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| Thailand - Motorbike & 2nd House |
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
First 2008 Thailand Post
Well some of this will be a repeat for some, but maybe, just maybe, you learn something different and that new knowledge will make you far more rounded and allow you to ascend to new heights.
So around February 26th I left the USA bent on seeing the world or at least seeing part of the world I had just seen 7 months ago. My airplane accelerated on the runway only to go back to the terminal. 30-45m later we found out that the elevator or the elevator indicator light wasn't working and we're going to try again. I suppose if an elevator isn't working the plane won't go up at all so I figure if we made it into the air all was okay. Given that fact that my clone robot is writing to you I guess you know how that story ended.
So to MSP I went and then to Tokyo. I boarded the plane to Bangkok only to be told we'd be moving planes as leaking dripping oil from one of two engines wasn't all that great for safety. Someone, who we shall call "Gary Hewlott", told me I should have stood up and yelled, "We're all going to die!" when we were still on the ground. I still get a chuckle over that for some reason.
So I made it to Chiang Rai. Thankfully, it was a cooler week (70s) so my transition from sub-0 F weather to sunny Thai weather wasn’t so bad. Now it’s starting to heat up for hot season so it’s hitting low 90s in the afternoon I think.
I was picked up and dropped off at a guest house/hotel 1/2 mile from the YWAM training center/base. This is the guest house with all the huge expensive animal statues, but no sink in the bathroom. I stayed there about a week and then moved into town to a nicer place. Due to a translation problem it ended up being $100/month more than what was originally said (supposedly). Oh well. But for now I’m at a real life house with a real kitchen, sink, and fridge, etc. It’s nice to be there. I’ll be staying there until mid-May and then I go back to the nicer hotel for 20 more days to finish out a one-month contract with them. It’s a bit complicated, but it works out in the end...I think. I’ll be moving into my own house in mid-June.
So what am I doing in Chiang Rai, Thailand?
I’m going to be doing the base accounting. I’ll be recording and helping out with budgeting and such. I’ll also help hand out cash where it’s needed and make sure things run smoothly from a financial standpoint. I know...super turbo extreme work. I wear a diaper to work each day ‘cause I just don’t know what’ll happen that day! Also, if anyone needs a quick loan in Thai Baht please let me know. Just kidding. That would be extremely irresponsible and a complete misappropriation of funds! (...offer still stands).
The base here is expanding it’s programs so they need a bit more accountability and tracking of funds as things become more complicated. In 2009 they’ll have a School of Biblical Studies and a healthcare school along with the regular Discipleship Training School. I’ll be helping to set up accounting systems for all these schools and getting everything budgeted out correctly. They want to be able to take out a "per diem" for each school to cover all the basics like food and electricity. We’ll take them out of the tuition fees and then they’ll only have to budget for speaker costs and specific school costs. I’ll handle all the accounting for that. Sounds fun, huh? But seriously, I do enjoy it and I’ve always like the business end of missions so it’s really been an answer to prayer. I wasn’t totally sure what I’d be doing when I came back so it’s a relief.
So far things have been going well here. I enjoy hanging out with the two English speaking DTS students. One is from France and the other from India. I just realized how weird that sounds to say the English students are from France and India. The guy from France is married and they are both coming over to my house this weekend to make me what I think is a French dish. I told them that it better not be French Fries because those are now called Freedom Fries and they can’t take our freedom any longer. No, I didn’t tell him that, but I wanted to so it counts, right?
It will be nice to finally settle into a house that is mine in June. However, I’m just not sure how much work there will be when the DTS or other schools are not in session (June-Dec). I’ll be playing that by ear. There is a big gap there. It’s hard to justify being someplace where you work four months out of the year. I could study Thai full-time in the "off season", but I’m not sure how long I want to stay in Thailand. No point in becoming fluent in a language you won’t use after a year. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll be here to help get the system up and running and then I’ll train someone else in. Then maybe go elsewhere and repeat. Rinse and repeat.
