Life with the Lackey's: Exchange Camp

This past weekend we went to an "Exchange Camp". I should back up and say, that on Wednesday we moved to a new ministry and location, but still in the same city of Chiang Rai. The new ministry is called Ging Gaan or @Peace (There is a coffee shop, bible study, worship time, sports ministry, english classes, etc... that all fall under the Ging Gaan ministry). We are staying in a hotel across the street from the coffee shop and Ging Gaan base. It is so nice to be close, but to also have our own space. The kiddos sleep on a big bed next to ours. It is interesting in the middle of the night when it is super dark, and I have to figure out who is sleeping where and make room for the one who rolled out of bed or got their space taken over by another.

So anyway, Wednesday - Friday at lunchtime, we went to the University (Mae Fah Luang) that is just a 1/4 mile from our hotel and met students and invited students to our Exchange Camp. It was amazing how friendly everyone was and how receptive they were to coming to a camp where they didn't really know anyone or what to expect. There were about 30 students there plus our team and the Ging Gaan team. Saturday and Sunday was the actual camp, where we "camped" (see below). Because our family wouldn't fit in one tent, they gave us two rooms - it is the most room we've had since we've been here (and first time we haven't slept in the same room with our kids in 6 weeks) :-) It was very nice and comfy. Sunday morning they also had free horse back rides, so each of the kids took a walk on the horse and LOVED it! Mason especially. He had this wonderful perma-grin on his face.

At the camp, we played lots of games, danced, the band played music, there was a campfire with smores, 2 skits that introduced the gospel and then one person shared the gospel. More than one person is going to start coming to a bible study for people who have questions about Christianity. It is so cool to be part of introducing people to Christianity who potentially have never even heard of Jesus. It was also great because part of our testimony about Jesus was the way we interacted with each other and the Thai students - actions speak louder than words!

The kids did great at the camp. The food situation was a little difficult and we were all hungry when we got home. For breakfast their was "rice soup" - kind of like rice pudding, but salty instead of sweet with big chunks of pork sausage in it. Lunch was rice with spicy chicken and pork (so the kids just had white rice), dinner was more white rice for the kiddos. I felt bad for them, but there weren't any other options and they survived to tell about it. Selah and Kiera really liked dancing and just being with all the university students. Mason spent most of his time looking at the catfish (there was a holding tank right beside our meeting space, so he was usually with the fish while we were singing, dancing, talking, playing games... There was no shortage of Thai students who wanted to play with him, take their picture with him and take care of him (also feed him candy :-) He loved the attention.