Caroling in Thailand

So what's Christmas like in Thailand? Well, we will be posting a couple of times about all we did and saw during Christmas this year. I wanted to take the first chance to tell you all about a really neat opportunity we had before Christmas. One of my classes had an assignment to do a number of things in celebration of Christmas, one of which was to go caroling. So they loaded up a sleigh (cart) with gifts and somebody dressed like "Santa", and we embarked on our quest. We walked all around the campus at Surin Rajabhat knocking on the doors of the faculty and singing them a couple of Christmas carols. Oh, and there were somewhere around 75-100 students doing this! Yikes, quite a group. Usually you go caroling with maybe 5-10 people... not here! It was a wonderful time though. I brought along my guitar and we sang song after song until our voices were petering out! We walked around and by barking dogs, packs of dogs, and dogs on patrol.



We went for quite awhile, until everybody was exhausted! But it was a great opportunity to see these kids singing the praise of Christ's coming to earth. Now, granted. Many of them sang without really understanding all of significance behind the virgin birth or the coming of the Messiah, but they certainly understood something. Jim and Kathi were able to be there as well, which was wonderful. So we all had a part in building yet more bridges to these college students. I thank the Lord that He has put us where we are, and look forward very much to what He will do in the future! Thank you all for praying so much, God is at work all over the world!

Tribute to a Great Man

Well, it's been awhile since the last post. December has been an extremely busy month! Within the first two weeks in December, we took a week's leave to go back to the US for my Grandfather's funeral. It was quite an event. I've never been so proud to be related to somebody like this. My Grandfather's body was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on December 10. It was a great trip home seeing family and friends and telling everybody we could about all that God is doing in Thailand. But the real reason for making such a long long long (did I mention the flight was long?) journey was for my Grandfather. He passed away in September, but because of being buried in Arlington, there was a wait for the service there.

My Grandfather was given so many honors. For starters, they took his casket from the hearse and laid it onto a caisson (horse drawn carriage), pulled by a team of horses. Following behind the caisson was a riderless horse with a pair of boots turned backwards in the stirrups. As they were preparing the procession, a military band played "Amazing Grace". Finally, the procession began, and family and friends walked behind the caisson and the horse. Fittingly enough, the horse that walked behind the casket was a rather spirited horse, who bucked and kicked enough that my mother said, "He would have wanted this kind of horse...". We followed the procession through the mazes of memories of heroes gone by, until we came to my Grandfather's plot. There, the soldiers carried his coffin to the burial site, where a short graveside service was held. They folded up the flag and fired off a twenty-one gun salute. Taps was played, a lonely and somber tune against the stillness of that cold and gray December day in Virginia. Oddly enough, the whole time we were in Maryland, it was basically gray and cloudy. But that day, God saw fit to give us some sun peaking out, just for the ceremony.

It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of this great man. I have many precious and dear memories of sailing the Chesapeake with him, eating at Riverdales, getting yelled at for having my hat backwards, picking at crabs, drinking root bear, eating basically raw meat, talking about the civil war... I really could go on and on. Standing there on that cold day I thought, what will my life amount to when it is my time? What will my life have accomplished when people are standing around my grave? In this I find great hope, it is not for me to determine that. God asks me to follow Him each day, and as I obey and seek His will, He will give me a life of purpose and meaning, found in Him!

Inside the Mind of a Thai Student...

In case any of you are interested and want to see some of what my Thai students are up to, I started another blog to post some of their work online. The purpose for this was to encourage them to do their best. See, each week we have a bit of a contest in my Creative Writing class. Whoever writes the most creative assignment gets it posted on the blog as the winner. They seem to really like the idea. Either way, it also is interesting to see their perspective on things, so check it out if you feel like it!

http://srucreative.blogspot.com

Keeping You Up to Speed

Well, it's been a little while since the last post. Let's see, that was elephant roundup, eh? Well, much has been happening since then. Our cat is putting on a little more weight, that's good. I'm always afraid I'll step on him and put him in intensive care or something. We've had some opportunities come up with my 3rd year English Majors at SRU. Apparently, they are supposed to put on a Christmas program at SRU, and asked myself and Leah if we would help them with the songs. So we agreed, I will be playing the piano, and Leah helped them learn parts for five out of the nine songs we are performing. They caught on really fast, even with the parts. Most of the group are girls, but there is one guy who has braved the rigors of all this choral stuff! We are praying we can be an influence for Christ with them. The one girl in the class, May, is the one heading this up. Which makes sense, because she goes to Surin Baptist. So basically, we were able to introduce a whole class of college kids to the church every day this week, as we practiced in the evenings. Later in December, we will help them with their performance at SRU, and then go out caroling with them. (They go around to faculty houses and sing the carols, so they wanted me to accompany with the mandolin)


In other news, our music CD is almost done. Some of you may or may not have heard about this, but we have put together a collection of recordings from the ladies here at Surin Baptist. It's a bit different. Most of them are songs from America, translated into Thai. They are some of the favorite songs of the people here. There are a couple that are purely Thai hymns or spiritual songs. However, as I was in charge of instrumentation, it is mostly Appalachian style. Well, there is one song we do with the Thai instruments, but the others are all guitar, banjo, mandolin, you get the drift. So... what do you call this new style of music? Hence, we created a term "Thaippalachia". I will post the cover we designed here. The title is "Living for Christ", which is one of the Thai songs they sing. It's a beautiful song about the new life found in Jesus Christ. Something that almost has new meaning, living in a culture that is so much Buddhist. To find a Christian usually means they have put up with some level of being ostracized, or experiencing some kind of setback for following Christ. I don't know whether we can actually sell this thing, what with copyrights and such, but we are looking into how we can get it out. Either way, it's been a lot of what we've been doing recently, and I think what we have in the end now is well worth the time and energy!

