WINTER WONDERLAND, PARTY 3

Thailand is warm everyday. Most Thai's have never seen snow, except on TV. The 3rd LST Party began with a slide show of snow in Nebraska, and there was plenty of it to see as they also were hearing the song, "Frosty the Snowman". Students were amazed as they saw the piles of snow and the children playing in the snow.

After explaining that winter is a good time to spend time playing indoor games, the LST team introduced them to some new games. The Apples to Apples vocabulary brought many to laughter. Rummy Cube was quickly learned and winners soon emerged. All of those attending also made paper snowflakes while Michelle shared about the snow in Nebraska. There were very talented cutters.

We are now looking forward to another week of readers. This may be a slow week however as many of the Chinese readers are highly involved in the Chinese New year which is February 2. Many of the readers will be performing during the celebration. As these readers were asked about their favorite holiday as they read about the Passover in Luke, most all of them said, the "Chinese Festival", which is their name for the Chinese New Year. This is the most important holiday in China we are told. When they are at home, they receive gifts and have parties at this time.

WHO IS HERE?

It is Sunday. This is the place to be and the house is about full. Five congregations met together to worship. There were over 100 here and they all take off their shoes before entering the building. This is the custom in Thailand. When one enters a home or many public buildings they take off their shoes. Most go barefoot inside. As for us, we like to have a pair of slippers handy to wear inside. One asked us if we were 'pretty attached to our slippers'. I guess that "yes" is the answer. As we think about it, floors do stay much cleaner when outside shoes are not worn inside.

The LST team enjoyed the worship with so many Thai Christians. As usual the songs were shown on a screen in Thai and in phonetic Thai so that we could sing along with them in their language (or somewhat their language). We recognize most of the melodies as they sing most of the same songs that we do in the States, but it is amazing that we simply cannot remember the words to familiar songs when everyone else is singing a different language.

One of the Thai Christians here is kind enough to translate the lessons for the team so that we can gain from the good lessons that are taught. What a blessing that is!

NOURISHMENT IN THAILAND

The LST team is nourished each day by the enthusiasism of the readers who want to learn English and also are learning about Jesus. They come and brighten our lives.

But the body must also be nourished and that is a little different than we recieve in Kansas or Nebraska. Each morning as a team we prepare breakfast in the kitchen of the Christian Zone at about 7:30 a.m. The usual is oatmeal with milk, yogurt and raisins accompanied by toast with peanut butter and jelly. On special days we also have banana bread purchased from 7-Eleven (a favorite of ours as well as the Interns). 7-Eleven cannot seem to keep enough on the shelves for all of us.

After about 3 hours of reading we are ready for lunch. There are several street side restaurants very near the Christian Zone. We many times invite our readers to join us for meals. Most every meal is put on top of white or sticky rice or noodles of some kind. The above is chicken (Guy) over rice with a sweet sour sauce. Very tasty.

As reading sessions end at about 8 p.m. the team is ready for more physical nourishment. Vendors are nearby with a variety of foods that can be purchased. The fruit is great. This vendor is doing her best to teach us the names of our favorite fruits. There are a variety of fried meats, grilled meat on a stick, fruit beverages, pancakes, etc. We find that our $8/day/person is plenty to feed us. We have managed to stay well and well fed, as well as spoiled for not needing to do much work in the kitchen.

ACCOMODATIONS

The Norris/Tandy LST Team has overcome Jetlag and is settled into accomodations. The apartments are on the right hand side of the above photo. Tom and Helen and Michele live on the 3rd floor while Sheila is on the second floor. The window just to the left of the electric pole is Tom and Helen's. Sheila and Michele face the other side of the building. Our one room apartments are air conditioned when needed and have hot water for showers. We spend few hours there, however, as we are busy at the Christian Zone.

The entrance to the Zone is behind the team. The first floor has a large meeting room that extends just past the truck. This is an excellent place for our parties and greeting our readers. Cell group Bible study is also held there. There are also 3 rooms in the back that are perfect for our reading sessions. We use the kitchen on the second floor for our breakfast and other cooking. The Interns live on the second floor as well. The third floor is one large room where worship services are held on Sundays.

There are four resturants in the area. We have tried three of them, and they provide tasty and inexpensive meals. There are also street vendors who provide everything from fried chicken to fresh fruit. We have only forgotten to ask for our food "without spice" once or twice so we are getting along well. The most helpful place is a Seven Eleven. They are very popular here; there are two of them in a two block distance. At Seven Eleven you can get grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, banana bread, or pork and sticky rice.

OUR FIRST PARTY

Each week our LST team will host a party for our students and for the church that meets here. This provides time for us to interact with all of our students who can come and for the church to get to know our students. It is a joy to see this happening as it will provide a time for continued help for the students that have indicated an interest in this study after we have to go back to America.

"WORDS AND THINGS" was the theme of our first party. It began with a wordfind using some of the words from the first three lessons in our study of Luke. Many of the students had never seen a word find. As one finished, they helped one another complete the search to receive their tootsie roll, a candy not found in Thailand. They then were divided into groups with letters with which they had to form a word from our lessons. While in their groups they were given Scrabble tiles to make other words and receive points as in the Scrabble game. The team members worked together on this. Not only did the students practice English communication, but they also interacted with the Christian Zone members. This was followed by an activity using selected Proverbs in which they worked with a partner to read and explain what the Proverb meant. We saw a lot of interaction between the members here in Chiang Mai and our readers which was just what we had hoped for and an encouragment to us.

The evening was closed by singing "Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet". That was followed by enjoying Coke Floats together. Many had never experienced that either. They said it was delicious!!

Experiencing Thailand

One week of readers is over. It has been a good one with so many experiences with readers who do not know about Jesus. As we watch their faces as they read about the virgin birth and about the things that Jesus did on earth, it is exciting to tell them that we do believe what we are reading.

Today we visited a famous Buddhist Temple on a mountain very near Chiang Mai. Many people were there selling their wares, selling flowers for the Buddha, offering money at the shrines and bowing in reverence. Yes, it was quite a walk up all of these steps as well. It makes us even more excited about telling the story that we want to tell.

Reading Has begun!

The Norris/Tandy team are busy with 28 readers and more signing up. Above is a photo of the building where we are reading. A good percentage of the readers are Chinese students who are in Thailand attending Payap University. The Christian Zone where we are working is very near Payap University. Our students are so enthusiastic and are anxious to improve their English skills. We are reading the book of Luke with them. Tom has one student who is reading the last of the LST workbooks. They are reading Genesis which will be thought provoking for him.

There are 4 interns working at the Christian Zone. What a joy it is to work together. Most of the interns are also studying the Thai language at the University.

Not only are we happy to be studying here, but we are also enjoying the beautiful weather and country of Thailand. We are in short sleeves, while our friends at home are wearing layers of clothing to protect them from the cold weather. Nebraska has a 90% chance of 10" of snow, while we have a 99% chance of sunshine and high 80's degrees.

Please keep us in your prayers, that we can help our students improve their English, but most of all introduce them to Jesus and the Christian Life.

Norris and Tandy in Chiang Mai

Tom and Helen Norris and Sheila and Michele Tandy will enjoy working with Thai people to improve their English skills while reading the book of Luke. This project had begun with about 20 readers on the first day. Our readers are so excited to talk with us. We do hope that we can build some good relationships with people from Thailand as well as some students here from China. How exciting for us as well. Our schedule is to work with readers 8 hours per day on a one-to-one basis. We will also hold special social events for our readers and the Christians here.

We have enjoyed the Thai food and hospitality. Our accommodations are simple but very comfortable. We are looking forward to this project. Look for photos in the near future.