AIT #21: April 16, 2003 (Songkran)
It has been a craaaaazy week. :) Everything was normal till Saturday afternoon. Around noon, kids started hanging around on the side of the road with water guns and little buckets, giggling as they squirted us. There were a few scattered groups of teenagers as well, but still Songkran hadn't really started. On Sunday we held church as usual, and surprisingly quite a few members showed up. We'd forgotten to fill the baptismal font, so after sacrament meeting ended, Elder Segsan and I began hauling water from our house to the baptismal font (using the trash can). Luckily we got it filled in time, with help from some of the other members and missionaries. After church was over, Brother A was baptized. His mom and brother are members (his brother is a missionary in Nong Khae right now), and he's quite golden. His girlfriend's getting baptized soon as well.
After the baptismal service, we ate lunch. Towards the end, one of the members crept up behind me and poured a cup of cooooold water down my back. Songkran thus began. :) Another member, Sister Gao, went around patting powder on people's cheeks and saying, "Sawatdee bee mai" ("Happy New Year"). Songkran is the Thai new year, by the way. :) Within two minutes everyone was outside throwing water at each other, and before long the baptismal font (which is outside the church) was almost empty.
We then went with a bunch of the members to Sister Mootagaan's house, which is on one of the more busy roads (at least for Songkran). For the next three days, that's pretty much where we stayed, other than coming home to sleep and study. During Songkran, people ride around and get wet. Lots of people carry water in pickups and "saad naam" other people, while others stand on the side of the road and throw water from there. They're also fond of mixing powder with water, often with various colors mixed in, and wiping the resulting goop on one's face. It's crazy. :) We wore our sandals the whole time. Oh, the police disabled the traffic lights, making it a free-for-all (so traffic wouldn't be impeded). The streets were full of people and trucks, far more jam-packed than I've ever seen anywhere.
We'd thought we'd be able to do missionary work during the three days, but everyone was out playing and no one was interested in our message, and all our investigators had gone to different provinces. On Monday Elder Bevell and Elder Burin walked around to take pictures, and Elder Segsan and I went to fax Brother A's baptismal record to the mission office. We rode our bikes to a copy place, and goodness I've never been on such a dangerous bike ride. :) Tons of people smeared the goop all over us, which is kind of fun at first but when it gets in your eyes, it's rather dangerous. My contacts clouded over from time to time and often itched, but nothing serious happened. (Incidentally, my left contact is now tinted red from all the red goop that people put on my face.) Being farangs, Elder Bevell and I were often prime and obvious targets.
There weren't many transvestites except on Sunday, but they didn't really present a problem. Some drunk guy kissed me on the cheek, though (I tried to resist but there were four other guys crowding around me and I was on my bike). Yesterday Elder Bevell and I walked around to take more pictures. On our way back, some girl tried to kiss me on the lips and was almost successful, but luckily I jerked my head back in time. Songkran fever makes people very crazy. I wore the exact same outfit Saturday through Tuesday, since the colored stuff doesn't wash out if you don't clean it out immediately, and oftentimes we didn't notice the stains until it was too late. And you're wet all day long.
So, Songkran is finally over and life is back to normal. We took tons of pictures and I don't think I could ever forget Songkran. P-lok is probably one of the biggest Songkran places, other than Chiang Mai. These last three days have helped us and the members build better relationships of trust. It was a lot of fun, too. I haven't been in a water fight since I was a little kid (and probably won't be in one of this size again for a long, long time). Hmm, is there anything else that I'm forgetting?
Thai people don't look like foreigners anymore, but farangs do. It's weird. :) I even forget that I have white skin at times (serious :)). When I first got my call to Thailand I must admit that I was a little taken back -- Thailand isn't a prominent nation nor is Thai a very popular language -- but I'm sooooo glad I'm here. Thailand is home.