Pray for us as we are traveling back to the States for a week. My Grandfather, Colonel Brown (affectionately known as Pop-pop by the grandsons), passed away a couple months ago, and as he is being buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors and so on, the funeral itself was scheduled to take place much later. Hence, we travel now. But God has worked this out perfectly, so we are excited about the opportunity to say hello to everybody again. I will probably write again after that, I know it will be a very thought provoking ceremony. So pray as we travel. We have an 8 hour train ride to Bangkok. Then waiting for 10 hours until our plane leaves, then flying for about 20 hours until we arrive in DC. Ugh. Not the most fun in the world, but it's better than swimming!

Till next time!

Andrew

Elephant Roundup

Sai reading her part during the presentations (she is in the black with the white on the shoulders)

Well, we just got through the Elephant Roundup in Surin for 2007. This is the big event that is centered in Surin. People come from all over Thailand, even all over the world just to see this event. It lasts for about 4 days and all takes place in my backyard! Every night, there was a concert (at the loudest decibels of course) just across the street, and a fair that is running even to this day. The fair was really something, just like an American carnival with rides and everything, but instead of artery clogging stuff, you could buy bugs or papaya salad, or pad thai. Incredible, we were loving it. Why, they even had Thai bingo going on around every corner. The only difference was the ear-drum busting volume at which the leader bellowed out the numbers. Absolutely deafening.

Elephant Buffet- check out the jaws on this guy!

The first real day started with the presentations by the local schools. We went around with our Thai teacher, Khru Wee, who was given a microphone (always dangerous for a Thai, they love 'em) and proceeded to have us try out the Thai words for every vegetable or fruit featured on the floats.

Hey! No snitching!

It was very good practice, and it was televised. So we are famous... somewhere, we just don't know where. It was a really neat thing to see, the school kids put a lot of work into the floats and the presentations. There was all kinds of Thai dance and traditional music being played, and Sai from Surin Baptist read the English welcome for her school. They had her in all the traditional regalia, she looked great, and did her part perfectly. Made us so proud! She was just one big smile the whole evening.

The elephant Stadium in Surin, just down the street from our house!

The next day, I was told by Khru Wee that I needed to be at the "Elephant Buffet" in the morning. So I finished up my morning class and hurried over to the main road. There, they had large tables piled high with melons, sugar cane, cucumbers, bananas, and various turnips and roots. The elephants paraded in and proceeded to tear into the tables of food. Everybody sat behind the tables and fed the elephants. It's kinda weird to be sitting across the table from a couple ton galoot who is feeding his face with everything in sight. They are so huge and slow, but so very precise with their movements. They are strong enough to do incredible damage, but careful enough to take a melon from a child's hand. Amazing.

The Burmese army reenactors march in

On Saturday, they held the actual Elephant Roundup. This was positively amazing. About 300 some elephants paraded at one time into the arena that they have built. They did cultural shows, elephant demonstrations, and even a reenacted battle. I've never seen anything like it! Our own Archan Jim narrated in English for the "farang" guests. You're looking at the show and understanding the amount of elephants running around in front of you, but it's hard to really fathom that. My favorite part by far though was the battle reenactment. It was Thailand against Burma in costuming that was reminiscent of a couple hundred years ago. So there were swords and spears and such, but also cannons.

The fighters engage! Lots of action!

Very cool costuming though! They had explosions going on all over the field, it was really incredible. Then at the end, they had the king come out on the biggest elephant, a monster of an animal all decorated with gold, and they played the kings song. This is a song that they play all the time here, at 8:00am and 6:00pm every day. So everybody knows it, and is supposed to stand out of respect when they play it. So it made for quite an ending!

Thai traditional dance at ancient ruins

That night we went to a cultural show at some ancient ruins near Surin. Dr. Li and her family took myself, Leah and Amanda to see this. We were expecting to pay for the 100 baht seats (about $3 USD), but she insisted on paying for this, because she was the elder of us. So we let her, assuming this was a cultural thing. Well, this was actually because we didn't sit in the 100 baht section, we sat in the 3000 baht section. Right behind the governor of Surin! Yikes! I felt seriously under-dressed. They started off with a fashion show of Thai silk dresses, so Leah and Amanda were loving that. Then they did a cultural show telling stories of the ruins and legends, etc... There was such beautiful lights and sound, dances and music. All in all, it really gave me a new-found appreciation for this culture and their ways. There are so many things here that ring true of biblical culture. Like the agricultural rice-farming communities, even Thai dance is probably a lot closer to the dance described in the Bible. It puts things in a fresh light. For instance, the descriptions in the Bible of the early and latter rains and how that affected the harvests. Well, here in Thailand things have to happen just right for a good rice harvest, something that a lot of the dear church people depend upon for survival. Too much rain and it drowns the rice, too little, and it withers. You get the picture.

So that was basically the elephant roundup. We had a little more trouble getting around as there were tons of people and literally tons of elephants walking all around Surin. I found myself dodging people and elephants as I motorcycled around the town. What an experience!

-Andrew

A Wonderful Opportunity at SRU

I am still amazed at our Lord. I am honored, humbled... everything at the wonderful chance I had to let these college students know about Jesus. That is all I wanted to do with them, was to let them know that God loved them so much that He came Himself to take care of our sin that we could do nothing about. And I think they understood it. I used many illustrations, both verbal and pictorial, as well as a song at the end. I taught them "How deep the Father's love for us", but had it written in their notes in Thai. I wanted to make sure they understood what it was all about. However, the rest of the lesson was in English (as it is an English class after all!), so I repeated and restated what I was trying to get across. I started off by clarifying some things about Christianity, such as where did it come from. Many people here view Christianity as a European or American religion, so I told them how it really started in the land of Israel in the middle east. I was hoping that would help them to think of this as something that could be for them, instead of writing it off as an attempt to Americanize them.

I told them the story of the gospel as the story of God redeeming mankind to Himself. Think about it, is there a more beautiful story, really? An all powerful God creates man for friendship, and that creation rebels and breaks the one rule that He had set. Because of that, man is separated from his God. Throughout the years, man's attempts to reach God are futile because of his own sin. So God comes down to man Himself and takes the punishment for that sin in the person of Jesus Christ. Because of this, man can be reunited with God. I said more than that, and not using those exact terms, but at the end, I really felt they understood what was being said. And I know they understood the song. I told them over and over again that God loved us so much, that He allowed His own people to kill Him in order to bring us to Him.

