Had a huge group out witnessing today - 20 people at least! We worked along side a river, which made for a scenic start, saw a couple cows wandering about, which is, for the record a bit more unusual.
Then we headed inland, so to speak, and came to a huge apartment complex. As we're walking through, my partner, a Thai sister nicknamed Noo, explained that we give tracts to the ones we come across because we're not allowed up in the apartments themselves.
For me this entails a bit of a Gulp. Street Witnessing, not exactly a strength of mine. I like the formality of door to door. But these ones may not hear the news otherwise, so I pray intensely. We pass an African gentleman, but I didn't yet have the courage to say anything. So of the four of us that were working together, the Thai sister with probably the least English witnessed to him. And he was very nice and patient as she tried to find her English tracts, and proceeds to drop a handful. He helps her pick them up, accepted one and we continued on, me feeling more than a bit bad...
So I pray for another opportunity to give a witness and the courage to do so. And as were about to the end of the complex we pass another black gentleman. We make eye contact, smile and say hello. And have a lovely conversation! He is from Nigeria and is here on business, but had read the Watchtower and Awake back home. I, unfortunately, have only little tracts in English, but ask if he's familiar with our website, which he wasn't. So I explain about our website and how most publications are now available online, as well as meeting Times and locations for English. We even discussed the upcoming convention!
So despite my initial apprehension, it was a good morning and I finished feeling like I'd accomplished something. Jehovah truly blesses our efforts!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
September in Bangkapi
Back in Thailand again, but this time, for the first time ever, I'm staying in Bangkapi, which is to the northeast of Bangkok's city center and close to Bethel.
It's been interesting returning to a new part of the city and having to do the whole exploration deal again. Learn when and where the meetings and field service are, where to eat, fill up water and do my laundry. Okay the food part has been especially difficult for me as previously I knew exactly where to go to get the food I was craving, what to order or not order at any given place, and the cooks all knew me. Tuesday another customer took my order in English, as the cook was clearly concerned about communicating with me :) He was so nice and helpful I didn't have the heart to tell him I could order for myself.
Tuesday finally made it out in Thai field service. Incredibly nervous after six months gone, but it went very well I thought. I worked with a Japanese sister who is serving here with her two fleshly sisters - how cool is that?! She is the middle child of five kids!
Bangkapi congregation, much like Thonburi, has many Japanese ones serving there. According to one sister I spoke to there are 14 total. I'd recently heard the statistic that 60% or so of Japanese witnesses are pioneers. Speaking with Maho (a Japanese sister from Osaka) I learned that in her home congregation they cover their territory every 2-3 months! In fact she says they bicycle around their territory partly so it will take longer :)
Yeah we definitely don't cover the territory that often here! I can understand now why we have such good support from the Japanese friends in Thailand. I met one brother who had previously served in a Portuguese congregation in Japan. I was told many ones from Brazil go to Japan. Who knew? And now he and his wife are learning Thai.
It was kinda funny, on Tuesday we had a big group out in the ministry, but only 3 or 4 Thais. And about that many brothers, come to think of it. I guess sometimes the foreign women are a large army :)
It's been interesting returning to a new part of the city and having to do the whole exploration deal again. Learn when and where the meetings and field service are, where to eat, fill up water and do my laundry. Okay the food part has been especially difficult for me as previously I knew exactly where to go to get the food I was craving, what to order or not order at any given place, and the cooks all knew me. Tuesday another customer took my order in English, as the cook was clearly concerned about communicating with me :) He was so nice and helpful I didn't have the heart to tell him I could order for myself.
Tuesday finally made it out in Thai field service. Incredibly nervous after six months gone, but it went very well I thought. I worked with a Japanese sister who is serving here with her two fleshly sisters - how cool is that?! She is the middle child of five kids!
Bangkapi congregation, much like Thonburi, has many Japanese ones serving there. According to one sister I spoke to there are 14 total. I'd recently heard the statistic that 60% or so of Japanese witnesses are pioneers. Speaking with Maho (a Japanese sister from Osaka) I learned that in her home congregation they cover their territory every 2-3 months! In fact she says they bicycle around their territory partly so it will take longer :)
Yeah we definitely don't cover the territory that often here! I can understand now why we have such good support from the Japanese friends in Thailand. I met one brother who had previously served in a Portuguese congregation in Japan. I was told many ones from Brazil go to Japan. Who knew? And now he and his wife are learning Thai.
