For those who weren't able to make the night, here's a quick run down of the night. The idea for the night was to give people an an experience of Thailand, where they could experience the tastes, sights and sounds of Thailand and get introduced to a few Thai friends along the way. So i thought it would be appropriate to kick off the night by getting everyone to stand and watch the Thai Royal Anthem, a very appropriate way to start any 'auspicious' occasion. That was then followed by the following vox pop about peoples impressions and knowledge about Thailand.
I then attempted to embark on teaching everyone how to make Khao Niaw Ma Muang (mango sticky rice). Thankfully it actually worked - despite the water running dry in the wok a couple times. Thankfully there were a few observant people who noticed 'smoke' and came to the rescue.
About to steam the rice
Here's a pic of the dessert after people have hoed into it
While the rice was cooking, I then began the tour of Thailand, showing them some of the sights of beaches, food, markets, festivals, traffic, as well as wats, Buddha images and monks. This naturally led us to getting a greater understanding of the needs in Thailand for people to not only hear the gospel, but also for the opportunity to learn how to read, understand the Bible for themselves in order to teach it to others. I introduced my everyone to some of my friends, Kim, Ajarn Jazz and Maggie and Ice and shared a little bit about how they have been impacted by Gods word and are keen to be serving God.
Taking everyone on the tour of Thailand
We then played a quick game of 'Place or Food' to give everyone a chance to stretch before i went onto to share about what my plans are for ministry in Thailand.
I then answered a few quick FAQ's then had a chance for questions. There were some really good questions that came out, and a few unexpected answers they got about some of the potential challenges of being a single female doing mission work (if you want to find out what those answers were, you'll just have to come and ask me). Craig then got up to talk about partnership and support before we broke up into smaller groups to pray for Thailand and for me.
We wrapped up the night by finishing up the dessert and then eating an amazing supper that many friends kindly provided.
The supper spread!
The night was a huge encouragement to me and has made me even more excited about heading back to Thailand. However, at the same time, it also made me sad to think about all the people that I won't get to see on a regular basis back here. But i'm hoping that coming back for home assignment ever couple years will mean that i do still get to see people on a semi regular basis.
Just wanted to also say a huge THANKS to everyone who came and who helped in so many ways - providing supper, setting up, doing tech, washing up and cleaning up. You guys are the BEST!!!
Here are a few photos from the night.
Setting up the night - with my little cooking demonstration setup
My 'geeky' setup so i could run everything from the front
Bec trying to imitate me...keep trying Bec :P
Supper up close
Catching up with people over supper
Mich & Ange dared to try the Mango Sticky Rice
Some of the wash up team doing....not sure.....
