Live, from the lobby of "Nice Palace"
Dad: I've got even more pictures now, so don't worry, I'll have a lot to show you. Oh, and I didn't forget that it's your turn to get the random souvenir from this mission trip. :-)
Kristen: Thanks for the words there. Is there a Scripture reference to accompany them?
Heather: Awww, thanks a lot. I'll have lots to share with the paper staff when I get back, so I'm really looking forward to that.
Hello, once again, from Bangkok! The week has been going well; not only have we had lots of chances to talk with lots of students at the English Club, we also manned a booth to represent the club at a fair for the student organizations at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. We got to see hundreds of students then, some of which actually did come to our meetings the next day.
(Up until the day of the fair, though, Nut, one of our contact/translators who still attends the university and is mostly responsible for the English Club, had forgotten to mention that the club had to represent itself on stage, and he had said the Americans would sing for them. Thank goodness for one person who's good with pitch -- God blessed our team with Lauren -- and microphones that didn't amplify your voice all that much. After having been treated to several playings of the Thai National Anthem, we performed the Star-Spangled Banner, and, of all the strange songs we could have performed, we ended up singing Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane." Don't ask me why; I'm still not sure what I was doing up there to begin with. The day overall was fun, so I try not to worry about it.)
We've been able to see a few of the Christians from the church throughout the week, and last night, we took some of the students to the home of a new missionary to the area. We had a nice night, and then a good, albeit late, team meeting/devotional.
Today, we went to Ayutthaya, an ancient city across the river which was the former capital of the kingdom until it was razed by fire 600 years ago. We were able to walk around the old ruins of a palace/temple complex, which was intensely interesting. The history major in me was trying to soak it all in, and the journalism major in me, having a hard time coming up with immediate words for capturing the experience, was seriously glad I have photography major friends to give me pointers on taking pictures.
Aside from visiting the ruins, we also visited the national "Arts and Crafts Center," which sounds like a hut at summer camp but serves as a training station and market for the artisans of traditional Thai handicrafts, exports, and, thankfully for the Americans, souvenirs.
In addition to all that, we even went for a little ride around Ayutthaya in a rather unorthodox manner: on elephant-back. There was a place there that had a corral of young elephants so well-trained that they posed for pictures with tourists and, since their handlers charged for the pictures, would take twenty-baht notes right out of people's hands with their trunks and give them to the handlers. One of the young bull elephants who posed with our team was a serious attention hog and hammed it up for the pictures; between his enthusiasm for attention and how obviously smart he was, his demeanor reminded me a lot of my dog. Of course, he was much bigger and it was pretty scary when he would run toward the other side of the crowd, but he waved with his trunk and even trumpted a little thank-you for Jessica's payment, and he seemed really cute. We got to feed tiny bananas to a baby elephant that was there, as well, and also we got onto small seats on the backs of a few of the animals (apparently, they had all been in Phuket last week helping move rubble from tsunami relief) and let them walk us down the block, past some of the Cambodian-style ruins, and across the street before circling back.
Anyway, that was our fun touristy day. I'm going to sign off before my Internet card runs out, but I'll try to post again before we leave EARLY on Wednesday morning (or, as it would be in America, the middle of Tuesday afternoon).
Kristen: Thanks for the words there. Is there a Scripture reference to accompany them?
Heather: Awww, thanks a lot. I'll have lots to share with the paper staff when I get back, so I'm really looking forward to that.
Hello, once again, from Bangkok! The week has been going well; not only have we had lots of chances to talk with lots of students at the English Club, we also manned a booth to represent the club at a fair for the student organizations at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. We got to see hundreds of students then, some of which actually did come to our meetings the next day.
(Up until the day of the fair, though, Nut, one of our contact/translators who still attends the university and is mostly responsible for the English Club, had forgotten to mention that the club had to represent itself on stage, and he had said the Americans would sing for them. Thank goodness for one person who's good with pitch -- God blessed our team with Lauren -- and microphones that didn't amplify your voice all that much. After having been treated to several playings of the Thai National Anthem, we performed the Star-Spangled Banner, and, of all the strange songs we could have performed, we ended up singing Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane." Don't ask me why; I'm still not sure what I was doing up there to begin with. The day overall was fun, so I try not to worry about it.)
We've been able to see a few of the Christians from the church throughout the week, and last night, we took some of the students to the home of a new missionary to the area. We had a nice night, and then a good, albeit late, team meeting/devotional.
Today, we went to Ayutthaya, an ancient city across the river which was the former capital of the kingdom until it was razed by fire 600 years ago. We were able to walk around the old ruins of a palace/temple complex, which was intensely interesting. The history major in me was trying to soak it all in, and the journalism major in me, having a hard time coming up with immediate words for capturing the experience, was seriously glad I have photography major friends to give me pointers on taking pictures.
Aside from visiting the ruins, we also visited the national "Arts and Crafts Center," which sounds like a hut at summer camp but serves as a training station and market for the artisans of traditional Thai handicrafts, exports, and, thankfully for the Americans, souvenirs.
In addition to all that, we even went for a little ride around Ayutthaya in a rather unorthodox manner: on elephant-back. There was a place there that had a corral of young elephants so well-trained that they posed for pictures with tourists and, since their handlers charged for the pictures, would take twenty-baht notes right out of people's hands with their trunks and give them to the handlers. One of the young bull elephants who posed with our team was a serious attention hog and hammed it up for the pictures; between his enthusiasm for attention and how obviously smart he was, his demeanor reminded me a lot of my dog. Of course, he was much bigger and it was pretty scary when he would run toward the other side of the crowd, but he waved with his trunk and even trumpted a little thank-you for Jessica's payment, and he seemed really cute. We got to feed tiny bananas to a baby elephant that was there, as well, and also we got onto small seats on the backs of a few of the animals (apparently, they had all been in Phuket last week helping move rubble from tsunami relief) and let them walk us down the block, past some of the Cambodian-style ruins, and across the street before circling back.
Anyway, that was our fun touristy day. I'm going to sign off before my Internet card runs out, but I'll try to post again before we leave EARLY on Wednesday morning (or, as it would be in America, the middle of Tuesday afternoon).
Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
--Psalm 103:20-22
2 Comments:
Hey, Bud!!
Thanks so much for your posts!!! Mimi is SOOO jealous that you rode an elephant!!! It sounds like a wonderful adventure for you and God is surely blessing your mission. I miss you and can't wait to talk to you when you get back!
Love, Mom
By
Anonymous, at 9:09 AM
it's the benediction from hebrews 13.
can't wait to hear from you when you get back...
-kris
By
Anonymous, at 4:33 PM
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