Friday was another day at the office. We continued video capture, photo editing, credit line edits, metadata edits, etc. I learned a slew of information on categorizing my photography inside of Adobe Bridge and how to make all of the metadata correct based on location. That was a very time consuming process, but I feel like I have the hang of it now. I am going to be doing a tutorial on it in a few week so stay tuned to the blog for that. I really like how Adobe Bridge makes it some simple to do. You’ll like it as well, even if you use Lightroom, Aperture, or another editing software on your Mac or PC.

The team that went to Loas met us at the office and we got to share stories about each other’s experiences on their parts of the trip. That was good and it was good to see my classmates again that weren’t a part of the Chiang Mai group. We got to hang out and just enjoy fellowship with each other and get our presentations ready for debriefing at the Norwood guest house that evening. James Eaton, put together a few of out photos into a keynote presentation and we were able to talk about them during debrief.

Debrief was really an eye opening time to all that God accomplished through us during the time that we were in Thailand and how He would continue to do through us once we got back from the states. An amazing experience it was. Words don’t do it justice.

Today was a chance that the journeymen gave us a chance to backup all of our files in the office. The office had a nice feel to it and was pretty contemporary. The doors were made of clear plexy-type material where you could write on them on either side and be able to read it. I thought this was a very innovative design on the IMB’s part. That is something that I would want to be included in my office once I get a real job somewhere.

Moving on, we had coffee. No surprises here…I had about 3 cups worth all throughout the morning before we headed to lunch at Mama’s kitchen. The food there was amazing. We had all kinds of food and I ordered one of my favorite Thai drinks. Thai tea. If you have never heard of this before you need to try it. It’s like a ice tea with a milky cream in it. Super delicious! I need to learn how to make it here in the states so that I don’t forget the amazingness that it is.

That night we all had dinner together. We went to this place where we all cooked our food at our table. The buffet had raw meat, and we got to choose our meats and cook them over a burner thing. It was a great community experience and we learned who the non-cooks were in our group as some of us made the whole place smoky, or our burner thing charred black. Below is one shot from the office from that day. Meet my MacBookPro Macie.

We started the day out like we normally do with Coffe thanks to Tessa, and Moo Ping aka Pork on a stick with sticky rice, thanks to Holly via a street vender. As always the pork and rice was amazing and the coffee….well you know how I love coffee. It was an amazing local blend and soo tasty. We all met together at BK and talked about the day ahead. This day included going to the Doi Suthep Wat and overlook. We left early in the morning because we knew the weather would be cooler than and it would be more enjoyable of an experience than during the hotest part of the day, the afternoon.

We had about a 10 minute drive up the mountain where there was like this strip mall of shops and local market people selling things. If you haven’t realized by now that there area  ton of markets in Thailand and places to buy things than realize now. There just is. No matter what city you are in, there will be people selling stuff. For most of the people it’s their only source of income. That’s astounding to me. We as Americans complain. Let’s get over ourselves and think about others for a minute.

We got to go inside of the temple grounds and get some amazing footage, this place was heartbreaking and sickening. I couldn’t stay in the temple for a long period of time. Just soo many people practicing Buddhist rituals made me almost cry. Below is just one example of the things we witnessed.

That afternoon was time to catch up on sleep. Once again, I didn’t take that chance to sleep, but I did talk with some of the Thai students for a little bit trying to get some insight into our video projects and how I wanted to tell their stories. That evening came and we all went out to dinner. Once again, good food, and good times. Wednesday came and it was over. God was doing what only He could do and we were used by Him during this time.

After spending the night in Dreams village and getting footage/photography there we were exhausted. We came back to the hotel that we were staying at and showred and all of that. This was mainly a resting day for us to get back and enjoy fellowship together. This is when I was able to get all of my photography onto my laptop and begin sorting through it. As I was doing this I was able to just hang out with the thai students and get to know them even better. That was a great experience because we were able to talk in English and just share a time of community together.

That afternoon was also relaxing as people caught up on sleep from our team. I on the other-hand decided not to take a nap, and later that night I regretted my decision. Around 4pm we all met back together at Bann Kanoon (BK) to talk about the next village, Mae Wang. We stopped at one of the many 7-Elevens on the way there to grab a snack and to pray before we headed into the village. That was a powerful moment as we began to see God work through us in the things that we were praying for. Below is a picture from that prayer time.

After the prayer time together we hung out and got footage of Kratae’s village. This village was different from Dream’s in the fact that it was more spread out and had quite a bit more children. No matter where we went there was always a group of kids around in this village. To me her village seemed more energized and happy compared to Dream’s. It wasn’t as cramped or secluded from the rest of the city.

One of the things God was telling me while I was in this village was that their lives aren’t normal. A lot of the time I was in Thailand I was thinking, this is almost like a vacation. After spending time in Kratae’s village this no longer happend. My heart ached for the people, my soul longed for them to know my savior, etc. It was a change in my heart that will always stay with me.

