Learning Thai

I had an enjoyable time yesterday morning learning to make somtam (a spicy green papaya salad with garlic, tomatoes, dried shrimp, lime, etc). Our friend Pino, who is a maid on our street, brought all the ingredients except for the papaya which are growing in our front yard and even the mortar and pestle used to pound together the ingredients. She speaks Thai very rapidly and I have a lot of trouble understanding her, but I am trying hard not to get frustrated with myself and to keep a learning attitude! In the end it went so well that I’m going to try making it for Thanksgiving dinner with our team tomorrow- we've got loads of papayas to use (three trees full).

We also enjoyed our first two English tutoring lessons with a Thai pastor and his family. They are Neno, Oay, Putter, and Grace. We are working on teaching them conversational English- starting with greetings, colors, numbers (I have one red pencil. Please take a green pencil, etc), and verbs. We are enjoying getting to know them better. If anyone has some English teaching tips let us know! We feel a little like teacher imposters but are having fun!

On Tuesday I made my first visit to Nightlight, a ministry to exploited women and kids in the sex trade in Bangkok. It was amazing to see so many women who have come out of prostitution and are now making jewelry for a living and learning about Jesus. They had a bible study while I was there and were singing Christmas songs. It's incredible to think about what God has done! I will be volunteering there every Tuesday afternoon/evening. Please pray that God will give me opportunities to serve him through this ministry.
Link to Nighlight’s website.