Ministry

Heather emailed me a few questions about what service is like here...I'm sure she isn't the only one wondering. I have put off writing about it because I wanted to spend a few weeks figuring it out myself:-)

Basically, each week we go out a few days with the Thai congregation and a few days with the English. When in Thai, from what I've seen so far, the ENTIRE group that shows up for the meeting all goes together and floods a particular territory. There isn't any knocking on doors here though. We just go from place to place, and if the door or window is open, you call out "Sawat dee ka" which is hello, and you wait to see if anyone comes out. You also talk to any and all people on the street, from business owners to food vendors. No not-at-home records because the territory is so vast it takes years to cover it all. So it is quite a bit different. Also, since we are just learning the language, our presentation is VERY simple...something along the lines of what a 5 year old might say. Sometimes the householder understands us....sometimes they just stare blankly at us. Sometimes they giggle at us big, sweaty farangs (foreigners) trying to speak their language. Its all good. When there is a doubt or an awkward pause, you just put your palms together in front of your face, smile and bow and say "kop khun ka" (thank you). The thai people are very polite and smile a lot so this seems to cover over our many many mistakes...

English territory is a little similar. It is basically in the "exploration" phase still. So we walk through a neighborhood looking for signs of english speakers. The signs might be big fancy motorcycles, english name plates on the gate, foreign flags in the window, football(soccer) stickers or flags...etc. If the house looks home, we call out and if anyone comes we talk.

I have had a few nice calls so far. Both calls were with thai women that speak english. I am hoping to return on them this week. Jake has had most of his success with street work. A few days a week we start early and ride our scooters down to the beachfront. We walk along the sidewalk there talking to anyone we meet. He has had quite a few lengthy discussions with foreign men that way. (jake having a LENGTHY discussion? no way!!!) hahahaha.