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.

Temperature is rising

At the moment in Thailand the temperature is about 28 degrees and climbing everyday.  The thing that really worries me is the locals are still wearing jumpers!  Our landlord says that this summer it is going to climb up to 40 degrees .... that's when i start using a UV umbrella on the ministry.  We haven't seen rain now since the 14th of December.

Were still enjoying our time here.  We have Thai lessons everyday at 8pm with the Korean sister from down the road and we are focusing on reading.  The sister says that once we can read then learning the language needed for conversation will just click into place.  The must think that we must be progressing as I have been given my first bible reading for the end of March, I will have to write it down phonetically and read it like that.  The language is very confusing there are many different rules for the tone of the word and if you get it slightly wrong the locals wont understand you.  Also when you read the language they do not have gaps in between words so they all roll into when which isn't easy when you don't recognize many.

Craig and Keira have been given the chance to do a 30 minute special meeting at there hall about there experience here which I think will be really encouraging for everyone.  If anyone is considering doing anything like this then maybe ask if you can go!  

The brothers and sisters here have made us feel welcome from the start and any worries that we had have just disappeared.  The amazing thing about them is their generosity despite the fact that they don't have anything themselves they still want to give.  In a way its good because they have no attachment to anything in this system and can just walk away from it if they need to.

Here is an experience of one couple in the congregation you might find interesting ..... it about a couple called Brother Pundrey and Sister Pracov (they are married but here you use you first names) and they are circled in the picture below with one of their children.

They are both originally from Chiang Mai where Sister Pracov originally had a bible study.  Due to finances they moved to Phayao but as it normally does lack of money became a stressful situation and the studies stopped.  

Every year they attended the memorial and a couple in the hall asked if they wanted to restart studying the bible.  Although Brother Pundrey was not interested Sister Pracov was and the study was restarted. 

They both lived in a traditional small house built from wood with a tin roof and just one room, for four of them.  Unfortunately a freak hail storm hit Thailand a few years ago where the hail was the size of lemons!!!  It literally broke there house!  Obviously upset by the situation Sister Pracov was encouraged to pray about it, which she did.

A few days later they were offered a house for free BUT in the village the house was known to be haunted and no one would live there and even the last two owners had died there.  A brother told sister Pracov that it would be ok if she trusted in Jehovah.

Now whether the house had any problems or not, the reason it would be so hard for her to stay there at night is because she would be on her own!  The kids refused to stay there knowing what reputation the house had and Brother Pracov worked nights.  

Well she took the house and stayed there on her own at night for 2 months!! 

Every morning the village came round to ask if she was ok and find out if she had seen anything to which she always said 'I trust in my God and he is stronger than anything else'.

Well eventually Brother Pracov had a study and they  are now both baptized.  In fact Brother Pracov has been baptized for a year and he is amazing on the ministry, wish I was as good as him.  He also still works nights yet he a couple of times a week he comes out on the ministry straight from work even though he must feel shattered.

They still obviously struggle with day to day stresses like money but are yet so generous.  They have taken us for dinner and had 11 people round for lunch before the meeting.  They have 6 chickens and to feed us all they killed 3 of them. Sister Pracov suffers from depression but since studying and being part of Phayao she is apparently so much better and copes with it, so much so I didn't even realize.

 Their old house after the hail storm.

There new house.

Lunchtime.

Another good thing about this trip is you actually get to see the real Thailand.  Although we will and have seen tourist attractions, we also get to spend time with Thai families and sit down in their houses and go into the mountains and meet people.

There are 2 brothers one who is 78 and one who is in his early 30's and they have two isolated houses and a little farm on the mountains with no one else near by.  You can only get there by truck or bike, they have no electric and they drink from the river and wash down in the river.  Clearly I have made it known I want to visit as it sounds amazing.

Im not sure who reads this blog, so if you do and you want to e-mail me at simonroberts65@hotmail.com then you can ask me questions to answer in each blog because im not to sure what to write about.  Or if you know me and mel it would be nice to hear from you!

One month gone already

Today Craig, Keira and Sinead left Phayao for Bangkok to fly back home.  It was sad to see them go but I have no doubt they will be back as just like us they loved the ministry and the congregation .... And of course the sun, street food, green tea milkshakes, etc.

(There last meeting .... For now)

They arrived just over a week after we arrived in Phayao.  By then we had found a house and bought a sofa bed, tables, stools and a electric hob and halogen oven as a makeshift kitchen.  When we moved in the house was filthy and we took two days painting areas white and cleaning .... Worst dirt I have ever seen, but now it's fine and actually feels like home.  One down side is we don't have a toilet flush so you have to pour water down the loo from a bucket and also we have a cockerel who has a messed up body clock.  It's quite common to hear him at 1 AM.  Phayao isn't a tourist location and there aren't many westerners here so they don't have new apartment blocks or western style houses hence we have a basic style thai house.

