My last week & weekend in Thailand was somewhat chaotic and busy as we rushed around this city of 14+ million ppl and spent alot alot of time in taxis in the infamous Bkk traffic, but was also punctuated by the last thiaw I was able to take with some of my Thai friends that I met in St. Louis this past year, who are now back living here.  We went to the Ancient City, which is a place that has replicas of all the famous buildings in Thailand all over the country: temples, structures, monuments, and landmarks.  It is pretty incredible that they basically re-built these famous structures for Bangkok tourists.  The entire grounds is shaped into the shape of Thailand.  We rented bikes to ride through & see the different sites, and for a Thai architecture and art-lover like myself, I had a photo heyday.  Idyllic.  

The old style long boats now only used for very special ceremonies

Sitting old Thai style in front of one of the beautiful temple windows...

Taan and I with the umbrellas famous in "northern" Thailand

A beautiful temple replica, stark white and silver (unusual colors for temples in Thailand)

The three of us (Jin, Taan & me) inside the white temple

Me on my touring bike at the Ancient City complex w/ Taan & Jin

Now Andrew and I are descending into St. Louis (first time ever used free wi-fi on a flight!), our 3rd of 3 flights to get here and I must say we’re pretty glad to be getting back here even despite how hard it is to say all the same goodbyes again in Thailand, not really knowing if we’ll be back there or not.   Please continue to pray for us and our calling, as well as our Thai friends who do not yet know the hope that we know.

Thailand has been all in a flurry about “The 2009″ which is what the Thais call the Swine Flu.  There are antibacterial hand sanitizer dispensers at every mall or shopping complex and employees freely give out the face masks at movie theaters, subway stops and skytrain stations.  I heard recently that at some swimming pools they are forcing people to wear full body suits that cover the arms and legs rather than regular bathing suits because this supposedly protects against contamination and spreading of the virus.  I also have seen promotional TV commercials and new signage on the busiest roads & public places promoting covering your mouth when you sneeze and cough, as well as what to do afterwards – wash your hands with soap, all displayed by friendly looking cartoon characters.  We can’t help but call it paranoia a little bit, although I’m sure there are some great things about having a national call to better hygiene.  Maybe I should be more worried, but I have all my Thai friends here to worry for me, as they are constantly shocked at how flippant I am about entering a movie theater or public transportation without wearing a mask.  Hope I’ll be okay on the airplane!

We have one week left of our time in Bangkok, so we are spending our days with last lunches, dinners & meetings with people before heading home on Monday.  We spent all of last week out of town in Nong Khai, and then Hua Hin, so we are catching up and trying to do all of our ‘lasts’ before Sunday rolls around.

W/ the Atlanta team for last night's dinner. After we got the Atlanta team off, we headed to Nong Khai.

The view of the church in NK w/ a beautiful rainy season sky...

Me & Nari, the church' leader, in front of the Nong Khai church's sister church near Udon Thani.

A bustling street in downtown Hua Hin

Some fun English bloopers always make me smile. I think they meant "chute"?The ever-present water buffalo that the daughter church near Nong Khai keeps for sustaining the church.

Some of the animal figurines under a spirit house which "guards" a museum near the NK's sister church.

Just since we’ve been here in the last 6 weeks, the team here has had 2 short term teams, one from Indiana and one from Atlanta, as well as a 3-month intern and a whole team of interns from Jackson, MS made of some UGA & Belhaven students and Reformed Theological Seminary students. Whew!  The college group, Kirk, the intern, and the Atlanta short term team all left today or yesterday, so there have been quite a few late night and early morning airport runs and lots of craziness this past week, but now everyone’s gone!  We only have 2 weeks left, which is hard to fathom.  Tomorrow we go to Nong Khai, on the border of Laos and Thailand with Vientiane just across the Maekhong River.  Then we will drive to Hua Hin on Thursday after we fly back from Nong Khai, returning just in time for Andrew to preach on Sunday in the English worship service.  

Check out this video Phil (from college intern group) made about their time here.  I love the city part, and then the part that shows Ram 2 where we live.  Talented filmmaker! http://asummerinbangkok.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-in-bangkok.html

I LOVE this Thai word.  It may be my most favorite non-translatable Thai word.  (See previous blog October 2007 about this.) Our Thai friends love to take us on thiaws to different places around Bangkok that are easy day-drive distances.  For example, the crocodile farm, floating markets, river markets, beachside restaurants, museums, and the ancient city are all places people constantly want to take us.  It’s their way of showing their friendship by taking you on an excursion and showing you their country they are proud of. Thais LOVE markets.  Markets sell anything from food, fruit, made-to-order food, clothes, trinkets, souvenirs, toys, shoes, jewelry, electronics, you-name-it.  

