Buddhism at Its Thickest

I had the opportunity to be a part of a Buddhist ceremony yesterday afternoon at Wat Pho, a temple next to the King’s Palace in Bangkok. As I approached the temple, I could hear the soft sounds of Thai singing. Tall Thai structures pierced the sky in every direction. The architecture at Wat Pho is ancient and beautiful.  I walked through the stone gates and the voices grew louder. My team and I walked up the steps into the temple and took off our shoes and quietly stepped inside. I had never seen anything like it. People crowded the floor on their knees all facing the north end of the temple. My eyes were quickly drawn to the far end of the temple where a large statue of Buddha stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The idol was covered in gold and flowers. The temple was covered in stone, with high ceilings and bright red and gold colours. Everyone was singing low tones of worship to Buddha as they bowed over and over. Monks in dark orange robes lined the west side of the temple, their voices rang above the others. Everyone was dressed in white and sat almost perfectly in rows. Our team observed from the back near the door, however I began to stroll around the side wall and slowly made my way to the front near the base of the giant Buddha. I crouched in the corner behind a large pillar, and faced the crowd of worshipers. I have been to Thailand before, and experienced Buddhism in other countries as well, but never have I witnessed such an intense, ancient, mass gathering of Buddhist worship. As I sat and listened to the worship, I could not help but think about my own faith and the God that I worship. In that moment, I began to pray.

I struggle to even find the words to express how I felt crouched there watching, but that’s just it. I still don’t know what I think or feel. As a Christian, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel. I know that I feel a bit of sadness, emptiness, fascination, and love for my God. But I’m also left with questions, concerns, and a need to know more. I wish I could feel what they feel when they worship Buddha. Not because I want to worship Buddha, quite the opposite. I want to know what it feels like because I know what I feel when I worship God. Some will jump all over me for that statement and say “worship isn’t a feeling”, and I know, I know. But you know what I mean. Does it feel empty? Do you feel fulfilled? Why are you worshipping? I think about the bible and how it says no one shall create or bow before any idols. This commandment was made physical, raw and real to me yesterday.

There is no conclusion or “ah ha” revelation ending to this blog entry. It’s simply an experience I want to invite you into. It scares me to think that they may never know God. But it also scares me that people at home don’t know God. God isn’t really the “cool” thing in North America. Nobody needs God because we think we have everything without him, and it’s easy to get distracted even if we do care. But I will stop here, because now I’m getting distracted from the initial purpose of this blog. But maybe something written here will make you think...

Peace and Love,

Team Thailand

Thai Town 7

This blog has been a great place to fill you in on some of the details of our experience so far. I want to take this opportunity to let you know how each of us is doing. Each member of this team brings unique gifting and perspectives, which have been highlighted in many situations in our time here so far. I am excited to share with you a spotlight on each member of this team.

Jody has been without a doubt the most outgoing and enthusiastic team member in terms of embracing Thai culture. For example, Jody can be found munching on market delicacies, flipping through thai-english dictionaries with locals, and loving on Kah – a bethel local. Kah is a ten year old boy who lives in the slums outside of the city near bethel Church. Kah came to church on Sunday, and as he opened the door during worship, he spotted Jody and ran to her near the front and jumped into her arms. Jody has built strong relationships with the people we have met. Mr. And Mrs. Krahn – you should be very proud. You have raised one incredible daughter.

Adam has most fittingly taken on team comedian. He is always cracking jokes or making light of intense situations. As you have seen in the blog, he is light hearted and witty, a personality that every team needs! He’s not all fun and games though; he has a soft side as well. It was Adam’s initiative to build BaWao a new deck. He worked tirelessly in the swamp planning, working and creating. He would not stop until the last detail was perfected. He even took the time and energy to plant flowers in a handmade flower bed near her road. He hung plants, fixed lights, and did it all while egging on BaWao with laughter and smiles. BaWao loves Adam, and the relationship he has built with her will be one BaWao won’t soon forget.

Acksanna has been a strong, loving, compassionate and confident woman here in Thailand. Her boldness has welcomed the team into a space of honesty, openness and vulnerability. It’s easy to talk to Acksanna, and she’s ready to listen all the time. She has developed a strong bond with many of the local kids at Bethel. They run to her yelling, “Anna, Anna” the second she steps foot into the community. Acksanna has been vocal about her heart being in Africa but felt God was telling her to experience new things that he wants to show her in Asia. Her heart has broken for these people, and her love seems endless to the locals, the team, and our hosts. I feel so blessed to spend this time with my little sister in Thailand. I am watching her grow into a beautiful, strong and feisty woman for God.

