The Life of an Isaan

This past weekend I (Kris) was blessed by getting to go to my tutor’s home in a village about 3 hours from where we live. There is so much to be said to actually going and staying with a family for a few days and a lot to be learned from their everyday life experiences!

 

Staying for two days, I was overwhelmed with language, different foods, friendly faces, and a ton of smiles!  I think at one point I had three people talking to me at the same time! By the end of that day my brain hurt from being on overload.  While staying with this family, I was served, a ton of sticky rice, som tom (Isaan style… with fermented fish sauce,) fried bugs, fish head soup, field rat, and chicken foot soup. Overall, the food was not as bad as it may sound.  I learned one thing, that the Isaan are all about eating.  This seems to be the time when people socialize, and as people walk by everyone is invited to come and join.

The people were so warm and welcoming.  When I had to leave, I was amazed at how fast I had become a part of their family, just in these short 2 days.  My tutors mom told me that I was now her son and a part of her family.  In a small village it is easy to get to know everyone, and the pace of life is slow enough to really get to know people. 
I learned that their are basic questions that you ask people when greeting them. My tutor said that these are the basic questions to build relationships. So, I think I answered these same questions more than 2o times. But, at least I know how to answer them now!  They asked me: Am I married, How many kids do I have, Are my parents still living, Where do I come from, where is my house in Thailand, and many other questions about my family and why we are in Thailand…

There is a lot to be said about just learning the language from talking to people, and then actually learning it in cultural amongst a family and being able to see their interactions amongst one another. 

Most of the people in this area are farmers, (rice and fish), and a lot of the women make Thai silk, (they raise the worms, and then spin the silk into long strands).

Also, I observed how the elderly are look up to and respected so highly. Most of the old woman would live with their families and sit outside and talk to people all day.  It was interesting to see that there were not any elderly men, only women. 

Though the weekend was tiring. It was one of my best weekends yet in Thailand! I have experienced so many new things.  Please pray for my tutor, his family, and village, so that they may know the one true God!

10 things I like about this country

One of my friends encouraged me in the midst of cultural shock to find the things that you like about your country. So since we have been here a short time here are a few:

1. The people in the Isaan area are so friendly
2. I love every-time I walk out of my gate, I here the words, “Pay Saaay”  Where are you going?
3. Som Tom, Som Tom, did I mention som tom, oh and sticky rice.
4. Everything is so cheap here, the three of us can eat dinner for about $1.25.
5. The cows that eat in the open lot next door to our house.
6. Pineapple
7. There are flowers year round.
8. The transportation system, you can go by car, taxi, van, songtow, tuk-tuk, subway, skytrain.
9.  I love how you can get everything in menthol…. shaving cream, shampoo.
10. The markets here. Basically you can find most anything you need.  From fruits, to raw meat, to shoes.

Rice, rice, and more Rice

Here in Isaan we are just about coming to the close of rice cutting season. Most everyone around here are helping cut, gather, or assist with the rice in some form or another.  One example of how everything stops around here during rice season: we had some curtains made and they were suppose to take only one week, but it ended up taking nearly 3 weeks because the lady was Giaow Cow, or out cutting rice….

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go out and cut rice with our helper and her husband.

Loy Krathong…

 

Today we spent some of the evening observing the holiday known as “Loy Krathong.”  Right down the street from our house they had a parade that led to a near by lake.  In the small video you can see some of the dancers who were in the parade.

Loy Krathong is as old as Thai heritage and represents a close bond between Thai culture and water. The festival takes place on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month when the water level is high and the climate is cooler. Participants ask water spirits to sail away their troubles in their krathongs, which are containers traditionally made from banana leaves and carrying offerings of incense, lotus flowers and small money. 

It is hard to put down all of our feelings that we are experiencing here in the Northeast part of Thailand.  We are so thankful and blessed that God has brought us here, and that we have finally located a house.  Our house is also hard to describe, but I will try:  Most of the houses here in the village are wooden and built up on stilts, because thier cattle and other animals stay under the house.  Recently, many houses have created a concrete first story of the house.  This is how ours is… We have a concrete first floor and a wooden second floor.  The house is very rustic and we have made many repairs to get it into somewhat of a liveable condition.  But again, we are blessed by what we have!  Our neighbors are so very friendly and are always coming over or just inviting themselves in. 

So, it’s been about one month…

It is hard to believe that we have been in Thailand for over one month now. Life has been so busy, sorry for the delay in updating our blog.  We finally moved into our house about one week ago, and now we have internet access.

