Happy New Year, Thailand!!!
Hello, Friends!
After spending a few days on a remote Thai island with a Muslim community, we have now been staying in the Phuket area for a few days. After the extreme cold in China, we are now experiencing extreme heat in Thailand! What a contrast! All our Ski-Jackets are packed DEEPLY into our bags and we try to spend as much time possible either in the shade, or in the ocean! Thailand truly is a BEAUTIFUL country and we feel VERY privileged to be able to share in God’s heart for the people of this STUNNING place!
Yesterday we celbrated the Thai New Year! (A very strange time to have New Year’s celebrations, and a very strange way of celebrating!) The Thai people believe that the 13th of April is the hottest day of the year, and they celebrate it as the first day of their new year! The whole of yesterday was filled with WATER FIGHTS! Probably because of the extreme heat, the Thai people have a tradition of SOAKING each other with water as part of their New Year’s celebrations. Many of the roads were blocked off and people were driving around with BUCKETS full of water on the back of pick-up trucks (“bakkies” for our South African friends), ready to drench you if you dare come near them! It was great fun, and although we tried as far as possible to stay clear of the water fights, some of us still got soaked at least once during the day! Hats off to the Thai community for having such a day of fun and laughter as a beginning to a new year!
Stefan will be working on a website for the next few days, so please pray for him for inspiration! Jacques
and Lana will be doing research about a Muslim community in this area. All the teams have been assigned different areas around here to study and compile a presentation about the local people and their way of life. This will certainly prove to be an exciting and challenging time. Please pray with us that the Lord will use whatever we do to the glory of His Kingdom.
There is also some good news! Lana is really doing much better health wise and we want to thank everyone for their faithful prayers! God is faithful and we trust Him to keep our team in good health for the rest of the year! Glory to the Father!
Aan al ons vriende by die huis: Dankie vir al die e-posse en en jul ondersteuning vir ons werk hier! Die Here leer ons elke dag iets nuuts! Ons is lief vir julle en wens ons kon alles met julle deel! Spesiale groete aan die Xtreme Team! Ons mis julle en wens ons kon jul neem vir ‘n kayak-en-snorkel-trippie hier in die Thai-waters!
God se rykste seen!
Die Lime Span
