Loy Khrathong

The Loy Khrathong Festival is one the most popular festivals for the Thais. It takes place right after the rainy season ends, when the weather is nice, and the moon is full.

"Loy" means "to float" "Khrathong" is a lotus-shaped vessel made of banana leaves. The Khrathong usually contains a candle, three sticks and some flowers and coins. In school the kids made a Khrathong, only this one was for education, not with a "spiritual" meaning.

This festival is where people offer thanks to the "Goddess" of the water. By moonlight, people light the candles and joss sticks, make a wish and launch their Khrathongs on canals, rivers or small ponds. The Buddhists believe that their sins and bad luck will float away with their Khrathong.

During this time, they also shoot off fireworks and send up paper lanterns. This wasn't a part of the original tradition, so we aren't sure if there is special meaning that goes along with this particular occasion. Normally, when Buddhists send off fireworks, it is to scare away "evil spirits" and we haven't found out why they send up the paper lanterns. Here is a picture of us at an outlook over the city watching the fireworks and lanterns going up. It was a beautiful sight.

We obviously don't "celebrate" Loy Khrathong as Christians, however this occasion was a great way for us to understand the Thai people and culture and to enjoy the beautiful sight of constant lanterns and fireworks being sent up. We feel blessed to be here!

Blessings,
The Scotts

Orphanage Project

A couple of months ago we got an e-mail message from a lovely couple, Gerry and Sandra Martin, in Minnesota, that had plans to come to SE Asia and wanted to know if they could come see what we are doing here in Thailand and if there is a specific project that they could give towards. We had the perfect project, Hope House Orphanage. So in Early November Gerry and Sandra came to visit us.

Gerry and Sandra wanted to be able to meet the kids at Hope House, but the kids were in school most of the day. We decided to take them on a tour of the Karen Village which wasn't far from Hope House. The jam packed day began with us picking up the Martins at their hotel and then drove 20 minutes to pick up the director of Hope House, Jeph. We drove another hour and 45 minutes into the hills and up Doi Inthinon, the tallest mountain in Thailand. The Karen village is almost at the top of the mountain, which made the winding drive long and slow.

Well, we couldn't go through the day without at least one incident. As we were driving up the dirt road to the village, we noticed that the road was muddy, much muddier than we anticipated. The rainy season was in full swing and the result was an extremely deep muddy road. As we were driving up the hill, the back wheels began to spin off to one side, veering the van off of the road. Three of us (two of us in flip flops)tried to push the van out, but to no avail. Jeph went for help and with 3 of them (all much stronger than I) and a little ingenuity, they were able to get the van back on the road.

Once arriving at the village, preschool was taking place, so the Martins were able to observe a class in session. Natalie also sat in on the class! :D The kids recognized Troy, Natalie and I from the last trip that we had made - they even sang Head Shoulders Knees and Toes for us which we taught a couple months earlier - it was so sweet!
Just as we were getting ready to move on, the kids had to lie down for a nap, so we had Natalie join them there as well! It was so cute!

Yes, it was distracting for the kids to have us there, so after a couple of minutes we picked Natalie up and took a tour of the rest of the village.


The house to the right is typical for this village. They live in the room above the stilts (the entire family). The families are usually small because they can't afford to feed many children. If they have animals, as this family does, it is usually able to run free, or is tied up underneath their house along with work supplies, laundry, wood for their stoves and what ever else they can't fit upstairs in the room.

Please pray for this community. There are other missionaries (Jeph and Apple) that have also made this village their ministry focus, but it has been a long hard journey to get the people to open up to Christianity and Jesus. We plan to help them as much as possible.

After showing the Martins this village we headed down the mountain and had lunch at a roadside cafe (at a gas station).

After lunch we headed to Hope House to see the children. The kids greeted us at the door with joy and of course grabbed Natalie "the main attraction"! :D

While the kids played with Natalie, we showed Gerry and Sandra the projects that their money would pay for.




There is no ceiling in the girls dorm, so there is nothing to keep heat and mosquitoes out in summer, and cold out in winter.

Gerry and Sandra's money will go towards the ceiling in this room! If there are any extra funds available, we will get the girls a ceiling fan too! :D

We would also like to replace the septic system. During times of high usage, the two tanks leak and make the ground muddy and smelly. NOT a healthy situation all around! That will be the second project that the money will go towards (if there is enough).

After looking at the project we had an opportunity to visit with the children and pray for each child individually. It was precious. It was hard to say goodbye, but it was late, and we still had a log drive ahead.

We picked up Nathaniel and Naomi on our way to drop off Jeph and headed to dinner where we were able to enjoy authentic Northern Thai cuisine. It was wonderful.

We had a very full and extremely blessed day. We are honored to be serving a mighty God with people like the Martins who are willing to give so generously of their time and finances!

Please pray for the Hope House Orphanage. There are many needs there and not many funds coming into this region to pay for them. Also please pray for funds for our ministry to continue so that we do our part by bringing teams to help with these projects and in whatever way God leads!

Blessings,
Team Possible.

click here to read about the Longneck Karen

An outreach to the Karen Hilltribe in Chiangmai

In August our family had an incredible opportunity to go on an outreach with our new church TLC . The TLC decided to choose a group of people that they will regularly minister to. The community that they chose is the Karen hill tribe.

A couple of years ago I wrote an article in our newsletter about the Long-neck Karen. I believe this group is from the same tribe although they no longer wear the rings for the long-neck.

After Nathaniel and Naomi played some games with the kids, we sang worship songs, and helped serve the children lunch. After eating, we watched the children play with puppets, watch a presentation of the “The Prodigal Son” and our family taught 2 songs; Jesus Loves Me and Head & Shoulders Knees & Toes. The staff wanted us to teach a song that would help the kids learn English—Head & Shoulders fit the bill! :) Our team also brought food, clothes and bracelets for the children.

We had a wonderful day of ministry and look forward to many more in the future!

About the Karen; The Karen began to move into Thailand around the 17th century and occur in large numbers in the western part of Northern Thailand, in particular on the ranges west and south of Doi Inthanon. The main groups in Thailand are White Karen composed of the Skaw and the Pwo sub groups.

The Karen live in villages of around 25 houses raised on stilts. The villages tend to cluster. Each household consists of the parents and their unmarried children. Married daughters and their families may also live in the same house. The highest authority is the village priest who runs the village along with the elders.

The Karen have rituals to live harmoniously with the "Lord of the Land and Water", as well as with nature spirits in the rocks, trees, water and mountains that surround them. They also have guardian spirits and believe in the soul.

Their desire for harmony with nature may partly account for why the Karen have evolved the most ecologically sound system of swidden agriculture. They use a system of rotation over a large area of land and do not cut all the large trees down when they clear a plot.

They are also the only group to have built terraces to grow wet-rice.

Karen cloth is hand-woven on back-strap looms and is predominantly red with white, blue or brown vertical stripes. Stitching is clear and decorative. The men may wear simple forms of this material in a sleeveless tunic (or northern Thai clothing), while the women wear more elaborate styles on their sarongs.

The women's blouses are made of dark homespun cotton with horizontal embroidered patterns decorated with seeds woven onto the lower half. Unmarried girls of the Skaw group wear plain white shifts.

Those of the Pwo are more decorated. The Karen are famous for their use of beads for ornamentation.

information obtained online: http://www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/karen