4th of July...Thai style

When you love outside the US, you've got to find a way to celebrate American holidays, right? If I go through the day knowing that my friends and family at home are celebrating and I'm not, I'll be sad all day. So why not introduce my Thai friends to American celebrations? Everyone likes parties.

This is why I decided to throw a 4th of July party for my English students. They got very involved...they helped decorate and even wore red, white and blue clothes like I asked them to. We ate lots of food (it was all American, but not exactly 4th of July fare...but the Thais didn't know the difference). I did go out of my way to make apple pie though. It was my pie making debut (everything from scratch, even the crust). Not too bad for my first time. We played some games and sang a song. After that, I presented a brief explanation of why we celebrate the holiday and then used the opportunity to share a little bit about the Lord. I explained that while most people think America is a Christian nation, not every American is a Christian. This is important because many people from non-Western countries think that all Americans are Christians, therefore every tourist, American movie and American song represents Christianity in their minds. I also explained that Christianity isn't an American or European belief. Some of them were surprised when I said that Christianity comes from Asia (Jesus was Jewish, not American:). We had a great time together. Parties and events like this one are great ways to build relationships with our students and introduce them to our Savior and Hope.