now mostly hang out with a girl named Emmy, and her group of friends. I really like them alot! During the day we go swimming and play bag-mitten( I have no idea how to spell that.). In the evening We sit out in the grass and talk!  

I have been here almost 2 weeks. I know that God has brought me here at just the right time. I think this first year here in Thailand was to prepare me for this second year. I am no longer afraid to be alone. I don't relay on people anymore to build me up. God does that now.
I don't feel like I need a boyfriend, and really enjoy being single. (There are a few guys that want to be more then friends.)
Anyway Thanks for you all being patient with me in writing this update. It took me close to a week to write it, because every time I started, some friends would come and invite me to do something. ahha, i think that is a good problem.    
 

Where the Dirt Path Ends and the Pavement begians.

Life here at JP Mansion is winding down. The countdown is on, 4 days until I move into a new chapter of my life.
For those of you who don't know I will be attending Kasem Bundit University (KBU) for a year, where I will continue my study of the Thai language.
I just want you all to know that this is completely and totally a God thing. I have a great peace about and excitement about this next chapter. Here is the story.

About two months ago I started praying about what God wanted me to do this next year. I had so many questions. How would I get Work? Visa? Place to live? Spiritual Support? Basically, What the______should I do??!!! I did not feel like I was hearing God, or at least what I wanted to hear. And nothing was working out.  I did not know what to do. Finally, It was time to meet with the team leaders.
Now that I look back, I smile, and shake my head. At the meeting the first question was simply, "Dani, what are you thinking?" I shared that I wanted to stay at JP Mansion. The thing is, as soon as I said that I knew my leaders where not thinking that, and that God wanted me to do something else too. You see, during that time of praying and "not hearing God", he had been telling me to go to KBU. But I did not want to go. I like where I live and my friends are here. So I told myself I really did not hear God, or that was just me, not Him.
Well as you can imagine my leaders really felt like going to KBU would be a really good fit for me. My heart surrendered. Ok, but I won't go unless there is a natural reason for me to be there and I can find away to get a visa.
I figure God just chuckled as he finished putting the icing on the cake, and began the sprinkles. I went to visit the university and they were so excited for me to come! I started feeling good about going, and everyone on the team felt really good about me going too!
But the cherry on top is my roommate! I had not even been accepted when Nixon (a fellow team mate, who is a student there.) said that he had a friend who was looking for a roommate and he thought we would be good for each other. I was not too sure about it, as a matter of fact, for some reason I did not want to be her roommate. But I said sure. If it is meant to be, God would work it out. He worked it out. :)

She is an awesome girl. This is the best situation, really. She wants to practice English and I want to practice Thai. We are going to both help each other. She has also mentioned that if we have time she hopes we can study the bible! We met last Sunday. It was a great day! We talked (mostly thai) about all sorts of things, many of them deep.  I am looking forward to being able to pour in to her life!

I really feel like God has brought so many things together, university, roommate, and money. While I know God is totally leading me in this, there have been frustrating things. Like: communication about what I need to bring in or things I need to do. They even almost lost my application. For my Visa I have to leave the county for 2 days, by myself.     
     
While those things are frustrating, I can only keep thanking God. I feel like I am stepping into a field ready to hear and see the presence of God! I might be the first girl to really dwell with God there!

Fallowing God is always the best thing, it is not always easy. I will be leaving behind friends and family. It is an 1-2 hour trip, but I can come back and visit, hopefully on a regular basis. I will miss chasing Nong Dow down the hall, eating P'Great's yummy food, and meeting Lung Sarie for breakfast.
Last night Lung Sarie told me "It is good if you can go out there to fallow God, and get a visa. But my heart still hurts. Everyone is leaving. Maybe it would better if I never knew you, Rhonda, or Tom."  (All the workers are leaving this area and retuning to America, except me. Lung Sarie has been helping all of us here for the past 6 or 7 years, and now we are leaving.)

I know the life of a worker is never easy, always saying good byes. But I realize it is not easy for those left behind. Thank you all for being willing to send me and support me. Because of you and my friends here I am ready for this next chapter God has prepared for me. Thank you for being willing to be used by God in my life!




   
   

A Trip Back Home

Hello everyone!
This past week was Song Kron. It is the Thai New Year. This Holiday lasts around 3 -4 days. Almost everyone has off work, and most people return home. Song Kron takes place over the hottest part of the year. Thais celebrate this time with a huge water fight.

For this holiday I went to 101 (Roy Et), the home of my host family. It is a province in the eastern part of Thailand. A normal trip with out traffic and take any where from 6 -8 hours. Our trip took 12 hours, due to the traffic. Every one was going home.

Traffic was like this almost the whole way.

We were lucky. The family was able to barrow a pick up truck to go. I got to sit in the back of the truck almost the whole way. It was alot of fun, and diffidently an adventure. At one stop we were getting some snacks in a market, when I saw green hot dogs!  P' Great asked the seller what it was, the seller said it was green tea hot dogs. I was not brave enough to try the bright green wieners, but I am sure it would have been an interesting experience!

Anabell and Me. Anabell is from Nicaragua.

