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

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