It was kinda funny, on Tuesday we had a big group out in the ministry, but only 3 or 4 Thais. And about that many brothers, come to think of it. I guess sometimes the foreign women are a large army :)
Friday, March 7, 2014
My First Part in Thai - EEP
Was Sister Weena's householder for the #2 this week. SO nervous! Read two scriptures plus had a fair amount of talking to do. Fortunately dear sister Weena gave me the talk two weeks in advance so I had plenty of time to practice!
Wore the dress I bought at JJ Market for 50 baht last month (second hand). Was told alternately that I looked like a princess and a doll. Hm. Perhaps it's better I wear my glasses... Here with two lovely Japanese sisters. Sadly the last meeting I'll see them at :( Je kitteung kao (I will miss them).
Monday, February 24, 2014
A Few Random Updates
It's now Mango season - yay!!! My favorite season of the year as I can and will eat mango for breakfast lunch and dinner. Went to the local market and bought 4 mangos for 40 baht, and got mango and sticky rice for only 25 baht - note you'll see this same item at the airport for oh about 200 baht!!! Local shopping is totally the way to go - and in my experience it tastes better too!
As summer time in Thailand approaches many need greaters head back to their home country to work; I know of 10 that have just left or are heading home in the next couple weeks - Sadness :( Lots of going away parties. Some will return in a few months, others don't know when...A bittersweet blessing of serving in Thailand is meeting such ones then saying goodbye.
On the plus side we'll have plenty of time to hang out in the new system!
We also have new ones coming/returning - one couple from Japan and a couple from Finland just came back and another will return from Australia next month. Always an exciting place to be :)
And for my very exciting/terrifying news:
My first Thai part!!! I'll be sister Weena's householder on March 7th. Eep. If you zoom in on the picture you'd find that I've made marks of tones and meanings of unknown words. The theme is (roughly translated): why people that are resurrected won't be judged for sins they committed before they died. Wow just checked against English KM: Why Resurrected Ones Will Not Be Condemned for Their Past Deeds. I think that's a pretty good translation if I do say so myself :)
Going to be practicing A Lot - and then sleeping on it because I find that helps with the muscle memory needed to speak a foreign (oh so foreign) tongue. Perhaps I should sleep with it under my pillow and hope for some osmosis too... (Just kidding - doesn't work)
As summer time in Thailand approaches many need greaters head back to their home country to work; I know of 10 that have just left or are heading home in the next couple weeks - Sadness :( Lots of going away parties. Some will return in a few months, others don't know when...A bittersweet blessing of serving in Thailand is meeting such ones then saying goodbye.
On the plus side we'll have plenty of time to hang out in the new system!
We also have new ones coming/returning - one couple from Japan and a couple from Finland just came back and another will return from Australia next month. Always an exciting place to be :)
And for my very exciting/terrifying news:
My first Thai part!!! I'll be sister Weena's householder on March 7th. Eep. If you zoom in on the picture you'd find that I've made marks of tones and meanings of unknown words. The theme is (roughly translated): why people that are resurrected won't be judged for sins they committed before they died. Wow just checked against English KM: Why Resurrected Ones Will Not Be Condemned for Their Past Deeds. I think that's a pretty good translation if I do say so myself :)
Going to be practicing A Lot - and then sleeping on it because I find that helps with the muscle memory needed to speak a foreign (oh so foreign) tongue. Perhaps I should sleep with it under my pillow and hope for some osmosis too... (Just kidding - doesn't work)
Friday, December 20, 2013
Another look Back: CC's Going Away Party
One of the tough things about serving where the need is greater is that of constantly having to say good-bye as people move on to other assignments. Since I've been back, Christina (aka CC) and Aki have returned home and Kerry and Winston (both from Australia and here for a month or so total) have come and gone. It's a bittersweet experience.
Today, though, I'm writing about Christina's well supported going away party. Because there were so many ones invited it was held at a barbeque restaurant. You pick your meat, veggies and noodles raw then cook it at the table yourself. It's buffet style, so you can have as much as you like, but if you waste food you'll be charged extra. Sounded fair to me.
It was a bit difficult for me as all this had to be accomplished using chopsticks. I regularly either couldn't pick up the meat or ended up dropping it in my sauce - eek! Still, after I got past my original trepidation at trying something new, it was a lot of fun and the food was quite delightful. My favorite combo was grilled beef with a spicy green sauce - which was very odd to the Thai friends because that's apparently a sauce used for fish.
