Final Days at Santisuk

From our first day at Santisuk

To our last day, we've enjoyed sharing our trip with you

 Only now after having finished with our second and final two weeks of teaching at Santisuk are we able to take the time to make a new entry to our blog. The time at the school and the outside classroom activities with the students and staff kept us very busy, but has left us with fond memories that should remain in our minds for a long time to come. We again offer to you our viewers a taste through pictures of what we experienced in Thailand from February 2nd through March 7th.

Our hotel- the Mall Inn

Canal "flowing" near our hotel 

Bus taken from our hotel to Santisuk school- about 25 cents

Bus ride back to hotel on hot days (translated meaning- every day)

At our hotel Moriah discovered a nail art studio that offered to teach her some techniques in exchange for some English lessons. While attending the class she also had the opportunity to meet with the runner-up to the title of Miss Thailand, who unfortunately could not speak English.

Moriah and Nail Art Studio instructor

A sample of the nail art done for Moriah

Moriah with Miss Thailand Runner-up

Our hope and prayer is that our time with these students will not only have been helpful for increasing their ability and confidence to speak English, but to also have helped foster a desire to learn more about Jesus whom we often spoke about each teaching session. Prior to telling the story of the good Samaritan Gary had an incident which he then was able to use as a personal illustration of what Jesus was attempting to teach with this particular parable. After stepping on a wire that went through his sandal and painfully stuck into his foot, Gary pulled the object out and blood began to flow from the wound onto the sidewalk. As he hobbled past a storefront the owner noticed his plight and came out to administer first aid by washing his foot and squeezing the foot to purge the puncture site of anything that could later cause an infection. Then the man went to secure a clean bath towel from which he tore a portion off to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding, after which he applied a large bandage. Next he offered to find a way to get us back to our hotel. Yes, this Thai stranger clearly demonstrated what Jesus meant when he asked who it was who had proved to be a neighbor to the injured man.

God provided a personal illustration of the Good Samaritan parable  (note the wire) 

The Lord's message of true love we trust we were able to leave behind with our students

If anyone ever asks us the highlight of our time at Santisuk if would have to be getting to meet such wonderful students and developing relationships with them and members of the Santisuk staff. Everyone was so sweet and kind to us, which made saying goodbye difficult.

Lyndell's early morning class

Delicious breakfast with students after 7:00 am class

Visiting Ancient City of Bangkok with students

Time for a little recreation between classes (the teacher became the student)

Some members of the wonderful teaching and support staff at Santisuk

Farewell picture with 7:00 am class

Farewell picture with 10:00 am class

Meal preparation for Friday evening Thai language worship service

Santisuk parking lot and site of Friday evening meal before service

Gary giving his testimony at Sunday evening English service

Moriah playing for offertory at evening service

Gary's favorite local coffee stand

Coffee always specially brewed to order

Gary's favorite dish- Shrimp Pad Thai

Lyndell's favorite dish (not)- duck feet! A little too rubbery texture.

Street stand outside hotel for pre-breakfast snack

Typical pre-breakfast snack for Moriah before class (fried chicken with sticky rice and bananas)

More early morning vendors on the way to bus stop

A second delicacy we avoided

One delicacy we skipped

How many forms of transportation did we experience? Can you find 6 here?

A faster, yet more odoriferous way to get around the city- water taxi (no dealing with traffic)

The palace did not permit exposure of bare legs, men or women. This was our only option.

Our team from Minneapolis

Last view from hotel room before leaving Bangkok 

Man-made modeling clay flower arrangements 

God's authentic stunningly beautiful floral arrangements


Even though the attractive clay flower arrangements we discovered in the market resembled the authentic real life varieties, they did not emit any desirable fragrance. Upon closer examination we also observed a wax-like coating that gave further evidence that they were artificial though beautiful in appearance. We might suggest that there is an analogy here in regards to the land of Thailand so-called the "Land of Smiles". This designation has come about because visitors not only love its natural beauty and historical riches, but also the country's friendly people and fascinating culture.

