Backing up

Before I get ahead of myself and talk all about my upcoming Europe adventure, I should tell you about Thailand. Two major trips only two months apart--aren't I lucky? The story and the irony begins last September. Remember I said our trip was canceled due to illness? Well, my long time friend, Melissa MacDonald had just led a team to Thailand and contracted something that left her very ill. We kept thinking she would get better before we had to leave, but after 5 weeks she was only worse. So we decided it best to cancel.

The day that we were originally supposed to leave was a Monday and I decided to just go to work that day. It was a usual day other than everyone feeling bad for me, and then our district superintendent called and asked if I would go with him and lead the kids and youth program at the Alliance China Field Forum which would be help in THAILAND! Of course I said YES! So in my excitement I called Melissa and she said "that's great, just don't get this cursed disease. And you had better not get it and postpone our spring trip as well!" Which I didn't - I guess I'm the strong one. Ha ha.

I was able to bring two of our people from my church, Sherry Fromdahl, who is a long time partner in my children's ministry and Brad Pust, who is one of our teens in our youth ministry. We had several meetings to plan our program and quickly realized how challenging it would be to pack and bring and entire program to the other side of the world. However, I can't imagine two better people to do it with--they did great!

The day we left Roseburg it snowed 5 inches (which is really crazy for here) and I was worried that flights would be canceled (yeah, they freak out about snow here). It seems like it always snows in Roseburg when I leave to go on a trip. However, the snow didn't stop us, it just made for a more beautiful drive.

The trip was uneventful - just really long. It took us 29 hours to get there and 42 to get back! When we landed in Bangkok, it was a balmy 89 degrees. Much different than the weather we left!

When we arrived, our first adventure was to find our way to the Karnmanee Palace next the the Alliance Guest House. It was after 2 a.m. and we were already sleep deprived. Our driver didn't speak much English, but we showed him the translated directions and 35 minutes later we were there. Checking in to a hotel where the desk help doesn't speak your language is always entertaining. 20 minutes later, with keys in hand we made our way up to our rooms to crash for 4 hours until it was time to get up and meet the rest of the group for our 2 hour busride to our final destination. Of course sleep didn't come too easily becuase it was the late afternoon in the states!

Our main purpose in Thailand was to work with the kids and teenagers of the Alliance Missionaries that work in China. They are unable to meet in China beacuse it is not as safe. And Thailand is a cheap place to stay. So they all get together once a year for business meetings, updates, training, and encouragement. Our DS was the speaker, another couple from our district led worship and we did the kids and teen program.

We had 37 kids and teens. They were a fun group to work with. We had a very busy schedule from 8:30 in the morning until sometimes after midnight. The kids program looked a lot like a VBS and in the afternoons it was much more laid back and we just played together--a lot!

The teens helped us with the kids and that really strengthen the bond we felt with them. We found ourselves spending every spare moment with them doing everything from playing cards, going to the beach, the pool, watching movies and eating American chocolate (which we hear is MUCH better than Chinese chocolate!) The were a very quality group of kids.

Some other fun and random things we did was a night trip to town, where I did, in fact, eat grasshopper! It was salty. We also had so much fun tourist shopping. They have such beautiful things! And of course I found a Starbucks and had a little heaven.

After 7 days we had to say goodbye and then we went back to Bangkok and took in the sights for a couple days before heading home. We were impressed how well we made it around. We took taxi's, tuk-tuk's, river taxi's and the sky train. We went to a HUGE mall, took a river boat tour, saw the palace where the king and queen live and saw some traditional Chinese New Year festivities. Our favorite was riding the Tuk-tuk's all around the city. The photo below is a tuk-tuk. It is always hard to sum up a foreign adventure in a short story, but we try! Until next time....