First Thanksgiving in Thailand

Our Thanksgiving celebration went off without a hitch! This is Lance writing this time around.

​I know many folks in the States weren’t able to celebrate Thanksgiving as usual, but since there have been so few Covid cases here in Chiang Mai we’re not on lock-down now. We were able to have a group of single missionaries to our house who would not otherwise have had a “family” to gather with. Actually, it was a varied group including a Ch_nese friend and her son who was born in the States, and one of the missionaries was from New Zealand, but she happily joined us for our American holiday anyway.

An imported turkey would have been $80 to $100, so we went with three small chickens instead, but we were able to pull off legitimate cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Ruth made homemade noodles, and even had a Ch_nese eggplant dish to boot! One gentleman came prepared with games and ended by reading the proclamation by Abraham Lincoln from when he first instituted Thanksgiving as a holiday, which I had never heard before. Before the meal we sang a hymn requested by one guest, and then another requested by me that I grew up singing with my family. After the meal we each shared what we were specially thankful for this year. 

We know from experience that it’s very difficult to not be with family on a holiday, especially when no one in the culture around you sees the day as out of the ordinary and just goes on with business as usual. This group of singles were blessed to have a group to celebrate with I think. One guy’s eyes really lit up when he went in the kitchen and saw homemade noodles boiling. And one lady pulled us aside as she left and said, “You have good people,” while thanking us for inviting her. We agree. I think the biggest hit of the night may have been when Ruth pulled out the “to-go” boxes she bought, and had each person pack themselves a leftover box full of food to take home.

We’re taking mental notes of what blessed people the most, and what we can do more of in the future. We’re still making plans for what/how to do Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, and we’ll let you know how those go as well. If you’d like to contribute specifically towards that, you can give directly from our Support Us page.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We hope you have a merry Christmas season too
– Lance, for the Baker family.