Thailand.....Day 4

October 23, 2011

What an awesome day today was! We woke and had a wonderful breakfast made for us by the ladies here. They made us scrambled eggs and these amazing cinnamon rolls (Ethan would have eaten the whole plate!). We headed over to the Derbyshire's house for Sunday morning Bible study. Doug's daughter in California and another Thai Christian in Bangkok joined us via Skype. We studied Ezekiel 46. It was so cool as we took turns reading and Doug picked apart the passage. How great to really study the Bible with this family!

We walked down the street to attend church at the local Baptist church. Doug preaches there every other week. Today another pastor spoke from Matthew 19. It was the story of Zaccheus. Doug jotted notes for us so we could follow the sermon. It was so cool to listen to a sermon in another language. I could not understand what was being said, but I could feel the genuineness and excitement in the pastor! He put his whole heart and soul into his sermon. We sang some songs and I actually was able to sing along to some of them. Then the pastor had our group go up to the front and the whole church prayed for us. I definitely felt the presence of God there today. He is working in that church and through these people.

The ladies in the church made lunch and  we ate there with the other people from the church. We had noodles with pork and curry. It was pretty good!

After church we walked back to the campus and got ready for our big outing.   Doug had told us that the Mayor of the town wanted to take us out in a government vehicle for a tour of Bangkla!  Apparently this has never been done before.  Turns out the mayor is a Christian who used to be an administrator for Doug. :). The "government vehicle" was actually an open bus with benches! So we got a fabulous tour around the town!

The streets of Bangkla

We drove past some Buddhist Temples and around the areas local businesses. Most people have these little Buddhist house things on platforms outside in their front yard. They are called spirit houses and the people believe that if they leave out flowers and food, they can appease the "bad spirits" and keep them out of their  homes.  There are Buddhas and temples everywhere in Thailand.  It leaves me with a disconcerting feeling about how the Thai people worship so many idols and do not know God at all.

We stopped by a large temple with these huge trees in front. The trees were full of fruit bats! It was so cool! They made these squeaky screeching noises- it was really neat!

The mayor bought us fresh coconut water. Literally we watched the guy take a machete and hack off the top of the coconut and insert the straw! He also bought us "coke in a bag". Which is truly Coke. In a bag. With ice and a straw!

We walked around the area and saw some large ponds full of turtles. Red eared sliders (like mine at home) and some other kinds. Some had at least 18 inch diameter shells. They were really cool to watch. We walked along the river, fed fish and enjoyed the view. 

We got back on the bus and headed down to the Floating River Market. The market was full of people selling various kinds of food and products. The people had little boats that they docked and sold stuff from, while other people had stands on land. I bought a few souvenirs.

We headed back to the campus and thanked the Mayor! It was a really cool outing!

The Town Mayor

After our tour we went into TCT, which is the ministry that Cheryl runs here. She is truly amazing and has helped so many women! She started this company by making simple Christmas ornaments and selling them. This created jobs for poor women working in the rice fields for 12 hours a day, or doing other hard labor. This job allows them to work from home and sew the ornaments on their schedule so that they can care for their family and still have an income. The business has expanded over the last 20 years and now they do thousands of ornaments for stores all over England- including St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London. In fact I remember seeing some of these ornaments when my mom and I were there! Anyways, the business has grown even more and now they hand stitch purses, bags, etc. It was really neat to listen to her share stories of some of the people that God has brought to work for her and how this business has been such a ministry in this community. Of course we got to shop! And I bought quite a few Christmas gifts!

After that we relaxed for a little while and then we headed into town to hit the local Walmart- type store called "Big C".   We ate a lovely dinner of KFC there! Yummy! Then we headed back to the campus to pack up, shower, and sleep.

We have a long driving day ahead of us tomorrow as we head up to Chaing Mi. It is normally 11 hours but the main roads have been washed away or badly damaged. We will be taking back routes there and anticipate a 14+ hour drive. Pray for safe travels!

Thanks for reading!