I have a heart to do some kind of sports ministry, youth mentorship like being DTS staff, business stuff like I’m doing now, helping less fortunate people setup small businesses, maybe work in an orphanage, maybe work in a refugee camp, or become a professional chocolate tester. You can see that I don’t have a shortage of passions. It’s the way it’s always been I guess.
But plans always change so who’s to say what will actually happen. I’m sure the Lord will guide me wherever I go.
So around February 26th I left the USA bent on seeing the world or at least seeing part of the world I had just seen 7 months ago. My airplane accelerated on the runway only to go back to the terminal. 30-45m later we found out that the elevator or the elevator indicator light wasn't working and we're going to try again. I suppose if an elevator isn't working the plane won't go up at all so I figure if we made it into the air all was okay. Given that fact that my clone robot is writing to you I guess you know how that story ended.
So to MSP I went and then to Tokyo. I boarded the plane to Bangkok only to be told we'd be moving planes as leaking dripping oil from one of two engines wasn't all that great for safety. Someone, who we shall call "Gary Hewlott", told me I should have stood up and yelled, "We're all going to die!" when we were still on the ground. I still get a chuckle over that for some reason.
So I made it to Chiang Rai. Thankfully, it was a cooler week (70s) so my transition from sub-0 F weather to sunny Thai weather wasn’t so bad. Now it’s starting to heat up for hot season so it’s hitting low 90s in the afternoon I think.
I was picked up and dropped off at a guest house/hotel 1/2 mile from the YWAM training center/base. This is the guest house with all the huge expensive animal statues, but no sink in the bathroom. I stayed there about a week and then moved into town to a nicer place. Due to a translation problem it ended up being $100/month more than what was originally said (supposedly). Oh well. But for now I’m at a real life house with a real kitchen, sink, and fridge, etc. It’s nice to be there. I’ll be staying there until mid-May and then I go back to the nicer hotel for 20 more days to finish out a one-month contract with them. It’s a bit complicated, but it works out in the end...I think. I’ll be moving into my own house in mid-June.
So what am I doing in Chiang Rai, Thailand?
I’m going to be doing the base accounting. I’ll be recording and helping out with budgeting and such. I’ll also help hand out cash where it’s needed and make sure things run smoothly from a financial standpoint. I know...super turbo extreme work. I wear a diaper to work each day ‘cause I just don’t know what’ll happen that day! Also, if anyone needs a quick loan in Thai Baht please let me know. Just kidding. That would be extremely irresponsible and a complete misappropriation of funds! (...offer still stands).
The base here is expanding it’s programs so they need a bit more accountability and tracking of funds as things become more complicated. In 2009 they’ll have a School of Biblical Studies and a healthcare school along with the regular Discipleship Training School. I’ll be helping to set up accounting systems for all these schools and getting everything budgeted out correctly. They want to be able to take out a "per diem" for each school to cover all the basics like food and electricity. We’ll take them out of the tuition fees and then they’ll only have to budget for speaker costs and specific school costs. I’ll handle all the accounting for that. Sounds fun, huh? But seriously, I do enjoy it and I’ve always like the business end of missions so it’s really been an answer to prayer. I wasn’t totally sure what I’d be doing when I came back so it’s a relief.
So far things have been going well here. I enjoy hanging out with the two English speaking DTS students. One is from France and the other from India. I just realized how weird that sounds to say the English students are from France and India. The guy from France is married and they are both coming over to my house this weekend to make me what I think is a French dish. I told them that it better not be French Fries because those are now called Freedom Fries and they can’t take our freedom any longer. No, I didn’t tell him that, but I wanted to so it counts, right?
It will be nice to finally settle into a house that is mine in June. However, I’m just not sure how much work there will be when the DTS or other schools are not in session (June-Dec). I’ll be playing that by ear. There is a big gap there. It’s hard to justify being someplace where you work four months out of the year. I could study Thai full-time in the "off season", but I’m not sure how long I want to stay in Thailand. No point in becoming fluent in a language you won’t use after a year. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll be here to help get the system up and running and then I’ll train someone else in. Then maybe go elsewhere and repeat. Rinse and repeat.
