Remembering Somchai

We first met Ta Somchai in December 2021. We had asked one of our friends if she knew of any bedridden people whom we could bless with food and other gifts and for whom we could pray. Ngok came up with a list of ten people.

We found Ta Somchai in his house located near the base of the community water tower. Ta Somchai and his wife, Yai Prayun had very little means and the water company let them live there rent free. Yet their house did not have running water. Ta Somchai was suffering some kind of leg ailment, which made it hard for him to walk.

After Moe came to work with us in the spring of 2022, we would visit Ta Somchai every week to pray for him, share scripture with him, and as was our normal routine, we would bring some kind of food gift. Gradually, he got some strength in his legs and he was able to walk, albeit slowly. In spite of all the difficulties in his life, he was not one to complain and he had a ready smile.

Praying for Ta Somchai

Praying for Ta Somchai and Yai Prayun

Eventually, Ta Somchai and Yai Prayun started coming to our church gatherings. We would usually bring them in our car as it was hard for them to walk. When they were ready to get baptized, Ajan Nat got this big plastic tub we could use. When Ta Somchai went under water, he didn't come up right away. We wondered if something was wrong, but then he popped his head out of the water. He had not had a bath like that in so long (they had to carry whatever water they used at their house along way using a cart), that he was just enjoying being in the water.

Baptism

Ta Somchai was the first person in our church to pray publicly. He was a man of great faith. Since they had no family, they really enjoyed coming to our gatherings to meet with other believers. They were a very cute couple.

Ta Somchai and Yai Prayun shortly before we left Thailand

After we left Thailand, Ta Somchai and Yai Prayun continued to come to church gatherings, though he was often in a wheelchair. Our friends in Thailand always updated us with photos of what was happening, so we could continue to see them, even if not in person. It is from this collection I found many of the photos for this blog.

Early this morning, Moe messaged us from Thailand. Yesterday afternoon, Ajan Nat had gone to visit Ta Somchai. She found him in bed, where he had gone to sleep for the last time. We will continue to pray for Yai Prayun. She and Ta Somchai were very close, so it will be a big adjustment for her. Below I have posted some photos to remember Ta Somchai.

The older adults seemed to enjoy coloring more than the kids

Visiting Ta Somchai and Yai Prayun at home

Taking Communion last November

Portrait from January

Worshipping at House of Peace

Rebecca and Kapuk praying with Yai Prayun after Ta Somchai's passing.

Bookends 2025

The beginning and the end. A review of the year by looking at its beginning and end.

We started off 2025 by going to Millerton Lake State Park. We went in the entrance on the north side of the lake, where we had never gone before. It was quite a drive up into Madera County to get to this portion of the park. It was fairly quiet on New Years Day, and our goal was to hike to the top of Buzzard's Roost. It was a nice sunny, and fairly warm day.

It took us a bit to find the trail head. There was a big sign, which should have made it easy, but the sign was right above a trail that went around the perimeter of the lake, not to Buzzard's Roost. So we turned around once we realized the trail was not taking us where we wanted to go.

The trail to the Roost was steep in places and it had some spots where one had to step carefully through some rocks, but it was easy enough to follow once we got on it. From the Roost we got some nice views of the lake, especially looking upstream. But we didn't see any buzzards. 

Millerton Lake from Buzzards Roost

We walked a lot of other trails through the year, mostly in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, but the end of the year was less conducive to going on hikes. We had a bunch of foggy days at the beginning of December and I think we broke a record for the number of days in a row where the temperature did not go above 50˚F (10˚C). Then, for Christmas we got about 2 inches of rain, with another storm bringing another 3/4 inch over New Year's Eve.

Fall is the season when our citrus begin to ripen. We usually leave them on the tree as long as possible—last years crop we left on until March, except for the ones we ate or gave away. This year, the Oroblanco started falling off the tree in December. (Oroblanco are a cross between grapefruit and pummelo, developed by UC Riverside in the 1960's.) The fruit that fell from the trees weren't fully yellow, but they were nice and sweet. And big. And so on the last day of the year I found myself picking up some large Oroblanco off the ground.

Giant Oroblanco

Sweet and Juicy Oroblanco

The Oroblanco reminded me of some of the huge pummelo we had in Wiang Kaen, Thailand.

Giant Pummelo from Wiang Kaen, Northern Thailand

(You can read more about the pummelo fruit of Wiang Kaen here and here).

Before we moved to Thailand, we had planted two Oroblanco trees. But when we returned, only one had fruit. Our first year back, we had some irrigation issues, and the second tree did not produce fruit, but this year it did. But the fruit were really strange. Once they started to ripen, we tried some. They were horrible—sour and bitter. Seems like the rootstock had taken over while we were in Thailand. That tree is now gone and I put I loquat in it's place last month. I got the seedlings from a friend.

Loquat

We've had some interesting experiences with citrus in our backyard. When we moved here, there was a navel orange and a Myer lemon. The lemon made hige fruit, but it died at some point while we were in Thailand. The navel orange is still producing fruit, though there aren't as many this year as last year. But the fruit we do have are quite larg.

Our large navel oranges this year

One of our renters planted an orange tree, but we're not sure what kind it is. It makes lots of fruit, but they aren't terribly good for fresh eating. It almost seems like there are two kinds of oranges on it, but both kinds grow on the same branches. We used it to make marmalade this past year. We figure we will eventually get rid of it, but meanwhile it makes some nice shade in the middle of our backyard.

Mystery Orange Tree

Orange Marmalade

We planted a Clementine tangerine just to the south of our mystery orange tree, which will eventually serve to replace it. For its first year, that tree has given us seven fruit, even though it is only about two feet tall.

Clementine

These serve as an appropriate summary of our year because gardening and outings to the mountains are two of our favorite pastimes. I'm sure this next year won't be much different.