Last Day of Green

Summer here in Thailand falls in the Spring.  The hottest time of the year here is March through May—It's when the temperatures begin to rise, but the cooling rains of rainy season have not shown up yet.

This is also the season of summer vacation for the local schools.  The last day of the school year is in late March and the new year begins in early May.

This year is special for several girls in our church.  Four of them are graduating elementary school (grade 6) and moving to high school.

It was fun when they showed up for music practice on the last day of their classes.  This was their last day to wear their green uniforms.  Next year they get to don the light colored blouses and dark skirts/pants of high school.

Music practice on the last day of classes

It's a bit of a scary time for for these new high school students.  The local high school has about 3000 students that come from all over.  There are 150 teachers!  The faith of these girls might be tested a bit.  We're thankful that there is a Christian teacher in the school who is willing to look out for them, encourage them, and advocate for them.

Meanwhile, we've had some opportunities for fun activities during the school break.

Making "pigs ears" cookies

Intense Game of Bingo

Celebrating Birthdays

We're grateful for the time we have to encourage the young people and teach them and even learn from them at this stage in their lives. (They're not usually shy about correcting our Thai.)  We pray that they will have the courage to live out their faith in Jesus as they enter high school and that their lives might be a testimony to what they believe.

Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
Luke 18:16 NLT