A note from Steph

From trip_to_Koh_Chang_Thailand

Hi!
First of all, the New Years holiday was great! We went to Thailand! Thai celebrate new year with throwing white goop and water on people! We got doused a couple times, and I was the only one who got smeared on the face with the white stuff. It was sort of like paint, but it came off easily. :) We went snorkeling and saw some cool fish and coral. My mom got a sea urchin spike stuck in her foot! Ouch! We also went kayaking, just Me, Jubes, and Dad. It is such hard work i felt like my stomach muscles were gonna rip! But it was fun! We would go near a group of small fish, and they would hop out the way, and tons of them! You had to be there to witness how cool it was. Our resort was really nice, and we had pool to go with our ocean :) So it was really fun. One scary thing was driving in a taxi one time. We were going to...oh where was it....mb another beach? I dnno, but anyway, the road there was basically up and down the mountain. It was so steep we thought we were gonna fall straight down, it was so curvy we thought we were going to tip over, it was so up-hill, we thought we weren;t gonna make it!!! AHHH! All you do at that point is pray and pray until we're over the hill, then you say o my goodness, and you pray and pray and pray again! :)

From dec6

Here is a couple God stories for you. In our backyard, we usually (me, julia, and our neighbor, mony) make a small fire in a cooking pot and roast some stuff.(roasted bananas are good. Try it next time you have a bonfire. =)) So one time we made a fire, and mony went inside, and it was just me and maya. Little did i know that mony had left the lighter near the fire. So maya was just playing with my hair, and then a stick of fire (half on fire half not) fell out. This usually happens cuz its windy and we just put it back in. No biggy. So I reached down to put it back in, then i heard a little voice in my head say "Stephanie, put your hair on it could catch on fire." So i listen, and just as I am bending up to reach my hair, WWWWUUUUSSSHHHH! It was like a roar! I could feel the heat against my face! The fire caught mixed with the lighter! Hmm, the explosion was...5 ft high. And i realized if I hadn't have been up doing my hair, i would have no hair, my face would have been directly exploded on. God completely saved me. It was amazing. I was so thankful. Maya was out of the way, i think she went inside too. Even now, fire and me, do NOT mix. :) God is really protecting our family and here is one more story. Me, Julia, and mom were all riding home after school, julia ahead of the rest. Me and mom stopped because someone from the school had been hit by a moto! (He was ok by the way) but Julia didn't notice and kept on going. So we rushed back to school to tell the guy that had been hit's dad. So we started off again, Julia out of sight. Meanwhile, on Julias side of town, she was nearing a big street. It can be dangerous since there are many cars and motos. So right before she crossed, (there are no stop lights, or crosswalks, you just make your way through) she prayed that God would keep her safe. And right then and there, to huge cars, the most expensive kind in Cambodia, came on either side of her and she was totally protected! She got a full pathway across the street! It was awesome.
School here is much harder, but bible class is WAY better. There is a lot more work here, but I really like it and you learn a lot. Our topic is salvation history. We discussed Genesis, through to now we're on 2Kings. It is interesting.
I have lots of good friends at school, they are mostly Filipino, and some Korean.
I am learning Khmer, the Cambodian language, a lot. I have a tutour teaching me words, and our normal class, teaching to write. I know how to write and its so cool! I can write your names when I come back. :) Today a random phone call was made on my phone,and it was a khmer guy! I asked him stuff (in khmer), and he kept calling! It was weird. He said he was in Vietnam. I said who are you and he kept saying something about his name! I still don't know why he called me, cuz i didn't know how to say "call." And now i know what the next khmer tutour topic will be. Phone Conversation. :)
Should get ready for bed, but you are just waking up! Bye! or good morning!
Lots of love,
steph