But, it doesn’t take an expert to soon see upon arrival in Thailand that Thai Buddhism isn’t clear-cut Buddhism by the books.  While the original teachings of Buddha don’t speak at all to the spirit realm, Thailand is engrossed in fear of and want to appease the spirits that surround them.

OMF recently published a short video showcasing how Folk Buddhism has taken over in Thailand and what that means for its people.  I’ll show the video below, but do be warned that it contains some graphic material…

The People’s Buddhism from OMF Media on Vimeo.

Please Pray…

Anyways, despite being the Lazy Photographer for quite some time now, I’ve decided to get back on the wagon.  If nothing else, I know it is something I will enjoy at the time, even if I don’t feel like that particular day.  Recently I’ve had friends give me a hard time about how I should shoot more often.

So, let me introduce to you my new series, Foto Friday.  This will be similar to Sara‘s well known weekly food series Tasty Tuesday, only I’ll try to make it a point to get out, shoot photos, and post them up here.  Sometimes they will be photos having to do specifically with Thailand and Thai culture while other times they may just be something I happen across or an idea for a photo that I want to produce.  Either way, I’ll post it up here.  I’d like to commit to doing this every week, but we all know how good I am at making blog commitments and FAILING!  So, I’ll start with at least once a month on Friday, and as I remember how the ride the photography horse I’m attempting to climb back onto, hopefully they’ll be more often.

Today I start.  I finished up my Thai lessons this morning, grabbed my camera and motorbike, and went in search for something to point and click at.  It was nearly noon (which is the WORST time to take photos) and flippin’ hot out.  I went to a local Buddhist temple but everyone but me was smart enough to be inside during that part of the day.  So, I continued driving until I came to a street corner that had some decent flowering bushes and trees.  I spent about 20 minutes fighting the breeze as I rocked my Macro lens, getting sun burnt all the while.  I shot probably 60 different photos and in the end only kept about 3 of them.

Yep.  Here is today’s first edition of Foto Friday from this Lazy Photographer…

Click the image above to be taken to Flickr to see the other images I uploaded today!

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Old Man hands?

I recently posted the Twitter / Facebook message above in hopes to find an answer to an issue I’ve been having since moving into our new place here in Bangkok.  I literally spend 5 minutes in the shower or helping do the dishes and my hands wind up looking like I just swam a triathlon in January…

I really don’t know what is going on.  Could it be this country boy’s reaction to Bangkok’s Chlorinated water?  An allergy of some sort?  Fungal infection?  Leprosy?

I’m not ruling out any possibilities at this point.  Still, I thought it best to post up on my blog in case some SE Asian, missionary doctor happens to come across this blog and save my hands’ lives….

Oh, and it hurts when it turns this way.  Not a sharp pain, but an aching pain as if to say “Ouch!  It hurts when my skins folds up on itself into deep crevasses and pretends it is those little Silica Gel packets in the toe of your new pair of shoes you just bought!”…

…Yeah, I may have issues…

Any thoughts?

Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara was born in 1932. Her parents were Mom Chao Nakkhatra Mangkala Kitiyakara and Mom Luang Bua Sanitvongse. Sirikit’s father was in the Diplomatic Corps and served in the Siam Royal Embassy in Washington DC, in London as Ambassador at the Court of St. James and in Paris as Ambassador to France. It was in Paris that Mom Rajawongse Sirikit was to first meet with the new King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej and their engagement was announced in 1949 on July 19th. Their wedding took place on April 28th 1950.

The Coronation of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej took place on May 5th 1950 and on that day, Mom Rajawongse Sirikit was honoured with the title Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand. H.M. Queen Sirikit has won a place in the hearts of all the Thai people because of her tireless work on many projects to improve the lives of the Thai people and is especially concerned about conservation issues and traditional Thai handicrafts.

But this day isn’t just limited to honoring HM the Queen.  It’s also used by the Thai people to honor their mothers, wives and grandmothers, thanking them for their unconditional love.  The day usually starts by giving alms to the monks.  Then, the children (no matter what age) will kneel before their mother to show their love and gratitude.  They present her with white jasmine flowers or garlands, in return, mothers shower their blessings on their kids. On this day, white jasmine flowers are a common sight in Thailand as they are the symbol of maternal love. The white color of the flower symbolizes purity of mother’s true love, which will never change.

