Happy Songkran

We had a really fun week last week. It was Songkran, or Thai new year. Generally, Songkran means lots of water-water guns, buckets of water, and water hoses-coming at you as you walk down the street, ride a moto taxi, take a bus or ride in a truck! They even have organized water fights if getting randomly sprayed with water isn’t enough for you during the 3 days they celebrate Songkran! Haha! It’s lots of fun though!

We had a friend, Mickie, who we know from the states, but now lives in Chiangmai, Thailand, here for Songkran, so we managed to stay away from most of the water fights! We also have little kids, which helps too. And we heard there are tons of people at the organized water fights, so we stayed away from there this year too!

Josh was off for the week, so we managed to visit several new places and managed to enjoy our own water activites. We went to a waterpark on top of a mall! It was awesome! I didn’t feel like we were in the city or on top of a mall. I didn’t even feel like we were in Thailand for that matter. Well, except maybe for the swimcaps we were required to wear. Josh and I even managed to sneak away from both kids and go down one of the big slides by ourselves! Yes! There was also an amazing view at the top of the slide of the entire city! It was pretty amazing! Sharles loved it, and Brayden seemed to enjoy himself too! We also stayed here several days and went swimming at the pool at our apartment. Josh hasn’t been able to go swimming with us during the day yet because we are all always so busy, so he and Sharles especially loved these days!

Mickie and I also experienced Chatachak Market! It is one of the biggest markets in Thailand! It is said to have over 8000 vendors and 27 buildings housing those vendors. I think we made it to about 4 buildings! And if you know me, you know I love market shopping!

We also visited Chinatown, another market shopper’s blissful adventure, but is also known for its food. Again, we were only able to see a portion of this as well, and weren’t able to taste as much food as we wanted either, but nonetheless had an awesome experience in this part if town as well. And several of the shops were closed because of the holiday, so I can’t even imagine what it and Chatachak really look like on a normal business day!

Speaking of food, I introduced Josh and Mickie to a delicious Mexican restaurant, La Monita, which is probably the closest authentic Mexican food we can find here. It was so good, we may have even eaten dinner there 2 nights in a row! Yum! In our defense, we were trying to eat at a different Mexican restaurant, but they were closed for the holiday!

We had a great time seeing Mickie and having her here with us in Bangkok! Now we are looking forward to traveling to Chiangmai to see her and all her city has to offer!

Praises All Around

It has been a crazy, fabulous week! A team of high school students just stayed here in Bangkok with us for a week! We had so much fun getting to know them, showing them the city and serving along side them.

So many things have happened last week it is hard to even know where to start…

We had many first over the course of the week as we experienced many new things alongside our first short term mission team visiting. We visited our first temple, which opened up good conversations with Sharles, who wanted to sit with the other people as they were praying at the temple. We explained to Sharles that we believe in Jesus, and were able to explain to her right there in a Buddhist temple who Jesus is! Praise God! We also rode in our first Tuk Tuk, which is a 3 wheel motorcycle with a 3 person seat on the back…We visited a couple of different shopping areas we had never gotten to visit… Sharles and Brayden experienced their first boat rides too… Josh attended his first funeral in a Buddhist temple…Sharles and Brayden experienced their first moto taxi ride with Daddy also…We visited the tallest building in Bangkok for dinner with a spectacular view…Sharles participated in her first Easter Egg Hunt…This last week has been packed full of excitement!

We also have a true story from this past week of why we Live Sent here in Bangkok! As I mentioned earlier, Josh attended his first funeral here in Bangkok. Pada, a lady who has been at just about every event our church here in Bangkok has put on, including Sunday worship and hanging out in our Cafe throughout the week, passed away this past Tuesday. Anyone who ever met Pada, was a friend of Pada. She was so giving and generous. Our first Sunday here in Bangkok, she went out after church and brought Sharles back some cereal. It is the cereal Sharles still prefers to eat here to this day. But there is something you should know about Pada…Pada was not a Christian as she attended all of these events. Pada was a Buddhist, and she really didn’t want to hear anything about Christ. When she came to Sunday worship, she did everything she could to distract herself from the message. But now here is the beauty of Pada’s story…One Saturday, 16 days before Pada died, our entire staff was at the church. Pada entered LifePoint Cafe and claimed she wanted to follow God! Hallelujah! God grabbed ahold of Pada’s heart that day, and her life changed forever! At the funeral we began to realize how much of Pada’s life had changed. Pada’s family noticed a difference in Pada. In 16 very short days Pada’s family noticed a change in Pada! How amazing! If we lived like Pada in our everyday, how much of a difference can we make? We are sad Pada is no longer with us, but we rejoice that she became our Sister in Christ, and she entered into the Savior’s loving arms last Tuesday! Praise be to God!

We also had an amazing Easter service at LifePoint BKK. Five of the youth decided to make God the Lord of their life that day too!

We want to encourage you about the things God is doing here in Bangkok! We want to thank you for your prayers and supporting us being here! We know God has big plans for this city, and we are ready for Him to use us as tools for His glory! Please continue to pray for us and for this city!