Stickywrites

There are lots of dogs here in Thailand….LOTS. Most all of them are street dogs, street-smart to the core, diseased and mangy, and very growly to foreigners (assumedly because we look different, I’m not sure…) Many sleep in the streets all day long or under the shade of parked cars. All grounge for food from street vendors, markets or trash heaps. They drink standing water, poop on doorsteps, in the streets or wherever they please. To keep them from stopping in front of houses or businesses, people put filled water bottles lining their doorsteps, patios, front yards and car parks. For some reason this keeps them away.

Bony, spotty, filthy, smelly, and sometimes scary, they are not a favorite part of my life here. They chase me on my bicycle and snap at my ankles. They growl and lunge at me as I pass, walking home from the office, and I have to try to ignore them and not look back. I am not sure why there are so many surviving, but I can conjecture that part of the reason is because Thai people (mostly of the Buddhist persuasion) do not believe in killing anything (even cockroaches!) In addition, these dogs are incredibly survival-adept. They look both ways before crossing the road, they stay out of the way of speeding cars…they even cross 6-lane highways by using the elevated cross-over walkways!! One time I actually stood in line behind a street dog while I ascended the steps of a highway crosswalk, walked across the highway, and descended the other side.

This picture was taken of a particularly clingy dog that hangs out at the church all day in Nong Khai. He followed me one day when I went running – the whole way, he just followed me loyally. That is, until some other sawy dogs attacked him for passing through their territory.

To read a pitiful street dog story, read my fellow teammate Rhianna’s blog, That Great City. http://thatgreatcity.blogspot.com/

Sorry, Rhianna ;(

As of late we have had so many visitors…just in the last 6 months we have had Andrew’s sister, both his parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my brother and both my parents here to visit us in Thailand. All of our immediate family! Recently Aaron, (Andrew’s brother) and his two friends joined us here in Ram 2, Bangkok, before visiting the beaches in Phuket.

They are too cute, no?

There were definitely sobering moments of realizing that I did, indeed, have FOUR guys in my house. So maybe they are 30+ plus but they are boys just the same.

It is always fun to see things here with fresh eyes through those who come to visit. Here are some more market pictures…produce, fruit, pigs heads, nasty street dogs, etc.

Good times with the Bronson boys and the Mikes! Thank you for visiting us!

Christmastime in Bangkok truly is a wonderland: still hot, (although it is technically the “wintertime” here), the 25th is any other day to those around us, and no one has ever seen sugar cookies or an actual Christmas tree. Or knows that it’s actually a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, not the New Year. But all is well with us and we got to spend some time with Bill & Jean, Andrew’s parents, which was great. The team from the Kirk of the Hills helped out our team from Dec 8-18. Unfortunately I still didnt have a camera at this point so I have no pictures of their visit or the Christmas outreaches except one from our trash pickup day. On a national holiday, we gathered the troops (our team and co., that is) and attacked the swamplands at Mahathai, an underprivileged neighborhood where we have many relationships. We fished trash out of black, oily water, hoed the marshes, and filled about 5 dump trucks. It was amazing! A few of us resting: Melanie, me, Catherine and Rhianna.

We had so many ministry events this Christmas season that we were both exhausted and encouraged. Many people from our daily lives (neighbors, friends, students) entered our ministry center for the first time and also heard the meaning of Christmas – the Gospel – for the first time, so we are so thankful that the Lord stirred their hearts and came! We had a Christmas party for our English students, where I gave the “meaning of Christmas” talk in Thai (gulp!) and introduced the game “Chubby Bunny” with marshmallows, since the team from America was nice enough to bring us those from the States. It was a big hit! Most Thais haven’t seen marshmallows before, much less played that game. We had a Worship service on Sunday and invited most everyone we knew, and put on the Christmas story of Jesus birth with the kids we know from the underprivileged neighborhood near us. 19 were interested…so there were many sheep!!

We also entered a new area for the first time to begin cultivating relationships: the Police Flats. In this area, thousands of families live for free if they are related to someone in the Police force. Actually this neighborhood is right down the street from our house. We handed out gifts to the kids, played games, danced, did skits, etc. It was huge success as far as drawing people in and meeting new families. Pray we will have wisdom about this new ministry and how to approach it for the future.

Here are the female members of our team at our Christmas gift exchange. We have a good time together.

The Rogers (otherwise known as my mom, dad and younger brother, Matt) stayed here from Dec. 21-31. It was a short trip, and very strange to be walking around downtown Bangkok as a tourist on Christmas day. Everyone was rushing off to work and crazy rush hour as normal. We had a blast seeing some sights here and relaxing at the beach in Phuket, on Surin Beach. Here are some pics of our adventures:

At the market near our house, looking at fresh meats: chicken feet, pigs hooves, squid, etc.

Outside our church, office, ministry center, etc with Dad & Andrew.

At the Grand Palace, and famous temple Wat Phra Gao.

And a baby elephant on the street at night. For 50 baht ($1.50) you can feed him sugar cane, it’s fun!

And…at the beach in Phuket.

Sunset beachside.

An elephant trek!

Explanation about what spirit houses are….

and our hotel’s spirit house, quite elaborate.

“Sawatdii ka”, Phuket and Rogers family!! I miss you already!  (or, as my mom says, “Kwatdii ka!”)