The Rays go to Asia

Days 26 & 27: The Home Stretch

2024-04-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Juliet was impressed with the elephant towel-animals that awaited us in Bangkok

After 13.5 hours on the plane from Bangkok to Vancouver we're all a little tired

We woke up and had a couple hours to pack before we got picked up to head back to Bangkok. It's about a 3.5hr drive from Hua Hin to our hotel in Bangkok so we finished our packing and were downstairs and loaded up in the SUV by 10:45. At 2:30ish we reached the hotel--right near the airport in Bangkok--and checked in. We weren't really too sure how to use our last few hours in Thailand, however, as we had already strategically packed most things, didn't want a bunch of wet bathing suits, and the hotel wasn't walking distance to anything...so we basically just hunkered down and napped, watched some Mr Bean, ordered food through Grab, and DID go in the pool for a few hours.

We had a smaller bungalow at the hotel, like a tiny-house with a loft. It didn't have much for a kitchen but was really nice. We didn't really think about how the noise would travel between units, however, so when I woke up to the neighbours packing up at 4am I didn't get back to sleep as we were getting up at 5am to get to the airport for our 8:30am flight.

Everything went pretty smoothly: wake up, packing, catching the shuttle, security, finding breakfast, currency exchange, and getting to the plane. The kids did well, although I think everyone is at the end of their leash due to being tired, a bit hungry, and not having the stability of a "home base" like we've had in each place we've travelled on this trip. Lindsay is also craving veggies and a salad...something that wasn't easily found for the past month. I have a feeling we'll ALL be living her craving for the next few weeks...

We're presently sitting the Vancouver airport on a 6hr layover...and from the above picture it's pretty clear that we're wiped! It's Friday today and we all have work/school on Monday. I'm hoping that maybe by next weekend each of us can maybe take some time to gather our final thoughts here for the purpose of record-keeping and reflection, but that's a task we'll have undertake when we're more rested and emotionally available!

Day 25: Our Last Day in Hua Hin

2024-04-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

It seems as though James like to do anything BUT sit in the songthaew!

We spent a few hours wandering the night market on our last night in Hua Hin

Hua Hin has been a great surprise. Greg and Rhea recommended it but we really didn't know what to expect. It is definitely more touristy than Mae Sot and even the part of Chiang Mai we were in (as evidenced by the prices of things and the attractions that exist) but it seems to be a lot more retiree expats here than young party-goers. The beach is beautiful, if you're in the right spot lots of things are within walking distance (and the songthaew is easy to access), and many of the resorts and hotels have both beachfront and a pool...we're glad we came!

Today was a bit of mixed bag of things. We spent some time in the morning cleaning up the condo a bit, starting to organize and get ready for the trip to Bangkok tomorrow, doing journals, and playing I Want Watermelon on our phones with the kids (it is an easy one and a favourite). For lunch we caught a songthaew down the strip to a place called Papahim Burger. It was another really good burger place and definitely worthy of the 4.9-star rating it has. After lunch we did much of the same as this morning, although we did head down to the ocean and the pool for a few hours as we knew it was our last time to enjoy Hua Hin.

We caught the songthaew to the end-of-the-line at the night market for dinner and wandering around. While there we also got an 11x17" caricature drawing done of our family...Lindsay has the idea of getting one down each time we go somewhere for a big trip with the family, but we'll see how that actually plays out :)

Our time here has gone quickly. It's amazing to think that we have been in Thailand for almost a month, but it doesn't really feel like it. We've learned a lot and have been stretched. It's been good.

Day 24: 4 People, 1 Water Park

2024-04-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Lindsay made the 3 of us go down this slide together...the kids were not impressed as it was a "slow baby slide" :)

We spent the day at the same water park that James and I went to yesterday

We hummed-and-hawed over what we were going to do today. We looked at options such as going to PAWS Rescue and the super expensive Vana Nava Water Jungle we contemplated yesterday, but we figured the best bang-for-our-buck would be to go back to Black Mountain Water Park.

We did our typical morning routine of iced lattes, breakfast in the condo, and prepping for the day before we called a grab at 11 and got on the road. We weren't too concerned about what time we got there as we knew it would be enough time there...what we WERE concerned about was how we were getting home. To prepare for this, last night we opted to try pre-booking a Grab to pick us up at the water park and bring us home. We haven't tried that before as we didn't really have a need for it, so we gave it a go. We had someone immediately respond and say they would pick us up at 5pm...now we just had to wait to find out!

We got to the park around 11:30 and as we had already put on sun screen we ready to go! The kids immediately took off and I stayed in the shade with Lindsay for the first bit. Lindsay didn't actually put sunscreen on her bum during the snorkeling trip so she was a bit red and didn't want to spend the day re-baking her backside.

The kids rejoined us about 30 minutes later and wanted us to join them. We started to hit-up the waterslides again and did that until about 1pm when we agreed that we could get lunch. Like yesterday, we opted for pizza as we've found that it's a reasonable price to feed 2 people:250-280 baht ($10-11 CAD per pizza). After lunch, once again, James decided he'd rather spend time in the pool playing, so that's what we did.

Thankfully, again like yesterday, there were some local boys there that James and I started to play with. They did not speak English, however, so although we couldn't talk to them, we were able to play games with minimal common verbal language. James ended up spending a few hours with them, which was great for him...buuuutttt left Juliet spending her time with us. We did some more waterslides, the spray park, and swam with her. Around 4pm the boys had to leave so James reunited with us and we used the last 30 minutes to slide again! We did as much as we could in the short time then got cleaned up and ready for our Grab...hopefully it would arrive!

To our joy it did! The fellow that picked us up was great with his English and we talked the whole way back to the condo. It was great to talk with him (Ampol) and learn about his family.

We ordered dinner and had it delivered. The kids had nachos and cheese quesadillas (basically naan with cheese) and Lindsay and I had khao soi and pork and holy basil. Khao soi has become one of my favourites...as long as it isn't too spicy! We took our food down to the beach and ate on the rock wall with our feet in the water. The sun was setting (albeit behind us over the other side of the country so we couldn't see it) but it was nice! ...at least until James got stung on his inner thigh by something and had a little meltdown...it's always something :)

We got back to the condo and cleaned up and watched a few more episodes of The Chosen before going to bed. Only 1 more day in Hua Hin before we leave for Bangkok on Thursday!

1 Day, 2 Stories

2024-04-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

James had fun meeting and playing with some local boys while at the water park

Lindsay and Juliet went for an all-day snorkeling trip to Koh Talu

Lindsay really wanted to go snorkelling...but Hua Hin is not the place to do it! A couple days ago we started looking into things and opted for each of to take 1 of the kids and go do something different. Lindsay took Juliet on an all-day trip to go snorkeling while I took James to a water park. Here are our stories...

James and I got to stay in bed until 8:30 as the water park didn't open until 11. We grabbed breakfast, dropped off a load of laundry, went to the ATM, and sorted out what we'd need for the day. We called a grab at 10am to come get us and take us on the 30 minute drive to Black Mountain Water Park. We had ordered our tickets online last night so when we arrived at 10:45 we were able to walk in, get lockers, load up our card for purchasing food, and get to the slides! At the time of opening there were only a dozen people there so we had the run of the place :)

We quickly hit all the water slides (there are only 9) and checked out the wave pool, lazy river, and scoped out the rest of the grounds. The park is well-kept, but was not busy all day. There is another, newer, waterpark closer to Hua Hin (Vana Nava Water Jungle) but as it was almost 3x the price we didn't want to spend the money. Around 12:30 we grabbed a pizza lunch, and then were back out in the water for the rest of the afternoon.

James seems to enjoy "playing" more than "sliding"...as such, I found myself in the pools tossing around volleyballs, swimming, and floating on mats more than sliding. That worked OK, especially when we met some local boys who spoke some English and James could play with them. He probably spent the last 2 hours of the day playing water polo and "wrestling" with them on the metal climber shown in the video above. I talked with one of their teachers for a while, and just before 5pm we started to pack up.

I hadn't sorted out how we were going to get back to town before we came...that was a mistake. Black Mountain is so far out-of-the-way that we couldn't book a Grab to come get us and there aren't any taxi companies I could find. We asked the front desk if they could help...which one lady did...but it cost us 3x the price as we paid to get there and should be paid, but they had us so we did what we had to do.

We got back to the condo at 5:30, cleaned up, and got ready to meet Lindsay and Juliet at 6:30.

...now the 2nd story (written by Lindsay)...

