Sa Kaew
We got back early this morning from Sa Kaew, which is P'Nueng's hometown. It was amazing! We left Sunday afternoon after morning service. During morning service, Katie was given a warm thank you from the church. After service, we packed up and we were on our way to Sa Kaew with P'Nueng, P'Tdon and 2 of our English students. Once we got there, we ate dinner and then went to the house where we were staying. Then, we went to karaoke at a place P'Nueng used to go to when he was younger. His best friend P'Thee came along with us who is not a Christian. After we sang karaoke for 3 hours we went back to P'Thee's house and went to bed.
The next morning, we got up and went to a temple that was overrun with monkeys. After that we went to P'Nueng's family's house and got to see the farm where he grew up. We picked a few papayas and we all got to help make some papaya salad! It was delicious. Afterwards, we went to a market and walked around for a little bit. Afterwards, we drove back to P'Thees and got cleaned up a little bit. Then we went and ate dinner at a restaurant that P'Thee took us to and Ross, Amos, Justin, and I went and sang on stage. P'Thee took us to a carnival afterwards and then we had to say goodbye. Before we left, though, he told us all how much he enjoyed having us around and how he saw the joy that we had with each other and how it wasn't anything like other foreigners that he's seen. He also wants us all to come back and see him next year. I promised him I would.
Today we went to the grand palace and allowed the girls to do some sight seeing. It was an eye-opener for them to see people bowing down to statues. There was actually something going on at the palace today and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha was full of people. After the palace we came back and got ready for Na Sao's house. We had a full house of people at Cell group tonight and it was great. Amos, Ross, Justin, and I also got to try a super-spicy dish and it was incredible! It was so hot that we were sweating and coughing and nearly crying, but it was an experience worth having. Tomorrow we have lessons. That's all for now.
In His service,
Tong