Aaron has really stepped up to the challenge this summer. He is the youngest on the team at a whopping 17 years old. I find myself wanting to tell everyone at home, “look what Aaron’s doing!”. Aaron speaks! Just the other night Aaron spoke in a woman’s home about how God is working in his life. Sixteen of us squished together in the one roomed hut, crowded around two mattresses pushed together. I watched him as he shared, and felt proud of seeing him grow these past few years. He spoke clearly, effectively and with confidence. He opened his heart up to these people and shared for a solid 15 minutes. Aaron Gerhard! Spoke for 15 minutes!!! This wasn’t his first speaking engagement here either. He’s developed great relationships with the youth here, teaching them parkor and learning break dancing. In fact, he just got out of the clawng after bridge jumping with the youth ;)

Sam has developed a strong relationship with Dang Mo, Dee Da, La and her daughter Fasi. These are the women that live at the Lighthouse Church with the girls. They are all Burmese woman who have left Burma to live a better life here in Thailand. Their husbands have left to study the bible while they live here in the church. They light up when Sam comes home, when she comes into the room, or when she helps them around the house. Sam has shown a lot of maturity this summer and has shown great responsibility within the team. Sam has a soft heart and a willing spirit. I fall in love with her more each day. Can I say that on here? Oops..... ! Fasi is “hard to please”. She does not like many people besides her mother, but Sam has recently cracked her hard exterior. Fasi now kisses Sam and runs to the door to greet her when we come home. Saying goodbye will be difficult for both these woman and Sam.  

Jeremiah is another comic relief to this team. His easygoing personality has been a breath of fresh air. He is extremely gifted with music and has spent a number of evenings with the Burmese men at the Lighthouse practising. Most services he can be seen strumming away on stage. He has been such a blessing to the churches here.  You can throw anything at Jeremiah and he’s willing to go. A few Sundays ago, we were asked to plan the Sunday morning for the all the kids. We had nothing prepared but Jeremiah jumped in and began a dramatic presentation of Jonah and the whale. He grabbed kids and had them act out being swallowed by whales, and even gave a convincing performance of the wild storm. Jeremiah has yet to have an ‘off day’ here and continues to motivate and encourage us a team. We would not be complete without him.

I’m doing great. I’m loving Thailand the second time around and my heart continues to break for the people here. I can honestly say I have loved every minute of this experience since stepping off the plane, even through the difficult moments. I thrive in these situations and experiences and look forward to more in the future. God is continuing to give me a heart for the poor, lost and broken. God is challenging me to be bold in my faith. One of my favourite elements of this summer so far has been learning from Dave and Louise. I am inspired and motivated through my time with them. They are living out what it means to truly follow God with your whole life. I value my friendships with both Dave and Louise and will hopefully see them again here in Thailand ;)

Peace and Love,

Team Thailand

Operation Rak BaWao

Today officially began Operation Love BaWao. If you've read earlier blogs, you'll have seen that we have met a wonderful woman named BaWao in the Bethel community just outside of town. We spend every Wednesday night in her home for dinner and small group, we see her on Sunday mornings, and we've crossed paths for outreach events and english camps. We have loved having Bawao in our lives here this summer.


Her house sits right above a swampy area with her floor often level with the water. This past week we have seen some intense thunderstorms and heavy rains. Her home is dangerously close to being taken under, and her front deck is already under water. Operation Rak BaWao was born, and we decided that these conditions were not ok. We moved some dollars around and ba da bing, ba da boom - we started building her a new deck this morning. The four of us boys strapped on our rubber boots and headed into the swamp and began ripping off the old deck. We were elbow deep into black swamp water, not knowing what we would find as we searched for deck foundations. It was incredibly hot and sweat dripped off our faces in a steady flow. As we ripped boards, we would unearth old pieces of garbage, clothes, car parts, shrubs, bottles, etc. You name it, it was in there! I felt like I was in a scene out of Anaconda. I asked BaWao how big the biggest snake was that she has seen here in her swamp. She started laughing and pointed to her arm as she began desribing the width of the snake. As I waited for translation, I was horrified as I watched her describe the length and width with her hands. She saw a boa in her swamp once, but was happy that it never came inside. She just laughed... as I cried inside. Sure enough, Aaron finds a snake as he's digging. It tried to escape as Aaron kept pestering it with his rake. Silly child. It just slithered away into the deeper area of the swamp. That's snake number 4 here so far! We eventually cleared her old deck, and the new deck is now under way. We bought some plants and flowers and are hoping to continue working on her deck tomorrow. The girls may even paint some of her place too! She was so excited to see work being done on her house, and we all just felt happy we could help. We are happy to know that she can come in and out of her house now without getting wet. 

While we worked at her place, BaWao went to the church and cooked for us all morning. She spent all morning just working to make us four boys happy. We have the coolest relationship with her. It feels like all our omas from home combined into one here in Thailand. She is so happy all the time, and you can't help but laugh when you're around her. She continues to love Adam more and more. It's just really cool to see friendships  building with the people we meet here.

