So first thing i learned was that Buddha- is not even Buddhas name, its Siddharthra Gautama. People in Thailand believe that Buddha came from Thailand but in actuality came from India. During Family Study we didn't focus so much on the beliefs or where the Buddhist religion came from but rather how we can approach them with Good News.
The new watchtower for next month has a good article about prayer and spirits. One possible presentation could go something like " I noticed you have those very decorated homes ( spirit houses). What are they for? [ allow for response]Well, did you know that when you pray someone is listening? Notice what this Holy Book says. Psalms 65:2. God, is a hearer of prayer. Next, we can discuss what his name is."
The Buddhist people teach no hope. According to their philosophy/ doctrine/ Noble Truth #1, "All Existence is suffering". Sad thought, because we all enjoy life. And, according to Buddha, "Enlightenment doesn't come from God but from personal effort in developing right thinking and good deeds." All in all, they are still people and have concerns. One of their main concerns is family life, peace, and morality. In service when talking to a man who said " Im a Buddhist", Jonny replied, " Well aren't you concerned about your children and their future." Good Job. We were able to further conversation and leave him with the What does God require of us brochure. Family study was and is great in preparing us for service.
Family Study with your own family is one of a kind. Thats when you get to talk about things pertaining to the family. In my family that ranges from Punctuality, Family life, future family life, sex, maintaining your integrity, and the list goes on. Family study is real, nothing hidden. It is also a time for Insight, Thoughts, Feelings, and even spiritual encouragement. Because of being away from my family, family study isn't the same. However, a family by the name of the akroys adopted us in. They are from New Zealand and we get along with them wonderfully. NEW ZEALAND!!! Yup! Its amazing to me how from complete opposite sides of the world we can be so close and tight and only know each other for less than a month. Jehovahs doing for sure . Psalms 133:1. The unity and automatic Love can ONLY be experienced in this organization, ONLY!!!!
Starting from the left: Matias, Ben, Helen, Ellie, Michelle, Elizabeth, Jonny, Brandon, and Steve. Obviously, and me taking the photo of Family Study. Notice how Jonny is always eating!!!
Great people, different faces, different cultures, united in love for the same thing. Amazing Fact: A week before we came this group became an official congregation.
Service was really good today. We encountered different people and therefore used different approaches. For example, we went to one door and said " We would like to share something meaningful from the bible." LOL. That didn't work.
You see here in Thailand the morality is deplorable, men literally come here for immoral purposes, so talking to them about the bible is nothing they want to know about.
Next approach worked pretty well. " Hello, we are leaving this article with your neighbors and didn't want to leave you out." That worked like Gold. We just walked away and now we have something to go back to.
Our last call of the day was Mango, she is married to a man from Denmark ( i think) and she is always home. She said she wants a study and even wants her son to study as well and learn english at the same time. So this Thursday Michelle and I will study with mango and her son. I was even invited to go on a study with the CO which is going to be interesting. Ill keep you posted
Dogs going Crazy in service. They try to creep up from behind and bite.
Jonny is using the Umbrella to keep the dogs away.
If you look closely you will see clumps on the floor. Thats basically dog poop. So imagine trying to pay attention to rowdy dogs and poop on the floor at the same time.
Throughout Thailand
you will see these houses at every home, everywhere, literally.
Most Thai people who reside in their own house have a
Spirit House, usually placing it in the corner of their property. According to
tradition, the spirit house must not fall in the shadow of the main
structure.If you look carefully inside the spirit house, you’ll observe small
human or animal figurines – in most cases, the human figurines are dressed up
in Thai outfits. Some of the Spirit Houses are fully furnished with fixtures
such as miniature tables, chairs, paintings and the like. Sometimes draped with
flower garlands, most Spirit Houses have small balconies where flower vases,
incense holders and candle sticks are positioned.
Spirit worship
in Thailand is a very integral part of Thai Culture and is
practiced by all segments of Thai society – from the very rich to the very
poor. The Spirit House is the most prominent manifestation of Thai people’s
traditional belief in the spirits. Many believe that spirits reside on the
land, and if you build a house or a commercial structure, these spirits are
displaced from their home.
In order to appease the spirits, a Spirit House is
erected on the site to provide them a place to live. Daily offerings are made
to the spirits – flowers, food, rice, and coins and sometime even cigarettes -
in order to keep them happy. Frequent donations to the resident spirits of the
Spirit House is believed to bring Good Luck!
Today was one of
those days! We woke up an hour earlier for service because our territory was
farther then most. We Traveled into a city called,Cha-am. Heres the thing everyone, In a car
you have nice cushioned seats. On a scooter not so much. Excuse my term because
I cant find a better one. But your Butt hurts, simple as that. It feels like
mush, wet ( because your sweating) mush and it stings. You know that feeling
when your leg is dead and you try to walk and its just straight pins and
needles. That’s the feeling on all these long rides. Not to mention the sun.
