WAY too long!!

Hey everyone! I know it has been WAY too long since I updated and for that I am sorry. I am officially settled in at my new home at Place of Rescue. I am currently in the middle of my second full week here in the village and I love it. I teach a class of 24 grade 4's, 7 grade 10's, 3-8 grade 7-9's, and some one on one tutoring with a grade 10 and 12 student. This past Thursday, we had the honor and blessing of welcoming Paul Brandt to Place of Rescue. He was here for the day with a group of six other people from North America. He toured the orphanage and then performed an acoustic concert for the kids! Everyone loved having him and listening to him sing. The older kids had t-shirts from his most recent tour and the young kids had "I heart Paul Brandt" t-shirts. I experienced something amazing last monday, I had the chance to help welcome one of our newest children to Rescue. He is a two year old boy named November, he was left at an NGO by his mother and sent to live with his grandparents. The grandfather was abusive, tied him up when he left the house, and fed him nothing but the equivlent of sugar water; heartbreaking to say the least but a wonderful experience to welcome this little guy into a BRAND NEW chapter and opportunity in life. If I could sum up the last little while in one sentence, I think it would be this; Life is so much more fulfilling when it's not all about me.

Love and Blessings,
Brian

Thailand and Moving to Rescue...

Hey all! Sorry it has been awhile since the last post. My trip to Thailand was AMAZING! I saw shows about and pictures of Thailand for so long that it was amazing to finally live out the dream to go and see it first hand. I went with Melanie and Keri and it was fantastic to just relax and be tourists. We flew into Bangkok and stayed at a guest house for a night before taking the day train through the country. I really enjoying being able to see the countryside of Thailand, yet the 13 hrs on a train grew thin to say the least! We finally arrived in Chiang Mai and were greeted at the train station by our guides Tom and Cheeky Nicky, both of these guys were hilarious and definately made the trip worthwhile. We were in Thailand during the new moon festival so it was a lot of fun to check that out and learn more about Thai culture. We packed so many wonderful things into our time in Chiang Mai. We went to the zoo, aquariam, white water rafting, bamboo rafting, visited a couple of Thai tribes, rode an elephant, swam in a waterfall, watched Muay Thai fights (our guide fought and WON!) and so many other wonderful things. It really was the trip of a lifetime. I just moved to Place of Rescue yesterday and am so happy and thankful to finally be here! We have just been in meetings today about figuring out our teaching schedule but I am really excited for what the future holds. Until next time, stay classy friends!

Love and Blessings,
Brian