Packing Up!

Well, this is it! We're packing up to go home. It's 11 PM and we're leaving the apartment at 2:30 AM to head to the airport (yes, just another crazy thing about this trip). The big question is whether or not to go to sleep for a little while ...

Hopefully we'll add memories from our trip even afterwards. There's so much we've experienced that it's hard to know where to start...

Heading to Petchabun - Friday July 16

Two of the college interns helped us get taxis to get to the church office. We feel so helpless not being able to even tell a taxi driver where we want to go or knowing whether or not he's taking us to where we want to go. From the church we walker with our intern chaperones to the market to have lunch. Lindsey helped us find the vendor that sells our favorite cashew chicken.!

From the market we went to the university to wait for everyone to get loaded on the bus. It was so hot waiting in the side of the buildings that I had to walk around to create a breeze! About 25 Thai college students joined us for the trip. I was told most of them are not Christians. I thought about taking retreats at college with our campus fellowship group and how fun it was hanging out with my friends. I wonder what they thought about us 4 ladies coming along ...

The bus was unexpectly bright and loud. I think College Party Bus is the best way to describe it. Those kids wanted to have fun - loud music, dancing, ice-breaker games... We did not know what we were in for! We didn't even know how long the ride would be!

After many stops at Seven-Elevens (and our first times using the squatty potties), we arrived at the school in Petchabun. We had dinner in an outdoor cafeteria. Then we went into a bug-filled, covered, concrete-floored assembly area to play games with the kids. They seemed to be late middle-school or early-high school age. Of course some of the games forced us to interact with the kids this made some of the kids be shy and giggle. There was lots of giggling going on as very few of us understood each other!

updates

We've had another evening of internet woes, so we all pitched in to write stuff and I'm just posting it all. No order here!

We are off to the jungle in a few for three days. Even though I'm taking the computer, I don't know what we will have time or resources to post.

Once again, I am up early. Our great Skype plans have been thwarted by not being connected to the Internet last night.

So, an update from yesterday, which was Thursday. We went to the Napada handicrafts shop for study and prayer time with the women there. We started by sharing a little about ourselves, including pictures, family information, and finally a little about our walk with the Lord. I learmed even more about the team members; things that were so touching and wonderful. The women at the shop told about their family and lives. It is so exciting to me to hear how God has shown himself to these precious women. Their faith is so strong that it is RAW. God is very real to them and each and every thing in their life/ Ellen led the devotional, which I hope to post here later. She said that each of us was perfectly made by God, and a masterpiece.

Then back to New City Fellowship church for more market food. The meals we've gotten from the market have been my favorite by far. Yesterday, Tim graciously offered to pick up our food and bring it back to the church. We had Cashew Chicken, which is the second and third time the team has had this dish. Each time it is a completely different dish. We also had some donut hole shaped things that may have had yams in them. Tim served one of his favorites, which was a green curry. We also had a bag of fried bananas. Not being a fan of bananas, I was ready to pass on those. But, they were really good and quirte addictive. The bananas were covered in nuts.

We had some planning time for the night time activities, and then had staff worship. It is in Thai and English, but is surprisingly cohesive and understandable, Lots of Thai style prayer, which is where everyone prays out loud at the same time. It sounds like a wonderful hymn. I can't begin to write how moving it is!

Late afternoon we went to Mahaatthai 3, a slum area, to spend some time with kids living there. Our goal was to show them love. We did this by blowing bubbles outside the small community building and having craft stations set up on the tarp on the floor inside. They made stick animal puppets, foam visors and bracelets, and copied simple drawings. The children were enthusiastic, respectful, and adorable. We talked to each other as if we spoke the same language with lots of smiling, nodding, and gesturing in between.

From Ellen

On Wednesday, while Tiina, Mary Beth and Laura were in Chaing Mai, Ellen started her day with a walk in King's Park which is across the street from us. It is a beautiful park with water features and flowers, including a rose garden and an English garden. There was a crazy looking pink boat in one of the lily pad covered waterways. The boat was about 12 feet long and had a paddle wheel and pontoons: all pink.

Then there was a meeting with the 7 college interns that are here for the summer and Dave, the pastor. The topic was how to develop trust with each other and the Thai people. It was very interesting and challenging seeing as we are here for such a short time.

After another delicious lunch in the market (the smells are so strange), we went to the college to spend time with the student ministry. It's a Christian club on campus. The campus is large and rather spartan and utilitarian. Each building is basically one large building with no rear wall. There are 100,000 students who all wear white shirts and black pants for men, and black skirts for girls. Despite the constant oppressive heat and humidity, there were some girls who wore sweaters. I guess there are always people that want to make a fashion statement, no matter what the cost. The college interns set up a grass/straw mat on the concrete and hung out right next to the sidewalk where the students all walk by. The college students that knew them would stop by and visit. They played Uno, guitar, or went inside to play badmitton, which is a very serious sport here. It is all about building relationships with these students.

