Montana A (A is for awesome!) #1

Well, I think I am going to break this up. Otherwise there would be too much info lost in this last incredible week.

This post will cover my team's arrival, orientation and travels to Tak.

When I found out that we would have 3 teams coming within 3 weeks of each other I quickly found out that it is a lot of work! Our third team however ended up being 2 teams because 18 people signed up to serve in Thailand! Way to go Montana district! The teams were split into team A and team B, very original I know! A was slated to serve with the Hmong in Northern Thailand and team B was to serve in Bangkok with our local ministries. Most of team A arrived early in the week to spend the time recovering from jet lag and visiting a few places they wouldn't get to see in the city. So they came into the office on Thursday while my supervisor Kristin was coming to work with me. On Saturday we got to do orientation! This was actually unique for me as I wasn't able to do a formal orientation with the Bamboo Island team. I really enjoyed it because I got to hear from Dennis Denow who has served in and out of Thailand for many years as well as Christie Nelson who I mentioned before served here for 15 years. Goi from our church also came and did a neat activity with them about culture and certain things to be aware of concerning the differences between Thai and American culture. Seth even got to come along for the fun! Here is our group afterwards before we left for lunch at Big C. For their "cultural learning" we took them to the Grand Palace where everyone got a chance to see the unique architecture of the Wat of the Emerald Buddha and learn how Buddhism is such an intricate part of Thai culture. Following that we went to the Jim Thompson house where they learned about Thai housing styles. To end the evening we all got to eat at the Siam Paragon food court and then peruse the Thai style street foods!

Sunday, everyone was up bright and early and had all their stuff packed into the van by the time I arrived at the hotel at 9am. We departed for church at Phongphet at 9:30. Pastor Schultz was the guest preacher that morning. The church then provided lunch for us afterwards which included an absolutely delicious Panang Curry!!! After lunch we packed it up and moved it out! Our team then headed for a 4 hour drive to the Suan Sin hotel in Tak province and enjoyed a nice Chinese style dinner which everyone agreed was delicious! That night we headed to bed early for our last night in comfy beds. We planned to start the next day early! Here are the rest of the orientation pictures!

Kristin's Visit

Oh my! What a week! My Deaconess Intern supervisor Kristin from CUC came to visit Sarah and I last week for our internship supervision. The time just flew by while she was here too! Sarah, Christie and I went to the airport to pick her up. She stayed in my apartment on my new mattress that Dang and I got from Makro. The next day we decided to take our time getting ready and went over to the Kayes apartment for lunch. Grace came with us to go to Siam and MBK with Kristin. It was so nice to have an afternoon to spend with the girls. The next day was Sunday, so Kristin got a chance to go to church with us at Phong Phet. Sarah brought her girls from the daycare with her, so we all ate lunch together with Dang who then dropped us off at the Southern Bus terminal. The bus ride was a little shady, and things didn't improve much when we made it to Jomtien and were dropped off on the side of the road. We had to take a motorcycle taxi to our hotel which included me sitting on the 5 inches of seat that was left after the driver and Sarah were on without foot rests. Believe me I was praying that we wouldn't hit a bump and I would go flying off. My thighs and butt got quite a workout! Too much info...I know.
Our hotel proved to be pretty nice, unlike the beach which we discovered the next day that parts of it attracted gay men that come to Thailand to hire young Thai boys to be their "friend" for the week or two! In between our beach walk and dinner Sarah got a pedicure while I got my hair cut. I needed a trim so I asked the lady to cut it just a little. A little to her meant that the first cut took off 4 inches. When I turned with wide eyes in shock to Kristin who's expression matched mine, she quickly assured me that it would look cute! LOL! That's ok, it will grow quickly enough and I'll be nice and cool working in the Hmong villages. Moving on...Kristin and I enjoyed oil massages at the hotel and the last day the sun actually came out and we got a chance to work on a tan! The food there was good and Kristin got plenty of pictures of the washed up jelly fish to bring back to her kids.
Tuesday we had a much nicer bus experience heading back to BKK. Kristin and I went to MBK for her to finish her souvenir shopping and then we headed back to my apartment in the world's longest traffic jam. It occurs every weekday in BKK at 6pm.
Wednesday we joined the Mother's Day celebration at the Bang Na daycare with Sarah and then went to the crocodile farm with the Kayes. I enjoyed spending time with Nathanael, though we didn't get to ride the train or feed the crocodiles a dead chicken. We did see an elephant show and lots of crocodiles in small cages as well as a crocodile show that made me sick to watch, only because I was waiting for the guy that stuck his head in the crocodile's mouth to get it bit off!
On Thursday Kristin went to work with me and we got to meet our team from Montana that arrived the night before. They seem like a fun group to work with! That's next week. That day I handed off Kristin to Sarah at Siam Paragon after we snacked on all the free food samples from the gourmet market! It was such a great week with her, and I was sad to say goodbye! It's hard to believe that my first year is almost over! ~Thanks for the pictures Kristin!

The Kayes are here!

