Well mates, today we started our actual hands-on, physical-labor work. We found a clearing in the canopy of trees, and, crikey, we found a couple of cows! …and fields knee deep in muddy water. And amidst all of that sat a wonderful haven. It all started when…
Okay, well, we had a pretty simple morning in the not-so-deep Thai rainforest. Woke up, took our showers, went down to breakfast…you know, the usual. But, oh yeah, we're in Thailand. So, the silly folks who forgot that fact and ordered the "American" breakfast had their orders mixed up and forgotten about and had to settle for slimy eggs or no bacon or just not at all what they ordered, while those of us who ordered the Pad Thai had wonderful service and an even better tasting meal. Just tricks of the trade I guess. :)
So, after our hearty breakfast…give or take the hearty (and a comma if you're adding another "hearty" to the description…for all those English majors out there) depending on the person, we headed straight for the job site, which is where the first paragraph left off. So, maybe it wasn't quite a rainforest, and maybe there wasn't quite a total canopy of trees, but there really were a couple of cows and fields knee deep in water. A couple members of our group were really fascinated by the cows…like REALLY fascinated (I think they must have been the city folk). There were a couple of tractors plowing the fields of water (getting ready to harvest some good, ripe water droplets probably), and the water was nearly up to the engine…I'm no tractor mechanic, but it's probably a good thing they didn't have too much more of a bountiful harvest of water droplets, if you know what I mean! So, anyway, back to that wonderful haven I was telling you about…the one with the moat around it to keep all the cows and geckos from attacking. So, we took the vans over the giant drawbridge…of ground…and there we were. Well, it was kind of more of a skeleton of a wonderful haven than the actual thing (the drawbridge was still kinda in the works, too). But that's where we came in!
So, this is how it all went down. After getting the run-down of what we were going to do and somewhat splitting into teams, the guys got to constructing the scaffolding (it was probably the same stuff Leonardo used to paint the Sistine Chapel…probably) and the girls got to scraping (the house was made of concrete, so it had to be scraped before it was primed and painted). Then the girls and a few of the guys moved on to putting the primer on, while the rest of the guys went to start electrocuting the house…I mean, putting the electrical in the house. It was a good, hard day of work full of laughs and success…and a little flying paint…most of which landed on the walls, I assure you. :)
After learning how to flush the toilet and getting our lungs sufficiently full of paint fumes, we decided to call it a day and head for the showers and then the grub…okay, maybe I can't really call it grub while we're in Thailand…that wouldn't actually be that far-fetched…in fact, I think that's on the menu for Saturday…bon a petit! :) But, before I brush by the showering part too quickly, I would like to point out that one of the guys may have settled on the new style of shaving his legs. But don't worry moms and dads! He decided not to be too rash about this decision…he only shaved one of his knees to see how he liked it. He actually just had paint on it that he couldn't get out, so it was for a good cause.
After eating, we experienced the "night market". It is pretty much exactly what the name implies, but there are just tons of vendors all over this one area all up and down the streets. There were many, many wonderful crafts and knick-knacks, which some of you may be able to see when we get back. I know the guys were excited to see the throwing stars and samurai swords. :)
When we finally got back, it was nice to be able to close the day with a devotion before we all headed to bed. There were many wonderful things said during the devotion as we went around and shared our thoughts on the day, but I would like to share just one of them with you. Ben, one of our members, has been consistently sitting up front in the passenger seat of one of our vans. None of us students really know Thai very well (at all), but he always sits up there with an English-Thai dictionary and tries to say a few things to our driver every once in a while. It is always very funny just because of the nature of how he tries to say things and his (not so) perfect pronunciations, but this has enabled him to develop a friendly relationship with the driver. And he shared with us tonight that he was finally able to breach the subject of Jesus with the driver. Now, keep in mind that this driver is Buddhist, as is well over 90% of the country, and they are typically not very welcome to talking about Jesus. But Ben was able to have a friendly little conversation about Jesus. It wasn't much because of the language barrier, and Ben is being very sensitive to the fact that he needs to take it slow because of the nature of the culture and its view of Christianity. But, well, God has His ways, right?
So we are very thankful for all of your prayers and your support. More importantly, we are very thankful for God's support. Things have been going very well on our trip so far, and it is wonderful to see God working through our members and through the missionaries He already has stationed here.
God is good!
In Christ,
David
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