We went for a lunch at the Korean couples house as they had two couples over who are from Korea but are pioneering in other parts of Thailand.  Both of them had been in prison for refusing to serve compulsory military service stating that they didn't want to fight anyone and are neutral when it comes to politics.  They served 5 and a half years in military and citizen prisons where they could not talk to family or friends and were often beaten.  One of the brothers said it taught him to rely on jehovah and he is no longer afraid of bad men.  

(Korean brothers who served in prison)

We also had a pioneer meeting which was taken in three different languages and some brothers travelled two hours from another congregation to come to it, unfortunately they were arsenal fans but we all brought food for afterwards and spent a few hours just chatting and even convinced me and Craig to try octopus ... Not good!

Ministry is getting better and better as we learn more of the language and gain confidence.  Every few houses you stop and talk to people.  The majority of people here haven't heard of Jehovah's witnesses at all and some of the territory still has not been worked.  Once we have finished an area it won't be worked for another three years .... There is so much to be done here.  

Recently the why study the bible video on jw.org has become available in the Thai language or passa thai as they say.  This is good news because we meet so many people who cannot read and now we have downloaded videos on are tablets to show them.  

Melissa and Keira were able to go on a study as a boarding school that are Korean friends take.  The boarding school is nothing like England.  Only one teacher stays there at night but both the girls didn't even see a teacher.  The kids are responsible for themselves overnight after dinner.  At four o'clock on Tuesday afternoons all the kids who are playing leave there things and go get there study books and sit down outside the school.  None of them are made to but they all do it out of choice.  They even start by singing songs.  Me and Mel are able to go every week so will post a video or photos next time.

We have been doing lots of informal witnessing when we have been out on evenings in markets or travelling on public transport.  One girl me and Mel spoke to (while buying churos) was back in phayao for new year but studies at university in Bangkok and was leaving the next day.  She started of just asking if we were on holiday but we explained we were witnesses.  She wasn't too sure who we were so we showed her the website.  She was really happy and said she had studied Buddhism, and Islam but they didn't provide any answers.  She said 'this is perfect because I am free of any religion and can study the bible'.  We showed her how to find the bibles answers on the website and how to contact the brothers .... Who knows what will happen.

While visiting Chiang Mai we took a taxi which is like a pick up truck with some benches in the back.  There not very big and was already quite full so the girls shuffled in and me and Craig stood on a ladder on the back of the truck.  Sinead has some of the Would you like to know the truth tracts and spoke to one lady and then proceeded to offer them round, everyone on the bus took one .... Ten people! 

We have also all managed to answer up at almost every meeting in the thai language, with some help of course.  We also learnt a few songs in thai.  One of the brothers made us sing in it front of the hall after the meeting, so so embarrassing.

We have done a few more touristy things to.  We went to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.  Visited an amazing flower shows festival/food market (me and Craig bought are Chiang Rai United football shirts there), Chiang Mai zoo where we fed elephants, giraffes and jaguars and also tigef kingdom where we spent the day with ten different tigers from cubs to the biggest adults and as you will see from the pictures it was incredible. 

First couple of days in Phayao

After a ten hour bus journey we arrived in Phayao and got a tuk tuk to are £9 a night hotel which was basic and clean but quite a noisy place.

That night we went for a walk round a festival that was on and it became obvious that the people in Phayao don't see massive amounts of tourists so there was a lot of pointing and staring.

We got back to the hotel and both felt a bit nervous as we had no idea where we would live, what Phayao is really like and also the next morning was our first meeting at the congregation.  

The congregation

As we have found time after time during our first month in Thailand there was no need to worry, the congregation were lovely.  We were announced in the meeting (the only bit I understood as every clapped and looked at us), everyone came and said hello or saa-wat-dee-krap to be precise, they had all brought food for a special lunch after the meeting, a brother and sister said as soon as we wanted we could stay with them until we got a place to stay and they took us on the ministry.  Why did we even worry!! 

The meetings in Phayao happen at the weekend. There are 3 elders and 3 ministerial servants and the average attendance is about 25. 

 On a Saturday at 10 they have the ministry school and service meeting and on Sundays at 1:30 they have either one of 2 elders give a talk, watch a DVD or listen to a talk recorded at the assembly (neighbouring halls are over two hours away so they don't have visiting speakers really) followed by the watchtower.  On both days they go on the ministry and dedicate the weekend to spiritual things.  The reason they have the meetings on weekend is for a few reasons.  Some of the older brothers and sisters live far away and cannot travel in twice a week because of health or cost, so they all arrive on the weekend and live in a house joined onto the Kingdom Hall and the brothers and sisters take it in turns to drop them home late Sunday afternoon. Also the brothers and sisters work very hard and at all different times to earn a living so weekends are the best time.  One of the elders works on a street food stall late into the night but also prepares the theocratic ministry school, watchtower, public talks and service meeting items .... Yet he is always very positive and happy.  Another elder is from Japan and moved here 8 years ago with his wife to do ministry even though they are in there late sixties.  Then the last elder is from Korea and him and his wife also came to do ministry 7 years ago and said they will never leave now until the paradise.

