Thankful Thanksgiving

LifePoint Team Thanksgiving 2013

"Today we are going to celebrate Thank God Day." We told our taxi driver as we piled into his car with yummy smelling, freshly baked pans of deliciousness.

"Have you ever heard of Thanksgiving?"  We asked him.  When he responded "no," we explained about the holiday.

"There's no holiday like that in Thailand."  He told us.

- - - - - -

Wouldn't it be awesome if "Thank God Day" became a Thai holiday too?

Wouldn't it be great for the holiday to be remembered and celebrated as it began?

I am encouraged and challenged by this reminder about Thanksgiving's beginning,

"The mission trip started with great hope. Their pastor wished the families well and prayed for them as they set out on this adventure.  But now their food supplies were critically low, there was no way to return home, no hotels for shelter and bitter cold would soon begin claiming victims.

"The Thanksgiving holiday did not start as a result of great abundance but in the midst of pain, loss, grief and sorrow. Though surrounded by the enemy on all sides these believers chose to look heavenward and express gratitude.

"They did not thank God because there were no challenges or because life was easy. They recognized He owed them nothing but they owed Him everything."
(www.rickmalm.com/thanksgiving)

I have so much to be thankful for.  Among many other things, I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve overseas, to see God's kingdom expanded and share of his great mercy.

What makes the top of your "Thank God" list? 

Wonderful Whirlwind ABCs (Part 1)

whirlwind (hwûrlwnd) noun : 2. a confused rush

That's the best word to describe the past couple of months for me.  It has been a wonderful confused rush.  Really wonderful.

A Biasi family tradition is to remember a time by making a summary by choosing a word for each letter of the alphabet.  So here's my alphabet summary:

A - Ahan (Thai for "Food").  Lots of delicious, home-cooked American and Thai food. 

Grandma and me making bagels.

B - Boiling Bagels and Baking pies, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and holiday desserts.

C - China.  A quick stop in China to visit my friend Adrienne was an encouragement to us both.

Downtown Shanghai, China.

D - Decorating for Christmas.  It's been a few years since I have gotten to help put up the Christmas decorations and decorate the tree.  This year reminded me of my kid years of decorating, at almost everything I pulled out of the box, I exclaimed, "Oh, wow, it's so beautiful!  I forgot
about this one!  Look at this!"

E - Elephant, White Elephant.  Christmas at Community Bible Church wouldn't be complete without our White Elephant gift exchange.  Many laughs and another fun experience to share with a few international friends. 

Brother, me and Auntie at Christmas.

 F - Family.  The holidays were made extra special by the fact I got to spend them with my family.

G - Gathering.  Part of Thai culture is to bring small gifts back for your friends when you return from traveling.  This trip I had some special requests: beef jerky, taco seasoning, Almond Joy candies bars, sparkly lip gloss, and snow.  (Yes, I brought some snow back too...in plastic form.)

H - Hosting and Hospitality.  Each was visit special whether I was the host or I was being blessed by the wonderful hospitality of good friends.

First time gingerbread house engineers!

I - International Students.  Trips to the grocery store, mingling with 50+ people for Sunday Dinners, sharing holiday traditions like cutting down a Christmas tree and building gingerbread houses all made for great memories.

J - not Justify Just enJoy.  A relief and praise this visit was the freedom God gave me to enjoy the fact that I have two worlds.  I can enjoy my American world without feeling guilty or like I
have to justify my American home.

K - Kids' Sunday School.  When I got to share about Thailand for the kids' Sunday School class, we learned a few Thai words, about the 10-40 Window, and how the kids can be missionaries in their own city.

L - Life Care.  I got meet many people and share my testimony with the elderly people during the weekly church gathering. 

Taking turns cutting down the tree.

M - Mountains where Christmas trees live!  This was a first for the Chinese and Japanese student we brought along. 

N...

Next week part 2 


Thank you so much for your hospitality while I was in the States.  It was so good to visit with so many friends!

A Week of Beauty

The beauty of intricate details. 
We saw thousands of flowers at a giant flower exposition.  The orchid section was my favorite, so many colors and designs.  It reminded me of Disneyland for adults. 

 The beauty of human creations.

The beauty of relationships

...with like hearted Thais and Americans.

The beauty of expectation.

We tried to watch the sun rise at  Huai Nam Dang, a national park in the northern province of Mae Hong Son.  But we had to settle for the novelty of shivering in the cold and taking pictures instead (still fun!)

The beauty of ingenuity.

Almost anything can be used go get around and make a living. This style taxi (three wheeled bike) is still used many places.  It's great, as long as you don't have much luggage.  

