Perceptions

I chose this title because living in a different culture people perceive many things so differently. Some things I have adapted to here in Thailand and other things I just can't understand how they perceive things that way.

One simple thing is how they perceive the size of a person. I am actually considered fat in Thailand compared to the Thai people. When I buy clothes on the street I often have to buy at least a medium and sometimes a large. I was so thankful to go back to America for a few weeks so I could have a change of perspective for a few days. In America, everything I bought needed to be a small or x-small so I was feeling quite good :) Almost everyone who saw me told me how good I looked and that was certainly a change from being told or thought of as fat. I have actually adapted to that difference in perception and it doesn't really bother me at all anymore.

The culture here is also very different in how they perceive education. Students copy a friend's homework and think nothing of it. My guess would be for about every 10 students 1 student does the work and the rest copy. The student that does the work doesn't mind and i don't think any of them view it as cheating or anything bad. The teachers that check the work obviously don't care either because at least 10 students have the exact same answer word for word. It really drives me crazy but I guess it works for this culture. Everyone does it and I really think it would be impossible to change their mindset about it. I like that in America students (overall) think for themselves and have lots of different ideas. Here it is like a mind of a robot. Everyone thinks/memorizes the same thing and nobody has any ideas especially outside of the box.

Thai people are very very very polite! They have a special greeting that you always do for those older than you to show respect and they have a special word that they end their statements with that doesn't have any meaning it is just polite. I really love that about Thailand. My 2 week visit to America was a real eye opener for me. Americans are not polite (overall). My perspective changed. I always thought America was a fairly polite country but after going back for 2 weeks I don't think so. Maybe my perception has just changed because I have been living in an overly polite culture for 2 years.

I could write about so many things but I think that is enough for one post. When you live in another culture your perception of people and things often change.

Graduation Adventure

So many things in my life always involve adventure. I love that God has a sense of humor and that He keeps my life exciting! Today was another one of those kinds of days. My day started at 5:30 a.m. when I had to get up and get ready to go to SPU's graduation. A group of us would meet at SPU at 7:30 this morning to go to the Impac Arena for the event. I should have said 7:00 because everyone didn't get there until 8:00 so we got a little bit of a late start. There were 8 of us so 4 people piled into 2 different taxis. One taxi had 3 guys and 1 girl and the other taxi had 4 girls. I was in the all girl taxi. We got in our taxis at the same time and started out on the same road. There was a major traffic jam because so many people were heading to the graduation this mornig. My taxi driver decided that he would turn to the left to go to the Arena but the other taxi kept going straight. This is where the adventure part begins. The other taxi with the 3 guys/1 girl who went straight of course arrived at the Arena within 15 minutes. My taxi was stuck in stand still traffic and it didn't look like we were making any progress. We decided that we would pay the taxi driver and get out and find a motorcycle taxi.

I should stress that when we got out of the taxi we were on a 3 lane highway (not moving) so we had to walk down an exit ramp onto another major highway. When we got to the other highway one motorcycle taxi came and we sent 2 of the girls on this taxi (that means the driver and 2 other people on a motorcycle taxi. I waited with another girl for the next motorcycle taxi to come but of couse none came so we started walking. We saw there were lots of them on the other side of 6 lanes of traffic so we walked until we reached a walking overpass. We climbed I don't know how many stairs and then finally got to the other side to get a motorcycle taxi.

I forgot to mention that both of us are wearing a dress so my Thai friend put her feet to the left side and I put my feet to the right side and we hung on the best we could. We got to the Arena within 5 minutes but were the last to arrive for pictures. These kind of things would never happen in America. That is what makes living in another culture so exciting- crazy things happen. I took a taxi, walked, rode a motorcylce taxi (3 people on one) and walked some more to get to a graduation.

Some of these situations you would have to see with your own eyes to truly believe and understand but trust me this kind of stuff happens often and it makes life fun!

Not by chance by divine appointment!

(Pimjaay is the lady in the middle of the photo in the black dress)

The world was not created by chance it was created by Divine appointment by the Almighty Creator (God). God has a purpose and reason for everything He created. I truly believe that everyone that God has put into my life has been by His divine appointment. I don't meet people by chance because I know God has a purpose in everything He does.

I could write about so many stories of how God crossed my path with someone but I am going to share the most recent one that happened today. First we have to go back almost 2 years ago when I first arrived in Thailand. Almost 2 years ago I was studying Thai at ULS (Union Language School). At that time I considered the students who I studied Thai with and the teachers who were Buddhist to be my present ministry. Several of the teachers really stuck out to me and one of them was a young lady named Pimjaay. She was not my teacher but she was young and I got to know her. I was able to be tutored by her for a few weeks at the end of my language training and remember talking to her about the Lord. She seemed open to hear but I never really got to share more with her.

When I left language school I felt a burden for Pimjaay and put her on my prayer list. I prayed for her daily and knew that lots of missionaries would continue to go through language school there and that others would also share the Good News with her. I have gone back to visit ULS a few times here and there and invited her to my church Christmas service last year but she never came. I have not forgotten Pimjaay but my focus has been the University so I haven't been able to keep in contact with her much except for facebook from time to time.

Tonight that door reopened by God's design. I help P'Pom (my Thai friend) teach English at the BSC (Baptist Student Center) on Monday nights. I teach from 5:00-5:30 and then just hang out downstairs in the cafeteria area until P'Pom is finished at 6:30. Tonight I was walking around and I ran into Pimjaay. She is studying English at the BSC on Monday nights from 5:00-6:30. She seemed just as happy to see me as I was to see her. I asked her if she had eaten dinner and she said no so I invited her to eat with me in the cafeteria. I had actually already eaten but I was willing to order and eat again if it meant some fellowship with Pimjaay. P'Pom also joined us after she finished teaching. We ate and talked for about 45 minutes. We will plan to meet every Monday night to eat together.

I praise God for crossing our paths again. God has a purpose in everything He does and it was not by chance that I saw her tonight it was by divine appointment! I love divine appointments! Thank you God!!

Looking for FAT people in Thailand

I had to use this title because I knew that it would make people want to read. It's not at all what you think. FAT stands for FAITHFUL, AVAILABLE, TEACHABLE people :). I heard this acronoym the other day and it stuck with me. It is exactly what I'm looking for here. Looking for Thai Christians (old and new) who want to be trained and grow in their walk with the Lord so they can impact others. Finding someone with all 3 is not as easy as you might think.

This acronym is easy to remember -- My prayer request is Pray that God will bring me FAT people in Thailand :)