Buriram

I've made it back from Buriram last week without a problem at all. Getting there was looking at first like it wasn't going to happen after we kept getting lost trying to leave a nearby city and ended up making a 5 hour car trip in about 8 or 9 hours. Thai people love to give you directions to where you want to go (pressumably because it makes them look smart) even when they have no idea where you want to go. Consequently, we arrived in Buriram at the church across the street from the families house around 2:30 in the morning. I slept upstairs above the church while the family slept in their house across the street. The family was poor when they were living in the slums of Bangkok, and now for the last 9 months they have been living in a villiage, still poor, but with a seemingly better quality of life. It's quieter at least. I was able to meet a bunch of people from the small villiage that would come to church, or that would know the family. I stuck out pretty badly as the only white guy around. Not to mention that I usually never have to look up to see someone in the eyes. That's a picture above of me and the family. We went to a lake nearby for some lunch and to relax at a restaurant on the beach.

I can't remember these guys names, but I'm sure I'll be seeing them again. They all go to the small church here that P Charlee (the father of the fam) leads. The first guy is a carpenter that was putting a small room on the back of P Charlees house when I arrived Friday, the next guy farms a rice field nearby (an impressive looking field at that) and the last guy asked us for a ride into town the first day. We never did give him a ride back even though I was pretty sure we were supposed to wait for him. He's still alive anyways.

P Charlee teaches at the church on Sunday mornings and leads a bible study there on Friday nights. He spends a lot of other nights at prayer meetings or praying for the people around the villiage that come and ask for help. His days are spent farming a rice field. Most of the guys around here work 7 days a week without a break. It's a pretty poor villiage. The church they have is small, being as most people are Buddhist. There's about 30 people or so in the church. P Charlee's daughter, Cherry, and son, Peach, help with the worship on Sundays. Usually there's another couple guys there for guitar and singing, but they were out that day so I got to help play the guitar with the kids. It was a great time getting to play with them. When I stayed in the slums with them the kids were usually so shy with me and Keith and hardly talked to us. Now at 10 and 12 years old they are leading worship for the church, playing keyboard, bass, and drums. It was a lot of fun.

This is a picture of me and a lot of the children from the villiage who went to church on Sunday. We're standing on a place they are hoping to be able to build an actual church someday. Now they meed in the bottom of a house across the street from this land, but P Charlee is trying to get enough money together to build a small church here along with a place that they can teach the bible to the local Thai's who want to become Pastors and future church leaders. P Charlee is also hoping to someday transform the front of his small house into a free internet cafe for the children in the slums to help with their homework. He really cares for the people in this villiage and seems much happier to be there instead of in the slums. The people in the church are also hoping to do something for the children of the slums who want to continue on with their education after the age of 15. The government stops paying for their schooling then and the families in the villiage are predominantly poor and can't afford the $300 a year to keep the kids in school. Many of the children leave for Bangkok looking for work. I'm planning to go back in the end of my stay here and see if they're is anything I can do to help get some kids the opportunity to stay in school after the government stops paying. I'm hoping we may be able to get something up through the church their for the kids in the villiage. God willing.

All in all I was amazed at the generosity and kindness of the family and the people in the villiage towards me while I was there. They refused to let me pay for anything (including my bus ticket back to Bangkok) even though they don't have much, and they treated me as one of their own. It was a really great experience and I look forward to being able to make one more visit before I get back to America.