 The beauty of time past. 

This bridge was used during World War 2.

The beauty of teamwork.

This sign was on the bridge.  Do you think they imported the steel?  I wouldn't want to be the one paying the shipping fees for that!

The beauty of exploration.

I had no idea Thailand had canyons like this to explore.  It reminded me of some great family vacations. 

 The beauty of fresh fruit.  

Strawberry farm!  No picking today, just eating.  :)

And this is what we didn't eat...grilled toads.  

The beauty of options.

Not everyone has that choice.

The beauty of simplicity. 

Camping Thai style = simple. 

With one pot, we cooked packages of Top Ramen style noodles one at a time, piling the noodles on a sheet of foil once cooked.  Then we boiled vegetables to add to the noodles, sprinkled on some seasoning and squeezed some lime juice on top.  Tossed it together and then everyone grabbed a fork to eat.  Delicious!

 

The beauty of creativity.  

Foil works for a plate just fine, and we can share the plate.  Be creative with what you have.  

The beauty of generosity.  

We chose a pumpkin at the market, but when the lady cut it in half to sell us a chunk, it wasn't good inside.  She cut the bad part out and gave us the good part for free, cut into pieces just as we needed them.  At the campsite, we wrapped the pumpkin in foil and set it in the coals to roast as a treat after dinner. (Lisa really did like the pumpkin, even though the color was scary.)

The beauty of basic.

Aka, our tent site.  Basically, you just put up your tent where ever looks good to you and in the evening the guy who owns the land comes around and collects 60 Baht ($2) from each person for the night's rent.  No check-in/check-out times, no reservations. There was lukewarm water, however, which was a step up from our camping last year, a wonderful surprise.

The beauty of creation.

Wachirathan waterfall was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  

The beauty of new friends.

We took plenty of pictures...over 700 by the end of the week.  This one is with a new friend, Chaow (right), who we met along the way.

The beauty of tradition.  

Although a lot has changed, the Karen Hill Tribe Village we visited still kept many traditions.  Making silk scarves, shirts, and dresses is a way of life.

The beauty of hand-made. 

Their method of sewing is incredible. 

The beauty of culture.

At 8,000 feet, Doi Inthanon is Thailand's tallest mountain, so this trip we visited "The Highest Spot in Thailand."  The interesting part was that behind this sign, some stairs led us to a Buddhist statue and shrine on the actual tallest point.  It was good reminder to pray that the God who created this land would be known throughout and worshiped alone on the mountaintops.

The beauty of perspective.

It got down to 44 degrees (7 C*) at night on the top of the mountain, but when we were there mid-day it was about 60 degrees (15 C*).  It really did feel cold, even though I realize for most, this time of year, that would feel warm. 

Praise God for his creation of this beautiful land!

"Shower, O heavens from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the lord have created it." Isaiah 45:8

 

The beauty of hospitality.

Lampang is the province where NamFon's aunt, uncle, and cousins live.  They were incredibly hospitable and made us feel right at home.

The beauty of community. 

The family took us hiking like last year. We also got a tour of the community school, the rice and bean fields, the guava orchard, and the pig stalls, each place meeting more people who were treated as family and happy to meet us.

The beauty of a year's work.

It was encouraging to be able to understand the jabberings of the 8 year old niece this time around and to see the progress the 12 year old had made in learning English.

Have you ever...

eaten a taco with onion rings on it? 

I glanced over and Tom was filling a taco; his first taco ever.  Karl had just explained how you take a tortilla, put some meat in the middle, top it with tomatoes and lettuce then fold it in half and enjoy.  Tom missed the fact that the onion rings and catchup were just a side dish, so those went into the taco too.  He took his first bite and smiled.  A success!







The evening began with a run to the market (well, actually we walked.)  Then, while Karl taught Nid how to make the meat, I taught Shar how to make tortillas.




"You're going to make rice, right?" Nid asked.  "We have to have rice to get full."  (While this sounds strange to the western way of thinking, if you've eaten rice with almost every meal for your entire life, it's a strange idea to have a meal without it.)  I explained that we normally don't eat rice with tacos, but we made some anyways because it helps the meal stretch.  In a dorm, you never know how many people are going to show up when the food is ready.  :)  The idea of a meal without rice made Nid's face crinckle up in confusion,  "Is that even possible, how are we going to be full?"

With rice on all of our plates, tacos and onion rings on the side, we all filled up quickly.  Towards the end of the meal, Nid said, "I'm too full of flour to eat my rice."  I just smiled.  It's fun to gently challenge ideas of how things "have to be."

