Thailand Journal 15 – Sept. 8

EMOTIONAL!!! In all the many years we have been doing this, I’ve never witnessed a send-off like this. There was literal crying and wailing. One little orphan boy hung on to Elton and would not let go. And this was as we were trying to leave. The official send-off at the beginning of the day was also emotional, as every child in the school came up to individually say good bye to each of us. They gave so many gifts (mostly handcrafted, including personal pencil portraits) to us, and the teachers gave

each of us a cowboy hat (this area is cowboy country). In my final journal I’ll suggest some reasons for this exceptional response to our group. At the farm, there was nothing spectacular. We finished weeding a large corn field, and started another. Late afternoon Emil took us on a tour of the largest dairy farm in Southeast Asia (Farm Chokchai). Because he works there, he was able to take us to parts that are not open to the public: e.g., to see elephants (one with tusks) tigers, panthers, leopard, thoroughbred horses, etc., etc. We got the opportunity to feed young cows and sheep. And of course, to eat wonderful ice cream. You need to taste the milk (not vanilla) ice cream! We ended the day with

dinner at the Blue restaurant, and some delicious “pancakes” from a roadside stand. And how can I not tell about the beginning of the day with the devotional by Devyn. She told us of how she came to WWU without any religious background. She was recruited because of her softball skills. Her first introduction to the bible was in Daniel and Jeremiah class. And here she is on the trip as one of my assistants and giving a devotional. What a blessing.