Breakfast was served at 8:00 a.m. after a long night’s sleep (at least 8-10 hours). Lois led the morning devotions. Her theme was “Forgiveness” from three Old Testament sources.
Off to Church on the elevated train (with some adventure and misdirection); we finally arrived at an air-conditioned building that is owned by the church (they are able to say with pride). The church was started 35 years ago by six individuals who spoke English. The attraction for the community was that this church was a place to learn how to speak English. The congregation now totals a little over 100. The sermon was given by a female co-pastor; who is one of the founding six individuals. Her message was “we should not be seeds like the ones found in the pyramids that were in darkness for thousand of years. Those seeds did not bear fruit. We must plant and bear fruit today for Jesus.” After church they served lunch for the entire congregation.
The team rehearsed some of the planned children’s activities for our visit to an “inner-city slum.” However, after the rehearsal we were treated to some Swenson Ice Cream on a very hot day, a wonderful surprise. On our walks to and from the church we passed rows and rows of people selling and trading Buddha statues, necklaces, pendants, etc, etc. One of the team members commented on the similarity of this situation to that of many Old and New Testament stories about selling and keeping idols.
The team, along with members of the church, piled into taxis and traveled into the edge of the “slum.” We walked across a paved bridge and saw many people on the road and outside their houses. We met the children in a small square; we set up our learning stations. The church team goes into this “slum” every week to work with the children (so we were their support). However, we made this week special. The team made balloon hats, took the children’s pictures, printed them out and created a photo necklace for each child. The kids were excited, but several of the parents were just as excited to maybe have their first photo of their child. One of the Thai women turned out to be a great balloon hat maker. The team had ball tosses with color recognition for each age group. We spent about two hours with wonderful interaction with children and adults. (There were a few adults who seemed to be sour about the kids having fun with “these” people, but that was just a perception – we were safe and secure.) Some of the team, who went into a building by the square, remarked, “It was dark and oppressive.”
We traveled back to the hotel, by taxi, at around 6:30 p.m. No time to wash-up or relax. It was time for dinner. We traveled, by taxi again (taxis in Thailand are cheap – about 30 cents or 100 Baht), to the Cafe Laos. Jim and Min expertly selected the right combination of platters for a great meal. We had our team meeting and ended with prayer in the Cafe. Back to the hotel, by taxi of course, to a well deserved nights rest. --- The Thailand Team
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