Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29

The days are each new but we are finding that we're having trouble keeping the activities and the places straight. We loved telling the Goshen team about "their" kids. This Goshen GBC is sponsoring two orphan homes, one here in Chiangmai and one in Battambang, Cambodia. They were SO excited to see the home yesterday and meet their kids. One of the things their church did was sponsor a Biggest Loser contest for three months. People must have paid a fee to join the competition. When it was done there was a lot of lost weight AND money to buy 10 new bicycles when they got here. Today they went shopping and bought 18 bikes with the funds they brought. It was very cool!
The older girls made delicious cookies at Debbie's house yesterday. Debbie has a full kitchen in her house, complete with a regular stove and oven. The guest houses in both countries only have burners to cook on and no oven. The teams are on the go most of the time so usually only breakfast is eaten here, or sandwiches on the run. We've enjoyed the luxury of having our laundry done for us and hung out to dry-or get resoaked by the afternoon rains. It has rained most days, but it cools things down for a little while.
On Saturday evening we took the kids swimming again. The Goshen team was nearly asleep on their feet after their plane flights. But they hung in there to swim and meet the kids. We were supposed to go to a restaurant for dinner that we've been to before but, can you believe it, they ran out of rice!!! We went to the "mall" where there was a food court. At the other end of the floor was McD's and KFC but the food court was all Asian - okay but not real great except for the ice cream:)
This morning we went to the large orphanage for church. The pastor from Goshen was speaking today. Most of the service was in Thai, not as much English today. Pastor Jim Brown did have a translator for his message to us. The added blessing of the morning was the baptism service for 5 of the young girls. This meant putting everyone in the trucks and vans and going back to the place where we went swimming. There was Thai singing during each baptism - "Happy Day, When Jesus Washed My Sins Away"- Dave Atkins and Mike the missionary both did the baptisms together. We were blessed to be part of this special time for the girls. We went back to the orphanage for sticky rice and BBQ chicken - all eaten by pulling the meat off the chicken and eating the sticky rice with our fingers. There was good old Coke too. I haven't had sugar Coke for 15 years, but there isn't much diet, Coke Zero, Pepsi Max...whatever...around here so it's usually the loaded stuff!
We had an easy, restful afternoon. The Goshen team sorted their 10 boxes of donated goods and separated them for here and for Cambodia. They are flying on another airline, so they won't have as much a problem as we did with the discount airlines and the weight of luggage.
One of our girls, Jen, has had a sore throat since Cambodia. She is on antibiotics. Jamie was sick today with a fever, but seems better tonight. Kailee, the intern from Wooster, jumped in the pool on her heel and has a very badly bruised heel. They did x-rays today because she really thought it was broken. A lot at once, but everyone has done very well as a whole.
We went to have worship with the Thai college kids at their student center late this afternoon. Several of the Goshen team gave testimonies and there was a lot of singing. We hurried away from the devotional time to get back to the large orphanage so the Goshen team could set up their live feed. They were hoping to show the kids and the new bikes and share with their congreation during the time of the morning services. When the Ohio team left the orphanage for supper around 8:30 it was not working for them. They haven't arrived back at the guest house so we don't know if it worked or not. We spent a couple of hours with the kids from the big orphanage, doing hair, singing crazy songs, looking at their space in their big bedroom, enjoying time with them. Cathy has latched onto the older girls who are all in one area of the dorm. They are 14-16 year olds in 9th and 10th grade. And of course, I was hanging out with the 8-10 year olds. Our schedule looks much calmer this week. We will be teaching English at the Christian school here for part of several days. And I believe we are going to be painting some more. Thanks for those of you who have made comments to the posts. We LOVE MAIL FROM HOME!