Asian way to pray

Yesterday morning our househelper and her husband (a pastor) came to see us off, as well as our team mates, Peter & Kelly. Our househelper apologised that she was too poor to give us a going away gift but offered to pray for us as we left. So our househelper and her husband, Peter and Kelly gathered around us to pray. The pastor and our househelper started praying out loud both at the same time. This is way that prayer is done in many Asian countries i.e. simultaneous prayer with everyone praying out loud. I’d forgotten this though (I was expecting just the Pastor to pray) so after a few moments, I gathered my wits and started to pray in Thai as well for the Pastor’s family (quietly though as I’ve still a lot of work to do in praying in Thai). It was hard though as I’m not used to this style of praying. I lost my train of thought a number of times as I picked up bits and pieces of what the Pastor and our househelper was praying and was distracted. After the 3 of us stopped praying, Peter then prayed in English for our family. Even in farewells there is a cross cultural experience.