We both started our first week of language study with our tutors last week.  Kris is doing well learning a lot of new vocabulary words and simple senteces, and Misty is learning how to say phrases that she already knows in Thai into Isaan. 

We made it!!!

We have been in Thailand for a week now! This past week we have spent looking for a house. Please continue to pray for us to find the right place for us to live and to begin ministry in amongst the Isaan people. 

Life here is so much different than living in a city. There are cows roaming around the village streets. Actually the house that we are interested in, there are two cows that graze in the small field next door.

Time is short right now, so I will write more what is going on later. Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Prayer Request/Update

    Greetings from Virginia. Well we made it through our three weeks of training!  We have studied much about preparation and strengthening our relationships with the Lord as we are preparing to be sent out.  While we are in meetings Moriah goes to her class from 9-3.  She has had a stomach problem the last few days and has not been able to go to class.   Speaking of Moriah, since we have arrived in Virginia, she has become quite the little walker.  People all over campus know her as she is so friendly and always waiving to everyone and smiling. Please lift our family up as we prepare to move to the Northeast part of Thailand.  Some prayer requests are:

1.  We are still looking for a location to live in Thailand where a local (native) person will be able to help us with translating the Bible orally.  URGENT REQUEST!!!!This needs to be a male interested in helping us through this project.  Our prayer is that this person would open many doors for us to share the good news as we begin to get it into the Isaan language.

2.   Please pray for Moriah as she continues adjusts to being away from mommy and daddy a large portion of the week and for her stomach problem.

3. For God’s protection over our family here in Virginia and as we prepare to leave for Thailand in October.

4. Pray that God would burden and deepen our hearts for the Isaan people.

New Home, New Friends, New Challanges…

We made it safely to Virginia where we are going through a two-month trainning with over 200 other families.  We  live in housing with 4 little apartments which all join together by a common room.  They are called Quads but Misty likes to refer to it as our cabin.  Ours has two bedrooms, one bath, and a little kitchen area inside. 

As you can see our blogsite has a new look to it! Thanks to our good friend Joey. 

 In time with the Lord this week I, (Kris) realized how fearful I was to be going around the world to a place where His name was not even known.  To see helpless people waking up in the morning to the chanting of monks and worshiping of idols.  But then, God took me to many passages of scripture which declare His authority and power over all things.  Also, in this time I realized at times how faithless I am with the small things in life and I pray to God that I would have the faith to see God bring millions of people to Him through the spread of His Story in NE Thailand. 

This past tuesday Moriah went to her first day of class.  It was really hard to leave Moriah with her teacher while we were in trainning from 9-3.  As the week went on she became more acculmated to being there and made some new friends to play with. 

Preparing to leave…

Well, sorry for the long silence. I was waiting to try and figure out how to make this page more interesting before I launched a post.  But, do to time and wanting to update you all I thought I better go ahead and write something and then work on the asthetics later.

Since we left Dallas we have traveled extensively.  First, we started off in Denver seeing Kris’ foster family and then made our way to California.  There we visited most of Kris’ family.  Moriah did well with all of the plane rides and long car rides.  Guess this is breaking her in for the long 18 hour flight to Bangkok in October.  Finally after leaving California we went back to Oklahoma for a few days before leaving on a family vacation with Misty’s parents to Miami.

Now that June is over and we will be spending most of July with Misty’s family in Southcentral Oklahoma.  Actually, for the next month it will be nice to be in one location and enjoy the last days with family before making our voyage to Thailand.

This weekend Misty and I will be speaking at a Church in Oklahoma about what God is doing in Thailand and how they can partner with us through prayer.  On July 22nd I (Kris) will be ordained at First Baptist Sulphur.  I am really excited about taking this next step in dedicating my life to ministry in front of all of my friends and family. 

On August 6 or 7 we will leave for Virginia for a trainning with the International Mission Board until October 7, 2007. After the trainning is over we will come back to Oklahoma to pack our suitcase and leave for Thailand on October 13.

Life is so busy right now. Please keep us in your prayers.  A few of our requests are:

Our team (already) in Thailand is looking for a strategic area for us to live.  At this time there are a few possibilities.  Since we will be translating Bible stories orally into the Isaan language we need a local person who will work with us about 20-30 hours per week. :

God will direct our leader Mark to the right location

An Isaan person will come across our paths who will be willing to work alongside of us.  There are a lot of details to be worked out around this area…

That the Holy Spirit will guide all of the decisions that need to be made and we would have open ears to hear His words

In the future look for more links from this site. We will be adding a link for prayer requests, and for Moriah.