A few other updates - I'm sorry to report that GuyWao has passed away. The church mice attacked her one night, and we found her huddled in the corner chirping softly in pain. It was an awful site, and she was in a lot of pain, her leg barely attached to her body and half her side ripped apart. We had to put her down. It was a sad day for our team. I am just happy that GuyWao experienced love in her short life here in Thailand. She was loved by us all, and will be missed.

Jody celebrated her 19th birthday with a party in the Lighthouse. We invited all the youth from the Bethel Church and Dave and Louise's kids too. We played games, made fondue, and just hung out. We spend a lot of our down time with the local youth. They're always at our place. My birthday is tomorrow - Bah! We are celebrating both our birthdays this Saturday as we head into Bangkok for the day. We're going to see some temples, Asia's biggest market, and the king's palace. The team has also planned an evening adventure in Bangkok that Jody and I are both unaware of. Apparently it's going to be life changing. I'm nervous, and rightfully so when Acksanna and Adam are the team fun coordinators.

To my father whom I share a birthday - yet again we are apart. I take full blame. I love you and wish you a wonderful day as you continue to accept old age.

That's all for now folks - we're doing great!

Love,

Team Thailand

A Match Made in Heaven...

Greetings loyal followers! How lovely of you to take another a gander at our blog! And alas, your diligence has been justly rewarded with yet another wonderfully written post. Yes, yes… the wait has been arduous… I understand… but your yearnings for a beautifully crafted and flowing psalm of our epic journey are about to be quenched! But wait…. Something is different!  These words and phrases….. they are so…. sumptuous….  These stanzas…. so intricate…, the charming wit and handsome looks of the author… immeasurable!  I know what you’re thinking…. This couldn’t possibly be Mr. Cory J. Bell and his usual quirky antics could it??  Well your suspicions have been confirmed! Ladies and gentleman, and internet addicts of all ages: I am honored to have the distinct privilege of introducing the CO-AUTHOR of this wonderful blog…. none other than yours truly… Mr. Adam Bergman!

(applause)

Thank you… thank you all for your warm reception! Now sit back, relax, attempt to tear your eyes away from your Facebook page, and enjoy this epic entry while you delve into the world of Team Thailand 2011.

___

I have a confession to make…

 I have been greatly distracted over the last few weeks here in Thai town. Yes the scenery in beautiful, the culture is lovely, and the food is hands-down some of the best there is… but in the midst of all of this… my mind is elsewhere… it pains me, to admit this.. but…

…I am in LOVE!

To be honest, it caught me completely by surprise. All was peachy here for the first week, until that fateful day, walking through the market. I had just downed my third or fourth iced-coffee in a feeble attempt to feign off my crippling jet-lag… when my red-rimmed eyes locked onto the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. There she was… in all of her glory, sitting there amidst the others. The edge of my vision darkened… she was all I could focus on! I couldn’t tear my eyes away! Perhaps it was the overdose of caffeine coursing through my veins, or possibly the mystery meat dish I ate for lunch. Regardless of my compromised judgment at the time, I decided I must have her! So I paid the owner, and I brought my baby home. (For those of your slightly weary as to where I am going with this storey… a) this is a G-rated Christian blog… b) My mother reads this… and c) just trust me J)

For the first time on this trip, I had felt complete. For the first few days with her, I could barely contain my elation! We spent all hours of the day together! There was hardly a time when we were apart. She made me feel…. comfortable, and calm. Just being apart for a few minutes caused me sweat profusely…

Let me just say that there were many and envious glance cast my way in those first few days. Perhaps it was her beautifully sculpted body, or the way you could feel her gaze when she turned your direction.  But overall, it was the jealousy that I had found her first, and she was mine.

Every night, she would lull me to sleep with here harmonious humming, and cool presence. By my bedside, she sat, while I fell into a blissful slumber. And every morning, she would greet me an airy kiss. She is truly the most amazing thing to every happen to me on this trip, and truly, nothing has brought me this much happiness.

She’s the best investment I’ve ever made…

So without further ado, let me be the first to introduce you to my beautiful:  love…

STAR...

Crocs, and Tigers, and Elephants... Oh My!

Yesterday was our first day off here in Thailand. It kind of snuck up on us in the busyness and excitement of it all, but quickly decided that a nice day at the beach would be nice. We decided to song-tao our way into Chon Buri to the Tiger zoo before hitting the beach. What a day of firsts! We held and fed tiger cubs, rode elephants, got picked up by elephants in their trunks, fed crocodiles, and Aaron even braved being covered in live scorpions! The video and photos are epic, some of which can be seen in our gallery tab. Highlights you ask? The tiger show was peachy, observing and laughing at innocent bystanders as giant tigers spray them with their excrement. The tigers would just squat and raise their tales and spray puffs of mist from their arses. Hilarious! There was a group of elementary school kids that got it bad. Am I horrible for laughing? Adam and I paid a little extra to get into the cage with a giant papa tiger and lay next to him for a photo. Adam was a little more courageous and fully embraced the tiger. Haha. I’m still laughing. Watching Acksanna get hoisted up by an elephant in its trunk was too much. Her scream could be heard across the nation of Thailand, and is still echoing all over Southeast Asia.

