First off let me just tell you that Songkran festival is one of the greatest events in all of the world. Rivals with the Olympics...it has to. Where else in the world would you be able to throw ice cold water on complete strangers and not have thousands of fist fights break out? Not in the U.S. that's for sure. It was such a blast. I will have to admit that I was very hesitant at first and didn't really feel like getting wet but once it happens you just roll with the punches. Unfortunately, some of the water was nasty moat water that has been festering with bacteria for months. Great! One of our girls actually got sick because of such water. Needless to say we scrubbed like never before in the showers and washed our clothes (by hand!!) multiple times.
The bad part about Songkran is that it is a national holiday so literally everything shuts down. Restaurants, shops, everything is closed! It was so hard to just find some place good to eat. This also highly affected our ministry as well. Since its such a big festival the universities that the students we would work with also shut down for the week. This means the place we are going to teach English, The Centre, is also shut down. No students means no class which means no relationship ministry. We were bummed but we kept busy. We had plenty of work projects around the place to help with. Danielle and I got to pick out and plant flowers in their flower boxes as well as clean practically the whole place. Some of our girls were tasked with picking a room and then painting it according to whatever theme they desired. They decided to paint a water landscape with a castle that had hundreds of lanterns floating from it in the sky. If you have seen the movie "Tangled" just picture the scene with the lanterns...thats the look they were going for. It took four days and a lot of paint but it turned out amazing! I wish I was able to upload some pictures of it so you could see it.
As for teaching English, we haven't even started yet. We just arrived at a bad time to be frank. With the holiday and summer classes just starting at the universities students are hard to come by. This week has been adventurous still and we have seen more and more people coming in to sign up for classes. Next week there should be about 6-8 classes compared to the 2 that we started with this week. We are all excited and can't wait. In the mean time we are keeping busy around The Centre by passing out flyers and coming up with fun nights for the students to just draw more in and establish the relationships we are seeking. Tuesday night we are having a Pasta Night and then Friday we are planning a Mario Kart Party! Today was interesting as well. We got to go and visit Doi Suthep Temple. It is one of the holiest temples in all of Thailand and actually arguably the most holy. It is said to contain a bone of Buddha in its pagoda. We went to observe their worship rituals and to pray over the city (the temple is on top of a mountain looking over the entire city of Chiang Mai). Rob, the director of The Centre, really wanted us to closely observe the acts of worship and try to find similarities in our practices and theirs. Finding that connection is highly crucial because the mindset here in Thailand is "If you are Thai then you are Buddhist." So, by maintaining their cultural practices but turning it towards God is a goal for many missionaries here in Thailand so the Thai Christians can still hold onto their Thai culture and not be completely westernized. Just walking around that temple seeing the people worshiping useless artifacts and paying money to lifeless causes made me quite angry. I just wanted to scream out to them that they don't need to be paying all this money and time trying to gain salvation...it has already been paid in full! And then to see foreigners blindly participating in these rituals just made me furious. They have no idea what they are doing and the significance of their actions. Everything inside of me was just turning and I felt like I was going to burst out in anger and cry at the same time. But God is greater and He will overcome all of it.
One more side note. Sorry for the randomness of this post. There is just so much to catch up on. Amy, the school leader for our DTS, made a pastoral visit this past week to just see how things are doing. It was great to have her here. She really enjoyed her time here and we enjoyed her even more I think. Tuesday was her last day so for dinner we went out as a team and splurged. We went to get western food! Very special because it usually is too expensive. We ended up going to Sizzler which is just a steakhouse type restaurant. We each got an entree and then they have a salad/soup/pasta/dessert buffet that comes along with any entree purchase. We must have looked like we haven't seen food for the past month the way we attacked that buffet. I have never felt so full in my life but it was SO good. Not to say that Thai food isn't delicious but rice does get old after awhile. It was just a good treat and change of pace. After gorging ourselves on 'western' food we went to karaoke! I guess karaoke is a huge thing here in Thailand and everywhere you turn there is a karaoke bar. The place we went was set up where you rent an entire private room for either 1 or 2 hours. It was so much fun! Definitely something we will do in the future.
Next week we will begin the relation based evangelism we were seeking in Chiang Mai. Pray for patience for our team. Thai people are unique in that they are discipled first and then they accept Christ so it can be a long process. Pray that we understand this concept and just love on the students fully knowing that we might not even get the chance to bring them to Christ.
For those of you worried about Danielle's health: She is fine. She just has random tummy aches every so often. Danielle is not one to be tied down or to miss out on an adventure so pray that these aches don't interfere with any ministry opportunities.
We miss you all! I want to give a special shout out to the Vriesland middle school group! Danielle and I love you all and miss you dearly. Keep pressing into God and seek him first!
