My Thai Mother

It was another long day at English Camp, just not as stressful. This camp was bigger, so not all of the stress fell on me and Leah, there were plenty of other volunteers.  I was in control of the listening station.  So, I had the kids fill in the words to the song "What a Wonderful World", they seemed to enjoy it.  That took up little time, and I had twenty minutes with each group, so then I sang songs with them.  But, because the gym was so loud, I had to shout to sing and for everyone in the group to hear me.  My voice was shot by the end of the day, but I had the most amazing thing happen.

An old lady, I forget her name, was helping my group and she started talking with me.  She is sixty years old, retires next week, and loves english!  She loved me and interacted with me all morning, to help me calm the kids down so they could learn.  She told me that I was fun, and that I will be a good English teacher.  I smiled at her, her words meant a lot to me.  For some reason, this lady really liked me.

She was really nice to me.  She sat next to me at lunch, and even ordered me

another drink.  Her reason was that I was 'her daughter'.  We even took a picture together!  I loved this lady!  She is sixty and so energetic, and always smiling!!  She wanted to know about me, so she made me tell her about myself.  All she could do was smile at me and listen to what I had to say about my life, she really wanted to know!  And, while she was talking about herself, she mentioned she was both Buddhist and Christian.  I asked her why, it didn't make sense to me.  Her answer made sense, she said that they both believed in being nice to everyone.  As she was saying this, my eyes were watering, and I was hoping and prayingthat I had made some type of impression on this woman; she knew I was a Christian.  Maybe, just maybe, she would find Christianity more important than Buddhism, but at least she knew of Christianity and believed in it.

As I got up to leave, she gave me a note.  We had been discussing Laura Ingalls, and she had called me Laura because I reminded her of the author.  The note said "I love Laura".  I was shocked, this woman was amazing!  She told me she loved me- she had made such an impression on my life, and we had only talked for a little bit!!

The afternoon was a blast.  No more rotations, we just went up front and led out in songs and games.  I helped lead out in the CHICKEN DANCE!!  I've never done anything like that before!  I'd have to say, it was very fun.  It was a long, but amazing day.