Thai ’08 Journal 3

This morning we got up and had a fabulous free breakfast at the hotel. When Lorraine heard that she could go to breakfast before getting ready for church and that there were lots of choices of food she fairly flew into gear and was out the door before I could count to 10. She was quite pleased and we all had our fill.

Ruth met us outside the hotel and I drove us to church. It has been four years since I’ve been here and I was anxious to see the changes. I remember how hard we worked during my last visit here - not just on the church but also putting in big cement fence posts around the land. When last I left we had finished putting in the floor and the walls were just being started on the church.

The drive there from the hotel is about 45 minutes. The scenery is so different from my last visit which was in December during the dry season. This is the rainy season now and things are so green and lush – it’s a whole different world. The hills are planted thick with corn and the flat areas between the hills are all rice paddies. It was nice to see the area during this time of the year.

Things have changed so much since my last visit. Four years ago there was just one small vegetable garden – today there are vibrant gardens everywhere. A brand new dormitory was recently built and the completed church building was really lovely.

Lorraine played the keyboard for Sabbath School and church and I was asked to preach for the divine service – I was asked this in the car on the way there. I suppose that would panic some people but I have learned that as a visiting pastor this is often expected so I try to have something mentally prepared. The previous day Lorraine asked if I would be preaching and I told her that most likely I would. I then asked for ideas which she freely gave but I think she thought I was not really listening to her because I wasn’t responding to the ideas she gave and my mind seemed far away. She doesn’t know me well enough yet to realize I had already decided I liked one aspect of one of her suggestions and was mentally preparing my sermon already. Oh, did I mention that Vie was asked to sing for church? She was - she didn't.

Ruth translated for me and did a wonderful job. The children here are so enthusiastic. I was a bit disappointed when I learned that many of them have left the orphanage for the weekend to return to the home villages for a Buddhist festival. I remember from my last visit that these children CAN SING and I was looking forward to hearing them again. However, even though smaller in number, these children sang enthusiastically and beautifully and it was a delight to hear them again. A few of them were here during my last visit and remembered me.

After church we went to another church where Winsleigh holds services. Despite how very busy she is, especially since this was communion Sabbath, Ruth managed to put together a lovely meal for us. Afterwards I drove Vie & Lorraine back to the hotel so they could get a bit of rest. I was hoping to get on the internet but it seems that the 2 hours of internet I’d purchased on arrival was expected to be used all in one two-hour sitting. I was not told this and was most unhappy. I asked to see the manager but after half an hour the matter still wasn’t resolved and I had to leave to go back to church.

The Mae Sot church was full for the communion service. They say that it is extra full when there is communion – so unlike our services in the West, where people avoid Communion services! I spoke briefly (again from the top-of-my-head, as I did in the morning service!). As you can see from the photos, the foot-washing event took place at the front of the building – quite informal. At the end of the service, they cleared the room and brought in the pots of food – a great noodle dish (the same we had for lunch). They told me that this is a typical Burmese communion service. It is quite interesting to see how many of these cultures take so many of our western traditions and meld them with their local customs.