Sunday, April 29, 2007

Beetles I've Seen part 2

Thanks to Dr. Brett Ratcliffe from the University of Nebraska for identifying this beetle!

Xylotrupes gideon, a common rhinoceros beetle widespread throughout much of Asia.
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Dynastinae
Tribe: Dynastini

Males have horns, females do not. Totally harmless. Nice beetle.

For more information about New World beetles, visit SCARAB CENTRAL and the Division of Entomology at from the University of
Nebraska at
www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm

Beetles I've Seen

I went camping with four of the church plants last weekend. After Friday night worship, we saw a big black beetle. It had a pincher horn in the front its head.

I found it on the sidewalk in front of my room. I held it. It felt like hard plastic. It had sharp claws, that when I tried to shake it off my hand it would cling to my hand!
After I held it, I put it into the bushes near our room. It didn't hiss any more because it was happy!

One interesting thing about this beetle is the sound it makes. It hisses when its mad. When you bother the beetle, or touch it, it hisses at you.

The female doesn't have a pincher.

Mom says it sounds like the Hissing Cockroaches from Madagascar that I saw at the Palouse Discovery Science Center.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Bamboo School


Guest Interview with Joelle

Last week we went to the Bamboo School. We drove a ways through different cities, and then we started climbing up the mountain. It took a long time. Finally we found the person who was going to help us go the rest of the way to the Bamboo School. We saw a village and it was the Bamboo School. But the lady said it was not. It was the village right before it .

We got there and all the kids came running out to meet us. They were so glad to have visitors.

The Bamboo School is a night school! These people are from the Karen tribe. They have to study at the Thai school to get a Thai Visa so they can work in Thailand. At this school kids live and work. Before the Burmese and Thais were fighting over the land. Most of the kids witnessed their parents death! This school is helping these poor kids.

It really was nice to see the happy faces of all the little kids, when I gave them the toys I brought with me.

I babysat this little baby boy who was both deaf, blind, and retarded. I felt so sad 4 him .

I'm glad God called me to go to the Bamboo School with my family.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Learning to speak a new language

A Guest Interview with Dani, A Missionary Kid

Sometimes it's tough being a missionary kid. Because we have to move from our home to go to a foreign country to share God’s love. I
have lived four different countries of the world. It's also tough to learn other languages. Because you have to learn the language before you can communicate with other people.

The first time I came to Thailand,
it was pretty tough for me because I didn't know how to speak either English or Thai. It was pretty tough for the first few months. I couldn't communicate with people at all! One day a classmate said to me, “Do you want to be my friend?” Then I said in my thoughts, “Thank you Lord!” because she was an American girl and she taught me how to speak English.

God strengthened me by putting tons of knowledge in my brain so I can learn other languages. I thank God for that because now I’m one of the top students in my class and I’m really thankful for that.