Guest bloggers Sue and Steve

Well We have just had Sue and Steve come to visit us in sunny and ridiculously hot Phayao!!

From start to finish the two weeks were brilliant and great company.

For a change I thought I would get our visitors to write a blog about their time here, so ladies and gentlemen please relax and enjoy the blog from Sue and Steve ...

Me and Steve all set and ready to go on our Thailand experience :) Steve said  'i hope it's hot, could do with losing some weight' !  

After 17 hrs of travelling we got to our hotel in Chiang Mai. This is the view from our balcony where we crashed out for three days!

Close to our hotel was a venue that did entertainment and food, known locally as a Khontoke. Basically sit on some cushions and watch a show whilst having a meal.

The bowl in the middle was raw meat.... mmmmm yummy.... it  looked like slimy worms. Yuk! An authentic Northern Thailand dish...

In Phayao now... And enjoying the ministry. The Thai people are very hospitable and more often than not have a refreshing cold drink of water to give us....

An informal ministry day out to the mountain tribal people.. What a view!

A group of women and children sitting in their meeting place that overlooks the view above... Beautiful... we all descended on them. This was the first practice of my Thai presentation in front of the 'experts'...  So nervous.  The Thai women were very kind and accommodating......thankfully.

Here they are looking and listening to one of the DVD's  'Why Study the Bible' that can be viewed on the  jw.org website.

One the young brothers from Phayoa congregation is called Picchakorn (20 years old).

Steve was very impressed with his compassion towards this elderly man.  Such a lovely quality in our young men.

I met this lovely lady, who struggled out of her hammock (had a bandaged leg) to join her family, Sister Boo and myself on the wooden meeting deck. She wanted to hear what we were talking about.  She was very animated about the message we were bringing.  She made my day!

As we were leaving, I turned back for one last look............ and quickly captured this shot :)

This is some Army men who were laying a new entrance into this property. Steve was working with Brother Chom.

Another picture of the Thai meeting places. They are dotted around all over the villages through Phayao. They just gather here for their little chats of the day. I have taken several pictures of the different designs I've seen over the two week visit.... This is just one of them..... I just think its a lovely idea..

Almondsbury congregation generously bought a pile of shirts and ministry bags for certain ones in Phayao congregation who have minimal income.  Many buy their shirts secondhand, even then they often have old stains on them or are frayed at the seams.  This is a picture of  a single mothers son... Yen.  She has 3 other young children and is studying the bible.... As you can see from the picture Yen  LOVES his shirt!!!

Simon has now accepted Steve as a friend cos he likes Lionel Richie music!!!

(sorry, Steve wanted to add this)

 Lovely Mel n Simon.. They introduced us to their life in Northern Thailand and to listen to them speaking thai with the locals was a delight..... they are making such an impact on the locals but most importantly within Phayoa congregation!!  Its been a real treat to see the progress they have made here, though they admit it has had its challenges.  The Thai language is extremely challenging with next to no English spoken here!

 Its so very obvious to see how fond the congregation are of Simon & Mel as they have taken the young ones under their wings and arrange events so the young and older ones associate together outside of meetings. It  is difficult for the association due to vast distances some have to travel  to get to meetings. They now enjoy picnics by the lake, football sessions on Monday evenings & swimming

............ All this in only 4 months... Jehovah is certainly blessing their efforts.

Sue and Steve

It has been a good two weeks and was so amazing to see how much Sue and Steve loved it here.  A real boost for me and Mel.

As we said they could have treated themselves and gone anywhere for a relaxing break but they decided to come to Phayao and help for two weeks.

The Brothers in Sisters in the hall are enjoying meeting everyone and get a real boost from it and, as you can probably tell, so do the visitors.

We and Mel have now done our second visa extension and have a border crossing next month.  The guy behind the desk is quite scary but now we speak a bit of Thai he was ALOT nicer and even tried to crack a few jokes.

There are a few more things we did, including visiting a beautiful national park (pictures are below)

The CO's gone and Songkran has started

Well today Songkran (the traditional new year) has started in Thailand.  Being a new year celebration were not celebrating it HOWEVER that does not mean were not going to get drenched in the next few days of the celebration.  Pick up trucks drive round with barrels of water to throw, they set up pipes with jets all along the lake to soak the cars and people line the streets to throw water at drivers and scooters, and kids the last week have been buying water guns none stop!

