Tuesday morning - our last full day in Thailand

Yesterday was a sight seeing day. We got on the tour bus at 7 AM here at the hotel and rode 3 hours through the beautiful countryside to Kanchanaburi. That is the location of the Bridge over the River Kwai, the Cemetary for the Allied Soldiers and the Death Rail. Since my Dad was a Marine and I have watched the movie based on the bridge numerous times, it was a cool thing to be there. We took a one hour open air train ride over the bridge and around the area (the bridge itself is not that long) . then we ate at a restaurant right by the tracks and saw one of the caves where Allied soldiers are said to have stayed at some time during their work here. Keith took over 1200 digital pictures yesterday. He usually sits in the front of the buses because he is the "official" photographer for our group, although we all of course are taking pictures.

Our devotions on the bus were meaningful in a special way. One of the songs we sang, Above All, has taken on new meaning after being in Thailand. The people here love their king and queen and their pictures and/or portraits are in their houses, churches, and all along the roads and streets. They truly honor and respect the royal family. The opening lines of that song, "Above all powers, above all kings" will always make me think more about the kings of this present world, and especially over here. I bet I have more than 40 pictures of the king and queen taken in the various places we have been.

Today we have a bus toup and boat tour of Bangkok. We take an hour ride on the bus to another part of the city, get on a boat to see that area, then visit the Grand Palace and one of the famous temples. We all have to be dressed in long pants or dresses/skirts today. We meet with the staff at the Lutheran Hour's Ministry headquarters tonight for final devotions and a good bye meal. I'm sure many of us will be in tears again like we were the last day of the seminar, and after Sunday's churcd service. Then we have to finish our final packing (ugh) beacause we leave the hotel at 3 AM tomorrow morning.

Our flight leaves somewhere around 5 AM, we travel for about 24-25 hours total, and will be back in Mobile by about 6/5:30PM in the evening. We gained 12 hours on the way here and lose 12 hours on the way back. That will be something. I will try to get a few more pictures posted, but that may have to wait until we get home. Almost forgot to tell you that we also rode elepahnts for 30 minutes yesterday.

Thank you for your prayers up to this point and please continue them.

Love and God Bless,
Diana