There it was, a large white sign with the words “NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED” painted in a very decisive shade of orange, and beyond it, a view of one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen in [...]

A Father to the fatherless In the village where we have our church, the population consists mostly of grandparents and their grandchildren. The parents go to find work in bigger cities. Most of [...]

More than a few mission supporters overestimate the spirituality of the missionaries they support. In the minds of some, missionaries are the super-elite frontline troops in the advance of the [...]

If you ride a motorcycle often, you get used to this question: “Have you ever had to ‘lay it down’”? Invariably the seasoned biker has had at least one occassion where he or she has had to [...]

Yesterday afternoon I wearily set off to visit Yow, a friend of mine who has cancer and has been diagnosed as terminal. She has been in hospital for over a month, she is in a fair amount of pain [...]

You know it’s hot season in Thailand when … 1. You are happy to go to immigration because it means a morning of sitting in air conditioning. 2. An hour after being washed, laundry is dry — [...]

How do you tell the dentist that one of your molars hurts? How do you say you would rather order 1 kilogram of chicken than 2? How do you ask where the bathroom is? These are all relatively [...]

  I sat talking with Auntie Baht, whom our family has known for 6 years now. “Yesterday I saw Teacher Is,” Auntie Baht told me. “She asked how you and the family are doing. I told her how [...]

Lots of people have heard about culture shock.  Its that feeling of disorientation, confusion, or frustration when you are suddenly surrounded by a foreign culture and a foreign language, and are [...]

Our plane hit the tarmac on the first over-90-degree day that Thailand had seen for weeks. What a welcome back, I couldn’t help but think. Good-bye, lovely fall weather of Illinois. Hello, [...]

“You’re about to leave for Thailand again. Are you excited?” asked more than one person as the day for our departure drew near. At first I found myself tongue-tied, stammering out a vague answer, [...]

‘Look who’s there’ our daughter shouts out. Grandfather Ohd and grandmother Dam have come and as always they also brought a snack for the kids. This time some sticky rice and sausages. For the [...]

Throughout the city of Lopburi there are several ancient ruins (all refurbished and maintained). The oldest is called Prang Khaek, see the photo above. It dates from the 11th century (before [...]

  After a day of hard work, we finally were able to pull out two trees besides the church. The church members had been talking about it for a while, but the concrete around the trees [...]

… sometimes I just don’t get it. Some things just remain strange. But what do you want, if you were born on the other side of the world and now only five months are immersed in a completely [...]

This week we are reminded of the all that we don’t like about rainy season in South Thailand, namely mould, endless days of rain and the potential of flooding. This is our second year in South [...]

Two weeks ago I started my early morning exercise routine, which is basically jogging a few laps around our neighbourhood block and getting a good start to the day. I had always wanted to do this [...]

While we were trying to sort out our visa problems in Bangkok earlier this month, I remember going for a walk with C1 and C2 to look for some food for dinner. We came across a lady selling sticky [...]

One strange observation I’ve made during my time in Thailand is the number of missionaries who sport a distinct “tattoo” half way up the calf of their leg. The mystery was solved for me after I [...]

Thailand has 68 million people and 35 million cars on the road. Of those vehicles, 76% of them have a Buddhist image sitting on the dashboard for protection. Yet Thailand ranks #2 in the world as [...]

*PING* It was 6:30am, and I forgot to silence my phone. I didn’t want to look, but curiosity got the better of me. I unlocked the phone and was surprised by what awaited me there. It was a [...]

Thai people love to eat and have even coined a phrase, “gin prumprua”. It is hard to translate, but basically means that the Thai love to snack throughout the day and center their social [...]

Our house in Phrom Khiri is near the district office, and recently they held an installation service for a new Buddha statue/idol placed in the front (it is the black statue in the photo). Caleb, [...]

During the last month I have had quite deep conversations with 2 different ladies who live in my area. Both of theses ladies are mums to young children and both have been considering working away [...]

God told the Israelites, “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). In the same spirit, Jesus tells us, [...]

The opportunity came out of the blue… Our local community was going to celebrate the “Khaochi- Festival”. For that reason they invited us to join in and produce a Swiss style [...]

  In trying to get back into Thai language learning, I sought out the help of Ms. Noy, who is a neighbor of ours and also a former Thailand championship takraw player. Ms. Noy has made her [...]

It seems that every year during the Songkran Festival in Thailand a new record is broken. If it was a new record for the most water throwing revelers in the same place it would be acceptable, but [...]

The main motto promoted by the Thai tourism department is “Amazing Thailand”. The year 2016 was indeed amazing for our country, but none so surprising, especially in the area of sports, than the [...]

Nothing is left to coincidence in Thailand. Today while reading a book I learned that even a house plan in Isaan has a deeper thought behind it. It has to do with auspiciousness. The four wind [...]