Hello, friends. Happy Easter! What a blessing that Christ is risen! Our sins are forgiven and we can now be reconciled to God. I just love Easter. We had a wonderful worship service at church on Sunday - good music and an outstanding sermon. -White Asiatic lilies decorated the front of the church. And the ushers gave everyone a red rose with Hebrews 9:12 taped to the stem.
Recently culture shock is doing it's thing, and I have been feeling a little cranky over the last month or so. But thankfully I had a redemptive moment last week. We celebrated "Songkran" and I was reminded of why I really DO like living in Thailand.
"Songkran" occurs on April 13-15 and most people get a few days off from work. It is the traditional Thai New Year's celebration. This year it marked the transition to the year 2546. In Bangkok, they have a big party in a park area called "Sanam Luang" that lasts for 3 days. People all over the country celebrate New Year's with traditional dancing, food, flowers, music and LOTS of water!!! Everywhere you go, it's considered open ground for a big water fight!!!! Do you remember dancing under the sprinklers on a hot, summer day when you were a kid? Picture a whole city of people, young and old alike, spraying each other and giggling as they play tag in the sunshine. Everyone gets out their hoses, fills up coolers, vats, or buckets with water. Vendors sell filtered water in bottles. And people carry every variety of brightly colored water pistol and "super-soaker" you can think of. Other people think it's too much work to fill up a water pistol and they just throw buckets of water at you - from the side of the road, from apartment balconies, etc. One may be ambushed by the bowl-full, bucket-full and bottle-full, so it's best to carry some water around with you for retaliation. Other people go around with bowls of white paste made from water and talcum powder. Some people add a drop of menthol, which has a cooling effect. Then as you walk down the street, people take some of this paste in their fingers, rub their hands together and then wipe it on your cheeks, neck or forehead. (-It's the one time when it's OK to break the Thai taboo of never touching another person's head.) The paste battalion is generally very polite about it, though. They'll stop in front of you and apologize first or wish you happy new year. Then with a twinkle in their eye, they gently plaster your face. The paste lasts for a little while, drips all over your cloths and then dries up. Then other people drive by in trucks and throw water at you again. If they have good aim, the water washes the paste off your face! As you can imagine, it's best to leave your cellphone and business suit at home during Songkran! -Tons of fun, but stay home if you don't want to get wet!
Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement. Please keep praying for my language study. My ability to communicate is slowly increasing, but I get impatient with myself some days. And my vocabulary still has a long way to go. Please continue praying for my friend, Rung, as our friendship grows. I am continuing to make friends at school, and our women's group is doing well. I also spend time with some Catholic priests sometimes and go to visit slums around Bangkok with them. I am grateful that our school will have a two week break in early May. I plan to use the time to rest and to visit other missionary colleagues in the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship, to see what work they are doing. Please pray that this will be a time of spiritual and mental rejuvenation for me. Then Module 5 will start on May 19.
Blessings to you.
Your Sister in Christ,
Kit Ripley