Josh
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
This week I felt like Jane from Tarzan!
Hello Everyone! We left Mae Sot on Sunday and now we are in Chiang Mai. Last night was our first night here and I had a little bit of culture shock. First off, for those of you that don't know, Chiang Mai is a tourist and university town. We will be teaching English, working in the red light district, and other possible ministries. This week, because the university is closed, we are doing work projects around the English center. I am the leader of the garden/landscape team! I am so excited to design and buy plants for a small area at the university. We are currently staying in a guest house which is sort of like a hotel. It was strange having the toilet, shower and sink all in the same room...and a HOT shower! I forgot how much I appreciate them especially all together in one room. We went to the food market for supper. The streets close down, and then there are basically lots of venders and food stands. It was so weird seeing other white people! Thailand's water festival starts on Wednesday and it could last for about a week. During this time everyone in the country throws water and baby powder on everyone, and everywhere! Everyone is buying squirt guns and many stores and the university shut down for the festival. As "white tourist" we are targeted the most! (I'm sure in the next blog post we will tell you how this went)
Last week was amazing. God is so good! I learned with different experiences that if we are faithful, he will bless us. On Monday we headed to a Burmese village but the guards didn't let us in that day, so instead we ended up heading to a village and then going to a cave in the jungle! It was beautiful, and I felt like Jane off of Tarzan! I even tried swinging from a vine. Well okay, it was only a few feet off the ground but still. :) On Tuesday we went to the local jail and sang songs, spoke, and even taught them how to line dance. We also went to a clinic that night and prayed for people. On Wednesday we headed to a village up in the mountains, probably my favorite thing we have done so far. It took about 7 hours or so to travel up to the village. It was literally in the jungle up in the mountains! Now I really felt like a jungle girl! I could go on forever about this trip! To make it easy I will list a few things and then you can ask us to fill it in when we come back.
1. 2 off road pickup trucks that had 20 or so people and their luggage. Josh and I ended up in the back of the pickup...let’s just say we learned how to ride like the Thai people.
2. No showers = showering in the river
3. Houses were wood, bathrooms outside, no sinks
4. The animals were treated like people in the town, chickens, pigs, cows would walk everywhere! The lived under the houses and outside my window was the home of a huge pig!
5. Food = rice, and...some other stuff
6. I fell in love with the people, and they are amazing! Rarely anyone goes up there because it is so far away. We blessed them and they blessed us!
We had a wonderful time with Pastor Michael over the past two weeks, and I was sad to leave after just starting to create a better relationship with him and other people in the town. I am excited for Chiang Mai though. We will be here for a month and be able to have more time to create good relationships with the students at the university.
I want to thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. It means a lot to hear and know that people are thinking about us, and it helps us to stay strong and continue on. Below are some prayer requests.
1.Safety during the water festival. Our leaders told us today that they heard there are more deaths this week in Thailand than there are in 1 year in Australia. This is because of water splashing on cars, drunks in the streets...etc.
2.Staying healthy. I got sick one day (because I ate something I was not suppose to…oops, that’s what happens when I become adventurous) and Josh has been having stomach problems. Nothing major, but still prayers are helpful.
3. That we dig into building relationships with the students that we will be teaching.
Thanks everyone, miss you all. We are starting to miss American food! So as you eat dinner tonight, be glad for the food you are eating...hopefully it's not rice :)
-Danielle
Last week was amazing. God is so good! I learned with different experiences that if we are faithful, he will bless us. On Monday we headed to a Burmese village but the guards didn't let us in that day, so instead we ended up heading to a village and then going to a cave in the jungle! It was beautiful, and I felt like Jane off of Tarzan! I even tried swinging from a vine. Well okay, it was only a few feet off the ground but still. :) On Tuesday we went to the local jail and sang songs, spoke, and even taught them how to line dance. We also went to a clinic that night and prayed for people. On Wednesday we headed to a village up in the mountains, probably my favorite thing we have done so far. It took about 7 hours or so to travel up to the village. It was literally in the jungle up in the mountains! Now I really felt like a jungle girl! I could go on forever about this trip! To make it easy I will list a few things and then you can ask us to fill it in when we come back.
1. 2 off road pickup trucks that had 20 or so people and their luggage. Josh and I ended up in the back of the pickup...let’s just say we learned how to ride like the Thai people.
2. No showers = showering in the river
3. Houses were wood, bathrooms outside, no sinks
4. The animals were treated like people in the town, chickens, pigs, cows would walk everywhere! The lived under the houses and outside my window was the home of a huge pig!
5. Food = rice, and...some other stuff
6. I fell in love with the people, and they are amazing! Rarely anyone goes up there because it is so far away. We blessed them and they blessed us!
