Top 24 2023

It's time for a review of the year based on some favorite photos from the year—one for each month with people and one without. This year was especially challenging because we have traveled to so many places in preparation for leaving Thailand and visiting supporters and churches across North America afterwards. So—here goes...

January - Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon

As is often the case, my preferred birthday present is not a physical gift, but to travel someplace. This year, we traveled not far from where we went the previous year, but we went to some different parks and sites that we had not been to before. We stayed in the district of Nam Nao ("Cold Water") in Petchabun Province, but it was near where the provinces of Khon Kaen, Petchabun, Loei and Chaiyaphum come together, and we visited spots in all but Loei Province. On our first full day we went to a place called Blue Lagoon in Khon Kaen.

Blue Lagoon is in an old water-filled Limestone quarry, and they are still actively mining nearby there. The minerals in the water give it a nice aquamarine color. You can't get down to the water because the pit is quite deep. But some people took advantage of the lagoon and put up a small restaurant with a view of the site. It is difficult to get to. There is a dirt road with no markings as to how to get there. We ended up not finding the main road in, but found an unpaved back road (road might be a generous term here) that went to a locked gate on the other side of the property. We obviously weren't the first ones to try this route, because there was a well beaten footpath around the gate. (The track was a bit sketchy for our Mitsubishi Mirage, but I am used to driving it on paths that one might think it is not suited for.) There were several people at the restaurant, and one young women volunteered to take our photo. We had to be careful, because the rock we were on was on the edge of the pit, and it was a several-hundred foot drop to the water below.

January - Sunset Over Nam Nao Mountains

Sunset over Nam Nao Mountains

While we were on our trip cited above, we stayed in a very nice cabin at a resort called Prue Sa Raj. (A resort in Thailand usually refers to lodging places that have cabins as opposed to one large building. Most of the time they have nightly rates and also "temporary" rates for those who are just hooking up for sex. Often they have curtains over the carports so partners of the guests won't know they are there. This resort, however, was more geared for tourists.) The resort was nicley laid out on a steep hill. At the bottom of the hill was a gigantic swing that could seat several people. It was here one could watch the sunset over the mountains of Nam Nao National Park. There was a lone tree in the foreground, which served as a nice frame for the setting sun.

February - Trip to the Zoo

Lunch at Khon Kaen Zoo

In February, we took some of the young people from our group on a trip to the Khon Kaen Zoo, we hired a van for the 2-1/2 hour trip to the zoo. (I wrote a poem about this trip here.)

We had covered most of the expenses for the trip, but the kids had also brought along a little spending money. To save money, they opted to walk instead of paying for a shuttle bus ticket. But after a while, they were getting tired. Most of the kids ended up spending what little money they had on ice cream. We got our little group back to the restaurant at the zoo in time for a late lunch. They kids were hungry, but they didn't have much money left. Even though the food prices were inexpensive (less than $1.50 a meal), they figured all that they could afford was skewers with "meat" on them, which cost about 30 cents. Then, we announced that we were paying for lunch and they could order whatever they liked. There eyes all lit up and they became quite excited at the opportunity.

February - Torch Ginger

Torch Ginger

In early February, Ingrid went with our intern and two high school students to a Women's retreat that was for all of our Mennonite Brethren churches in Thailand. The retreat was in Rayong, about a 10-hour drive from where we live. I went along as a driver, but I stayed at a different place about a 5-minute drive from where the women were.

The place I stayed was called the Villa Bali Eco-Resort. Ingrid and I had stayed there previously on a vacation trip. The resort consists of about 20 cabins. There are lots of trees with flowers and shrubs that thrive in the mostly shady environment. There were several clusters of Torch Ginger plants. These unique, pinkish-red flowers are about a meter tall. The white edges of the petals makes the flowers contrast strongly with each other and with the background, which gives them a kind of other-worldly look which I find quite appealing.

March - Yai Yuanjai

Yai Yuanjai

For Christmas 2022, Ajan Nat brought a team from Chachoengsao to help with Christmas outreaches. One event she scheduled was a dinner for some high school classmates of hers, people she had not seen in almost 40 years. After dinner, Ajan Nat talked about the true meaning of Christmas, and she shared her testimony. About five of her former classmates attended, along with their spouses. One woman, Bang Awn, was miffed that Ajan Nat would use a festive occasion for religious purposes.

At that time, we were regularly visiting some people who lived down the street from Bang Awn. Each time we would visit, we would bring a small gift. Bang Awn was watching this and saw that we Christians truly like to help people. She called Ajan Nat in Chachoengsao to tell her that she knew someone who truly needed help. When Ajan Nat visited with a team in March, Bang Awn introduced us to Yai Yuanjai.