What do want? I am a bit odd :)
For the less adventurous there was also precooked foods, sala bao (steam buns), fruits and even ice cream!
Group Shots! We filled two whole tables!
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| The Girl of the Hour, along with Brian and Br. Takayuki |
It was a bit difficult for me as all this had to be accomplished using chopsticks. I regularly either couldn't pick up the meat or ended up dropping it in my sauce - eek! Still, after I got past my original trepidation at trying something new, it was a lot of fun and the food was quite delightful. My favorite combo was grilled beef with a spicy green sauce - which was very odd to the Thai friends because that's apparently a sauce used for fish.What do want? I am a bit odd :)
For the less adventurous there was also precooked foods, sala bao (steam buns), fruits and even ice cream!
Group Shots! We filled two whole tables!
Note Mito, sister on the right two back. In every photo taken she's doing some sort of hilarious pose with food. Before this we'd not hung out a lot, partly because she has limited English, I have no Japanese and my last visit we both only had a little Thai. Now we mostly communicate in Thai - though I also have to be careful what I say in English...which I sometimes forget.
Funny story, I was saying I'd like some more soda, but my glass was taken, and Alanna suggested that I use one of the other glasses since she knew I'd previously shared drinks with Dayanna. I said it's different, I knew who I was sharing with. So she points at one glass and says, well that belonged to either Luke or Brian, and I respond (joking) Ewww, boys have cooties! And Mito, who'd been standing nearby, burst out laughing. Oh you'd understood that??? Oops. Hee hee hee.
You'll find when taking group photos here - you can only manage to stay out of one - then a well meaning sister will offer to take the photo so you can be in it - and there is no getting around it.
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| Raywot and Terry being silly - like you'd need to warm your hands in Thailand! |
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| Fami with desert - cream filled steam buns mmm... |
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
A Retrospective Look back: To the Convention
Okay so it wasn't That long ago since I went to my first District Convention (or at least that how I'm soothing my conscience), but I think now is the time to (finally) post the experience.
Before session started:
Left: Ashley sitting pretty in the auditorium.
Right: Alanna with her new Bible - she'd just received it recently and almost didn't want to open it! Thailand wasn't part of the annual meeting, so many English speakers here are still waiting on their Bible - went to Bangkok English meeting just last week and most of the audience still had the old New World.
I'm unsure why, but I expected the Thai convention to be the same size as our conventions back home. This is, of course, completely illogical when you consider that we regularly have 7,000 people at a convention, but Thailand's total publishers for the ENTIRE COUNTRY is half that. Hence, in size it was more like a Circuit Assembly.
I hadn't been back in Thailand long before the convention, so I must admit I was worried about how much I would understand - and with all the mental exertion if I would fall asleep ignominiously.
It was a definite Plus that I'd gone to the convention in English. I didn't feel stressed about missing a point, because I'd already taken it in at English. Also, since I'd taken notes I could then follow along almost point by point, and (depending on the subject and speaker) understood more than I expected.
At one point I turned to Alanna to say: Hey I totally understand this speaker and she replies he's Japanese. Ironic, but true, other foreigners are sometimes easier to understand than the native Thai speakers. Reason being they typically talk slower and enunciate more clearly. I also theorize that they have a vocabulary similar to mine because if they came here to serve they probably picked up most of their vocab from our publications.
As is often the case, the Baptism was of particular note, yet a bit different from the US. Fortunately I'd been a bit prepared after attending Assemblies in English and Thai during my last visit.
My View from the 2nd floor:
Note the size of the pools. They reach maybe to mid-thigh, so they have people carefully watching to be sure the person is fully submersed. There were a couple, few poor souls who had to be dunked a second time.
The pool on the left was used for sisters, the right for brothers. However, the brother line moved much faster than the one for sisters, so by the end sisters were going to both pools.
And an official group shot of all the baptismal candidates before they got wet :) Why don't we do this I wonder???
Alanna with the new tract - very exciting! Especially after doing last months campaign, I have a new appreciation for the set up of these tracts. They're amazingly easy to use and follow up on!
Ashley was so excited I believe she'd placed all her tracts on the bus that night before we'd even returned home! I believe she also placed many of her new brochures - Thai received some brochures newly translated into their language in addition to the other publications we received in English.
My most exciting addition - the Imitate their Faith book. I been slowly making headway studying the Thai since then. It's particularly slow going since I never run out of things to study in Thai and preparing for the meeting and field service has to take precedence.
