Thailand 2006

Coming Home

Our days in Bangkok are numbered.  And the number is 2.  We will be leaving Bangkok at about 5:00 pm locally on Thursday the 22nd to arrive at about 8:30 am in Nashville on the 23rd.  We arrive via Taiwan, San Francisco, and Cincinnati.

Hopefully we will be welcomed by our family and friends, and also an apartment, because we plan on using that weekend to move in!

Many "good-byes" have already been said.  This last Sunday was our last chance to worship and fellowship with most of the members at Somprasong 4.  They thanked us dearly and prayed over us for safety in travel and a quick return back to Thailand.  I know we will be missed by the church here, and Dalissa and I are missing them already.

As a quick side note - Our English Camp that we worked so hard for ended up being a great success!  Student turnout was wonderful, and a good time was had by all!

All Good Things...

...must come to an end.  I've been avoiding this website for a few days, because I knew that I would have to announce some new news about our trip here.  The news is that we are coming home.  June has brought with it the end of our financial support for this trip, so we will be home sometime late this month.  We'll know more about the exact dates once we buy the plane tickets.

Dalissa and I have mixed feelings.  I have to admit that I'm a little excited about coming home.  We've missed our family and friends immensely, and are excited to see our new nephew who was born in April.  But we leave behind so many people that we love dearly.

Leaving is made a little easier because we have made promises to plan a return trip as soon as next year.  We don't know what will happen to us in the future.  We can only plan.  And we pray that our plans are in all ways aligned with what God is intending for our lives.

Thank you for your interest, encouragement, and support...

Neale and Dalissa

Student Roll: P. Jeab

Meet P. Jeab.  She too has been one of my students since we began teaching English here in January.  She is a 30-something professional who, appearntly heard about us from some of our readers from 4 years ago.  She has a pretty good grasp of the English language, and is one of our Intermediate students.

She's a pretty quiet person, so sometimes conversation is a little hard.  But every once in a while we will get on a good topic, and she is able to open up.  I hope that our lessons can continue, because she seems very interested about the topics that the Bible teaches.

-- Neale

Thai Mission Presentation

If you have read the recent newsletter, you found out that this work we are doing might quickly come to an end.  We are currently in the process of serching for churches to support us moving forward.  If you represent a church, attend a church, or have a relationship with a church that might be able to aid us in our work, please let me know.

I am posting a presentation that outlines our missionary strategy moving forward.  Please share it with those whom you think might be able to help.

Thai Mission Presentation

This strategy is currently under the review of our elders at the LaVergne Church of Christ in Tennesse, and is awaiting their approval coming up this week.

::UPDATE:: It has decided that we will not contuinue this year here in Thailand.  We are happy to say that we have accomplished the things that we set out to do at the beginning of our trip, and it has been decieded that it is the best decision to come back to the States for the rest of this year.

Note: If you are trying to view the presentation and it feels like it is stuck, it is only loading the rest of the presentation.  Please give it a moment to download.  I've added a visual to help you see the progress.

Thailand is Beautiful!

... I've got a large format panorama, put together from some snaps I took at Koh Lanta, Thailand.

April Newsletter

April's newsletter is done.  And  here it is. (.pdf - 4 MB)

Student Roll: Dream

This is Dream. Her name can describe the kind of student she is. As I have gotten to know her through class sessions as well as seeing her outside of class; I can confirm that she works hard in all she does. She works as a hair stylist at a nearby hotel and has many clients who are foreigners. For this reason she is very eager to learn English and works very hard at her lessons. She was my first student to sign up for English Camp along with one of her co-workers.

She is one of my beginner students and she is almost finished with the overview of the Bible lessons. I'm excited about the opportunity to spend more time with her at camp next week.

--Julie

Week 19.1 - English Camp 2006

Just as soon as I am done singing the praises of Cha-am Beach Bible Camp, it's now time to talk about English Camp 2006.  May 26, 27, and 28 are the dates scheduled for us to go back down to the city of Cha-am, Thailand with our students for the weekend.  So far about 20 students have already signed up, and more are expected this week.  This is a time when we can take them outside of the busy city to spend time, one-on-one, getting to know each other, and teaching things about English, and, especially, about God, that they might not learn otherwise.

We'll have some help, too; actually, not "some" help, but a ton of it.  A literal metric ton.  A "bus-load of help," I guess it can be put.  30, or so, Aggies from Texas A&M's AFCO (Aggies for Christ in the Orient) will make their yearly arrival on the 17th of this month, tomorrow.  They have made this trek to Bangkok every year for the last 20-some years.  They will spend the next 2 and a half months criss-crossing Southeast Asia doing this, that, and the other with local congregations and other volunteer organizations... I think.  I will know more about their activities once they are here.  I know one of their activities, and it will be our English camp and our students.

I've got another video. Why do I do this?  Some explanation, if you'd like.  Before the Cha-am Bible Camp in April, a video presentation was shown to the congregation at Soi 4 (our home congregation) about the progress, planning, and preparation of the camp.  This camp, again, is the highlight of the year here.  I thought, in the same style, to make one video presentation to let everyone know what is going on with our English Camp.  And also to continue the tradition of making silly videos about camp for the endearing of our church family.

Explanation continuing... In the video you see us; Julie, Dalissa, and Neale.  We are from America and therefore are foreigners to Thailand.  "Farang," the Thai word for "western foreigner," is in no way a derogatory name for us, and as soon as we hear that word, we know that we are being talked about.  It comes from their word for "French," "Farangset."  A guava is a very popular fruit eaten by the Thai people, and can be bought from almost any fruit vendor on the street.  The Thai word for guava is also "farang," pronounced exactly the same as foreigner.  So, we are just making a play on the word, saying that we are the same as guava.  That is why the t-shirt design, showed in the video, has a weird looking fruit teaching English.  It is also the statement, "Stop calling us a fruit."  'Nuff said, I think.

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Download the movie. 12 MB <right click and "save as">

Student Roll: Pui

I'd like to introduce you to my student, Pui.  She is in her early twenties and works at 7-11.  She just received her bachelors in accounting.  We have been studying together almost every week since February, and sometimes twice a week.  When she first came, she could not introduce herself in English, but now she is able to give directions to Burger King.  She is so excited about learning English, that she was our first student to sign up for our upcoming English Camp.  She has improved so much over the past few months and she thanks me continuously for teaching her English.

-- Dalissa

Student Roll: Ake

This is Ake, one of my best students; not only in understanding but also attendance.  He's about 24 years old and had just finished his Masters degree in Nuclear Biology.  We've been slowly studying the Old Testament, and we seem to get through the material in about half the speed of my other students.  This is due to the fact that he asks excellent questions allowing us to have good discussions about what we are reading.

He recently got a job working as a medical underwriter for an insurance company.  This might take away from the time that he has to study the Bible with me.  He now comes to study after work on Thursdays at about 5:30 pm.

-- Neale