Postscript

There are several markets in the city where we are staying. We decided to walk out of the more touristy markets to the local ones a little further down the road. What fun! Markets always fascinate me. There are so many things to see! My friend, Ann, bought all kinds of fruits that we shared together later.

After our visit to the local markets, we headed to the Sunday bazarre. It’s in the old city (now just a part of the modern city). The old city is surrounded by a wall and moat. We had fun purchasing souveniers and bargaining for the best price.

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What an amazing experience it is to worship with people from all over the world–together in one room! The apostle John writes in Revelation about a day in the future when there will be people from every tribe, nation and language worshipping God.

This morning, there were about 500 people from our organization and organizations with which we work gathered together from all different parts of the world. We worshipped the Lord together–we sang, prayed, listened to teaching, read the Word and took communion together. It felt like a little bit of heaven was right in our midst. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything quite like it; it was wonderful.

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I went to a dinner theater tonight with a couple of people from the conference. It featured local food and traditional dances. The food was good although there were a couple items that we weren’t sure how to eat correctly, but that’s just part of the fun of experiencing another culture. The dances were neat to watch. If you look at the picture, you can see them bending their fingers backwards. They must be double jointed. I tried…my fingers don’t do that…

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After a few full days of meetings, we had some down time to do something fun. I went out to an elephant camp. Our time there began with a show where the elephants performed various tricks including playing harmonicas, playing soccer, painting a picture, tossing darts and more. It was amazing! At the end of the show, they were giving out hugs. That was strange feeling–as you can tell by my facial expression! Our time at the park ended with an elephant ride. It was a lot of fun!

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Many collegues and friends from affiliated organizations are here from all over the world for these meetings with our organization. It’s really neat to see people from nearly every continent gathered together united for the same purpose. A fun part of gathering together is learning from each other. The way we worship God varies with our cultures. This morning we learned an African praise song. When you sing and worship the Lord in an African style, you don’t stand still!

I hope you enjoy a little taste of something I experienced this morning.

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One of the fun parts of traveling is trying new foods. Jeff and I have tried all kinds of local foods all over the US. There are fun things to try abroad as well, and we both enjoy a variety of ethnic dishes.

I’ve been a fan of the food from this area for a while, but there are so many dishes that I haven’t tried, yet. I got a spicy pork salad last night. Yum! The meat had a great flavor, and it was in a delicious ginger sauce. Now, when they put spicy on the menu here, they mean it. It was so hot, my poor tongue was hurting! With every bite of my spicy salad, I quickly had a large bite of rice to cool off my mouth. Water doesn’t work, in case you were wondering.

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Jeff has now completed two of the four banquets for which he will be participating. I arrived across the Pacific last night, and today I finally have email. Hopefully, we’ll be able to talk via google talk or skype soon. It’s amazing what the internet has done for long-distance communication!

It’s 2 pm here–11 hours ahead of east coast time. I’m still adjusting to the time. I was able to stay awake until 7:30pm (local time) and I woke up around 5:30am.

The city where we are is nice. There are a host of small restaurants and cafes with familiar foods and new ones to try. Yesterday, I got to try a green tea frappe. Yum!

The meetings for our organization start tomorrow, so today I’ve been mostly preparing for the next few weeks. I had about 50 pages to read in preparation. I finished today. I did have a little extra time to get a hair cut. What do you think?

By the way, sawat dee kaa is the local greeting.

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