A new year to remember

Ringing in the New Year is a big deal in Thailand — from previous conversation with my uncle, we had already learned that it’s a bigger celebration than Christmas.

All throughout the day we could feel the energy of the neighborhood growing around us. We are just a few short steps away from One Nimman, which is a shopping center of mostly local small businesses that also has an amazing food court. One Nimman was also hosting a rather large party and market that people were setting up starting in the early afternoon.

For most of new years eve day we just lounged around our condo. Miriam had been complaining of an earache, and between swimming a lot and flying, I didn't dare question the pain. In the morning I did make a trip to the local pharmacist to ask for an OTC ear remedy, and he was able to hook us up with something that is used to treat both swimmer’s ear and ear infections. For lunch we ventured over to One Nimman, where there was already live music playing, then after that I went to the grocery store to get a few extra snacks in prep for stores being closed on New Year’s day.

The real action for our family started late in the afternoon. My Aunt had sent her daughter/my cousin Bam and her husband/my uncle Wichien to pick us up from our condo. Their English is limited, so we were only able to exchange greetings and a few words during the 1/2 hour or so ride to their *church*.

Here’s a thing that’s particularly significant about this whole church thing —sorry if I’ve already mentioned it, but it’s part of what makes our family’s story remarkable: In a country where 92.5% of the population is Buddhist and 1.2% of the population is Christian, it just so happens that our family is part of that 1.2% percent. With leading completely separate lives that are so incredibly different in really significant ways, it turns out we have this deeply meaningful and profound thing that unites us: our identity and faith in Christ.

Upon arrival at their church, we could see that this new year celebration was going to be a BIG deal. There was a whole yard filled with food stands, a stage, a set-up to go with their Into the Jungle theme, and an area with archery and other games. As we walked up to the church, we were greeted by my Naa who was busy frying spring rolls/eggrolls and dumplings. It’s as if our arrival was timed and coordinated, because there just so happened to be a group of church ladies surrounding Naa who eagerly greeted us and introduced themselves just like a group of church ladies in America would.

As we made our way further into the church yard, people came one by one to greet us and some introduced themselves. Throughout the night we found that there were enough people who spoke English that we were able to feel almost right at home. For those who didn’t speak English, translation apps did the trick.

One of the first women who came to talk with us was a woman who had lived in America (near Los Angeles) for many years. Everything about her energy gave off THAT church lady — the one who knows everyone and is known by everyone, who is joyful and welcoming, who has a bit of a bigger personality, and is so glad to have you in their space. When she noticed that Miriam was getting antsy and asking me about other kids, this woman took Miriam’s hand and walked her over to a group of girls who were probably in their early teens. I’m not sure what the woman said to them, but they played with and took care of Miriam for the rest of the night.

As the evening progressed and more people arrived, there was no shortage of conversation and definitely no shortage of food! The night featured food from the four regions of Thailand, each with a distinct flavor and ingredients. Members of the congregation were so generous in making sure we had enough to eat, and they were so helpful in telling us which foods we should try and which we should stay away from either because of the spice level (there was only one item that spiced Adam and I out) or because they knew there were ingredients a western gut wouldn’t be able to handle. Our favorite foods of the night were the grilled pork and mushrooms, a green curry, and the roti. I did bite into a fresh vegetable of some sort to find worms in it, so THAT got spit out, and there was a dish that was bitter on the front end then spicy on the back that I didn’t care for.

I think the most impactful part of the night for me though, was worship (surprise surprise). Part of my experiences of God have been that there are moments in life when you sit back and recognize that there’s something about the place you’re in and the people you’re with that screams to you that THIS is the kingdom of God in the here and now, and there is absolutely no doubt in the world that God is sitting among you. I got that feeling during worship and it stuck for the rest of the night. To sing familiar songs together in our respective languages, to pray together, to recite Psalm 23 together in our languages, to hear the gospel proclaimed with passion and care — that’s a beautiful thing that brought me to tears in some moments. The level of hospitality and care that was put into making us feel welcomed in worship was unbeatable too - they approached us with translation devices so we could wear headphones and listen to someone who was translating through a microphone. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the worship experience we had.

The rest of the night was filled with an archery competition, a variety show, and countless folks in costumes to fit the theme. Around 8:00pm Miriam approached us and admitted she was tired, so we got a ride back to our condo where Miriam immediately went to bed. From talking with folks from the congregation, their celebration would be going all the way to midnight and they would be counting down to the new year with one another. There was also to be a gift exchange —it appeared to be a bring a gift/receive a gift thing, but we left before it happened.

Ya’ll — what we experienced in the new year celebration was church at its best. The community and fellowship that was happening was amazing, and the connection between the generations of people was incredible to see. Each person had something to share with the community, whether it was a food, a part of the variety show, or a friendly competitor in the archery competition. This was also Adam’s first time experiencing non-American church hospitality, which, in my experience is always next-level no matter where in the world you go.

The ending of our evening was simply magical. Adam and I stayed up and worked on our annual Christmas tradition of watching all the Christmas episodes of The Office (I think we still have 2-3 more to go). With the big party happening not far from us, we opened our windows just before midnight to hear the crowd count down, after which we were treated to a fireworks show right from our windows. Since we have windows on 3 sides of our condo we were able to also see bits of the fireworks happening at Tha Phae Gate, where they also released thousands of paper lanterns into the sky. Toward the end of the video above look for the glowing specs of light dotting the distant sky.