Yai Yuanjai is originally from the next county over, but even Ajan Nat remembered her reputation as a hard drinking woman, though she no longer drinks. Her husband and only son are deceased.

A couple of years ago, when she was out on her motorcycle, she was struck by a vehicle and was injured quite badly, her lower leg almost completely severed. The driver, thinking she was going to die, stole the jewelry she was wearing and her money and drove off. Yai Yuanjai was taken to a hospital. The doctors wanted to amputate her foot, but she thought she was going to die anyway, so she refused. The doctors stitched the skin back together, but her foot hangs loosely. She survives on the small government pension and disability payments, but that is very little. Her neighbors and grandson will help her, but only if she pays them.

We visited Yai Yuanjai and told her about Jesus and she expressed an interest in following Him. We prayed for her leg, and while God has not yet healed her leg completely, she has less pain and is able to do more things. We gave Yai Yuanjai a children’s picture bible, which is all dog-eared from her going through it so much. Now she is happy to tell people how much God has helped her physically and spiritually.

March - Phuket Beach Sunrise

Sunrise at Kata Beach, Phuket

I can't say I was happy when it was decided we would have our regional retreat for missionaries in Phuket during March. There were two reasons I felt this way. One is that Phuket is a popular destination for foreigners and so it is very crowded and everything is quite expensive. The second reason I wasn't excited was that it was hot season. Hot season on the coast, with the even higher than already high humidities, is not very comfortable. (The clothes we brought with us got damp just hanging in our hotel room, even though we had air conditioning.)

The beach was close to our hotel, but it was hard to get to because we had to walk all around the walled-in Club Med complex. The beach was quite crowded in the afternoons and evenings, so I opted to go visit it early in the morning. This meant I could watch sunrise from the beach by going away from the shore and looking back to it. One morning the tide was out far enough so that I could capture the rippled sea bed.

April - Songkran Fun

Songkran Fun With Water Balloons

The children get their main summer break from school during the hot season. In the middle of April every year is the Thai new year known as Songkran. This is the time of year when families reunite. Traditionally, younger people would honor their elders by pouring water over their hands. This has morphed into an annual water festival. People take to the streets to throw water at passers by. Others ply the highways with pickups loaded with water-filled drums so that they can anoint the people who are standing beside the road. And on really hot days, one can appreciate this.

Usually, during school breaks we will have lots of opportunities for the kids to hang out and play and maybe learn some things, too. When we got out the water balloons, they were really excited. What fun to get soaking wet on a hot summer day.

April - Sacred Lotus

Sacred Lotus

Throughout Thailand, you can find sacred lotus plants growing in ponds and ditches. In Buddhism, the lotus represents purity. This is because even though they may grow in murky water, the flowers open bright and clean. Unopened buds are often given to monks.

Lotus plants are also sources of food. The seeds of the lotus plant are roasted and eaten. The inflated stems (which enable the stems to float) are also eaten.

The bloom shown here was found in a pond near where we lived.

Lotus Flower Buds for Sale

Lotus Seeds

Lotus Stems

May - Baptism

Somchai Gets Baptized with Prayun Looking On

We first met Ta Somchai when we were handing out packages of food and other things to people in the community who were bed bound. At the time, Somchai could not get out of bed due to a problem with his leg. He and his wife, Prayun, were living in a borrowed house that did not have running water. We continued to visit Somchai and Prayun to pray for them and share scipture with them. Eventually, they were able to come to our worship gatherings and were baptized.

We did the baptisms in a large plastic tub. When Somchai went under, he was slow to come back up again. We were wondering if something was wrong, but he said that he was just enjoying being immersed in water—something he had not done in a long time. He is pictured here with Prayun looking on.

May - Rosary Pea

Rosary Pea - Abrus precatorius

In April, we started noticing rosary peas breaking out of their pods dangling from vines in the forests of Kamalasai. We remember these seeds from when we lived in Haiti where they were known as lian legliz. However, we had not seen them in Thailand until now. The sight of them brought back fond memories for myself and Ingrid.

The rosary pea plants have pretty pink flower clusters. I had seen them growing before, but had not recognized what plant they were until I saw the seeds.

Rosary Pea Flowers

June - Greetings From Thailand

Greetings From the Children

I didn't take this picture, but it was sent to me. In June, I ended up having to make a trip to California to attend to some business. Ingrid stayed behind to attend to activities in Kamalasai. We chatted most days on video calls. But a highlight for me was when after the kids made pizza during their Saturday gatherings they shared a photo with me so I could see their faces. I still miss them when I see pictures like this.

June - Storm Clouds Over Swamp

Storm Clouds Building Over Kamalasai

One activity Ingrid and I enjoyed in Thailand was cloud watching. The rainy season can bring some pretty awesome cloud formations. One day we were out on such a trip, and we ended up at a reservoir near the village of Khao Lam. The clouds were building, prepping for the storm that was to come later in the evening. When I see such things, and think about all the energy that is represented by these storms, I am reminded that they are the work of a God who is far, far greater than them.