Ah the life of a language learner. Always, always more to be learnt.
To conclude the day we were trying to do a group shot, but clearly had some difficulties keeping straight faces.
Sadly I don't remember now what was even so funny, but third times the charm.
Before session started:
Left: Ashley sitting pretty in the auditorium.
Right: Alanna with her new Bible - she'd just received it recently and almost didn't want to open it! Thailand wasn't part of the annual meeting, so many English speakers here are still waiting on their Bible - went to Bangkok English meeting just last week and most of the audience still had the old New World.
I'm unsure why, but I expected the Thai convention to be the same size as our conventions back home. This is, of course, completely illogical when you consider that we regularly have 7,000 people at a convention, but Thailand's total publishers for the ENTIRE COUNTRY is half that. Hence, in size it was more like a Circuit Assembly.
I hadn't been back in Thailand long before the convention, so I must admit I was worried about how much I would understand - and with all the mental exertion if I would fall asleep ignominiously.
It was a definite Plus that I'd gone to the convention in English. I didn't feel stressed about missing a point, because I'd already taken it in at English. Also, since I'd taken notes I could then follow along almost point by point, and (depending on the subject and speaker) understood more than I expected.
At one point I turned to Alanna to say: Hey I totally understand this speaker and she replies he's Japanese. Ironic, but true, other foreigners are sometimes easier to understand than the native Thai speakers. Reason being they typically talk slower and enunciate more clearly. I also theorize that they have a vocabulary similar to mine because if they came here to serve they probably picked up most of their vocab from our publications.
As is often the case, the Baptism was of particular note, yet a bit different from the US. Fortunately I'd been a bit prepared after attending Assemblies in English and Thai during my last visit.
My View from the 2nd floor:
Note the size of the pools. They reach maybe to mid-thigh, so they have people carefully watching to be sure the person is fully submersed. There were a couple, few poor souls who had to be dunked a second time.
Alanna with the new tract - very exciting! Especially after doing last months campaign, I have a new appreciation for the set up of these tracts. They're amazingly easy to use and follow up on!
Ashley was so excited I believe she'd placed all her tracts on the bus that night before we'd even returned home! I believe she also placed many of her new brochures - Thai received some brochures newly translated into their language in addition to the other publications we received in English.
My most exciting addition - the Imitate their Faith book. I been slowly making headway studying the Thai since then. It's particularly slow going since I never run out of things to study in Thai and preparing for the meeting and field service has to take precedence.
Ah the life of a language learner. Always, always more to be learnt.
To conclude the day we were trying to do a group shot, but clearly had some difficulties keeping straight faces.
Sadly I don't remember now what was even so funny, but third times the charm.
Monday, December 16, 2013
On Monday Morning
Our usual Monday field service group is taken care of by two older Thai brothers, Bro Suchan and Bro Sextan. They take this responsibility very seriously. This Monday was a bit of an adventure to get to the territory (we meet on the territory rather than at a set location).
The morning starts with a bit of excitement as I'm crossing the footbridge to the bus stop. I look to the right and happily see a number of sisters waiting. Yay! I'll be able to find the territory! Then I look to the left and see the number 7 bus coming - this is the bus they'll be taking. I speed up my pace and run most of the way to the bus stop - who knows if when another 7 will come and IF I'll be able to find the territory on my own! But I make it okay - and not even particularly out of breath. Sister Yoko is smiling at me - tells me I was fast :) Hey, catching the bus is serious business!
We took the 7 Bus up Petkasem rd, past Seacon mall first. I see Seacon is celebrating Christmas right now with several Santas in sleighs being pulled, randomly enough, by horses painted in a variety of colors and patterns. To the side, 3 of these circus horses are sitting dog-style watching. Not really sure how this relates to the holiday, but it's a curious display nonetheless, I'll have to take a picture if I get the chance - words don't do the wackiness justice. It just demonstrates, to my mind, what Christmas is like to people that only celebrate it because it seems the fun thing to do - there's not really religiousness, or tradition involved - last year's decoration was giant gummy bears, some of which wore Santa beards.
Next we pass Tesco, Bangkok's version of Walmart, and finally the Mall Bangkae, (also unfortunately decorated for Christmas, but more traditionally and no spelling mistakes). These are my general landmarks on Petkasem. If something is far away it's past Bangkae.
