Monday - arrived!

24 hours later we arrived!   We flew to Chicago, then 13 hours to Tokyo and then 6 and 1/2 hours to Bangkok!  We crossed the International Date Line so were totally lost on time and day but for 13 hours the sun never set!  Tokyo was very calm.... not that many people in the part of the terminal where we were.... wouldn't have known anything unusual was happening there.

We arrived in Bangkok at midnight Sunday which was noon Sunday Wichita time.  We're exactly 12 hours ahead of Wichita.  The missionaries here... Mike and Sherri, picked us up and we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Pattaya, on the coast, where we will be all week.  We really knew we were somewhere different when we arrived - saw things we'd never seen anywhere else.  The Islamic stewardesses were the best - dressed in very smart looking suits, red tallish pill box hats and white chiffons coming from hat to buttons in front.  Looked like "I Dream of Jeanie".

After a short night we went to "Blessing Home", a "day" home for 50 kids, mostly street children, ages 2-6.  The Methodist Church here is trying to save these children from the sex trade here.  Many are orphans, some live with strangers basically, ... they were handed off by their parents.  We are at ground zero for the sex trade and child trafficking in southeast Asia.  It is so prevalent here and it's the children that people want (mostly pediphiles).  We helped the children eat their lunch and then we ate ours when they went for a nap.  The pastor thanked us profusely because evidently what we did was so unusual here.  Usually the children would ot eat until we were done and they are expected to bring the adults their water and food, crawling on their knees.  Instead, Americans..... highly respected here..... sat on the floor with the children and helped them eat their food before we ate.  The pastor said the act of what they consider people from the "highest" rank in life serving the "lowest" (children in Thailand), was a powerful lesson in love to all involved and wouldn't be forgotten

Farmers here make about $100/month, nurses and teachers about $350 / mo. , pastor about $150/mo and prostitutes about $600/mo.   $500/mo rent is considered middle class and that gets you a small concrete building that connected to other buildings on both sides and probably two floors.  If you want a toilet or stove or air conditioning, you put it in yourself.  Most here can not afford this.

We're still amazed we're even here!  Thailand - wow!