We visited three children's homes, one church with a preschool and elementary school, and a hospital in our first week. We're slowly developing a schedule and projects for our teams. CallaLily is volunteering at the government children's home three mornings a week to play with the children and serve the staff. We were pleased to find an open door at this government orphanage since in the past they have stopped allowing westerners in. BearHunter is helping to build a mud-house library at the church's elementary school. He's excited to learn this new inexpensive way to build. Afternoons are personal project time. So CallaLily is currently taking a massage class on the first floor of our guest house "Thai foot massage and reflexology." BearHunter will pray for Thailand, study Scripture, and continue on his novel as his personal project.
Many evenings we'll do evangelism in the local area at the street markets and prostitute bars. Since we're here for a month, we're building relationships with people over time. For a nation that is less than 2% Christian, it's amazing how many Christians we meet. One lady is from Myanmar and sells silk items at the street markets. Many people from the hill tribes and neighboring countries come into the big cities to earn money. Her husband works hard on a farm back home and her children stay with him in the hilltribe. Because she is here to earn money for her family, she sees them only once every few months. BearHunter was really touched by her story. He initiated a gift from our team to help her buy a new mobile phone to talk to her family again. Her current phone had broken and she couldn't afford to buy another one. When we asked how she shared her faith, looking for ways our team could come alongside, she explained that no one in her church has time to because they work sometimes all day at one job then come sell at the market all evening. Her pastor may do an hour Bible study once each week, but he's the only one with time to do that. It's not surprising the gospel is spreading so slowly in Thailand.
For our family and friends to see what we are up to in the far north, as missionaries in Alaska.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Chiang Mai, Thailand
The first two days in Thailand seemed the longest. Everything was so new and we went so many places. Surprisingly, the heat and humidity is not as bad as we had expected. The pilot said it was 32 C in Chiang Mai, but it feels cooler than Singapore.
Our first week in Asia was spent in Singapore for the first ever GO Fest Asia conference. Groups anc churches from many nations gathered to network, worship, and prepare to go out into Asia. Loren Cunningham and John Dawson were two YWAM speakers. Other speakers from Indonesia, Cambodia, and India shared about different aspects of the work they do in Asia.
We had a short orientation to Thailand inclusive of a humorous demonstration "how to use a squatty-potty." We practiced the greetings and accompanying bow of the head with hands flat together below the nose. Sawat dii kha is what the girls say and sawat dii khrap is the boys' greeting.
The Thai language is tonal. So one sounds can be said with five different meanings! This makes it hard to learn, especially from a book. We've found in Chiang Mai (the largest city second only to Bangkok) is used to tourists and has many English signs and menus to help us out.
We're blessed that the best priced guest house we could find, by meandering through the narrow streets, has air-conditioning and very clean, spacious rooms. After a week of sleeping on the living room floor in Singapore, BearHunter and I are happy to have our own bedroom and bathroom.
Our first week in Asia was spent in Singapore for the first ever GO Fest Asia conference. Groups anc churches from many nations gathered to network, worship, and prepare to go out into Asia. Loren Cunningham and John Dawson were two YWAM speakers. Other speakers from Indonesia, Cambodia, and India shared about different aspects of the work they do in Asia.
We had a short orientation to Thailand inclusive of a humorous demonstration "how to use a squatty-potty." We practiced the greetings and accompanying bow of the head with hands flat together below the nose. Sawat dii kha is what the girls say and sawat dii khrap is the boys' greeting.
The Thai language is tonal. So one sounds can be said with five different meanings! This makes it hard to learn, especially from a book. We've found in Chiang Mai (the largest city second only to Bangkok) is used to tourists and has many English signs and menus to help us out.
We're blessed that the best priced guest house we could find, by meandering through the narrow streets, has air-conditioning and very clean, spacious rooms. After a week of sleeping on the living room floor in Singapore, BearHunter and I are happy to have our own bedroom and bathroom.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Leaving New Zealand
Yeah, here's some of our pictures.
There's Callalily on our Maori cultural weekend for the creative group. We learned how to weave flowers traditionally. I was pretty fast, though not meticulous about getting a tight weave. It's pretty fun. Once you use a knife to soften or cut the reed (total brain lapse, I cant' remember the type of stalk!), you cant' use it for anything else. You also may not sit or stand on the grass while you're working on it.
The next picture is our treehouse project. BearHunter was assigned to replace any rotten boards or fix unsafe conditions in the multilevel treehouse at our school. He chose me for his helper. We did quite well and hauled large 10x7cm support beams all the way to the top level.
Feijou are these green fruits here. We get them by the bowlfull from the friendly neighbors. You eat them by rolling them on the table to soften (sweeten) them first. THen cut it in half and suck each half to get the juice and pulp out. As a child in California, these fruit grew in our backyard and we were told they were pineapple guava, but never really ate them. But here in New Zealand we eat them tons! THey are nicely sweet.
Then there's a picture of me doing my gardening work last week,carrying leaves to clear.
The final photo is from the zipline experience which was part of our last creative weekend as well. We stayed at a christian campground for one night and enjoyed their ropes course in the morning.
In two days we fly out for 2 months in Thailand. We expect to have good internet access there, but wont' be bringing our computer to download photos with. So we may not have new pictures on the blog until August. But we'll see.
By the way, thanks for all the craft ideas you've posted and emailed to us. :)
There's Callalily on our Maori cultural weekend for the creative group. We learned how to weave flowers traditionally. I was pretty fast, though not meticulous about getting a tight weave. It's pretty fun. Once you use a knife to soften or cut the reed (total brain lapse, I cant' remember the type of stalk!), you cant' use it for anything else. You also may not sit or stand on the grass while you're working on it.
The next picture is our treehouse project. BearHunter was assigned to replace any rotten boards or fix unsafe conditions in the multilevel treehouse at our school. He chose me for his helper. We did quite well and hauled large 10x7cm support beams all the way to the top level. Feijou are these green fruits here. We get them by the bowlfull from the friendly neighbors. You eat them by rolling them on the table to soften (sweeten) them first. THen cut it in half and suck each half to get the juice and pulp out. As a child in California, these fruit grew in our backyard and we were told they were pineapple guava, but never really ate them. But here in New Zealand we eat them tons! THey are nicely sweet.
Then there's a picture of me doing my gardening work last week,carrying leaves to clear.
The final photo is from the zipline experience which was part of our last creative weekend as well. We stayed at a christian campground for one night and enjoyed their ropes course in the morning.
In two days we fly out for 2 months in Thailand. We expect to have good internet access there, but wont' be bringing our computer to download photos with. So we may not have new pictures on the blog until August. But we'll see.
By the way, thanks for all the craft ideas you've posted and emailed to us. :)
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