I had much freedom to say what I wanted to say, and I certainly am grateful for that, but I was cautioned against pressuring the students. So I simply left it open to come and see me if they had questions about anything. I don't know if they will, but I know they heard about Jesus today. Thank you to all who were praying for this. I want to let all of you know how much we appreciate the prayers, we are excited about the opportunities that God has given us here and are working to make the best use of each one!

I am not sure how many of the students had heard of Jesus before, but I am thankful to God for the chance to present our Savior in such a way. I have found that being here in Thailand makes me think about many things, see things in ways I had not thought of before. It tends to put things in perspective. As I was teaching today, presenting Christ to people who had no idea about this life, it dawned on me yet again the raw power and the incredible love contained in the story of the Jesus. Sure makes it worth dying or living for Him!

Drew

Opportunity of a Life-time...

Hello all you who are praying out there! I wanted to give you a quick prayer request. This week in my "Backgrounds of English Speaking Countries" class, the subject is on religion in English speaking countries. I am planning on taking this opportunity to tell the class about Christianity. Of course, it's not just going to be a history lesson on the church, rather I am going to take them on a 1.5 hour tour through the Bible, looking at what God has done with man, and how that climaxed with the person of Jesus Christ. While I will probably not teach this the exact same way I would in the States (Thailand is open to the gospel, but one shouldn't be careless), it is an incredible opportunity to show them the Way the Truth and the Life. I am going to teach them the song "How deep the Father's love for us" as I believe it embodies the gospel in a clear and powerful way. I have it in Thai with a transliterated copy that I can sing with them. Please be praying that this goes well. Oh, and it's a class of about 60 students, the biggest one I have! But these are the opportunities afforded to me by my position here at SRU. So I praise God that He has put me here and will do the best with the opportunity He has given me. Thank you all, and know that I will report how it goes. I plan on leaving it open ended (I don't think an invitation would be in order...) and inviting them to learn more at the English Bible Study we have on Sundays.

All our love!

Drew

Motorcycle accident

Leah again. Well It happened. I know some of you had bets going.
Friday drew and I where heading out to the local lake near by for some much needed rest time. I was going to drive us there to get my feet wet in driving the motorcycle. As Drew got on the back the bike became unbalanced. I asked him to get off so I could turn the wheel a degree over to get it strait. Suddenly I leaned on the gas to shift, hitting the gas control in the handle. (We where still in my street which is walled on both sides, not on the open road) The bike slammed forward into the wall. I tried reaching for the handle brake but the bike hit me into the wall. The only thing I knew to do was to turn the bike, which was spinning on down the street. It hit a cement flower bed and fell over, spilling me into the street under it. I hurt all over, but I could wiggle every toe and finger. A good sign! All my neighbors came running out into the street. I looked up through my helmet and saw all these nut brown faces jabbering in Thai at me. I was so grateful in that moment for these people. If Drew had not been there they would have gotten me help right away! Drew got me up and they all helped me walk home and get the beck up out of the gutter. They even wanted to take me to the hospital on the back of another motorcycle! Yeah right.... But it was the kindness of these people that meant the most to me. God was so good. Kathy Hayes came right over and helped me clean up and got me to the hospital to check me out. I was so thankful for her and Drew. They kept me smiling through the pain. All of me checked out fine! Just lots of bruises and some road rash. But I am so thankful to God! Even after it happened, I knew that he was in control of it. He had kept me safe. What a blessing that I remembered to wear my jean jacket and pants! When I checked my cloths and my helmet, there was not a scratch, or bump or tear. God literally let me fall without my head hitting a thing. That is a miracle.
I had no control of the bike. And yet God had it all. I am at peace with this and I will get back on that bike again! God is so good!

First Days at Surin Rajhabat University

Well, it's day three on the job and all is well. I was a little nervous the first day, but got over that really quick as things have picked up to a skippy pace. It's actually started to feel something like cold. Haven't felt that in a while, in fact, we had to go out and get some jackets. It's cold in the morning when I ride the motorcycle to work. Anyway, the classes themselves are going very well.

Monday was the big start. My first class was "Creative Writing in English", a class taken by 4th year English students. It went very well, at the beginning of each class this week, we will go through introductions, which always bring laughs as the students cook up their best English to tell me their name, hometown and hobbies. Most hobbies consist of radio, TV, comic books, music, Thai dance, or sleeping. It's been a little interesting trying to take the roll as their names on the roll itself are in Thai. I am trying hard to learn the alphabet, but have a ways to go yet. So I had them write their English nicknames, which helped immensely. During the lunch break, I asked one of the Thai teachers a question about my schedule. When she went to check with the master schedule, she discovered that I had an extra class. Apparently, it was written on the master copy in pencil, and so when it was photocopied for me, the pencil was invisible. In other words, I had no idea about "Features of Extended Writing" until an hour before the class started. So after a quick lunch, I scrambled to put together a syllabus. We didn't have class this week, just went over assignments and such. That was amazing.

Tuesday came and found me starting the day out with the second class in "Features of Extended Writing". Thailand is interesting in its collegiate educational system. When somebody starts in college, they decide a major and stick with it (I suppose anyway). So the English majors come in together, and graduate together. The class takes all the same courses together for their entire college career. So they are usually a pretty intimate group. When they are too big for a class, they will split them up. So while I am teaching 4 subjects, I am actually teaching 6 classes (two classes are split). The second class on Tuesday was "English for Tourism 1", in which we began talking about how to relate to a foreigner. It was really something because I was able to relate the things I have learned coming to Thailand.

On Wednesday I only had one class, "Background of English Speaking Countries". This was a promising and fun subject to teach, and I was very excited about it. Unfortunately, the class was a second year English major class, and so some of what I was trying to communicate was going right over their heads. So I ended up drawing lots of pictures and trying to make things as simple and clear as possible. Whew, I was exhausted after that class!