While this holiday is similar in some ways to what we celebrate as Mother’s Day back in the U.S., it is very much different…  …And also a bit sad to think back to the families that we have left behind as we see our new neighbors gathering together as a family to spend the day together.

Ah, but such is life as new missionaries in Thailand…

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(Large portions of the historical side of Thai Mother’s Day was taken from here.)

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Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…  Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand!

Blessings!

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There is still a LOT of unknowns having to do with the protests, the government crackdown on the redshirts, and the deaths/injuries that came from the month + long rallies held in downtown Bangkok a few months ago.  Many Thai people still don’t know how to react and many are still hurt from all that happened during that time.

It’s difficult to explain all that happened during that time and the deep, deep tensions that drive apart the Thai people.  But today I came across this great story that explains both sides and the “what’s next” for our new city and this country.  Yes, it is long at 45 mins., but break it up in segments and watch it all to get a better understanding of the conflicts and please continue to join us in prayer for the Thai people and Thailand.

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I’ll be honest.  I don’t know where to start.  Last time I posted on here I was dealing with a snake that climbed walls and our final exams at the language school in Lopburi…

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Our new house!

But, here we are several weeks later.  Happily settling into our new home.  We love our little place.  The neighborhood is great and the people are even greater.  Kids playing in the street in front of our house every afternoon before dinner call me out to play soccer or badminton nearly everyday.  Neighbors who are anxious to get to know us and what we are doing in their backyard.  A Christian Thai family from the church we are partnering with has all but adopted us as their long lost children and have been SUCH a blessing.  They helped us navigate our rental agreement, purchase furniture, get internet in our home.  They’re so close that they even feel total welcome coming in our front gate and front door without warning! :-/

Seriously though.  We are so blessed to be here.  Sara has been able to sleep.  Our neighborhood is AMAZING!  The church we are partnering with is slowly getting to know us and we’re getting to know them….

We feel so blessed.  Thank you for your prayers through yet another time of transition in our lives.  We’ve not had a solid year of just “being” in quite a while…  We hope and pray that our new little nest here in the North side of Bangkok proves to be that little bit of “being” that we’ve been looking for lately…

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Golden Tree Snake... DEAD.

Now, Thailand is known for having TONS of snakes (some poisonous, some not).  It’s actually probably more surprising that we hadn’t seen one here up until yesterday morning.  But, when you see a bright green with black banded snake IN YOUR LIVING ROOM, it gets your attention.  And as soon as Sara saw it, she was done.  I mean, like scared/creeped/shivering like a cold 9 yr old outside at 3AM by herself.

Anyways, the snake quickly made it’s way behind a book shelf that took about 20 minutes to remove book by book, bags, other junk until the snake was finally accessible.  Oh yeah, and that’s when it started CLIMBING UP THE WALL!  What!? Snakes on the floor is one thing.  Snakes in water are creepy.  But snakes slithering up a flat wall is flippin’ weird.  Luckily it was this weird act that was this snake’s downfall.  A quick smack to the “neck” (Do snakes have necks?  Like where would it start and end?  Where are the shoulders?) with an umbrella handle followed by repeated blows just for good measure and to make me feel more like a man in my wife’s eyes and it was all over with.  Well, except that even after dead, the stupid thing keeps slithering, coiling and moving around.  WEIRD!

So, yeah, I guess there is just another story to add to the numerous interesting moments that we’ve been collecting living here in Thailand.  Oh, and it seems the snake isn’t so poisonous for humans but it is known for being able to climb flat, vertical walls… …oh, and it can fly from tree to tree…  If you are super weird and are interested you can read more about this snake and other snakes in Thailand here and here.

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Thailand. 2005.

Hey, remember when we got married?  Wasn’t that a sweet day?  We listened to Nickel Creek as you walked down the aisle in my mom’s yard?  Remember how it was an AWESOME day for weather?  Remember how worried you were that it might rain on our outdoor wedding-parade?  Remember the night before when we were cramming last-minute music into a playlist for the reception?  Remember when we only had money enough to drive 2 hours to Indianapolis for our honeymoon?  Remember how much I wish I could have taken you to the ends of the earth to celebrate our special day finally coming when instead I took to you Buffalo Wild Wings for our first meal together as a married couple?  Hey, remember when we had to cut that sloppy honeymoon short so I could go for a job interview in Wisconsin?