Yet, we discovered that there is really no fragrance of life the way God has intended for it to be. There is a desire within the hearts of those we got to know, to be good people and help to contribute to peace in the world. However, there is a disconnect from their desires and how to attain them. God has implanted in the heart of each individual a longing to be what we were created to be. In the beginning when God created man in His image He looked upon this unique creation and said it was very good. However, after man rebelled against God that condition of being good was lost. The poet Milton termed it "Paradise Lost" and man has been searching for a return to that precious ethereal real estate ever since. 

In reality, according to the Bible, there is really no hope to regain this desired goodness and peace outside of acknowledging and accepting the work of Jesus Christ as sufficient for ones's personal acceptance and forgiveness by God. All other attempts by man will fall way short of what a Holy God must and does require, perfection. A facade of peace and contentment can be constructed to imitate the authentic, but deeper down the heartfelt state of worry, fear, despair, unrest, doubt and hopelessness will be found.  Smiles on a person's face can often mask the true inner heart condition. Without Christ, the Bible says we are dead in our trespasses and sins until by God's grace He makes us alive together with Christ through faith. Thereafter, the Bible says we become the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 

Thailand has an appearance of goodness and peace, but until the fragrance of Christ is emanating from this land there is work to do for those who claim to be His followers. Our prayer should be that eventually the "Land of Smiles" will be known as such because of the abundant life the people have found in knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Then their search for goodness and peace will have found its end.

The real deal

We hope that those of you who have visited our Thailand blog have enjoyed the stories and pictures. We again want to thank those of you who kept us in prayer. Perhaps some of you may have been encouraged to also serve at Santisuk in the future. Please contact us if you would like more information.

TEACHING AT SANTISUK

Hello again from Bangkok, Bangkapi district actually

Well, we already have the first half of our teaching assignment completed at the Santisuk English Speaking school here in Bangkapi district. Our team teaches from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm  Monday through Thursday, which started on Feb. 6. Lyndell has an early morning class from 7:00 to 9:00 as does Gary and then after an hour break Gary has another class from 10:00 to 12:00. There are four levels for English training at the school each lasting for one month. There are also some advanced classes after the first four have been successfully completed. Lyndell has been teaching a Level 2 class with some help from Moriah, while Gary has two Level 4 classes.

Santisuk English School (also site for Peace Fellowship Church)

Poster of three new teachers at Santisuk English School

Curriculum samples

Pastor Cable teaching on the Biblical true meaning of love for Valentine's Day

Some members of Lyndell's class

Moriah's Valentine gift to students, balloon kitties

Gary's 10:00 class

In addition to class time we are encouraged to spend as much time with the students as their often busy schedule permits. Usually that involves eating breakfast with the first class at 9:00 and lunch with the others at 12:00.

Breakfast with students

Besides our regular times with the students we try to schedule other outside class events where we can continue to develop relationships. So we have been invited to several outdoor street markets, a tour of the Grand Palace including a major temple housing the Emerald Buddha, bowling, a movie (Les Miserables), and playing card games, badminton and table tennis.

Two halls and a pavilion on the Grand Palace grounds

Temple of the Emerald Buddha (sorry no pictures permitted inside)

Guardians of a temple at the Grand Palace

His looks alone should scare anyone away

Lunch with students after touring the Grand Palace

Fried rice in pineapple boat

Sea Bass Delight- delicious

Tuk tuk ride leaving Grand Palace

The days seem to be flying along at a rapid pace with so much to do besides class time preparation and grading essay papers. Friday evenings we have a gathering for a meal followed by a worship service  in the Thai language at Peace Fellowship Church at the Santisuk School building and graciously translated for us.

Friday evening outdoor service

Sunday mornings and extending into the early mid-afternoon our team members are divided up into different cell groups for times of worship, prayer, sharing from the word and some Bible teaching. Sunday evening we can attend an English speaking service at the church if we are not involved with some activity with our students. Thus, it has been difficult to actually find some time to make a new blog entry since we first started teaching a couple weeks ago.

