Gratitude

I have had so many experiences since I have been here that have made me realized just how blessed I am in. I have been left many times feeling so grateful for the life that I have been blessed with. I am so grateful for so many little things now after experiencing so many different things here and seeing so many people with so little. This post may be more for myself, but I wanted to make a list of some of the things that I have realized I am grateful for after being here. These are in no particular order, just what comes to my head at the moment! :)

1- I am grateful that I have the ability to travel. So many people that I have met here have never left their little village they live in and never will have the ability or opportunity.
2-I am grateful for flushing toilets in the states :) Most of the toilets here are squatters or toilets that you have to pour buckets of water down to flush. I will never take that simple thing for granted again!
3-I am grateful to be from America!! I have always loved the USA but after being here I LOVE the USA! I am so grateful for the rights and privileges and freedoms that I am blessed with from living there.
4-I am grateful for running water and clean water in the states. The water here in Thailand is not clean pretty much everywhere you go. Even in small villages they have water bottles that they use for drinking water. You may have read in previous posts about a village that doesn't even have clean running water. I am grateful that I can turn a faucet and I am able to get clean running water. There has only been one time in my life where I had to worry about the cleanliness of the water I was drinking. In one of my areas on my mission for a day or so we had to boil water before we used it because there was a fear that something may have contaminated the water, but that was only temporary. People have to think about that every day here.
5-I am grateful for air conditioning!! Most places are cooled down by fans :)
6-I am grateful for fans!! I am grateful that there is something that helps us stay cool here! (At least when we are in doors!)
7-I am grateful for a washer AND dryer! We are fortunate enough to have a little washer that we put our clothes in and it spins it around for 15 min, then we put our clothes in a spinner which spins out all the water then we hang them up to dry!
8-I am grateful for technology! I am grateful that even though I am so far from home I am still able to stay in touch with my family and friends! That has been such an amazing blessing!
9-I am grateful for my car! Our forms of transportation are quite different and unique here :) I am grateful that in the states I am able to just hop in my car and drive wherever I want to.
10-I am grateful that I was able to serve a mission that prepared me for being away from home for an extended period of time!
11-I am grateful for cameras! I am grateful for the ability to be able to capture moments that are special and amazing!
12-I am grateful for the ability to run! I have missed the ability to just get up early in the morning and going out for a run! One of our rules here while with HELP is to always have a buddy so we are safe! I am SO grateful for this rule because I do want to be safe! Luckily I have made some friends here that like to run as well with me!
13-I am grateful for good friends that I have made here! Before I left to Thailand my dad gave me a blessing that said I would meet people and make friends that I would have for a lifetime among the other volunteers that I am with and the people I am serving here in Thailand! I know that has already happened! I am so grateful for good friends that help me get through hard things about adjusting to a foreign country and all that that entails!
14-I am SOOOOO grateful for my amazing family!! I have had some sweet experiences with them since I have been here. The first night that I was here in Thailand was really hard for me. Luckily I was so blessed to have an app on my phone that was able to let me text my family even though we were on the other side of the world from each other At the time my mom and dad were in Martin's Cove so they were not able to text me back, but luckily my twin sister, my older brothers and my brother's girlfriend were all up and texting me to help me get through that night! I feel silly now for how much I struggled that night, but I am grateful for the thoughts and feelings that each of them shared with me that night. Since I have been here my little sister entered started her mission in the Washington DC South Mission. That has been an amazing blessing for me to talk to her before she left and to read her e-mails since she has been gone. She is one of the most amazing people in my life and I am so grateful for her! I could go on an on with all they have done for me since I have been here! I am a lucky lady to have them in my life!!
15-I am grateful that I like the food here! When I first got to Thailand there were so many weird smells and some weird food that we tried and I had the fear that I would have to eat food like that the whole two months I was here. I was so afraid that I would just be hungry all the time and I would hate everything here. Luckily either we have had better food then we did the first night or I have gotten use to the food here, but I actually am loving the food! At first I thought I would loose so much weight here because of the food and the humidity, but I think it has been exactly opposite. :) But at least I like the food now!
16-I am grateful for the education that I have been able to obtain all the way from elementary school to college graduation! Most people here in the surrounding villages don't go past the 6th grade if they are lucky. A huge percentage of people here are also illiterate. I am so blessed to be educated! I am blessed that if I decided to go for more education that I can do that as well!
17-I am grateful for good teachers during my school years. Things are just different here I have realized when it comes to teachers. Often times when we have gone in to classrooms to teach English there isn't a teacher in the room and the kids are just doing their own thing. Then often times when we leave the classroom the teacher is still not there and the kids are left to do their own thing. I think every kid would dream of that happening, but honestly I am grateful for the order and structure that comes from having a teacher in the room with students at all times.
18-I am grateful for TONS of fresh fruit here in Thailand! I am so grateful for that small little thing here :)
19-I am grateful that we have the internet here and that it works fairly well! I was afraid that being in a third world country the internet access would be very limited! That has not been the case luckily! Most little restaurants in our little town have free Wi-Fi, and we have Wi-Fi here at our guesthouse! It doesn't always work ideally, but it works! This morning I was able to stream the Pioneer Day Concert live! I am able to do so much with that!
20-I am grateful for bug spray!! Since we are in a wet climate there are bugs here, including mosquitos! THANK GOODNESS for bug spray!! Even though I still have gotten my fare share of bites I am sure it would be much worse if I didn't have bug spray!
21- I am grateful that we are here during the rainy season. That may sound kind of weird, but with all the rain comes more clouds, which includes a little cooler temperatures! It is still really hot, BUT I am sure it could be much worse if there wasn't so many clouds!

I am going to stop here with this post but keep updating the things I am grateful for as they come to me during my remaining time here!