A lot has happened in the past two weeks. We’ve celebrated Songkran, Thailand’s New Year. It’s originally a Buddhist tradition where everybody washes themselves to represent being cleansed of the old year and walking into the new year fresh and clean. Now, it’s a huge water fight. Everybody wears floral button-down shirts and carries around water guns. If you drive down the street on a motorcycle, you will be splashed and shot at by water guns, water hoses, and giant buckets full of water. Some places have ice cold water, others have lukewarm water straight from the river. The holiday last anywhere from three days to a week. This year, it lasted about four days. The first two days were an absolute blast. It doesn’t matter where you are. You will get splashed by everybody and anybody. On the fourth and final day, I made it a point to not get splashed while being out and about. This meant that I ran in the middle of the street to avoid getting splashed by an old man on the corner. There weren’t many cars, so don’t freak out too much. I didn’t get hurt. However, that’s how intense it can get. That Friday and Saturday, it was definitely go big or go home.
Before the beginning of the holiday, my ministry celebrated Songkran in a more personal way. On Thursday morning, April 11th, we pulled up to our ministry at 8am. We normally arrive at 9:30am, but because of this event, we were asked to arrive early so we could participate. When we walk to the meeting area, we see a table set up, overflowing with flowers. There are bowls full of water for the kids to dip into using smaller bowls. The purpose of this ceremony is to honor the elders of Agape. The kids take small bowls full of water, kneel before whoever they wish to honor, and pour the water over their hands. During this time, the kids thank them for whatever it is that they’ve done for them. Some were more emotional than others as they poured at their gratitude to their role models. It really showed how grateful these kids are to the mother and father figures of Agape. This ceremony lasted for 2-3 hours. It was so beautiful to see these kids honor their elders and receive a blessing from the honoree. It was a beautiful thing to be apart of, and I’m glad I could witness such an event.
A week later, we celebrated Easter. On Friday, April 19th, we went to ministry early again so we could help set up for the Easter egg hunt. We dyed eggs the day before, and we hid them along with plastic eggs the next day. We hid eggs all over the property, so the kids spent a good thirty minutes collecting all of the eggs. The dyed eggs were boiled, so the kids ate them after they collected them. The plastic eggs were exchanged for chocolate eggs and jelly beans. While they hunted eggs, I held one of the babies so they could “participate” in the fun. After the kids received their candy and started to inhale the chocolate, we resumed ministry as normal. It was fun to celebrate Easter with our ministry.
On Easter Sunday, a group of us from Chiang Mai went to visit the guys living in Chiang Dao. They invited us to celebrate Easter with their ministry. It was their first time to have an Easter celebration, so it was an awesome experience. We arrived in Chiang Dao at 7:30am after an hour and half bus ride. We walked to their ministry from the bus station after stopping at 7-11 for coffee. The kids and the guys were still eating breakfast by the time we arrived, so we just hung out with them and played with the kids. After a while, the boys went to the field they had been working to set up for the Easter service. They reenacted the Last Supper, Jesus’ crucifixion, and resurrection. After that, the kids hunted eggs that we hid earlier that morning. We played games with them and ate lunch with them. We sat in the shade of a tree on top of a tarp while eating pad thai and singing worship songs. After that, we went to a river nearby and hung out for about an hour. There were leeches in the water, but I didn’t swim, so I didn’t experience that. They weren’t big, black leeches. Apparently, they were clear/orange-ish and they didn’t draw blood. I read while they swam, so it was a pretty good afternoon. A small group of us left after the river so we could get back to Chiang Mai before 7pm. We stood on the bus nearly the entire way back, so we stood for almost two hours. After pulling into the Chiang Mai bus station, we got a songtow (red truck, like a taxi) so we wouldn’t have to walk home. It started to rain as well, so it’s good we got a ride back to the hostel. This rainstorm was the second one we’ve had since being in Thailand. We had the first one two days before. We haven’t seen rain since South Africa, so smelling the rain, listening to the thunder, and watching lightning strike across the sky was so beautiful. Driving in the rain was one of the happiest moments I’ve had while being on the Race, so I was so happy to have a moment in the rain. Literally, watching water fall from the sky while listening to music and driving home brought the biggest smile to my face. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I could witness. It was a great end to the day.
Well, that’s been life for the past two weeks, and now I’m going to Myanmar in half that time! This is our last week of ministry, so we’re getting ready to move.
Thanks for reading!
