Singapore
Bangkok
While walking around the streets of Bangkok, it was common to see monks and spirit houses.
Bangkok - ABTS Staff
Bangkok - Buddhist Shrine
We visited a Buddhist shrine. It was so sad to see people praying to this idol. They burned incense sticks and offered gifts of flowers to gain favor with their god. How we long for these people to come to know the free gift of grace!
Buddhists can pay to hire dancers to help lift their prayers up to heaven. Below is a video of one couple having their prayers lifted up to heaven by the hired dancers.
Bangkok - Pakistani Fellowship
One night while in Bangkok, Thailand we had the chance to participate in the beginning of a small church plant start-up of Pakistani Christian refugees. Bangkok has many Christian refugees seeking religious asylum because of life threatening persecution, but their lives are still very difficult because they are not legally allowed to have jobs in Thailand. Greg shared a message on Romans 8 - emphasizing how our trials make us more like Jesus Christ. After the time of teaching and worship, we found out more about the trials of one precious couple and their story broke our hearts. Read their story: Hope Amidst Persecution
The video below is of these sweet brothers and sisters singing to our Jehovah Jireh in Urdu. Allow the depth of their praise to wash over you. Our God is worthy of praise from people of every tongue during every season of life.
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is a beautiful city! We enjoyed exploring this city, eating lots of wonderful Thia food (Greg ate grubs - he said they tasted like soggy french fries), and at the night bizarre we saw people getting fish therapy (where fish eat the dead skin off your feet - we were told it tickles). The neigborhoods are very quiet and almost every home has a little spirit house to please the spirit world.
Chiang Mai - Umbrella Making Process
We saw the process of making Asian umbrellas. They position wooden sticks and tie them with string to create the frame of the umbrella. They stretch wet white paper over the umbrella frame. They set the umbrellas in the sun to dry. Once they umbrellas are dry they paint them and then set them in the sun to dry again.
Chiang Mai - Silk Making Process
While in Chiang Mai we saw the silk making process. It all starts with little caterpillars. The caterpillars spin silk cacoons. The cacoons are boiled and the silk strands are removed and turned into usable silk. The silk is dyed and pulled tight to dry. The ladies use their silk looms to create the cloth.
Below is a video of the ladies hard at work creating silk cloth on their looms.