East of here

This week we travelled east of the city where we have spent the past year studying the local languages. We spent the day asking Him to show us where He would have us to live. Unlike America, you cannot just call someone to show you houses that are on the market in the villages here. You pretty much have to know a family who will rent you a house or part of their own. Please be lifting us up as we spend time in the villages there, that Dad would lead us to the connections who would find where we are to live. I believe that there are places where the soil is fertile and we are seeking to live in one of those places. This is a picture of the rice terraces there.

Here are Jody and I on the beach.

Chinese New Year

I want to share a few more of my pictures from Thailand with you. As I look back at them, I see people striving to reach God and to enlighten themselves from the burdens of life. Join with me in praying that God would reveal Himself to the people of southeast Asia so that they would be brought from the darkness and into the light. With Chinese New Year this week, they have declared it the "Year of the Rat". I pray that it is the year of the Lord's favor.




This is Jody and I in front of a Buddhist Temple.




"Ode to Mom!"

Leaving Thailand

It is with a heavy heart that we said "good-bye" to our friends from the US after 2 weeks of classes and left Thailand. I find myself longing for the sense of community that we shared there with other believers...but I know that if we do not go back to our assignments others will never know of the "family". We have to return to the Boomyah to tell them about the family we are in and how they can be a part of that family. We have been so blessed to get close to other families while we were still in school and all come to Asia at the same time. We always look forward to the times that we get to share together. We enjoyed playing with everyone's children...

And breaking bread together...

Elephants!

Yesterday we went to visit a buddhist temple in Chiang Mai and found this elephant with its trainer. It was amazing to get close to it and pet it. Asian elephants are native to Thailand. They are smaller and much gentler than the African elephant. They get really attached to one person so typically the trainer will work with the same elephant for 40 to 50 years. They are very helpful in the logging industry here...but they don't hurt the tourism industry!

Lights

We got this shot last night in the night market and I thought the lights were so pretty.

Thailand at Night

One of the things I love about Chiang Mai is that it is a city that stays up late. I love going out to the street markets and feeling safe as we walk all over the town after dark. Tonight we went out with a group of friends. The mode of public transportation that is the least expensive (other than walking) is to climb into the back of a pick up truck that has a covered bed and it used as a taxi, called a "Sun Taw". Here we are on our way to dinner.

On the way home we walked and I shot these photos.


We walked through the busy night market where I always enjoy shopping. It was a fun night.

Out of the City!

This weekend we had the chance to get out of the city of Chiang Mai. We drove to the northern most part of the country and looked into the country of Myanmar which was just across the river. It reminded us of the isolation and persecution our brothers and sisters there experience under one of the cruelest governments in the world.


We also had the opportunity to take a boat ride across the river into Laos. This is what the boat looked like.

There they were selling alcohol with fermented lizards in it like this...puts tequila to shame!

We saw a huge statue of Buddah!


These kids were playing soccer which impressed Jody.

Thai People

One of our favorite things about visiting any new area is learning about the culture and the people who live there. We really enjoyed getting out of the city this week and meeting some of the people from Thailand who live in the villages in the mountains. They were not so different from us. They sew...

They wear big earrings...

They ponder life's uncertainties...

They read...

They dance...


And they play...

Temples in Thailand

We had the opportunity this weekend to visit a buddhist temple. It was beautiful on the outside, but so different on the inside where a mural on the wall depicted all of the "evils" of the world according to the artist, including Osama Bin Laden and George Bush.

Thailand

We are enjoying our visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand so much. Jordan enjoyes all of the shopping and the busy pace of being in a city. Jody has been focused on his schoolwork as he completes his Master's degree. Here is a picture from last night of a restaurant where we ate right on the river, next to a boat.

On the road again...

Saturday we will leave for two weeks in Thailand where Jody will be studying with a group of students from the US as he continues to work on his Master's degree. It will be nice to have a vacation and catch up with friends from the US. This is a recent picture of us in a Hindu temple next to one of the statues.

New Years!

We rang in the New Year with friends here who have become like "family" to us. It was so nice to have "family" out here as Jordan's sister returned to NYC and we were really down about being so far away from our biological families. We enjoyed playing croquet in the sweltering heat, eating junk food that Katherine had brought us from the US and watching cable TV. We were able to catch a Hannah Montana concert, the Auburn/Clemson game and the highlights of New Years celebration parties all over the world. For the first time, we were in one of the first time zones to greet the New Year!

Happy New Years!