thanksgiving!!!!! =)))

didnt take many pics durin this trip which is v unlike me... but then again goin on a trip of this kinda nature is aso v unlike me, thus resultin in e different kinda behaviour... wat abt e nature of this trip dats unlike me is...

1) we went to e village

i've never been to a village n though this is not those kinda village where u need to dig a hole to do ur business, its village enuff dat we live in houses made of wood n its reali like those houses our parents lived in... ok maybe they lived in zinc houses... hmmm... maybe my mum lived in a brick house... but oh well u get e idea!!!!!

ok perhaps a picture paints a thousand words, so lemme find a pic of e houses we stayed in... =Pp

this is e first house. in this house, i slept in a sleepin bag fer my FIRST TIME!!!!!! n boy it was so fun!!!!! but it was v squeezy as e room xiumei n i were in was big enuff onli to place 3 sleepin bags side by side wif a 2cm perimeter between us n e wall n wif a small area fer us to stand when we got into e room... hee...

this is e 2nd house where its much bigger!!!!! but its aso my first time sleepin in e same area as another... hmmm... not too sure how many more... maybe 9 other gals on e open space!!!!! =)))

2) i had to use a squatting toilet fer 4 daes straight!!!!!
maybe u'd think its nothin but i never used a squatting toilet fer 4 daes in a row b4!!!!! it was like at most maybe fer a dae then go back to e hotel room at nite kinda thing... n cos my back is not v strong, it was v tough on me... but thank God no back relapse!!!!! im healed!!!!! =)))))

3) i survived bathing in cold water fer 6 daes in a row!!!!! n i reali mean COLD...
it was supposed to b abt 22 degrees when we went i think... highest in e afternoon of abt 29 degrees but once it got past 5pm, e temperature will drop n e coldest it got was abt 13 degrees at nite or in e early mornin... n we had to bathe in dat kinda cold water!!!!! ok maybe not 13 degrees... but maybe between 15-19 degrees since we bathed at 10pm, not yet e lowest point...

n dats fer me who loves to bathe in e highest temperature available in my house water heater!!!!! my mum used to alwayz complain dat e toilet is like a sauna each time i finish bathing but now i've improved!!!!! this trip helped me to get used to bathin in colder waters... so now i can bathe at 2/3 e max temperature!!!!! =))))) dats gd news fer me cos i keep readin dat cold water is gd fer e skin... but i still came back wif dry skin...

ok la!!! enuff of e strange things dat happened to me... many thanksgivings to come!!!!!

we went there not v prepared cos e team n dates were onli confirmed 2 weeks b4 our mission trip. it was super rushed n we didnt even get to meet as a team b4 we set off... but thank God we alreadi r gd frens n noe each other pretty well alreadi. but still, much more could b done if onli e administration was done beta n we had a clearer picture from e organizers. yet, its ok cos God still did great n wonderful things there!!!

on e first dae when we reached, we felt super lost cos we spoke zero thai. ok maybe vin n xiumei knew a few terms. but its phrases like...
'where is e toilet?'
'hello' - as all of us noe, its sa-wa-dee-kar (for gals)
'i don't understand' - i think xiumei knew this from e start...
so, dun think these 3 phrases can get us anywhere la...

thankfully, pastor prasarn speaks fluent english so he is our best fren there!!! hehehe... but then u c, they r bz preparin fer e mission trip to e village, so when dat happened, pastor, pi tee (pastor's wife) n e youths kick started into action, speakin to each other in thai n havin no time to explain things to us in english, so 4 of us felt quite useless cos we didnt noe how to help em...

interestin thing abt thai pple is dat they will juz do it. they wun come up to u n ask 'jean, can u help me bring this there?' so we had to keep askin em v frequently how else we can help em after we accomplished an item. but i guess sometimes they felt its faster to juz do e stuff than stand there n think how to translate into english, how they need us to help em...

but no worries... after 2 daes, we got e hang of it!!! we learnt to read their actions n juz jump into watever they r doin cos most of e time, our instincts r rite n we'd end up doin e rite thing fer em hahaha... v hard to explain to u though but its reali v fun to live wif a big group of pple whom we both dun understand each other. then it boils down to smiles, smiles, n many more smiles. then maybe a hand action n some laughter after we both realise we duno wat each other is tryin to sae.... kekeke...

we held 2 evangelistic rallies there n spread e gospel to e village, which has never heard e gd news b4... so its reali v exciting!!!!! in spore, most pple haf heard abt Jesus n dat He died fer our sins to save us etc... so its reali amazing dat in 1 nite we can reach out to maybe more than 50 pple n share e gd news wif em!!!!! vin n i shared our testimonies wif e thai n they shared dat they were blessed n touched by it. pastor prasarn said dat its gd dat we went cos usually pple r more interested in e foreigners. i understand dat cos i'd b more interested in foreigners too if they came to my office/church hahaha...

this trip aso helped us to bless pastor prasarn n his family. as it was a small group, we could spend quality time wif pastor prasarn, pi tee n kadya. we aso spent time wif e youths!!! li jie taught oh (a thai gal) engineering stuff fer 2 nites n xm, vin n i helped nu (another thai gal) to summarize 10 newspaper articles n explain to em e meaning of e words so dat they can translate into thai!!!!! hee...

i reali enjoyed our time there. e tracting (where we went to houses in e village to invite em to our rally, n aso where e thai youths toked to em abt how they r n juz spend time wif em), e rallies (where we performed songs n xm danced wif e thai youths n we shared out testimonies), e late nites wif e youths, e outings wif pastor prasarn n rod (a thai guy in Bangkok Bible college attached to Sanphranate church), e trip wif Pastor Prasarn, pi tee n kadya to pi tee's sis' home where we juz sat arnd (thai style is juz relak n sit arnd) n where vin n i toked alot wif pastor n pi tee, n reali could feel more fer em n noe more abt their heart fer e pple...

theres sooo much dat i wana share but abit hard to put into words... hope to show u more pics (from xm's camera) n u can feel wat we felt... e love of God fer all of us, regardless of nationality, color, race etc... He is e same God n is wif us no matter where we r =)))

leave u wif a beautiful pic of pastor prasarn n pi tee ^_^