Today we saw two girls fall off their scooter as a bucket of water hit them .... luckily everyone was OK but I think the scooter had a big scratch!

The week before last we had the CO and his wife visit are hall.  It was very encouraging because when he gave the talks he also gave us the outline in English so we actually understood something!!! WOOHOO!!

The CO is from Thailand and speaks really good English (they have to learn as the MTS school is in Australia).  He is 36 and has been on the circuit for 9 years!!!  He was telling us about all the different congregations he visits including one which is on the border of Myamar (Burma).  It is in a refugee camp that holds 50000 people from Myanmar and they cannot leave it to come into Thailand or back into Myanmar.  They have no running water and rely on a river for there water.  He showed us pictures of his visit on his phone and the hall was packed with people stood around the sides and on the stairs ... you can tell he was encouraged.

During the visit we were invited on so many meals at peoples home or in restaurants, once again people were very generous!  One couple are in their 80's and cooked and bought in lunch for about 15 of us.

We also now get the Almondsbury meeting sent to us!!!  This has been a massive boost and it is so nice to understand a whole meeting.  We also enjoyed hearing everyone's voice from back home ... right now I'm listening to last weeks watchtower .... lovely reading Mark!

We also had a text from a couple (Ian and Grace Rotherham) who are serving in Bangkok, that our friends know, and they asked if they could come and stay for a few nights to see what the north of Thailand is like.  They have a blog to which is www.iangracethailand.wordpress.com.

They arrived Monday and stayed till Thursday.  They were great company and it was so nice to speak to people that are in Thailand for the first time and have similar experiences.

Back home they are in the only Thai group in England which is in Manchester.  Their Thai was very good.

We all wanted to do lots of ministry while we could all support each other.  The first few months you cannot do as much ministry as you want, because your reliant on other people to assist with the language.

Anyway now I have personal territory so we did a lot of that and went out with the group a few times.

We all plucked up the courage to walk into a Wat (temple) and talk to some monks and give them truth tracts and memorial invitations (pics below).  We were pretty nervous and we thought it was only a group of 5 or six ..... however there were monks everywhere but they were friendly and took the leaflets, even posed for a photo.

Melissa and Grace went to talk to a different group of monks but followed the rules in place and did not hand the literature directly to the monks but placed it on the floor for them to pick up (a lady is not allowed to directly pass something or touch a monk).

We also worked a morning market and gave all the vendors invitations to which the majority said yes.  It quite loud so not always easy but people are interested in what a couple of "FARANGS" are doing talking to everyone.

They also have some amazing examples in there hall of people who were once before ladyboys and spiritualists but now pioneers and elders ... great example.

I have just been given my second bible reading and Mel has her first talk BUT its when my parents are here so that will be nice for them .... I think!

Me and Melissa are so excited that so many people back home are changing things to do more in the truth and even some planning on coming to Thailand!!  It was because of our friends back home being so enthusiastic about their trips that made us start asking questions and making plans.  Jehovah is noticeably speeding up the work and it seems everyone is doing as much as they can ... very exciting.  There are ups and down to being away from home and its not at all like being on a constant holiday, however it is amazing ....... if we can do it anyone can!!!

I have quite a few pictures to post as that is what people are mostly interested in.

 Lunch time during the CO visit.

 Working local territory and the start of the steps to the Wat.

 Invitations in the market.

 Ian checking out the local property for when they move to Phayao next year ... to be continued.

 Memorial campaign in the market.

 This is a house! 

Ministry in the Wat.   

 Mel did ministry while I bought pork scratchings from the householder

 Me and Mel out on our own, but rewarded with a good call who speaks English as his first language.

 Picnic at the lake.

 These are spirit houses.  The Thai people believe that when they build a house they upset the spirits that live on that ground so every house has one of these houses.  They place food, drink and incense there every morning to keep the spirits happy.

 Another lunch time stop ... the CO is in the middle.

 This is next to wear the monks live (we also spoke to the older monks there).  Once the tree is wrapped and blessed by a monk it cannot be cut down or you will be cursed.  You see this is many places.  They also wrap the same type of tree that Buddha sat under to find enlightenment as its sacred to them.

 Congragation picnic ... we played football afterwards ... turns out the girls in the hall are good at it, they came in full Barcelona and Man United kits.

 Yet another puppy but one of the friendliest.

