Who am I??

I think I will tell you a little bit about me, so that you can know me better. If you do not want to know me, you can skip to the end or go to the older posts. Hope you enjoy. If it is confusing in places, please feel free to ask me (email: khemjirapeekaew@gmail.com).
This is my story…

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My name is Khemjira Peekaew. My nickname is Pookie. I am a forgiven child of God. I am Thai. I have lived in Thailand all my life. I was born on March 3, 1988 at 8:45pm (That is what they told me any ways – it was not like I can read the clock when I was first born :D). I am 21 years old and happy single girl. I have an older brother. His name is Tom. He is 25 years old. My dad (Anan) is 50 years old. My mom (Chompunute) is 52 years old.


When I was 2 years old, my mom and dad brought me to stay with my grandma (on my dad’s side). My grandma was very sweet. She loved to take care of me, because I was the only girl in the family. My grandma had 4 sons and she would have liked to have a girl, but she did not. So then, when I was born she really liked that.


When I turned 4 years old, my parents brought me to Pathumthani (a province north of Bangkok) to go to school. My grandma was sad when my dad wanted me back. She kept saying, “if Grandpa were still alive he would not allow your mom and dad to take you away,” because when he was yet alive, he really wanted to have a daughter, also. Later when I was 14 years old, I stayed with my grandma eight months to be with her, because she was living alone at that time and was lonesome for me.


On New Year’s and Songran (water festival), we always got together at my grandma’s place. She would cook for all of us. She would call the day before to ask what I would like to eat. The saddest thing is that she just passed away 5 months ago. This was very hard for my dad and for the whole family. We miss her very much. And we don’t know yet this year where we are going to go to celebrate the New Year’s Day.


I went to Thamasat public grade school. The same school as my brother went. The bus would come at 6:30 in the morning, so I had to get up at around 6. That was very early for me, even now. :O


When my brother and I were little, we always played together. We got along really well. But when we grew up, we went our different ways. We have different areas of interest. We have very different personalities. You see, my brother was good at sports. He loved to play sports. Every school would ask him to play sports for them. He was a very fast runner. When we would race, he would give me a big head-start, yet he would always win :D. He liked to play table tennis and soccer, too. I, on the other hand, I am not good at sports. When I was 6 years old (1st grade), I tried out for track and field at school. During the try-out, I ran about 10 steps before falling down...hehe!! I was hurt so badly, my elbows and knees were scraped. My dad said that it was not for me. Actually, I enjoy playing badminton, table tennis, a little bit of everything, even though I do not know the rules. I did not excel in athletics, but I was good at academics. During the end of the year exams, I always took first or second place in academics in the class, even though I was 25th place in the 1st grade. :D


At that time, Thamasat public school only went to grade 6. Since my brother and I had different interests, when I was in the Seventh Grade I did not follow him to the school he was at. I chose schools that were best for me to attend. I went a few years to Don Muang high school (close to the old airport) until 9th Grade.


At age 15, after the end of the 9th grade school year, I was at home helping my mom at her store. She has a restaurant and store in a store-front town-house. One day a large group of Americans came to purchase soda pop. I was very nervous, because there were so many foreigners (9-10 of them). I had only learned a little bit of English at school. I so nervous, that I could not say 13 baht properly, so I just put the number on the calculator and showed the foreigners the number. The foreigners lived near us for a whole year. Their ages ranged between 17 and 24 years old. They came to learn about culture and the mission field at the institute that opened up a few doors down from our place.


The whole time they lived near us, they came over for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even stayed sometimes until near midnight sitting around the table talking and playing games. My family really enjoyed it, because they were so much fun. We got to learn English from them as well. They were so close to us. Many times, when we would go out of town on a trip, they would come with us. We had a lot of fun, even though they were all boys. One thing they tried to talk to me about Jesus and about the Bible. I thought they were just crazy in their religion. I was Buddhist and I thought that every religion was good and every religion taught people to be good. I just ignored them at first when they talked about it. But they when they were so persistent, I began to question what kind of God do they have?

I began to have many questions and so I wanted to talk to one of the teachers and his wife, because she was from Laos and could speak Thai. I had a good conversation with them. I still remember the first question I had to ask them. “Who is Jesus?” After we talked about it, I asked if I could have a Thai Bible from them, because I wanted to learn more about it. Later I talked with the students and I tried to find out from them more answers to my questions, but I had a hard time understanding their English. I would carry my dictionary with me. I studied the Word of God for one year, and when I had a question I always asked them. They answered me with their English Bibles, so I had to carry my Thai Bible and look up the verses in it. Even though I read a Thai Bible, I didn’t understand much of it, because it uses a higher language. Also, I did not have any Thai Christian friends to help me, so this time was very difficult for me. (Later on, after I got saved I became a member of Ladprao Baptist Church where I have many good Christian friends.)

After studying the Bible for one year, then I wanted to get saved, because I didn’t want to go to hell. And there is only one way to escape from going to hell and that is to accept the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) At the same time I was worried about what my parents would think (because they are Buddhists and not Christians yet till now, please pray for them). So one night, before we went to bed I decided to ask my mom and my dad. “What do you think if I would want to become a Christian?” I asked in a very timid voice. My mom replied, “It’s up to you; if it is good then go ahead, do it.” On March 28th 2005, I prayed to the Lord to come in my heart and I asked him to forgive all my sins. I told Him how happy I am and other things, it would be too long if I typed it all out.


...To be continued... :)