Political update
The situation here in Thailand seems to have stabilized rapidly. We have not heard of any reports of violence or even unrest. The leaders of the coup (the Council for Democratic Reform) have received the blessing of the King and have laid out a timeline for transition to a civilian government. General Sonthi (the coup leader) has pledged to select a new prime minister within two weeks and proposed that elections be held in October 2007.
Television programming has returned to normal (it had been suspended during the coup). So now we can watch reporting about the coup (but not understand it since it's in Thai). Other than the fact that the usual crowd of school kids was absent from our community yesterday we have not so far personally experienced any effects of the political unrest.
Thanks again for your interest and prayers. We praise God that these events are unfolding peacefully and that the Thai people have seemed to at least accept (and in many cases, welcome) these changes.
Here is a sampling of articles (in English) about the coup from the Thai press:
-Coup as it Unfolds
Comments
Hey Tom,
I just found your blog. Its really cool that missionaries can now have blogs to stay connected. I am going to Romania next summer and set up a blog. www.xanga.com/jordoinromania
See ya lata,
jordo
Posted by: Jordan | September 21, 2006 10:00 AM
Thanks for this political update on the government situation. I am glad that things seem relatively peaceful and stable.
I am one of Sharon Rice's brothers. If you see or talk to her, tell her that I said, "Hi!" and that I continue to pray for her as she works at learning the language and building friendship connections.
Posted by: Tim Rice | September 22, 2006 04:24 AM
I'm glad to hear that things are okay with all of you.
Posted by: Twila | September 23, 2006 12:35 PM