From English to Onion Rings

I prefer teaching informal English classes ten times over formal classes.  One reason is that I can teach more specifically to what the students are waning to learn.  When one student got a new job and needed to correspond by email in English, we spent a couple weeks talking about why we don't write, "Looking forward to hearing from you soonest," and polite ways to say, "We really need the shipment now!"

This week's English class began as usual, some conversation about the past week, practicing a few new grammar points, and answering some questions that came up about tricky exceptions to the "rules."  From there, we somehow began talking about food, probably because 6:00 p.m. was approaching and our stomachs were beginning to rumble.  We decided it would be a great day to practice the English we use in the kitchen, so out came the noodles and spaghetti sauce (Thanks to good friends in the States, we had a packet of spaghetti sauce seasoning which made everything even easier!)

With a leftover onion, O taught us to make onion rings.  What began as English class became a wonderful evening of building friendships, eating, and having fun. 

Challenging

 

One of the ways I try to encourage the girls in my dorm is through challenging them to step out of their comfort zones.  Weekly, we go to the campus to invite students to English classes as well as to our night of dinner and worship.  Some girls look forward to our Tuesday outings, and others try to avoid them as much as possible. 

This week N agreed to join us.  She was hesitant but willing.  As she and I walked through the campus we agreed that I would get the conversation started and then she would build on it.  From my point of view, these conversations were quite hilarious because I can never tell how much people understand of what I say in Thai.  The great thing is, N has been listening to me speak long enough to understand me and clarify what I said. 


I began in Thai with something like, "Hi.  How are you?  Do you speak English?"  (They always said no.)  "We have an English class every Wednesday, and today we eat dinner and worship Jesus Christ.  Would you like to come?"  We would all laugh as I forgot important words or said things with the incorrect tone, but it was a good way to get a conversation going.  N took over from there.

 

New friends, ready to hang out.

As much as I prayed for the students we were talking to, I also prayed for N.  My prayer for all the students in the dorm is that they are not only enjoying knowing Christ themselves, but that Jesus grows in them a desire to tell others about Him.  The community within the dorm is amazing because it is built around loving God and loving others.  However, God doesn't want us to get nice and cozy in our comfortable, loving, Christian cocoons and stay there.  I pray God turns the girls' eyes outward, growing their hearts for all the others here in Thailand and around the world.

While I would love for some of the students we spoke with to come to English class and worship night, I pray N and the others become more comfortable, willing, and even excited about telling others about the God who changed their lives so radically.

 

Enjoying dinner before Tuesday worship. 

Refugee Beads

 

 I see colorful piles of round, square, big, small, flat, fat, objects with holes in them.

Nadine sees unassembled jewelry.

I see pliers, scissors, crimps, clasps, and wires.

Nadine sees jewelry making tools.

I see a beautiful necklace, a present for my aunt.

Nadine sees a part-time income to feed her family.

Nadine and five other refugee women gather weekly to make jewelry for Refugee Beads.  Every Friday evening we carpool with the ladies to church.  We enjoy dinner together first and then get down to business.  Piles of beads, wires, loops, and clasps soon become earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.  The ladies sign and package each piece of jewelry, attaching a tag that explains the heart behind Refugee Beads.  Jewelry is sold at open air markets, churches, small groups, and craft fairs.  

 Through our evenings of making jewelry together, packaging hundreds of pairs of earrings, laughing at stories, creating new styles, tasting new food, we have built strong relationships.  It is an amazing opportunity to learn from the ladies through their stories of coming to know Christ, becoming a refugee, and moving to the United States.

Taco Night...In Pictures!

We began by learning how to make tortillas from Eileen.

It took a lot of practice.

Then we learned how to make a Thai dessert.

Soy boiled some frog eggs...I mean tapioca...

Then we learned how to make a sweet egg. 
(You poach it in sugar water.)

The boys were responsible for figuring out how to get the coconut milk out of the coconut.

Time to eat!

Eileen demonstrated how to build a taco.

Then everyone made their own.

Boy, Knock, and Soy's first bite.


Yumm!!!

Dessert time. 

Frog eggs (I mean tapioca) and sweet egg in warm coconut milk.  It was very tasty!

Knock made a birthday cake for Jill.

Our friends sang Happy Birthday to Jill in Thai then in Korean.

Mina noticed this poster in my room.  We had a good discussion about what it means.

Game time!

Jinga was a familiar favorite in both Korea and Thailand.

(But it might not be Eileen's favorite anymore.)

Before the evening was over we had to dress Jill up like a Thai warrior.

 Many good memories!