Chiang Mai Times: Weekends Away with Cell Group and School

Welcome to PlaaPlaaPlaa!

So you may be wondering why PlaaPlaaPlaa? What are those strange fish symbols above? What is ปลา and what does it mean? In short, this is a blog site, so surely there's going to be plenty of rambling. Unfortunately BlahBlahBlah was already taken, so I had to settle for the 'Plaa'. But there's actually more to it then just ramblings. The first fish symbol is actually a Christian symbol meaning ICTHUS - a greek acronymn which means "Jesus Christ is God's Son, the Saviour". The other strange letters you see in the last fish is actually the thai word for fish which funnily enough is pronounced "Plaa". So when you put it all together, this site is going to be my ramblings in telling people about how Jesus Christ is God's Son, the Saviour in Thailand (with plenty of good stories about food in between). Happy reading.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Weekends Away with Cell Group and School

It's been a pretty crazy past few weeks with weekend trips away with my cell group and then with the teachers and staff from school. The first weekend, we went to Pai with the cell group. It was an awesome time to spend together, hanging out, studying the Bible, checking out the sites, my biggest highlight was visiting the local church there. Despite being a tiny church with little growth in terms of numbers, it was so encouraging to go to a church that had a really good understanding of the bible and biblical theology, despite the church worker only having only completed yr 6 schooling and done about 6 months bible 'college'. Dare i say it, but i reckon she understood the bible better then some of the pastors of churches here that have all sorts of degrees under their belt. It was such a stark contrast to the couple weeks before when i went to Doi Mesalong and went to the church there with no pastor and a room full of hungry people to hear God's word. Here was a tiny church that was teaching the word faithfully, but yet to still see fruit. Please be praying for the church in Pai.

With the church at Pail

Cell Group silliness

more silliness

always have to have a 'jump' photo

Daa trying to take a photo

at the Pai post office ('pai'- sanee - kinda like the word for post office in Thai)

the group (and Boy's shadow) that went to Pai

Me, May & Kim

not quite the gong, but fun all the same

fun with lights

Last week, i was invited to go along to the school teachers and staff camp at Huay Naam Dang. Despite being FREEZING cold, especially as we slept in tents, and had 1 bathroom for about 20 of us, it was a really good time to spend with many of the teachers and staff who have become really good friends. My teacher and i the opportunity to share the gospel with everyone on the Sunday morning and we used the time to also challenge them with the becoming Christian. Even though none of them 'responded' as such, my prayer is that it would have planted a seed in their life to know that God's gift of eternal life is waiting for them. All they have to do is accept it. Please be praying for many of the teachers and staff who are not christian there, to come to a real understanding of the gospel and the implications that has for their lives. Here are a few pics from the weekend away.