Juliet and I got up early, 6:00 am, to take a van to Bangsaphan Noi. It was a two hour drive. We slept most of the way. Once we got there we hopped on to a large speed boat that took us out to a large barge-style boat. We originally thought we would go to Koa Talu first so we hadn't changed into our swimsuits or put on sunscreen. Once we got on the barge, our first obstacle was to figure out how we were going to change. There was no bathroom. Jules and I did the best we could to hold up towels around each other so we could change. We felt like we were in a bit of a rush as other people were already snorkeling. Nothing was very clear: three were no instructions or introductions and it was not exactly how we would do things in Canada. After Jules and I changed we put on some sunscreeen and hopped in the water with our life jackets and snorkels. The water was unfortunately not very clear as there was lots of algae or bits of seaweed. As we swam we felt little stings on our skin. Jules thought she'd accidently touched a sea urchin but we found out there were little tiny jellyfish mixed in with all the algae. The stings weren't too bad for me but they really bothered Juliet. She wanted to get out. As with most bites, Juliet's body seems to react more than others. She had quiet a few large red marks:(. I thought our day was hooped. It would've been nice if the "instructors" had given us a heads-up. The Thai's all wear head-to-toe swimsuits so they probably didn't get stung as much. Fortunately, Juliet recovered and still wanted to try again. This time we put her on a floaty and only her face went in the water. This worked well enough that we got to see some fish and coral. Definitely not the best snorkeling experience but memories were made.

Then we were dropped off at Koa Talu. Again no instructions were given as to what was next. We walked up the beach found some bathrooms, changed and then walked on to the to resort. Lunch was ready so we ate. It was a mix of Thai food and lots of fruit for dessert. After we ate we weren't sure where to go or what to do. The tour that we booked described an afternoon of kayaking, swimming and seeing some sea turtles. The island was beautiful so we went for a walk and asked someone where we could find the sea turtles. They pointed to a building down the beach so off we went. When we got there we saw pools filled water and sea turtles of varying sizes in each pool. We looked around and again there was no one there. We weren't sure if we could touch them. Later in the day we found someone who spoke some English and we asked if we could touch the sea turtles. They said we could and that we could even pick them up, so we went back to see the turtles again and we got to pick them up. The resort is supposed to be part of a sea turtle protection project. They help protect the baby sea turtles until they are bigger and then release them into the ocean. Juliet loved holding the baby sea turtles so that was a hit! They were hawksbill sea turtles.

I was extremely hot, above 40 degrees, so kayaking did not seem like a good idea. We sat in the shade and read and waited until 3:00 pm when the boat was to return.

We boarded the boat and then took the 2 hour van ride back to Hua Hin. The transportation was all very smooth, so that was nice.

...now we're back together...

Once Juliet and Lindsay got back to us we hopped in a grab and went out for some Indian food. It was really good! It was also the most expensive meal we bought at 1220 Baht ($47 CAD). We came back to the condo and watch some of The Chosen. We started watching it over the trip and we have all really enjoyed it. It has been SOOOO good to watch the stories of people meeting Jesus and following Him during the start of the Church while we have been walking alongside and bearing witness to the Gospel being shared here in Thailand with people who also are meeting Jesus and following Him...it's been powerful!

Day 22: Why does the plural of "Quest" sound awkward?

2024-04-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

James and Juliet enjoyed riding on the back platform of the songthaew...Lindsay did not enjoy them riding on the back of the songthaew

Juliet and I climbed to the top of Monkey Mountain in Hua Hin

We had a few things we wanted to do today...I just wish the plural of "quest" flowed nicer off the tongue...

It was another sleep in morning. Once we were up and moving we started by picking up iced coffees across the street and grabbing a songthaew to the far south end of Hua Hin so we could walk up Monkey Mountain. It is only 1.5kms from our place, but it's also only a 5 minute ride :)

We heard about Monkey Mountain from Greg and Rhea (who I work with at CNC and have known for 30+ years). Rhea's advice was, "Any time you find a mountain with the word 'monkey' in it, climb it!" When you get to the base of the mountain it is a quick 1-2 minute climb past some little restaurants to a "base" at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs. Juliet said they reminded her of the stairs leading to the Jade Palace in Kung Fu Panda. Right at the bottom and on the stairs there were a half-dozen monkeys. A few of the brave monkeys came right up to us and tried to take the water bottle another man had, and even tried to get into his backpack. They really didn't have much fear of us so that put James and Lindsay and edge and after a few minutes we decided to NOT climb the stairs.

We walked back to the little restaurants and as it was already lunch time...we REALLY slept in...and grabbed a bit of food. The tables at the restaurants were right on the edge of the mountain so they overlooked the ocean and had a great view of the beach. We sat there for about a half-hour-or-so before Juliet and I decided to go back to the stairs and climb them.

The climb wasn't too bad and by the time we got back to it the monkeys had retreated back into the trees and to more of the shaded areas at the top of the mountain. At the top we had a great view! We also saw a bunch of monkeys up at the top, but as it was hot, they stayed in the shade of the buildings and tress and didn't really pay any attention to us.

When we got back to Lindsay and James we were ready to go get smoothies and hop back on the songthaew to go the direction into Hua Hin and try to do some shopping. We stopped at a TOPS supermarket to try to find some spice packages that Rhea wanted but they didn't have much, so 0-for-1.

Right behind TOPS there was a Thai housewares warehouse that the owner of Burger Murderer told us about. We wanted to go there because the kids (and Lindsay) really liked the hammocks she had at the restaurant and that was where she bought them...unfortunately...they didn't have them anymore, so 0-for-2. By this time, James was not a happy camper! He didn't like the monkey, he didn't have his hammock, and I was proposing we walk another 5 minutes to a lesser-known supermarket to look for spices one final time...it was not a fun walk for anyone at this point!

Thankfully, this other supermarket DID have the spice packets! We bought a bunch of those--and some lollipops and chips--and started back to the condo. We had to walk quite a while to be able to cross the really busy street via a pedestrian overpass, but thankfully once we did, a songthaew arrived to pick us up. We got back to the condo, had some electrolytes and chips, and went down to the pool.

After our very first day we noticed that Juliet's swimsuit had turned browny-orange. We weren't sure why but thought it was because of some of the sediments that exist on the beach (you can see slightly different streaks of discolouration in the sand). However, we noticed very quickly that both my swim shorts and Lindsay's white elastic bands on her swimsuit were also turning orange! I also checked my shirt I had been wearing to protect my sunburn in the water and it had stains! We guessed it was the pool and not the beach as Lindsay hadn't been in the ocean with that swimsuit, so after some guessing, we decided it must be rust spots from the iron in the dark stone tiles they use in the pool - ugh!

We got back to the condo and did a bit of reading and I found some suggestions for removing rust stains using salt, dish soap, and lemon juice. We put in a Grab order for some of those groceries (and tacos for dinner!) and had the kids work on their journals again while we waited. Once our food arrived we ate and Lindsay and I started trying to clean the clothes. The first test on Lindsay's swimsuit looks good, so hopefully we've figured it out and can get things cleaned - thank you Jesus :)

Tomorrow, Lindsay and Juliet are doing a long day trip to go snorkeling at Koh Talu and James and I are going to some waterslides - we'll let you know how it all goes!

Day 21: Some REALLY good burgers!

2024-04-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Our lunchtime burgers were really good! The kids opted for nuggets and fries :(

There must be a Stofer picture like this somewhere...Lindsay was keen to recreate something ")

We slept in a bit as we were really tired from yesterday, but also super excited to get out to the beach and pool with the new floaties we bought! Lindsay and I passed on our morning coffees to expedite the process and by 10:30 we were on our way!

Floaties are always a hit with our kids - it gives them that "thing" they can play with when they are by themselves, and when they are together, they come up with all sorts of games! We hope that sense of "play" stays with them for many years yet.

The water and sun are still hot at 10:30 in the morning, but it's not nearly as hot as mid-day. With my newly acquired sunburn I kept my shirt on in the water, but as the water is so warm, it's not exactly the same level of "refreshing" that we experience when we hop in a river or cold lake. It's awesome...just different.

Juliet floated the whole time, playing in the surf. James switched it up after a while and instead opted to start making sandcastles (he loves a good sandcastle!) Lindsay tried to read her book, and mixed it up between playing with each of the kids and just floating in the water myself. Around 11:30 we went up to the pool where there is a BIT more shade, and at 12:30 we packed it up to get ready for lunch.

We read about Burger Murderer on Google so picked up iced lattes on the way and walked to it. It did not disappoint! The brioche buns are made fresh each morning and the spice in the burgers was really different and nice. It was quite savoury. The kids decided on nuggets and fries...again...what did we do wrong as parents?!?!

After lunch we went back to the condo and made the kids do some journal entries before we started to get ready for the evening. James was the only one who wanted to go back into the water so while he played in the sand and surf the rest of us sat and watched and soaked in the evening sunset.

Around 6:30 we started our walk down the beach towards the markets. We grabbed some dinner (Juliet and I had carbonara and Lindsay and James had fried rice), did some walking around and light shopping at some of the stalls, and then started the short walk back to the condo.

Days 19 & 20: A long day of travel followed by sun, sun, sun!

2024-04-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

This is the condo we are staying in! It has a massive pool and is right on the beach. Click on the photo to see the full size panorama!