July - Dinner on the Mekong

Dinner With Lai and Kim

In July we took a road trip to northern Thailand. The purpose of this trip was two-fold. One reason was to bid farewell to those we worked with several years earlier and bring closure to what had been a difficult period of my life. The other was to deliver our car to some friends whom we sold it to.

One evening, we had dinner with two young women whom we used to teach English to back when they were high school students. Both of them had gone to university hoping to work in the tourist industry. However, they graduated when COVID was going strong and the tourist industry crashed and then both of them ended up as teachers back in the same district them came from. Lai (left) works for the Border Police as a teacher in a frontier school. It is in the same mountainous sub-district where she grew up, but about 1/2 hour further away. (The police run schools in remote areas near the border where it is hard to get regular people to teach.) Kim teaches high school English.

July - Wiang Kaen

Wiang Kaen District

When we went back to Wiang Kaen district, where we used to live, we decided to take the more "direct" mountain route to get there. It looks more direct on the map because the map does not show all the small, tight bends in the road unless you zoom in really close. Wiang Kaen District made up of the watershed of the Ngao River. It is surrounded mountains on three sides, and on the north side, the Ngao River empties into the Mekong.

In this photo, we are in the southernmost sub-district known as Por, and we looking down-valley (north-east) into the watershed. The mountains on the far side form the border with Laos. That is the area where Lai works. The dominant ethnic groups in Por are Hmong, Yao (Mien) and Haw Chinese. This photo is not very exciting artistically, but it gives a good overview of the kind of area where we worked in the north. For me, this landscape is very appealing. I like mountains, and I really missed these when we moved to Isaan.

August - Saying Goodbye

Last Sunday in Kamalasai

We spent 2-1/2 years in Kamalasai. On our first Sunday there we had our first worship service with Kung, an intern, and a few people she had led to Christ. Now it was our last Sunday there, and there were several adults representing two house churches and a bunch of children. We invested a lot of time and energy into building relationships in the community and this was some of the fruit. We had a worship service and there was lots of good food and then it was time to say good-bye.

The church has actually grown more in the time since we left than the time while we were there. We were there to help lay a foundation, now there are others who can build on it. We thank God that he allowed us to have a part in bringing the good news of Jesus to the people of Kamalasai.

August - Haeo Su Wat Waterfall

Haeo Su Wat Waterfall in Khao Yai National Park

It was time. Time to leave our home of 12 years and move back to North America. My sister and brother-in-law were there to help us move. We loaded up all of our suitcases into the back of the pickup truck, which did a good job of filling it up.

Truck All Loaded and Ready to Go

We decided to detour through the mountains on the way to Bangkok, where we would catch our plane. We spent the night in a town called Khao Yai, before heading into Khao Yai National Park. When we entered the park, whenever we would stop we would hear the sound of gibbons. Occasionally we spotted gibbons along the road. We took a side road down to a waterfall called Haeo Su Wat. From the parking lot, we descended a lot of rustic stone and wooden stairs to get to the bottom of the falls. Then I had to clamber over a bunch of rocks to get to where I could set up my tripod to snap this picture. I got finished just in time, because as I was leaving a whole busload of people was coming down the stairs.

September - Mushroom Rock

Mushroom Rock Near Chico

After we arrived back in California and we only were there about a week before we were off to British Columbia for meetings and a retreat for returning missionaries. After that we loaded up some things we had stored and had someone take us across the border to the Bellingham Airport where a rental car was awaiting us. We gradually made our way south, stopping to see friends and to give a presentation to North Park Community Church in Eugene, OR, along the way. In Chico, California, we detoured to Richardson Springs, where Ingrid's youngest sister and family were participating in the Discipleship Training School (DTS) for families at the YWAM base there. It was our first time to go to Chico, and the YWAM base was far up a canyon at what was once a resort for the rich and famous back in the 1920's. There was a unique rock formation appropriately named mushroom rock that we all climbed up to one evening.

September - Wild Ginger

Wild Ginger

There it was at last! The wild ginger plant.

My search for this had begun the day before, when I saw a sign along the trail mentioning the existence of this plant in the upper reaches of the trail. But I had run out of time before I found it, so I went back again to look for it the following day. And there it was—about a hundred yards past where I turned back the day before. It wasn't much to look at, and there was only one plant at this location. Still, it was interesting to find this plant that was of importance to indigenous peoples. (In December, I noticed several clusters of these plants near the Chilnualna Falls trail in Yosemite National Park.)

Wild Ginger Information Sign

When I saw the plant, the leaf reminded me of a plant that grew on vines in the town where we last lived in Thailand. Sure enough, when I did some research, I found that they are in the same plant family, Aristolociaceae—the pitcher plant family.

