A New Look for Cookie

This is a picture of Cookie, a dog that we are taking care of for another missionary family. When it got to where Cookie wasn't able to see very well because of the length of her hair, we finally got her in to get a haircut. We didn't even recognize her when we got her. Its been one day now, and we are still trying to figure out if we got the right dog. Anyway, Cookie is probably a few pounds lighter now, and the difference in looks has caused plenty of laughs for all of our friends in the village. Please scroll down a few entries and take a look at a picture of Cookie taken about a week ago

Another making-merit day

These pics are of some guys in our village on their way to the temple. This past week there was some kind of buddhist/animist ceremony. As the men went by carrying the table-like things, the people would place food on them as part of their making-merit. After asking a couple people about what the ceremony was about, it had something to do with freeing their deceased ancestors. Perhaps this would help their ancestors to get a little higher on the totem pole. Please be praying that these villagers in Baan Buay would come to know the love of the one and only God!

Language Blunder

I've been learning Thai for about a year now, but still make lots of language mistakes. Just yesterday, I made a language blunder worth noting. In Thailand, the King is looked upon very favorably. He has been King for a very long time and has earned the respect of almost everyone in Thailand. Every Monday, tons of Thai people wear a yellow shirt in honor of the King. After youtube.com had a video that mocked the King, it was, and is still blocked in the country of Thailand. There are many names that people here call the king, but one is "Phra Jaao Pan Din," which means God of the earth (the one over the country of Thailand). Just recently, a member of the royal family came to our province to visit a nearby village, and I found myself talking about the King, and since I had just recently learned this new vocabulary, I tried to put it to use. Unfortunately, I used the Thai words "Phra Jaao Dai Din," and got blank stares. I said this for a couple of days, and then my wonderful wife reminded me that the phrase I used would translate as "God under the earth." No wonder I got blank stares.

My little Wolfpack Fan

This is a recent picture of Hudson holding Mr Wuf (the mascot). He still supports the wolfpack even though its been a terrible season. I mean, beating ECU was a big win...thats sad.

Visits from Jack, Lynn, and Nong Ah

This week has been a busy and exciting week for us. First, we've had a young Christian teenager (Ah) visit us from a neighboring province. She is very much a typical teenager. She likes to watch TV, listen to music, and play on the internet.

Jack and Lynn Kinnison, a couple of long-time missionaries in the Northern part of Thailand, took a long road trip to visit us and another missionary family this week. They have been lots of fun to have around and have helped us a lot with the ministry here. Lynn helped teach Pamela to make biscuits, chocolate cake, and hash browns. I also was victorious in playing cards. On top of this, Jack helped me a lot in our village. We walked around and talked with many people. It seemed that in each conversation, he was able to talk about God in some way or another, in a way that relates to the people. In addition, after teaching English on Wednesday night and Thursday night, he was able to briefly share the Gospel with them. For most all of them, this was the first time they have heard a thorough explanation of the Gospel. We are praying that God will work on the hearts of these young people.

Random Family Pics (and Dog)

These are just some recent pics from a recent trip to Chiang Mai and to Bangkok. Also picture is
a dog that we are looking after for some friends (Cookie). We will probably post random pics of our family in this blog...especially Hudson b/c he is the favorite of all of our grandparent's.

Chiang Mai and Bangkok

Trip to Chiang Mai and Bangkok. The past two weeks, we have had the privilege of helping watch kids in Chiang Mai for those in our area who are now the leaders of people groups (strategy coordinators). We had a great time ministering to these kids, eating farang (Foreigner food), shopping a little, and hanging out with friends from our company. I even got some NC BBQ complete with cole slaw, hushpuppies, and a twice-baked potato. One thing that was also neat was that we were able to spend some time with someone from the people group (the Kui people) that we are working with. She is from our village and was visiting her husband who lives in Chiang Mai. They took us out to eat some great Thai food, and we in turn took them to eat at Subway. Please pray for us now, as we are heading to Bangkok to renew our VISA's. We will be there until Tuesday, and will then return to our home in Sisaket.

-David

Getting a Thai drivers license...or not!!!

I really had my mind set on getting a Thai drivers license today. It seems that in Thailand getting something so small completed is such a huge task. I figured I'd give you some insights on my experience. A week or so ago we first went to the office about getting a Thai drivers license. We had lots of documentation ready, but felt like we still lacked a couple of things. We found that we lacked a lot: a physical from the Doctor, proof of residence, actual passports (which were in Bangkok), copies of everything, etc. We had to go to Bangkok anyway, so we got the physical done there, picked up the passports and headed home---not too bad. On another day, I went to get the copies of all of our important documents, so I went into town asking around about the nearest copy shop. The first person I asked told me to go to the 7-eleven and then go straight---no copy shop nearby. The next person I asked said to turn down one road and look on the left---no copy shop. The next person I asked tried to send me back towards the 7-eleven---I ignored his advice. After searching and searching, I finally found a place to make some copies. People in Thailand are very kind---they always give an answer, even if they have no clue. However, the icing on the cake was getting the proof of residence---which we needed to get done early b/c we were heading out of town. We had been told that we would need to get a letter from our village leader and that we needed to take that to a district office. We went above and beyond and took our village leader with us, along with passports, documents, and other stuff that we might need. I only needed 1 little letter to take to the drivers license office. All it had to say was that I live in that village. I was sent to my truck to get extra information 5 times, sent home to get more information about 3 times, and told that there is a problem about 100 hundred times. It had to be the slowest process for the smallest document. We had hoped to make it today to the drivers license office before heading out of town, but getting our drivers license will just have to wait---but on a good note, I did finally get the letter. Pray for us after we get back in town as we venture back to the drivers license office in order to make an earnest attempt to bring all of this excitement to an end.