Well, the day began early for a couple on the team. They woke up at 4:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. So, they had a “hot tea party” while she read her Bible and he read more of “The Reason for God.” The team met for breakfast at8:00 a.m. Jim noted the variety of food that greeted us every morning. Renda had devotions based on Mark 8:1-10. Her theme was compassion – this evolved into a long discussion time about missions, Christianity, world religions and purpose.
We met at 10:00 a.m. to go to the Grand Palace. Believe it or not – we did not take the traditional taxi – we took a river taxi (a much cooler ride on a very hot day and about the same price). The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings established in 1782 (about the time of the founding of the United States). The Grand Palace was the Royal residence and contained the throne halls (no Royal family lives there today). When a new king is enthroned he spends the first night as ruler in the original bedchamber of the kings. This is an act of tradition showing that he is assuming his power. Also, in the complex is the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha (one of Greg Coley’s interns said, “It’s really the throne of Satan.”). The Emerald Buddha is really carved from a block of Jade sitting on a Thai throne. In 1434 the image was covered in plaster to hide its worth, but when the plaster began to fall off, many years later, it was mistaken for green emerald and the name stuck. (Now that you have that interesting fact we’ll turn to the team opinions of the Grand Palace.)
All the team was amazed at the opulence of the 
buildings. The glitters of gold and porcelain were every where. The statues were very detailed and strange (like the one that looked like a rooster (no not Renda’s rubber chicken) with the beak of an eagle and growing out of the top of the beak – an elephants trunk). There were guards in stark white uniforms; that stood at attention like the Buckingham guards. All that opulence surrounded by poverty. Thai people were admitted free to the Grand Palace, but the real kicker was many came with a gift of an egg or flowers or purchased some sacrifice to be offered on the grounds (not the same as the blood sacrifice of the Jews in the Old Testament). The team was also struck by the total pagan idol look and feeling of the grounds – while we’re sure that the Thai’s saw themselves as standing on holy ground. We talked about how today’s Christians may want to visit the Holy Land, but we know that God is every where and His Spirit is in everything, so therefore He is with us regardless of where we are. What a comforting feeling.
After a hot day in the Grand Palace (maybe Greg’s intern was right) we headed back to the hotel. We actually had difficulty finding a taxi that would take us, but our fearless leader prevailed.
We had lunch at the hotel and then four of the team decided to follow Renda’s idea about foot massages. Oh, it felt so good.
The rest of the evening was devoted to dividing up all the games, toys, and assignments for the real work of the rest of our trip. We unloaded eight bags of stuff and rearranged them into compact kits for three refugee camps, two orphanage schools and the small Bible College. More supply shopping tomorrow and “Souper Tuesday” with the Coley’s at the University. We are going to be up at 6:00 a.m. for a long day of work. It is estimated that we will not return to the hotel until 11:00 p.m. So, tomorrow night you may not have a detailed update. --- The Thailand Team
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