Well! I have certainly been to the airport a lot in the past couple weeks! I love it! This day was especially exciting because Pastor Carl Kaye and his wife Grace and son Nathanael are finally here! It has been several months since the retirement of Pastor Bob Hedtke and Diana. Our team here was very much looking forward to welcoming the Kayes! Dang, La, Dennis, and I all went to the Suvarnabuhmi to meet them. When I first caught sight of them I thought Pastor Carl was pushing two carts, but really Nathanael was pushing one that had bags stacked so high I couldn't see him! We got them loaded into a van and headed off to the Wanpaka House. They will be living in the same apartment that Pastor Bob and Diana lived in! We are so happy to have them here! Please pray for their belongings to get shipped here soon!

Welcome to Bamboo Island

After months of preparations, emails, phone calls, this last week our team greeted the first 2 of 4 short-term teams to Thailand. Having never organized or made arrangements to host teams before, I was a little anxious to see how this week would turn out, but as is the case, God was with us and we had an absolutely wonderful week.

Since I have not perfected the art of being in 2 places at once, I went with the team from Prince of Peace in Palatine, IL to Bamboo Island while Sarah and others took the PLI team from Texas around Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Let me just say it was just incredible.

I met 4 team members that arrived early on Friday night. Fortunately I decided to meet them at the airport instead of their hotel as it turned out that their shuttle never picked them up. The 5 of us and their luggage fit all in one taxi as we made our way to the TK Palace. I knew right away as I got to know Andrea, Carolyn, Lisa and Kyle that this was going to be a special week. They were so excited and full of energy. Even though it was dark out I got to see Bangkok again through the eyes of a first time visitor and it was great. That night I left them at their hotel with directions to set them off exploring the next day and a promise to see them for dinner the next evening.

Saturday afternoon, Dang picked me up at my apartment and we headed back to the airport again to pick up two new members on the Bamboo Island team, Randy and Barbara. I met them during my visit to Chicago in May and had a chance to get to know Randy via email in preparation for their arrival. They seemed pretty refreshed having adjusted to jet lag during their stay in Japan. We took them to the TK and met the others for dinner.

My evening wasn't over after that as I waited up late with Robin McCoy to hop on the TK Palace shuttle back to the airport to wait for the PLI team's arrival. That day had been so busy. Reality hit me when I went to the airport that all these months of emailing back and forth wasn't just some fiction book I was writing, but that there were in fact, actual people arriving here to serve in many different ways. I headed home tired and still needing to pack and arrive at the hotel by 8 the next morning. To top things off I got a phone call from the last 2 members of the Bamboo Island team saying that their flight was canceled and they wouldn't make it there until noon the next day. Dang and I decided to solve that problem after talking to the team the next morning.

Sunday we decided to start our 11 hour journey to the south and just have the other 2 people fly to Phuket. Dan made arrangements for her friend to pick them up at the airport and take them to the Phang Nga Bay resort hotel. They ended up getting there before we did even though they didn't get to Thailand until the afternoon. Our trip was scenic and fun. Everyone was quite enjoyable and it turned out to be good that the other two people were delayed or else we wouldn't have had room for them in the van.

Our Monday was supposed to be laid back and relaxing after all the travelling, but that didn't mean that we were short on things to do. The first stop was at Tham Pung Chang which translated means Elephant Belly Cave. The first part of the tour was taking a kayak through the "belly of the elephant". Halfway through we switched to bamboo rafts and then the last leg was on foot wading through the water. That was awesome! All of us had to wear headlights and while most of our team looked at the limestone rock formations our guide pointed out, Dang spent the time shining her light in the water thinking that some creature would crawl on her! We found a "baptismal font" in there that Buddhist regard as having lucky water, but instead we used it as an opportunity to remember our Baptism! Moving on from there we headed to the coast. We planned to stop at a resort sight for a little beach time and lunch but found out it was closed during the off season! Sad day! So instead we drove 45 minutes away for lunch at a Burmese kitchen! While we were in the area we visited the Baan Nam Kem Tsunami Memorial. This way the team could see how the tsunami devastated the area and effected the ecosystem. We changed plans to go to Phuket since there was a big ASEAN summit there and security was tightened. Instead we stopped at a market on the way back to Phang Nga Bay and made the team purchase stuff without using English! It was like a mini-orientation! That night we were ready to sleep! Though Dang and I stayed up to watch some Thai TV-drama!

Tuesday was workday #1. We had to wait for the tide, so we didn't leave until 8:30am. When the boat full of farang (foreigners) showed up at Bamboo Island, I think the village men were a bit bewildered, but some of them said hi to us! When we got to the school there were already a bunch of kids painting the first building a very bright shade of green. Thinking back, it is funny how shy the kids were at first. Dang told them that they couldn't group together and that at least 2 kids had to be with each farang so that way they could practice their English. The farang also practiced their Thai with their handy flip cards! Once the kids discovered that I could speak Thai, they warmed up pretty quickly. Our team was so good at just jumping in and interacting with them. Andrea Krause, our team nurse brought a hacky-sack with her, so she got a group of kids together to play that.