James loves building anything in the sand...me...not so much but I do it :)

Thursday was a loooootttttttttt of driving! Wichian had one of his drivers come pick us up from the hotel at 8:30am and we didn't get to our condo in Hua Hin until 7:30pm! Louise came with us as far as Bangkok so we had lots of time to chat with her, debrief our experience, talk about ministry and missions work, and continue to build our connection. We REALLY love and appreciate her and Dave: they are unashamedly excited about sharing the love and message of Jesus, caring for people's physical needs, incredibly upbeat and uplifting, and great encouragers. Part of what we hoped to experience on our trip was what missionary work in their context looks like and if it is something we can see ourselves doing, or at least in what capacity. We don't have any answers or clear direction at this point, which means we need to continue to pray about it and seek the wise Godly counsel of those who know us. Please join us in prayer and discussion about this!

The drive was long but at least we were in a larger transport van with reclining chairs and AC. Having Louise with us was also nice as she bought a few different Thai foods on the journey to share with us and we have found a few more things we like, such as the rice cakes, dried bananas, pomelo, and the green mangos. We arrived in Bangkok around 3:30 and dropped Louise off at her hotel before continuing the last leg of the trip to Hua Hin.

We arrived around 7:30 and more-or-less dropped our bags off in the room so we could get out to the Thursday night Tamarind Market. It was nice to have the kids along...annnndddd if we didn't we may have enjoyed it a wee-bit more ;). It is very touristy: a beautiful setting with white garden lights, lots of boutique vendors, good food, live indie music, and just the right thing for us. We stayed until about 10pm and then came back to the condo and went to sleep.

In the morning we went across the street to grab iced coffees, drop our laundry off at a laundry service, and wander up the street a bit. We got back to the condo around 11am and then took the kids to the pool and the beach. The tide was on its way out, and the sun was HOT! The water was also quite warm which made it less "refreshing" than you'd maybe like, but it was beautiful and a lot of fun. The kids used an old boogie board from the condo to ride the waves and we picked up a few small buckets in the morning to use. Lindsay and I played with the kids and just enjoyed the water :)

Around 1pm we went to the pool and munched on a few dry snacks we packed while we hopped in and out. The pool is only about 3.5-4' deep and has a dark tile base so it was even warmer than the ocean! Thankfully a few of the trees around the pool provided some shade and there was a bit of a breeze. The time went fast, however, so 2pm came and we packed up to go get some lunch.

We stopped a restaurant just down the street from our condo but what we've found is that we are in a more touristy area so prices are the highest we've seen in Thailand so it's a bit pick-and-choose when you want to splurge...and as we wanted to go get massages after we restrained ourselves a bit! I opted for a foot massage and Lindsay a foot scrub/massage, which was 650 baht or about $25 for 1 hour. We told the kids that if they did NOT get a massage they could have some money to spend at the market, which they opted for! They just played some games on our phones which made them happy.

After the massages we came back to the hotel and went down to the ocean again for a couple hours. By that time, however, it became apparent that my sunscreen must have come off in the morning and I was a bit sunburned - ouch! Lindsay and I opted to stay covered up and not go in the water while the kids played and kept themselves busy again. The tide was much lower so we had a large beach area and as the sun was lower it was a cooler temperature and there were a lot more people on the beach. We stayed down until about 6pm and then decided it was time to head to the condo to get ready to head to the market and go for dinner!

...and that's when Juliet knocked a glass onto her foot - ouch! She's got a good bruise on the top of it and it's quite sore. Because of the state she was in, Lindsay stayed back at the condo with her and James and I went out. We were on a mission for 3 things: 1) floaties for the kids to use in the pool, 2) food to bring back, and 3) a stop at the market to use that money we told the kids they could have for forgoing the massages. It sounded like a doable plan...

but the opening of the 2nd market--Cicada Market--meant that I wanted to look at that one, and made things more complicated as James was VERY torn between using his money at Tamarind Market or at Cicada...and since he didn't have enough money for what he really wanted to buy (a little metal sword) he was scheming of ways he could earn money. I also realized that we should probably buy our pool toys first and the food second, so we started a trek to one of the malls. Our plan was to take a songthaew to get to the mall, but no matter how hard we tried, they didn't stop for us! That meant that James and I walked the 2.5kms to the mall, and he was not happy! He was hungry AND I was delaying the spending of his money - yikes! We eventually made it to the mall, bought our floaties, and decided to take a songthaew back to the market so we could get food.

When we got to the market, however, we realized the Cicada Market wasn't as good for "takeaway" food, so we then walked to the Tamarind Market to get food...but we were very tired (it was now 9:30), hungry, and our feet were sore. We did our best to get a bunch of food we could bring back, but we still had another almost 1km to walk back to the condo, so when we arrived back at 10pm we were done. James had the slinky he wanted, but it was twisted and needed my help, but I was too hungry and tired of being so patient for so long (haha!), and Lindsay and Juliet still hadn't eaten. What was supposed to be a very relaxing and fun night out wasn't exactly as planned. It was still OK in the end and no one got overly mad or frustrated at each other, but we look forward to trying again tomorrow!

Day 18: Our last day in Mae Sot

2024-04-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

We spent a few hours teaching English to some of the people from Lighthouse MB Church

Dave and Louise took us out for a wonderful Thai dinner overlooking the city of Mae Sot

We had arranged late last night to join some of the members of Lighthouse this morning to have fun with some English games, songs, and Bible stories. We were kind of relieved that we would be going to an already-existing English teaching event and could be part of it!

Well...when we woke up Louise mentioned she may have miscommunicated and we were to be the ones leading things! Thankfully Lindsay and I were able to work as a team and use our "teacher skills" and some great ideas and advice from Louise to come up with a plan. It wasn't eloquent based on some of the more detailed lesson plans we've created before, but in the end it worked so well :)

Two of the items that were up for debate between Lindsay and I were, 1) were these kids or adults? and 2) how much English do they already know? I think I won that debate because they were adults and already had a reasonable amount of English understanding...yikes! Louise suggested that we do some worship, look at some of the vocabulary used in the song, tell and act out a parable (again, looking at words used), and memorize a verse in English, so that's what we planned out!

When we got to the church we waited for people to gather, introduced ourselves, and did a quick "introduction" activity with everyone there so they all had to get up and practice doing introductions and naming different objects on the "Spot It" cards they were given. We then looked at the English lyrics for the song, Revelation Song, and discussed some of the words used and their pronunciation and read through Revelation 5 in Burmese so they could read it in their own language. We then sang the song and discussed some of the words in it a bit more.

Once we finished with the song we introduced some of the words and phrases that are used in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and then had everyone act it out. Lindsay spent a few moments afterwards sharing the story of how she shared this parable with her Grandma Stofer and how--even in her 90's--it was never too late to come to Jesus and accept him.

We closed our time by reading through Ephesian 2:8-9 in English, learning some actions to help with memorization, and then eating lunch together with everyone...whew! It was a lot packed into only a few hours!

Louise brought us back to the hotel where we had some swim time and journal writing time before we were picked up again to go out to dinner. The plan was to go to a waterfall just out of town but when we got there we found out it had actually close 30 minutes prior, so we went straight to dinner! It was a beautiful location overlooking the city of Mae Sot, and with all of the burning pollution/smoke in the air the sunset was especially colourful :) We spent time talking about missions, ministry calling, what we saw and learned in Mae Sot, and further getting to know each other. We are so very thankful for our time here seeing all that God is doing in Thailand and with the Burmese people!

Tomorrow morning we hop on a bus we have chartered with Wichian, Siriwan's husband (...she leads Naomi House in Chiang Mai) to take us down to Hua Hin for some family time on the beach. Louise is actually coming with us down to Bangkok as she is going to also take some much-needed rest, so we will have the chance to chat with her for another few hours. If anyone has time to come to Mae Sot and see what God is doing--and you are up for spur-of-the-moment English teaching--we suggest you consider it!

Day 17: We finally get a massage...and it wasn't even the best part of the day!

2024-04-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

Juliet spent most of the afternoon playing games and doing origami with Julia, Sayama Ma Nwei's 12-year old daughter

Sayama Ma Nwei and her husband, Saya Ah Ti, are praying that God would start many churches and save 1,000,000 Burmese people through them

We slept in until 9am today! Woo-hoo! Once we got up we decided to head to Borderline Tea Garden for a late breakfast/brunch. We heard about them not because of the food, but because of the store that they run at the front, Borderline Shop. The shop was setup as a way for Burmese women who are living in exile to still make money. They have all sorts of purses, clothing, bags, book covers, washable feminine hygiene products, and many other types of goods for sale. Each one was created by a Burmese woman who sells their goods to help provide for their families (keeping in mind that many Burmese are under-employed as they don't have proper immigration documentation and are being exploited). Juliet purchase a hair scrunchie and a book to draw in!

