Selling Books

"Oh no! It's time to pay off my school bill. Oh no, oh no ...

I have raise a lot of money (10,000 THB / $300.00 USD). That's lots of money - for me!

So I went to my Dad and asked, "I need your help! How can I earn some money to pay off my school bill?

Dad said, "Hannah you can sell some books! I have the book, Christian Service, you can sell.''

''OK Dad, I need to sell these books fast, I mean fast. So I can pay my school bill."

Dad said, "Yep, these books will sell like hot cakes!"

I said, "Thanks for your help Dad!"

I was a little nervous but I had the courage to sell the books. I called up lots of people on the phone and asked them if they wanted to buy the books from me.

Some of the pastors said "Yes, I'll buy some of these books for my church members!"

One of my friends helped me keep records and sell the books. And I'm happy to say that they sold like hotcakes!

Here's the link online study guide for this helpful book.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever had to pay for your school bill?
2. How did you do it? Did you sell books?
3. Would you like to buy a book or two and help me pay my school bill?
   

Running & Jumping on Sports Day

Today was Sports Day at my school. Our school had two teams - the Red team and the Green team. I was on the Red team. We started the day by watching a gymnastics team from a local orphanage. Then we had different fitness activities. I participated in these various activities.

• 50 meter run
• 100 meter run
• 100 meter hurdles
• long jump

We then did a tug a war between the Red team and the Green team. Guess who won?



Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you run a race?
2. How did you do?
3. How did you feel afterwards?

Write soon!

Adventist Health Expo

Today I went to the Adventist Health Expo with my awesome dad. It was pretty cool! It was held at one of the biggest malls in Thailand. The mall's name was MBK. They had all these booths with health check-ups, and the NEWSTART Plus program. There was also an ongoing program on the stage where different musical groups performed. There were exercise classes and interviews with doctors and other health professionals.

While this was all happening I was taking video of one of our student volunteers passing out brochures, inviting people to the health expo. When our student volunteers had to go home, I stopped taking video and started handing out brochures. I gave out more than 1,000 brochures that day. A total of 70,000 brochures were handed out! And we had over 2,000 people participate in our health expo over four days. It was really neat how people learned how to take care of their bodies in practical ways. Ways such as eating a healthy diet, and getting plenty of exercise.

Questions:

-Do you take care of your body?

-What kind of exercise do you enjoy?

-Have you been, or helped with a health expo?

Check out photos and videos from the expo:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adventist-Health-Expo

Adventist Health Expo - Applying What We Learn from Hope for Bangkok.

Rainy Season

Rainy season in Thailand is from June to October. And when it rains, it really rains! This year we were flooded several times. It is interesting to wake up, look out the window and your house is surrounded by water, including fish! It is kinda cool, but my mom does not like the 8 inches of water that gets into the back storage room.

Several times we could not make it out

of the house without wearing rubber boots. One day after wading to school, the school was also in a lake of water. The teachers had made a bridge out of benches to get from the road to the classrooms. We really "dove" into our studies that day.

Questions:

-Has your house ever been flooded?

-Have you had fish swimming in your yard?

-Have you ever had school cancelled due to flooding?

Worms, worms, worms!

Here in Thailand, it's now rainy season. Today when it stopped raining, I went outside to school to see who I could play with.

I saw a bird pecking at the ground. I walked closer to see what it was doing. Guess what? The bird was eating worms!

There were worms laying around everywhere! They came out of the ground to try to escape from the flood waters. So they were laying on the ground.

I decided to pick up the worms and play with them. I picked up the worms from the cracks in the concrete of the road outside my house. One after another, I started collecting them. Soon I had a pile of wiggly worms, but I wasn't scared!


I didn't know where to put them, because our yard was flooded. So I asked my mom, "Where can I put these worms?"

Mom said, "Not in the house!"


So I put all of them into one of the big plastic buckets we have with dirt in it.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Are you scared of wiggly worms?
2. Have you ever played with worms?
   
3. Do you like playing with worms?

Write back soon!

Finding a Baby Bird

One day I found a baby bird on the ground. I looked up and saw the nest where it had fallen out of. It was so, so cute.

One of my classmates was with me as we were playing outside. We went and told one of the teachers at school and he helped us carefully put the baby bird back into its nest without touching it. So now the baby bird is back home in its nest safe and sound!

Questions for you, my blog readers:

1. Have you ever found a baby bird before?
2. What did you do with the baby bird?
   

Hatching Gecko Eggs

One day my friends and I were playing in the field across from my house. I saw one tiny little white egg, about the size of a pea. It looked lonely so I took it inside our house and put it inside a bird's nest that my Dad found when we took a trip to Ayutthaya. I put the egg in the nest and then went back outside to play with my friends. I saw another little white egg laying in the dirt, so got it and went back home and put it with the other lonely little egg. I checked on the eggs every day. But then I stopped checking on them. I gave up hope on them hatching. I started saying to myself, "What if they don't hatch?" Guess what?! I looked again one day, and one egg hatched! I looked the next day and both eggs had hatched! And I said to myself, "What if I had thrown the eggs away? What would have happened to the cute baby geckos?" That would have cost the two little baby geckos lives! One lesson I learned was never give up home on small things! Because there's something big inside, even if you don't know it!

For My Blog Readers:

1. Have you ever wanted to give up?
2. What lessons have you learned from small things?
3. What story could you share about a lesson you learned from being patient?

Visiting Klongtan

Today we went to one of the new church plants, and next month it will be three years old! As my sister and I walked to church, she almost stepped on a dog! It was lying on the street. I saw kittens and puppies trying to get out of their cages. One kitten looked just like my cat!