On the boat going to see fireflies from the Amphawa Market

My Saturday English students took me last weekend to the Floating Market in Amphawa.  We saw lots of interesting food being sold and I tried squid eggs for the first time – crunchy & squishy and very spicy, but surprisingly tasty.  We also went on a boat ride through the darkness of the river to see Amphawa’s famous fireflies, who I was shocked to see synchronize their light flashing like Christmas lights – on the trees in the river.  In the U.S., as far as I know, our lightning bugs do not synchronize their lights, but here they do.  I read about this on Wikipedia.  It is a strange phenomenon, but the same bug.

In the massive Amphawa market with Awe, Kim, Tui, and Tuum

People eat hurriedly on the side of the river while boats come up to the side selling all their specialties

Another recent thiaw was with our Thai friends we met in St. Louis this past year.  They took us to an amazing seafood restaurant tucked into a small soi in downtown Bkk.

At a fantastic fish, shrimp, squid, crab and other seafood creature feast w/ our St. L friends...

I also got to meet some of Andrew’s old co-worker friends for lunch recently at an amazing and famous Som Tam (Papaya Salad) shop downtown.  Complete with fried chicken, sticky rice, and all the Issan food we could eat.  We’ve done enough eating to last us awhile…

With Nan, Taeng, me, A, Tawm & Jiep, some of Andrew's former co-workers at lunch

Restaurant has a very skinny door. I guess us foreigners are just a little bit too large and in charge compared to the Thai people.

Recently we got to host an art show at our church/office in Ram 2.  It was great! We had Issan dancers from YWAM, some breakdancers, art & pottery on display by artists from our team and some of our Thai friends, and even a ballet dancer (from the Mississippi group).  Two of the people from the Atlanta team also displayed their art as well.  It was a neat opportunity to have people into our church to enjoy original art, music & dance and do something different while we have lots of foreigners here for the summer.

Issan dancers prepare to perform at the Arts Festival

Alissa (from Jackson, MS team) dances to a beautiful song for the Arts Festival

Issan dancers do their very-flexed hands dancing - beautiful!

Courtney from the Atlanta team displays her artwork on the wall, with Tim's pottery display next to her

My last and most recent thiaw is with the Atlanta team: I got to take them to see some sights and eat some yummy food.  We went to Wat Pho, a famous Buddhist temple that also has a famous massage school.  

on the water taxi we take to get to Wat Pho (Jenna, Christina, me & Mary)

Wat Pho is also home to the gigantic reclining Buddha, whose body spans the entire length of the temple inside

Courtney, me, Kalli & Jenna resting our tired feet for a minute at Wat Pho...

After lunch we also got to go to a delightful dessert place called Mango Tango, that has everything mango – ice cream, stickyrice & mango, fresh mango, mango shakes, mango pudding, etc.  

Our choice from top left: mango pudding, fresh cut ripe mango, mango ice cream, and sticky rice. mmmmmmmmm. Thai people are very meticulous and artistic, detailed and skilled in decoration & presentation.

Lastly, here is my Monday night English students, that have been coming to study with our english school for a couple of years now.  Melanie recently handed them off to me again before I hand them off to someone else when we leave in a few weeks.  Christina from the Atlanta team helped me teach them the other night, which was helpful – to have a new fresh face and fresh ideas always makes it more enjoyable.

from left, Jang, Ming Kwan, Hong, Well, Daa, Christina, me, PK

Our team had a goodbye party for Melanie on her last night in Thailand.  Usually these are great opportunities to have Thai friends from many different spheres of our lives to come to our church/office and hear the gospel, since they might otherwise not come to our church for other events or worship that we invite them to.  It was a fun time to reunite with some friends I haven’t seen in a long time: my old English students and neighbors, as well as some ladies that used to come to my house for brunch.  

Ming Kwan, one of my old English students (so cute and the cutest pregnant girl I know) and her daughter FanFan (adorable)

One of my old English classes came to wish Melanie goodbye: Tui, Awe, Tuum, Awm, me & Kim

Melanie, always with kids around. We will miss you Melanie!

Some of Thai staff belt out a worshipful goodbye song to Melanie.

