Saturday, 8 August 2009
(kids and helpers of the children's church dancing to One Way)
in the morning i went with the lady's son and the church worker from last night to Doulos! i did not know Doulos was in Bangkok, and i got the opportunity to see it! though i could not board it due to time constraints. we picked up 4 guys from the ship and then got back to the church, where the children's Saturday program was starting. guess what, the principal is the lady who opened the house the night before!
anyway it was really touching to see the Thai kids singing and jumping to "One Way", and raising their hands while kneeling and singing "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" in Thai. i just cannot imagine Singaporean kids doing that, and also running around until they fall down on each other, but stand up laughing. i was quite concerned for them, but the helpers did not even move, as if they are used to kids behaving that way. the 4 guys from Doulos had a few programs to keep the children occupied, with songs, skit, testimony sharing etc.
after lunch at the church (prepared by the house lady and her helpers), i had to rush off to go to Ban Chang with the pastor who was with me on the flight last night. along the 2-hour journey by car, i was entertained by the scenery and also by the Christian mp3 songs being played in the car (in English). the scenery was almost like those in Malaysia, just replace the Malay words with Thai, replace the flags with Thai ones, replace the Agong pictures to those of the Thai king. as for the songs, there was a mixture of Don Moen, Hillsong, Ron Kenoly and Jeremy Camp, but the band which was most intriguing to me was Petra. imagine the Scissors Sisters singing in the style of Linkin Park to songs with lyrics like "God made Rock and Roll for us" and "He came, He saw, He conquered" in reference to Christ! anyway i will check them out on the net when i have the chance.
the church at Ban Chang is a nice place, the tallest building in the area is 4 storeys high, and there are mountains behind the church, so the view is very interesting. however i did not get much chance to tour around the town, so i have not seen much yet. after meeting the pastor in Ban Chang, i helped the youth with repainting some of the playground swings and structures, before having dinner consisting of omelette rice again! after that, i sat in for the band practice for tomorrow's worship, and i was told that i may have opportunity to play in the band! it's really something which i must thank God for :)
i had a meeting with the pastor not too long ago, so she already has a schedule prepared for me. i will be mainly teaching English and sharing my testimony in the various cell groups for next week. i challenged myself to prepare my testimony in Thai by this Tuesday, though i could prepare in English and the pastor can translate for me. so please pray for me for that. for now, i hope to get good rest, and enjoy my first Thai church service tomorrow!
giving thanks at 22:44 :)
david chow en yuan 