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.

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!!