Our Sunday morning cell group

Lunch with cell group in apartment

Moriah enjoying baby Mercy at cell group

Lyndell getting her grandmother fix with baby Mercy

Pizza party at our apartment

Good price for fish heads- must be the season we guess

We could choose the squid which is really popular here in Thailand

Frogs as another option with insides hanging out to assure us they are fresh

Decided to try the fish with bodies attached

Snapper grilled on the street to perfection

Top it off with a Passion fruit shake for Valentine's Day of course

Belated Valentine's Day greetings

Removal of hair using a thread snapped across the face- looked painful to us.
Gary said he will stick to his safety razor, thank you

Day view of Amphawa Floating Market in Samut Songkram Province south of Bangkok

Boating with students and a fellow teacher couple Darrel and Diane  

Going down the lazy river to a site in order to view the spectacular fireflies at night

Night view of Amphawa Floating Market cooking food on the river

Eating dinner prepared on the river

Here are the nicknames of our students, which everyone seems to go by here in Thailand, since their real names are often long and quite difficult to pronounce. There are fewer men because they don't seem as interested in learning English as do the women. The men are Yo, Prince, and Nont. The women are Pong, Tid, Wan, Noy, Muay, Jube, Phet, Hanis, Nan, Bow, Noi, Sung, two named Mai and two named Ice. The classes are small which gives greater opportunity to get to know the students better.

Class time offers many moments for some good laughs as the students really enjoy attempting to repeat over and over the words that are difficult for them to pronounce. As an aid to learning we include some time for singing simple Christian songs such as "Jesus Loves Me", "This Little Light of Mine", "Beloved Let Us Love One Another", "Sing Hallelujah" and so on. With each song we give some explanation of the words we are singing.

Part of each day's curriculum includes a Bible story that the students read for their comprehension section. Most of them have never heard these stories before and are very interested in learning more about things like creation, and the miracles of Jesus.

One student said that he had a hard time actually believing that the miracles like bringing someone back to life were true. Another one said that she had a difficult time believing that Jesus could have stilled a storm. Yet another mentioned that Jesus seemed very much like the prophet Mohammed of Islam. Statements like these and others open up opportunities to demonstrate the uniqueness of Jesus. We explain that even in the time of Jesus people were amazed when they witnessed these miracles because they were events the people had never seen before such as a man named Lazarus being raised from the dead. Even the disciples of Jesus marveled when at his word the seas became calm and wondered what kind of man could do such a thing. Throughout all the recorded miracles in the Bible Jesus was clearly revealing himself to be more than a mere human being. He could heal the sick, make the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, command the lame to walk, feed thousands with a five loaves of bread and two small fish, cast out demons from the tormented, turn water into wine, and even raise the dead back to life because, amazing as it is to believe, Jesus was God in the flesh. The one all powerful God can do anything He chooses to do including forgiving us when we repent of our sins and trust what His Son has done for us by suffering and dying on the cross.

Another young woman commented that she understood that the most important person in Gary's  life was Jesus, but the most important person in her life was the Buddha. She felt that whenever she had a problem she could go to the Buddha and he would help her although she still struggled with some issues including anger. Gary asked her if it would be best to ask a dead person or a living person for help. He explained that although the Buddha was a good man who apparently said many good things, died and has not been seen since. Jesus, however, died and came back from the dead and spent 40 days with his followers before ascending back to heaven and promised to return to judge the world. Christians believe that this living God is now able and willing to help His children whenever they call to Him in prayer.

Thailand is a contrast in beauty and darkness. The land displays its natural beauty during the day in the smiles and creative artistry of the people. However, we have been told that at night the dark side resurfaces as evidenced by the high incidence of prostitution, human trafficking and all that goes along with that business. This serves to remind us that the evil one has a strong foothold here. There is a dim light that has been introduced to Thailand many years ago that needs to shine brighter to display the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord be merciful to send more workers here so that light may become a blazing flame of God's truth and glory so that many will come to receive His offer of eternal life through faith in His Son.  

Sunset over Bangkok

Grand Palace