In the evening we went to Mattatai 3 which is the local slum. Poverty is hard to describe in pictures or words. It has to be experienced. The children came flocking to us, wanting to play. They have nothing. Their ball was something covered in black tape. They just were happy to be paid attention to, to be swung around in the air, etc. They had some sort of trading cards and the names of the creatures were in English. I had a group of kids sitting around me holding up the cards wanting me to read the English word on the cards out loud. I think it's a way for them to learn English because some of them repeated the words after me. The church has erected a small one room building with a door and windows and a couple of fans (I mention that because it is the only building in there with such amenities). Sitting on some sort of a tarp over a wooden/concrete floor we met with some of the locals and prayed with them. It was an indescribable time.

Cars, carts, carriages, and taxis

Most cars here seem to be toyotas. I saw a Mazda yesterday. When we were walking in the market yesterday, we walked down the very middle of the street. Imagine a sandwich built of these layers:

stores

sidewalks covered in people, booths, plants, boxes, and STUFF

gutter

cars

scooters

the fab four - one

scooters

taxis

gutter

and sidewalks

and on the other side of the street, the buildings

This is out of order, but I have not had coffee today! Another picture of the hill Tribe Market

Tuesday Evening

By the time we got to the airport, we were pretty tired out. It sure was nice to sit on the plane and be still. Our dinner was a croissant with cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and something that looked like bologna with bits of green in it. I ate it. ALL.

We were so tired walking into the apartment that I don't even know how we got into our rooms. But, then, we saw Ellen and immediately came back to life. The leader of the fab four had turned on the air in our room! Ellen is truly a visionary!!!!

Hill Tribe Fabric Market

SIDEBAR: I'm not sure as I write this that I can really convey the intangible parts of our experience. It is HOT here. The smells are intense. Air conditioned areas are as welcome as anything you can imagine. Ellen said yesterday or last night, that she actually looked forward to leaving a building and walking, just to create a breeze.

The second place we went for fabric was the Hill Tribe Market. There were low tables filled with amazing bits of fabric. Some were skirts, some jackets, and some were individual sleeves. Yes, like you would rip off a jacket. Each item is comprised of many, many layers of recycled fabric, trim, rickrack, ribbon and layers of cross stitch embriodery and embellishments. In some ways, the patterns and styles looked to my untrained eye like something that would be found in South America.

Mary showed me how to choose what is useful for the handicrafts ministry. We spend quite a while looking at different pieces, discussing the merits of each one. I asked questions like an annoying little child. "Why this? What's wrong with this one? Why would anyone want to spend this much effort making a wool, five layer skirt in a climate where it is so hot that no amount of water can quinch the thirsty heat?"

Fabric

The other part of our day was to buy fabric. The first place we went sells 2 yard pieces of fabric. It was kind of like going into a warehouse stacked high with fabric. The fabric is lovely, clean and sanitized in nice. clean plastic packages. AND incredibly beautiful! I wanted to sled into it and buy it ALL. Mostly, we stood around and held piles, as Mary decided what to buy as raw material for the bags, purses and wallets.

SIDEBAR: I'm not sure as I write this that I can really convey the intangible parts of our experience. It is HOT here. The smells are intense. Air conditioned areas are as welcome as anything you can imagine. Ellen said yesterday or last night, that she actually looked forward to leaving a building and walking, just to create a breeze.

IJM in ChaingMai

There is so much to tell you! As I type, new thoughts just keep coming up and it's hard to get everything down in any order. Yesterday, Laura, Tiina and I went with staff member Mary to ChaingMai. (Please understand that this is being written sometime between the middle of the night, and early morning. It seems like we've been here much longer than just a few days,) The purpose of this trip was two fold: Meet with the IJM staff to learn more about what they do, and buy fabric for the Napatha BAM. A BAM, and I hope I get this right, is ministry which empowers people to make a living, doing a handicraft. We started the day 24 hours ago, by taking a Sung Tao to the airport. A Sung Tao is a Pickup truck taxi. More on that later.

As we left the airport, Mary arranged a taxi for us to take us to the IJM office. The office is located behind a coffee distribution / roasting office. As the taxi driver tried to find the address looking for street numbers, we saw a nice young man flag us down. This was Quintin, our contact at IJM. We left the taxi and entered the offices. which were probably in a converted home. The first thing I noticed were the long rows if legal binders that lined the walls. These were the open cases.

In a nutshell, IJM works with families to get birth certification for villagers. NOTE: I asked Quintin if he would be able to condense his presentation into a ELCC sized blurb and maybe skpe in one Sunday. He quietly laughed and said he would love to.

If you are like us, you are probably thinking that getting a birth certificate isn't that important. Here, not having one can lead to being restricted to village boundries, enslavement, jail, and even being kicked out of the country where your entire family has lived forever.

chiang mai

still no internet access at the apartment. We are at the airport and found a computer terminal with free internet access at the gate area. Tiina, Laura, Mary Beth and our new friend and tour guide Mary Randolph are on our way to the IJM office to learn about their ministry. We will also be buying fabric for Napada handbags. (Don't worry, we are bringing back some.)
Our plan is to be able to Skype this evening.
Hopefully, we will post pictures soon.

We're Here!

Hey Everyone,
It's my first chance to get on a computer so just wanted to do a quick post to let you all know that we made here! Today is our first day, and we have already visited Napada, had delicious lunch at the local market, heard from Dave about the vision of the church, and learned Thai phrases from Yu.