Aristolochia (Rooster Flower) Leaf

The plant we knew from Thailand had a flower like this.

Flower of Aristolochia pothieri

And it had a fruit like this:

Fruit of Aristolochia pothieri

October - Co-workers for the Kingdom

Visit With the Jenkins

In October we made a trip down the east coast to visit family and friends, many of whom we had not seen in a long time. There were many photos taken with said people, and it was hard to choose one. I decided to post a photo of our visit to the Jenkins in New Hampshire. Several people we visited we had not seen in a long time, but the record goes to Sue Jenkins. We probably last saw her when we were preparing to go to Haiti back in 1986 when we were visiting a common friend back in New Hampshire. At the time, she was herself preparing to do Bible translation with Wycliffe. In the meantime, she got married, did Bible translation in West Afica, had kids and now grandkids. But we shared a commonality in that we had moved back to North America after working overseas for many years. As such, we had several common experiences as well as lots of unique ones. Jay is a great story-teller and it was especially fun to hear stories of their children growing up in Africa.

Now, they have settled in Milton, New Hampshire. Milton lies along the Salmon Falls River, which divides New Hampshire from Maine. We were able to walk along the river and enjoy the fall colors while we were there.

Salmon Falls River in Milton, New Hampshire
Opposite side is Maine

October - Coastal Maine

Maine Coast

A highlight of our trip was to spend our 40th anniversary on the Maine Coast. We found a nice cabin near Thomaston. This is close to where we went for our first anniversay 39 years earlier. We had hope of enjoying the fall colors, which we did to some extent. But this year, some leaves had already fallen while others had not changed yet. And right after we got there, the eye of a remnant of a tropical storm passed right over where we were staying and the winds knocked even more leaves off.

After a couple of days, though, the sun came out. In any case, whether in fog or rain or sunshine, we had an enjoyable time there.

Some Fall Colors in Southern Maine

November - Fallen Monarch

Fallen Monarch Tree
Grant Grove, Kings Canyon National Park

In November, we finally settled into our home in Fresno. It took quite a while for us to get the house in order, which we did not finish until December. In the meantime, we enjoyed a visit from Ingrid's youngest sister and family over Thanksgiving weekend. While they were here, we made a trip to Kings Canyon National Park. They had visited the park with their older three children 16 years earlier. A highlight of that trip was Grant Grove—a grove of some spectacular giant sequoia trees. One of the trees, named the "Fallen Monarch," fell over a long time ago. The outide of the tree is intact, but the inside is hollow and one can walk through the gigantic log.

Siblings in the Same Tree 16 Years Ago

November - Isabella Lake

Isabella Lake

In November we made a trip to Kern County to visit supporters and to give a presentation at a church there. We spent one night in Weldon, located in the Kern Valley near Isabella Lake. When we first visited there 30 years ago, my cousin told me that the dominant weather characterstic of the area was wind. We have made many trips to the area over the years, and I would have to say that I agree with her. Rarely is the time when the lake is calm. But the morning we left Weldon, the air was fairly still, to the extent that we could actually see reflections in the lake water. This picture was taken looking northeast from Kissack Cove, near the community of Mountain Mesa.

December - Chilnualna Falls Trail

Chilnualna Falls Trail

What better way to end the year than with a photo of my favorite girl on one of my favorite trails. We finally had the opportunity to take a break and get away from our house for a day. We decided to go to Yosemite Park. Our first stop in the park was at the Chilnualna Falls trail. This is one of my favorite trails, though we did not hike the four miles up the mountain to the main falls. Instead we just hiked about 1/2 mile to the lower cascades, which are beautiful enough. The trail begins in the steep canyon near these cascades. Adjacent to these falls, just past where this photo was taken, the trail ascends some narrow, stone stairs that fall off into the creek on one side. Not for the faint of heart, but oh, so beautiful. It is a worthy destination on its own.

Lower Cascades Along
Chilnualna Falls Trail in
Yosemite National Park

Some of the Stairs on the Trail

December - Yosemite Valley Reflections

Reflections of El Capitan and Bridalveil Falls in Merced River
Yosemite National Park

After we visited Chilnualna Falls Trail, we continued on to Yosemite Valley. I don't enjoy going here as much as I used to because it is usually so crowded. Even though it was a chilly winter day, there were lots of people visiting the park. We decided to focus on going to less popular spots on the west side of the valley. This picture was take where the Northside Drive comes close to the Merced River. There is a small parking lot there and I scrambled over the rocks on the river's edge to take this photo. On the left is El Capitan and on the right is Bridalveil Falls.

And so another year comes to a close. With big changes happening in our lives, we can hardly imagine what next year's Top 24 will look like. But we look forward to whatever it is that God has in store for us.

