DTS, Week 2

The first week was a little long and intense, but now we are used to the schedule and the people and are enjoying it here. This week, a Hmong pastor from Northern Thailand spoke all week about Salvation. It was very good. He has a phenomenal memory. He had no notes and often nearly quoted chapters of the Bible, showing us how many things in the Old Testament point toward Jesus coming as Savior, and how Jesus life, death, and resurection fulfilled all the requirements for our sins to be forgiven and to be seen as holy and blameless before God. All this, to anyone who believes in Him and follows His teaching. He was very interesting because of his humility, humor, and his stories of christian friends in SE Asia and how they have responded to the persecution they have faced.
Also, a missionary couple from the Burma border visited us. They led Bible study and also taught us how to build a smellless pig pen. Jonathan, Kob, and a few other guys work hard about 2 hours per day, digging a 6'x6' x 33" deep pit, filling it with rice husk, salt, and a mixture designed to eat bacteria, building a 2' high block wall, and building a little roof to cover it all. It is actually fun. We should finish by wednesday. The goal is to breed pigs, either to sell (about $20/baby pig), or to grow to eat.
Kob
Kob is jonathan's new friend. He speaks about as much english as we speak thai, so they spend a lot of time pointing at things and repeating the name of it in both languages. It is working well, they are both learning how to communicate and learning each others language. Kob is a hard working man, who amazes everyone with how he can fix things and build things. Kob even took Jonathan hunting, for ciccadas (big grasshopper looking things). At night, they crawl out of there hole and make a loud noise, so we walked around with a flashlight and a hoe and crushed there hole before they could jump back in it. then we'd catch the bug with our hands and put it in a coke can. Kob fried them up later, and we ate them as a snack today. They kinda taste like chicken, seriously. I'm excited to go catch more.
Waterfall
Today, they loaded us all into a sawngthaew (a big truck with seats in the back) and took us to a waterfall. It was cool. It was a creek that runs down the steep hillside, depositing this white mineral that turns in to rock. The rock was very grippy, so you could run up teh waterfall and not be afraid of falling. From top to bottom, it was maybe 300 vertical feet. It was fun. We should be able to steal some pictures from our friends and post them next weekend.
Running
The weather has cooled off lately, and we've gone for several runs. It is pretty out here. This morning we ran up a long hill to a temple, and had a good view of the countryside and the surrounding mountains. Ashley's actually convinced a group of girls to go running tomorrow.
Ping Pong
We have a ping pong table, and we've been having a great time playing each other on it.