I love so much about you…  …and I definitely don’t tell you this enough…

So, here are the Top Several Things I LOVE About You… (in no particular order… …I mean, it is midnight after all…)

• I love how beautiful you are.  Seriously, you all need to recognize that I am married to flippin’ sexy lady!  Even at 6 AM, with your tattered hair and horrible breath, you still got everything I saw when I first met you….
• I love that you and I, even after months of forgetting our giftedness, can come across a song in which we harmonize, sing together ridiculously, or sing along with an absurd YouTube song…  …I love that you love music just as much as I do…  And I’m not sure anything makes me feel more in love with you than when we are singing together…
• I love that you are soooooooo patient.  I’m pretty sure that when you signed up to be with me forever and ever and ever and ever you would have to be an AMAZING woman, but dang have I put you through the the grinder from time to time; yet, you still are patient with me.  Even as we moved to the other side of the world, you are patient with our situation (even though some times it sucks, hurts, is awful).  You still remain focused on the passion God has given you, the goals He has placed before you, and the purpose we have here…  You’re an inspiration…
• I love your sense of humor.  Anyone spending their day-in and day-out with me has to have one, but you have a sense of humor that sneaks up on me, catches me off guard, and never ceases to bring me a laugh…  …even if it is at my expense…
• I love that you love to cook.  I mean, my Cholesterol doesn’t love the fact that you love to cook anything I desire, but I do love the joy you find in creating new dishes, sharing them with others and opening our home so that others can come, connect, and relate together.  Oh, and the things you can do with food!!!!
• I love that you love old things.  Your perfect vacation would be to go look at old stuff for a week…  …be it houses, boxes from the 1700′s, or just to go to a museum…  you love old things!
• I love that through the last 4 years… … through all the things I have drug us through… …through all the transitions, goodbyes, hellos, aches, pains, joys, etc… …you still trust me.  You still believe in me… …believe in us…  Despite everything around us that at times seem like it may implode, you still are my biggest fan…

You are just as beautiful as the day I met you nearly 8 years ago.  Happy 4th Anniversary, Baby!  Sorry I couldn’t take you to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate…  I’m sure you understand

Here’s to 10x as many more anniversaries to come!

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I even got to ride my lang. tutor's 4-Wheeler for a bit. Sweet!

The exam went well today also.  Spent nearly the entire time just talking about the little victories I have had lately in using my Thai and getting things fixed or done.  It’s nice to once again… finally …feel useful.

Coming from the States I felt useful.  I was involved in a lot of things, I was effective at what I did, had a lot of things on my plate (as is my personality).  So, coming to Thailand has been a bit rough in some ways.  Without a good amount of Thai, I felt useless.  I couldn’t tell the mechanic that I needed my motorbike tire changed without both getting a headache and handing them out to everyone I was trying to talk to.  If something needed done at our home, I didn’t know how to give directions to our home and describe what the issue was over the phone. Early on, I couldn’t even describe how short or long I wanted my hair cut when going for a trim on the ole’ Fohawk.  But, finally, I am able to do all of these things… and once again feel a bit useful here.  I bought the parts needed and replaced a sink drain in our bathroom yesterday afternoon, I’ve helped move air-conditioning units at a local church, I’ve taken our washing machine to get repaired, I’ve called for a professional to come and service our Air-con unit when it stopped working…  Oh, and I’ve ordered pizza over the phone and it was successfully (after them calling nearly 4 times because they were lost) delivered.

So, maybe, just maybe, we’ve turned a bit of a corner in our language learning and our lives here after 10 months.  And in good time.  We’re looking to buy a vehicle soon, next weekend we will be traveling to look for housing in Bangkok for when we move next month, and the following week we will sit before the church board in Bangkok to finalize details of us partnering with them to plant a church in the coming years.

Thanks for all your recent prayers and encouragement.  Maybe we’ll be able to do this missionary thing after all…

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