Weekend in Chonburi

After finishing up our kid's camp on Friday, we shared 'Thai fast food' (everyone gets a small bag of sticky rice. Platters of sliced chicken and pork are put on a communal table.  Everyone has a skewer, and you help yourself to meat as you please.) Then we celebrated Good Friday.  (Bethel Church pushed Easter celebrations back a week because the pastors were all away at a retreat during the calendar Easter weekend. Easter is not a recognized holiday in Thailand, so altering the dates works.)  The service consisted of watching portions of The Passion of the Christ.  An incredibly moving and brutally explicit movie.  It's heartbreaking to know what Jesus did for us. The service was very emotional and ended with, Sai (one of the youth girls that we have come to know), giving her life to Christ.  Pretty incredible!

Our Saturday morning started with an early Songthaew (an adapted pick up truck with open air seats in the back) ride to Chonburi (about an hour from Chachaengsao).  Our goal was two-fold.... to visit ALH and to have some down time.

Abundant Life Home is an orphanage for HIV positive kids.  It was founded by Karen and Ricky Sanchez (another couple who came to Thailand in 2000).  It is a beautiful campus consisting of individual homes, a central, open-air gathering space, a huge basketball court and an amazing play structure.  Each home houses a family unit (house mom or dad and up to 6 kids).  These kids are happy.  They are loved, challenged and they are thriving.
Our group was able to spend a few hours helping with some landscaping work.  It was ridiculously hot (I don't think I've ever sweat that much in my life), but we were able to clean up the boulevard outside the campus and plant some new trees.  (Props to Jason, the resident property manager, who does this type of work every day.)

 

 

In the evening we joined the Sila church for their evening worship service and then spent a few hours visiting with Ricky.  It was great to hear about his many Thailand experiences.
Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation.  It was also the hottest day of the year in Thailand.  We spent part of the day by the pool and the remainder of it at a very nice (airconditioned!) mall.  Poor Peyton got very sunburned and now glows in the dark.  (I know the Thai word for 'white foreigner', but I haven't learned the word for 'red foreigner.')
It was a great mini-get away before prepping and leading teen camp.