At another stop Anabel and I were heading to the rest room. I saw the sign for the ladies room, but I did not see the door. So I continued to the back of the building. To my shock I realized the ladies room was diffidently not there! I think the guys standing at the urinal where just as shocked as I  was!
Needless to say, after a second of shock I turned around and headed back and was able to find the right door. :)

 I loved sitting in the back of the truck. But when night came, it became a fight for survival. Ok, that is a bit dramatic, but it was so cold! Anabell and I had a blanket, but eventually had to share just to barely keep warm. The funny thing was the only thing we could do was laugh. For some reason I thought the whole situation was entirely to funny. I loved it!

Making Breakfast in the Kitchen. 

The stove.

Derailed after along night.

We arrived at the home around 2am. But the was not much sleeping for us. We arose at and early 6:30 to go to the market. I was so derailed! After breakfast I took a bucket bath. They decided to go play water. It was alot of fun! The good thing about being a foreigner is you have lots of opportunity to get people wet, the bad thing is that they love to get you wet too! I don't mind getting wet, but it kinda wears a person down when they target you all the time.

Armed and Dangerous.

Playing water. I think we were both a little scared.

Trying to take me OUT! haha

That afternoon we went to the temple. There they ushered in the New Year. They prayed to the monks and then to the Buddha. After that, they poured water on the Buddha as a blessing. It was interesting to watch and do. But it raised questions in my mind. Is it ok to participate? What acts are cultural and what ones are religious? How do Thai Christians know what to do? It is a really difficult subject.

Grilled Pork! Yea, it was amazing! I loved it!

The next day we took a truck around to play water! That was alot of fun. I liked it alot. Driving around throwing water on people and motorcycles. Some of the people saw us and ran to safety before we could get them, others surrendered and accepted their fate. There was nothing more fulfilling then hearing the smack of water hit a passing motorcycle or the scream of children as they feel cold water run down their backs. 

Me and Dow, P'Great's daughter.

Grilled fish! Yummy!

That afternoon we again went to the temple. There they had loud music and dancing. As soon as they saw me, I was pulled in. They formed a parade walking and dancing around the village, I think in a way of blessing it. They threw water and wiped powder on faces. People loved putting powder on me. Every time I would get into a good groove to the music, another person would come powder me up. It was alot of fun. It soon became clear though, if you did not want to get wet, you should not stand beside me. :) While I loved it all, I wish I could have blended in more. Being a foreigner, or at lease a white foreigner you really stand out. It is good in some ways, but it is also hard.

That evening they played a movie at the temple. It was really cool! It was out side and the projector was really old. The man had to watch the bulbs and some times I saw smoke coming out of it. :)

The last day we were there we picked mangoes, went fishing, and relaxed. I had a great time there. I hope that some day I can go back again! P' Great said that even after we left people would come around where I was. What can I say? I make lasting impressions. :)

country side.

Rice fields in the off season.

Mangoes, when we picked them we had to watch out for red ants.

Country road.

The Fish pound.

People had red shirts hanging outside their homes to keep the ghosts away.

Going fishing! It was a big mud hole!

Dancing! The White stuff on my face was powder. 

Me and the family!

Dancing with this lady! She loved it!

 
 

        
   

Opportunities of Life!

Hello all!
This past weekend was the SEAAR Retreat, South Eastern Asia Anabaptist Retreat. It was made up of 5 or 6 different Agencies. MCC, RMM, EMM, were included among others. There were workers from India, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, China, and Nepal. It was a wonderful time of getting together and worshiping Our God!

Two things I loved about this retreat were the times of group worship and prayer. I never realized what a difference worshiping and praying in a group can make. It was so encouraging. There were over 50 voices singing praise to God at one time! It was beautiful! I felt like we were unstoppable! And prayer was so much easier. There were not as many distractions and you could bounce off each other.

I never knew that I was missing out, until I was there. It is true that I can worship and pray here everyday by myself. The spirit is still there. However, being in a group was so freeing. I was free to let go, I felt protected, and lifted up.

I want to encourage all of you who do have opportunity to worship and pray in group settings to take advantage of that opportunity. So many times we let the distractions of the week and day take over our mind. But this chance is truly a gift form God. There is a reason God says that where 2 or more are gathered there His spirit is also. We must cherish and protect this time. Worship and prayer is our time to go before God, this is when we present ourselves to him. I don't want to come before God distracted, I want to come before him fully focused on him so that he can be blessed though me.

It is a weird thought, blessing God. But you know, that is relationship. Blessing each other, both receiving and giving. What an awesome opportunity we have! God is pretty Awesome!

During the retreat I met a boy. Don't get excited, he is only 2 years old.  haha God reminded me of what it was like to be loved by a child again. It was the best gift ever. Every time I saw this little guy or waved to him he would smile shyly and wave.
He even danced with me! I loved it. Leaving was hard. But that little boy taught me God's love. I did nothing to start being friends with this little boy. He chose me, just like God chooses us.
I was just my silly self. We danced, sang, and played together. That is all God wants with us, just to be with us in our life, to experience the ups and downs with us.

While I am sad I had to say good bye, I would not have changed that time for anything. Definitely, a highlight for this time in Thailand!