Thailand Journal 2010 #4

The last time I blogged it was early Friday morning. It is now early Sunday morning. A lot has happened. The big one is the passing of my wife's (Violet) mother, Mrs. Iva Thompson. She was in poor health for the past year. She was just weeks shy of her 88th birthday. She is survived by her husband, John Thompson (who turned 102 last week, and is still in good health), four children, and many grand and great grand children. Vie and our children are heading down to Jamaica. I wish if I could go. But I just arrived (with the Mission Trip students) in Thailand, and I’m the only sponsor of the trip. We are so delighted that our friend, Lorraine took off the day from work to go and be there for Vie, and help her prepare to leave for Jamaica, as well as give her emotional support. Most likely the funeral will be a week from today.

As far as the Mission Trip is concerned, not much happened on Friday. It was the day for the students to get over the jet-lag. After lunch we did our orientation, and then I took them to Tesco Lotus (a kind of super Walmart over here) to shop and get some pizza. (The vegetarian one with corn is very good.) Then Vespers with the University ended the day. All our schools are going through a cultural evolution: I told the students that they should dress “churchy” for Vespers since we are in Thailand which is more conservative than in the States. They followed my advice and were way over-dressed. I was amazed at the jeans and shorts, etc., in the worship place.

Yesterday was a full day. With the passing of Vie’s mom, I was on the phone for hours calling all around the world to alert relatives before sending the announcement electronically to friends and well-wishers. After getting most of that done I rushed over to the University Church. It was interesting to see that they now have instituted the Asian practice of taking off shoes when entering a building, especially a church (it is done for homes as well). During church, Alex Buell arrived. I was so excited! She is here to spend 2 days with the team. After church we were treated to the Church’s potluck. We then went with one of the many Branch Sabbath School that go in the surrounding communities every Saturday afternoon. We, as usual, participate in the one at the farm of the disabled gentleman. I spoke/”preached” and got sweet-sop (“custard apple”, the English speakers call it in Thailand). Then the treat and workout of the day was climbing to the White Buddha – over 600 steps up and 600+ down. Awesome! Great pictures! Then we went to the Saturday night market and ended the day with the most awesome Thai food.