I have a heart to do some kind of sports ministry, youth mentorship like being DTS staff, business stuff like I’m doing now, helping less fortunate people setup small businesses, maybe work in an orphanage, maybe work in a refugee camp, or become a professional chocolate tester. You can see that I don’t have a shortage of passions. It’s the way it’s always been I guess.
But plans always change so who’s to say what will actually happen. I’m sure the Lord will guide me wherever I go.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Last Post Before Major Outreach
I uploaded some pictures from my trip to Chiang Mai and a garden in Northern Thailand.
We just finished up our last week of lectures. This coming week is a preparation week for our 5-week outreach to central Thailand (1-2 hours from Bangkok). I’ll be working on a farm and working with a sports ministry for the last two weeks.
I’m glad that lectures are completed. It was a great learning experience, but a LOT to process. It’s about time for a break for a week before outreach starts! It’s hard to describe all that this DTS has been for me. I’m not sure where to start....so I won't here. It's 2AM! I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time.
So what else. I think I’ve gained back a bit of weight from the two care packages that my friends and parents sent to me. Outreach should help me lose it again. I shaved my head. My hair was slowly leaving my head anyway. I might as well do it now and save everyone from my comb-forward. There is one last picture of me with hair on my head. The others with the hat are me adjusting to my new hair style (or lack thereof). I’m pretty much used to it now though. At first I was a bit freaked out. Okay, I will see most of you in 1-2 months!
We just finished up our last week of lectures. This coming week is a preparation week for our 5-week outreach to central Thailand (1-2 hours from Bangkok). I’ll be working on a farm and working with a sports ministry for the last two weeks.
I’m glad that lectures are completed. It was a great learning experience, but a LOT to process. It’s about time for a break for a week before outreach starts! It’s hard to describe all that this DTS has been for me. I’m not sure where to start....so I won't here. It's 2AM! I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time.
So what else. I think I’ve gained back a bit of weight from the two care packages that my friends and parents sent to me. Outreach should help me lose it again. I shaved my head. My hair was slowly leaving my head anyway. I might as well do it now and save everyone from my comb-forward. There is one last picture of me with hair on my head. The others with the hat are me adjusting to my new hair style (or lack thereof). I’m pretty much used to it now though. At first I was a bit freaked out. Okay, I will see most of you in 1-2 months!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Outreach #2 - Nan - No Plans
The second outreach I did here in Thailand was quite different than the first. For this outreach we had no plans. We knew the province we were going to, but that was it. We were going to go there and then pray and ask God where and what he wanted us to do in that province.
We got on a bus and 4-5 hours later arrived in Nan, Thailand. We got our stuff out of the bus and sat down and prayed for God to show us where to go. The word “Luang” came to me and some others felt God was telling them we needed to get on another bus and go somewhere outside of the initial town we arrived at. Luang turned out to be the name of a town only 45 minutes away, in the same province. We got a hotel in the city of Nan for that night. That night we prayed again and another person in our group felt I should lead the first full day of outreach. Each day was to be led by a student in the team and not by the leaders. My response was to jokingly say that I felt God was telling me to go last. I was quite nervous about leading a day and being responsible for making the decision of where to go or to stay in Nan. The next day we went prayer walking around Nan in the morning. After that we had an prayer time where we asked God when we should leave Nan or if we should stay. I got the work “bai mong.” I knew mong was a Thai word for time, but I didn’t know that “bai” was Thai for one. Bai mong was then 1 PM. Another student in our group also felt God was saying 1 PM. So I decided we should go to Luang at 1 PM!