Top 24 2022

It's fun to look back over the past year to see what all transpired. I'm not really good at keeping a diary, but I have lots of photo reminders. And as I look over the photos, some of the events depicted seem like the happened much more than a year ago. So, I summarize the year by picking my favorite photos from the year, two for each month, one with people and one without. There may also be some supplemental photos to help explain the others. Photos are not necessarily chosen for artistic quality but more-so to give a breadth of variety between all twelve months and also for memories that the photographs evoke.

January - Stonehenge of Thailand

Ingrid asked me if I had any ideas what I wanted for my birthday. These days, as we consider retirement and moving back to North America in the not too distant future, when we think about gifts we might want to receive other than consumables, there are two main criteria: they should have no weight and take up no space. I vaguely remembered seeing pictures once of some unusual rock formations which I thought were in Chaiyaphum Province, so I figured it would be fun to go see them. All I had to do was figure out what they were called and where they were. That turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. But eventually found our way to Mor Hin Khao (มอหินขาว).

Mor Hin Khao in Chaiyaphum Province

Mor Hin Khao roughly translates as "white rock knoll." While it is sometimes referred to as the Stonehenge of Thailand, Mor Hin Khao consists of natural sandstone formations whereas the real Stonehenge is man made. The rock formations are in Phu Lan Kha National Park.

Amazing Thailand (https://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/mo-hin-khao) has this to say about Mor Hin Khao:

Originally, the area was covered with forests, which was later changed to plantation. People saw that there were some large rocks in the cassava plantation (at that time) but were not interested. However, some said there are five extraordinary rocks from which a white light would appear during Buddhist Sabbath nights (full moon, 8th day of waxing moon, 8th day and 15th day of waxing moon). Accordingly, the place was called Mor Hin Khao, the Stonehenge of Thailand. Most rocks at Mor Hin Khao are white sandstone, while some contains siltstone, mudstone and purple sandstone.

There are other rock formations in the park, but this is the most famous one. There is also a nice viewpoint down the road from the rocks and places to go tent camping, if one is so inclined.

January - Making Fritters

Many years, we uphold a tradition of making "New Year's Cookies" aka fritters. We don't always make them on New Year's Day, and this year we decided to make them during one of our Saturday youth gatherings. Many Thai people don't like really sweet snack food, so fritters are a nice choice, because they're not very sweet in themselves and it isn't necessary to coat them with sugar.

Making Fritters

We had fun making the fritters, but they did not turn out well. The gas cooker we had available did not adjust to a low enough temperature for deep frying.

February - Sunrise Over the Gulf of Thailand

In February, we traveled to Rayong Province for a training session for Thai Mennonite Brethren church leaders. (You can read more about that here.) We stayed at the Suan Wang Kaew Resort. While this part of the Gulf of Thailand generally faces west, due to curves in the coast, one could actually watch the sunrise over the water. It seems most of the people attending the conference were not morning people, so there was no one on the small beach when I watched the sunrise.

Sunrise From Suan Wang Kaew Resort

February - Fruit of the Loom

We stopped by to visit our friend, Ngok, to say hello, and found that she was busy weaving floor mats. These thin mats are commonly used throughout Thailand. They are made from a type of sedge and are used either with their natural color or they are dyed. We observed Ngok for a while to see how se managed to get the patterns in the weaving. The plain colored mats were fairly simple and quick to make. Fancier patterns required more time and thought. Just like my mom might knit or crochet while carrying on a conversation, so too, Ngok was skilled enough to do this. The mats they make are either used at home or are sold.

Weaving Mats

Ingrid got involved as well, helping split and trim the reeds.

Ingrid Helping Split the Sedges

Some Partly Finished Mats

Sedge Straw, Plain and Dyed

Finished Mats

While the older people can weave mats almost without thinking, you don't see many young people taking up the craft. So while these mats are common and easy to find right now, it makes you wonder if you will be able to get them in another 20 years. Already, similar mats can be found mage of plastic fibers. Another consideration is that many of the wetlands where the sedges grow are being drained or filled, so that the raw materials to make the mats are getting more scarce. Ngok said that the sedges she was using came from two provinces away.

March - Dinosaur tracks

It was Sunday afternoon and we were coming back from a weekend visit to Phon Phisai. Since Monday is typically our day off, we figured we would detour on the way to do some sightseeing the following day. We visited several tourist sites which appeared to be little visited. I had picked the places we would visit from Google Maps, but that it always a bit risky, since the pins aren't always in the correct place. One of the places we planned to visit was where there are fossilized dinosaur footprints. Google Maps directed us part of the way, then we saw some signs to help us further. We ended up on a narrow road that got even narrower and the signs petered out. The road was in not very good shape, so we had to go slow. Eventually we found a parking place, but there were no other vehicles to be seen. There were signs at this point directing us down a trail to a creek bed where we found the footprints.