On another note, Fao Diao is a Christian expression in Thai that means “Turn inward or have an audience with yourself alone.” Christians use it to mean “devotions”.  I have been trying to do a morning devotion once weekly with the Thai women that work in the craft shop (purse & handbag shop – see previous blog about this).  Every morning, someone from our team goes to teach a quick lesson from the Bible and pray with them, although only one of them is a Christian.  I have been jumping around the Gospels and have introduced them to the Pharisees since so many of the stories include them.  One day I had finished explaining who they were in the ancient world and Phii Nawng said, “I’m like a Pharisee when I drive my motorbike – I am too confident in myself and like to have control.”  I thought this was an interesting insight and have been really impressed how much these women have learned about God, Jesus, and other Bible stories in the last year since this ministry began and our team has been pouring good teaching into them through these morning devotions.  Never underestimate the power of the Word.  Pray for these women that they’d desire to know more about what the Bible teaches, their hearts would continue to be open to the Gospel, and that our team would continually show the love of Christ to them.

In Thailand, BBQ means shish kabobs, not what the typical American would think of as “barbecue:” brisket, chicken, meat on the grill, cream corn, baked beans, etc.  So when we do barbecue in Thailand, we have small wooden sticks and put layers of tomato, pineapple, meat, squid, pork, etc. Last night the campus group from Jackson hosted another barbecue – this time on our office roof.  We had kareoke, bbq, games (Mafia), and dancing.  

Trey & Ying manning the grill at campus bbq night on the roof

On the roof eating & talking w/ students

Andrew w/ some of the guys

Tim defending himself "Mai Chai Mafia kap"

We’ve also had another Intro to Christianity class on The Fall.  One of the questions this week was, “How did the second person come about if Adam was created by God?”  We sang “Shout to the Lord” in both Thai & English.  

People listening intently as Hank talks about sin and the Fall.

And...the inevitable card-playing immediately before and after the teaching...

We’ve also had the opportunity to have time with Melanie, who is leaving the field after 2 yrs!  She was with us her first year and is just now rounding up her 2nd yr.  She will go back to the States tomorrow and seek approval as a long-term missionary w/ MTW.  She’ll be back here once her support is raised.  

Melanie and Mary, both 2 year people like we were...

We will miss her dearly!  But Andrew and I are happy she’ll be in the States for awhile so we can see her again before she comes back.  She lives in NC.

Here's the other side of the table - Rhianna Mills, Jan Veldhorst and me. Eating at Fuji, our favorite Japanese restaurant in Bangkok to say goodbye to Melanie.

Taan & I stop to eat lunch at the Floating Market (traditional Thai house & Thai flag in background)

On the water taxi back from the Floating Market (water taxis are great! instant air conditioning)

Andrew and I had the chance to meet Thai friends in St. Louis through an International Student Ministry.  They were at SLU studying English for 9 months and we hung out with them quite a bit.  Now that we’re here in Bangkok, where they live & work, we have reunited with them!  One of them, Taan, took me to a Floating Market last weekend.  We will hopefully get to see all 3 of them at least one more time before we leave.  I forgot how long everything takes to do here.  One little tiny errand can take an entire day to accomplish here in Bangkok.  Having been in the States for the past year, I had re-grown accustomed to the convenience of having a quick drive somewhere to accomplish errands or see a friend.  Here in Bangkok, a city of 14 million (or so), it can take an entire day to meet up with someone.  When I met with Phii Taan, for instance, I left our apartment at 10 a.m. and returned at 4 p.m. – just to go to a market about 4 kilos from where we live!  It can be an all day event.  That is one of the more challenging parts of life here dealing with the inconviences and inefficiencies of living in an enormous city with not-so-stellar infrastructure.  

At campus ministry Intro to Christianity class (Hank, Yu, Tuktaa & Trey)

At Intro class w/ Jane and Plaa

Students hang out and eat some fruit before singing & studying - in Thailand students of all ages have a uniform of black pants/skirts and a white button-down.

We also got to attend the college interns’ Intro to Christianity class they are going to put on for 4 weeks before they return to the states.  Most of them are from Belhaven College in Jackson, and the leaders Trey and Kiki are from RTS Jackson.  This ‘class’ or ‘get-together’ is for explaining the very basics of what the Christian faith are, and last week, with a crowd of about 40 college students, they focused on Creation.  Goh (Thai staff) explained what happened in Creation straight from Genesis, and then alot of students asked questions, ranging from “Who was Jesus?” to “Did Christianity exist before Jesus came?” and “Was Adam the first Jew?”  Many of them (all Buddhists) have maybe heard of Christianity, or Catholicism, but they generally have no idea what the Bible really says, haven’t read it, and don’t know who God or Jesus really are.  It’s always interesting to hear what Thai people’s questions are about Christianity.  They are so different from what ours would be, having grown up in a culture where it’s very acceptable to be a Christian &  go to church.  This week’s class will focus on The Fall.