Territory was past Bangkae, but only by one road. The bus turns on Petkasem 69 and we continue on our way. I didn't make it out last week so I watch the sisters I'm travelling with for cues as to if it's close. No one seems to be collecting their bags, so I settle back to watch the scenes go by until we get off.
We reach the destination and the group of us disembark and turn down a side street - this, I notice, was the road name on the territory board at the hall that I'd been unable to understand. So we get to walking, and it is a fair distance. At one point the group pauses to discuss if we were supposed to meet at the bok soi - mouth, or entrance of the street - but the discussion ends when Sister Wan Sai goes buzzing by on a motorcycle taxi, motioning us onward.
We make it to the meeting point and Brother Sexton breaks out our breakfast snacks - crackers and mayonnaise. Okay, here I'll admit that I thought ew for a moment. Who puts mayo on crackers? But, now having tried it it's actually not bad. And brother Sexton is insistent that we eat it all - he's such a sweety :) This is actually a normal Monday morning - Brother Sexton always provides snacks in the morning and then lunch at the end of group - and Brother Suchan will regularly treat the group to waters or sodas or coffees during our midmorning break - and for the record you can't say no. The generosity is heart touching.
I also always find this to be so remarkable.
When you venture into the touristy areas of Bangkok you find a vicious cycle being played out. Foreigner tourists are suspicious of the Thais, convinced they're all out to swindle them, and don't necessarily treat the locals with respect - and Definitely don't respect their customs or even bother to learn them (not to mention the number of tourists that come to Bangkok for immoral purposes). In turn the Thais in the tourist areas are used to being treated not so nicely, are the ones that move there wanting to make a quick buck, are willing to put up the tourists and now may, in fact, be out swindle them if they can (though it's a bit of chicken/egg scenario). At the very least, the view is that Foreigners have lots of money and could be their meal ticket - or piggy bank.
Don't get me started on the number of couples you see that are an old white guy and a very young cute Thai girl.
Yet with our Thai brothers and sisters we see the exact opposite. Rather than seeing us as an income source, they recognize that we're living simply in order to serve here and help with their territory. They are amazingly kind and generous, even if they don't have much. Just last Sunday Sister Weena treated Jennifer and I, along with several others to lunch after the meeting - and Monday another sister paid for our bus and songtao back!
Truly this is a demonstration of love being the defining mark of true religion! Particularly when you consider we're in a country where "rice Christians" (people that go to Church because they'll receive food) are still fairly common.
All in all, it was a good field service day - never worked territory again per Sayaka. Though there were lots of dogs which made some nervous. I had one heartbreaking door of a Grandmother watching her two grandkids, who were darling. Seeing there were kids, I focused on our offer for the month (special to our part of the world) "How to raise responsible children" brochure. She seemed interested, yet admitted she couldn't read. How sad! It's also not terribly uncommon; off hand I can think of at least 4 instances where I've understood this to be their reply. Sadly yesterday I didn't even have the Listen to God brochure...I'm thinking I may try back with the new brochure for little kids, gage interest in learning then try the Listen to God brochure - after all Jehovah isn't biased against those who can't read!
It's also always a big help to have Sayaka as a partner - she's a language whiz! Came to Thailand for the first time just a bit before me, yet is now amazingly fluent. She's always so generous about helping me to improve my Thai and answer language questions I have. Though a good portion of yesterday we admired Sing Song Saang - things created (i.e. creation) and talked about what we appreciated from last week's Watchtower article. This came up because of the large number of butterflies we saw yesterday - so delicate, yet as we read the Monarch butterfly travels vast distances.
Our Creator is amazing. :) And travelling only reinforces this conviction. Though Alanna made the comment - and I wholeheartedly agree - that it's when we travel and connect with Jehovah's organization that our travels are most memorable, no matter how exotic or ordinary the locale.
The morning starts with a bit of excitement as I'm crossing the footbridge to the bus stop. I look to the right and happily see a number of sisters waiting. Yay! I'll be able to find the territory! Then I look to the left and see the number 7 bus coming - this is the bus they'll be taking. I speed up my pace and run most of the way to the bus stop - who knows if when another 7 will come and IF I'll be able to find the territory on my own! But I make it okay - and not even particularly out of breath. Sister Yoko is smiling at me - tells me I was fast :) Hey, catching the bus is serious business!