It's been a very interesting experience already, and it's only day 3! Most of the students in my classes are female, though there are a few male students here and there. One sad thing I find is the amount of transvestite students here. It makes me sad, not out of some spiteful hate (sin is in fact sin), but rather the thought that people really do reject God's natural creation for their own choices. Think about it, somebody who makes these kind of choices, even to the point of undergoing operations (not uncommon here, it's in the hospital brochures), is in essence saying that God did not make them correctly, and so it must change. It is a natural, sinful human tendency to tell God our ideas are better than His. I guess it's just heart-breaking to see people say that in such an outright way. But then again, that is why we are here, to bring God on the scene and let people know how far He came to take away all that sin.

So thank you all for praying, we have surely needed it, and continue to. We are thinking of you and praying for you. Oh... by the way, just as an FYI... we found out we can actually track where people are viewing our site from. It's been encouraging to read all the comments you leave and see where everybody is praying for us from! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Till next time,

Drew

Slight Correction...

Yeah... about that cat. Let's just change all of those "she's" to "he's". This would explain the aggressive behavior, and why we are trying to figure out how to discipline this thing every 5 minutes. 'Nuff said. He is trying to be picky, wanting only wet food at this point. He'll learn, it's dry or die. Okay, not quite that heartless, but he has this pre-teen kind of "meow" where his voice actually cracks. It would be very funny if he wasn't doing it CONSTANTLY. We're learning.

The New Ride

Hello again! God has been so good to us. I say that not because of what He gives us but because of sometimes what He doesn't give us, at least right away. I would have loved to have gotten a motorcycle early on, but circumstances kept getting in the way of that. Circumstances that I realize now were divinely appointed. These are things like having to get the visa in order to get the work permit in order to get the bike. Even once I had all of these, THEN I had to get my address confirmed/verified by the US Embassy. This all may sound simple, but it has taken me a solid month to get it all done (most of it waiting on something to get all the proper stamps and signatures... bureaucracy... ugh!). Finally, a few days ago we were able to get the motorcycle. But before I go into any specifics on the bike, I must give God honor where it is certainly due. See, I really thought we would need this thing right away. God had other plans, clearly. He told me to wait. Nuts, that is really hard, you know! But last week, in the English Bible Study, we were going over Matthew 6:25-34 talking about how God knows what we need much better than what we think we know. So God knew what I NEEDED was to be able to get around. And guess what, we did... without a motorcycle. So we used other ways like bicycle (and we both lost weight!), songtale (like a bus, except it's a truck), tuk-tuk (3 wheeled motorized taxi), and samlaw (3 wheeled bicycle with two-seater). Really, God provided all we needed. Right at the main road near our house, we could access ALL of these alternate forms of transportation. It was really a perfect spot for these. Now though, with the school year coming, it was evident that we needed a motorcycle. These other forms were either getting expensive to do everyday, or were not dependable to get us where we needed to go in time. So God provided at just the right moment. Not a moment too early or too late.

So, here's the motorcycle. It's a Honda (one of my favorite brands) Air Blade. Black and silver, sleak and stylish. All bonus kind of stuff, you know. The best parts are some of the safety features, such as no-startup-if-the-kickstand's-down, locking handlebars (when parked), and the best, combination brakes (meaning that the brakes hit on both front and back wheels simultaneously, as opposed to handbrakes for the front and footbrakes for the rear). The engine is 110 cc 4-stroke, which means it has enough power to get me around quite comfortably, and do so without making a racket. It also means the engine itself is cleaner, quieter and will last much longer than some others. It's a bit different than anything I've experienced before. It's much heavier than a bike, but it has a lot more pick up (my ole' legs just can't compare), and it is pretty easy to maneuver around (here in Thailand, you are usually maneuvering around potholes, cows and dogs... and the occasional cobra, like we did yesterday!).

So for all of you who were (are) petrified about us riding a motorcycle. Your nightmares have come true. And for those of you who actually had faith in us :), praise the Lord He provided this. It really is going to be nice to go to church not sweating through my shirt. A luxury? Perhaps, but I can't help but think the Thais will appreciate not having a sweaty Farang running around the premises. And hey, just think... it will give everyone something else to pray about! (that was supposed to be a joke... we'll see how funny it actually is...)

in Thailand for His Name's sake,

Drew

Cat friend

I, Leah Kilcup announce that yes, I am a cat person, and I am not ashamed. Now that it is said I will get on with the blog. Drew and I had to make an emergency run to Bangkok this weekend. We had to file our proof of residency and obtain a re-entry visa for December. Friday was all business with that but as Saturday rolled in, we decided to go to Chaktu chak Market. Basically its your average Thai exotic market but on a hundred times scale. Anything and everything for sale! Alligator skin boots, snake skin belts, rubies and silver, silk in every jeweled color you can think of, curly toed shoes and exotic head dresses, and food food food! I was so overwhelmed by it. I am pretty used to the markets here but this was overwhelming. We found that one part is devoted to selling pets and animals. If I wanted to I could roll on home with a Mongoose. But instead my friend Amanda helped me find a furry little kitten. It was the most emaciated thing I could find, and it eats like a pig. She slurps and grunts when you feed it... And I love it!

Well, we had to jet back to Surin saturday night and the fastest way was the bus. Let me just share a bit of personal history before I go on.
I have been on old buses in Peru going up the Andies mountains with questionable breaks and gears. Unpaved roads and shear cliffs on one side, with sharp mountain on the other. I thought that was intense. That was nothing compared to flying through the country side in a Thai bus.
The Driver took off at a break neck speed, screeching over curves and bends like a taxi. The bus was a double decker, swaying two and fro, some times on two wheels (I am not lying to you) I thought, perhaps we where just being scared Americans, but when I looked back and saw the terrified faces on the Thai people and hearing their gasps of fear, I knew we where in trouble. When the locals are scared you should be too. Mean while our stewardess would come by handing out snacks and water like we where supposed to be able to eat on that rocking monstrosity! At one curve we all had to lean to the left as the Bus veered into the corner, speeding up faster. Drew clutched the seat arms and held me up so we wouldn't fall into the Isle. People all around us where yelping. Funny thing, the whole time the cat slept under the seat through it all.
When we arrived in Surin the bus driver smiled and bowed to every one as if it had been the best ride ever. Maybe for him. All I know is, I will NEVER get on a bus to bangkok again. Unless the burning bush calls to me to do it, you wont see me near another bus like that again. Ill take the Train thank you!
leah

A Little Paint Goes a Long Way

Hello again all faithful readers! (Or at least, I will imagine such) Here's a bit of an update since the last time. We be painting! That's right, a little lime-green paint and Voila! We have a new house. We have currently only painted the bedroom and bathroom a lime-green, but might do the kitchen area the same color. But we haven't gotten that far yet.