Dinosaur Footprints

We did not spend much time at this location, because a storm was brewing. We drove as fast as we could on the way out, because the wind was blowing hard and down and branches were coming down all around us. This made our trip became even more adventurous than we thought it would be.

March - Reunion

While we had been in Phon Phisai, we visited with Pla and Kung, two teenage girls we had taught English and guitar to. It's fun to talk with the teenagers to find out what is going on because they tend to be a little less reserved with their speech. We were encouraged that they were both involved with music in the church they are attending.

Reunion With Youth in Phon Phisai

April - Helicopter-winged Seeds

It was early in rainy season, so our expectations were low, but we felt like exploring on our day off, so we went to visit a waterfall park on the east side of Kalasin province—about an hour drive from our house. Indeed, the creek was dry, but there was a nice trail through the forest, so it was fun to examine the plants, flowers and critters we could find. There were many of these interesting winged fruits on the ground, which I recalled seeing in a park in Udon Thani several years back. Turns out they are the fruit of the Burmese lacquer tree (Gluta usitata)—a tree in the same plant family as mangoes, cashews and poison oak.

Wikipedia has this to say about the species

This species is used in Burma and northern Thailand as a source of lacquer used for producing varnish, waterproof or preservative paint, glue, ceramic and lacquerware. Timber (known as Borneo rosewood) is used for furniture and inlay work.

Both tree's sap and sawdust can cause dermatitis and skin irritation.

Burmese-lacquer Tree Fruit

 A side note to this: In October, we were visiting some parks on the edge of Kalasin and Sakhon Nakhon provinces. The foothills there had many trees covered in white blooms, that had a kind of ghostly appearance from a distance. Turns out these were the flowers of the Burmese lacquer trees.

Burmese-laquer Tree Flower

April - Make a Joyful Noise

In April, we had a team visiting from Chachoengsao that came to help put on a youth camp. Khing had not come to our youth activities in a while, so we were happy to see her participating. And I had never seen her play the drum before, but there she was, singing away and playing the drum at the same time. And since we had other people playing the guitar, I was able to snap some photos.

Making a Joyful Noise to the Lord

May - Sea of Isaan Flags

Most Isaan villages have some kind of religious ritual or ceremony each month. In some cases, one of these takes on the nature of an annual festival which attracts people from all over. Ban Sema is a fairly small, seemingly insignificant village about 7 kilometers west of where we live. But it has the distinction of having a significant historical landmark, an old stupa known as Phra That Yakhu. This village is also surrounded by an ancient moat. Each year, on the grounds of the stupa, the villagers set up over 1600 handmade flags known as tung. There are many activities reminiscent of a typical fair, but the main event is anointing the stupa with water.

Sea of Isaan Flags

Phra That Yakhu

Moat Around the Historical Village of Fa Daet Song Nam
and the Current Village of Ban Sema

May - Lefty

I've met a lot of left-handed people living in Thailand. Pla, who we mentioned earlier, is left-handed, but she learned to play guitar right-handed. They do make left handed guitars and I've even seen them in a music store in Roi Et, a large city near here.

After the youth camp we had in April, we had several new faces coming to our Saturday activities for few weeks. One young man, Nong was a good guitar player—much better than me. But the amazing thing is that he was left handed but played a right-handed guitar upside-down. This was impressive to watch. In the photo below, Toon is accompanying him. She has a nice voice, and it was fun to watch the two of them singing together.

Left-handed Guitarist with Right-handed Guitar

June - Banteng

Wanting to escape town-life for a day, we drove up to the Lam Pao Dam. This dam impounds a large reservoir that is managed by the Royal Irrigation Department. There is a park area on the east side of the dam, but when we had gone previously, it was closed due to COVID. With COVID restrictions no longer in effect, we decided to check it out.

Upon entering the park, we drove down an asphalt road that in some places was barely possible to navigate with our small car. The 1-1/2 km long road seemed much longer as were steered around or sometimes through massive potholes. The road eventually came to an end at a cluster of buildings that looked abandoned. There were no other vehicles in sight. We walked around the edge of the lake for while and then found an old track through the forest. We saw some movement in the underbrush and were a bit startled by some strange looking cattle. At first we thought there were two different kinds of cattle, but it turns out the cows are reddish brown, but the bulls are dark brown.

Apparently, banteng used to roam throughout much of Thailand. Now the population is reduced to a few semi-wild herds. I call them semi-wild because, while they are wild cattle, they are being managed so as to sustain their numbers.

