Sunday, February 12, 2012

An amazing week

Where do I start? This week has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The friends I have made, the people who have been touched by God here in Thailand, the food! All amazing!

The Thai people are wonderful, they never stop smiling! The other night Kym and I had the pleasure of having young Thai people sing to us at church.

We have also really enjoyed watching Nathan, the youngest of the team, do his magic tricks here. The Thai people adore Nathan and it's no wonder why, he has really embraced the people and the culture here.

Since my last blog entry, we have managed to create a 35m trench (a lot of digging!) and then placed piping in, soak wells and cement in order to create a drain that will run away from the house. This was a monumental effort. I tried my very best to help but found the conditions so tough to work in. Kym, Steve and Derek blew me away with the effort they put in each day, these guys are hard workers! Nathan didn't mind getting dirty either, putting on the gum boots and going in the mud!

We have been so busy here, yesterday was our first day off. We went for an hr and a half drive and enjoyed an elephant ride. After that, we got to feed the elephants bananas. When I can, I will add some of the photos so you can see it for yourself. It was a lot of fun, they really are gentle giants!

We also had an hour massage yesterday, which cost the equivalent of $6 AUD! I was in the same room as Kym and he was hilarious, making the lady who was massaging him laugh! Thai massages involve a lot of stretching of the muscles and boy did we need that!

I haven't done much shopping as I'm planning on doing that in Bangkok, but I did manage to buy a polo shirt. It cost me about $28 and in Australia would have been at least $60. Great value.

Today we went to church and Kym provided a great sermon on John 15. He really grabbed the attention of the Thai people. It's incredible to see the Thai people learn about and love God.

I've just witnessed a four hour event where the Thai Christian community have come together to showcase singing, dancing, including breakdancing (Nathan got in on that too, he's an awesome breakdancer!) and games and prizes. The event was held outside a shopping centre and I'm hoping some of the people who came along and watched become Christian.

It's a sad day to hear that Whitney Houston has passed so young (48) but also a great day for those who have come to know God.

To my friends and family back home, I love you all and miss you and look forward to seeing you soon.

Murray

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Update on the Thai Mission Trip

We arrived in Bangkok on Sunday and caught a four hour bus to Korat. We were tired but also very excited to be there. We met Tom at a shopping mall, where we experienced our first authentic Thai lunch. Looking around the busy mall, it became apparent there were very few Westerners in the complex!

My meal cost 35 baht, which is equivalent to about $1.10! For this amount, I received rice, chicken and pork. The food was amazing.

After lunch we headed to the block and discussed the plans for the week, which would include having sand delivered.

Here is an original picture of the block... 


The block needed a lot of sand and by Wednesday the trucks began emptying sand into the block, as you can see below...
Whilst there on Wednesday mid morning, we watched a local use a technique that gets rats out of the ground, so that he could have some crispy rat meat for lunch! 





And we have a winner! Winner, winner, rat for dinner!!!


It's been great catching up with Tom and the guys are really enjoying this trip so far - the building of relationships, with one another and the Thai community, the amazing food on offer and being able to share our spiritual journey. Each morning we are discussing a chapter of Nehemiah and finding that his story can inspire us and help us to continue to grow.

Below is a photo of the guys at our favourite noodle spot, located across from our accommodation...


Yesterday we built stairs for Tom's staircase and I will upload these photos another day. Other activities we have done since arriving in Korat include going to the markets, which were massive and had the best coconut drinks ever, and catching up with members of a local church last night for dinner. So far it has been an incredible journey.

God bless!