After the animals, we hit up the beach. We had some lunch, and we spread out from there. Some rented 3 man bikes, others enjoyed the beach, and I even sprung for a thai massage and milk bath. I know, I know... you’re all thinking how typical. But let me tell you, I’ve actually never had a massage in my life and it was a birthday gift from Sam. Which by the why, is on the 28^th. FedEx delivers fast, so no excuses. The milk bath was.... interesting... let’s just say I spent quite some time naked in front of people, just baring it all. Before you get all “bad Cory” on me, it’s apparently normal, I was just as shocked, and I didn’t care at all and fully embraced it.

Jody wins the award for Queen of Thai Cuisine yet again. I spotted her purchasing a bag of shrimp and popping them in her mouth. Straight up shrimp, eyes and all. That night we needed to get back to our place and we were on our own to hire and direct the Tuk-Tuk drivers. We had a blast! Two tuk-tuks racing side by side late at night down some Thai road. Adam and Jeremiah danced hard, Acksanna cackled, Aaron sprayed water into the other tuk-tuk, Sam signed, Jody judged, and I filmed. We are loving Thailand!

We are 1 day away from our half way point. Pray that God would continue to give us energy and strength to finish this last half strong. Continue to pray for safety and opportunity. You can thank God for giving us this day of rest, fun and team bonding. I have some cool blog posts coming up. I want to share with you the stories of a few of the many amazing people we have met here. Their stories are powerful and I’m excited for you to get to know them.

A special shout out to my bro – happy 26^th B-day Trev! Love you man.

Peace and Love,

Team Thailand

GuyWao

Once upon a time, I was walking through the market in search for an egg for my lovely girlfriend who was making a pumpkin pie. We were having a feast that night with the Sinclair-Peter’s at their home with American food. I grabbed my bag, and headed out the door after being told by Sam with only her eyes. Funny how that works....

I got distracted. Low and behold a box of colourful chics. Pink ones, green ones, yellow and red. I was hooked. I bent down, picked up a pink one, and gazed up at the lady and asked, “tow rai?” (how much). “sip baht” she replied. (10 baht – a.k.a 33 Canadian cents)  Done.

As I walked back to the Sinclair-Peter’s yard, with a hardboiled egg in one hand... oops.... and the chic in the other, I was greeted with phrases of shock and discouragement. “What were you thinking!?” and “You’re dumb!” is all I heard. But “I love you” is all I heard in my heart. I was in my glory. I had purchased my first ever mission trip mascot.

The team has since then embraced her fully. Her name is Guywao – (guy - thai for chicken) named after BaWao whom we hope to bless with at the end of our time here. She will receive one bright pink egg laying chicken! She lives with us at the Lighthouse in a small cage covered in mosquito netting. We feed her, give her water, and we all take turns playing with her. She has now grown attached to us and follows us everywhere we go. She is perfect, and unlike D.R Congo last summer, I will not be slitting its throat and feasting on her remains. She has been with us now for three days. I’m a proud papa.

Sam pulled me aside that night and said, “I didn’t know you were ‘that’ guy”. She fears I’ll be the impulsive man who buys a puppy because it’s cute and does not think about the consequences. Does she not know me at all? ...... BAH! ;)

The Community of Bethel

One of the communities we are involved with here in Thailand is that of the Bethel Church. Bethel is located just outside of Chachoengsao. It’s a community that runs along the clawng, a river that twists and turns through the area. Kids swim in the clawng, woman wash clothes and men fish for their food. It’s a different area than the rest we have been exposed to.  Paved streets turn to gravel roads, and small apartments turn into small, one roomed, tin shacks. Many homes are perched above swampy areas where water is level with entrance ways. It is here that we see the most poverty. Bethel church is in the heart of the community backing the clawng. Us guys lived here in what we called “gilligans island” (a small grass hut) up until last week before moving in with the girls for safety concerns. Other than that, we are here every Sunday for church and every Wednesday night for kids clubs and small groups with believers from the church. Last night was an incredible time of strengthening relationships with the people of the community. We arrived around 5 o’clock and gathered all the kids in the local park. We had some songs, stories and crafts prepared. Small crowds often gather to watch the “forang” (foreigners). We have known these children for two weeks now, but last night sealed the bonds we had previously created. Many of our team members connected strongly with the children, while others are geared more towards the youth or adults. It’s a perfect mix, and together we function well as a team. It seems as though all our gifts are being put to good use!

