Sawat Dee Kahp,
Today was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. After getting up and eating breakfast, we were picked up by Deezi and went to the Maesa Elephant Camp. The elephants were extraordinary. We bought a bundle of small bananas and a small pack of sugar cane to feed to them. It was fun to watch them grab the food from our hands with their trunks. I had an elephant that was very impatient and extended its trunk to the full extent of its length to try and grab the bananas from my hand. I wouldn't let it though. After Jon, Deezi, and I all got to feed the elephants, we watched the trainers give the elephants a bath in the river. The elephants liked to put the face in the water... I guess it was refreshing. After the baths, we watched the elephants perform the various stunts they had been taught. They played harmonicas, soccer, a game of "keep-away" with the trainer's hats, and they also painted some pretty miraculous pictures. One elephant that we had a good view of, painted a self portrait. They all did a great job. After enjoying the wonderful show, we took and hour long ride on the back of an elephant named Mae Pong. The ride was fun and we got to see some nice areas of the forest. At one point in the voyage, we got to see a smaller elephant who got away from its trainer (don't worry... there was no one on it). It was fun to watch him escape, because he knew that he had gained a sense of freedom as he ran as fast as he could down the path. You could see the huge smile on his face from the exhilarating experience. It kind of reminds you of the feeling you get when you except Jesus as your savior and you smile because you know that you are finally free from your sins and are able to run towards God. We got back from the eventful ride to find Deezi reading the newspaper and patiently waiting for us to get back. We then took Deezi out to lunch at KFC before he took us back to the hotel. We got back to our hotel and i worked on homework while Jon worked on his sermons for the leadership conference. I finally fell asleep on my bed with papers all around me (i didn't much homework done) and Jon fell asleep a little while after i did. We woke up about an hour later and got ready to be picked by Daniel and Beverly. We went to a Thai Cultural dinner at a place called, Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center. They had very good traditional northern Thai food and traditional Thai dancing by many of the tribes from surrounding villages. The cultural center's website is: http://www.oldchiangmai.com/ if you would like to see more about that. The day was fun and relaxing and we are ready to leave tomorrow for Mae Sai for the conference. Thanks for all of your prayers.
- Jon & Michael

(Michael feeds elephant)

(Jon feeds elephant)

(elephant gets bath)

(elephant paints a self-portrait)

(us riding Mae Pong)

(Children do a traditional tribal dance where they hop in and out of moving bamboo poles)



(Thai dance called, "Kinggala Dance")


(dance called, "Rich Winnowing Dance")