Our newly painted bedroom!

Leah painted the entire bathroom and most of the bedroom by herself while I was at work, then when I got home we finished off the bedroom together. Whew, tiring stuff. But what a satisfying thing it was, made the place look like new. You see, there were all sorts of unidentifiable marks and stains on the wall from who knows what, so to be able to cover them over with some beautiful paint was a real blessing! Thais don't usually go for color on their walls too much, so you don't normally get a house or apartment with colored walls. It's a bit of an anomaly. So as silly as it may sound, it really helped make this place home to have clean walls to look at. You don't really think about things like that until you are in a situation like this, and we have learned how to appreciate something so seemingly insignificant, and yet profound!

Movie Night: The Passion

Well, in our second installment, we had another dinner/movie night at the Kilcups here. Again, the students from the local high school came, which was a really big blessing! We ate Korean Barbecue. You heat coals in a bucket, then put a metal lid/grate kind of thing on top, which has a lip around the edge where you pour a kind of broth. So in the middle is a raised dome where you cook the meat. Around it is a moat of broth where you can cook veggies, ramen type noodles, and meat as well if you like. You just reach in with your chopsticks when it looks done and take what you want. It's really quite fun. We also had a number of different kinds of Thai fruit, the Palmello and Papaya.The ants tried to get to all the good stuff, but they're efforts were... squashed...

Hands reaching with chopsticks into the pot... Yum!

So we watched the "Passion", as a kind of follow-up to the Nativity that we watched a couple weeks back. We had about 11 people show up: Myself and Leah, Jim and Kathy, Orawan, Ya, Neang, Sai, then the students- Korn, Doc, and Foam. So we had a nice crowd. Throughout the movie, Orawan and Ya were again explaining what was going on. Things like the veil tearing in the temple, Judas Iscariot, and so on... Important things about the story that might pass them up. They were extremely interested, and listened and watched very seriously. Even Doc, who is usually making jokes, was very serious. We gave them some tracts about the "Passion" afterward, which had been translated into Thai. We are praying that each step the Lord allows us to take is a step toward their salvation. It would thrill our hearts to see these young people decide to follow our Lord Jesus. What a thrill it was to see Him working in their hearts! They are very tender to it, I think.

Orawan and Korn at the Korean BBQ

Just watching all of this happen made me think about what the Bible says about the "New Covenant". Thinking of human history, and how God interacted with man, and how it culminated in the New Covenant. And to watch the movie as everything unfolds, it reflected back to the last supper, where Jesus says, "this is the blood of the New Covenant". Wow, it all came to what Jesus did, didn't it? What He did on the cross, was God giving us a covenant that was completely of His doing, something that would finally and fully obliterate the sin problem we brought on. Amazing. I am so thankful that God allowed us to see His Holy Spirit working in the hearts of our friends that night. Thank you to all who prayed for this, it isn't the end of the story. No, in fact, it's just the beginning!

Startup at SRU, Adventures in Laos...

Leah in the rain in Laos

Well, I must say it has been quite interesting! I started October 1st, which was not too much of a day. No sooner had I gotten there and sat at my desk, than we began discussing visas. Mine expired on the 4th, and so I needed to get my non-immigrant (which permits me to obtain a work permit) visa, which in Thailand means you need to exit the country and re-enter. This meant traveling three hours to the Thai-Lao border, crossing and working out the visa process. Well, I had initially hoped it would be a day-long deal. Nope. No way, no how. Let's talk three days. Jim was so kind and patient to take us up, he had some books he needed to read anyway for his doctorate. So at the border we found a guy who would take us into Laos and help us through the process, for a fee of course! Jim couldn't go because he would have to sacrifice his visa to do so.

Savannakhet, Laos

So this guy takes us in and we get to the embassy at 11:30. No problem, they're usually open until noon. Not here. Closed at 11:00. Nuts! So he dropped us off at a hotel and said he'd pick us up at 8:30 the next morning. Well, now we had a whole afternoon and evening in Savannakhet, Laos. The town is awfully run down, which wouldn't be a problem except that everybody had their lights off in their shops and nobody was selling food (that we found). It wasn't like Surin, that's for sure. You walk down the street, and there's somebody selling food everywhere you look. So we trudged about in the constant rain, bought some umbrellas finally, and eventually found a couple places to eat. Good thing, 'cause this wasn't over yet.

Faculty of Humanities (where I work) at Rajhabat

The next day we got up nice and early, packed our things and headed to the embassy. We waited, made this copy and that copy and finally thought we had things in order. They asked me for the original copy of my degree. No problem, I brought it to Thailand. Problem, it's in Surin. "That's okay" the guy said, "We'll just charge you another 1,000 baht" (about 30 USD). So instead of paying $30 for a visa, we ended up paying $60. And of course, every time I found out I needed to pay more money (that I didn't have on me) it was a trip to the ATM. Now, Lao money is called the khip, and it is about 281 kihp to the Thai baht. But it's 34.5 baht to the USD. So, it is 9,600 khip to the USD. Imagine now, I had to withdraw about 10,000 baht when it was all said and done, for all the expenses incurred here. That was millions of khip. So only in Laos will I EVER be a millionaire.