We had mentioned to Dave that we were interested in possibly having a massage, and by God's plan he messaged us just as we were leaving Borderline with the location of the massage place he and Louise recommend...which was just a 2 minute walk away! We walked over and both Lindsay and I were able to book a massage right away while the kids stayed in the front lobby area and watched Netflix...all of us had what we wanted at that moment!

We really didn't have much time after the massage, however, as Louise was coming by with the 4 boys just 1 hour later. We raced back to the hotel to quickly get ready, and then we were out the door to go to another part of town to meet Sayama Ma Nwei and her husband, Saya Ah Ti. Sayama is a Burmese pastor in another area of Mae Sot who is hosting a house church of 60-70 people every Sunday! And for some events, has had 250 people at the house! She was a pastor in Myanmar before they escaped to Thailand and has quite the amazing story of God's protection and deliverance from the Burmese military who shot at her, took her oldest daughter hostage, and forced her family to flee across the border during the night to avoid further military resistance. She has so much trauma and still knows that God was with her and gave her great peace. She has expressed that she has a dream to grow the number of churches she has helped plant and prays that God will use her to see 1,000,000 Burmese come to know Jesus...amazing!

We stayed for about 3 hours talking, playing soccer, and Juliet and their 12-year old daughter (Julia) spent hours together playing! It really was a great time together with other believers on the other side of the world, using translators to talk with each other.

When Dave picked us up we had a plan to take Jayzin, Clement, Shalom, and Simon out for dinner and back to the hotel to go in the pool with us. They were really excited as they said they had actually JUST been talking about how they wish could go swimming in a pool earlier that afternoon! We had a great time with them at the pool. Clement and Shalom asked Lindsay and I for help learning how to swim, and James spent most of the time getting Jayzin and Simon to play with him, jumping and diving into the pool and playing games. What a great way to spend some of our last moments here in Mae Sot!

Day 16: April 1...was Dave playing a joke on us??

2024-04-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

We found some rabbits and rats for sale in the Burmese market...that's not a dish we're quite ready to eat...

The Moei (or Thaungyin) River separates Thailand from Myanmar

Dave picked us up at 9am today so that we could go do a scavenger hunt at a Burmese market. He gave us a list of 10 tasks to accomplish at the market such as finding 5 different fish, buying a rose, finding the face powder that Burmese wear and finding out what it is made out of, and smelling shrimp paste! We walked up and down the market looking at things...and what a bunch of things we found! At the surface, it can seem like all markets are the same, but when you look closer you will notice themes. Some markets have more fresh fish, some have more fresh fruits and veggies, some have more cooked meat, some have more toys and trinkets, some have more clothes, and sometimes we find that markets will have a variety of these things, although often clumped together. This market had a lot of fish, few clothes, lots of small supplies like face powders and creams, and live animals...such as turtles, eels, fish, rabbits, and rats...all for food!

After we spent a couple hours at the market looking for things our final task was to find Lucky Tea House WITHOUT using Google Maps (only by asking people) and order lunch! It is a Burmese restaurant so we enjoyed some of their classic chickpea, egg, and naan breakfast (VERY yummy!) and some different roti dishes. Roti entered Thailand through India and has been customized by the Thai people through deep frying, adding bananas and eggs, sweet and condensed milk, and chocolate. We also had smoothies.

At both the market and at the store we experienced something we hadn't yet: proactive begging. We had people come up to us in both the market and while we were eating asking for money. We have certainly seen people on the street begging before, but never had we experienced people coming up and asking for money. And unlike back home, it was persistent, meaning they continued to stand there until they received what they deemed as enough. It was uncomfortable, but also OK to experience...we are still processing that to be frank. As an example, at the restaurant a young boy--maybe 10ish--came and stood at our table and gestured that he wanted food. We had eaten everything at our table so had nothing to give him other than the strawberries we bought during our scavenger hunt. We passed them to him and he continued to stand there, so not knowing what else to do, we passed him some money, at which point he took it then walked to another table that had leftover food on it and started to eat.

We caught a Grab back to the hotel for a small bit of pool time but that was all we had as we were getting picked up by Louise at 3:15 to go meet some of the young Burmese youth and go to one of the small churches started in a storage locker turned church.

After Louise picked us up we went to pickup 4 boys: Jayzin (who got baptized), Simon (Pastor Stephen's son), Clement, and Shalom (Pastor Michael's son). We all drove to Gate 13, where the church/storage locker was, and once there met Pastor Maung Maung and his wife Nu Nu. Sidenote: in Burmese, Saya is the word for a male pastor/teacher, and Sayama is the word for a female pastor/teacher. We started by having conversations with the boys and Saya Maung Maung so they could work on their English, then went for a walk to a market right on the border of Thailand and Myanmar.

That was a bit of surreal experience. Just across the river there was another country being torn apart by civil war, bombings, mass shootings, intense exploitation of people (in all ways imaginable and not). We were standing on the Thai side--relatively safe--and the boys told us that there were most-likely military people hiding in the bushes and surrounding areas ready to shoot anyone who tried to cross the river and escape to Thailand. The military in Myanmar would rather kill their own people than let them escape and not be part of their coup d'état. We didn't stay long as the boys said they didn't feel safe there, so we moved back to the storage locker to play some games, eat dinner, talk some more, and hear more about the ministry there.

We really enjoyed the day, and the highlight was hanging out with those 4 youth. They are all ages 15-17 and just so much fun! They love worship, Jesus, trust God and are obedient, and were easy to talk to (and had a lot of fun playing with James!) Hopefully we were as encouraging to them as they were to us!

Day 15: Easter Sunday and a Baptism!

2024-03-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

I had the honour of being asked to pray for Jayzin just before he was baptized

There were a lot of songs for the Easter Service - some even in English!

We're getting to watch a surprising amount of hockey while in Thailand! The Cougars play an 8am game on Sunday morning here, which means it was a 6pm back in BC, so a great way to kick off the day!

After some hockey we took the kids to the pool for a little bit before Dave picked us up to go to their place for lunch at 12:30. It was really nice - Dave picked up some candy for them so they could do an Easter Egg hunt! We had some homemade quiche and muffins made by Dave, and sat and chatted. We were also the beneficiaries of some of his fancy blueberry-note coffee. We drank it straight (over ice) and it was actually nice! It was not bitter at all and didn't have a nasty aftertaste or anything like that. Dave is quite the coffee afficionado (which I guess comes in handy with the work they are doing with the coffee company in Myanmar) so we learned a bit of what makes some of the coffee different here versus back home.

Louise drove us home around 2:15 so we had a short amount of downtime before heading back out to the church. Dave picked us up just before 4pm, and by the time we got to the church they had just started filling up the baptism tank! (and by that, I mean a grey tarp lining the inside of a metal frame, which had a major leak in it so we had to keep the water running to keep it full!) We socialized and talked with people, listened to some of the rehearsal for the violins that were going to be playing, and waited until everyone who was supposed to be there for the baptism had arrived (probably around 5:15).

Jayzin has quite the story (I'll provide a brief version of it here, but if you're not subscribed to Dave & Louise's newsletter I'd highly recommend it! It's possible she puts more of his testimony in a future one). Jayzin is here by himself, at 15. His parents sent him here 6 months ago when the military conscription started in Myanmar. He is from a Buddhist family and didn't know anything about Jesus...but the uncle and aunt he was sent to live with became Christians a little while ago! When he first arrived they asked him if he wanted to come to church and he said "yes", although he didn't know what that meant. He came and they started having a prayer time, and during that time he had a powerful encounter with Jesus and has decided to follow Him!

The church service was amazing. Most of the music was in Myanmar, but there were a few English songs they included, as well as some dual-language songs. Similar to what we experienced at Kingdom Life Church in Chiang Mai, it was so great to be able to worship together with those who serve the same God on the other side of the world! Louise preached, with translation help from Pastor Stephen, and although our kids did OK...by the time we hit 7:30 they were done so we had to cut our time there short. We caught a Grab to the mall to grab some dinner and then came back to the hotel to get ready for bed.

One thing that we've heard over and over again from Cynthia and Dave & Louise is the actual "cost" to choosing to follow Jesus for Buddhist people...it is a big deal. For them, they are choosing to put their trust in Jesus to save them, rather than their own "making merit" to earn a better place in the next life. The countries of Thailand and Myanmar are also so embedded with Buddhism that it is not just religious but also cultural. When they leave this to choose Jesus it often creates division with their family, communities, and everything they know. It is a BIG deal and it is one that they don't choose lightly because of the cost. Please pray for Jayzin and all of the Buddhist people that are making the brave decision to follow Jesus.

A Day Off

2024-03-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye to Cynthia and Maceo

The card game, "Lost Cities", once again travelled with us to Thailand!

