Let me tell you about my first father-in-law. (yes I have been married more than once.) Skinny, the literal translation of his name, was a very spiritual man. Everywhere he went, every day of the year he would tell people about God’s love for us. He was kind and patient.
His patience is what I remember most about him. When I first arrived in Thailand, preparing to marry his son, he would spend time with me, trying to teach me to converse in Thai. One particular day, shortly after he came to stay with in Bangkok for a visit, my father-in-law was teaching me to say the word for “market”. (ตลาด). He would say it with the correct tone, and I would reply with a questioning tone. Patiently he repeated himself at least 30 times, until I caught on. From that day I realized how important it is to say Thai words not only with the correct consonants and vowels but with the correct tone. It is a tonal language, with 5 tones (low, rising, middle, high and falling) which often cause troubles with new learners.
There was the man in language school, in a nearby room who was trying to tell about his experience on the weekend riding horses. The teacher kept trying to get him to say “ride a horse” (ขี่ม้า — low/high), to which he responded with “dog poop” (ขี้หมา — falling/rising). Or the missionary in church who was telling us about a dear friend who was suffering from a fever, but what came out was the slang for a “hard-on”. Poor guy!
Mr. Skinny was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and mouth, or tongue…I’m not really sure which it was. But, long before I arrived on the scene, when he was in his 50’s he underwent (so the story goes) 13 hours of surgery to remove some of the cancer. The doctors feared that they were unsuccessful in removing it, so sent him home to die surrounded by family. Skinny prayed that God would heal him, and in response he would tell his world about God’s love. He lived another 20+ years until cancer returned in his prostate in 1982 and he died at the age of 74, still attesting to God’s love.
After that, my life changed somewhat, and that will be another story…..
Reflections 