Rice Farmer Dave

This is a picture of me getting out in the rice fields and helping to harvest some rice. All of our neighbors do this all day, 6 days or so a week, but I only did it for about 30 minutes. I got so exciting after much hard work and our friend let me know that I had just earned 1 Baht. That would about 3 cents. Most people who work all day make no more than $3.

Hudson hanging out in the rice field with his friend Bam

Hudson Sitting at the Table American/Thai Style

Sometimes Hudson does things or says things that are a cross between American and Thai. This picture is of Hudson squatting, which is what Thai people tend to do when they are just sitting around. Hudson ate his supper this way, in a high chair. We normally tell him to sit right when eating, but at least it made for a good picture.

A Few of the Neighboring Kids

Here are a few of our neighbors in Baan Buay that were anxious to have their picture taken. Feel free to pray that each of them and their families will follow Christ

Min

Ohm

Nam

Wuun

Lee

Loy Krathong Festival

Just a few days ago, Pamela and I were invited by our villagers to go and see a festival nearby. The name of the festival is "Loy Krathong." The people prepare a "Krathong," which is a little decorated float-like object often made from banana leaves, paper, candles, etc. They then float (loy) it out on the water. By doing this, they are worshipping and/or paying honor to the god of the water. By doing so, they believe that they will receive good fortune. At the event we went to, they had kids and adults from a number of villages dance. Baan Buay, the village that we live in, sent a couple of different groups to perform. They did a great job and had a lot of fun.

Before they began to float the "Krathong's," the vice governor (pictured to the left) of the province of Sisaket had just finished giving a speech. He came down from the stage and then started his journey to the water, followed by everyone else. As he was on his way, he looked at me...I knew something was up, with us being the only white people for miles. He then came to me, with everyone looking, spoke to us for a while in English and in Thai, and then made us his guest to go offer a huge "krathong" to the god of the water. We were "strongly" urged, by everyone, to follow him, so we followed along. On the way I was able to explain to him that we were Christians, and that we would not be participating. This was somewhat embarrassing for us, b/c in Thailand its not very polite to refuse to do something when someone of high prestige offers, but this gave us an opportunity to politely stand for what we believe in...thus, we just took pictures. Here are some of the pictures and a video that we took at the festival.

The kids in this picture and in the video down below are some of the very young people that we seek to minister to. The majority of them are our neighbors on the street in which we live. I guess this dancing is something like their form of cheerleading or something. Notice the tall person on the right in the black/green and the person in the back middle in the orange are not really women, but men. Homosexuality and dressing up like women is a big issue in Thai society. The person on the right is very open about it, but until now, we have never seen the boy in the orange dressed up like a girl. In fact, the boy in the orange attends our weekly English lesson, and in fact, is probably our best student. He, along with many of these kids, have heard the Gospel, and we pray that God will work and transform each of their lives.

These are some adults doing more of the traditional Isaan Dancing

Staples Mill Road Baptist Church Mission Team

During the last couple of weeks, we have had the pleasure of having a team from Staples Mill Road Baptist Church in Richmond, VA join us in Sisaket, Thailand. They taught lots of English (2 schools and 1 big English Camp), prayer walked many villages, and were able to distribute literature and share about Jesus with hundreds and hundreds of young people. The following are a few pictures from the past week or so.

The Team After Riding Elephants in Surin

Bruce and Sam doing what they do best, eating!

Paul and Sue doing a skit for a Church in Phrai Bung

Sue and Phyliss Sharing about Creation

Brenda spent the early part of her trip sick, but was delighted to have a close friend of hers, who was in the area, come and surprise her!

Gayle teaching the youth at the English Camp about musical instruments

Susan teaching at the English Camp in Kantaralak

Kids at the English Camp in Kantaralak holding up NC State Wolpack signs in celebration of the recent wins by the pack!! Go State!

Team from Virginia

Just a couple of days ago, we were joined by a team from Staples Mill Road Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. In addition, two people from Mississippi were also able to join the team. We are having a great time with this team. They are mostly older folks who are really giving it their all. They are also being very flexible, which is a must when staying in another country. For example, they have eaten all most all Thai food. In fact, just yesterday, there was a swarm of flies around us at a restaurant we were eating at. After a few minutes, the gnats were in our food, drinks, etc. This mostly senior group ate lots of food (w/ quite a few gnats i'm sure), and even asked for straws for their drinks (in order to avoid the gnats on top). They've been teaching English and sharing about Jesus with kids of all ages, particularly those about middle school age. Please pray for:

1) Brenda--she is a member of the team who has been very sick the last few days. She's already gone to the Doctor and gotten medication. Pray that she'll get better quickly.

2) Elephant trip--if you are in America, about the time you are going to sleep today, the team will be riding elephants. I think we are taking a path that the elephants will carry them through a river. Please pray that no one gets wet :)

3) English Camp--Thursday and Friday, the team will be teaching English and sharing about Jesus with over 70 kids at an English camp. Pray for God to work in the hearts of the young people and to give strength to the members of the team.

Kids in Our Village Singing About God

A couple of our leaders in Thailand, Jack and Lynn Kinnison came to visit us in Sisaket recently. While here, they helped us teach English a couple times. After teaching some kids, Jack briefly explained about Jesus to the kids, and then taught them a simple song about "Christ knocking on the door." The song came from Laos, but the language is very similar to Thai. The kids loved it so much, that they requested to sing it next week, so we decided to take a video of it. None of these young people are Christians, but we pray that they will open up the doors of their lives and let Jesus in.