Back from the South

After three months of learning a new language and getting used to new surroundings we planned to meet the lovely Ty and Tarah in Bangkok and fly to Krabi together for 5 nights before they came back to Phayao.

Krabi is beautiful and its not hard to take a postcard picture with such scenery around you, we all agreed we have never been anywhere like it, nor did we think we would ever be able to.

We visited a few islands and one stunning lagoon and sailed on a Siamese junk ship, which was 100 years old, for a day.  We did some snorkeling, rock climbing and a cliff jump into what was quite a choppy sea!  It is great to go somewhere and not see phone wires or electric poles, buildings, shops etc etc just creation.  That is what the lagoon was like, apart from the boat we arrived on.

We found a hotel called Phu Pha resort which was amazing. It was at the foot of the white mountains that surround Krabi and consisted of Wooden lodges raised up on wooden legs to the level of the trees.

Here are some pictures ....

We have come back to the memorial campaign which  means learning a new presentation in Thai but its quite simple.  The Thai people here are all happy to take one and normally ask extra questions to confirm the date, time and location.  

Its getting very hot here so we often feel a mess all sweaty but we still have a great time. We are starting to understand what people are saying back to us on the ministry instead of totally relying on who we are working with, which is really nice to feel its more of  a two way conversation. However, we still have a long way to go. We're looking forward to seeing how many turn  up to the memorial now! (Memorial is a special day for Jehovah's witnesses once a year we meet to commemorate what Jesus death means for us and what his sacrifice means for the future but annually we also invite the public and it happens all around the world all witnesses doing the same invitation work and then the memorial. So if you want to attend there will be one at your local kingdom hall which you can find on the website jw.org) Although two of our good friends arrive that day to visit so we know there will definitely be at least two new faces at the memorial in Phayao! 

I have just had my first bible reading in Thai which I wrote out by recording a Brother and Sister read it and listened to it and wrote out the sounds on some notes which I stuck inside the bible.  I read it to someone in the congregation to make sure they understood it and all went well.  Everyone in the hall understood so I was very happy.  

The watchtower on the weekend about people in the 50/60's was really good because in are hall we have three people from Japan who have come to serve where the need is great.  one couple are heading towards 70 and still provide me and Melissa with an example we strive towards ..... even energy wise.

The 17 year old in are hall called Waneda (I have mentioned her before) is auxillary pioneering this month.  She has started an internship so works during the days (obviously for experience so doesnt get paid), to earn money she works in the market in the evenings past midnight Friday, Saturday and Sunday (quite often there is special events so she will work in the week to) and despite this she fits in ministry around it on the evenings she has free ...... a great example AND despite being tired she has already put her form in for April to.

We have are CO this week and apparently he gives out the outline in English so we will understand.  Me and Mel were asked if we would like to work with him and his wife on Tuesday which is nice because he speaks good English.  The CO's here go to Australia for the school and have to learn English first.

Are next visitors are Sue and Steve Roberts who are here in two weeks which we are very much looking forward to!!!

Circuit Assembly

This weekend we had the circuit assembly in Chiang Rai University, which was a great experience.

Firstly we had the pioneer meeting on Friday.  I was slightly nervous about it as we were the new arrivals and we wouldn't understand what was being said at the meeting but there was nothing to worry about as everyone was really welcoming and made us feel at ease.  There were pioneers from Japan, Korea, Australia, America, Norway, Canada and I am sure I have forgotten more.  People all had different experiences about how they have found learning the language, the ministry, the food and the flies!  It was really nice to get to speak to people that have been here a few months more than us or up to 7 years and have had the same ups and downs. Making friends in a similar situation to us was so nice. At the end of the day we sang see yourself when all is new .... it was so loud!

It also made us relax knowing that the next day during the assembly there would be others in the audience struggling to understand. We really had to concentrate to hear scriptures and listen out for odd words we recognised. Also other foreigners like us were missing cheese to and gave us tips on where they'd managed to get some and lots of other tricks to make us feel more settled.

A brother in our congregation booked our accommodation an arranged our lift for us which was really sweet but we had no idea where we were staying! But it was a simple clean room that more importantly had coffee in the morning and was a 2 minute drive from the university.
As the assembly was held at a university everyone is free to use the canteen which was so cheap .... 50p for breakfast and the same for lunch.  There is no having to worry about a packed lunch and a cool bag etc. So practical and quite fun trying everyday student food. Also ice cream at an assembly? BRILLIANT!

