Getting Acquainted

After being in Ubon a week, Saturday rolled around. That means several things, REST! and church. I was particularly excited about this Sabbath, since I had yet to meet the church family. To Erin and I's surprise within the first five minutes, we were approached. A women came up to us, and without introduction; asked if we were the new teachers? We told her yes, and then she preceded to "ask" us if one of us would do children's story for THAT service. I'm pretty sure, both our faces said exactly what we were feeling: fear! But there was obviously no getting out of it. We later learned it's the thai way, spontaneous requests at a moments notice. Erin willfully volunteer to do the story, and i was off the hook until next Sabbath. hehe.

Our first impression of the church was wonderful. Everyone was so welcoming! That afternoon, a group invited us to go along for an AY outing. We visited Wat Nong Pahpong. The compound of the Wat was very beautiful, it felt good to finally be out in nature. While walking, I overheard a few of the men talking about spiders. I even saw one guy looking around in the bushes. Now, I had no idea what they were doing, but didn't want any part of it. I HATE spiders! So I asked one of the wives, what her husband was doing in the bushes. She simply told, "oh looking for spiders to fight." Now I thought she was kidding. But nope! When we got back to the mission compound, there they were; a group of grown men sitting around fighting spiders. I was terrified. The spiders were huge, and they just handled them like nothing!

We ended night, by having dinner by the river. We ate picnic style on the ground, and the food was family style. It was only the first day of knowing these people, but I knew it already: they're our family! We went back to our apartment, smiling and in good spirits. It almost felt like home...