pat? or pat?

It's been great getting to know the city, language, and people more this past week. One of the pharmacy professors at the university hosted a welcoming party for us at her house Friday night, so our team went with Scott & Valerie to Ajan Ben's house, where there were many other teachers we got to meet. She is so sweet and speaks fluent English, as do some of the others. And of course, the food was arroy mak (very delicious), as is almost all Thai food. We played a game as well, where everyone had to find a friend and spend ten minutes getting to know each other by asking questions like what's your favorite color, how old are you, how many people are in your family, etc. I enjoyed getting to know Cam, who just started working at the university a week ago. When time ran out, all the partners sat back to back and Ajan Pom read 5 questions that we had to answer about our friend. Cam & I both answered 4 out of 5 correctly, so we were pretty excited even though we didn't win :) One question that stumped most people was what's the weight of your friend, which tends to be a common question for Thais (so don't be offended if they ask you haha).

Last night, our friends Rinda, Lek, Nan, Nui, Jeop, and Fon came by to see if we wanted to got the night market, so after eating dinner we walked down the street to the talaat since we had never been there before. It was a blast getting to converse with the girls because they love to try to teach us Thai. We laugh alot though, since half the time we say words wrong because of the tone...for instance, I was trying to learn the word for a hand fan, which is pat...but pat can also mean fried if it's said in a low tone, so it's lots of fun trying to distinguish the sounds they make :)

Anyway, me, Sarah Beth, Stu, Fon, Nui, and Rinda (got those names straight? lol) were waiting on the others (who like to shop more than we do ;) and Rinda was telling us the Thai word for moon. She then started saying that some pray to the moon so they can have something good happen to them. So we asked her more questions about what Thais believe about spirits, and what she believes. She said she isn't sure exactly; she believes some of Buddhism, but she wants to learn more about other religions and understand them before she decides which one is best. After some frustration with not knowing how to say something in English she wanted to tell us, she asked why everyone has to speak a different language--why can't we all just speak the same language? We told her we actually had a story about that, so Sarah Beth got to tell her about the Tower of Babel :) Please pray that we'll have more opportunities to keep sharing about what we believe and what the Bible says because many Thais are open to it. Also, pray for Rinda that she'll have clarity and understanding about Christianity and the truth of the gospel so she can have the hope and joy that only Christ can give.

Church with our team of 6 was such a blessing for all of us. We enjoyed worshipping in song and discussing Colossians 1 with each other...tonight we'll have Thai church, which usually consists of the missionaries (Scott & Valerie) and about 7 or 8 Thais. I enjoy getting to teach Elliot, who is 8 years old, while Lydia meets with Charlotte, and Stu meets with Oliver. Pray that we'll be able to reach out and pour into the Payne kids so they can grow closer to the Lord.

Now that I've written a book, I'll end my post now :) We start teaching tomorrow, so I'll be excited to let y'all know later on in the week how everything goes!