Wow..what an experience so far. We have had an opportunity to be involved in a handful of ministries while we are here. The bar ministry  at the Tamar Center, a food ministry for prisoner, a children’s ministry in the slums, and at the Mercy Center Orphanage. We have a couple others that we haven’t done, yet.

Today is Mother’s Day and this is a pretty big holiday. The Thai people respect and love their royalty here, so everything is shutdown and we will be going downtown observing all of the festivities for the Queen this evening. Fun!

This morning, because the Tamar Center is closed, we were able to go to The Mercy Center. This is an Orphanage in Pattaya were children live due to different circumstances, such as being abandoned or their parents are too poor to provide care for them etc. We had a great time playing with the children. We took some things along like bubbles, (which the kids loved), balloons, balls, and snacks. We played outside in their playground chasing them all around and kicking balls.  I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced heat quite like today! The kids don’t seem to mind it at all but us American adults sure did! Some of the girls played a board game with a few of the older kids. One of the young girls spoke pretty good English and she was happy to teach some of us how to count to ten in Thai.  I know we enjoyed their company as much as they enjoyed ours. We ended our stay with a big group photo.

We did go out to the open bars on Monday evening and we will again on Friday night, as well as a prayer walk through the bars tonight. I was not prepared at all for the intensity of the whole atmosphere. There were so many bars, blocks of them, all open, side by side, with working girls EVERYWHERE! It was all right in your face. The girls were mostly very eager to talk with us and we had some great experiences. I was uncontrollably nervous and uncomfortable. I’m hoping now that the initial shock of the whole first experience of it all is over I can be more relaxed on Friday night!

Keep checking in for more updates from us all. Would love to write more but I’m late for our team meeting.

Tina Emery