Our Hindi Watchtower study officially started in September. It is held twice a month, in the second school, with a Public Talk once a month. This involves copious amounts of work coordinating comments for four non-native speakers, translating, practicing readings, research and so much more... to all of you serving in foreign fields learning other languages and starting groups this all sounds quite normal. But somehow translating everything between three English native speakers and three Thai native speakers- all into Hindi, is unlike any task I've undertaken before. It starts a week before with the magazines all being downloaded off the site in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Tamil, they are then printed off at Candy's work place, where they are then taken to a copy shop for multiple copies of each. On Sunday an in-depth preparation of the Watchtower in English where necessary comments are allotted to each person depending on length and personal comfort levels. Monday night the short comments for the two Thai sisters are translated and practiced. Hindi songs are transcribed and sung.
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| Hindi group end of service year lunch |
On Tuesday the longer answers are located in the Hindi Watchtower and BonBon and I spend several hours deciphering, reading and practicing what we have to say. Brian practices the reading of the paragraphs, while Candy practices the read scriptures. By Saturday Brian has his auxiliary questions and we research them to prepare answers until about 1am Sunday. Sunday morning we attend the Thai talk and then Brian conducts and reads the Hindi WT while we support with incomprehensible answers. Now all this with... September's prophecy magazine. Poor Brian! He is such a trooper never complains just smiles. Yay! Candy speaks Hindi well but she is very reticent to jump in the deep end. I volunteered to read so Brian would have less on his plate. But after three hours we agreed that it would take me the hour to read the paragraph aloud. So we really aren't worth much, but we just say whatever and hope for the best. Much to Brian's chagrin... "That sounds right let's say that! Answer all the comments!!" He just smiles and nods patiently. Though we have gotten some perplexed looks as well.
The Sunday before it all officially started, a study from Sri Lanka, who speaks Tamil brought three Urdu speaking men with him. Thankfully Alanna and Terry are back and as with all foreign language groups, they have been kidnapped without their knowledge or consent. Much like BonBon and I. Anyhow we had an impromptu meeting in the second school. Terry and Alanna speak Thai, Brian speaks Hindi and BonBon and I are willing helpers. Terry translated the Thai talk to English. I looked up pictures to use as visual aids and Alanna and Christina helped them find the scriptures. I managed to locate the scriptures in the Tamil bible and the Urdu men followed in the English bible. By the middle song we were exhausted. Then Brian took the WT and Terry read in English. We gave them all our English magazines which left us with our Thai copies which made answering interesting. Brian half translated in Hindi/Urdu, as I helped the Tamil man follow along and it was like the tower of Babel. After the meeting the men were very happy and grateful, which made all our adventures even more worthwhile. We asked where they lived and they said Soi 77. So we decided to explore Soi 77 and see what we could find...
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| Alanna in Soi 77 |
That Wednesday after Thai service in the morning we headed out to Soi 77 in explorer mode. As we got ourselves sorted- which means buying slushies- a Pakistani man walked by and Brian flagged him down. He took a Listen to God brochure in Urdu and pointed us in the right direction. We managed to locate the building after a few false starts and Alanna kindly interceding on our behalf in Thai. There were four Pakistani men outside who filled us to the brim with orange soda and spoke with us under a tree for quite some time. They are all UN sponsored asylum seekers from Pakistan, they are Ahmedi, a type of Muslim that has been heavily persecuted in Pakistan and lost recognition as Muslims in Pakistan. Brian explained that we have also suffered persecution at the hands of governments around the world and this piqued their interest. After we spoke with them, we went into the building and it was full of Pakistani families. The catch is that the women are often reticent to talk to Brian because he is a man. So the fun began, at one door I managed three sentences before my brain imploded, so Brian whispered what to say and I repeated. Then after the horrifying part where I speak ended, he stepped in for me and said a few sentences. But the woman wouldn't even look at him so after that door he wrote out something simple for me to say in Urdu and we went from there.
After that building we headed down along the klong (stinky canal of rubbish and sewage) basically stalking a woman. When we finally caught up to her, she actually stopped and waited for us, she was really excited about my incomprehensible gibberish I pass for Urdu and talked with us at length. She indicated three more streets where Pakistani families are living, so we headed off in their direction. We found another building where we were again invited in, we sat on the floor with them and chatted for nearly an hour and were filled once again to the brim with orange soda... yay! While we were there the man we had met at first appeared and we perused his Urdu brochure, since we had run out of literature. The next door invited us in again and by the time we got out of there it was already 6pm. We headed home with three more streets untouched.
We have been going every Wednesday afternoon and have found more buildings filled with Asylum seekers. At one building the Patriarch was talking to Brian and we looked up to see a myriad of tiny faces peering over the railings of four floors above us. The longer we stayed the braver they got and by the time we left, we were surrounded by little kids, who speak a fair bit of English and some older girls I had preached to earlier. We promised to return and as we looked back all four floors of the building were filled with little waving hands and smiling faces. This week we went back armed with YPA and coloring pages about Abraham. Alanna gave them coloring pencils and their little hearts were overjoyed. They kept showing us the pictures as they colored them in and held them all up proudly to show us their fine work. We can't wait to go back next week!
