We got back to the Bangkok Church of Christ with AFC late Friday afternoon. That night some of the Aggies showed us around the city and took us to this place called "The Big C". The Big C consists of two levels of a Wal-Mart type center, once level of a mall, one level of a food court and the top level a movie theater... this thing is pretty huge. We got pizza and went to see the movie "Prince Caspian" which was pretty good and very funny!
The next morning we woke up at the church to say good bye and see the Aggies off as they headed to their next adventure. It was so sad to say good bye to them because we got so close. Both Leah and my eyes were tearing up as their bus pulled away. The rest of the day Larry Henderson took us around the city to see all the major cites and large temples. We even climbed to the top of this huge temple with insanely steep steps...let’s just say it’s good we didn't fall down them!
Yesterday morning, Sunday, Leah and I woke up and went to church service. They had headphones that translated to English so we could understand. The translator was this sweet lady who kept laughing at Larry while he was preaching, it was pretty amuzing. It was so interesting to see how church is done in another culture so different from ours. It was pretty similar to your normal Church of Christ service except for the obvious language difference and that the bread and grape juice tasted pretty different! I loved hearing common church songs sang in another language. Even though we don't know the language we know what they are singing since we know the song too. After service we met many church members and then ate lunch with everyone. It is awesome how they do church here. Every Sunday they go to church, class, eat lunch together at the church, have gender specific prayer time, then afternoon activities, evening worship, dinner at the church and then many people play volleyball or basketball together. The church just pretty much spends the whole day together, in community. That is so powerful to me. The church is truly like a family to these people. I think that the church in America could learn a lot from these churches. We always think that we are too tired or we just don't want to be around each other that long. We truly have a lot to learn.
Leah and I have been pretty exhausted these last couple days just by going so strong in Cambodia and then walking around tons of Bangkok the next day! So we are feeling a little "under the weather" / having slight culture shock. So I've kinda been in this funk the last couple days because I just feel like I'm in this strange waiting period because I just got finished with an amazing week in Cambodia, everyone leaves and we are just waiting for the ACU girls to get here so we can start our internship in Chaing Mai. We also had to do all of our laundry from Cambodia on Sunday. They do wave a washer here but you have to fill it up with water yourself. So we go to the roof, which is up 5 flights of stairs, fill this huge basin with water, bring it down a couple flights of stairs pour the water into the washer and then repeat until its full. You also have to do this for the two rinse cycles. We pretty much spent all day Sunday walking up and down stairs doing our laundry. After washing them we hung them on a line on the roof. It was quite and experience but it does make me grateful of my washed and dryer back home.
This morning Larry took as to a snake farm which was very interesting and now I know lots of random information about snakes!! After that we bought sarongs for ourselves (which are these wrap things you use after a shower) and also bought them for the other ACU girls who are getting here tonight.. yay!! Later on we decided to go get Thai massages. I kinda liked them, kinda didn't. We had to get in these weird clothes and then they bended and prodded me in all sorts of crazy ways. They don't hold back. After this we decided to go to a large part in Bangkok so that we could have some quiet/focus/prayer time. It was a long walk to the park but very worth it. I had a lot of good focus time and Leah and I prayed together by the side of this nice peacefully pond. My next blog is a copy of the journal I wrote sitting by the pond. We are about to go get the girls from the airport and I am SO SO excited. I just can't wait to see them! I just can't wait to get this summer rolling!
The next morning we woke up at the church to say good bye and see the Aggies off as they headed to their next adventure. It was so sad to say good bye to them because we got so close. Both Leah and my eyes were tearing up as their bus pulled away. The rest of the day Larry Henderson took us around the city to see all the major cites and large temples. We even climbed to the top of this huge temple with insanely steep steps...let’s just say it’s good we didn't fall down them!
Yesterday morning, Sunday, Leah and I woke up and went to church service. They had headphones that translated to English so we could understand. The translator was this sweet lady who kept laughing at Larry while he was preaching, it was pretty amuzing. It was so interesting to see how church is done in another culture so different from ours. It was pretty similar to your normal Church of Christ service except for the obvious language difference and that the bread and grape juice tasted pretty different! I loved hearing common church songs sang in another language. Even though we don't know the language we know what they are singing since we know the song too. After service we met many church members and then ate lunch with everyone. It is awesome how they do church here. Every Sunday they go to church, class, eat lunch together at the church, have gender specific prayer time, then afternoon activities, evening worship, dinner at the church and then many people play volleyball or basketball together. The church just pretty much spends the whole day together, in community. That is so powerful to me. The church is truly like a family to these people. I think that the church in America could learn a lot from these churches. We always think that we are too tired or we just don't want to be around each other that long. We truly have a lot to learn.
Leah and I have been pretty exhausted these last couple days just by going so strong in Cambodia and then walking around tons of Bangkok the next day! So we are feeling a little "under the weather" / having slight culture shock. So I've kinda been in this funk the last couple days because I just feel like I'm in this strange waiting period because I just got finished with an amazing week in Cambodia, everyone leaves and we are just waiting for the ACU girls to get here so we can start our internship in Chaing Mai. We also had to do all of our laundry from Cambodia on Sunday. They do wave a washer here but you have to fill it up with water yourself. So we go to the roof, which is up 5 flights of stairs, fill this huge basin with water, bring it down a couple flights of stairs pour the water into the washer and then repeat until its full. You also have to do this for the two rinse cycles. We pretty much spent all day Sunday walking up and down stairs doing our laundry. After washing them we hung them on a line on the roof. It was quite and experience but it does make me grateful of my washed and dryer back home.
This morning Larry took as to a snake farm which was very interesting and now I know lots of random information about snakes!! After that we bought sarongs for ourselves (which are these wrap things you use after a shower) and also bought them for the other ACU girls who are getting here tonight.. yay!! Later on we decided to go get Thai massages. I kinda liked them, kinda didn't. We had to get in these weird clothes and then they bended and prodded me in all sorts of crazy ways. They don't hold back. After this we decided to go to a large part in Bangkok so that we could have some quiet/focus/prayer time. It was a long walk to the park but very worth it. I had a lot of good focus time and Leah and I prayed together by the side of this nice peacefully pond. My next blog is a copy of the journal I wrote sitting by the pond. We are about to go get the girls from the airport and I am SO SO excited. I just can't wait to see them! I just can't wait to get this summer rolling!
The pictures are of me kissing a snake at the snake farm, Leah and I getting Thai massages, walking up steps to temple, and washing clothes.
For more pictures click this link...
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