Learning Thai

Our big girl turned 5 yesterday! She woke up on the train (coming home from our trip) yesterday morning bright and early to the "Happy Birthday" song and then we had a very busy day celebrating.

First we headed to Yo Yo land, an indoor kid's play area at a huge mall. Claire and Eliza were both thrilled by this mini-roller coaster. Eliza had her hands up screaming the whole time.

Climbing fun at Yo Yo Land.

A McDonald's treat for lunch.

For a real grown-up treat, Claire got a foot massage with mommy. Her favorite part was the quick shoulder rub at the end!

We had pizza for supper and then Cinderella cake.

Claire checking out some of her presents.

Thanks to grandparents and aunties and uncles who called and sent cards and packages to make her day special. We missed you and wished we could be together to celebrate. It's been a big year of adjustment and change for Claire with language learning, starting Thai school, etc. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness to her and that she's a healthy, happy girl.

Unfortunately I left our camera in Ubon when we came home from our trip (Sharon, thanks so much for loaning us yours for the birthday!)...so the trip update will have to be delayed for a few days. We had a really good time and learned a lot so we're looking forward to sharing some of our pics and experiences with you!
-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hi Everybody,
Just wanted to remind you that we are heading out for North Eastern Thailand this afternoon. We will be traveling by train along with the Reachers (about a 11 hour trip). We will be staying with a host family and are excited about learning more about the culture that way! Please pray for us....for safety for travel, growth and learning, for good interactions with our host family and that we can be a help and encouragement.

Also, don't forget to register to comment! We miss your comments as they are one of the ways we stay "connected" to your world! It really encourages us when you take the time to say hello.

Blessings! Tom and Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Two new favorite things....the chalkboard I bought from a sidewalk vendor and playing school. Eliza is learning her colors and some letters from Claire's little school. Eliza likes to name colors while we are out- "sii faa (blue) bus!" "sii chompoo (pink) taxi!"

Church for them consists of home church and team church where they have the benefit of a children's church with one of the team members.

Claire is continuing to adjust to going to school. Some days she cries a little when we leave her and other days she reports that she cried a little at nap time. For the most part though, she enjoys school and loves to report on what she did on the computer, what crazy dances they did outside, her school work and coloring and her new friends and teachers. Every day she comes home with a fancy hairdo that the teachers create after her naptime! This is her school uniform for Mondays when they play outside.
We've settled on her attending 3 days a week (Mon, Tues, and Thurs).
In other Claire news, she recently went to the pool with Tom and actually did a little real swimming with arm floats- she was so proud of her accomplishment and can't wait to go again!

The girls had a fun Valentine's day. The Reachers came over the babysit for our date....and ended up hosting a special v-day meal for all the singles on our team. So, the girls enjoyed a candlelit dinner and helping make valentine cards.

Claire went to a birthday party a few weeks ago and this big stuffed dog was one of the gifts given to the birthday boy. Well, the father thought he saw Claire admiring it, so the next morning he showed up at our gate with it as a gift for Claire. We felt bad and tried to turn it down, but he insisted! Both Claire and Eliza love it and sleep with it in their bed. He makes a good bike buddy, hugger, and pillow.

And the third one is 13 weeks along and kicking around and making his/her mother's pants fit a little tight.

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday we met in the new home of Utai and Wanna for our third team/Thai believers/seekers group celebration. Our goal is for each of us on the team to develop small home group meetings and then for everyone to come to this larger celebration once a month.

Dan, Pon, and Utai (our host) anticipate the big meal ahead.

Serving the sticky rice.

Reacher's Brittney and Joelle and new friend Rattana who has offered to host our next home meeting.

New friends.

Eliza on the windy bus ride home.