When Cynthia and Maceo offered to drive us to Mae Sot last Tuesday they did not know that they would both feel sick to various degrees and would end up staying an extra 3 nights. Between a bad cold, migraines, sinus infections, and difficulty breathing due to air quality (it's burning season here so kind of like forest fire season back home) they not only stayed the extra 3 days but didn't even get to really get out to explore Mae Sot, join us for any of the ministry opportunities, or even really play in the pool. Today, however, before they checked out of the hotel, we did get the kids together in the pool for a few hours of play time while Cynthia and Lindsay went out to grab coffee and bring back some lunch.

Before spending time at the pool in the morning, however, we were able to catch the first 1.5 periods of the Cougars-Chiefs first playoff game! Go Cougars Go!

After the pool we ate a quick lunch around the pool and got cleaned up before Cynthia and Maceo had to start on the 5-hour drive back to Chiang Mai. Once they left, we did some journaling with the kids and finished off the movie we had started the night before.

By mid-afternoon we were ready to go out exploring so we took a Grab to a market and wandered around. It was hot, however, and Juliet was quick to point that out. James also really wanted to buy a tie-dye t-shirt he saw (with the $0 he had saved up) so we decided to extend him some grace and purchase the 100 baht shirt for him (that's like $3.85 CAD). We then walked to an amazing little Burmese restaurant Dave introduced us to for dinner. The restaurant is called Mingalarbar, which means "hello" in Burmese. I just realized that I have switched from saying "Myanmar" to "Burmese." As far as we can tell when talking to the Myanmar people, they also interchange it.

We came home shortly after 5:30 and took the kids to the pool for a few hours where Lindsay played with them for a bit and then we sat and played Lost Cities. This is a card game we actually brought to Thailand with us back in 2009...except it was during that trip that we had the bug spray explode (this post even exists to immortalize that event lol).

We finished at the pool, got ready for bed, and watched another movie with the kids. We are finding that we often have a time in the evening after things have wound down. We also want to keep the kids up a bit more in the evenings to get used to it, but will have to revert them back to a more standard bedtime once we get back home.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and we will be meeting up with Dave and Louise for lunch (and a possible Easter Egg Hunt!), going to a baptism, and the church service. We will see what all happens!

Good Friday - Sharing the Gospel at 2 more refugee camps

2024-03-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hkun Myat (pronounced "Khun-yah") passionately shared the Gospel with the village. His wife, Nu Nu, helped with logistics, translation, and leading activities with kids.

Louise shared her testimony and the Lord's prayer with the translation help from Pastor Stephen

Pastor Stephen, Hkun Myat, and Louise all preached the Gospel and seven people stood up to say they wanted to receive Jesus!

Dave picked us up at 9am and took us to grab some Myanmar breakfast to-go before heading to Lighthouse to load up the truck with supplies. Once we got to the church we grabbed some canned fish and noodles, picked up pastors Stephen and Michael, and met Louise and headed about 10 minutes away to meet up with Hkun Myat and Nu Nu, a Myanmar couple who has decided to leave their jobs, start a pig farm to provide for their needs, and dedicate their lives to sharing the Gospel and giving hope to other Myanmar refugees!

The first camp we got to we met outside on tarps again. Louise and Nu Nu led some kids activities with a parachute and a ball, Pastor Michael led some music, Hkun Myat preached, and Louise told her testimony and shared how in the Lord's prayer we are asking God's Kingdom to come to Earth...and what an amazing Kingdom it is, filled with hope, peace, love, healing, and belonging...for all peoples! We ended our time together by praying for all the elders/adults there and then giving some canned fish and noodles to them to thank them for coming. Someone in the village was also selling coconut water so we bought enough for all the kids in that village and the next one to hand out.

We then drove to another village and met in a one-room hut/home. Pastor Michael did some music, Pastor Stephen preached, and Louise told a bit of her testimony and had our family come up and help act out the parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35). She shared that because she has been forgiving of soooo much she has the ability to forgive others, including those who have deeply wronged her. She shared that one of the ways we can start to follow Jesus is by forgiving other people too. After this, Pastor Stephen spoke for a bit and asked if anyone would be interested in receiving Jesus and making him the leader of their life, and seven people stood up and said "YES!" Praise God! After this we gave out more canned fish, noodles, and coconut water and then headed to get some lunch and take our kids to a waterfall.

Louise took us to a waterfall nearby and to grab some lunch. The lunch wasn't great, unfortunately, and Louise actually got sick later that day and the next. We were fine, thanks be to God! The waterfall wasn't big, but instead had multiple tiers that you could go up to and stand in and have water pour on you. The biggest pool, however, was at the bottom of the falls. We stayed there for an hour or so and the kids rented inner tubes and played at the bottom. After that we left and came back to the hotel.

We got ourselves showered and cleaned up, walked over the mall to grab some dinner, stopped in at a little kids fair across the street to let the kids ride some electric scooters, had a quick dip in the pool, and watched half of a movie with them before calling it a night.

Day 12: A Visit to Open Heaven Church

2024-03-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Lindsay shared her testimony of God's goodness and provision during our adoption of James and pregnancy with Juliet

James was great at playing with the other kids (this was a game of dodgeball)

We didn't know what we were going to be doing today as we hadn't exactly formalized our plans with Dave & Louise the day before (today was the final day to get that grant proposal in so they were busy!) We had a slower start to the day, waking up around 8am, so figured that we would use the morning to hang out in the pool (Lindsay and the kids) and I spent some of the morning working on our budgeting/month end and a proposal I needed to submit for work (I should have done it before we left but things got busy!)

The kids had a lot of fun at the pool--thank goodness there is one, otherwise they might be a little more stir crazy than they are already--and they stayed down there until about noon when we ordered in lunch.

We messaged back and forth with Dave and decided that he would pick us up around 4pm to go to an outreach church event at a Myanmar refugee camp that Lighthouse MB Church was involved with. For the rest of the afternoon we finished watching the movie Wonka (that we started the night before), picked up a few small grocery items, and went back in the pool...it was a low key afternoon too!

Dave picked us up at 4pm and we went to Lighthouse to meet with everyone. They have 15 interns that live, serve, and learn together at the church. Every Thursday night they split up into teams and go do outreach at different Myanmar refugee camps. Dave loaded up his truck with us and a number of other people from the church (interns and members) and we drove about 10 minutes to a camp that was tucked away on the land of a Thai family, off-the-beaten-path. Dave said that it is common for refugees to gather together under the leadership of an elder who will help negotiate on behalf of the community. They aren't a formal church with a building, but as a group of people coming together to learn about Jesus, they are calling themselves "Open Heaven Church."

As you can see from the photo and video above, the village is modest. There are elevated wood huts on short stilts, dusty roads, and limited services. They do have wells for water, some electricity, and their own small store setup, but it is very modest and a far-cry from anything that we have ever seen back home. We had a bit of time before things "started" to play dodgeball, walk around, and talk with people. One of the church members, Chris, and one of the interns, Mai Mai, were able to do translation for us.

When it was time to get started, the interns setup a couple tarps to sit on and many people from the community came to join us. The adults all sat together on the tarps in one area, and the children all joined together in another area. The children did lots of songs, colouring, and crafts, and James stayed there with them the whole time! Lindsay and Juliet stayed for a while and then came over the adult tarp as Lindsay and I were going to share a bit of our testimonies (with translation help from Chris).

Pastor Michael led a few worship songs in Myanmar and everyone sang and clapped. Lighthouse has been involved in the community for at least a year (we aren't sure how long) so they had some familiarity with the songs already. Lindsay and I both shared testimonies, as did another Myanmar fellow, then we all prayed and handed out some cooking oil and noodles. We weren't there for long - maybe 1.5-2 hours, then we went back to the church to say goodnight.

Tomorrow we are going to go to a few other small outreach events the church is doing so we will report back on that tomorrow!

Day 11: An introduction to Mae Sot

2024-03-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and Juliet standing at the border-market between Thailand and Myanmar

Worshipping with Lighthouse MB Church in Mae Sot...all in the Myanmar language!

We went out grocery shopping first thing in the morning today to stock up on peanut butter, bread, water, cereal, and some other snack foods...as a note, most of the "western" brands are VERY expensive! We didn't pay close enough attention and accidentally spent $12 on a box of cereal - yikes!

After grocery shopping we walked back to the hotel, ate a bit, and got ready for the pool where we were meeting Cynthia, Maceo, Dave, and Louise at 10am. The kids played in the pool for a couple hours while we tried to find shade and talked. Dave & Louise are presently working on a large grant proposal that is due tomorrow so that was taking up a lot of time by them and their team, but as it has the ability to make such a big difference in supporting the financial needs of their churches and ministry. We agreed to meet a couple hours later again to have lunch and talk some more and make a few plans for the day.

