Holiday pics 2

Gives new meaning to living out of a suitcase. The boys are so full of life and energy!

Home church visit

Our minister and elder from our home church in Sydney visited us for the last 2 days. It was so encouraging for us to spend time with them and pray together. They had a chance to experience an array of Thai food, sit in on one of my language classes, feed some monkeys and see how we were doing here in Lopburi. They left tonight to go on to Chiang Dao to investigate opportunities for partnership amongst the Lisu tribal group.

dRats

Before. Food in the middle. Glue surrounding it.

After - 5 very stuck rats

Lately we've been discovering holes in our bread bag with slices of bread half eaten, nibbles off our apples and chunks out of our bananas which are left on top of our cupboard. We'd seen glimpses of mice or rats in our house a couple of times so we were certain of our culprits. I'd heard Thais using some sticky glue like substance on boards to catch such vermin from my father-in-law when he used to live in Thailand. So I went to the hardware store and advised him that I had rats in my house, do you have that you can catch rats with and sure enough he took me to the part of shop with a tin of rat glue and plastic dish to put it on.
I thought there was perhaps one or two rats at moments. I laid the dish out overnight and this morning I was horrified to see 5 rats stuck to the board which was under the cupboard. One more rat was caught upstairs in the boy's room.
As Buddhists, most Thais will not kill any animals, even rats. The glue gets around this problem because they are not technically the ones killing the animals. They'll starve to death because they are stuck to the board, but their conscience is clear because they didn't kill it. It starved. A bit arbitrary some might argue in the West.
How do you get rid of a snake if it is in your building? You catch the snake and then tie it by its tail from the ceiling and then let it starve to death.

Holiday Fun

We had two weeks off from language school which enabled us to have holiday. One day we went to Chock Chai farm which we enjoyed very much. Rich had the best steak he has eaten in Thailand, and possibly the best steak ever. Our eldest loved feeding the calves. Our youngest walked straight into a think glass door and there was a sharp intake of breath from the 60 other people in the group.

The boys love to make a mess!

Recently we spent 4 days in Bangkok and we went to the Discovery museum. We got lost getting there so a 30 minute trip ended up taking more than an hour. Our eldest as chief fireman.

We are back in Lopburi with only one day left of our holidays before language school begins (boo hoo).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas morning and opening presents. Thankyou for those who sent us gifts. They were very much appreciated! We had a real Christmas tree (along with ants).

We were able to have Christmas lunch with missionaries who were still in Lopburi over Christmas at the loca steak house run by a British expat. We share are Christmas traditions from our different home countries.

We hope you had a joyfilled Christmas and may God bless you this New Year!

Church Christmas Outreach

Last night we went to our Church's Christmas outreach event. The event's starting time was 5:00pm, but when we arrived at 5:20pm there were only a handful of people not from our church and many empty chairs. By the time that proceeds started (around 6:30pm?) the place was full. Christians from surrounding churches feel obligated to come so there are many more Christians than none Christians, but when the crowd was asked for whom this was their first time to Church, I'd say there were 10 or more hand go up. For a church of only abour 12 adult members, they did a wonderful job getting such a big event together, especially as they do not have a pastor. The children's program led by a Swiss missionary was packed. The most children they've ever had. The event was still going at 8:20pm when we decided that it was late enough for our two boys, as there was still a 40min drive back home. We pray that there will be a least a couple of people who start coming to our church after this event.

Christmas Outreach

Last week we were both involved in Christmas outreach programs in local school around our area (we are also involved this week). It is an annual program organised by one of the longer term missionary working in Lopburi. Here am I playing King Herod in the birth narrative of Jesus.

It was a bit strange to be going to schools with Buddhist temples built within the school grounds. I can't imagine too many Christian schools in Australia letting Muslim missionary come and teach their children about Islam. We pray that a seed has been sown in the hearts of some of these children and teachers.

The 100th Posting

Well this is the 100th posting on our blog site! We hope you have enjoyed the journey so far.

Lopburi is known in Thailand as the "Monkey City" as it has so many monkeys in one part of town. This part of town is overrun with them really and they are quite a nucience. Unsuspecting tourists are bitten each day by monkeys as they try to steal any food they might be carrying. In our first months in Lopburi Lisa was carrying a bag of fruit and a monkey came and ripped open the bag and stole her fruit. I seen them climb on the back of utes while they have been stopped at traffic lights and raid the boxes of food which might be stored in the back. I hate going to this part of town as I don't like the monkeys at all. Being a Buddhist society, of course you can't kill the monkeys and they are consider sacred by many bring protect and luck to the city (hence the temples that are built for them?).
Last month we went to see the annual feeding of the monkeys at one of the "Monkey Temples" in "Old Lopburi". Large amounts of food are laviously prepared to thank the monkeys.

When we leave Lopburi next year, the monkeys will be one thing we won't miss!

Spaghetti Party

Lots of fun until the kids started eating the spaghetti after they had played in it and after it had been on the ground too!

Loy Kratong Festival

Photos from the Loy Kratong Festival Parade close to our home

“Loy Krathong” refers to the name of a ceremony which is done on the night of the full moon of the 12^th lunar month, by lighting incense and candles and inserting them onto something crafted into various shapes; for example, krathongs shaped like boats, rafts, lotus flowers, etc., which will not submerge under water. These are then taken to be released to float on waterways.In the present, (Thai) people everywhere have the feeling that “Loy Krathong” is a festival for being joyful, for relaxation, and is an opportunity to ask forgiveness from “the Mother of Waters” for depending on the water for drinking and use. More than this, (people) also throw dirty things into the water, which is equal to not respecting “the Mother of Waters.” Therefore, in the krathongs are lighted incense and candles, and sometimes other things or small amounts of money are placed (there) as a way of making merit too. After this (floating the krathongs), (people) ask for a blessing from “the Mother of Waters,” in order to have happiness and good luck. But in some regions there will be more important details; for example, the Loy Krathong ceremony in the North would include feeding the monks at the temple to make merit first, then floating the krathongs in the rivers, as a way of floating away one’s various sorrows, illnesses, danger, and sins with the krathongs. As for older people, they will often use this as an opportunity to observe religious rites. or harvest. They therefore use this period of time to release their emotions to have fun and relaxation."

(Extract from an article written by a past student at our language school)