American Visitors!

A favorite treat of mine is hanging out with visitors who come through. Being in Thailand, we actually get quite a few. We have a great airport hub to stop through on the way to our neighboring countries. Our hospitals and beaches are great places to be healed from pains and worries of mission service as well.

Today we received a short-term team from iLEAD training program in Puerto Rico. This group studies for a seminary degree there as well as searches for God's calling for their life in missions or in secular work. MTW missionaries there, a couple friends of mine, teach them as well as many others. So I met friends of friends.

Five of the guys went with me to teach kids club at Mahathai. After being in Thailand for almost a year and a half, I was amazed at how much taller American guys are! For once, I felt short! As we went around Mahathai herding kids up for the club, many stared with saucers as eyeballs at the tall American guys. The team also shared a testimony and song with the kids. The kids loved it! It's a special privilege for them to see and hear from other Christians besides us. And especially for the boys to hear from men who believe in Jesus. So, I'm on a high after having fun visitors. Between using my translating skills and getting to speak so much in English--my head's still spinning.

My Friends, Bird and Dance

Yesterday, we headed over to visit at Mahathai again. In hopes to deepen our friendshps there, Tang and I decided to stick with visiting one family each time we go. Usually, we wander around visiting everyone and never any really long conversations.

We went over to Nok's convenience store on one of the corners and sat with her and her friends (her name means "Bird" in English). Nok is struggling with cancer and her friend, Dance, sitting there is struggling with the recent death of her father to cancer. Dance spends most of her evenings drinking beer at Nok's shop to be "less serious" and be "more fun." We often talk about life and get into spiritual conversations. Usually, it starts when I invite them to prayer meetings we have there on Wednesdays. She said she'll attend once she stops drinking, because she knows God wants people to do good things and he'll bless them. Tang and I try to encourage her in how Jesus came for us because none of us are perfect enough to be accepted by God ourselves. We cannot do enough right ourselves. Of course being under the influence of alcohol, Dance didn't care to think deeper, but I was thankful for our time together. Please pray for her and Nok. We're headed over to eat with them on Sunday. I'm making spaghetti!

Thai Movie Dubbing

At the movie rental shops, there are lots of American movies dubbed in Thai. As I've come to notice though, they use the same people in all the movies for the voices. So, Russell Crowe and Sean Connery have the same voice! Crazy, funny, but definitely interesting.

Sunday School

To help out, I was added to the rotational Sunday School teaching. Aah! Me, be responsible for molding young minds by speaking Thai? Rachel volunteered to help so we could look crazy together. Our big games were "Paper, Rock Scissors" boy/girl tournament and playing Hangman. Rachel made up a word that was 26 letters long and all the kids were overwhelmed to try to think of an English word that long. But as they guessed, they were all right. It was the whole alphabet, "a, b, c...."

Then I told the Bible story for yesterday, from John 4. Jesus's second miracle, healing the government official's son. I didn't read anything, cause reading Thai slows me down. I just used what words I knew. No special words for government official, just "the guy who works in the government." At one point, while explaining how Jesus was frustrated that everyone wanted to see miracles but didn't believe, I made the boy sitting beside me jump. My storytelling voices must be slightly scary. :) Praise God that the kids seemed to understand the story. I think I'll ask to start taking turns telling the Bible story at Mahathai too with the kids. I forgot how fun storytelling is. And how privileged I am to share the Word of God with people who have never heard it before.

You Know It's Cold in Thailand when...

-I wear socks.
-I wear long pants.
-I wear a jacket.
-I eat soup.
-I don't order a fruit smoothie.
-I use a blanket at night.
-I don't use the air conditioning.
-I hear myself saying its cold. (Though friends in America say its -5 degrees right now there. Man, adjustment back in 7 months will be a challenge.)

An Evening at Mahathai

Today I got hugged my three of the cutest little kids. They were playing in the dirt as I walked by. I squatted down to talk to them. Two of them jumped up and huggled me from behind. And one around my neck. It was just adorable. One is the crazy chubbier girl who runs around behind me with her shoes that don’t fit screaming, “Bay duay! Bay duay!” She wants to go with me everywhere. The other girl played Musical Chairs with me on Children’s Day. I carried her around and around the circle. Out of pure kindness, people let us win until there were about five kids left. And there was this cute boy who doesn’t hardly know me. I’m not sure if we’ve ever played together. Maybe we played Chase once. But it was the sweetest moments ever. I love Mahathai. I love it and all the people inside.

Then I sat with Bee and Bong and their gang who are about my age, even though its ackward to know if they like me to sit with them. But they seem to try to include me in our growing friendship. We ate pork balls and hot dogs with spicy sauce and cabbage together. It was the greatest thing. They shared their gossip that they call, “Hot News” with me. They told me about the sad story on the news about this poor 11 yr old girl who was prostituted by her father to pay for his alcoholic needs. The police got him. We talked about the price of iPhones. And we talked about how to make pizza. What random topics of conversation, but I was thankful to learn more and spend time with them.

And then I walked to the prayer meeting at the community center. Only we staff and Fern and Jane, two teenagers. But the opportunity to pray for that community just chokes me up. What a blessing of an evening.

Three Wonders of Thailand

Have you heard we have the New Seven Wonders of the World? I was teaching about famous monuments in English class on Monday. For need of excitement in the classroom, I encouraged the students to write up the Seven Wonders of Thailand, since Thailand was not included in the new Seven Wonders of the World. With only thirty minutes, they only were able to make Three Wonders of Thailand. I myself have only been to one of the three. I thought I'd let you see their final choices.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha "Wat Pra Gew"

"It was built in 1782 by King Rama I. First, it waws built for the ordination of monks. Then, it kept the idol, the Emerald Buddha, up to now. That is why we call it the Temple of the Emerald Buddha."
Thailand is known for its beautiful Buddhist temples, very elaborate in artistry.

Pae Muang Pee Forest Park

"Department of Forestry declared this area to be a natural park in 1981. There's much vegetation here and wild animals. It's located on the peak of a mountain. The rock was scoured by water for a long time."
Thailand has amazing wild animals we've only read about in books in America. And the parks are amazing too. Never been here though.

Good Island (not sure if this name is taken in literal English)

"It's located in Trat, the east of Thailand. It's a white sand beach and beautiful green water. We recommend you to go between October and May. It's the best season."
The islands and beaches of Thailand are really awesome, but I haven't been to this one.