After we said la gone to the kids, we went to Ba Wao’s home for small group. Ba Wao is like the community Oma. She’s perfect in every sense of the word. She cooks for everyone, smiles constantly and simply, breathes love. She has developed quite the bond with none other than our very own Adam Bergman. She constantly refers to his big muscles and will use any excuse to get a hug from him. I sense she has a small crash on him, one we of course tease him about during team times. I look forward to seeing this relationship blossom over the weeks to come. I’m taking some solid video, so stay tuned.

I’m writing this post as a reminder to all of us to be thankful for what we have. In our time together last night, we were asked to say what we are thankful for. Ba Wao was the first to answer that she’s thankful for everyday she has. As I heard her words through translation, I looked around her one roomed tin hut. Water was level with her doorstep, her front porch almost submerged in swamp. The rain slammed down on her tin roof, making it next to impossible to hear anything in our circle. The lightning outside flashed through the large gaps in her walls and I could count about a dozen small lizards crawling on her walls and ceiling. Her husband passed away last year and she currently is on medication for diabetes and fighting problems with her ankles. Ba Wao has every right to be unhappy, yet she shows more joy than anyone I’ve come across in my 23 years of life. That night in team time I asked where we have all seen God at work in the past few days and two of the seven answers reflected Ba Wao’s evident joy in the Lord. We ate together, sang together, and listened as Aaron shared with the group. All this while crammed together in her home, circled around rice plates on her floor. Her hospitality, joy and love have inspired us all. Ba Wao has been such a blessing to our team and I thank God I had the chance to meet her in this life. May we all be reminded how blessed we are.

Our team is doing great, no need to worry. With each passing day, we love it more and more. Dave and Louise have been incredible mentors, hosts and teachers. But I will save a separate blog post for them ;)

Continue to pray for safety, health, opportunity and continued joy.

From Sam, Acksanna, Jody, Jeremiah, Adam, Aaron and I – we love and miss all of you friends and family back home. Thank you for your love and support.

Love,

Team Thailand

Thai Youth - Su Yaa!!

This post is completely devoted to the awesomeness of Thai young people. We have had, and will continue to have, tons of opportunities to work with youth. It’s great because all seven of us are heavily involved in student ministry back in Canada. Our free time is often spent just chilln with the youth. They like to come to our home and learn English, look at pictures, and just hang out. Some speak English very well so it’s been great building relationships beyond surface level. We are actually getting to know these youth. Jody even got the dirt on who likes who. Thai teens have just as much drama as Canadians. Well...maybe not AS much... (shout out to Eastview Youth! Haha, so... who does everyone like?)

One youth in particular who likes to chill with us is Doh. If you remember from a previous post, he’s the one Aaron and I had a sleepover with. He joined us last night in the market as we shopped for supplies for egg sandwiches (thanks mom! We even found bacon!) He doesn’t speak English at all, but is now trying to learn. We point at everything and learn the Thai and English words for it. He even spent all day at school researching questions to ask me in English for that night when he knew he’d see me. He even wrote answers down to those questions in case I asked the same questions back. Acksanna (or “Anna” as she’s known here) kept describing this as “precious”. Haha. Doh is 17 years old, and has such tremendous leadership potential that he’s already tapping into. He is a leader among his peers. I had the chance to sit down with him on Sunday and hear his testimony. He has been a believer for 4 months and he’s already telling others about God. His family is Buddhist and his parents do not approve of him being a Christian. However, we are already seeing some cool connections with his parents through Dave and Louise. Doh wants to come to Canada when he’s done school to study the bible. He also wants to see snow. Ha! I showed him the video of us youth leaders dragging behind trucks in the snow... that was a good and bad idea all at once. Now he’s obsessed. Ha! He brings his younger brother, Naughti, to youth with him now and we are continually seeing him break out of his shell. Doh has such an influence over his friends and family. He and many other youth are now showing up to many of our outreach opportunities, just to help out or hang out. I love it because they aren’t kids. We are building genuine friendships in this community. I know already that this will be a difficult goodbye in a few weeks. I like that we are in one spot the entire month, and not rotating all over. It gives you the opportunity to really invest in the lives of the people you meet.