After the pool we met with Louise for lunch, and then went out to the Rim Moei Market which is right on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, just below the 1st Friendship Bridge that connects the two countries. The covered market area is similar to many of the other markets we have seen with toys, electronics, clothing, dried food, ammunition...wait...that's new...and the outdoor part of the market is actually straddling the border. You can see in the picture with Lindsay and Juliet that the stalls are actually on the Myanmar side of the border, divided with that metal railing and razor wire, and you walk on the Thailand side. Most of what was being sold there was alcohol, cigarettes, watermelon, and dried food.

We left the market to head back to the hotel to lay down for a while and cool off before heading out again at 5pm to go to the Lighthouse MB Church. It is a church for Myanmar people in Thailand, pastored by Pastor Michael and Pastor Stephen. Both of them, and a number of the people there, speak English to some degree. They don't actually speak much Thai so they also use English with those that don't speak Myanmar.

The service tonight was a praise, prayer, and testimony night. There was a number of worship songs they did (all in Myanmar) so we gave James and Juliet our phones to use Google Translate to translate the PowerPoint slides. The translation was far from perfect, but it did give us a sense of what the songs were about. After that, a younger man (probably our age) came up and gave his testimony. It was quite the testimony about his life before Christ where we was involved in prostitutes, alcohol, and with HIV/AIDS. It was a long testimony (about 30 minutes) where he talked about all that he faced, his coming to know Jesus, being addicted to porn, being prophesized over that he would lead his people to Jesus, having his sores from HIV/AIDS healed, choosing to go Church over work on Sunday (which is a BIG deal), and eventually getting married. His testimony was full of the grace and goodness of God and how his life has changed as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit working in his life. He spoke exclusively in Myanmar so I'm very thankful for Pastor Stephen who sat behind us and translated!

We stayed for a few hours until the kids got overly restless and hungry, then left with Dave to grab some food and eventually head back to the hotel. Our plan is to meet up with Dave & Louise around noon tomorrow so we'll see what happens then!

Day 10: lots of kms travelled

2024-03-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

We all spent the morning climbing up and down the Sticky Waterfalls in Chiang Mai

Today was our check-out day at the AirBnb, but we hadn't made our way to the Sticky Waterfalls yet! First thing in the morning, we booked a driver to take us an hour north of Chiang Mai to the Sticky Waterfalls where we spent the morning, until about 1pm. The waterfalls are not "waterfalls" exactly, but water cascading down a few hundred feet of rock that has limestone deposits and pits in it, such that it is very grippy and you can walk up and down them!

It is quite lush and a much cooler temperature than the surrounding area so it was a nice break from some of the heat and smoke that we are experiencing due to the "burning season." There were a number of shallow pools at the base of 4 different sections of falls which weren't exactly the type of pool to sit and relax in (with all of the tourists and the shallowness). It was a good place to spend the morning but the kids started to get antsy and wanted to leave after a while, so we hopped in the van and went back to the AirBnb to check out around 2pm.

The driver then took us to Cynthia's as she and Maceo offered to drive us to Mae Sot once Maceo got out of school. We packed up some food and hopped into Cynthia's car and started the drive around 4pm. The drive went surprisingly quickly, but we are all glad we had taken Gravol as the 5-hour drive had plenty of turns and winding corners...yuck! We were very thankful to have Cynthia available to drive us and James and Maceo played Nintendo in the back seat the whole way so there is a strong chance that when asked, "What was your favourite part of the trip?" James will answer "playing Nintendo for 5 hours with Maceo"...also "yuck!"

We arrive at the hotel in Mae Sot at about 9pm. We checked in, ate a few snacks we had with us, and went to bed...it was a lot of driving today!

A bit of a slower day

2024-03-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend a bit of time at Naomi House (info about it below - check out the links!)

Today ended up being a bit of a slower day.

We stayed in our apartment until 12:15 today waking slowly, eating slowly, starting to pack slowly, catching some hockey highlights--GO COUGARS GO!!!--and trying to help James find some medicine for his sore tummy and diarrhea (found some, so now we'll see if it works...needless to say, I understand the extreme end of being sick in Thailand!) I think the slowness of the day was a blessing; we will have a long and full day tomorrow, so moving at a slower pace today was much appreciated.

Cynthia came by at 12:15 to take us to Naomi House which we learned about last year as we started looking into Multiply's ministries in Thailand. Naomi House has gone through some changes in the past few years as they have had an amazing opportunity to partner with some companies and become their direct sewing house (such as Adorn in the US), but they still have Siriwan and many of the same girls from the website and the videos there. It was one of the places that Juliet wanted to go see as she found the story of girls seeking asylum as refugees and needing support coming out of really bad situations moving.

After Naomi House we went back to Cynthia's and had a bite of pizza (yes...pizza...and very good thin crust pizza actually!) before hanging out for the afternoon and eventually meeting other Multiply Missionaries, Sarah and Ozz Fast Kumrod (Ozz was sick at home with the littlest child). Sarah was actually part of Team 2000 that came to Thailand 24 years ago (along with Dave & Louise Sinclair Peters and others). It was really nice to be able to spend time with Sarah and her 3 oldest boys and hear about their lives, ministry, and put faces to names :)

One thing that has struck me is that although there are so many missionary organizations and people here--and no, they do NOT know each other lol--it has been in almost every instance that once you start talking to someone they ask a variation of the question, "So - are you here because you're exploring mission work?" The answer we give is an honest one: we want to be open. Lindsay and I have often felt like it's a matter of time before we go into vocational ministry. We have seriously prayed about this over the years in context of camp ministry and church ministry, but we've never felt that specific calling. Don't get me wrong: we fully believe that everyone is called into ministry (Matthew 28:19-20 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age). We also believe that the call into vocational ministry is a specific calling - that is the one we are open to and waiting on. It has been really neat to see what it can look like here in Thailand and we're very thankful for the opportunity we have had to spend the past number of days with Cynthia and here about what God is doing in her context. On Wednesday we will have a chance to start our time with Dave & Louise and we are equally excited - bring it on!

Day 8: The Global Church

2024-03-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

We joined the Rim Khan Fellowship Church on Sunday night (Uncle Deng, and Deng and Khong's family had already left before taking this photo). In the photo is our family, Cynthia and Maceo, Muay, Aire, Nui, and Noi.

In the morning, we attended Kingdom Life Church

Cynthia had recommended we go to Kingdom Life Church for the morning...we're super glad we did! It is a Thai church that does translation to English for both music (on the slides) and through a radio transmitter and someone who does live translation for the speaking. It was really cool! We can't understand Thai yet we were able to worship alongside an international community in both English and Thai. We were also able to understand Pastor Sidney's message and learn and be encouraged alongside everyone - it was so cool and we're so glad we could attend!

After church we stayed for a quick lunch and talked with a missionary originally from California (Brandon) and another fellow and his wife (he was German and his wife Thai, although she spent many years in Germany). It was a very welcoming church and very vibrant...as James said, "They move a lot" meaning they like to dance, raise their hands, and shout "Amen." From our more restrained Mennonite perspective, it was more charismatic, and it was certainly encouraging to hear their heart for the Gospel in Thailand!

We needed a bit more food (that wasn't spicy for the kids) after church, so walked to a cafe for some chicken nuggets :). We then caught a Grab to Cynthia's place and prepared for church with Rim Khan Fellowship Church. We planned out some activities that we could do with everyone (origami), soccer, and badminton, and grabbed some donuts to share from Dunkin Donuts.

When we arrived at Aire and Nui's house they had their carport empty and setup with some folding tables and chairs. They also had a projector screen and had just been given a new projector and speaker to use for videos! Cynthia loaded up some Thai worship songs from YouTube, and after spending some time socializing, Juliet and James lead some origami crafts (a bookmark, a ball, and a throwing star...) and we started with the music. We had no idea what the songs were, but it was great to be able to be part of it! The kids stayed for that part of the church service.

When the songs were over, the kids (both our kids and Deng and Khong's and Maceo) played soccer and badminton while Cynthia did a study on Blind Bartimaeus. We couldn't understand what she was saying, but we could tell that she was emphasizing that he was an outcast and pushed aside by everyone. He then--out of faith--called out to Jesus begging for mercy and his healing...and Jesus heard him and called out to him. Jesus heard him in his suffering and in his low place in society. Everyone seemed fairly willing to share and speak, which was neat to see their active participation.

When it was over we all ate dinner together. Nui made some rice, fried cabbage (yummy!), panang curry, and soup, and there were donuts. It was great to sit with everyone and although we couldn't understand each other much, we were able to connect over food, faith, sports, and origami. It was a great day!

Day 7: Elephant Day!

2024-03-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

This was a last-minute booking. We had 2 bigger touristy things we wanted to do while in Chiang Mai: spend time with elephants and go to the Sticky Waterfalls. The complication came in trying to schedule everything in! We hadn't thought through things far enough in advance so busy last night (Friday) we were at the computer trying to figure out what to do and sending messages to people trying to figure out what we could book. We decided to do a Saturday afternoon trip to see elephants!