Typical Classroom at SRU

Back to the story at hand. After all that and a dozen copies of everything I had, we found out we had to wait ANOTHER day. Ugh. Savannakhet wasn't looking real good at that point. So back to the hotel, which fortunately had cartoon network. Unfortunately, it was all dubbed in Thai. Oh well, it was something! It rained the ENTIRE time we were there. But we did get out and see some things. We saw a dinosaur museum (one room with a couple bones thrown in there) and a book store (we woke some people up who were sleeping on the floor) and actually found a place that served pizza. Finally, the next afternoon we trekked to the embassy at 1:00pm and were FINALLY able to get our visas. So our driver rushed us back across the border, where we met Jim and got ourselves home. Whew, I must say I NEVER want to do that again!

So that was the visa. This past Monday, I started at SRU (Surin Rajhabat University) in a more official sense. I have been putting together course layouts and syllabi and researching for some of my classes. I have 4 classes but 3 subjects. They are...
1. Creative Writing (4th year English majors)
2. English for Tourism (3rd year English majors- two classes for this one)
3. Backgrounds of English Speaking Countries (2nd year English majors)

So that gives you an idea of what I am up to. Pray for Leah, we handed in all of her information, transcripts, resumes, etc... to the Demonstration (elementary) School at Rajhabat and we are waiting for their response with a contract. Pray that happens sooner than later. She has her non-immigrant (piggy-backed on mine), so that's not an issue. Now I just need to go and get my work permit, and we can finally purchase a motorcycle! That makes me very excited, because I have waited upwards of 45 minutes to catch a bus sometimes. Keep praying, God is doing wonderful things!

Movie Night: The Nativity.

Wanted to update everyone on some neat things that God is doing here in Thailand. We had thought of doing something in our home, opening it up, to help build relationships with some of the young people in the church (mostly college age). So we invited anybody who could come to our house for dinner and a movie. Ya thought of inviting the students from the Surawittayakarn School as well. That was really God's doing because I didn't think they would come at first. So we tried out our new grill. Well, that was an experience. Needed a little help from our kind landlady, Pin Nit, to get things started! Once the fire was blazing, we grilled marinated chicken, BBQ chicken, and nicely seasoned steak. It was quite fun and everyone seemed to really like the food. Leah whipped out some Italian fixings for the asparagus, and everyone DESTROYED the stuff. They loved it. Well, then we were trying to decide what movie to put on. We decided on "The Nativity", and I think it was a very good idea. As the students watched the account of Christ's birth and how everything came together for the coming of the Messiah, they asked tons of questions. Orowan and Ya were very busy trying to answer all the questions that flew their way. So... if you are reading this, please pray for these kids as we try to show them our Savior. I believe they are curious, especially one guy named Korn. He was asking lots of questions, they said. We plan to do this again, and show one of the movies about Christ's life and death. It was a very good avenue to get the gospel into their minds so they would think about it. One thing I liked, is that the movie was the gospel, but they were all Jewish people. It wasn't the "western" religion. And I think that makes a big difference, it is helpful if they can see the gospel as something that is for the whole world, not just Americans or Europeans.
So, that was our "movie night". It was a wonderful way to meet people and build those integral relationships needed to do anything here. But it was also a great way to present the gospel itself... that God became man, dwelt among us, and ultimately sacrificed His life for ours. Incredible.

The Little Things in Life

Leah here.
I am writing now as it rains like buckets outside our windows. On nights like this it gives me time to sit and think about all that God teaches. To be honest, I have found it a hard thing to be here in Thailand. It is not the people or their country that bothers me. Nor is it the dirt or the smells or the food. What I find hard is the hole that is left when you say good buy to people you love and know. I have been told, "oh your just suffering from Culture shock. You will get used to it." But I know that I am not meant to just get used to it. I am meant to learn and grow through this loneliness. God has a purpose for every thing he gives us. And loneliness is one of those gifts from him. It has put me in a place where all I have is him. When I cry I can't just reach out to my family or call up a friend. I find instead his Bible and I hear his voice. I cannot help but know that this is so much more than what a friend or family could give me.

The way life comes at you

Whoa! Long Time, No Post!

Well, things have definitely gotten busier. We are now adjusting much better to life here in Surin. Although I cannot say at all that we are out of our culture shock yet. We have been reading some very good books about culture shock and transitioning to a new country. Many times, people think they have to completely blend into the new culture and that makes it overwhelming and eventually discouraging. Because it doesn't really happen. One book was saying that the goal is not to "go native" and completely forget where you came from. I remember in college, that was the attitude of some people. They were renouncing American life to go live with the people of the world. Problem is, that will never really happen. As an American, I will always be American, I was born and raised in that culture and really cannot divorce that completely. Nor should I, in my view. And honestly, do we expect foreigners to act and think EXACTLY as we do? I don't, anyway. I actually hope they will keep the culture of their homeland alive. And I don't think the Thais expect me to become completely Thai and do nothing American.

Now, that's not to say that I build my little American ghetto where I retreat from all things Thai. That's the other extreme. Rather, this book was saying that you become bicultural. So I am an American, living and functioning in Thailand. I adapt to the Thai way of life and learn to speak and live and spread the gospel effectively in this land, in their way. Wow, what a revelation! It makes it easier to transition when I realize that. So it's okay to enjoy things American, to miss home, and do silly things here that are normal in America. As long as I have a sense of humor. (Like hitting my head on every awning because I'm a wee bit taller than many here)

Well, as far as our life here goes, we have had some great opportunities with the students from the nearby school. We have set up a regular Friday night English study with them. It is primarily to help them with their English, but we hope to be able to share the great news of our Lord with them as we progress. We see them everywhere now, in the market, at school plays, driving down the road. And they have even come out to church a couple times since the Anchor group left. So praise the Lord! Relationships are being built out of which the gospel can be shared with them.

So here are a couple pictures of our opportunities with the kids. Pray that God will keep opening the doors to work with them and tell them the Good News!

Until next time,

Andrew Kilcup

Ministry in Thailand

Well, despite our constant battles with this illness and that sickness, I wanted to take a moment and fill you in on the ministries we have been able to be a part of while here in Thailand. Really, I'm surprised how much we have been able to do without even knowing a lot of Thai yet! Still, our heart is to learn this language so we can be a little more effective. Look, let's just say I'm already a wee bit tired of just pointing and grunting while in the market. I'd like to speak in proper Thai.