Thai youth rock – and my brain is already spinning with ideas on how to connect this group with Eastview’s youth. It doesn’t help that Kristin is here shooting media too, because we keep looking at each other, spitting out two words of an idea, and the other is already finishing the sentence and nodding. For those of you who know Kristin, imagine the intense no smile nod of approval. Haha

*** check out new photos of our photo booth with the youth ***

La gone,

Team Thailand



The Burmese Factory

Last night was one of the coolest experiences thus far. Dave and Louise have four church plants here in Thailand. We work heavily with The Bethel Thai Church, and The Lighthouse, a church for Burmese refugees. The lighthouse goes mobile once a week out into the rice farms near a large factory that employees Burmese refugees. Many Burmese people will leave their country to find work in Thailand in hopes to send money back to their families. There are many heart breaking stories of divided families and parents who had to leave their children in Burma among this community. Last night we loaded up our vans, and made the trek out to the factory. It takes just over an hour to get there. Our guys were part of the band, and we also prepared skits, children’s games, and Adam spoke last night too. Anyways, we pull up into this community and see rows upon rows of small one roomed houses. All of the workers live in these small compounds. For most, these living conditions would be a stretch to survive in. We began setting up a stage outside right in the middle of the compound. Bamboo poles were staked in the ground with a sheet stretched across them to make a screen, and small tarps and plastic sheets were set out on the ground in front of the stage. It was like this Burmese/Thai/Canadian/American outdoor church in the middle of nowhere! We sang all the worship songs in Burmese, but many of them we knew in English. How awesome to hear three different languages singing the same song. Adam shared how God has revealed himself in his life and had the crowd even laughing about his lack of girlfriend. (Single female readers of this blog – a heads up) We made up a drama to go along with the story of the seeds landing on different soil. One of the pastors of the Lighthouse Church spoke off this drama and preached for another hour. That night, 30 people from the compound accepted Christ into their lives. I have never seen anything like that before. They asked us to pray for healing for a number of different things and one woman in particular said she was healed of sickness that night. After the service, we piled into our song-tows and drove to one of the woman’s homes for a bbq. Now, when I say bbq, don’t get too excited. Fish and rice baby! We drove home and got into bed around 1am. Long day, but awesome.

We talked as a team about what we had been a part of. Acksanna asked why these people are so unafraid to be open about their faith, or to accept Jesus in such a public way. She continued to say how she is so encouraged to see how much these people love God, and want to know more about him. We all felt the same way. Personally, this makes me frustrated with a lot of things back home. To be honest, I hate so much about North American culture. We’re all too cool for school and scared to be open about what we believe in. I feel like we don’t have enough expectation that God will show up and do crazy things. I’m torn between letting this inspire me to change home, or to leave home. If someone asked for healing in your church at home, would you be bold enough to lay your hands on them and ask God to heal them? And if you would, would you sincerely believe in your heart that He would? If you answered no to any of these questions, ask yourself why tonight before you go to sleep. We are all learning here to be bold in our faith, and that often means stepping out of your comfort zone. It’s not to say that we don’t have awesome things happening at home, it’s just different. There’s just different challenges at home, the way there are different challenges here.  

On the way to the factory, we went around the song-tow and all answered what God is teaching us here in Thailand thus far. It was so powerful to hear what God is teaching us as individuals through the same experience. Both the media team and Action team shared. Twelve people shared what they are learning, and all twelve answers were different. Isn’t that awesome that through the same experience, God is so unique and personal to each of us? As a staff member of Eastview Community Church, I was so blessed to hear Louise’s account of the blessing Eastview was to their ministry out here this past year. I had no idea how impactful Eastview’s generosity was until I got here and saw the result of it. I love how God will put something on someone’s heart on one side of the world, to affect the lives of so many people on the other side of the world. I feel so privileged to see the receiving end of the giving. For those of you who support missions, or have sponsor children on the fridge, or supported this trip – Thank you! You have no idea how impactful you are in the Kingdom.

I should stop talking now... but before I do, we are all doing great. A few upset stomachs, fevers, and dia... well, you know... but we’re doing good! We have all we need here so don’t worry about us. Please continue to pray for safety, health, energy, team unity, Dave and Louise, and for all the new believers here in Thailand. We have witnessed nearly 50 people accept God into their lives in the first 10 days of this trip. Pray that God would place people in their lives to continue to disciple them. Pray that the churches here can keep up! Ha! For real though, there is so much happening here and there is a big need for leadership in the churches. Pray! 

Thanks for the prayers everyone. Check out some photos in the gallery tab!

Love,

Team Thailand

Bah!

So it’s been a few days since I updated last. Sorry about that. We have been very busy here the past week. As I sit here and write I can’t believe a whole week has gone by. The days seem to blend here. But it’s awesome that we have so much to do here. Dave and Louise have a lot of opportunities for us to jump on. So let’s catch you all up shall we?

First off, I would like to inform you all of a certain event that occurred a few nights ago. The girls are living in the Lighthouse Church with 4 Burmese women. The other night, a man got into the church through a window where the girls sleep. He made his way downstairs and into the bed of one of the Burmese woman. He began to touch her when another woman woke up and started screaming. He got up and ran out of the same window he came through. Let us thank God that nothing worse happened to any of the woman in that church. It could have been a lot worse, but God protected them. Please pray for continued safety while we are here. The police got involved the next day and we are waiting to see what happens next. Until then, us guys have moved into the Lighthouse with the girls. We want to make sure they are as safe as possible.