We were picked up at our apartment at 11:30 and after picking up 5 other folks from another hotel (all from Utah) we drove an hour and a bit out to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Chiang Mai. There were 3 busses of people who came out, so about 25 people total.

When we arrived, we all put on Karen Tribe shirts (well...those of us who didn't find it too hot...) and were given some information and safety instructions before we started with feeding the elephants bananas. After, they put out piles of grass and corn (as in the picture) for the elephants to eat while we able to get closer to them, pet them, and get photos with them. There were 5 elephants, 4 adult female elephants and 1 young male elephant (beside James and I in the photo).

After that, we made these "vitamin balls" for the elephants to eat that is supposed to help with digestion. It was a mix of young green plants, rice, tamarin, probiotics, and bananas. We then fed these to the elephants before taking them to the river to play in the water.

Playing in the water was pretty cool! We all splashed the elephants and they seemed to be fine with it (...I suppose they might enjoy it...I just know that as I don't like it when other people splash me so I have a hard time not projecting my own feelings on these kinds of situations lol). We then took them to a mud pit and spread mud all over them. The elephants use the mud to protect their skin from the sun, wind, and bugs, which is why that is the last thing, after the river.

We then cleaned up, had a quick dinner, and hopped back on the van to come back. We got back to the apartment around 6pm and headed out for a late stroll at the Saturday night walking market. It wasn't nearly as busy as China Town in Bangkok, which I think the kids enjoyed. Each kid was given 200 baht (about $8 CAD) to purchase something. Juliet bought a dress and some small stuffies (she also had to contribute some of her own money) and James bought a toy and some sun glasses. He didn't have enough money to buy the sunglasses so he tried bartering...no fear in that child! He didn't get much a discount, but I think the lady thought he was cute for trying so he did get a bit of money off.

We then grabbed a late night snack of crepes with bananas and strawberries and came back to the apartment...it was a late night and was good to get to bed after that!

A little of everything

2024-03-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and Juliet really enjoyed the orchids at the Royal Gardens

It's hard to imagine this was our 6th day in Thailand already! Time has flown, and maybe for the first time, the kids have yet to seriously complain about missing home! Praise the Lord!

Cynthia took us to Grace International School first thing in the morning for a tour. She volunteers there once per week and Maceo attends, so while they were busy, we received a tour from the admissions office. It is quite an amazing campus! There are multiple beautiful buildings, large hallways, open-air hallways, every classroom has lots of windows, and the general look and feel is very crisp, clean, and professional - it was quite something to see! They are a Christian school and although it is largely made of missionary families, there are kids with no church affiliation who attend and come from all over the world - it really is an international school! Within the school they actually have three (3) language options: English (the majority), Thai, and Korean. All of the non-Thai teachers and staff are missionaries who raise their support while the Thai staff are salaried. James and Juliet were a little interested and concerned that we were going to come here to teach and pull them out of Cedars...we told them "not yet" lol

After the school we took a Grab to the Royal Park Rajapruek which is a large gardens. It isn't quite Butchart Gardens, but there were some nice flowers and elements to it. It was also quite a large grounds so they have a mini bus that goes around every 15 minutes and allows people to hop-on-and-off. Everyone was allowed to pick 1 area they got to explore and even then we ended up being there for probably 3 hours!

For the afternoon we had a short pool time before Cynthia and Maceo picked us up to go out for dinner and Kung Fu Panda 4. All the kids were quite excited and it was good for them to be able to spend more time together.

A different perspective to Chiang Mai

2024-03-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

We spent some time with Deng and Khong and their young family

Cynthia took us to an elephant cafe to feed and pet some elephants

When we were here in 2009 I remember mostly doing the tourist-y things (see these two posts: Back from the Bush & Day at the Zoo). I suppose we maybe had a few other experiences that weren't exactly tourist-y, but largely the memories that I have are of the tourist-y things. That isn't bad, and certainly we will do some of those things while here this time, but today provided a different perspective.

We met up with a missionary from Multiply, Cynthia Friesen, this morning and went out for coffee together to get to know each other, learn about her and Maceo (her son), hear about the work of the church in Thailand, and find out what God is doing in Thailand. We met Cynthia through some of the other Multiply missionaries that are connected to Westwood (Dave & Louise Sinclair-Peters and Bob Davis, also from Multiply).

Side-note: we went to Bella Goose Cafe which also has an interesting story as a social enterprise that helps provide employment and vocational training, English training, professional development, and sponsorship to people coming out of tough conditions (such as juvenile detention). They seek to equip and empower people to change their family tree through holistic care and support...very awesome!

Cynthia has been called to plant churches and raise up Thai leaders in the churches. After the coffee shop, we stopped at a 7-11 to buy rice and eggs that we could take with us as we go visit some of the new believers in the village they are church planting in Rim Khan (Rim Khan Fellowship Church). Before heading out we quickly met up with Aire, one of Cynthia's teammates, who lives in the village and who hosts the church in her and her husband's (Nui) carport on Sundays.

We have lots we would love to share about some of the wonderful people we met, but would prefer to share in person, so we'll keep things simple here :)

The first stop we made was to the house of Deng and Khong. They are a young Myanmar couple with 5 children, including newborn twins! Deng first came to know Jesus during the Christmas outreach event they ran at the Buddhist temple in the village, and Khong afterwards. Deng has such an infectiously big smile!

The next person we went to go visit, auntie Mai, was actually at work, but her daughter, Ning, was at home so Cynthia and Aire talked with her for a bit and then went to a nearby store to get her some small cakes she really enjoys :)

The final person we went to visit was Uncle Deng, who is an older gentleman who came to know Jesus only a few months ago after the Christmas Outreach. He has experienced the transformation of Jesus in such amazing ways in his life and testifies to the goodness of God.

There was so much to take in during even these 3 short visits...we are still processing it and we know the kids are as well. It is amazing to see how in their poverty and brokenness, people are meeting Jesus...it really is amazing...but isn't it also exactly what Jesus meant when he said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32)?? It's also amazing to see the contrast between what we know in Prince George and what some people here know in terms of access, money, and privilege. We are still trying to sort out how to think about it so I'll leave it here for now.

After the 3 stops we had a short amount of time to drive to an elephant cafe where we were able to feed and pet some elephants! It was very cool and was something that was on "the list" to do.

For the evening, we went back to Cynthia's place as Maceo was done school and ordered a bunch of Thai dishes and ate dinner together. The kids played and we talked. Our kids are all the same age and in the same grade so it gave us some easy talking points and frames of reference for understanding each other...after all...busy 9-year-old boys are always worth talking about :)

Days 3 & 4 - Two very different days of travel

2024-03-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Spending time in the Pak Khlong Talat (Flower Market)

Outside Wat Arun at sunset

Today was a busy day with lots of "things done" which made Lindsay and I quite happy! Oh...there was still complaining...buuutttt we were able to still make use of the day and there wasn't any trips to the pharmacy for Juliet!

We left the apartment at 9am and took the BTS to Sathorn Pier so we could take the Hop On Hop Off tour on the big river in Bangkok, Chao Phraya River (yes, we managed to convince James to take another boat lol). This tour is on a large boat with a rooftop sitting area and an air conditioned inside. We took the 30-minute trip all the way up the river and hopped off on the first stop, Phra Arthit. We didn't take much time to explore as the next boat came 30 minutes later, but we got to enjoy a bit of quiet green space.

The next stop we hopped off at was Tha Maharaj which was a short walking distance to the Grand Palace. We didn't want to spend the 500 baht/person to enter it as we knew the amount of time we'd get the kids to last wouldn't be worth it. Instead, we wandered the streets and stood outside the Palace...annnndddd sure enough the kids started to complain so we pulled-the-plug and hopped back on the boat.

With frustrations high, we forced them to endure another stop at Rajinee so Lindsay could enjoy the flower market. Surprisingly, we lasted here for over an hour! It was in the bottom floor of a GIANT warehouse so out of the sun, and with all of the flowers, both Juliet and Lindsay were interested. There was fresh fruit, plants, and flowers.

We then went back to the apartment for 2.5 hours to cool down and quickly go in the pool. Afterwards, we got a Grab (like Uber) to Wat Arun for the final hour that it was open. It's quiet a fascinating temple due to the design, restoration attempts over the centuries, and the intricacy of all of the porcelain used to decorate it.

Once we finished there we took our last boat trip to the other end of the line at Asiatique. It is a large open-air tourist area with many stores, outdoor eating, shops, theme park rides, and beer gardens. It is all on the river so really a beautiful setting. We were out until 9 (which was a surprise!) and went back to the apartment.

Today was another day of travel, but this time it involved a VERY LONG and heavy-traffic Grab ride to the airport (1hr 40mins), a 1hr delayed flight, and 1hr 15min flight to Chiang Mai. We left the apartment at 9:20am and didn't get to our new apartment until 3pm - yuck!

