Thailand Journal 2011 #3

We all went to the University church on Sabbath. It is great that they have begun the practice of worshipers removing their shoes before entering the building. This was one of the few places where persons could enter a building shoe-ful. Kudos to the respect of Thai culture! This weekend there was a conference conducted by the church on Revival and Reformation with a number of guest speakers. The church had a potluck for visitors; so we had a great lunch with lots of Indian dishes. We were so happy to see Supaporn, the girl I baptized on our 2005 mission trio to Chiang Mai Academy. We have been assisting her in school; and she is now in University.

Although many students stayed back for the afternoon program on campus, there were many who went out for the outreach activities. We went to the Branch Sabbath School with Uncle Prasarn at his farm. Because of his injuries he can’t sit up for more than a couple hours at a time. So attending church is out of the question. We therefore bring church to him. The theme story of my talk this year was that of Abram’s journey to Canaan. The group then toured the farm and got an idea of the main work we will be doing this year. If the rains hold up we will be building a stone road so that Uncle Prasarn’s wife and her sister can get to the far end of the farm to tend the crops. They were so happy to see us, and were very impressed that we would keep returning year after year.

The highlight of the day was the round trip climb of over 600 steps to the white Buddha. I’ve posted some great pictures on my website (http://www.wallawalla.edu/campus-life/spiritual-life/gallery/thailand_cultural_and_mission_trip_2011). Then for dinner I took the team to the famous (that is, a famous haunt for the APIU students) Blue restaurant. For all the food and drinks we paid a total of $30.00 including tips for all 12 of us! The students then went for an hour to the Saturday night market before I took the van to the airport to pick up Dora and Omar. Our team of 12 is now complete. Here are the names: Spring Townsend, Jennifer Buchheim, Lexie Bohlman, Leah Robinson, Dora Torres, Melinda Vega, Omar Constanza, Kofi Twumasi, Jason Bush, Lorraine Jacobs, Violet and Pedrito Maynard-Reid.