Day 3

After a restful sleep, we gathered again for group devotion and breakfast. Once again the team was reminded of the significance of our temple visit, and we spent more time praying over our visit before we went out to the main street to meet up with our coach. It was not long before the coach came, and we all got on to go to the temple.

The first place we visited was a shrine that Thaksin, the previous PM, had commissioned to be built. It's basically an obelisk which is faced by three boddhisattvas. They are covered in gold leaves which devotees purchase and place on them. It is believed that the obelisk holds spiritual control of all the people in Nakhon Sawan who claim to be Buddhist. We prayed for the shrine to be overthrown in God's time.

Then it was on to the temple, the main temple in Nakhon Sawan. As our coach was too big to go up the slope leading to the temple, we transferred to two pickups. A short ride later, we made it to the summit and the temple. The main feature of this temple is a large seated Buddha with a royal umbrella above its head. The umbrella however hurts the Buddha as birds perch on it and drop their poo down onto the Buddha. Oh well, I guess that's a way of seeing God's work in His creation.

The main part of the temple offers a tremendous view of the surrounding land, including the city of Nakhon Sawan and a nearby lake which is a nature reserve. We took time to pray for the city before returning to the pickups which brought us back to the bus.

We had to return to the preaching station for lunch, but before that, we went to Big C to buy items that we needed for the gifts which we would be giving out. Doreen, Junwei, and I went to buy the gifts while the others were allowed to walk around the shopping complex where Big C is. Some of us bought pretzels from Auntie Anne, others bought donuts from Dunkin Donuts. I didn't buy any of those things as I normally don't eat those things till the mission trip is almost over.

In Big C itself, Doreen, Junwei, and I began looking around for suitable items to buy. Somehow I failed to anticipate the volume of things that we were going to buy, and fortunately I managed to find some of the other trippers and draft them into helping to carry the stuff we bought. As we didn't have much time, I decided that we would buy anything else we needed later on in the day when there would be free time.

Back at the preaching station, we had lunch. After lunch, we began the packing of gifts. I decided to put Doreen in charge of this task. By now, I was more or less recovered from my flu symptoms but I felt I should leave this task to Doreen so I wouldn't be too tired later in the trip. In any case, I thought it would be a good experience for her as a leader. Anyway, it wasn't as if I wasn't doing anything. Junwei and I went to a sports shop nearby to look into buying some soccer balls to give away as gifts to the schools we would be visiting.

At the sports shop, Junwei and I removed our sandals before entering. We saw that the shop had a good selection of balls, and we accordingly bought 10 of them for the schools. Some of the mission trippers also wanted to buy balls for themselves since they were being sold at prices lower than what they would pay in Singapore. So it was that I found myself carting back a net full of 13 soccer balls. What a strange sight I was as we made our way back to the preaching station. Along the way, Junwei and I bought some fruit which the mission trippers had requested us to buy. I got some pineapple for myself which came with a hot and sour powder.

Back at the preaching station, Doreen told me that we were short of pencils for the gifts. So it was that Junwei and I went back to Big C. Before this, Michelle left us to return to Lopburi. I managed to write her a Christmas card the night before so I didn't feel too bad that I hadn't really managed to catch up with her personally. Anyway, Junwei and I took a tuk tuk to Big C. The tuk tuk driver gave us his number, hoping that we would use his services in the future. Meanwhile, I had been eating the pineapple which I had bought. I thought I was being clever by pouring all the powder into the bag of pineapple and shaking the bag. However, as the powder was both spicy and sour, it made the pineapple taste very strongly of chili and sour plum. It also created a reaction which led to some liquid being formed.

I didn't notice this reaction till we reached Big C and I discovered that the liquid had dripped out of the bag and had stained my pants. I had to go to the toilet to wash out the liquid before we went into Big C itself.

We quickly located everything we needed to buy, then we went outside looking for transport back to the preaching station. Seeing a man sitting inside a tuk tuk, we walked towards him. He saw us coming and asked if we needed a ride. We said yes, and he told us it would be 20 baht per person. Then he got up and motioned us towards a motorcycle. Apparently we had hailed a motorcycle taxi. Nevertheless, we needed to get back quickly so we got onto the motorcycle.

Back at the preaching station, Doreen was getting a little worried. I had given her instructions to start the children's program even if Junwei and I were not yet back from Big C. She was quite prepared to do this, but while Junwei and I were out, Acaan Jaey and Acaan Thiang had come back from sending Michelle off and had gone out to Big C as well. This meant that for a time, Doreen was the highest team official left at the preaching station. No wonder she got worried. Anyway, Acaan Jaey and Acaan Thiang got back from Big C and yet Junwei and I hadn't returned. So when we did get back, Doreen was wondering where we had been.

The children's program got underway, and I took the chance to take a breather. Looking round, I checked whether every one of the team members was taking part in the children's program. I noticed Shawn and Stacey missing so I went looking for them.

I found Shawn playing the guitar in one of the upper rooms. I decided to leave him alone and proceeded to the other upper room. There, I found Stacey. I asked her what she was doing there and she said she had been writing her journal. This led to us having a conversation about journalling and what we thought about the world in general. I was surprised that I was having this conversation with her considering that just over six weeks before, I didn't even know who she was. Anyway, it was time well spent as I managed to gain some insight into how she thinks and what she's like. I thought this would be useful for me if she decided to come on future trips.

The children's program ended and it was time for dinner. After dinner, we had a time of rehearsal for the evangelistic concerts that we would be putting on at Khamphaengphet and Khorat. I felt we weren't quite ready but I thought that we would just have to do our best when the time came for the real thing.

After the rehearsal, I briefed everyone on the next day's program, then released them to get washed. However, Bui had prepared some dessert so we ended up sitting in the inner room having sweet potato in sweet ginger soup. It was quite tasty and I had a few bowls.

As I had forgotten to give the team a lights-out time, everyone ended up sleeping later than the night before. I reminded myself that I should not make this mistake again.

End of Part Three