Southeast Asia Seminar Blog

We arrived in Bangkok to a hot and humid day, very much a different climate than the north.  We spent our first day enjoying the Chinese New Year.  Celebrations were everywhere with lion dances, dragons and food everywhere.  Some of the food we saw was like we have never seen before.  There were fried cockroaches, grasshoppers, beetles, bees, worms and other insects we did not know existed.  There are many places to try almost any type of exotic food you can imagine, yet places where we could get foods for those of us who needed to stay on the less exotic side of things (like me). 

We went to an incredible night market with local vendors selling their goods.  Here we purchased our last minute gifts for our loved ones back home. 

Today we travelled to the Grand Palace and the Wat Po.  The Grand Palace is where the Kings have lived from many years in the past.  We toured many ancient artifacts, weapons, money, crown jewels, and many other beautiful ornaments.  We also saw the famous emerald Buddha.  This is a Buddha that traveled from India, to Cambodia, to Laos and then to Thailand throughout many years until today.  At the Wat Po we saw the 3rd largest reclining Buddha in the world, about 130 feet long.  Wow.  Then we saw the collection of sitting Buddha’s and a very famous standing Buddha.  It was very impressive.

Our day concluded with our last group meal at a restaurant overlooking the river.  We enjoyed reminiscing about our experiences on this trip. 

Tomorrow morning we leave for home.  Until we see you on the other side of the world.

The Southeast Asia Tour

It is hard to capture in a blog what we found the Lord doing in Thailand but I will do my best.  The majority of Thai’s are Buddhist, about 90%, so to be among Christians is not only comforting but exciting.  We traveled to Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand and found this town to be a charming place.  We spent a Sunday in church at the University where we were blessed to have met up with some people that Aaron Phillips knew from previous experiences.  We sang many familiar songs in English with the Thai people singing in Thai as we sang in English.  It was amazing.  Then we were blessed with a great lunch and fellowship with the Christians in Chiang Rai to discover what the Lord is doing in Thailand.  A Christian worker there explained that the church has tripled in size over the past three years consisting of mostly college students attending the university.  Praise the Lord.

On another note, we visited a Buddhist temple called the White Temple.  It was an incredible place.  The entire temple is white with glass pieces all around the temple.  It was definately a more modern and unique looking temple than any of the other temples we had previously visited. 

We also had an opportunity to visit the Golden Triangle where Laos, Burma (Myanmar), and Thailand meet.  This was a neat experience.  Here we took a boat ride to Laos where we were able to experience a different country and culture.

Outside of Chiang Rai we went to a local Christian village where they train elephants to give rides.  We had a great experience riding elephants in the local village and had a great time.  This village is doing a lot to minister to the people there and we were told that the majority of the people are Christians.

Chiang Rai is a beautiful town and the weather was cool, a nice welcome from the south where it is hot and humid.

I am writing this post in Michael Phillips office in ChaingKham, Thailand.  This has been an amazing part to our trip.  Yesterday we ate an amazing meal on the back patio by the local church families.  The students enjoyed conversations with the Christian Thai families, Jake became friends with some of the Thai boys his age, and Michael introduced us to the group of men and women who are serving the Lord in Thailand. 

Today we got up early and drove up to the hills outside of ChaingKham and walked through a market where local Hmong and Laotian people were selling their goods.  It was quite impressive.  After the market we walked up the road to the location where the Christian people are working on building a church.  We cut the dead brush and branches with machetes and worked with the local Christian Hmong people.  The women were experts at cutting down the branches and they got the nickname “superstars” by our team.  After we cut, the church families made an amazing meal for us.  It consisted of rice, fern, chicken, omelet, and spicy sauce.  It was amazing.  After our meal we were able to climb to the top of a cliff overlooking Thailand into Laos.  We actually stepped our feet into Laos.  The cliff was over 5,000 feet high.  It was incredible to overlook into Laos and at the mountains of Thailand and Laos. 

Our group has been amazing.  The students have had many memorable experiences and we will never forget the memories made here in ChaingKham, Thailand. 

Please pray for the people here that the Lord would work in miraculous ways.  The missionaries here ask for special prayer for the church to grow spiritually and that the people would develop deeper relationships with Christ.

