Mahapawn, Church of Great Blessing

On the way to church with our great friend, P'Tik, and her daugher, Hymn. Notice the lack of carseat. That still stresses me out! Adelaide had a great time looking out the window at all the interesting traffic.

Sunday came quick and we headed off to our old church with friends. We were so excited to get reacquainted with people and to see the new church building. It was pretty amazing how much it's changed since we went there 2 years ago. Before it was a 2 story church. The first floor was 1 room that served as the sanctuary. It was always hot and cramped inside. The second floor which was also one room served as everything else-- english classes, nursery, etc.

Now the church is gigantic. It's four floors with rooms for visiting missionaries, multiple sunday school classes, child care rooms, a fellowship hall, a kitchen, and 2 sanctuaries. It's got a great design. It's super modern and cool which we loved.

There were tons of people at church that I didn't recognize and the number probably tripled or quadrupled in size. Adelaide enjoyed her time in the nursery for the most part despite being so tired she could fall over asleep at any moment. All the Thais are absolutely in love with her. She gets "petted" by random people all the time and is awed over everywhere we go.

We stayed for lunch for a little while after church and Adelaide ate up a whole bowl of the rice soup that was being offered, not a kid's bowl either, the entire adult serving. I was impressed.

Below are alot of the pictures of the church. Alot of the pictures in the post will probably not be very interesting to many people, but I'm posting them anyway. I figured a few people (like you former STINTers) would be interested in how our old church has grown.

The temporary sanctuary while they are finishing up the real one.

The fellowship hall.

The new sanctuary. It will be absolutely beautiful with windows lining one side of it, shiny white tiles, and dark wood lining the front.

The sanctuary from the stage. It even has a sound booth and a balcony!

This is the view from the windows lining the sanctuary. It's the next door neighbor's yard. It's super nice that she agreed to let the church look into it.

This is one side of the entry way outside the sanctuary. It's going to be a coffee shop like area for people to hang out in before and after church.

Here are the kiddos trying to get a dog's attention outside of the church gate. Adelaide has a serious dog radar these days. Sometimes she'll be saying dog and we think she's just rambling but then we'll spot one along an alley or sidewalk or something. Poor girl has already got heat rash on her neck and behind one of her ears. She got it running around outside after church. Any tips anyone on how to deal with that?