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We are so glad to have Alanna and Terry back, they have been such a source of encouragement for us. One day they took us to the prison to preach. This involves taking a bus 30 minutes to the boat stop- then an hour boat ride up the river to Nonthonburi. While Terry did a man's study on the inside, we scouted the area for Hindi. Then the following week we headed to the immigration prision where all the undocumented go until their situation can be sorted. The Tamil man had us take food to his son, who has been there two years, with little hope of redress.
Terry studies with a Chinese man, who is now an unbapitized publisher. He has little hope of getting out, as he was born the second son of a Chinese family and was therefore never registered- so he in effect doesn't exist. He is ever patient and never loses hope totally, always relying on Jehovah. That week they were reviewing the first article about the revised understanding about the prophecies. It is crazy, the prisoners are all called out at the same time and they stand behind their fence yelling and you are straining to hear you prisoner over the 30 others who are all yelling through the fence. It is mayhem!
Now imagine trying to discuss the prophecy WT study over that din. While Terry was studying with him BonBon and I wandered about here and there, preaching to some Hindi and Tamil speakers. I found a French speaking man from Cameroon and managed to preach to him for a bit too. After an hour everyone is sent back to their bunks and the visitors are sent away. But really 20 minutes of yelling suffices.
With all these projects going we still managed to sneak away for a beach day in Hua Hin and see some elephants... finally! Five months to see elephants. A man also has a pet gibbon, it's adorable! I want one.
SO these are just a few of our current adventures in Thailand. Next week we head to Vietnam for a visa run. So our next post will be Vietnam.
Love you all! Thanks for all your comments and encouragement. xo
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CC replenishing electroly
tes in service |
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Terry getting his shoe repaired
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| Hindi Ministry |
Our Hindi Watchtower study officially started in September. It is held twice a month, in the second school, with a Public Talk once a month. This involves copious amounts of work coordinating comments for four non-native speakers, translating, practicing readings, research and so much more... to all of you serving in foreign fields learning other languages and starting groups this all sounds quite normal. But somehow translating everything between three English native speakers and three Thai native speakers- all into Hindi, is unlike any task I've undertaken before. It starts a week before with the magazines all being downloaded off the site in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Tamil, they are then printed off at Candy's work place, where they are then taken to a copy shop for multiple copies of each. On Sunday an in-depth preparation of the Watchtower in English where necessary comments are allotted to each person depending on length and personal comfort levels. Monday night the short comments for the two Thai sisters are translated and practiced. Hindi songs are transcribed and sung. 
The Sunday before it all officially started, a study from Sri Lanka, who speaks Tamil brought three Urdu speaking men with him. Thankfully Alanna and Terry are back and as with all foreign language groups, they have been kidnapped without their knowledge or consent. Much like BonBon and I. Anyhow we had an impromptu meeting in the second school. Terry and Alanna speak Thai, Brian speaks Hindi and BonBon and I are willing helpers. Terry translated the Thai talk to English. I looked up pictures to use as visual aids and Alanna and Christina helped them find the scriptures. I managed to locate the scriptures in the Tamil bible and the Urdu men followed in the English bible. By the middle song we were exhausted. Then Brian took the WT and Terry read in English. We gave them all our English magazines which left us with our Thai copies which made answering interesting. Brian half translated in Hindi/Urdu, as I helped the Tamil man follow along and it was like the tower of Babel. After the meeting the men were very happy and grateful, which made all our adventures even more worthwhile. We asked where they lived and they said Soi 77. So we decided to explore Soi 77 and see what we could find...
Terry studies with a Chinese man, who is now an unbapitized publisher. He has little hope of getting out, as he was born the second son of a Chinese family and was therefore never registered- so he in effect doesn't exist. He is ever patient and never loses hope totally, always relying on Jehovah. That week they were reviewing the first article about the revised understanding about the prophecies. It is crazy, the prisoners are all called out at the same time and they stand behind their fence yelling and you are straining to hear you prisoner over the 30 others who are all yelling through the fence. It is mayhem! 
Now imagine trying to discuss the prophecy WT study over that din. While Terry was studying with him BonBon and I wandered about here and there, preaching to some Hindi and Tamil speakers. I found a French speaking man from Cameroon and managed to preach to him for a bit too. After an hour everyone is sent back to their bunks and the visitors are sent away. But really 20 minutes of yelling suffices.
With all these projects going we still managed to sneak away for a beach day in Hua Hin and see some elephants... finally! Five months to see elephants. A man also has a pet gibbon, it's adorable! I want one. 
I so love reading your blog!! Have you met a Kay Galisheff? She has been in Thailand for40+ years. Recently Uncle Johnny died but she perseveres pleases give her our love if you meet her love you my sweet cousin:)
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