Tuesday was our day off, and we decided to visit downtown Bangkok. We took a bus to the outskirts of downtown where we visited Wapato, a Buddhist temple, had lunch on the river, and then took a boat further into Bangkok. We got off the boat and hit the mainland, but not for long; soon we were riding high in the sky-train through the city.
We passed through all of the areas that were filled with protesters and military personnel only a week before, and saw all the burned out malls and theaters. It was pretty incredible to see the second largest mall in Asia (and these malls are pretty huge) completely burned out. Nothing but a shell, a stark reminder of the chaos and destruction in central Bangkok, and the broken spirit of many Thai nationals.
The remainder of the week was spent playing badminton, futsol, basketball, and ping-pong with students on campus, as well as visiting the swamp slums (or no income villages) of Mahatthai where the church puts on a VBS style program every Saturday called "Joy Kids".
Our team has been blessed with the opportunity to hear the testimonies of a few Thai church members, as well as participate in staff prayer meetings. I was impressed with Fon's testimony and how when she was a non-Christian she noticed the love that Christians have for one another and others. She didn't understand where that love came from, but wanted to experience it, and to love others as the Christians did.
It has been really awesome to see how important prayer is at New City Fellowship. We've been involved in several prayer meetings in our time here in Thailand, and has been neat to see the entire staff and leadership come together to worship, share, and pray.
Tuesday, once again, was our day off, and Tim ended up taking us back downtown where we visited the Bangkok Bible Seminary and had lunch with one of the professors. Tim took us to an Art gallery located in an old church downtown, and then we headed over to the National Art Museum.
Wednesday was spent around the church helping out, attending prayer meetings, and watching a DVD on Christian Leadership. We all went in different directions Wednesday night, some heading over to the campus, others to Mahatthai for English classes, and I headed over to Mahatthai park with Fon and Tim to play basketball and run the track a few times.
Today, after group time, we headed over to the church for a prayer meeting. We've been spending a lot of time planning for a short-term team that is coming in two weeks. I've been working on a plan for using their team to do some renovations to the church facility, as well as preparing for a little Sunday School class that David and I will be teaching this Sunday.
Throughout my office time this afternoon I spoke with Dave (the pastor here) and he encouraged me to begin working on a 6-Week Bible study on finding our identity in Christ, which is really timely given that God has been teaching me so much about that very thing this past year. Dave also asked me to begin working on a devotion for each day of July; so I'll be writing 31 devotions on the beatitudes... soon.
I am really excited about this opportunity, but also very intimidated as I have never done anything like this, and realizing that this material will be used within this church now and in the future... It is a lot to process. Please be praying for me with that whole project, and I'll keep you all updated on the progress.
Tonight we're hitting the campus, and headed back over to Mahatthai for more English ministry.
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