Thanksgiving - Five Days Early

In a few days, my family will join other Americans in the annual tradition of our homeland. We eat lots of food and reflect on God's goodness to us. But this year, Thanksgiving landed on a Saturday. No, we didn't eat any cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie yesterday, but our hearts were filled with thanks to view a glorious event.

The center of attention was not a perfectly cooked turkey, but a portable round container of water. In this container, two university students were baptized. They have forsaken the path of trying to earn eternal life and blessings by their own good deeds and have embraced the river of grace that cleanses and energizes. The Lord is raising them up as student leaders to spread hope in a culture dominated by fear and luck.

They started this journey before I arrived here, but I am currently a part of their lives as I teach English to them and they teach me Thai. I am thankful to see what the Lord is doing in this land. I am thankful to be a small part of it.

....and I will always love it when Thanksgiving comes five days early in Bangkok.

5 Baht Soi

Bangkok is a hard city to drive in if you need to make a u-turn. Our moo-bahn (neighborhood) is just beyond the u-turn for our main road, Bangna-Trad. When we leave to go to some places, we go through 5 Baht Soi to catch the u-turn from the main road. For some reason, we have to pay 5 baht to go through the moobahn next to us so we can catch the short-cuts; thus, the name 5 Baht Soi.

5 Baht Soi is full of shops and produce markets, Thai fast food vendors, and two 7-11shops (yes, 24 hours). Early in the morning (6:30 to 9 am) and all afternoon and evening, it's lively with many scooters, cars, taxis and people killing our shortcut advantage.

We went walking one night to eat soup at a Thai stall that the boys recommended. Everyone really is polite, and soft spoken. No shouting and blaring horns. On this road, you can find (think 12 days of Christmas here)the TV repairman, shoe repair, frame maker, dry cleaning, 5 million dogs, at least 4 beauty salons, 3 massage shops, 2 7-11s, and a Tesco Lotus Express (convenience store). (By the way, the soup was DE-licious.)

Sounds normal and boring almost, til you remember that there's hardly a store that doesn't have a spirit house, and that we need to learn their language well to share His love that they so desperately need on busy 5 Baht Soi.

A Bridge Not Over the River Kwai

 

 

We live about 2 hours from the city of Kanchanaburi, the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai. It is a popular tourist site with museums and cemeteries recognizing the importance of the bridge and the men who died in World War II for our freedom. We hope to visit it sometime within the next year but currently, I am working on building a different bridge.

 

Every Thursday, I travel to Ramkhamhaeng University Campus to work with Thai students. My friend Dennis has helped establish a ministry to students by helping them with English. They have classroom instruction, but not many opportunities to converse with a native English speaker. We talk to the students and help them with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but most of all, we build relationships. After the sessions, we eat dinner at the campus cafeteria and fellowship with the students who choose to join us.

 

Through this relationship building process, students' hearts have become open to the gospel. No big pressure, no hype, no hurry- just building a bridge to the heart.