Thailand update - July 6th

Hello again from Thailand !!!

Today was another awesome day. Again, this morning started with some team time to prepare us for the day. We left for church around 9:30 am.

Church service in a Thai church is amazing. Here we are, sitting there not understanding a single thing being said, but knowing full well God was in the building. To see the glow radiating out of these people as they worshiped. When the pastor started his sermon we sat there... uh... with what was probably some confused looks on our faces. Another guy stopped the pastor and asked Dave if he would want to translate. Of course he agreed. So, the pastor would preach and Dave would translate for us. Totally awesome!

We were introduced to the church and received a very warm welcome from everyone. Here's how it went. The youth band started church with some contemporary praise music. Some guy would pray. Another guy would talk for a while. More praise music. Then, each Sunday the people are given verses to memorize. They then come to the front of the church and recite their verse. They get a present from the pastor when they get it right. Today there were 6 people who recited verses - all got them right. It was so much fun!

Then, more singing from the book. These were songs we knew - kind-a sort-a. More praying. More talking and laughing. Little Thai kids were running up to the front and sitting all around. The pastor started his preachin. Dave went up to translate. It was an awesome sermon about being patient, endouring hard times, and getting along with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
After that, more singing, more talking and laughing, more singing... It was so wonderful. Like I said, most of the time we didn't understand a single sentence but were completely over flowing with joy. God was IN THE HOUSE!!! He was at work in ways I can't write. It was simply incredible to watch him work.

Megan is with me right now as we post this update. She's kind-a tired and wining. Poor thing.
(I'm typing, Megan is composing) You wouldn't believe how crazy the traffic is around here. None of the vehicles have seat belts. Every one drives on the wrong side of the road, or in the middle of the road. It all depends on how big your vehicle is that determines what you can get away with. The bigger the vehicle the more you can push others around.

Wendy and John and I took naps. Jim and Paul went swiming. Mandy, Allison, and Karen went to visit Helga. Briana read a book. My nap was good.

We took a baht bus over to the mall for some shoping and food.

Guess where we ate? Western Sizzler. Yeah! American food... kind-a.

Now we're back at the hotel typing this. Or, Jim's typing. That's all.


(Jim's back now)

OK, we've gotten past the picture problems. Here are some photos of the past few days. Hope you can see 'em OK.

YBIC,

Jim

p.s. Answered prayer: I got Allison's flight changed. She's returning home with the rest of the team. !!!!