Have you ever had this longing before? What did you do about it?

This was the day that we had the privilege of going into one of the poorer areas of Thailand. Dream, of of the local Thai students whom we worked with all week grew up in Mae Wong, a remote village in a valley in Thailand. She is the only Christian in her family. Her family is Buddhist and she has a heart for them. We had the opportunity to go into her village as a group and share the good news of the gospel with her parents, her brother, and a few others in the village as well. This was one of the hardest days for me and I started to get pretty emotional.

We got pictures and footage, interviews, and b-roll, but more importantly than that we made a pretty extensive impact spiritually. You see, just because there was the language barrier doesn’t mean that we couldn’t share. We had translators there with us and were able to go beyond the barrier to spread the good news. I am so thankful for that. James talked with Dreams brother, and others from out group talked with her parents.

One of the things that I took from the interview with her dad was when he said “to be Thai is to be Buddhist.” 99.9 precent of Thailand is Buddhist. That is true. Dream’s dad gave us more insight into what it was like to grow up Buddist and how that has to this day has an impact on him as a person. I will share that interview on here once we get the video produced. I really feel like it’s something that all Christians need to watch because it’s soo mind-blowing. We need to all take something from that and do something about it.

One of the videos that we are producing is specifically about Dream and her life in the village. Some of the things that we are focusing on are: Buddism, Farming, her parents, her brother, Idol worship, Temples, etc. It’s going to be a hard video to produce, but I hope through the video that we impact lives, and change the world for Christ. That’s all I am asking.

Our second morning started early. Woke up around 5:30AM and left the hotel at 6 after drinking some really great coffee thanks to Tessa. :) Every morning before the sun rises several monks come walking down the mountain in Chiang Mai to receive merit from the Thai people. During this time monks receive, food, flowers, money, etc which is how Thai people pay back fro the wrong that they have committed. These things are all based on merit. That’s their Buddhist belief and what most Thai people hold to. It was a really eye opening experience to see that so many people, young & old, do this without thinking twice. It’s habit to them.

We got footage and photography of the monks and the Thai people so that we could put together several video projects on the life of a Thai person, and the darkness of Buddism. Again this was eye opening, and a unique thing to experience. After getting what we needed there we headed back into the main part of the city to eat breakfast together. Here we met a few of the Thai students from Ban Kanoon, a community center where people could come and hang out, a “safe place” just to get the kids out of the heat and off the streets.

Later on that day we enjoyed fellowship with Thai believers at The Acts Church of Chiang Mai. That was really amazing! I got to take several pictures and you could sense the spirit of God in that place. Every person was into the worship, really listening during the preaching, and ready to serve as they left. That was the most intense church service i’ve been a part of in a long time. They even ate together afterwards in which they invited us to stay and join them. That was super nice and awesome. We didn’t stay, but we thanked them for their generosity and continued our day.

That afternoon was pretty relaxing, but we got to really get to know the thai students better. We spent the afternoon eating with them, singing with them at Ban Kanoon, and just fellowshipping together. That evening we held a church service at Ban Kanoon, and Ekk led the bible study. Ekk, a really amazing guy, taught and we sang several worship songs together. Shur Gopal, our faculty chaperone for the trip shared his testimony. I recorded part of that and you can see the video, unedited, and raw here.

Have you ever experienced something like this before? Do you know a monk? What are your thoughts on Buddism?

For our frist full day in Thailand we got in our groups, mind included 7 people, and began to become immersed in thai culture. We went up to a local waterfall and had a picnic at a park with some of the thai students and m’s. I’ll use the letter m instead of saying missionaries all of the time, because that is what they call each other for security reasons. Think of it as lingo for the IMB. As we enjoyed fellowship together duing this picnic we had all kinds of food. It was like a mini-buffet with everything you can imagine.

We all ate together, got to know each other a little bit more, and I began to take pictures of the waterfall, and park area. You could see a view of the whole city from the top of the mountain. It was truly beautiful and  this is when it really set in that I was really in Thailand on a mission trip to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. As that afternoon went on I talked with Cal more about photography and he gave me insight on how to shoot. I really learned more from him about photography just in the series of a few days than I have ever known before through school. That was outstanding to me. I took time to listen because he knew what he was doing and that was evident. When is the last time you took time to listen? It’s a a good idea to stop talking, and listen sometimes. Keep that in mind.

We had a worship time after we all gathered back around and shared what was on our hearts at the moment. As the Thai students shared about their lives, I gained more insight on Buddism and the darkness that  is involved there, which I will talk about more in my next blog…

Later that evening we went to the street market where we saw musical performances, people selling their homemade goods, and all kinds of amazing food. You’ll see some of that below. There was so much going on in that one street and it also immersed out group into every day life of Thai people. It was truly a cultural experience.