LAST WEEK OF PROJECT

This is a week of good-byes. It is the last week of our six week project at Ramkhamhaeng Christian Center. Our experience has shown us that the last week is usually the most consuming and hectic of all. This is no exception. Not only have we gained 7 students since last week, but we are planning a farewell potluck party, arranging for the continuation of reading with many of our readers and making plans for a few days of relaxation and our trip back to the US. Our readers ask us when we will return and we have to tell them that we do not know. Some of our most promising readers were invited to Patinya's home for dinner and a good conversation about the purpose of our visit and we shared our love for our readers.

Many of our students have shown a marked improvement in their ability to converse in English. That may mean better jobs for them when they graduate from Ramkhamhaeng University. That prospect is very gratifying for us. They have gained a better appreciation of our Christian faith and who Jesus is. Some of them have shown great interest in learning more about Jesus and are asking many questions. Some have said, "I beleive that Jesus is the Son of God". The staff at RCC will continue to study with our students and we pray that someday we will hear that they will recognize Jesus as their savior and God as their Lord. Please continue your prayers for this project as we finish our last week of reading. We have been blessed by our association with these students. Also continue to pray for the staff here at this work with such great potential; Yai and Nong, SuJin, Lydia, Kathryn and Andy.

BEING WITH OUR STUDENTS IS GREAT!

Mondays have been filled with contact with our readers, English conversations, and discussions about faith. When we first arrived our hosts asked us to reserve Mondays for activities with our readers. At first we were hesitant to give up that reading time. But we are so thankful that we submitted to the request of our hosts. It has been a blessing to us, to the building of relationships and has increased our undertanding of our students. We have visited the Ancient City, the King's Park and the Teakwood Mansion. All of these places honor the past kings of Thailand and Buddha, as do most of the historical sites in Thailand. There were photos in the Teakwood Mansion of the present king of Thailand being confirmed as monk in the Buddhist faith. The kingship is transfered within one family in Thailand and the Buddha's appearance seems to change as the king changes. Our readers are able to visit with us about what all of this means to them and we also are able to share our faith. There is great respect shown for the king in Thailand. Even in the movie theater everyone stands to honor the king and sing the national anthem before the movie begins.

Our readers also see us in a different setting than 'reader/teacher' as we experience scenes here. We have enjoyed that so much and so have our readers. This week will be a very different event. Our readers are going with us to the largest marketplace in Bangkok to show us what it is like. They have given us the appropriate warnings about what to wear, what not to take, the crowded aisles and bargaining for the right price. Our students enjoy being able to tell us about their lives and their country.

We have also enjoyed taking our students to the street cafe's (I guess you would call them that) to eat and visit. They like to tell us about the Thai food. We are very leary when they tell us that a food is "just a little spicy". That usually means that it will burn all the way down.

Please continue to pray for us as we begin our last week with our students. One of Gary's students plans to join us for worship services in Watcherapon this Sunday. He has really been questioning Gary. We will also be taking some of our most interested readers to the home of P'Patinya on Monday. He is the preacher and a great leader for the church there and has become a good friend during our times in Bangkok.

HAPPY DAY

This is Sunday, worship day for us at the Watcherapon Church of Christ. That is a special day for us to see the friends that we have made here in the past 3 years. We feel so welcome. The congregation has a translator and earphones for us as well as English and Thai on the screen as we sing the songs. We sing so many of the same songs and it is inspiring to hear Thai and English singing together.

Today was special as a Thai woman indicated that she was ready to put on her Lord in baptism. The baptism here is a little different than we are accustomed to. All of the church members walk right up the baptistry to watch the baptism. What a personal feeling that gives. They sing together and pray together and welcome the new Christian.

FIRST PARTY FOR READERS

LST will host parties for their readers and others every Thursday evening in February. Readers get to know the Christians at the center and each other. The first party was February 5 and was game night. Paper Airplanes, javelin toss, cracker whistle and an unusual form of Scrabble were played. The evening ended up with a song and scripture followed by Coke Floats. A large percentage of the Thais had never had coke floats and wondered how we got the foam on the top of the drink. The first photo shows the 3 groups working to form English words with scrabble tiles. The second photo shows the 3 teams ready to eat their cracker and try to whistle. We found that many Thai's do not know how to whistle, but they had a good time trying. We were able to sign up several new readers after the party and many stayed for over an hour visiting and getting to know each other.

CONTACTING STUDENTS OF RAMKHAMHAENG UNIVERSITY

Graduation is over and the search for readers has increased. As you can see the front of the Ramkahmhaeng Christian Center is well marked and shows that they can study English. That has brought in students. Our present readers have told their friends. Notice the picture of the table with 'RCC' above it. These tables are scattered all over the campus. Each club or group on campus is eligible to claim one of these tables for a gathering place and the Christian Center has one. We started there and walked around campus delivering flyers to students. We tried to have one Thai and one Farang (foreigner) walk together to deliver. We are told that it adds to the effectiveness if an obvious foreigner is delivering as they know that the English is from an English speaking country.

VISIT TO ANCIENT CITY

On
Monday, February 2, we went to the "Ancient City". It is a park in which replicas of historic events, buildings and symbols are displayed. Four of our readers accompanied us which made the visit so much more enjoyable. They told us about what we were seeing. Much of the display told about the history of Buddha in Thailand. One admitted that she believed that what we were seeing was a myth (a word that we study in Lesson 1 of our readings) although she says that she is a Buddhist. We rode the Bangkok buses to get to the location. It took 2 hours to get back to the center on 3 different 'buses' (1. the back of a truck with benches on each side for 8 baht each (25 cents), 2. the free unairconditioned bus and 3. the airconditioned bus for 14 baht (35 cents) each.)

Mondays are special days for building relationships with our readers. We feel like this is a valuable thing to do. Some of the christians from the center help us plan and go with us on these activities. We plan to visit the Teakwood Mansion next Monday.