We'll be in Chiang Mai until the 26th so we took the time to unpack, set things up (it is a nice 2-bedroom apartment), and go for a nice dinner...actually, we figure it was the best food we've had in Thailand and it was less than $20 CAD!

We're looking forward to meeting up with one of our missionary friends--Cynthia--tomorrow. She also has a son, Maceo, who is the same age as James and Juliet! They are excited about that - stay tuned for an update then :)

A good 2nd day...often cut-short...but good :)

2024-03-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and the kids standing on the main street of Chinatown

I remember searching for internet cafes, bringing our digital camera and USB cord, and only able to post things in areas with good internet...14 years later, I'm sitting in bed with my laptop while Lindsay searches Google on her phone "what is a planters wart?" for Juliet. Things are certainly different this time around!

We ended yesterday by heading back to the nearby mall to find dinner and grab some groceries. The mission was accomplished, but the kids were tired so we didn't last long with the mix of smells that bothered James and Juliet's complaining about her wart and a sore tummy. Speaking of Juliet, due to her ailments, we stopped at the pharmacy twice yesterday and had to buy her a new pair of socks! The only thing I'll say about travelling with kids is that everything takes longer to get to and then once you're there you leave much faster!

Today, we got rolling around 10:30am. We decided to try Grab--the Thai version of Uber or Lyft--for the first time and then proceeded to use it 3 more times. It's much cheaper and faster that even the metro lines when you have 4 people, so it's very worth it.

We started our day at the Golden Mount Temple, climbing to the top. We all enjoyed smoothies on the way up, and with the breeze, the temperature was actually quite nice, despite it being in the low-mid 30s while on the ground. The kids had a good attitude and seemed to enjoy the activity, although later in the day Juliet expressed that one of the statue scenes of dead bodies being eaten by vultures she didn't like (which I definitely understand!)

From there we took a Tuk Tuk to Khaosan Road. The kids REALLY wanted to take a Tuk Tuk, and although Juliet seemed to like it, James might not have as much. He was the eager beaver who wanted to go on one, but we're guessing he found it a little too "dangerous", much like the boat ride yesterday. We'll see if he's up for one another day.

At Khaosan Road we walked the streets and eventually grabbed lunch at a place that definitely was into selling weed (which is now legal...also different than 14 years ago). After an overpriced lunch, we went back to our apartment to cool down, slow down, and have some pool time. At 6pm, we then decided to head out to Chinatown, which Lindsay and I somehow missed when we were here before!

Chinatown is bustling! Lots of cars, lots of people, and lots of shops and stalls. We grabbed a little bit of street food before sitting down to eat, and spent some time wandering around. It was likely the combination of time of day (7ish), that the kids were up since 6am, and the business of the market, but again, we had to leave a bit sooner than we would have liked due to an overstimulation(?) of people and craziness. We know that Bangkok will be the busiest place we go while we are here so perhaps once we head on to Chiang Mai our kids will find things a bit more comfortable (in a social sense). We think this is a lot for them, but for their first cross-cultural experience, they are jumping in with two feet!

Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so we'll see how it goes and what we get up to - maybe it will be an "in-day" :)

14 Years Later and We're Back!

2024-03-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Juliet and James enjoying mango and watermelon smoothies

OK...so there is no WAY that Blogspot is still a good form of blogging (...if that's even a thing these days...) but we figured that it would be fitting to pickup where we left off 14 years ago when we left Thailand. Afterall, the dream at the time was to travel the world and have a blog for each continent...ah, to be so young and naive!

Well, from the main image it should be clear that although Lindsay and I are back, we're not alone - we have two 9-year old children in tow! We started our planning for Thailand almost 1 year ago when we started imagining what it would/could/should look like to take vacations under the guiding reality that we are God's money managers and the money in our care is to be used for his purposes...so needless to say, this trip isn't all beaches and beer!

Today is Sunday, and on Wednesday we leave for Chiang Mai to learn more about the missionary work we support up there, and then down to Mae Sot for the same purpose. We pray to be a blessing however we can. We pray that we will be able to share the Good News of Jesus. We pray that we see God do amazing work and that our faith is strengthened. We pray that our kids' lives are changed and their hearts are permanently set on Jesus. Please join us in these prayers - we look forward to sharing what happens with you!

Today was a slog. We hopped on the plan in PG at 8:15pm Friday, had a quick changeover in Vancouver, then a direct flight to Bangkok which put us here 1.5hrs earlier than expected, or at 3:40am on Sunday. We are staying at an AirBnb and arranged to meet the owner between 6-6:30 so we had some time to kill at the airport. We did some currency exchange, grabbed a SIM card, and sat and killed time for a bit.

After that we took a cab to our accommodations and like a newbie I didn't force the taxi driver to use the meter - doh! The condo owner figures we would have saved about 200-300 baht, or $8-12...next time!

After getting into our place around 7:30--it was about a 45 minute drive from BKK airport--we laid down for a 2 hour nap...well, all of us but James, who entertained himself and kept waking me up. We pulled ourselves together and left the house around 11:00 and walked down the street to a large mall to grab some food, socks and eye drops for Juliet, and catch a skytrain (BTS) to a pier where the kids got their smoothies and we took a boat up the river.

Well...that was short-lived as James was terrified of the crazy nature of the boat driver, so about 10 minutes later we were off the boat and back on another skytrain (MRT) and back to the condo. In all fairness, we're super tired, it's 34 degrees, and the sun is blazing...I think the plan for the rest of the day is to have a low-key late afternoon, grab some dinner at the mall and breakfast foods, and maybe check out a small nearby market if it's open.

Tomorrow we'll see how everyone's doing and hopefully get out a bit more :)

Finally Home

2010-01-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

Okay we have been home for awhile now, but I thought we should finish our blog and explain our trip home...

We had just spent the morning totally relaxing. I got a manicure/pedicure and a head and shoulder massage and Mike got an hour long foot massage. We wanted to be relaxed for our trip home. We were all packed and ready to go. The shuttle bus to the airport picked us up at 11:00am. While we were on the bus we began chatting with the guy next to us. His name was Kun and he was Vietnamese. He was heading to Ho Chi Minh City on the same flight as us. We had a great time chatting, as Kun spoke amazing English. Kun is a Vietnamese diplomat, which coincidentally - or not so coincidentally - ended up helping to get us home.

When we arrived at the airport we headed to check in. When we presented our passports we were told we could not get on the plane. My heart sank. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The man told us we could not get on the plane because we didn't have a current Vietnamese Visa. We didn't think we needed a Visa because we didn't plan on leaving the airport, but since this fight was not connected to out other flight we technically did have to leave the airport and clear customs to pick up our bags and transfer them to the next airline. Oops! Big mistake.

Kun was in line behind us and asked if he could help. We explained the problem and he phoned the Vietnam embassy in Bangkok for us. He convinced them to do a express Visa for us and stay open until we got there. The next problem was changing our flight to Ho Chi Minh so that we had enough time to get to the embassy and back to the airport, but didn't miss our flight in Ho Chi Minh to Seoul. We found a flight on Thai Ariways to Ho Chi Minh city leaving two hours later than our original flight. It would still get us to Ho Chi Minh on time for our next flight, but we only had two hours to get to the embassy and back. The embassy was an hour away. I just wanted to cry - my heart was beating so fast, but I knew I had to keep myself calm. I just kept praying. I thanked God for Kun and for providing a later flight, then I asked him to continuing providing for us and help us find a taxi driver who understood English and was honest. He provided both. This is a miracle in Thialand! The first driver we came to spoke good English, agreed to use the meter, knew where the Vietnam embassy was, and realized the rush we were in. I felt like we were on the Amazing Race.

The taxi driver got us to the embassy in 45minutes. He agreed to wait outside and didn't charge us for the time we were in the embassy. Once we got inside we still had to wait in line, fill out all the paper work, and to top it off, go get passport photos! So, we got directions to a photo booth and ran down the road to get photos. Once again it felt like we were on the Amazing Race (I think Mike and I would do well). We both kept our cool even though our adrenalin was pumping. I just kept praying. When we got back to the embassy we had to wait about half an hour for them to process our Visas, but each minute felt like and hour.

After we got them we raced back out to our taxi - who was thankfully there and had not taken off with our bags. He once again broke all speed limits and got us back to the airport with some time to spare. We checked in and tried to begin to relax, but I couldn't really relax until we were in Seoul and knew we were on our flight home to Vancouver.

So much for a relaxing trip home and coming home with some money (it was a thousand dollar mistake). But I can't say I'm mad, I'm actually thankful. Never have I had to trust God so closely. He provided every step of the way. Some would say it was a coincidence but I know it was my heavenly Father.

Our trip was full of adventure, some good and some not so good. I know how much my husband loves me, when he was willing to step out of his comfort zone and travel across the world for me. He was also sick much of the time, but he didn't blame me for making him come and spend all this money. He graciously suffered through his pain and made the trip unforgettable. I love you Babe.

Thanks for Reading. From the Rays.