We took the 7 Bus up Petkasem rd, past Seacon mall first. I see Seacon is celebrating Christmas right now with several Santas in sleighs being pulled, randomly enough, by horses painted in a variety of colors and patterns. To the side, 3 of these circus horses are sitting dog-style watching. Not really sure how this relates to the holiday, but it's a curious display nonetheless, I'll have to take a picture if I get the chance - words don't do the wackiness justice. It just demonstrates, to my mind, what Christmas is like to people that only celebrate it because it seems the fun thing to do - there's not really religiousness, or tradition involved - last year's decoration was giant gummy bears, some of which wore Santa beards.
Next we pass Tesco, Bangkok's version of Walmart, and finally the Mall Bangkae, (also unfortunately decorated for Christmas, but more traditionally and no spelling mistakes). These are my general landmarks on Petkasem. If something is far away it's past Bangkae.
Territory was past Bangkae, but only by one road. The bus turns on Petkasem 69 and we continue on our way. I didn't make it out last week so I watch the sisters I'm travelling with for cues as to if it's close. No one seems to be collecting their bags, so I settle back to watch the scenes go by until we get off.
We reach the destination and the group of us disembark and turn down a side street - this, I notice, was the road name on the territory board at the hall that I'd been unable to understand. So we get to walking, and it is a fair distance. At one point the group pauses to discuss if we were supposed to meet at the bok soi - mouth, or entrance of the street - but the discussion ends when Sister Wan Sai goes buzzing by on a motorcycle taxi, motioning us onward.
We make it to the meeting point and Brother Sexton breaks out our breakfast snacks - crackers and mayonnaise. Okay, here I'll admit that I thought ew for a moment. Who puts mayo on crackers? But, now having tried it it's actually not bad. And brother Sexton is insistent that we eat it all - he's such a sweety :) This is actually a normal Monday morning - Brother Sexton always provides snacks in the morning and then lunch at the end of group - and Brother Suchan will regularly treat the group to waters or sodas or coffees during our midmorning break - and for the record you can't say no. The generosity is heart touching.
I also always find this to be so remarkable.
When you venture into the touristy areas of Bangkok you find a vicious cycle being played out. Foreigner tourists are suspicious of the Thais, convinced they're all out to swindle them, and don't necessarily treat the locals with respect - and Definitely don't respect their customs or even bother to learn them (not to mention the number of tourists that come to Bangkok for immoral purposes). In turn the Thais in the tourist areas are used to being treated not so nicely, are the ones that move there wanting to make a quick buck, are willing to put up the tourists and now may, in fact, be out swindle them if they can (though it's a bit of chicken/egg scenario). At the very least, the view is that Foreigners have lots of money and could be their meal ticket - or piggy bank.
Don't get me started on the number of couples you see that are an old white guy and a very young cute Thai girl.
Yet with our Thai brothers and sisters we see the exact opposite. Rather than seeing us as an income source, they recognize that we're living simply in order to serve here and help with their territory. They are amazingly kind and generous, even if they don't have much. Just last Sunday Sister Weena treated Jennifer and I, along with several others to lunch after the meeting - and Monday another sister paid for our bus and songtao back!
Truly this is a demonstration of love being the defining mark of true religion! Particularly when you consider we're in a country where "rice Christians" (people that go to Church because they'll receive food) are still fairly common.
All in all, it was a good field service day - never worked territory again per Sayaka. Though there were lots of dogs which made some nervous. I had one heartbreaking door of a Grandmother watching her two grandkids, who were darling. Seeing there were kids, I focused on our offer for the month (special to our part of the world) "How to raise responsible children" brochure. She seemed interested, yet admitted she couldn't read. How sad! It's also not terribly uncommon; off hand I can think of at least 4 instances where I've understood this to be their reply. Sadly yesterday I didn't even have the Listen to God brochure...I'm thinking I may try back with the new brochure for little kids, gage interest in learning then try the Listen to God brochure - after all Jehovah isn't biased against those who can't read!
It's also always a big help to have Sayaka as a partner - she's a language whiz! Came to Thailand for the first time just a bit before me, yet is now amazingly fluent. She's always so generous about helping me to improve my Thai and answer language questions I have. Though a good portion of yesterday we admired Sing Song Saang - things created (i.e. creation) and talked about what we appreciated from last week's Watchtower article. This came up because of the large number of butterflies we saw yesterday - so delicate, yet as we read the Monarch butterfly travels vast distances.
Our Creator is amazing. :) And travelling only reinforces this conviction. Though Alanna made the comment - and I wholeheartedly agree - that it's when we travel and connect with Jehovah's organization that our travels are most memorable, no matter how exotic or ordinary the locale.
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