A dinner out downtown with the Mills - a rare opportunity

 We’ve had chances to see our good friends, the Mills, and hang out with them some too. Here we are with them for a chance we had to go downtown and have dinner together.  It’s hard to get out with 3 young children and not many available babysitters, so we were excited to have a college group here to help that has offered to babysit occasionally. Here are some recent pics of their 2 oldest kiddos Emmy & Asa. Two of the RTS and college group, Kiki & Alissa, have been giving free ballet classes since they are both ballerinas.  Here’s the kid’s group. They dance, watch a video of The Nutcracker, and then color ballet pictures.  So cute!

Ballet class w/ Kiki & Alissa

Emmy on the Children Play Field near Mills house (Thai version of playground)

Asa on his bike

from left, Jim, Dave (MTW Thailand director, Goh (Thai staff) and Andrew. In front of the main campus building on Ram 2's campus.

Andrew inside a Ramkhamhaeng 2 University open-air classroom. They're huge!

This outdoor ad says, "We love the King" This yellow logo is the most common trend in Thailand. Thais LOVE, deeply revere, and honor their King.

Last week we hosted Jim pictured above, to see alot of our ministry activites before he moved on to a neighboring country and then Chiang Mai to visit Boonchu, a Karen pastor in Northern Thailand.  We took him to see the Ram 2 University Campus, where our team has recently started a university ministry called UCF.  Last weekend we went on the campus retreat to a beach just south of Bkk near Cha Am.  It was so encouraging to see Go and Pat and other Thai staff lead the retreat almost completely and hear Pat present the Gospel.  It was a weekend of crazy bus rides, silly games and competitions, and lots of getting to know people.

At campus retreat on the beach - Thais are hiding in the shade because they hate to get dark from sunlight

Goh (awesome leader & Thai staff) on the beach

We broke into group workshops. Choices were: drawing, dancing, photography, and English. The second day we added a Christianity workshop to answer big life questions...

Pat (Thai staff and great future pastor) leading one of the many silly games played at the camp

We are praying for many of these relationships started at the camp last weekend and through the university ministry.  Pray that Thai staff would be able to follow up with many of these friends since after the summer intern college group from Mississippi leaves, we will have almost no foreigners doing campus ministry.

In other news, we got to spend time with our friend Chris & Taeng yesterday, visiting from Connecticut.  Taengs family still lives here so they come at least once a year to visit.  We’re so excited we crossed paths again in Bangkok.

Taeng and I at Jim Thompson Cafe, one of our favorites!

One of the unbelievable storms that descend upon Bangkok every day. Rainy season goes from May to November, so we are right in the thick of it.

Chris & Andrew on C & T's balcony after the big rain for the day

With Chris & Taeng at their hotel.

This is the Thai alphabet (consonants only, vowels are not a part of the alphabet). This was painted on C & T's hotel room wall - it's decorated very modern-ish, very chic & cool. There are 44 consonants and 26 vowels, I think? Alot!

Our first worship service since being back was last Sunday morning.  Alot has changed and grown in the last year since we left – all in good ways!  It was great to sing some Thai songs again and try to understand the sermon (which was about the Holy Spirit  from Romans 8).  Our friend Phii Cat came with her daughter and we were so excited to see her again after over a year.  

Mindy, Phii Cat, and I at church after Sunday worship

We saw some new faces and some old, but it was great to see the positive changes in our small little church.  The Illinois team left to go back to the U.S. and here we are with some church members and staff following lunch and bible study.

Here's most of the high school group with some of our Thai staff after worship and bibles study Sunday

  We nearly forgot it was the American Father’s Day since their Mothers & Fathers Days are different here. Happy Father’s Day to all the Father’s we know, including ours! 

We also got to walk down our old street and see some old neighbors from our old house across the street.  We were so glad to see Phii Oy & Phii Phon and their little boy, who was crazy as ever.

Phii Oy's wild guy, Phuu

My old neighbor, Phii Oy, in front of her house across from our old house.

 They immediately wanted to take us on an outing somewhere.  Phii Oy was probably my closest neighbor friend from before.  

I also taught my first English class on Saturday of my old girlfriends!  We all talked for about an hour before we finally started “class.”  One of them, Phii Awe, said, “It’s like no time has passed – everything is the same between us.”  This comment really warmed my heart!  It really was like old times.  They’re already planning a weekend vacation for us to go on.  

It’s been a great week of reconnecting.

Andrew riding the songthaew, which we take at least twice a day back and forth between our apartment and the office.