Anyway, first God has blessed us with the English Bible study held at the church on Sunday nights. The service is quite simple, songs sung from paper and a guitar. We give testimonies of God's work in our lives, share prayer requests with each other and then I have the privilege of sharing God's Word. Currently, we are studying through the teachings of Jesus and have been working our way through Matthew 5. It has been very encouraging, if not just for myself!

Secondly, the ministry that we had at the schools when the Anchor team was here has carried on. We have seen the students in the church at least twice now, and hope to see them come back in the future. They are pictured here with us and the Hayes.
One of my most exciting ministry opportunities was during my interviewing at Rajhabat University in Surin. The interview went just fine, and I am waiting to hear back as to when I can sign a contract. But the next day, I went in and met the teacher I will be replacing, Peter. He actually grew up in a Baptist home, but has since given up on Christianity. Interestingly enough though, he had gotten his degree in theology (before he says he was finished with Christianity). All things considered, he is still very much interested in theological things, so we enjoyed some good conversation around various topics of theology. One thing he could not get over is the Joshua story where God seems to command the slaughter of innocent women and children, especially the children. So we talked for a while about that, and it gave me a wonderful opportunity to describe to him the God of the Old Testament, who is not only judgment, but also love and compassion. I think in his worries about the ethics of the situation, he doesn't really see how merciful God was in allowing the people of Jericho ample time to repent and turn from their ways. Either way, he said I made him rethink some of the things he questioned. I am praying for his salvation, even though he grew up Baptist, it didn't seem to be the best example to him of Christianity. Pray through the love and consistency of myself and Orowan (a fellow teacher that goes to Surin Baptist) Peter will be drawn to the Lord!

Well, hope that gives you a glimpse of what God is doing through us at this time in Thailand. We are currently in the throws of culture shock. Wow, I can't say I expected everything I'm feeling. But as we have been reading some missionary bios of people who came to this area, we find ourselves saying, "Yeah, that's what I'm feeling!" So it's good to be in with that company! Keep praying for us, we surely need it!

-Drew Kilcup

Thai Fever: Round Two

Ding ding! And another round of illness for the Thai Kilcups. That's right, no sooner had Drew gotten over his fever than Leah came down something. This was Sunday morning and Leah had come down with her own 100+ fever. We weren't able to see the doctor until Sunday night. When we finally were able to get to the hospital, we found out it wasn't just a fever, it was a kidney infection! Wow, that was a little scary. But God was still so good.

The next three days found us making regular visits to the hospital for a series of shots that Leah needed. Ouch! Still, every day found the situation getting progressively better. It made for a long week, but one that God used in a unique way in our lives. He just kept drawing us closer to Himself and each other. Through each hardship and trial, God just knit our hearts together with Him. Was it a lot of fun? Of course not, but it was priceless for our marriage and our relationship with our God.

Please keep praying for Leah as she struggles with homesickness. It has been very hard for her all of a sudden and needs prayer. She knows God has us here for a good purpose but misses familiarity. Please keep us in your prayers.

Thai Fever: Round One

Well, you know it had to be coming. You don't go to a foreign country without getting sick in some kind of way. But I didn't really expect this. Thursday, I started to feel a little bad. I woke up that morning with a cold, again, didn't really see that coming. We went on with the day, and I just kept getting more and more tired and the cold symptoms kept getting worse. We rode over to the church to try and upload some pics and videos, but I couldn't last long, I was so tired. A few of our friends from church came over to see our place, and so we stayed up until about 9:00pm. I was exhausted. So I laid down on the couch and we tried to watch some TV. Leah felt my head and said I was burning up. So we took my temperature... 102! Ouch. So off went the TV and into bed I went.

It was a long night fighting the fever. Leah stayed right there, making sure I didn't cover up too much and kept the cold air on the outside and the water on the inside! I've never drunk so much water in my LIFE! The next day, we kept taking the temperature and it stayed around 101-102. So it was off to the Thai hospital. It was a great experience, I was in and out in 30 minutes and had seen the doctor and received medication all for about $10.00! Wow! So all yesterday I just took it easy and kept on the meds. Today the fever was down to about 99, and I felt good enough to come over and update everyone! Praise the Lord. We were worried it might be this or that, especially the Dengue Fever which can last for two weeks. The doctor said he thinks it is just a flu that developed from the cold. I have been doing much better since and am regaining more and more strength every day!

Thank you all for praying and remembering me! God has been so good to us here.

-Drew

The many missadventures of the Drewster and the La.

Day one...ant explosion. We have been told that the ants in Thailand are unlike any other. They get into everything and there is preaty much nothing you can do about it but store EVERYTHING in tupperware. The first day we moved into our home we noted a black oily spot on the wall. It was a nest! I start yelling for Drew who runs to fill a bucket of water. (take note that we had no bug spray) I start beating on the ants with a broom. They start running up the handle and attack my arms and start biting my legs. Drew comes to the rescue and dumps the water. The water serves to flush the whole ant army over Drew's own feet as well. It was a Lucy, Ethel moment. Suddenly out of nowhere our five foot savior comes running with a can of bug spray! Our Thia land lady saved the day, all the while smiling away as she blasted the suckers.

Day two...Bike flip. Conquering the ants and rising as heroes we went out and purchased a new bike for me (The la) I was so excited! I have not had my own bike since I was 14. It has a bell and a basket and place for boxes on the back and it's oh so shiny! All day Drew and I zipped around riding, loving the feeling of the wind through my hair. We stopped at the store and on the way home it began to get dark. I flipped on my brand new bike lite and was ringing my bell and loving the wind and when suddenly I took a curve too fast! As I flew through the air all I could think of was, "I must protect the bike. I fell, it landed on me and grocerys went every where. Do not worry folks. The bike is fine!

