Ric and Sharon Bruce On a journey with you to Thailand
Today’s photo essay comes from a village near Mae Jaem, in the mountains past Doi Inthanon. Large portions of this Karen group have embraced the gospel whole-heartedly. Our Thai teacher often takes us on trips all over Northern Thailand to visit his friends and family or to attend weddings of people he knows.
Karen Woman
April 13, 2010 Thai people offering water to a monk during Songkran Festival
Thailand has its own New Year celebration from the 13th to the 15th of April each year. It’s a really big deal and we’re gearing up to participate in it this year here in Chiang Mai. Honestly we don’t know too much about it but we’ve been prepared by our Thai friends to get very, very wet and to watch out for drunk drivers. We know that part of the festival includes celebrating your parents and honoring them with gifts and praise. We also know lots of people wear Hawaiian style shirts. 
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While in Northeast Thailand we visited a village temple with our friends and thought you’d enjoy a few of the pictures we took. Village temples are similar in form to temples in the city but they have a much more intimate and close-knit feel since obviously everyone in the village knows each other. Enjoy:
Some village temples use gongs and drums, something I haven't seen in the city yet.
The head monk leads the ceremony.
The men and women split up for the ceremony. Sharon fit right in.
While listening to the sermon most people have their hands together.
I definitely don't understand the ceremonies yet.
The temple isn't just for religious activity. It's also an important hub for social life.
Offerings are given to the monks.
Be sure to check out all the pictures of our journey on our Picasa Web Albums.
We spent this past weekend in Northeast Thailand visiting friends in our organization… and potential future ministry locations. Our friends were kind enough to show us around the village they live in where we enjoyed the warm hospitality of the people.
Northeast Thailand has a unique charm to it that just seems to beg to be painted. So some of the pictures Sharon and I took this weekend I’ve converted to colored line drawings for your enjoyment. More to come this week on our trip there so stay tuned. If you’d like to see the pictures a bit bigger right click them and select “view image.”
More pictures to come later.
In the past months we’ve taken thousands of pictures but honestly we just don’t have time to post them all. On our website you’ll find some scrolling picture slideshows or you can check them all out at our picasa web albums. Here are some samples of what you’ll find in the albums:
Beautiful waterfalls
Pictures of our church
Funny situations... like dogs that think leaves are money.
Beautiful flowers... from Sharon's camera.
Evil looking cats.
Delicious food.
Did we mention waterfalls?
Be sure to check out all our pictures at Picasa.
If you want more up-to-date pictures check out our mobile albums on Facebook.
Day six of our week in photos: a national park with waterfalls and hot springs. Our trip there was quite unexpected and I’m not sure we’d have agreed to go if we’d known what we were getting ourselves into. We’re glad we went though and you can see all our pictures on Picasa. Here’s a taste of what we saw, felt and ate:
At Maekampong Waterfall
With older brother Kik. It's cool that he likes photography too. Good connection.
The sign on the left says "Sharp Curve." We must have passed hundreds of these signs.
Here's the food I ate. Some of it was completely raw... I (Ric) have been sick since eating it. Sharon refrained fortunately.
Boiling eggs in the springs is a big deal... people love it.
Testing the spring water.
Kids like to swim in the warm pools. That water must taste and smell like eggs...
Marco... Polo!
A wide shot of the entire hot springs area.
Food left for ghosts. Some Thais believe you must share your food with them or they will haunt you.
These are a sample of the 50 pictures we have on our Picasa web albums. If you just can’t get enough of waterfall and hot springs pictures check them all out.
Our number arrived! Tomorrow morning at five AM we’ll crawl out to the car dragging an overnight bag. Four hours later we’ll slap a two inch thick pile of paperwork on the desk at the Thai embassy and the waiting game will begin again. At least this step has a pretty predictable outcome: we’ll definitely get the visas. Just pray it will be a short, painless process and that we’ll come back to Lansing safely. If you’ve forgotten what our faces look like already here’s a picture to enjoy:
Chautauqua Lake in New York.
UPDATE – September 21 4:00 PM
Everything went according to plan this morning. We arrived at the consulate just as the guard opened the doors chased a homeless guy off the steps. We walked out fifteen minutes later with a receipt to pick up our visas in two days. So immediately after arriving we turned around and drove right back out of the city. Pretty boring trip. We’ll have to repeat the entire ordeal later this week. We’ll post about it here.
UPDATE – September 25 2:00 PM
Went to Chicago yesterday and picked up our visas with Sharon’s parents and sister. It was a great trip! Check out our photos in our latest post: Our Visas are Here!
Missouri grew on us. It’s sad to say goodbye to so many people at the end of our two year training here because we’ve made a lot of great friends and memories. Goodbyes, like packing, are part of missionary life. I’ve found over the years that goodbyes also mean new beginnings. So here’s what our new beginning will look like:
Daily Life in Michigan:
Moving is just the first step. After we’ve settled in we will dig into Partnership Development, or sharing our hearts for Cambodia with churches and indivdiuals. This is a huge task since it will require a lot of appointments, informal meetings, formal meetings, presentations, and casual conversation.
Partnership Development is our primary focus, but much of our week will also be spent in our church’s office. Sharon and I are both volunteering 30 hours for an internship with Trinity Church, which will be a give and take sort of partnership resulting in mutual benefit and certainly fulfilling whatever needs we can help with.
As far as housing goes, we will be staying at my parent’s house in Willamston, about 20 minutes from Trinity, where we will intern. The situation couldn’t be more perfect as the rentors of the house just moved out, opening the house for our use.
God’s Provision:
It has been exciting to see how God has been providing for us and going before us in this situation. We are trusting Him to continue to provide as we’re faithful to freely share our vision for Cambodia and our needs.
We can’t wait. Join the journey by giving, praying, and encouraging us. God bless.
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Life as a Lizard
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, May 23rd, 2011Give this photo a caption in the comments.
What would you think about if you were a lizard with a brain the size of a peanut? Sharon and I often try to imagine the dozens of lizards we see every day thinking about something semi-human. Like this one we saw today seemed to be spying on us and listening in on our conversation. Sometimes they seem to be guarding something important, digging for treasure or even making small talk with friends. This lizard was in a bush staring at us without moving a muscle. What in the world does a lizard have to do in a bush? You decide.
Take a look at this guy and tell us what the photo caption photo should be. What’s he/she thinking? Let us know in the comments. Below is the full photo: (more…)
Tags: comment, contest, lizard, lizard in a bush, photo caption, picture, spying, thinking, tiny brain
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