Day 6

It was a cold night. I had chosen to wear shorts and T-shirt to sleep and I was sleeping in my sleeping bag. I must have heard my subconcious speaking to me as I woke up needing to go to the toilet. I checked the time. It was just 5am. I wondered if I should get out of the sleeping bag. I extended my arm so that it was out of the bag. It felt awfully cold inside the room. Still, I decided that I had to go to the toilet. So it was that I got out of the bag, went downstairs... and got hit by a chill.

There was a chill wind blowing and my shorts clad legs were starting to shiver. Nevertheless, I made it to the toilet and relieved myself.

I was glad to be back in my sleeping bag after that. However, I would have to go out to the toilet again, for just over an hour later, I could feel a rumbling sensation in my stomach. So it was that I went to the outhouse again, this time for another kind of mission - a bombing run! Haha!

Anyway, back to the prim and proper narrative. I decided not to go back to sleep. Instead I went to the fire which was still burning and warmed myself. It's nice to stand by a fire when the weather's really cold.

I went back upstairs to get changed. We were having group devotion as usual and I went to the girls' house to wait. As the deadline for devotion drew near, there were still many girls upstairs. So I called out "5 minutes left!" and "2 minutes left!". After that, I heard someone say "You're on probation!" followed by laughter. I thought nothing of it, thinking someone was just mocking my probation tagline which I used to indicate official displeasure with tripper conduct. Anyway it turned out that Priscilla had heard me calling out, and said in Chinese, "The cockerel is calling." This was what elicited the probation line. Oh well, I saw the humour in that and really didn't mind.

Anyway, after devotion and breakfast, we began what was to be the busiest day of the trip. First, we went to a school where we found out that we were to teach all the levels. Yet there was no single room available to do a group session. Therefore, we started with sec 1 -3, teaching for 80 minutes, then took a 10 minute break before teaching pri 4-6. That was really tiring but at the same time it was nice to be able to teach two classes in the same school.

Something funny happened in my pri 6 class. As my teaching assistants handed out pens and worksheets, I could see some students at the back giggling. Wondering what was so funny, I went over to where those students were. I saw what appeared to be a student hunched over the table, as if he was asleep. He was wearing a jacket and a hat. Nothing unusual, considering that there was a cold wind blowing in from the doorways. The student appeared to have fallen asleep on his open maths textbook. Looking more closely, I realised that the 'student' was a dummy! The students nearby had used rolled up books to fill out the sleeves of the jacket and to prop up the hat. A schoolbag was the chest of the dummy. As I discovered the truth, the students burst out laughing. Only in Thailand...

Anyway, after we finished with the classes, we were invited to have lunch in the staff lounge. That was a very nice lunch that we had. I was sitting with Acaan Jaey and Joan, and Jaey told us about the testimony of Samakkee, and how the Lord had really changed him. It was amazing to hear how Samakkee's life has really been turned around since he accepted Christ.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes to the staff and once again we presented 2 soccer balls to the school. This time, Doreen remarked to me that soccer balls are sexist gifts. She referred to the school we visited the day before, where the boys reacted so enthusiastically to the soccer balls whereas the girls were nonplussed. I hadn't really thought of it that way before. Maybe we'll buy volleyballs or netballs along with soccer balls in the future.

Leaving that school, we travelled to another school. It was a secondary school this time. I would be teaching sec 4 and 5 in a combined class. To my disappointment, they either didn't know what I was talking about, even when I spoke simply and slowly, or they didn't want to speak in English. Still, I tried my best to teach the lesson. At the end of the lesson, I taught "The Lord of You and Me" to them. They seemed to like the song. I hope they will remember the meaning of the song which I had made known to them.

Travelling back to the house, I decided that we would have 2 hours of rest before dinner. I saw that some of us were quite tired. However, some of us guys thought we would play some soccer with the balls that some of us had bought. We played on a difficult surface that was very bumpy. On one side there were stinging nettles that pricked us if we went into the bushes to retrieve the ball when it fell into the field next door. The score was 4-4 in the end with some really nice goals being scored. I scored two, including one from the halfway mark, and made one for Nicholas.

It was then that I think I made a decision which in retrospect should have been somewhat different. Some of the trippers asked if they could go out to explore the village. I was concerned for safety so I limited the area which they could explore to the immediate vicinity of the place were were staying at. Maybe I could have let them go out. Oh well, that's something to think about for the next trip.

Free time over, it was time for dinner, then it was time for the concert. The concert started late as we couldn't get Gif's sound system to work. In the end, we got our own system out to supplement Gif's system. It was the most extensive PA setup that we've ever done on a mission trip. I decided that I would monitor the sound controls for the concert since it's been a while since I've done that on a mission trip.

That night's concert went very well. Many people turned up from Gif's extended family, and many youth and children also came from other parts of the village. They heard the message of God's love for them expressed through the items, testimony, and message.

After the concert ended, Lum played some instrumental music on the guitar before launching into a series of songs while the youth who stayed on danced. That was nice to see, especially with the fire flickering in the background. Everyone seemed to be full of joy that night.

Doreen and I had decided that curfew that night would be 1:00am. But before that, I held a team meeting so that the trippers could share how God had been speaking to them during the trip. It was good that nearly everyone managed to share something during the sharing sessions that we had.

After prayer, the meeting ended and we were free to wash up. After I had bathed in the bitter cold, I went back to the fire where I saw Gif standing with some of the younger trippers. Priscilla asked me to help interpret his testimony which he was trying to share with them. I did my best and by the time he finished his sharing, we knew most of his testimony. I'll share about his testimony in Day 7's post as this post is getting too long.

After that, Gif went to bed. It was just 10 minutes after midnight so some of us sat down on a raised platform to watch the stars and talk. That was nice, even for someone so old like me. :)

At 1:00am, we went to bed. The night was cold but this time I was better prepared.