On the Saturday was the baptism and they used an inflatable paddling pool which made us really appreciate our beautiful Bristol Assembly hall. We wondered how they would even baptize people but ingeniously they sit cross legged in the water and then lean back, simple! It was nice to see how happy everyone was to see our new brothers and sisters and lots gathered round the small pool.

We were tired by the end of each day but both nights went out for food and one of the brothers was originally from Chiang Rai so knew the markets to go to etc. We went to the biggest market we've ever been to which was really buzzing and so much yummy food around that it was really difficult to choose. I decided in the end fried tofu and noodles plus this peanut satay dip with dipping sheets of noodle and we also had sesame thin rolls and samosas yum and Simon found a chicken kebab much to his delight (it was no A38 man).

Last day of the assembly our friends bible study insisted we wear special Thai dress, which I later found out was from her tribe called Mong tribe. I had no idea these past few months that shes bilingual and when speaking to her family and children speaks Mong, because I don't understand much I assumed it was Thai but it made me laugh when I realised my ignorance. The clothes were so bright and beautifully made and the Thai brothers and sisters loved that my Korean friend and I we were wearing it. So many photos were taken. However most excitingly there is a small group of witnesses learning Mong to help teach people about the bible in their mother tongue, so Paa (bible study) was able to talk easily to them and make friends plus get literature for her and her children which she said was a lot easier for her to read and understand. So that made her happy.

In another room with live translation were about 50 people who spoke the Lahu language.  They had a video camera set up and displayed in the room and a brother would translate for them.  Simon was happy to be asked to do some of the filming as a break from the intense concentration on the assembly.

We were also impressed by the sign language group as they not only translated all of the talks and songs each day for the deaf but they also had slideshows of photos and pictures that related to the subject of each talk to help explain better so much work must have gone into that it was so nice to see about sixty signing the songs together. It also helped us because if we missed the scripture then it was on the deaf board so we could use our new thai reading skills to decipher which book of the bible etc.

The atmosphere and friendliness was something we will remember.  Brothers and sisters would talk to everyone and anyone!!  All the pioneers from other countries agreed that we could learn from the example set at that assembly.  In fact at one point a 19 year old came up a pioneer couple from Australia and just introduced himself, before they knew it they were outside sat on the grass sampling the families traditional food.  That's just the way people are here, they give and give and give even when they have nothing to give they find something.

Everyone asks for more pictures so here is a few from the last month.

A bible studies little boy that seem to be my little friend at the meetings now.

A actual working water pump used by the village.  It was the week after this we saw a poisonous snake right next to here.

The snake!!  There really fast!

Ministry

This man had a terminal illness so didn't think we would want to talk for long but we showed him Rev 21:4 and left him with a smile.

Monday is food shop day which we do in this market.  Wish you could all smell it, not nice!!

Breaking for lunch with 2 Japanese sisters who were visiting.

The young ones at the boarding school studying the Listen to God brochure.

The delights of the local market

Mel having lunch at studies house.

The baptism pool.

New friends at assembly.

Traditional Hmong Tribe dress

Paa met the Hmong hill tribe group who gave her a bible book of stories for her little children.

Early arrival .... don't think we will struggle for a seat!

This picture has nothing to do with Thailand but a treat for everyone .... Joseph Sidney Hannam.

Quick Update

We have just returned from another afternoon going to do the study at the boarding school that I mentioned in a previous blog.

This week all the younger children were not there as they had time off for Chinese New Year but four of the older ones (who i would say are aged 12 to 14) came to the study.

We study the bible stories book and this week were looking at number 68 which was all about Elijah and the widows son being brought back to life.

At the end of the study the Korean brother asked who they look forward to seeing resurrected.  The first girl had lost her mum in death, the second boy had lost his dad and then the third girl who is the youngest of the four is from Myanmar and she has lost both her parents.  None of us had any idea that they had all been through so much and they were obviously all very emotional.

The sad thing is that, like many other children at this school, when all the other kids go home to their parents (mainly hill tribes) at the weekends they have no where to go, no family to visit and just stay at the school.  It was so sad to see how upset the girl was.

Afterwards we sang Be Wise My Son with them, twice!  Then Brother YunTae asked my to say the last prayer which was hard to say but at least they are aware there is a hope for them to see their parents again in the future.