Kickball, Nail Polish, & Elephants...Oh My!

Saturday Evening...7:00 pm - It's been a jam-packed day....but we will start with last night. The team traveled 30 minutes from the orphanage to the area of Hot Springs. (There are literally hot springs there that people visit - they are supposed to be therapeutic.) The older orphans came along as well. A church in Hot Springs was having a retreat for the children. It was a night of singing and teaching from the Bible. The area was fairly remote - road signs were scarce. Neither of us would be able to find this church again if we had to. By the time we arrived, it was dark, and it felt like we were in the depths of the Thailand jungle. The lights of the church seemed to attract every type of insect, moth, and mosquito in the area. But the geckos that crawled on the ceiling of the church found it to be a great feeding ground.

We were able to download some photos, so here are a few more pictures. The first is a shot of several of the university students in Cambodia. This picture was taken during the last night with them in Cambodia. It's amazing how quickly relationships are built and how hard it is to leave after only a few days of being with them. They are phenomenal young people.



The next photos show the orphanage in Thailand. A wall was recently built in front of the orphanage with the help of a businessman from Holland. The marble sign in front marks the entrance. There is a building with a dining hall and room for the church service. There are also two dormitories like the one shown in the picture below. These were recently finished and replace the bamboo and grass structures. The new dorms are protecting the children from snakes and scorpions that frequented the bamboo structures. The kids sleep in bunkbeds. The next goal is to buy wardrbobes so that the kids can hang their clothes.




We mentioned previously about the worship time that the children had the first night that we were here. The picture below shows the children singing their songs. It was great to hear them singing, not only loudly, but on pitch. You can also see a picture of Chipper (Keith) with a couple of the kids after the service.




The picture below shows Jen buying goods from the Palong Christian woman in the hill tribe village. This was also the place where we brought medicine. We didn't haggle on prices during this shopping treat as this is one of their primary sources of income.



Today (Saturday) the goal was to teach the older kids how to play kickball. They started by doing an explanation through an interpreter and showing drawings on a white board. Then the Americans played a game to show the kids how it is done. The kids picked it up very quickly, and fun was had by all. However, even at 10:00 in the morning, it is very hot here. The pale-faced Americans were dragging slightly. Take a look!



While the older kids were learning kickball, the younger kids were painting nails, playing with bubbles, jumping rope, and playing all sorts of games. Three of the team members (Ruth, Julie, and Jen) were painting the girls' nails. As we were doing that, the boys came over, and they didn't want to be left out of the fun. There are now several little boys with pink and purple fingernails and toenails.



This afternoon, the team went to a local tourist attraction - the Elephant Show. It was definitely our favorite tourist attraction so far. We got to see the elephants play the harmonica, play soccer, build with logs, and....paint pictures. They are surprisingly good artists and there paintings go for between 2000 and 4500 Baht ($60-$120). They have great trunk control...a very steady stroke with the brush.

Afterward, we got to go on an elephant ride. It was a pretty smooth ride for an elephant. You can check out the pictures below.





Tonight, we are blogging at the "internet cafe" at the orphanage. The children are getting ready to watch a Shrek movie with Thai subtitles and eat popcorn. This is a real treat for them.

One question that was posed to us was about church here. Tomorrow (Sunday morning) we will be attending church here at the orphanage with the children. An American couple from Virginia (Mike and Debbie) recently moved here for their second tour of duty on the mission field. Mike is a pastor who speaks Thai who leads the service.

For those of you from Vista...you will be happy to know that the Vista branding is making its way around the world, and is not only in Dublin, Ohio. (Just like Chipper's nickname! - see previous entries to understand this:)