I love the Thai way of hosting. We all meander in, take seats on the floor, maybe eat a little fruit (in this case tamarind which I think tastes like prunes) and have a drink while all the ladies work together in the kitchen sending out one small plate at a time to place on the floor in the middle of the group- a plate of papaya salad, a whole fish, a tray of oranges, etc. It was potluck style, so we even had some American sandwiches and cookies too. After a while, all the food has arrived and everyone sits on the floor around it and digs in, no silverware or plates necessary!

After the meal, we enjoyed time of singing in Thai and in English. Thai singing is one of our weak points, as our hosts, Utai and Wanna are the only Thai believers in our group right now and don't know too many Thai songs. We want to learn though, so hopefully that aspect of our meetings will improve soon. It was easy to feel the Holy Spirit's presence in that house though as we worshiped together. We had Bible studies in Thai and in English and then a time of prayer blessing Wanna and Utai's new home and community.
What a blessing to worship with Thai believers and seekers! We look forward to this kind of worship each month.

Later this week, we will also be traveling to North Eastern Thailand to work and worship with the EMM church workers and believers there. Our family and the Reachers will all be staying with host families in the country side, so that should be a good learning experience for all of us. We will be gone from Friday night (taking the overnight train) until Wednesday morning.
-Candice

P.S. By the way, we know you have been having trouble with commenting on our blog. We had been having a lot of trouble with an overwhelming amount of spam and have tried to fix that problem. You should now be able to comment after going through a short, one-time registration process. Please keep trying to comment........it means a lot to us and is a big encouragement!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On Friday, Eve and Eric, Claire and Candice enjoyed a little trip to the Gulf of Thailand to feed the seagulls and eat some seafood. Sadly, Eliza got Claire's bug and stayed home sick with Daddy. We had fun throwing bread to the hundreds of screaming birds.....

Claire's reaction when one swooped a little too close to her head.

Pretty sunset and seagulls.

Today Eric and Eve headed to Cambodia and will be back for a few days at the end of the week before returning home to Ohio.

Today (Sunday) we split up. Candice and Eliza (along with Eve & Eric) met the rest of our team for a worship service in a nearby park. Tom and Claire went to Pooh's (one of his students and Claire's schoolmates) birthday party. As a team we've been challenging ourselves to reevaluate our definition of "church" and to think about ways in which a variety of interactions with other people can meet our (and their) spiritual needs. (We've looked at Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well as a model.) So, although we didn't enter a church building today (and, in fact, rarely do) we were both encouraged and blessed.

The birthday party was a great chance to learn more about Thai culture and religion and to relate to some new people. The family had invited a group of monks to participate - as a way of making merit on Pooh's birthday. Later they also performed a ceremonial first haircut on a one-month old baby. Claire had fun playing with the other kids there and I enjoyed talking with an interesting mixture of people at my table - including a Swiss man, his Thai wife, and a Mexican lady who has lived here for 15 years. This is the kind of interaction that I was hoping could come from teaching English. I definitely feel like I know this family better now and am looking forward to more opportunities for interacting with them.

The birthday boy blows out his candles.

Claire and Pooh- they also go to school together and Claire saw some of her teachers at the party.

-Tom and Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This week we've......

Enjoyed some extremely unseasonable rain showers.

Had fun with visiting friends Eve and Eric (Eve is a former co-worker and current friend of Candice's. She and her husband are spending the week with us).

Hosted a Superbowl party (on a one day delay- watched Monday night) for the team featuring lots of food and excitement toward the end of the game!

Enjoyed another home visit from an elephant! Eve and the girls feed the 5 year old elephant some sugar cane.

The elephant enjoyed a drink from our trash bucket, and then Claire got to sit on his head briefly. She was not thrilled with the experience saying it felt like sitting on "dirty hair."

Claire has recovered now from her bout of vomiting/fever, etc but we're still treating for the ear infection. She headed back to school today and was a little reserved and teary about it. Please pray for her adjustment as it hasn't been easy for her. Tom also started his hospital class this week and reports that he enjoys teaching a class of 10-12 adults a lot better than his rowdy kid students!

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)