Seeing Him at work,

The Southeast Asia Team

Hello from Chaing Mai,  Thailand.  We arrived here yesterday and was greeted by missionary Michael Phillips, Aaron Phillips father.  It was wonderful to meet up with him half way across the world.

The climate in Thailand is much cooler, a welcome coolness for us and nice to get away from the heat.

After unpacking at our hotel, we traveled into the mountains and visited a Buddhist temple.  This was an amazing place and quite impressive.  We then traveled to another temple in the city of Chaing Mai that is to be thought around 1,000 years old.  The temple was made of stone bricks and was also a beautiful place.  The temple had been burnt hundreds of years ago by the Burmese so we were able to see some of the damage from that time. Then we ate a meal together and went to the night market.

Our time in Thailand is around two weeks.  We have a lot ahead of us in working with the local people in Northern Thailand.  It will be an unforgetable experience.

Look for a few more blogs to come from Thailand.  Thank you for your prayers and support while we are gone.

Sustained by Him,

The Southeast Asia Team

Hello there from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.  The past two days have been a whirlwind of sightseeing, shopping, and spiritual growth. 

We took a day tour to the Batu Caves, a sacred Hindu place of worship, where we climbed over 300 steps to reach the top of the Caves.  Here we saw the beautiful caverns where inside the worshippers laid offerings and paid homage to their gods.  It was very eye-opening and interesting.  We also took at trip on an elevator to the top of the KL telecommunications tower.  The tower gave us a birds-eye view of the city of KL and more.  Other stops on our trip included the Sultan’s palace, the Malaysian national memorial, the famous pewter factory and the Batik fabric factory. 

We also stopped at the National Islamic Mosque.  Here the women in our group put on purple robes that covered us from head to toe and some of the men put on robes if they were wearing shorts.  All of us took of our shoes out of respect as well.  We walked up to the place where worship occurs and observed men praying in the mosque.  We also had an opportunity to listen to a guide tell us about the Muslim faith and the teachings of Islam. 

In unique ways we have seen the hand of God working in Malaysia.  Yesterday we stopped at the Focus on the Family Malaysian headquarters.  They have developed a unique relationship with the Malaysian government, which is Islamic, where they have partnered with several government agencies to teach abstinence education to the Malaysian youth.  This is a program that involves Focus staff working with teens on the reasons to remain pure until marriage.  They have the teen sign a pledge card at the end of the training and they have seen success among many teens who were undecided about sexual purity before marriage become decided to remain pure until marriage.  The staff at Focus spoke often about how they have seen God work in Malaysia and they gave all the credit to him.  It was comforting to be among brothers and sisters in Christ who have such a deep passion and committment to Jesus.

We will be headed to Thailand on Friday.  I will blog from there.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

The Southeast Asia Tour

Our time has gone by very quickly.  It is hard to imagine that we have flown halfway around the world and that we have danced with the native Iban people, shared many delicious meals together, and gotten to know each other through the eyes of our Southeast Asia tour.  We are in Kuching, Malaysia, at the time of this blog.  Kuching is on the island of Borneo.

The weather has been tropical. Of course, you say.  Well, it has been rainy to the point of flooding.  On our drive back from the longhouse our tour van was stopped behind about a mile of traffic because the roads were covered in water.  It was amazing to see the countryside covered in water and water streaming everywhere, in homes, in shops, in cars, everywhere.

The trip has been amazing so far.  The food is wonderful.  Some of the foods we have eaten are fern, chicken gizzards and heart, stingray, prawns, papyaya, guava, pineapple, pink, rambutan, mutton, rice, noodles, and so much more.  The people are very friendly and look at us with amusement, saying under their breath, “Those Americans.”  Of course, I say this in jest.

I cannot download my pictures from this internet cafe, so I will make an effort to post pictures on my next blog.

Tomorrow we are leaving Kuching and heading for Kuala Lampur.  I hope to have an opportunity to blog from there.

Until then I will say goodbye and thank you for your prayers.  God has been moving in many ways and the Spirit’s presence is felt with us all the time.

In Him,

Jeanelle

Taking the time to prepare emotionally, spritually and physically takes prayer and patience.  Thank you for all the prayers and support going into the trip.  It will be a long trip over there. 

The first chance I will have to add to the blog will probably be over the weekend.  We ask for prayer and that God will be glorified on the entire trip. 

Because of Him,

Jeanelle