This week we had the chance to have an upscale dinner with many teachers and several directors. It was a sort of goodbye evening for Serge and me. Usually we are dropped off at home after school, but that day, as we were getting ready to leave school, they mentioned that they were having a party for us and could we come? Good thing we didn’t have any plans for that evening except our Thai lessons. Otherwise we might have had to miss our own party. Thai people sure don’t give much of an advance notice!
Yesterday (2/26/13) we were unexpectedly told that it was our last day of teaching because the students will go into exam period and we will no longer be needed. But the funny thing how they decide and inform everyone in the last minute! (literally!) But they also invited 3 of us (Tanya, Staya, and I) to come back to school in the morning so they could say “Thank You” and take some goodbye pictures. So we said sure. But we really had no idea what was waiting for us.
As soon as we arrived in Avoda we were warned to always walk with a flashlight at night and always, ALWAYS watch your step and be on the look out for SNAKES! And of course the warning was followed by many snake stories about scorpion stings and poisonous centipede bites and biting geckos… :/
So we were always on the look out for snakes (being paranoid of every sound in the leaves). But 2 weeks passed and we haven’t seen any snakes yet…until NOW!
Last Sunday our team hosted our very 1st Sunday school class for all of the Burmese children that the Avoda truck brings to their location so they could teach them English and the Bible.
But these children still live with their parents (in those Burmese camps that we posted earlier) and after the lessons and a good meal, they are taken back. It’s a sacrifice from Avoda to do all this, and not only this, but also throughout the week keep bringing them to Avoda in the evening for evening English lessons. They are doing everything that is in their power to teach these children so they could have a better future.
Since we arrived at Avoda, all 4 of our girls were sent to teach in public schools 3 days every week, while I stayed home and sometimes helped the hired Avoda English teacher (Sherine) who came from Phillipines to teach English to Avoda children.
But last Tuesday (2/12) some changes started happening. Avoda decided to pull Natasha from public school to teach Avoda children together with teacher Sherine to help their children learn how to speak and enunciate English properly.
We came to Thailand with one goal in mind…to be used here by God in any way that is pleasing to Him.
We had a vision to learn Thai language and tell Buddhist Thai people about the One & True God, and with the hope to start an English Bible Study (and invite the local Thai’s) thinking that down the road it will grow into an English-speaking church.
One day this week Tanya and I got a chance to go with Ploi into town. Normally to do at least one errand in Thailand takes half the day! It’s something we are still not used to. If you’re going out into town for something in the afternoon, expect to be back home late. It’s just how things go here. Nobody is hurrying anywhere. So while doing the errands we always get tired and hungry in the scorching hot heat and need to stop by some place to eat.
We’ve now been in Thailand 2.5 weeks. How much can happen in a short period of time like that? A lot if God is doing the working. And He is definitely working! This monday a van with police officers and directors from severals schools from the city of Tak came to Avoda. Raimond was almost jumping from joy when they left. These officials came to us christians for help. He’s lived here 20 years and it has never happened before. This is a HUGE step for them to come to us when they perfectly understand our mission here as christians. The police want us to teach English to the local officers. The directors are asking us to teach English in more schools. But it is not really about teaching English to us. It is about making crucial relationships with the directors and teachers and officials. That was Monday.
Today we had a chance to visit a few small Burmese villages where the parents of some of the Avoda children live. These are the slums from where these children came from, but now they are living in Avoda where they have a chance to get an education, to be treated as human beings, to have their own rights, to learn English and also to earn money by working (cleaning, laundry, cooking, ironing etc.) and learning life skills needed to become independent and make their own living some day.
Last week half of our Avoda children that were participating in competition, had left to Chiang Mai (big city in North Thailand), but other half of children stayed home to cook, clean, and watch over the property.
So in the evening we had some time to spend with them. We brought with us few card games like “Go Fish” & Christian “Go Fish” with Bible characters and heroes and other similar games, and children here absolutely LOVE to play. Because they are growing up here like ALL children should.
I wanted to apologize for not updating the blog for a week or so.
LOTS of new things happened here and have much stories to tell and photos & videos to post, so I will do my best to catch up! But the main thing is that we actually SEE God working here and we see how he is moving the hearts of Thai people. It’s just a true blessing to be part of it. :)
~Shoes~
As you can see that there a lot of sandals by the entrance, it’s because in Thai culture they always remove shoes before they come inside kitchen or the house or even the porch, regardless if the floor is clean or dirty, you still take off your shoes at the entrance. This rule goes for homes, churches, and schools. What is even more surprising is that even to enter some stores, one must remove and leave the shoes by the entrance! But not too many stores are like that. So far I’ve been to only one that you had to do that. And a good way to know when to remove shoes or not is: if you see LOTS of shoes by the door, that means you have to take off yours too ;)
We all wanted to say huge thank you for everyone who is praying for us to learn Thai.
It’s going well. But please continue to pray. It has only been 1 week (and we learned all the Consonants already). The letters are very unusual and need a lot of practice in writing them. Practice, practice & more practice makes them so much easier to remember. :)
I know Serge has posted a few things about us learning the Thai language…well I wanted to share with you the latest news. Since Monday, Ploi has been teaching us the 44 consonants. This morning, we had a test on them (dun dun dun.) We had to be able to differentiate the sound AND remember how each letter was written. Not an easy task! However, we definitely felt the Lord’s blessing when all five of us received A’s!!!! Thank you all so much for your prayers!!! God is definitely answering them.