Visiting the Frarys

Greetings all!

I'm sitting now near Thailand's Northern border. We arrived here this morning from visiting the Frarys. Since I haven't had a chance to blog about this I wanted to tell you all about it.

Of course you heard about our arrival and the ride on the cool bus. After checking in on the internet, we drove around the small town (just 2 main streets and several blocks) to pick up a few odds and ends and then headed to the Frary home.

There, we had dinner... and a miraculous thing happened. I ate fish. I have to say... with the generous helping of sauce I put on it, it wasn't so bad. That said... I didn't eat much of it either! LOL! The whole meal was rather good though. I'm realizing right now that I am a failure for not having taken a picture of it.

We made it an early night. I at least was EXHAUSTED! The next morning, we got up to spend our day with the Frarys. Breakfast was a porridge that tasted like chicken soup. After breakfast, we got laundry started and then went around with Jerry to visit the people he ministers to in the community.

This is the washing machine. I was going to do the laundry,
but Duang wouldn't let me! They are SO hospitable!

We walked around visiting several different families. They all LOVED to talk. It's a good thing most of them were out working on farms or we'd NEVER have gotten home! They are such a fun people. We were getting pretty full though... every single family had to share some food or something with us. Chris said it was Nom-Chai, which litterally means "heart water" and is their very strong sense of hospitality.

A good liter of Pepsi and nearly enough food to completely spoil our next meal later, we had lunch with Jerry aroung 1:30. After that it was siesta time (I know... Spanish is the wrong language here...).

One of the women Jerry shares with. She attempted to kill herself by drinking a very strong poison.
Jerry and Duang are still trying to help her understand that Jesus loves her!

There is a lot of beautiful flora to look at as one walks around!

Inside one of the homes we visited. No matter how poor they appear, they all have a TV!

A shrine along the side of the road. These people are so bound by fear to the "spirits".

After our nap, we had the sweetest most awesomest communion service together with the Frarys! Jerry specifically asked if we could do it and I was so blessed to be able to do it. We just sat outside where all the people hanging out at the store could hear and sang a couple of songs a-cappella. I shared a brief Bible study about how the Lord builds His church and how all we have to do is please Him with obedience. We had a time of prayer together for the work the Lord is doing there. Then we shared communion, and then Jerry brought out water and a towel and washed our feet! It was so cool! They were absolutely beaming!

After that, we spent a little time with people by the store. That's another main area of ministry for them. Then we had our final meal together with them and headed for the bus.

Young people come hang out at the store to play with the ping-pong table.

Here's Jerry in front of the store.

Here we all are together packed up and ready to say goodbye!

We had an absolutley blessed time! I'll have to catch you up on today later though, cause Chris is waiting to use the one internet connection here so that he can check his e-mail! I appreciate all your continued prayers and hope that you are blessed!

In Christ,
Brian