Everything is going well here. I just have the blogger-blaahs.

Today we found out that kissing on the mouth, even a light hello-peck, is an embarassing/gross idea to the Thais. Our language instructor said that the first time she saw a video of an American wedding she covered her eyes when she saw the kiss. Kissing on the face, the nose, or touching noses seems to be the way to kiss when you are here. :) Apparently even married couples don't usually kiss on the mouth in the privacy of their own homes. Kinda different huh?

I think that I am refining my ideas of how to be a missionary. I used to think that it would be easy to just adopt the ways of the people around me but it really isn't practical or possible. First of all, if you are the only Christian doing work in a non-Christian population then you will obviously do things differently then the people around you. Second of all, no matter what, I am a product of the culture I was born into and I can not just come here to Thailand and wipe everything I learned away. No matter what I attempt to do I do not think that the people here could see us as one of them. Farangs (their word for foreigners) stand out in a crowd because of their white skin and taller stature. Even walking down a street the little kids playing in front of their houses stop and point at us. I am so used to being in a multi-cultural society that it is different to be among such a homogenous culture and realize how much I stick out. I guess we will just pray that God will use us as a vessel so that His Word can be introduced to this culture despite the fact that we are not a part of this culture.