After a very low-key Christmas morning at our house, complete with Sausage Casserole, phone calls from the U.S, our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and gift-opening with Dana, Andrew and I headed off to Phuket for a 3-day beach trip.
We arrived on the 2-year anniversary of the tsunami, Dec 26, 2004. It was baffling to still notice re-construction and refurbishing of residences, shops, hotels, and beachside resorts two years later. There are now evacuation route signs EVERYWHERE along the beach should a similar situation occur again. Once you see Patong (city on Phuket island), it is easy to see how the tsunami could cause such mass destruction when all the hotels & resorts are smack dab on the ocean shore, only a narrow street separating the water from the land.
Thai vendors there are also much more “foreigner-savvy”, if you will, as almost all vacationers there are foreigners, not Thais. They really accost you on the street – for massages, taxis, tailor-made suits, you name it. In some ways Patong really didn’t seem like Thailand at all…one look around and there are hardly any Thais in sight.
We enjoyed meeting alot of international travellers as you will find all over Thailand, especially this time of year as it is high season – the time between Christmas and New Years is the highest of the high season, so people come in droves from all over the globe – Europe, South America, Australia, Japan, China, India.
Other Christmas celebration pictures: We attended Christ Church’s 100 year anniversary Christmas celebration at their downtown, beautiful church, with our friend Jawy. She (2nd from right) lives in our neighborhood and is one of the first Thai Christians (besides our Thai staff) I have met in the Ram 2 neighborhood we live in. Her church has a Christmas story show, carols, sermon, and huge feast with band. We loved getting to see her church – 100 years old in Bangkok! – and get to know some of her friends too. Pray for our relationship with her and her friend Bawm, as they have expressed interest in possibly helping us or doing a Bible study with us in Thai and other friends of ours. We are hoping to have a small group Bible study started in our home.
We also attended a Christmas celebration at a former co-workers home, Joe, and his wife Ae (orange & white shirts in middle). Somehow we were appointed to teach everyone the White Elephant present exchange game, and everyone was so intrigued by it and excited by it that the actual game only lasted about 5 minutes with all 20 guests….everyone was so eager to play that it was over before we knew it. It was funny to see everybody getting so into it and stealing so eagerly. Apparently a guy from a popular soap opera was there, 3rd from right. Haven’t seen him yet on TV but apparently others there were excited to snap his picture.
So here we are welcoming 2007 into Thailand…we are praying about this year and all that the Lord will show us and bring to us through our team’s current ministries. Pray for our endurance as we set out with goals for this year in mind and wisdom from Him as we try to figure out his path for us and this team & ministry this year. There are so many possibilities!
HAPPY 2007!