BUT, we press on (no pun intended). We make it to the territory, we split into
groups, and now the enjoyable part starts, trying to find people. (Look at some
of the scenery) This requires endurance, because 75% of the time the foreigners
we are searching for are riding past us on motor bikes going to the beach
instead of sitting put in these rural areas. At some point I asked myself “
Whats the Point?” I had to pray about it because every time we went to an area
they always said “NO, No Foreigners.” After the morning session, half of the
group gave up and left, not so encouraging. The heat was nasty and people were
ready to go. Wait! Wait Waaaait! Not to mention I crashed my bike today and
ended up with some cuts on my legs ( Pictures available) There was one more
piece of territory left to be covered!! Wiping the sweat from my face and remembering what I was here for I drank some
water, shook my shoulders, made a prayer, and continued on. Around 2pm, I made
another prayer to actually find someone.
2:15 pm, what do you know, we found someone. The smile on my face when
I was able to finally speak some English. The man we bumped into was French yet
he knew some English and directed us to some other homes of English speakers.
He showed interest and now I can officially say Jonny and I have 2 return
visits. Although tough at times, moments like that makes it worth the while to
press on. Read Proverbs 2:4. We continued as if we were searching for hidden
treasures.
Rice Fields
Group meeting on Highway.
Me and Ben Working the territory
" Brandon Did you want me to make a Left on the highway."
About 1 mile away from our place there is an elephant village. After service, we went and visited an elephant village. How it was explained to me was that these elephants are retired from being over worked in other regions of the country. They are well taken care of and pretty docile. But again, i don't trust any animal. Remember, TNT When animals go wild. Yeah, i get close but i keep it enough so i can run. Here are some pictures.
I went to Pioneer Couples house and when i got there, this is what i saw. An Arabic Brother teaching English to Thai studies and brothers. They bartered their language for the english language, and it works out very well. Classes are on Wednesday ( i think) and Saturdays. Jonny and I will be attending these classes to get a bit more familiar with how to read and understand Thai. What was interesting about this whole walk through experience was how in many year books we read how brothers have to adapt and learn languages and how it is difficult and may be challenging, but the blessings are numerous? Well, I actually witnessed a yearbook experience. It was very cool just watching what i read come to life.
The Thai language is not the prettiest but it isn't hard to remember and use because it is very tonal. The magazine pictures used such as the watchtower and awake are exactly the same in the states or canada, no different . The people here however are obsessed with white skin. They even put some sort of talcum or baby powder on their faces to look white. One idea for them doing this was to absorb the moisture from their face and another was because they want to look white. In general, the people are nice people and always smiling at us. We've made Thai friends everywhere.
Service schedule again is Tuesday-Saturday. Tuesday-Friday
we search for English speakers and on Saturdays we go with the Thai group.
Regardless you still need to know some Thai. For example, When you go to a door
searching for foreigners you say. Ti- KNEE-MI-COON- TAN- CHAAAT, YOU-MY-KAP.
Its long but once you say it a couple of times and get better at it, it’s a
breeze.
So as always we meet
with the group and head off into the territory. Today, however was not a normal
territory. First of all, we had to Scoot 25 minutes in the heat on a
pleather/plastic scooter, not to mention winding roads, and random cars passing
rapidly by us. (The whole drive made me appreciate the safety you feel when
driving a car. Your protected from sun, rain, and sometimes crazy drivers)
Second, this was untouched territory which made it exciting. The goal or name
of this service day was called A CENSUS, we weren’t looking to speak to the
Thai people, but we were looking to see if any foreigners were in the area.
After a couple dog chases, bike slips, shoe rips, swastika misconceptions, we
finally found a foreigner deep in the back of this territory, very exciting.
(By the way, I learned after my nerve recking experience , that a swastika to
the Thai means Good Luck.).The key to speaking with foreigners is cordiality (I
made that word up), you just have to be real cordial and then introduce your
news. He responded well, listened to the scripture being shared, and took the
magazines.The people here are really nice, and service was just awesome today.
Tomorrow we will be more local but the excitement is still there.
Funny: I’m always made fun off because I have a big head.
One of my roommates said he wanted to change helmets. I said ok. I gave him
mine and he says in his country accent “ WHOOOAAA, who was in this thing, Andre
the Giant.” Jonny of course couldn’t stop laughing.
We drove up to a Monkey Village which was scary but interesting at the same time. The scary part: The whole time my room mate kept asking, " Do you want to buy some Bananas?". Automatically 2 things came to my mind.One, Ive watched Spike TV about animals going wild, so that made me say no. And two, wild hungry monkeys and me with Bananas in my hand??, ehhhh not so smart. So my overall answer was." No man, No Bananas for me." So as we drive up a steep, high hill to the monkeys, Mathias with the Bananas, a monkey from the left, literally out of no where jumps on his bike to get to the bananas. He hits it off with his umbrella, but then we look to left and literally hundreds of Monkeys, something out of planet of the apes, began to attack Mathias and stole the Bananas from him. Crazy. No bites, bruises, or scratches but i was so thankful that i did not by " No Bananas." The interesting part: Monkey have similar human tendencies, thats all.
So first thing i learned was that Buddha- is not even Buddhas name, its Siddharthra Gautama. People in Thailand believe that Buddha came from Thailand but in actuality came from India. During Family Study we didn't focus so much on the beliefs or where the Buddhist religion came from but rather how we can approach them with Good News.
