Although it is the month of December it sure doesn't feel like Christmas in Chiang Mai. (Maybe because its 85 degrees outside). You don't drive around and see an array of Christmas lights on houses or see Santa Clause in the yard of your next door neighbor. You don't hear sounds of Christmas music while shopping or carolers singing. The sights in Chiang Mai at Christmas time have been watching floods of people pile around a temple to pay respect to a well known monk that passed aw
ay 100 days ago. We sat and watched him be cremated inside of a large constructed dragon type thing (please see picture to the left to understand what I'm talking about. The picture to the right is a wax figure of the monk who passed away).
We have seen some of the emptiness across the faces of women who work at the bars here. They sell themselves in order to make enough money to feed their family and send money back home. We have been to the slums in the city to see how a people-group from the Hilltribes are looked down upon as outcasts and are ignored and treated as if they don't matter. We played with the little boy below who has HIV and doesn't go to school anymore because its too hard to keep up with the work. Our hearts have been greatly burdened this month yet also filled with joy for the hope that Jesus brings us and the Thai people.
This Christmas season has been difficult to be away from home. Away from familiarity, friends, and family. I have never missed Christmas with my family and it pains me to think of how I will miss this year. But God has reminded me that we can still experience his goodness in Thaila
nd just as I can at home in Tennessee. I can celebrate the birth of Jesus here in Thailand and have the opportunity to tell others why we celebrate. The Thai Christians do not spend Christmas day with their family but they spend it telling others of the gift the Lord has given us. Jesus.Dara and I baked some cookies and wrote the true meaning of Christmas and then delivered them to all of our Thai friends. It was so fun to see their faces light up when we gave them the gift. Pray with us that our friends will be affected by the message.
"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1: 5-7
Please continue to pray for our time here and that we would bring the utmost glory to God. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