Sak should be getting baptized on Saturday (we hadn't had any contact with him for the last week or two since he was in Chiang Mai, but we ran into him yesterday on the street), and Root should be getting baptized next week. We have several other good investigators as well. I love being a missionary! :) It's hard at times, especially when people fall away, and occasionally it feels like all our work is worth nothing. Retention is hard. But the gospel is still true and there are still those who will cling to Christ no matter how hard the tempest hits them, and those people make missionary work worth everything in the world. :) Onward, Christian soldiers, onward!
After the baptismal service, we ate lunch. Towards the end, one of the members crept up behind me and poured a cup of cooooold water down my back. Songkran thus began. :) Another member, Sister Gao, went around patting powder on people's cheeks and saying, "Sawatdee bee mai" ("Happy New Year"). Songkran is the Thai new year, by the way. :) Within two minutes everyone was outside throwing water at each other, and before long the baptismal font (which is outside the church) was almost empty.
We then went with a bunch of the members to Sister Mootagaan's house, which is on one of the more busy roads (at least for Songkran). For the next three days, that's pretty much where we stayed, other than coming home to sleep and study. During Songkran, people ride around and get wet. Lots of people carry water in pickups and "saad naam" other people, while others stand on the side of the road and throw water from there. They're also fond of mixing powder with water, often with various colors mixed in, and wiping the resulting goop on one's face. It's crazy. :) We wore our sandals the whole time. Oh, the police disabled the traffic lights, making it a free-for-all (so traffic wouldn't be impeded). The streets were full of people and trucks, far more jam-packed than I've ever seen anywhere.
We'd thought we'd be able to do missionary work during the three days, but everyone was out playing and no one was interested in our message, and all our investigators had gone to different provinces. On Monday Elder Bevell and Elder Burin walked around to take pictures, and Elder Segsan and I went to fax Brother A's baptismal record to the mission office. We rode our bikes to a copy place, and goodness I've never been on such a dangerous bike ride. :) Tons of people smeared the goop all over us, which is kind of fun at first but when it gets in your eyes, it's rather dangerous. My contacts clouded over from time to time and often itched, but nothing serious happened. (Incidentally, my left contact is now tinted red from all the red goop that people put on my face.) Being farangs, Elder Bevell and I were often prime and obvious targets.
There weren't many transvestites except on Sunday, but they didn't really present a problem. Some drunk guy kissed me on the cheek, though (I tried to resist but there were four other guys crowding around me and I was on my bike). Yesterday Elder Bevell and I walked around to take more pictures. On our way back, some girl tried to kiss me on the lips and was almost successful, but luckily I jerked my head back in time. Songkran fever makes people very crazy. I wore the exact same outfit Saturday through Tuesday, since the colored stuff doesn't wash out if you don't clean it out immediately, and oftentimes we didn't notice the stains until it was too late. And you're wet all day long.
So, Songkran is finally over and life is back to normal. We took tons of pictures and I don't think I could ever forget Songkran. P-lok is probably one of the biggest Songkran places, other than Chiang Mai. These last three days have helped us and the members build better relationships of trust. It was a lot of fun, too. I haven't been in a water fight since I was a little kid (and probably won't be in one of this size again for a long, long time). Hmm, is there anything else that I'm forgetting?
Thai people don't look like foreigners anymore, but farangs do. It's weird. :) I even forget that I have white skin at times (serious :)). When I first got my call to Thailand I must admit that I was a little taken back -- Thailand isn't a prominent nation nor is Thai a very popular language -- but I'm sooooo glad I'm here. Thailand is home.
Sak should be getting baptized on Saturday (we hadn't had any contact with him for the last week or two since he was in Chiang Mai, but we ran into him yesterday on the street), and Root should be getting baptized next week. We have several other good investigators as well. I love being a missionary! :) It's hard at times, especially when people fall away, and occasionally it feels like all our work is worth nothing. Retention is hard. But the gospel is still true and there are still those who will cling to Christ no matter how hard the tempest hits them, and those people make missionary work worth everything in the world. :) Onward, Christian soldiers, onward!
posted by Ben at 5:34 PM
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