Thailand Mission and Cultural Trip 2014 - Journal 13

I thought that last week’s work was hard (and it was for its length and intensity)! But this morning we began the day with

transplanting banana sucklings. That was TOUGH! The ground was solid black clay and dry. It wasn’t easy at all to separate the suckling from its parent. And Rob dug the holes in the same‘quality’ soil. We achieved manhood!

We started on the farm early and left early in order to go and see the teaching team in action for the last time with the 7^th graders. It was a delight to see them in at work in their element. All three were excellent and the kids loved them. They are surely going to miss those 7^th graders. Oh, and one other thing about the school: The bell

for the beginning of afternoon classes rings 15 minutes before classes start. That bell indicates that everyone go and brush their teeth. We were so tickled to see the Kindergarten kids all happily lined up with their toothbrushes and cup of water!

In the afternoon we were back on the farm; but it was a bit easier since we were back to weeding peppers – and we were helped with an overcast sky. Of course Tedi had her doggie treats, though they were finicky about what they liked and what they didn’t! She also had a treat for Uncle Prasarn, and he gave her a lemon fruit.

We ended the day with a massage. Oh my! My back and neck are totally stressed out and were in the tightest knots. They had to ask me if I was alright; and then they applied tiger balm before continuing kneading out the knots with an elbow! It hurt to high heavens. But I took it like a man! The 2 sisters who own the business are so delightful. We love them. They look forward to us coming every year.