Happy New Year!
Our hotel has a big shindig for New Year's eve set up around the pool area. The Thais are playing music and performing tonight, and everyone will celebrate all day tomorrow.
Today the medical team got up early again and did the medical clinic at the church. They served nearly 100 people Tuesday and more than 100 people today. It has been going well, except for one baby who was very sick, B.J. said.
The children's ministry team and the water purification team took a "cr
uise" today out to a small island about an hour away. When we got to the boat, it was sitting on a mud bank. We waited more than an hour for the tide to rise high enough to set sail. But when we finally took off, it was an enjoyable ride. We passed some commercial boats and some people living on the banks of the channel. Plus, we saw some boys jumping out of a tree into the water. I caught a video clip of it.
Children waited for us on the concrete dock when we arrived at the tropical island. There were a small group of people there who were not Thai nor Burmese. They spoke Mochan, which has no written language. The tide was high and lapping the bottoms of their weathered wooden homes there on the beach. We unloaded and climed stairs to a church built on the hillside.
Much like at the Thai and Burmese school we went to on Tuesday, we taught the children some songs and had games and crafts. They really like songs with motions. Joy teaches them "Singing in the sun," which is sung to the tune of singing in the rain, but at the end of each verse you add on motions: thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together, bottom up, tongue out, eyes closed and turn around.
Then Joy and Christina told them the story of Noah and the Ark. The kids stuck foam stickers onto foam crosses. Even the adult ladies enjoyed the craft. As Brenda explained, the children there have to grow up so quickly and don't get to enjoy childhood. Many of the women were very young — children having children.
It's also not very sanitary there. At least they had a western-style toilet — but no flushing mechanism and no soap and water to wash your hands. The water purification team worked on setting up the new system, but they will have to return tomorrow to finish the job. The large water tank had to be cleaned out, and they ran out of water.
The tide had gone out some when it was time to leave, so we had to wade out to a small boat to take us to the boat we came in. A few of us went for a swim in the Ottoman Sea. We got back to Thailand and went out for dinner. On the way to the restaurant, Brenda told us how to say "Happy New Year" in Thai. It sounds like "sawadee bee mai." She encouraged us to try it out by yelling it out of the van, saying we wouldn't see anyone we knew. But the minute Christina stuck her head out the window, she saw the medical team having dinner on a curb-side restaurant.
The food here is very good, as mentioned before. But for those moments when there is mystery meat on the table, the missionaries offered this meal-time prayer:
Lord, I will put it down if you keep it down.
We got to our restaurant a little after 6 p.m. They sat us on a little balcony area, then moved us to the main floor because they were afraid we had surpassed the weight limit for that area. All the ferang (foreigners) seem big t
o them. Now we are back at the hotel wondering how to celebrate the new year. Brenda offered to take us back to the hot springs where we went last night to soak our feet and lay on a large concrete slab warmed by the springs. But then again we might just stay here and play some games.
Wherever the New Year finds you, whether in the U.S. or far from home, we hope it finds you happy and healthy. God bless.
Our hotel has a big shindig for New Year's eve set up around the pool area. The Thais are playing music and performing tonight, and everyone will celebrate all day tomorrow.
Today the medical team got up early again and did the medical clinic at the church. They served nearly 100 people Tuesday and more than 100 people today. It has been going well, except for one baby who was very sick, B.J. said.
The children's ministry team and the water purification team took a "cr
uise" today out to a small island about an hour away. When we got to the boat, it was sitting on a mud bank. We waited more than an hour for the tide to rise high enough to set sail. But when we finally took off, it was an enjoyable ride. We passed some commercial boats and some people living on the banks of the channel. Plus, we saw some boys jumping out of a tree into the water. I caught a video clip of it.Children waited for us on the concrete dock when we arrived at the tropical island. There were a small group of people there who were not Thai nor Burmese. They spoke Mochan, which has no written language. The tide was high and lapping the bottoms of their weathered wooden homes there on the beach. We unloaded and climed stairs to a church built on the hillside.
Much like at the Thai and Burmese school we went to on Tuesday, we taught the children some songs and had games and crafts. They really like songs with motions. Joy teaches them "Singing in the sun," which is sung to the tune of singing in the rain, but at the end of each verse you add on motions: thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together, bottom up, tongue out, eyes closed and turn around.
Then Joy and Christina told them the story of Noah and the Ark. The kids stuck foam stickers onto foam crosses. Even the adult ladies enjoyed the craft. As Brenda explained, the children there have to grow up so quickly and don't get to enjoy childhood. Many of the women were very young — children having children.
It's also not very sanitary there. At least they had a western-style toilet — but no flushing mechanism and no soap and water to wash your hands. The water purification team worked on setting up the new system, but they will have to return tomorrow to finish the job. The large water tank had to be cleaned out, and they ran out of water.
The tide had gone out some when it was time to leave, so we had to wade out to a small boat to take us to the boat we came in. A few of us went for a swim in the Ottoman Sea. We got back to Thailand and went out for dinner. On the way to the restaurant, Brenda told us how to say "Happy New Year" in Thai. It sounds like "sawadee bee mai." She encouraged us to try it out by yelling it out of the van, saying we wouldn't see anyone we knew. But the minute Christina stuck her head out the window, she saw the medical team having dinner on a curb-side restaurant.
The food here is very good, as mentioned before. But for those moments when there is mystery meat on the table, the missionaries offered this meal-time prayer:
Lord, I will put it down if you keep it down.
We got to our restaurant a little after 6 p.m. They sat us on a little balcony area, then moved us to the main floor because they were afraid we had surpassed the weight limit for that area. All the ferang (foreigners) seem big t
o them. Now we are back at the hotel wondering how to celebrate the new year. Brenda offered to take us back to the hot springs where we went last night to soak our feet and lay on a large concrete slab warmed by the springs. But then again we might just stay here and play some games.Wherever the New Year finds you, whether in the U.S. or far from home, we hope it finds you happy and healthy. God bless.
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