First off, all three groups have found that the majority of the people's English here was not what we expected. Unlike 2 years ago at our workshop in Bangkok, where the people's English was good enough to communicate with minimal need for a translator; here we need a translator at all times. We were blessed to have Boom, Pastor Sompong ,and his wife, who acted as translators; one at each location
Because of the lack of English knowledge, we had to overhaul our lesson plans by scaling back on the complexity, to make it VERY basic. The grade school aged children of the government officials who attended spoke the best English, but the adults spoke much less.
The group dynamic at all thee locations changed on a daily basis, since people's work schedules and meetings affected whether they could make it or not.
All three locations did have a core group that attended everyday. These people know the value here of being able to speak English, and their dedication showed this.
Another thing all three groups saw was the social progress participants made in just a few days, going from shy and withdrawn to laughing, smiling, and having fun while learning.
The contentment of all the people was evident as they opened up throughout the week. Many brought additional friends and family along to the workshop after the first day, to share in this "good time", learning atmosphere.
Some of the participants were so comfortable with us, that they invited us to their homes.
On Thursday at our ESL workshop, at Wang-Luang sub-district, Linda & I were invited by one of our class participants, along with the rest of our team to his rice/pig farm. His name is Banjong, and he is the sub-district chairman here (comparable to a mayor).
Banjong walked us through the rice fields, which went on as far as the eye could see. Papaya and guava trees were dispersed throughout the rice field and Banjong was happy to pick many of the fruits from these trees which he graciously gave us to take with us.
We observed a worker there working a milling machine, which was taking the hulls off the grains of rice, and a huge pile of rice hulls lay out back. We got to visit the pig barn, which had about six pens, with a dozen pigs. Both Greg & Reed got up close and personal with the swine, while trying to get a "selfie" photo.
Banjong takes great pride in his farm, and his community. Thai culture dictates that it's very important that one accepts an invitation. This is why we were honored to accept.
More importantly though, we accepted, because we learned that Banjong was originally not happy when Gennesaret church was built in his community. Banjong's thoughts were along the lines of; why do we need a Christian church here....there are no Christian's here.
Pastor Sompong has been doing outreach work with Banjong for the betterment of the community.
Our team coming here, and helping the local officials improve their English, shows Banjong and his people what the love and compassion of Our Lord is all about. More importantly, we serve as a huge encouragement to Pastor Sompong and the minority Christians in this community.
Please pray that God continues to work on the hearts and minds of the officials in power here, so that a softening of their hearts may lead to more people knowing Jesus's name in this community.
-Brian
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