Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Party was a huge success! There were about 40 people there and 7 different nationalities represented! So many of our non-Christian friends came and it was really special to get to tell them why we are thankful.

Here's our team with Trina Turkey...

We put in a DVD of a football game so it was just like real Thanksgiving...


The food! But no turkey. Just to the right of the sweet potatoes were 6 grilled chickens as a substitute.
Before:

And after!
The desserts got their own counter because there were so many!

We passed the mic around to share in our Thanksgiving tradition (started last year in Thailand!) of giving thanks for whatever you want. This was our chance to tell students we really are thankful because we believe God provides all good things. Lots of students participated.


The cafe was so full, a group of students sat outside to eat. No one wanted to use the Thanksgiving napkins because they were "too pretty" -- they wanted to take them home as souvenirs.

A Thai Christian Wedding

Our Thai staff friend, P'Fawn, got married on November 1st. It was fun to see what a Thai Christian wedding is like (probably a lot different than a wedding of not-Christians).

The bridesmaids and other girls in the wedding party were just asked to wear pink... so they all had different pink dresses. They all got ready together before the wedding -- just like in America!

The invitation said the wedding would start at 10:00am. But here it is at 10:34am, and still no wedding...

There she is! P'Fawn, the beautiful bride (being walked down the aisle by her dad).

We are looking at the inside of Thai Lanna Church, P'Fawn's church. The pink/white lettering says the names of the bride and groom and the date of their wedding. It is made out of painted STYROFOAM, which is SO THAI. I can't think of a conference or event we've attended that did not have decorations made out of styrofoam. When we came to the church the night before to "help out," none of those flower arrangements had been assembled. P'Juum, another staff friend, pretty much stayed up all night long making them.

During the wedding, all the pastors who spoke during the wedding came and prayed for the couple, and all the Christians in the congregation were invited to pray also.

And then I got to sing at the reception! It was a fun day.

Our team with the bride and groom!

Visa run to Malaysia

We had to go to Malaysia to get our visa. But we found a Chili's restaurant! We couldn't believe it. I think we ate there every day in Penang.

In Malyasia it's really popular to do a "Dr. Fish spa" which means you put your feet in this water and little fish eat your dead skin. Emily, David, and I tried it because we thought it was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. I didn't like it!

There is a mall Hindu population in Malaysia (less than 7%), but everywhere they were celebrating the holiday of Deepavali (aka Dewali for all you "Office" fans) while we were there.

This is called a kolam. Entrances to homes (this was at a mall) are decorated with colored rice powder in this type of design to evoke the Hindu's goddess of wealth, Lashimi.

In Malaysia, 60% of the population reportedly practices Islam (it's their official national relgion), so we visited the national mosque in Kuala Lumpur. We visited the Museum of Muslim Art, too, and we really learned a lot about Islam and their traditions.

This is what Emily and I had to wear to go in to the mosque as tourists. All covered up, but in one-size-fits-all purple. A really nice man who volunteered at the mosque let us ask lots of questions and he taught us about how Muslim's pray.

We also went to a water park one day to just relax!

Our team in Malaysia

At dinner

Burma... sort of

Our trip to Burma for a visa was uneventful. Honestly, it was just like being in Thailand... I don't think it was much of a Burmese cultural experience. But we got what we needed.

About to cross over to the Burma side...

So evidently Burma chooses to to be 30 minutes behind Thailand -
these clocks were in the really shady Burmese immigration office.

This guy and his rifle were just inside the border to welcome us.

A Burmese street... looks like Thailand!

Team Visa-Run

Great idea.
An article from exactly 1 year ago says Burma is the #2 opium producer in the world, behind Afghanistan. At least the production is down from their peak in 1996. Their decline in opium production has left thousands of families jobless.
Catch 22?
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2007/unisnar1010.html

Some pictures on the drive home...
sometimes we think we live in A Land Before Time or Jurrasic Park

End of Semester Party

So the Wii is a huge hit in Thailand! We had a party last night to celebrate the end of the semester and to encourage everyone before their finals start (tomorrow!). Here are some pictures of the Wii in action.

Wii Tennis

They were so intense while trying to play tennis!

And then the boys had a turn

The girls were boxing!

Meet some students!

We want you to meet some of the students we spend time with at Mae Fah Luang!

This is Mickey, a first year Business Administration major, and she does a Bible study with us on Tuesdays. She is one of the many international students at MFL.


This is Mint (with Emily and I) who also does Bible study with us on Tuesdays. She is going to get to be on campus with us full time next semester because she is a 4th year student and will do her school internship with us! We're really excited.


This is Kung, a first year English major who is not a Christian but is really interested in learning about Chrsitianity.

This is Hall (blue shirt) and Eve --
Eve is the girl I mentioned when I was so excited that we did a follow up Bible study together.
She and her friend, Mew, have been coming to Bible study regularly!
This is Naam and May -- not Christians but such good friends of ours.
We're going to keep hanging out with them next semester and we'll see what happens.



I'll post more when I take more pictures.
For now, please be praying for these friends of ours!

Chiang Mai musings

Over the weekend our team had to go to Chiang Mai again for our monthly staff meeting. One of my friends came to visit from Bangkok, so I took her to see one of the more famous sights in Chiang Mai: the "wat" at Doi Suthep. I went a few months ago when a teammate's friend visited our city. But this time, it looked different -- it was under construction!

I remember watching so many Thai people buy gifts to leave at the monument which they consider a sacred place (because a king-commissioned white elephant chose this spot as a resting place while the elephant was carrying a sacred Buddhist relic) and walk around this "chedi" three times in reverence and in hopes of good karma. And then I wondered, "Do the Thai people feel discouraged seeing one of their sacred symbols of good merit under construction? Do they feel defeated that this building in which they put their hope is imperfect and falling apart?"

I didn't ask anyone while I was there. But you can see the pictures for yourself.

This is what the "chedi" (or the big, gold, pointed monument) in the "wat" (or temple) at Doi Suthep looked like a few months ago:

This is what it looked like this weekend:

This monument to the white elephant (there's the little gold relic on his back) is just outside the area where the "chedi" is located.

Staff and Campus

Here's a picture of all the staff in the North Region of Thailand -- and it's such a Thai picture! Getting to know our Thai staff friends is such a unique and awesome part of being on STINT. This picture is taken in Chiang Mai at one of our monthly all-staff meetings. We will drive 3 hours there and then back again at least once a month for this meeting, and the meetings will last 2 or 3 days -- or however long it takes!

The North Region Staff


Just the MFL Team


Here are some more views from MFL campus...




This is what we see when we drive onto campus every day


We spend a TON of our time hanging out with students in this cafeteria (called D-1)