The La

Saying good by in Bangkok

Well, we took the teens back to Bangkok this week and had a few days to explore the city with them. Why is it when you want to do outdoor sightseeing you get hit with the hottest day so far on our visit? We went to the Royal palace and dripped our way through. But it was a lovely cultural expedience. They require a dress code and two of our ladies pants where showing ankles! Shock! So they actually h ave you where one of their wrap Thai skirts to be more "modest" if you will. It is good to respect one's culture though and the girls laughed it off in good fun. Jean, one of the girls, actually went out after and bought a skirt just like the one she had to where because she liked it so much.
The next day we went to the worlds largest crocodile farm. It was really amazing! We got to watch a show where they put their heads in the crocs mouths and wrestle them about. (why anyone in their right mind would do that is beyond me..) We where able to feed the crocs chicken on a string. Kinda like fishing, except in stead of guppies you get a three hundred pound crock jumping up at you. We pet gibbon monkeys as well who kept trying to steel our glasses. He was a soft as a teddy bear but as clever as a fox.
The highlight was when they brought out a full grown female tiger. For six dollars I was able to sit with her, scratch her back and take pictures! It was one of those life long dreams of mine. Bet you can't do that in the states! Ha ha...It was so soft and warm to touch one. She kept rumbling and purring. Don't worry folks. She was wearing a large collar with chain attached! When we left I looked down at my shirt and realized I had tiger fur on it. Very amazing!
When the time came to say good by to the teens I suddenly began to struggle. I had had such an amazing time with them that I didn't stop to think about what it would be like to not have them around. Each one I felt I was able to get to know and love more as we spent time together. My only prayer was that their time here helped them to grow closer to their God.
As they gave us tearful hugs and jumped on the van I realized my last connection to the states was leaving. We waved long after they had turned a corner and for a second a wild part of me wished I was with them still. But deep in my heart there is a constant knowing that this is where I am meant to be. Along side Drew and with God I can be anywhere.
la kilcup

First Week in Thailand

It has certainly been a packed week! So much going on, sometimes we feel like we haven't much gotten our feet under us yet. But at the same time, God is so very good to us. We have had abundant opportunity to serve Him and been a part of so much going on! No doubt about it, the transition from the United States to Thailand is not an easy one. But then we have to remember that it is only the first week and we shouldn't expect ourselves to just acclimate right away.

We did a lot of teaching in the schools this week, opening up some doors to the area high schools. Pictured is Andrew leading a game of "Red light - green light" teaching the English words for directions and traffic symbols. Through such seemingly simple teaching, we were able to build relationships with not just the students at the school, but teachers as well. Leah and I were able to talk with one of the teachers, who is taking English herself. Bridges were built which will hopefully turn into future opportunities. It is amazing how something as simple as English can really open such doors to tell others about our Jesus!

We were also able to visit the elephant village, a certain "must" for the Anchor group to see while in Surin. They put on quite a show too, pictured is Andrew getting walked over by one of these elephants. Obviously, I am alive, I'm writing this blog! But I must say having such a humongous bestie treading over your chest is not exactly relaxing! What a place though, dozens of elephants just walking all over the place. Not something you will see in America.

We are just so thankful to the Lord for how He has taken care of us. He has given us new and old friends. Leah has picked up where she left off with her friends she made in 2003, and Andrew has been able to make friends as well during the week. Some of the student helpers we met at the schools this week came to Sunday service! Wow, that was exciting. One of them was studying graphic design, and so I was able to show him some of my work. I was excited that we connected on a level, because that is a bridge built through which the gospel can be taken to this guy. The teens were able to build many bridges as well, pictured are some of the guys playing a Thai sport, Takraw. It is like hacky sack in the US, but over a badminton style net. Very interesting, and our guys didn't do so bad!

Again, thanks to all who are praying for us. We are doing well, struggling with everything that is new, but excited about what God is already doing in us!

First Couple Days in Thailand

Greetings again, I am glad to finally be able to write and update our blog! So far so good here. We are beginning to learn how difficult it is to adapt to such a place. We came over with the teens from Anchor Baptist and have have been encouraged with how excited they are to try everything. Still, there is that voice in the back of our heads that reminds us that all of these new things will have to become our new "normal" if we are to truly adapt. That's harder than it may seem! The flight in was relatively uneventful, apart from a grumpy passport checker at the Thai airport. After we got through that, we had a wonderful reuniting with the Hayes and the Joneses at the airport. Matt Jones was holding a sign that read, "Drew and Leah are cool"... what a welcome!

After a short night's sleep, we began trekking to Surin, stopping at some very old ruins along the way. Surin is a wonderful little town, and we have enjoyed our time here. Today (Sunday) was a wonderful experience in Satuk Baptist Church. The group sang and played instruments and gave testimonies of what God is doing in their lives.

In the evening I lead an English Bible study here at the church. We are excited to get moved in and settled here. We paid up on our house and received the keys, now we just need to move in. For all of those praying for us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It is difficult, no way around that, but God is greater than any difficulty we may encounter. His people here are so wonderful and are making the transition more of a pleasure than a trial! Until next time! ...

Thailand here we come!

Well, after 3 attempts, we finally have gotten our Thai visas! Can't tell you how excited we are to get that out of the way. Now, we are simply counting down the days to our departure on August 02 and scrambling to get last minute details in order before we head out! We did have quite a time getting things ready for the visas though. First, we went down on Tuesday to DC (the Thai Embassy) in order to apply for our visas. The guy told us we could come by and pick them up the next day (Wednesday). Wow, what a great deal! So we excitedly traveled through DC the next day (about as much fun as a root canal without novicane) only to find out that one piece of information was missing. The guy kindly told us to come back the next day... ... ... I must confess I wasn't the most happy or rejoicing kind of person at that very moment. But at any rate, we traveled back to Glen Burnie and re-rescheduled a trip to DC for Thursday. Finally once we navigated through the endless jungle of one-way streets, we arrived at the Thai Embassy. With trembling hands I walked through the doors and asked for the visas. They simply handed them to me and said, "thank you". That was it... ... ... Three days, but hey, we have our visas now! So God really did work it out just fine, and all my worrying and fretting did nothing but populate my stomach with butterflies! Lesson learned, God really does know best... and hey, I now know the way to the Thai Embassy in DC by heart!