Howdy Everyone!
A few days ago my teammate Alyssa pointed out the date on the door of our ministry. The sign said that classes would resume 10 May 2561. But the sign was almost completely in Thai so that the parents could read it as well as the children that are learning English A Mane. We have walked by that sign for 2 weeks without really paying attention to it. But Alyssa found it weird that the day and month were correct, but the year was wrong. Apparently, I am living in the future, I live in the year 2561!
In the western world we follow the Gregorian calendar which began with Jesus’ birth and counting up from there we have reached the year 2018. However, in Thailand and other Asian countries, they still use the Buddhist calendar. The Buddhist calendar began with the death of Buddha, who died 543 years before Jesus was born. So now Thailand recognizes that they are living in the year 2561! Sorry for the little history lesson, I just thought that was way too good to pass up.
In other news, we have finished classes at A Mane for the students and they are on summer break. Since we are the first team to help out during summer break we get to do “Workshops” for the kids. We have planned 4 classes a day for 4 days to teach the kids at A Mane how to make lanterns and collages, sign language, grammar, how to follow recipes, yoga, and how to grow rice. At the end of these workshops we get to take the kids on a field trip to traditional rice fields where they will learn the importance of rice farmers and how difficult it actually is to grow and maintain rice. This whole field trip will apparently be conducted in Thai, so we will have to rely on the translation from the kids.
We just met up with another team in our squad for Easter Sunday.
We spent all day together, literally. We attended a church with more than 65 different nations represented.
Then we went to brunch at a quaint little shop in between a Gothic bar below and a tattoo parlor above.
After that fun little place we used the Thai train system for the first time as well as a water taxi. We were packed in there like sardines, and our boat was barely one foot above the water level.
Our teams visited Backpacker’s Alley and had a Tuk Tuk Race to a huge night market that you could barely breathe in with all the other people around. I wish I could say that the night ended with a short drive home and a nice hot shower, but alas it took us two taxis, an airport, and two malls to get us home that night. Nothing in Asia is simple, especially traveling across Bangkok…
I am still fundraising all the way from the other side of the world. I would really love to continue on my Race, but without funding I will not be able to finish my 11 months in the mission field. I am so grateful for everyone who has already helped me reach this point in my fundraising, but I must ask that if you feel led to give and support my race then please push that little orange button at the top of my blog. Any amount is greatly and thankfully received! I love all of you guys and will keep you updated on my fundraising as I get closer to the final goal!
