Dead Ancestors Visit on New Years Eve

While living in a village in the Isaan part of Thailand, people tend to ask the foreigner, "What are you doing here?" We tell them that we are here to talk to people about Jesus and Christianity, but also that we are here as learners, to learn about their culture and language. Being learners has helped us to learn a lot about what the people here really believe, and has gotten us invites to watch (not participate) in a variety of rituals and celebrations.

Tonight, on New Year's Eve, we were invited to come watch and understand more about a yearly ritual called "Baan Pa Bu Rut." At this ritual, more than 70 or so people came. There was a decorated altar with bananas and other foods created for the worship of ancestors. Around this were many people sitting, musical instruments playing, lots of laughter, and one particular person who acted like some sort of a medium. She would do a little motion with her hands for a minute or so, and then after that, they believe that one of their deceased ancestors has come, and is inside of the ladies body. After the person introduces himself/herself, family members come and talk with their deceased ancestor. They believe that these deceased ancestors have some kind of influence over their lives, so they want to make sure that their ancestors are appeased. This ceremony also includes traditional dancing and doesn't finish until morning on New Years.

Please watch the following video to get a small glimpse of the reality of the Kui beliefs in Sisaket, Thailand. Pray that God will transform their lives into worshipers of Him and Him alone!

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!

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.