A Full Day

Thursday we had clinic as usual. Ajan Ganoche, the pastor, shared during evangelism time. he used illustrations that were very unique and specific to the thai culture. first of all, i have to tell you that most of our patients cannot read or write. they are from remote mountain areas and they just don't know how to. so when sharing about God we can't use words on paper, so we use pictures. he held up pictures demonstrating life before knowing Jesus and life after knowing Jesus. it's not like a picture you have seen at home. it shows a heart with different animals in it that stands for the before Christ in your heart. each animal represents something to the culture and they all know it. for example, there is a snake which means liar. there is a tiger which means anger. there is a pig which means dirty. there is a turtle which means lazy or "i'll put off knowing God for a while longer." there is a fox which means you always want more. all of these represent the heart of a person before he knows Christ. then ajan ganochai flipped through some more pictures and showed a heart after knowing Christ. there is a picture of an eye that is opened and a light is shining on it. all of those animals i described are outside the heart now. the heart has been purified. anway, that's how they can tell people here with pictures and no words. very cool!

after clinic, i joined with the group that goes into the mountains and up to sagat. julie and i went together and our job was to teach english to the children. we had already taught them the alphabet and colors two weeks ago, but we wanted to review those again and add body parts this time to teach them. this time up the mountain, i was on dramamine. no more magnet bracelets for me. not even half a dramamine, but a whole pill this time. so, of course, when i got there i was a little drowsy. what can you do? there is no winning this! noi was in the back seat and it was so obvious when she got car sick b/c all of the sudden we smell this camphor/echalalus/menthol stuff that she puts under her nose. thats how thai's fight car sickness. it's like tiger balm. so when we got a whiff of that, Mary politely said, "should we turn up the air conditioner or open the windows?" that was the clue that someone was getting sick. noi made it, bless her heart. it's a big thing for a lot of us, but it is so necessary to keep going to these villages, and we are still going to go!

i'm still amazed with how orderly and obedient these children are. when they see our car pull up the mountain they all run out of their homes and come to the building we have english and bible school in. they bring their friends too. we sang fun songs like "chuy chuy chuy chuy umm ba ba, ay yai yai, ay yai yai..." :) it' s fun! it even has motions, but i can't show you them right now.
so, when i got up to teach the alphabet, or review it rather, i want to make sure you know i was feeling very drugged up on dramamine. that would explain why the entire room bursted into hysterical laughter when i said the alphabet and went from "H" to "L" skipping a few important letters like "IJK". oh, everyone gave me a hard time about that at dinner. you know, i have to give them something to laugh about, right? one more dinner side note, apparently i said, "okay i need to go lie down for a minute," and right after that Anna mimicked me saying "okay, go lie down (with her hands flipping out in front of her you know like a southern belle would do if she was saying oh honey or oh please child." supposedly i did that. honestly, i have to show you the hand movements to explain. sometimes i talk with my hands. i think i should watch that since it's becoming involuntary at times. :)

well i had to eat dinner in a rush, b/c i was getting ready to meet mindy to go to a buddhist funeral. i'll tell you more in my next blog.