1. The always fun overnight train ride into North Eastern Thailand (also known as Isaan), including fun visits from our Reach friends from another train car.
2. Our very kind hosts, Pastor Joi his wife Tong Sii and their three children. They extended incredible hospitality to us. Our family had fun sleeping all together on a mat under a mosquito net and eating all our meals with them on a mat on the floor.
3. The amazing array of new Isaan foods to try, including bugs (mostly winged insects and beetles- very flavorful), heavy sticky rice cakes for breakfast, sour greens and mushrooms, sundried bananas, spicey green bean salad, etc. We also ate a lot more rice than we are used to- at every meal. One breakfast we had three types to chose from....sticky, fried, and plain.
Eliza actually loved the bugs and kept handing them to Claire to pick off the wings and legs. Here she is with a whole assortment that we had at dinner one night.
Getting the food ready for our meal after church .
4. The peace and quiet of the country-side. We almost forget what such complete silent is like, living near the city.
One afternoon we enjoyed a swim in the river just down the road behind our host home. A bunch of kids went along with us. Here is Eliza with some of the boys.
Pastor Joi owns about 700 rubber trees which enables him to support his family, while leaving him plenty of time for ministry. The rubber sap is collected by slicing away a thin layer of bark and runs out into a bucket (just like maple syrup). The grove was cool and beautiful (right behind the house).
5. Some different ways of doing things.....
Washing dishes with Mae Sii Jan. She is a new believer who was also staying at Pastor Joi's home for a few days around the time of the church service. She was helping with worship and her home was too remote to travel back and forth. We later got a chance to visit her home (more about that later).
The bathroom had a "squatty potty" (or non-western toilet as we've taught the girls to say :)) with a dipping system for flushing and on the far right a dipping shower. Once you got past the shock of the cold water, it was actually pretty fun (the girls thought so- it was funny seeing them trying not to squeal at the cold).
6. Highlights for the girls (especially Claire) were the river swimming and the animals......
Claire taking a very brief ride/sit on a baby water buffalo. That's Lucille Zimmerman, an EMM worker, holding her on.
Claire was super excited that our host family owned chicken and ducks and she loved helping feed them most days. Here she is holding a baby duck.
7. A fun day of learning with the Reachers and Skip and Carol Tobin (long term EMM workers) who did some teaching on Isaan culture. We also enjoyed a trip through the jungle across the Lao border and swimming in the river near their house.
Skip and Carol sharing.
Claire and Eliza in Laos, with their new hats. They also got small mortar and pestles and had fun making "somtam" (spicey papaya salad) the rest of the day.
8. Worshipping with the Thai believers. We had a big group meeting at Pastor Joi's house on Sunday morning. Normally the church meets in small home groups in their own villages and gather together once a month for a bigger celebration (the model we would like to adopt for our home groups here in Bangkok).
The celebration included testimonies (even of miracles, like a man raised from the dead!), Isaan style music and dance, a Bible lesson, and a string tying ceremony welcoming a new believer and the Reachers (we had previously participated in the ceremony).
The girls enjoyed Sunday school in the grove of rubber trees.
They made lots of friends at church. Here collecting nuts from the ground.
9.A Monday trip deep into the forest for a Bible Study with a group of new believers. How incredible to witness God at work in such an incredibly remote place and to hear about the miracles he is performing. Tom will share more about this in Trip Part II- which will be just about that day (including pictures of harvesting red ant nests!).
10. God really blessed us through this trip- just all the neat cultural things we got to experience and the encouragement of being with Thai believers. PRAISE GOD for all he is doing and for all he wants to do here in the city too!
-Candice
