A Strange Weekend

Once again, our writing and posting has fallen by the wayside. This last weekend was an interesting one. On Friday, Summer and I went into Mae Malai to get some groceries. We were getting ready to come back, and the weather was brewing up quite a storm. We were like, "Oh boy! Let's go!" So, we started coming back, trying to outrun the storm. It started to sprinkle on us a little bit, but it was a relief from the hot weather. We outran it, but on the way back home, we passed a little market on the street that had some oranges. It's the Hmong (a hill-tribe) market just a few kilometers from the school. We turned around quickly and saw the nearly black clouds coming for us. We got our fruit (some of the best oranges and the best pomelo we've had since coming here), and the rain came upon us. So, we hopped back on our bike and outran the storm once again. The closer it came to the school, the more evil it looked. We got to the football field, and I was thinking, "Oh man! Here it comes!" So, I said, "Run for your lives!" Not two seconds after I had said that did a crack and roar peel through the sky. It was so close, it didn't even sound like thunder. I thought someone had shot a gun at us. We made it home with only a couple minutes to spare before the wind and rain just slammed us! It was an intense storm!

Now for the not-so-pleasant part. The next morning, we found out that the lightning had struck a tree just down the hill from our house at ICC (the orphanage), killing one of the Pratom 6 students and seriously injuring another student (one of Summer's and my students) from Pratom 3. Prakit was killed instantly, and Teedae is still in the Nakornping hospital. The two boys were allegedly leaning against a post that was touching the tree. Teedae was unconcious and (this is only what I heard through a language barrier 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th hand) wasn't breathing for 30 minutes. I don't really know any more about the situation or the validity of the "facts," but as of today (last night, maybe?) Teedae had woken up and was responding. I don't know what his mental state or physical state are. I just know that we've been praying like mad for him over here, and things are heading in the right direction for him. If you could pray for him, that he makes a full recovery according to God's will, that would be wonderful. We had the funeral for Prakit yesterday.

The strange thing about that storm was that there was no build-up as far as the lightning goes. No rumblings or distant thunder even made itself known. It was just one big and loud crack that snuck up and rocked our school. To add to the strangeness of the day, Pe Prom-- an old lady who comes to our church-- was bitten by a dog at the market on that day (dogs here aren't always friendly, but they rarely bite someone, especially if unprovoked). And on top of that, there were 4 men in black pants and jackets that came to the house of the school barber (we call him that, because he lives just off campus, and most of the students go to get their haircuts from him). He wasn't there, and his wife (sister, maybe?) spoke to them out the window. They wanted to know where he was because he owed them 1,200,000 Baht. Apparently, he took off so he couldn't be found. Speculations are that he owes them an old debt from when he used to deal drugs, although there's nothing saying he's totally clean now. The authorities were called, but the men left before they could get here, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway, because many of the police are involved in the drug rings. In fact, as soon as the police were called (unbeknownst to the men), they took off.

So, yeah... Drugs, dogs, and death. An interesting weekend indeed.

Summer and I are okay. Love to all!

~M&S