On a brighter note, seven people came to accept Christ yesterday on the last day of our camp! We hosted a few days worth of programming for young adults. We taught English, played games, went swimming, taught music, built friendships and did some teaching. Near the end of the day we shared the story of Jesus with them. It was cool because most of these youth had never heard of Jesus before. Thailand is about 1% Christian and the rest Buddhist. These youth (all around 17 years old) decided to accept Christ into their lives that day.  It was awesome. We gave them bibles and prayed for them. They came to church this morning and we got to reconnect with them there. We plan to see a lot of them over the next three weeks.

We spent the afternoont at Dave and Louise’s house with all the youth. We played games, had lunch, and just hung out. It reminded me of our youth group at home. It’s exciting to be a part of this community. There are so many incredible youth in this church. The other night, Aaron and I had a sleepover in the Bethel church with one of the youth that is particularly fond of our ACTION Team. His name is Doh. He always wants to hang out and learn English. We spent all night playing Need for Speed on his laptop, watching him break dance, flipping through photos of Canada and my family on my laptop, and flipping through Thai – English phrasebooks trying to communicate and get to know each other. It’s awesome that through an obvious language barrier, we could still communicate. He’s become a good friend of mine already. Most of the students we are working with are almost finished high school. It’s my favourite age to chill with. Kids are a bit of a stretch for me...Eek! Is that bad? I don’t care...  ha!  

Speaking of bad... we found a snake in the Lighthouse. Jody was filling up water one morning when she spotted it in the kitchen. Naturally, I was horrified and paralyzed with fear. Later that morning Dave heard of the snake and knew he had to get rid of it. The idiot went searching for the snake. I could not have been caught dead hunting for a snake. Anyways, he found it and it was all like... swirling and flipping  all over the place while Dave was pushing it across the room with a broom stick and flinging it into the air. I almost passed out. It came within three feet from me in all the madness. Everyone was yelling, but I’ll admit I yelled the loudest. My heart was actually beating so hard I could physically feel it in my chest. Dave proceeded to through a rope at me about 30 seconds after the snake exited my presence, and I almost dropped a few colourful words. We saw another snake crossing the road last night. I live in constant fear. Other than the snakes, I feel like I could live here. The heat doesn’t bother me at all. We live in constant dampness. Again I say, I’ve never experienced humidity like this before. Unreal! It’s like you’re swimming through air.

In other news, I saw Harry Potter last night in Bangkok. It was perfect. We had dinner in the mall, and we spent the evening just relaxing. A few of us jumped at the chance. It was life changing.

Ok! Please continue to pray for our ministry here. We have endless opportunities here to share, speak, work and hang out with youth. We are building some strong relationships already with both youth in the church and youth that we meet at our English classes. Continue to pray for those students in our English classes that they would come to know God and also come to church with us. Pray for the congregations of the Thai and Burmese churches. We spend our time between both churches and have loved working with everyone we’ve met. Pray for safety and health. With a demanding schedule, please pray for energy and excitement as the days go on. You can also pray that God would continue to give us serving hearts and selfless attitudes. Pray that we would constantly be reminded of why we are here and that we would not lose focus. We have flown all the way across the world to do this. Let us not take any minute for granted!

Thank you for the prayers and I hope to update again in a few days.

**** New pictures posted too!!! ****

Love,

Team Thailand

Sa wat Dee Ka

Day 4 in Thailand – But let’s rewind to night one. We arrived in Bangkok around 1030pm and were greeted by Dave in the airport. We hopped into two vehicles and made the hour trek into Chachoengsao. I bonded with the cab driver and discovered that he loves Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. He proceeded to blast Gaga’s “telephone.” We dropped the girls off at the Lighthouse Church where they were welcomed in by four Burmese women. These women are the wives of four men who have left to study the bible in another part of the country and will be living with the girls for the entire month. These women speak no English, and we speak no Burmese but the girls have wasted no time in building relationship with them through cooking, cleaning and trying to teach each other their languages. That first night we learned that this building was recently used as a brothel and sex house. Dave and Louise helped in taking ownership of the building, gutting it, and planting the Lighthouse Church in its place. Su-yaa! (Awsome in Thai)

Later that night, Dave took us guys to what we now call “Gilligan’s Island”. And let me tell you, that’s exactly what it is! Adam, Jeremiah, Aaron and I live in a one roomed grass hut. The walls and ceiling are made of grass and we sleep on the floor or on bamboo racks. We do have electricity though which is nice. We live along what the locals call the “clawng”, a river that runs through Chachoengsao. That night, we walked out onto our dock and looked out along the river. The river is dark brown and we heard what sounded like a large dog jumping in the water. We are told that large lizards live along the river, the size of dogs.... It feels like we live along the Amazon. Ha. It’s perfect. We are told that dozens of snake species live along and in this river as well. We are also encouraged to swim in it with the locals if we’d like. I think I’m going to help our neighbour with his fishing one of these mornings. He has a net in the river that he collects fish in. He’s always neck deep in water as he patiently collects his fish. I’ll get in one of these days. I’m building up to it! Don’t rush me...

