Attaway's On Mission: April In Bangkok

Greetings to all. The Roi Et students who were here for Academic camp in March left the Muang Thai Church to return home early in April and the heat in Bangkok took their place. The temps have been in the mid 90's with high humidity making it seem like 105-110 degrees. We have learned to slow the pace and find the shade where we can.

The last several days of camp were lots of fun. They had sports day where they played games all day. They asked Pam and I to be like the Grand Marshalls. I think I know why now, to dress up in a suit and dress in this heat is a bit uncomfortable, even if it is only for a small amour of time. However, the games were a blast and everyone had a great time. Noah participated on one of the teams and was so much in to it that he skipped language school that afternoon. The morning consisted of more athletic type events and the afternoon was more food related events. It was fun watching them work together as a team and see the competitiveness come alive in them. All in all it was a tremendous success.

We have been continuing our language studies this month. Up until now it has been primarily learning vocabulary that is functional for us in daily living. Now we are learning how to pattern our sentences to have coherent conversations. It is hard not to try and translate word for word but you can't because some words have multiple meanings. We are getting better and are understanding much more but we still give people those strange looks when we don't understand.

Thailand celebrated their New Year this month. It is call Songkran and lasts three days. It is a time when most people travel back to their parents homes to offer water blessing to their parents and in return receive a blessing from their parents. We were able to experience this at the end of the camp with a water blessing ceremony. However, for most of Thailand it has turned into a big water fight. If you are on the streets during those days, YOU WILL GET WET! We mostly watched from the sky train platform.

Thank you again for your love and support to us. May God bless you abundantly. Please continue to keep us and the country and people of Thailand in your hearts and prayers.