Banteng Bull

Banteng Cow

June - Home Industry

Many of the people we have met in Isaan are quite industrious. They are always looking for ways to make money, since just growing rice is not enough to sustain their families. One of the big industries around here is sewing. There are many small factories where they make blankets, towels and some clothing. I think every house we have been in has at least one sewing machine and or serger. Women will often make clothing on contract to either local companies or companies located elsewhere. This woman had a contract to make school uniforms. It was amazing that she could even carry on a conversation while putting the outfits together.

Home-based Sewing Industry

July - Storm Chasing

One day, we were chatting with Moe, the intern who works with us, about what we did for fun the evening before. She said that she had gone to a movie in Kalasin with some friends. We told her that we had a pastime that was cheaper than going to the movies—we went cloudwatching.

We get some pretty impressive and beautiful clouds in the rainy season. The afternoon that Moe had gone to the movies, we had looked out the window and seen some very dark clouds gathering to the north. I said to Ingrid, "Let's go stormchasing!" There was a massive cloud system passing to the north of Kamalasai. We only got a few drops of rain from this in our home town, but it looked like some places got a good drenching. We drove along the southern edge of the system and only got a few drops of rain on our car.

The Big Storm

July - Ba Luang Waterfall

Moe had suggested we take a couple of the teens on an outing somewhere. We knew of a waterfall park that had covered places to sit and chat.

Ba Luang Waterfall is located in Khon Kaen province just outside the northwest edge of Kalasin. We had a time of worship and Bible study and then walked around the waterfalls. By this time, the skies were getting quite dark and the rain started to come down pretty hard. We had a couple of umbrellas in the car, so Moe and the teens used these to walk down the stairs to view the waterfall more closely. The orange umbrella contrasted strongly with the somber environment.

Ba Luang Waterfall

August - Water Buffalo

Water buffalo are a common sighting in Isaan. In the past, they were used for animal traction, but now most of that kind of work is done by tractors or rototillers. These days, the water buffalo are raised primarily for meat.

One day, we were out exploring and we stopped near a reservoir. As we walked down to the dam, a flock of water buffalo that had been grazing nearby came over to greet us. It was a bit unnerving, because they are large animals and there were so many of them. Even though they were just friendly and curious, they could still be dangerous. Their owners were sitting under the shade of a farm shed, enjoying watching the scene play out.

Water Buffalo

August - Ho Kaeo Tower

For a youth activity during the month of August, we hired a van to take a trip to the city of Mukdahan, so that the kids could climb up the Ho Kaeo tower, located on the banks of the Mekong River. By the time we got to Mukdahan, the rains were starting. Most of the young folk used up some of their energy racing up the stairs to the top. We could have gone faster than we did, but we were hanging behind, trying to encourage the stragglers of the bunch—there were a lot of stairs. Because of the rain, the views were not particularly good.

 On the way home, Moe had picked out a coffee shop where we could have a brief Bible study afterwards. However, by the time we got there, it was raining quite heavily and the gazebos were not conducive to doing anything but getting a shower. We did get some coffee, however, and we got a sighting of Herbie, the Love Bug.

Mukdahan Tower

Herbie Look-alike
The bumper gives this away as a 1968 or older
model-the original was an earlier version.

September - Murmuration

It was hard to pick photos for September. We made a vacation trip to Canada, and it ended up being a time to spend our last hours with Ingrid's mom before she passed away. An especially memorable moment, though, happened early on during our time in Canada. We spent a few days in BC before continuing on to Alberta. I think it was our first evening there when we went for a walk in one of the parks in Langley. Towards the end of our walk we caught sight of a huge flock of birds doing something like a well choreographed flying dance. We joined several others in watching in awe as the winged creatures put on their awesome display. It seems we stumbled upon a flock of starlings doing something called murmuration. (I even got to learn a new English word with that.)

September - Reading Mom's Memorial Blog

From Langley, we flew to Alberta—well the plane did the flying, we just sat through the whole thing. While there, Ingrid's mom got sick and ended up in the hospital, where she passed away after a few days. I wrote a blog-eulogy about my late mother-in-law. One evening, while we at another relative's house, Ingrid showed her dad the blog on the iPad. Her dad isn't really a technology person, so he doesn't interact with internet based material unless someone shows him. It was an emotional experience for the two of them as they read my reflections on Betty Engler.

Reading Memorial Blog

October - Pao River Flooding

It was the end of rainy season and the rivers we already running full. Then, we got a couple big storms blowing in off the South China Sea. The reservoir managers had to work to keep dams from failing, so they released lots of water into several of the already full rivers that flow through the southern part of the Isaan Region. Two of those rivers converge in our province. The Pao River, which runs right through our town, saw levels that they have not seen in years. Some of the routes I like to take on my bicycle became a bit more difficult to navigate. The bad part was that it was only a few weeks to rice harvest. Thousands of acres of rice crop were lost.