We’ve spent a lot of time getting to know the area and Thai culture. Dave and Louise have been great with welcoming us and preparing us for ministry. We spent last night working two English camps. It was awesome building relationships with the locals and inviting them to a camp that we’re putting on this weekend. We teach English, play games, play sports, sing, dance, make crafts, have snack, eat and hang out. Not knowing the language is frustrating, but we have translators so it’s all good. We have a lot planned in these next few days so we’re busy preparing all day today. We have another English class this afternoon and evening.

I can’t blog about Thailand without mentioning a few things. It’s SO hot here. The humidity is unreal. One of our media team members, Kyle Brauner, almost passed out last night. It’s that bad. We are not used to this kind of heat. In fact, I have not experienced heat like this before. But it’s weird because I actually like it. We are constantly wet and sticky. The food is great – Jody is proving to be the Thai queen of cuisine. Navigating the markets has been so fun. Jody and I got really into the markets scene last night and bought a little of everything. We didn’t even know what we were buying. We love going to the markets alone and figuring it out as a team. Showers are perfect. You shower a few times a day here just because it’s so hot. I shower before bed to try and cool down before I fall asleep. It doesn’t cool down in the evenings. This is the rainy season so we have had a few thunderstorms and torrential down pours during the nights. It doesn’t seem to cool down though. I sleep on the floor of the hut, so I feel the effects when it rains. All part of the experience baby!

All in all, these first few days have been great. Continue to pray for us as we serve. Pray for health and energy, team unity, unique ministry opportunities, and for Dave and Louise as they lead us. We have had an incredible few days already just getting to know them. They totally inspire me in my own faith. Dave and Louise completely complement each other and it’s cool to be around. As a team, we love Thailand.

Until next time,

La gone (bye)

Team Thailand

*** check out our new photos in the gallery tab ***

Survivor Thailand



The Final Countdown

Well folks, here we go! We are now 2 hours away from heading out to the airport. We figure there’s no point in going to sleep. We are packing in my basement, showering, and a few of us are tuning into the premiere of Big Brother... ok, well.... I’m tuning into Big Brother. However, Jody is showing a heightened interest as well.

Speaking of Jody, she’s been a pleasure this week. Her observations and quick wit have had us all rolling in stitches. Her late night sleepovers with pressing questions have affected one member in particular. Sam, the CODA of all time. The two were spotted wrestling last night. Sam has spent the week mothering the team, but not without some flared sass and rapid signing. She continues to be embarrassed. Acksanna rounds up the females with a foxy, or oxsy twist. See, when she does something “loser” like... we say she’s being oxsy. However, when she’s pushing boundaries or displaying flirtatious behaviour, she’s describe as foxsy. The men have remained strong all week. Aaron has come out of his shell as a former student and is leading the charge with the guys. Aaron doesn’t speak? Please. He talks more than me. He gets all gitty late at night – believe me I know, we’re roommates. Adam is setting the bar high this week, well... at least in terms of bowel movements. K, too far. He’s the team comedian, and has been fittingly appointed team coordinator of fun. He rumours to have located us personal scooters for the month. Jeremiah is a breath of fresh air to the team. His humour exceeded our expectations  early in the week by sporting a solid denim ensemble. I’m doing great – I’ve spent the week socializing, wooing, and having sleepovers that go way too late.

Our team has a unique energy and we’re quickly finding that we mesh very well as a group. We have a solid balance between outrageous laughter and the ability to be serious with one another. In the last week, we’ve bonded in a way that I did not expect. Those on the team that I knew previously I now view entirely differently. For those I just met, I could not have asked for better teammates. I’m very excited to see what will happen in Thailand! You can bet there will be video footage...

Just a heads up – there are photos now posted in the gallery section of the blog. We will try to post more regularly now that we’re actually in Thailand. We will try to post photos and video, so keep looking every few days or so. We are doing great. This past week we all learned a ton about what it means to serve, while challenging ourselves in our own relationships with God. As a team, we have committed to reading 1 – 3 book(s) of the bible this summer. We are realizing how important it is to be grounded in the word, whether on missions or not. We are anxious to get to Thailand and I’m running out of words to write because I’m exhausted.

Pray for safe travel, energy, adaptation, God’s heart, wisdom and discernment. We will post soon!

Night,

Team Thailand