We arrived in Luang and I decided to find accommodation in this tiny village first. We went to a restaurant and they said we could stay at their shack behind their place. We later found out that there were no hotels in this town and this restaurant was considered the best one in town. The Lord is faithful! We could have easily been stranded in the town with nowhere to stay. That night we met with the head of the town and she wanted us to put on an English camp for 5 days for the children of the village. They were very gracious in accepting us into their town. There were even two long-term missionaries in this town which the DTS leader, who was on our team for this outreach, just happened to know. He was previously unaware they were working in this remote area of Thailand. I don’t think this was mere coincidence to find these people. They were very helpful with the things we did in the area in the coming days.
So we taught English camp for 5 days. Twenty-five students showed up the first day, but by the last day over forty came. The last day of camp we asked if they would like to know Jesus more and many of them prayed with us. We also did prayer walking in the afternoons and talked to the local people, well the Thai’s did on our team. I went with them and got the conversations translated. Thai village people are very kind and welcoming!
We then went back to the city of Nan and talked to people on the street about Jesus and went to the larger hospital in Nan. We prayed for people in the hospital and I held very basic conversations with them when a Thai wasn’t around to translate.
Overall it was an amazing outreach where God showed how faithful he is. Several adults made commitments to Christ and a lot of the children we taught English to did. One of the leaders on our team prayed for two women who were then miraculously able to walk when they hadn’t been able to before. Both women decided to become Christians right then and there.
We went in not having any plans and just asking the Lord to guide us. God certainly did that. There were too many situations that worked out so well on this outreach for me to believe they were just mere coincidences.
We got on a bus and 4-5 hours later arrived in Nan, Thailand. We got our stuff out of the bus and sat down and prayed for God to show us where to go. The word “Luang” came to me and some others felt God was telling them we needed to get on another bus and go somewhere outside of the initial town we arrived at. Luang turned out to be the name of a town only 45 minutes away, in the same province. We got a hotel in the city of Nan for that night. That night we prayed again and another person in our group felt I should lead the first full day of outreach. Each day was to be led by a student in the team and not by the leaders. My response was to jokingly say that I felt God was telling me to go last. I was quite nervous about leading a day and being responsible for making the decision of where to go or to stay in Nan. The next day we went prayer walking around Nan in the morning. After that we had an prayer time where we asked God when we should leave Nan or if we should stay. I got the work “bai mong.” I knew mong was a Thai word for time, but I didn’t know that “bai” was Thai for one. Bai mong was then 1 PM. Another student in our group also felt God was saying 1 PM. So I decided we should go to Luang at 1 PM!
We arrived in Luang and I decided to find accommodation in this tiny village first. We went to a restaurant and they said we could stay at their shack behind their place. We later found out that there were no hotels in this town and this restaurant was considered the best one in town. The Lord is faithful! We could have easily been stranded in the town with nowhere to stay. That night we met with the head of the town and she wanted us to put on an English camp for 5 days for the children of the village. They were very gracious in accepting us into their town. There were even two long-term missionaries in this town which the DTS leader, who was on our team for this outreach, just happened to know. He was previously unaware they were working in this remote area of Thailand. I don’t think this was mere coincidence to find these people. They were very helpful with the things we did in the area in the coming days.
So we taught English camp for 5 days. Twenty-five students showed up the first day, but by the last day over forty came. The last day of camp we asked if they would like to know Jesus more and many of them prayed with us. We also did prayer walking in the afternoons and talked to the local people, well the Thai’s did on our team. I went with them and got the conversations translated. Thai village people are very kind and welcoming!
We then went back to the city of Nan and talked to people on the street about Jesus and went to the larger hospital in Nan. We prayed for people in the hospital and I held very basic conversations with them when a Thai wasn’t around to translate.
Overall it was an amazing outreach where God showed how faithful he is. Several adults made commitments to Christ and a lot of the children we taught English to did. One of the leaders on our team prayed for two women who were then miraculously able to walk when they hadn’t been able to before. Both women decided to become Christians right then and there.