I'll write about the first few weeks in the next blog ... 

Lunch after are first meeting.

Sunset at the lake in Phayao

The first experience of Thailand ministry

The hall

We arrive in Bangkok ....

Sorry for anyone who looks at this that I haven't posted anything so far but as you can imagine things have been very busy.

First of all some reading this may wonder why me and Mel have come to Thailand for nine months.  Well Thailand is a stunning country but our main reason isn't to do the normal tourist trail but were actually here to learn Thai and teach people about the bible and the questions it answers about life.  Questions such as if there is a God why does he permit suffering, why do we grow old and die and what does the future hold.  Its questions like these that many people cannot answer.  This link explains it better than I can in a video called Why study the bible? http://www.jw.org/en/video-why-study-the-bible/.

Ok .....

We arrived in Bangkok just over two weeks ago now and spent three nights in the most stunning hotel I have ever stayed in.  It was a suite with a bedroom, kitchen, living room and massive bathroom ... it was called Oriental Residence and was the perfect place to go after our journey.

The first day we arrived Bangkok it was very overwhelming!  Lots of tuk tuks trying to con you, traffic, smog, smells, fried cockroaches, pick a mix frogs, a completely new city and the thought that we had to arrange a bus journey to Phayao without speaking a word of Thai or knowing where the right station was.

After a couple of hours sleep in the afternoon we went into Siam for an evening market.  Siam is very impressive but as with most of Thailand the contrast between the rich and poor is everywhere in front of you.  On one side of the street you have a shopping mall selling designer clothes, cars and the best restaurants and on the other side you have a cheap market selling clothes and food (fried chicken 8 baht, less than 20p a piece) with blind people led on the streets, people with no limbs, kids sleeping on cardboard and even one man who literally had no face trying to collect whatever money they could.

That night we decided that we wanted to go to Bangkok Bethel the next day (its like the HQ for Thailand Jehovahs Witnesses) but the problem was I had E-mailed them 3 weeks before and not heard anything back so that night we prayed about it and woke up to an E-mail from the Brothers saying that they had been away the last few weeks but we are more than welcome to go that day!! We left the next morning and despite first of all getting in a taxi with a driver who kept driving despite not knowing where Bethel was, we finally made it.  Everyone was so nice and the tour of the branch was really good, it is a simple but beautiful branch, the kitchen staff were making chicken nuggets for lunch which I found quite amusing.

At the moment they are working on a accelerated Thai Language course for people to help with the preaching work.  They gave us a sheet that we could study and use which has been brilliant for learning the language.  Its amazing that all the people there are volunteers and just happy to be there.  At the moment there are less than 4000 Witnesses in Thailand and it has a population of 70 million (thats 17500 people to each publisher and yes I did use a calculator).

Laos is a neighbouring country to the North of Thailand but Witnesses are banned there .... no problem though as the witnesses have built a congregation right on the border so the brothers in Laos can still go to the meeting ... very impressive!!

It also has a very nice garden with a Bethel dog for security ... apparently they had four a few months ago but cobras are common in Thailand ... I wont say anymore as we know quite a few dog lovers.

The third day in we decided to do the tourist route.  A cruise down the river, a look around grand palace, reclining buddha, chinatown, and few taxi and tuk tuk rides and dinner in the market.  (few pictures below but if anyone wants to follow us on instagram you can add us its simonmark85 or miss_hornby, i add more pictures on mels than mine).

That evening we went to the bus station to book the bus to our next stop and destination ..... Phayao, the nerves begin!!

Goodbye!

So after months of planning and saving to go abroad to do ministry where there is a greater need, we are only weeks away from leaving for Thailand.

We found out about two weeks ago that the congregation we will be joining is in a place called Phayao, which is in the north of Thailand.

The original plan was to go to an English speaking hall.  However the Thai branch suggested 3 Thai speaking congregations!!!  We contacted the branch to make sure they knew we didnt know any Thai yet (apart from hello, how are you and my name is) and would be a burden more than be helpful.  They said that brothers and sisters who had done this before had picked up the language well and that the brothers and sisters  would help us learn it in the ministry, not only this but we were sent a six week plan from the Phayao congregation to help us build up a presentation to use.

The brothers in Phayao have been E-mailing us answering all sorts of questions, offering to arrange us accommodation (they found a 3 bedroom house for £80 p/m), arranging learning the language, transport and if we needed to said we could stay with a brother and sister for the first few nights.

They have 26 people in the hall and their territory is a 65 mile radius!  They even sent a picture of the congregation after their Sunday meeting, which was nice to see.

So in just over 3 weeks time we will be off to Bangkok where we are staying for 3 nights before we take an 11 hour bus ride to Phayao!

Ill try and put a few pictures up of Bangkok when were there.