December 2009 - January 2010 Thailand

A Christian Thai Wedding

The YWAM Thai Family Ministries School (FMS) continued on throughout the Christmas 2009 and 2010 New Year period.
On the 23rd of December as a school we put a wedding together for one of the Thai couples who had not experienced a Christian wedding ceremony.
We were able to transform the classroom into a beautiful place for the wedding and delicious reception meal.
Mel officiated and all the staff, students and children had their part to play in the ceremony. Lots of work and lots of fun! A very special occasion to remember!

Here are some pics of that memorable event....

Mel officiating with Oom translating to Thai...

The other students also renewed their marriage vows during the ceremony ...Vietnamese student couple....

The Reception Meal

The Happy Couple!

Renewal of Vows..Thai student couple....

Our classroom converted to a wedding chapel!

Later that week we celebrated Christmas as a school which was also something new for some of the students. It was strange for us to see local Thai elementary and highshool students going off to classes on Christmas Day and even having exams!

Here are a few scenes of Mel & I experiencing Christmas Day for the first time without both of our children...
Thanks to a new shopping mall that had just opened in Khon Kaen we were able to see a Christmas tree as well....

We had a special meal together Christmas Day!

Christmas lunch anyone?

The YWAM Family Ministries School-Thailand lecture phase finished on January 2, 2010.The students then continued on with their two month field assignment in Thailand with the Thai leaders & staff .Please continue to pray for them as they work with the churches in the area of family.

As for us we spent our last week in Thailand traveling six hours south to Bangkok for medical tests and then nine hours north to Chiang Mai to attend YWAM's 50th Anniversary celebrations...Here we witnessed our founders Loren & Darlene Cunningham being carried down through the Banquet Hall (which was filled with up to 700 YWAMers) in chairs carried on poles (by some very strong young men) in true Thai King & Queen honoring style.

Loren Cunningham

Darlene Cunningham

These YWAM 50th Anniversary gatherings are happening all around the world this year as we celebrate God's faithfulness to us as a mission.

Mel & I in the Banquet Hall

After a couple of days of celebrations we returned nine hours south back to Bangkok, took a three hour flight to to Manila and then a final bus trip (well at least for two weeks) of seven hours north to Baguio.