There were boys and girls who attended the morning Bible study. They sang songs for us in English. They learned these English songs during the classes they attend during the week.

After church, on our way home, we walked by the house of one of the students. So we stopped and visited her, and we prayed with her too!

We had a lot of fun there.

Smile, You're On Camera!

I'm working on my Pathfinder video honor. Through video, you can capture events so that other people can see them, and to record special events.

I've learned how to use different kinds of video cameras and tripods. I've learned how to balance the tripod so that it's level and even. It has a little bubble level that I have to make sure the bubble is in the middle so the tripod is balanced.

With each camera, you have to learn how to use the difference buttons and switches. Sometimes we use the camera's built in microphone. Other times we use wired or wireless microphones. We can capture the sound so that it is clear and more understandable.


Some of the places I have video taped include two concerts at a local church, a school program, evangelistic meetings, at the prison, various events at the church plants, and some seminars.


Questions for my blog readers:

1. Is video one of your hobbies?
2. Do you have the Pathfinder video honor?
3. Do you know how to video tape?

Cultural Diversity Appreciation in Cambodia

I'm learning about different cultures and how people live in different parts of the world. One way I'm learning is by completing the Cultural Diversity Appreciation Pathfinder honor.

Last Sabbath our family visited a church in a Cambodian village. It was a typical Cambodian house made of wood and bamboo and up on stilts.


There were no pews or chairs or much furniture at all. There was also no electricity. They used batteries for their power.


Everyone sat on the floor on the second story. The houses are all built on stilts because of all the rain they get and also to get up and away from snakes, rodents and bugs. Being up high also has a better chance of catching a breeze. It had a tile roof, but many other houses have grass roofs.

Everyone welcomed us with warm smiles.

As we sat on the floor, we could look through the cracks in the wood floor to the ground below. There were some hammocks below and bikes parked, but not much more than that. I saw some people dropping food down below, so I was glad I wasn't in one of those hammocks! We even lost our pen because it fell through the open spaces in the flooring. But my dad went down and got it for me.

There were about 50 people there. The church service was in Khmer, so we didn't understand much, but it was interesting to listen to their language and notice some similarities to the Thai language.


We sang two songs for special music. The first song we sang was “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, which we also did it in sign language. Then we sang “Give Thanks”. We sang it first in English, then we sang it in Khmer. Our friends who we were visiting speak Khmer, and they had the song written phonetically so we could try to follow along. The people were very appreciative of our musical gift.

It was an extra special Sabbath because it was communion. My dad preached the sermon and spoke about Jesus and how Mary Magdalene gave him the most precious gift of ointment. He invited the people to commit their lives to Jesus. Even though the people don't have a lot of things, and they live very simple lives, they have a most precious treasure, and that is their heart. That's what Jesus is asking from each one of us.

After the service, they had a meal that was cooked on charcoal fire pit. We sat on the floor in groups and ate Khmer food. There was lots of rice, with vegetable dishes and curry. It was good, and not nearly as spicy as the food in Thailand.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever been to a church where you don't speak the language?
2. Do you have the Cultural Diversity Appreciation honor?
3. Have you ever been to a church without electricity, or furniture?
4. Have you gone to a potluck and saw food that was new to you? Did you try it? Tell me about your experience!
   
5. Even though most people we saw were very poor, they seemed happy, why do you think they were happy?
6. Will you give Jesus your heart today?

Basic Rescue

Today our school went on a three day camping trip. One of the Pathfinder honors we worked on was Basic Rescue. Here are a few things that we learned. We learned how to stop bleeding How to take care of chest injuries How to take care of head and spine injuries How to save a drowning person without getting wet How to be safe in an earthquake How to be safe in a fire inside a building and outside We went on the obstacle course and I got wet. We went swimming. I had an awesome time there.

To learn more about the Basic Rescue Honor go to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Health_and_Science/Basic_Rescue

The White Elephant part 2 - the rest of the story

(continued from The White Elephant part 1 on Thursday, January 21, 2010)

The white elephant I was petting was dangerous!  My mom is holding it's tusk!

After we took some photos, one of the workers came running over to us yelling, "Don't pet the white elephant!"  

We stopped right away.  She later explained to us that this elephant was being used for a war re-enactment, so it was used to soldiers in battle, not with little kids!

I thank God that my guardian angel protected me and my friends!  

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever pet an elephant?

2. Have you ever been in danger before?

3. What did you do?

Write and tell me your stories!

Did you know that ช้างเผือก pink / white elephants are very special here in Thailand?  The Thais believe that they are a sign of royal power, and are presented to the king!  Go to Wikipedia to learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_%28pachyderm%29

To learn more about this Elephant Rehab Park, I visited check out their websites!

www.elephantstay.com English                 www.changdee.com Thai

The White Elephant

One day we went with our friends, Gabi and Eli to the Elephant Park in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

We went over to see some of the other elephants in a fenced area. We petted the nice big white bull elephant.

And guess what? I think I'll keep you in suspense . . . .

I'll post the rest of this episode next time!

Prickly Cacti Fun!

Have you ever had prickly cacti fun?

One of the Pathfinder honors that our family has done is the cacti honor.

Some Facts About Cacti

Did you know that the thorns on a cactus are really spines. Spines are not thorns!



North America has the most variety of cacti in the world.

One cactus fruit that I like to eat is Dragon fruit.

I had fun learning about them, where they grow & their different parts. This cactus flower was over 40 feet tall!



To learn more about this fun Pathfinder honor click here to go to the Wikipedia Cacti Honor site.

Questions for my blog readers

1. Do you have the Cacti pathfinder honor?
2. Have you ever raised a cactus before?
3. What's your favorite cactus you like to eat?