This is the banner welcoming us at the school with all the supplies in front for all the projects we would be working on for the week.
You can see tile and septic pumps, medical cabinets, cement, fans, etc. You can't see the wall behind all the supplies, but that is the wall that will become the mural to be completed today. So exciting!














This was the opening ceremony for us. You will notice Dad front and center as one of those being recognized as representing YouthLinc. The Thai officials loved that he spoke Thai. He kind of looks like a Colombian drug lord in that hat, doesn't he? On his left is Brad Kinney who is our contact from the Phuket Rotary and has put all the YouthLinc money to good use with all the supplies he purchased. On Dad's right is Sarah Law who is our tiny but fearless leader who keps us all in line with her gentle ways. It is a lot of responsibility but she has done well. She and Matt, her husband have two kids. Matt has been in charge of construction and has really helped the kids accomplished an amazing amount of work in a very short period of time.


Wherever our YouthLinc kids are, so goes many little Thai kids.

We had some good strong young Youth Linc boys that really helped with the digging, the cement mixing and pouring and of course, playing with the kids.

Taiwan
wacky cement wave breakers against beautiful sea/mountain scape










Beautiful temples like these are found all along the coastline and in the mountains


















This rock formation in called chocolate ice cream cone. The water creates these.





































This temple was high in the mountains
of Taiwan on a very misty day.

Mission accomplished!

What an amazing week these kids have put in! It is now Thursday so we have officially been here a week. Wednesday and Thursday were basically spent in flight and at airports. Everyone came over safely and with all their luggage intact. We had a long layover in Taiwan on Friday so we went on a tour of the city with James which you already have pictures of.
Saturday we got our first view of the kids and the school. We are in Phang Na which is about an hour and a half away from Phuket. We are not working with the orphans of Phuket as I thought but a lovely group of school children age 6 to 13 (I think) in this lush jungley area. There are around 58 children and they have attached themselves permanently to our Youth Linc kids, lining the road way every morning as our buses roll in to wave us into the school area. They bring our children treats and homemade items and pictures they drawn or had taken for our kids to always remember them. Every Youth Linc kid has a little group of 4 or 5 kids clustered to them every minute the children are not in class. Saturday was the opening ceremonies which I have blogged about already and then Sunday started the work. From Sunday to yesterday which was Wednesday, the YouthLinc kids accomplished the following: dug out and paved and cemented a long pathway from the paviliion to the bathrooms to the classrooms, cleared out and graveled and painted a playground area-playground equipment forthcoming, medical center created with cabinets hospital beds and stocked supplies, installed a sump for the restroom with outside sinks, grease trap and sump for the kitchen,provided tile to complete tiling of the cafeteria floor and restroom, dug holes and installed three new water tanks and two new pumps for the three wells the school draws water from, material for new piping and electrical hook ups, provided electrical fans for cafeteria, classrooms and medical center, septic tanks installed, and painted a beautiful mural for and with the kids on the front of the cafeteria wall. Awesome Youth Linc kids!!!!!

After many long hours in th eplane we arrived in Taiwan about 5:30 am.
After going through customs and gathering everyone we found our tour guide
and started a wonder day in Taiwan
This is James the tour guide. He was wonderful. He took us from wacky
sea rock formations to high misty mountains, talking all the time. We learned
so much about the historyand people of Taiwan and saw amazing country.













The day was kind of cold and rainy but it kind of made everything even
more mysterious and foreign. Taiwan is quite narrow with usable land along the sea shore and mountains jutting straight up, which are also farmed and lived on. They farm every square in of land in rice paddies, vegetables and plants for other purposes.

Hard Workers in Thailand

Well I missed a day because there is really no time. We have the litle Tahi worker knock on doors at 6:00 am, breakfast at 6:30 and out the door at 7:00. The kids are at the site 15 minutes later and digging holes, pathways and working hard by 7:30. They work in mud, heat and ants (and other yucky creepy things) until about 11:30 where we break for lunch, where we are richly fed by the local women who live neaby and always give us plenty to eat. Classes started yesterday and the mentor over education, Jessica Frost, visited each class and was so impressed with the preparation of the "teachers". Then, skirts off, nasty work clothes back on, and back to work. Yesterday we finished the two large holes for the septic tank (both teams were winners!) and the pathway from the pavillion to the school. Yeeeeah! Local Thai men are doing the tile so we won't do that but fans were installed in the pavillion and we get the playground equipement today. The little kids are with us every minute they're not in class and just follow our youth linc kids around like little puppies. Such sweet connections. Pictures are coming, I promise. You won't want to miss the wacky place we went representing heaven and hell. Freaky!

Well of course I am on USA time so I thought I would blog while the rest of Thailand sleeps. This has been an amazing couple of days for us. It was so wonderful to see Taiwan and get a feel for what Ryan will have when he is here in just a few months. The Taiwanese people are very friendly and happy to see you. Ryan will like that as he hasn't felt that from the Chinese. They helped us as we tried to speak a few words in mandarin to them and we learned much about them through our bus tour guide James. He was a riot. They don't have a lot of love for the Chinese and we heard about it. But Taiwan was beautiful. It was raining and overcast and in the high mountains, very misty, so we didn't get super good pictures, but it was quite an adventure going from odd and beautiful rock formations created by the sea to high densely planted green mountains up where big buses like ours should never go! Every square in it seemed, was planted with rice paddies, corn and huge leafed vegetables, even next to the freeway.
The Youth Linc kids are incredible. They range in age from 16 to 29. Many are on their fourth humanitarian project. Remember they have to earn all the money themselves, plus do service projects and fundraisers. In addition to all of that, many are finishing up degrees in school, preparing to serve missions, and even getting married! but are here first to give of their time and work. There is no ego that I can see and each is so kind to the others. Jeff and I feel like their mom and dad and they are OK with that. I had one young gal sitting by me on the plane over from Taiwan to Thailand and she rested her little head on my shoulder all the way over.
Thailand s everything Jeff said it would be. The people are friendly, happy wonderful souls. Jeff is having the most wonderful time. You should see him chatting it up with the locals. (I have no idea why I am suddenly writing with this italics font but bear with my ignorance). Yesterday was a red letter day for him. We met with the children and the Rotary officials at the school yesterday and Jeff was asked to be one of the main speakers at the ceremony! From someone else who speaks Thai they said he did an great job, explaining our purpose and speaking for Youth Linc. Way to represent Jeff! Then later at a dinner at our hotel, again hosted by the Rotary here, he met the governor of the province and was bold to both give him the wai greeting and shake his hand. Needless to say, he loves it here and I love watching him love it.
It is sooooooo hot here. Sheri tells me you are freezing in Utah and we are literally always soaking wet here. We are drinking water always but it runs out of us faster than we can put it in! We will go to work very early today to get a lot done before the heat is dangerous to the kids. Today we are digging a hole for a septic container, marking pathways for sidewalks and tiling the kitchen area and bathrooms for the school. Quite a change from what I would be doing back home right now-getting ready for church, having a nice birthday dinner with loved ones. This will be a birthday I will never forget! Well this is probably good for now. Nancy, wait in vain indeed! Thanks for all the birthday greetings. We love you all so much!!

THAILAND!

Well here we go! Jeff and Shawn are on their way to Thailand, Jeff's mission country 35 years ago,only we will be in a whole different part of the country. Jeff served in Bangkok and in the northern part of this beautiful country and we are going to the southern part of Thailand around the Phuket area. We are going with a youth group called Youth Linc to do humanitarian work for the orphans from the tsunami.
We'll know more and will blog as we get going but for right now sawadee ca!