From Thighland to Thailand

Thailand 4.10: Day of Mourning

February 26, 2012-Sunday

We started our morning with a church service at the Akha Village Church.  It was a service not unlike those at home except that we had TWO sermons, one in Akha, and one by Pastor Jack on “Don’t be afraid, Just Believe.”  It was actually quite good as it kept most of us awake.  We, collectively, can all relate to that message.  During the worship some came forward to be prayed for and others sang in their traditional Akha attire.  Our singing practice paid off.  Move over Von Trapp family.  We have a new gig.  We sang in tune (those off tune were asked to lip sync) “How great thou art!” thanks to the tireless efforts of Conductor Kane.

Visiting the church was a touching experience.  This is our fourth trip to this area and we saw old friends and old patients recognized us.  It was hard leaving them again; indeed It was sad.  One figurehead that was obviously missing was Luka’s father, Ah Tsa .  It even brought tears to his widow speaking about it as she clutched Pastor Jack’s hand tightly.  The Akha showered us with gifts that we felt we didn’t really deserve.  But it was more of a demonstration of their hospitality and generosity that was so readily apparent.  After the service we took a solemn stroll several hundred yards uphill to the cemetery to Luka’s fathers gravesite.  The cemetery was nearly covered with tree leaves with only the crosses sticking out of the ground signifying the influence of Christianity in this village.   Just as we were leaving, one elder, Apai, said, “Please come back before I die.”

Our next destination is Chiang Mai, a large city 2 hours south of Chiang Rai.  We will be visiting a school there and anticipate a 10-12 hour day working well into the evening.  May God grant us rest for our souls/soles.  So to prepare for the next day we visited the Floral Garden Expo in Chiang Mai first since we had the energy.  It was kind of an Epcot center-Disneyland type environment of various countries and well, garden variety, plants and some exotics, without the long lines or expensive foods.  Nice orchids; I wonder how they keep them alive.  One sign said “Don’t smell.”  Nobody wanted to find out what would happen if they DID smell one.   I found a figurine that had the exact, same pose that Richard was in as described in a previous blog.  You will recognize it when you see it and just superimpose his face and you will see what I saw.  Some  other team members (Allyson and Diana) had enough energy to go to the night Bazaar afterwards and shopped until they dropped.  I must have gotten ripped off since I bought this toy for 30 Baht and an interpreter got the same for 20 Baht.  She said, “That’s sooo saaaddd!”

Five necessities we miss:

1. Flushable toilets with seats so we don’t have to squat
2. Electrical outlets with more than one plug-in
3. 2-ply toilet paper in public places (Lens paper don’t cut it)
4. Hot water for showers
5. Starbuck’s coffee

Let’s see how week two goes…Mark