At first painting was pretty rough because they were thinning the paint with some pretty strong smelling thinners. I ended the day with a big headache, but we pushed through and still had fun. That afternoon the team had a chance to introduce themselves to the students and sing songs with them! After introductions, half of the team went to paint some more and then Kyle and Tom did an afternoon art camp. They were the two graphic artists from the team. The kids really enjoyed this a lot. I think the first day was a great introduction for the kids. By the end of the day they wanted to make sure that they would see us again the next day! We had to leave the school early because the solar eclipse was causing the tides to be really low. This picture shows how far down the water is. It's supposed to cover those roots as they are part of a mangrove forest!

Day 2 and we were ready for another day of work. While we waited for the boat, Tom chased his wife Julie around with a dead eel. He got the nickname Dtoon-Dten which means excitement :D

This morning there was hardly anyone around, so Dang had to scrounge around for our paint brushes and paint. We discovered early that the new paint they brought was not the same shade as the paint we used the day before, but we used it anyway. The kids were much more interactive this day. Randy, the team leader brought some music with him so we were listening to some tunes. This day the area around the school flooded, which was cause for much excitement. All the kids decided to go swimming in the polluted water and catch mud-skippers for us to see. Mr. Excitement taught the kids how to dance the robot and Julie got quite a following as well. In the mean time Dang and Ba Nok (Carolyn) entertained the kids while dancing to the music. This day was sooooo fun! The kids just had a blast, and I'm pretty sure the adults did too! Our driver Amnot came to help that day too! Our lunch was the first time our team experienced Thai cooking a whole chicken and putting all of it in the curry. So watching them pick around the chicken feet was fun. That afternoon Lisa and Andrea talked about hygiene and Portillo's hot dogs! Well, Lisa talked about hot dogs and Chicago as part of a cultural exchange! In the afternoon the weather changed, so we hightailed it out of there to try to beat the storm. I say tried to because we got stuck in a downpour! Our team was so great though, because they looked at it as a unique experience and even a blessing because it made the temperature cooler! That day when I left the kids actually wouldn't let go of me and even tried to drag me back to the library! I knew then that I was at risk of being sad when I had to say goodbye at the end of the week. We went home and changed clothes and then headed to the Lutheran church at Takuapa. Kyle had the opportunity to share a short message with the church members there after we ate dinner with the members. This church was one of the first Lutheran churches in Thailand and founded by the father of one of the Lutheran leaders. He still lives there with his Thai wife, and in fact played the piano for us during our fellowship time.

Day 3 we continued painting and interacting with the kids. The afternoon session, Andrea had a unique opportunity to share the Gospel very clearly with the kids there, so that was scary and exciting. By this day I had a little following of girls who hung around me pretty regularly. I really enjoyed the time I had with them. The field flooded even more today, which the kids of course enjoyed. That evening we took a trip to Phuket where we got pizza and some people shopped or got foot-massages. Me? I went to Starbucks. That is my oasis in this world and it's on every continent!

Day 4. Before heading to the island we took a side trip to "James Bond Island", so named because it's where the Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. I bought some pearls there which Dang informed me I was over priced for. I also collected some shells for my Grandma. After that we went to Koh Panyi where we met with the principal of the school there who showed us a presentation on how advanced the school is in using resources and educating their kids who live there. When we got to the school we had a sort of "closing" with the kids. Randy and his wife Barb did a presentation showing the students all the places they have been to visit on mission trips and then showed them where they are from in the US. Then we sang songs with the kids and presented them with their hygiene packs and art supplies.To thank the team, the kids did a special performance which they choreographed themselves. They were all dressed really fancy and like attention starved kids that they were wanted to make sure that they looked beautiful. It was so fun, but also sad. My group of girls clung to me. It's funny because they were so distant at first and then one on impulse gave me a hug but wasn't sure how I would respond to it. There was a pause in the group, but when I hugged her back, then the whole group of them dove on me. It was the strangest thing, almost like they had never been hugged before or maybe it wasn't permitted. I don't know. Anyway, the kids took us to visit their homes before we left. It was nice to get to meet their parents and see where they live. I ended up getting a ton of little gifts, including a silver heart necklace that one of the girls gave me. Her name is Yaa and she made me promise to never forget her. I can not wait to go back.

Our team members from Palatine were Randy and Barb Gray, Tom and Julie Zehner, Carolyn Latas, Andrea Krause, and Lisa and Kyle Johanson. My they are such wonderful people. As Carolyn said, they are my "forever" friends. We may never know what seeds were planted, but I pray that they would grow and grow!

Christie Nelson

Things are quickly starting to roll now for the team here in Thailand. This week our area facilitator Ted E. from Vietnam comes for a visit and another special guest Christie Nelson arrived. Christie is a former Deaconess who served in Thailand for 15 years. She knows so many people here and did so much to help the people of Thailand including many girls in the House of Living Water project. She is coming to visit her girls, her friends and co-workers as well as help us with our upcoming short-term teams (who come next week!). It is going to be wonderful having her here and getting a chance to know her more!