Hey everyone!

This is actually take 3 of the same blog. For some reason, the internet didn’t load it up the first time, and then we ran out of internet credit the second, so hopefully, we don’t have to write this blog a fourth time!

We haven’t blogged for the past few days because we have been really busy! We have had a really good couple of days since we last blogged, and so much has happened.

Yesterday, we started off the day, with yet another buffet breaky at our hotel (we were all getting sick of rice, curries and congee, so FRUIT was the choice!). Then, we had a great devotional, sharing, prayer and worship time, where Tham Fuan shared a quick devotion. Then, we all got ready and headed off to a border village where we attended a church service which lasted three hours (most of which was in Thai!). This church was in a tent, in the middle of a road, so we should be thankful for our primary school! Tham Fuan preached a message encouraging the believers about this new year, and Ed helped out in worship by playing keys. Danica and Ed almost went deaf, sitting in front of the amplifier for three hours, on full blast. Their amp was also much bigger than ours!

We then had a really yummy Thai lunch while fellowshipping and talking to the believers. We then got the great opportunity of handing out Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoe Boxes to the kids. This was a great joy, as it was awesome to see the boxes we pack in the hands of the kids. The kids were all really excited and patient as they all received their boxes.

We then ran a kids program, in the middle of a field in the village. This was really fun – both for us and the kids – and they really enjoyed the games, skit & animal/sword balloons!

After this, we headed off and stopped by at a food market. Here, we saw many bugs and rats that were cut in half (and JuLee gave us all a biology lesson!). We bought some baby coconuts, and drank them all, YUM!

Then, we went back to rest for a while. We had dinner at a Thai hawker shop, eating Thai style chicken rice (which was like Hainanese chicken rice) and it was really, really yummy! After dinner, we went to a fellowship meeting with the local Surin believers. There, we all shared a bit about ourselves. Tong shared his testimony, and Tham Fuan encouraged the ministry leaders. Ps. Mark Lim then called for an altar call, and we had the great privilege of praying for all of these believers.

We then stayed back to fellowship, and we met a man who was Thai but had been living in Kentucky, America for the last 30 years. He told us many stories about when he worked as a coal miner and told us about his testimony. Many of the believers were an inspiration to us, and we learnt a lot from them.

After this, most of us went to sleep, but Dave and Ed went for a Thai massage which cost them 300baht for 2 hours (in Aussie money, $10)!

Today, we didn’t do any ministry. We visited a silk village about half an hour away. There, we looked at the stuff on sale, and learnt about how silk was made. We were amazed at how much work there was in spinning silk.

We then had lunch at what was a very rural-in-the-middle-of-nowhere hawker shop. We had the yummiest noodle soup with wontons. Then, we drove to BIG C (a combination of a supermarket and something like K-Mart) to buy some snacks and lots of water for our long travels tomorrow.

Then, we came back, and went to the internet café. This is when the internet crashed, while we tried to blog!! Anyway, then Danica, JuLee & Ed went swimming with Hazel and Neil. Then, we had a short debrief, and went out for dinner at our favourite (Julia calls it “back by popular demand”) eating place – the Surin night market. We had such yummy food!

Then, we went to visit a lady by the name of Miao, who owns a coffee shop near our hotel. She works during the day at a finance company, and at night, she works at a coffee shop. She takes care of her two daughters: Nong Gai and Nong Koy (Nong Koy has epilepsy & mental retardation, and she’s mute), she adopted one daughter, and she looks after her niece. She faces many difficulties in her life, including looking after her ill daughter as well as supporting her large extended family. She has only recently found the Lord, and through this has found a lot of joy. She now has hope for the future. Please pray for her, for her daughter, the whole family, and to uplift her spirit. Pray that God will grant her joy and wisdom as she cares for her family.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. We will probably be blogging very much on and off for the next few days as we’re not sure when we can access the internet, so keep checking!

You can view all the photos of this trip on this website:

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg213/mekong2008/

You can also contact Dave or Ed (but please note that we are four hours behind you all!)
ed: +66 80 161 4680, dave: +66 80 161 4681.

God Bless,
The Team!!