There are very few words that express the vastness of Thailand. Though it is not great in size it is great in it's diversity. The north where the drug trade was a great trouble is now the centre for agricultural commerce and growth of the nations corn and rice. The central area of Thailand are where the big cities are. It is the centre of the people. And a little south of that are the fishing villages of the Chon Buri province where there is great diversity in itself from slums to westernized gated neighborhoods. These are the places we as a team have been able to visit and stay at. From a village in the north where a rooster wakes you up every hour to the AngSila church where the brothel across the street opens its windows to hear the Saturday night church service. None of us can wait to visit the southern tip near Phuket to see the tsunami recovery. I am personally excited for a good nights sleep to get over this virus and sore throat. Even so there is God waking me up for the past two mornings to spend time with the kids some of them orphans or to take some orphan boys to the zoo. No matter how terrible I've felt the night before I can still get up to go another day. We just arrived in Phuket and only now do I realize how much we as North Americans take for granted. I mean it was only yesterday that I was sleeping on the floor of a village church with no running water or even a blanket to cover myself with. Now arriving in Phuket to our next place where I have a bed with blankets, an actual shower (with hot water), and a toilet that I don't have to dump water down to flush. For all these things I am so much more thankful for as we have seen and experienced what the people here in Thailand live with. That being said, how do I have the good fortune to be born into a Christian family in a country like Canada instead of into a Buddhist village in Thailand? Even so the Christians here carry such a great joy through such a heavy burden and persecution and in poverty. Don't get me wrong these Christians are being rewarded now and most definitely later, whether that means having the ability to buy mountain tops, or rent/own all the buildings surrounding a brothel.

Until next time (which may in fact be a video post)

Chris AKA Mei (which is my Thai name it means "wood")