We went in not having any plans and just asking the Lord to guide us. God certainly did that. There were too many situations that worked out so well on this outreach for me to believe they were just mere coincidences.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
First DTS Outreach
I just finished my first outreach. We stayed at a place called Baan Nam Jai (Home of the Open Heart) for just under two weeks. I did jobs like moving dirt around, picking weeds, cleaning up a tool shed, weeding a garden, planting flowers, and the always easy office work. I’ll just run through schedule and make a few notes afterward.
6:30AM - Breakfast
7:00AM - Quiet Time/Reading my Bible
7:30-8:30AM - Worship or Prayer Meeting
8:30AM-12:30PM - WORK TIME!
12:30-1:30PM - Lunch
1:30-3:30PM - Office Work/Teaching English
3:30-5:30PM - Free Time
5:30-6:30PM - Dinner
We had two hours of team time in the evening after dinner. We also had different duties ranging from breakfast/dinner clean-up to laundry to planning team time at night.
The biggest news was that the “bamboo palace” fell down during our stay there. This was the place where the women slept and we all hung out. We noticed in the beginning that it was starting to lean. The foundation was just wood posts stuck into the ground. Ryan, the only other guy on the team, and I stayed in another building. We were hanging out in it when we noticed the tilting was getting REAL bad. We then managed to move out all the stuff, including a small refrigerator. About 10 minutes later it collapsed, just after we took a picture in front of it! It really felt like God was holding it up just long enough for all of us to get our stuff out.
The outreach didn’t feel like a ton of work. I only had to work four hours in the morning. The afternoon work time was mostly office work. It didn’t feel like we were “roughing it” since we were staying just outside Chiang Rai. We traveled the least amount of time of the outreach groups. Most of them headed out to remote villages.
I enjoyed the time with my fellow team members. They are all pretty cool and easy going. Our leader is a bilingual Thai woman. Our team consists of two Thai women, one Indian woman, one Malaysian woman, three Aussies (one guy), one American woman, and me. I hardly even notice all the different nationalities. At this point I’m very used to being in the minority. There is only one other American guy in our class of 34.
After outreach all the groups met at the top of a huge waterfall. And yes, I did go behind it! On the inside it felt like a torrential rain storm though. I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a lot of fun, albeit cold.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
6:30AM - Breakfast
7:00AM - Quiet Time/Reading my Bible
7:30-8:30AM - Worship or Prayer Meeting
8:30AM-12:30PM - WORK TIME!
12:30-1:30PM - Lunch
1:30-3:30PM - Office Work/Teaching English
3:30-5:30PM - Free Time
5:30-6:30PM - Dinner
We had two hours of team time in the evening after dinner. We also had different duties ranging from breakfast/dinner clean-up to laundry to planning team time at night.
The biggest news was that the “bamboo palace” fell down during our stay there. This was the place where the women slept and we all hung out. We noticed in the beginning that it was starting to lean. The foundation was just wood posts stuck into the ground. Ryan, the only other guy on the team, and I stayed in another building. We were hanging out in it when we noticed the tilting was getting REAL bad. We then managed to move out all the stuff, including a small refrigerator. About 10 minutes later it collapsed, just after we took a picture in front of it! It really felt like God was holding it up just long enough for all of us to get our stuff out.
The outreach didn’t feel like a ton of work. I only had to work four hours in the morning. The afternoon work time was mostly office work. It didn’t feel like we were “roughing it” since we were staying just outside Chiang Rai. We traveled the least amount of time of the outreach groups. Most of them headed out to remote villages.
I enjoyed the time with my fellow team members. They are all pretty cool and easy going. Our leader is a bilingual Thai woman. Our team consists of two Thai women, one Indian woman, one Malaysian woman, three Aussies (one guy), one American woman, and me. I hardly even notice all the different nationalities. At this point I’m very used to being in the minority. There is only one other American guy in our class of 34.
After outreach all the groups met at the top of a huge waterfall. And yes, I did go behind it! On the inside it felt like a torrential rain storm though. I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a lot of fun, albeit cold.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
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