Bicycle on Road Flooded by Pao River

But that wasn't the worst part.

October - Levee Break

In early October, one of the levees on the Chi River gave way. The water began pouring into rice fields and villages in the district where we live. Our mission agency, along with many other groups, put together bags of food and supplies to assist those who were affected by the flooding. (You can read more about that here.) After helping in one village, we were given a boat tour. We boated down the inundated road past the village temple to the town hall. Along the way we met on man walking down the road, towing his boat.

Walking Along the Road. in Ban Sa-ad Village After Levee Breach

November - Jewel Bug

There is this interesting small tree growing in a forest near where we live. I have yet to be able to identify it, so when I noticed it was beginning to set fruit, I stopped to examine the plant more closely. That is when I noticed these metallic green and orange bugs living on the tree.

Jewel bugs (Chrysocoris stollii) are members of the order Hemiptera, or "true bugs" (as opposed to beetles or other insects). These kinds of insects change their appearance as they mature. The go through several stages of being a nymph before they become an adult. Between each stage, they shed their skin. Another term for this is molting. The Jewel bugs, before they molt, turn bright red and orange. Once they reach the adult stage, the jewel bugs have no orange on top, but instead have some red on the legs and are red underneath.

Jewel Bug Nymphs and Molting Nymph (Red)

Adult Form of the Jewel Bug

November - Visit With Yai Urai

Yai Urai is one of the members of our fellowship in that meets in Kamalasai. She lives right around the corner from us. Though she has multiple health issues that make it hard for her to get around, she is a hard worker. She spends most of her days making Dok Mai Chan—paper flowers that are handed out to people who attend funerals that are tossed on the coffin of a deceased person before it is burned in the crematorium. It is quite an effort to put these together. White scrap paper is either cut into flower head shapes or into long strips. Yellow paper is cut into circles that are glued to center of the flower. Bamboo is cut into thin strips about 5 inches long.Another special type of wood that doesn't discolor easily is purchased as a log. A small plane is used to cut shavings from this log about 1/4 inch by 2 inches. The shavings are glued to the top of the bamboo, which is then wrapped with the white paper strips in a spiral fashion. The flower-head is then glued to the top and a small strip of black paper is wrapped around and glued to the bottom. She sells these in bags of 100 for not a whole lot of money.

On this particular day, we were visiting our team leader who joined in the process while carrying on a conversation. Yai Urai has a great sense of humor and a beautiful smile, though we sometimes need someone to translate to Central Thai so that we can get her jokes.

We first met Yai Urai over 1-1/2 years ago. Her brother, who lives next door, had been in the hospital, first in Kalasin city, then in the local hospital. We visited him and prayed for him in both places. While he was in the local hospital, he decided to become a follower of Jesus. We went to visit him when he was released and his sister was there with him. She decided to follow Jesus as well. But just a few weeks ago we heard a story about that first visit that we had not heard before. At that time, she also had been having health issues that the doctor was not able to help her with. We prayed for her that day, but then didn't hear anything more about it until this past month. Apparently, the night that we prayed for her, she had a dream in which we appeared. The next morning the pain she had been having was gone.

The day Yai Urai shared this story with us, she told us about some leg pain she was having. The doctors had been unable to help her, but she found some relief using an herbal cream she bought in another part of the province where her children live. She was out of this cream, and was unable to buy more locally. We prayed for her healing that day, and Moe ordered some more cream online. When we went back to visit the following week, Yai Urai said she had not had any more of that pain since we prayed for her. We had the cream, but she didn't need it!

Visiting With Yai Urai

Completed Dok Mai Chan

December - Smoke and Sun

In this part of Isaan, the rice farmers harvest their wet season crop in mid to late November. Those who have access to irrigation water will then get busy prepping their land for the dry season crop, which they will plant in January. Part of this prep means burning off the old fields. It can get a bit smoky, though not as bad as April. However, when the sun rays break through the trees and smoke, it is like God is shining a spotlight on our path as if to say, "this is the way walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21)

Sunbeams Breaking Through the Smoke

December - Christmas Dinner

This year, Christmas fell on a Sunday. Ajan Nat decided she wanted to invite some of her relatives over for a Christmas Party/dinner/worship service. We played some games and then sang some songs, after which Ajan Nat shared the story of Christmas. This was followed up by dinner which was prepared by Ajan Nat and one of her nieces. No turkey or ham, just stir fried basil, stir-fried Asian kale, rice and papaya salad. We sat on the floor, Isaan style.

Christmas Dinner

Note: we did begin the day with a more traditional (for us) breakfast of home made cinnamon rolls, fried eggs and sausage.

Traditional Breakfast

There were so many other things we saw and did during the year, but the best thing was getting to work beside our Thai partner as we shared the love of Jesus with many who had not heard of him before.