We had a wonderful time with Pastor Michael over the past two weeks, and I was sad to leave after just starting to create a better relationship with him and other people in the town. I am excited for Chiang Mai though. We will be here for a month and be able to have more time to create good relationships with the students at the university.
I want to thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. It means a lot to hear and know that people are thinking about us, and it helps us to stay strong and continue on. Below are some prayer requests.
1.Safety during the water festival. Our leaders told us today that they heard there are more deaths this week in Thailand than there are in 1 year in Australia. This is because of water splashing on cars, drunks in the streets...etc.
2.Staying healthy. I got sick one day (because I ate something I was not suppose to…oops, that’s what happens when I become adventurous) and Josh has been having stomach problems. Nothing major, but still prayers are helpful.
3. That we dig into building relationships with the students that we will be teaching.
Thanks everyone, miss you all. We are starting to miss American food! So as you eat dinner tonight, be glad for the food you are eating...hopefully it's not rice :)
-Danielle
Sunday, April 3, 2011
First Week in Thailand
Sawatdee Khap! (Hello in Thai)
Here we are already, done with the first week of ministry here in Thailand. It has been a whirlwind of activity followed by periods of needed down time. What can I say....it has just been different and amazing. The weather actually started out cool. People kept telling us that it was really unusual weather. It has now started to heat up to around 95 every day. When it comes to ministry stuff I think you all should just watch this....
http://www.ywamsalem.org/outreach-blog/
Pretty sweet huh?
So pretty much it has been a lot of street preaching to various people. Currently we are in Mae Sot which is located in the North West portion of Thailand. It is right on the border with Myanmar (Burma). Actually, in the video, when we are dancing to Justin Bieber we are right on the river that divides Thailand and Myanmar...we could see Myanmar. Our contact here is Pastor Michael. He works a lot with Burmese refugees and brings us along as well. We have done numerous 'open airs' or street preachings, visited an orphanage, visited a school that is located in a dump, ran a youth camp. The stories are endless and I could go on forever. The one story I want to tell took place in the dump.
It is the city dump. Sadly, many of the refugees call that place home and spend their days looking for things to recycle and get some money for throughout he piles of garbage. Pastor Michael has been working with these people for some time now and has built the children their a school. We were privileged to visit the school and just hang out with the children. We played games, performed skits, sang songs...just loved on them. It was so cool to see them just be able to be kids because frankly, their situation forced them to grow up way too fast. You had 8 year olds raising their infant siblings, like a mother/father would. Whenever a new load of trash would drive by, boys would scatter and start chasing it to get first pickings at the new stuff. It was heartbreaking. They are children, they shouldn't have to be concerned with such things. Its just frustrating, especially since they fled from a horrible situation in Myanmar and now are living in squalor and the government does nothing for them. On a much much much more positive note, at the school our group ended up doing our little open air set (including Bieber) on a whim. About 18 kids decided to give their lives to Christ! It was so awesome to see them all huddled together with their hands up in the air praying out to our God!
Friday we started a 'youth camp' of sorts for some kids at a Burmese school. They are really cool kids and we all really connected with them. We taught them games and just ran a VBS of sorts. Our focus was getting them to really take their faith out into their communities. Currently its Sunday afternoon and we just finished the camp and just have some down time. Next week is going to be filled with many more opportunities. We are doing jail ministry, going into a village, possibly the refugee camp, a clinic and many many more open airs. We leave Sunday, April 10 for Chiang Mai (further north).
Miss all of you guys and wish the best on Spring Break! Your prayers do much more than you could imagine over here. Thank you!
Josh
Here we are already, done with the first week of ministry here in Thailand. It has been a whirlwind of activity followed by periods of needed down time. What can I say....it has just been different and amazing. The weather actually started out cool. People kept telling us that it was really unusual weather. It has now started to heat up to around 95 every day. When it comes to ministry stuff I think you all should just watch this....
http://www.ywamsalem.org/outreach-blog/
Pretty sweet huh?
So pretty much it has been a lot of street preaching to various people. Currently we are in Mae Sot which is located in the North West portion of Thailand. It is right on the border with Myanmar (Burma). Actually, in the video, when we are dancing to Justin Bieber we are right on the river that divides Thailand and Myanmar...we could see Myanmar. Our contact here is Pastor Michael. He works a lot with Burmese refugees and brings us along as well. We have done numerous 'open airs' or street preachings, visited an orphanage, visited a school that is located in a dump, ran a youth camp. The stories are endless and I could go on forever. The one story I want to tell took place in the dump.
It is the city dump. Sadly, many of the refugees call that place home and spend their days looking for things to recycle and get some money for throughout he piles of garbage. Pastor Michael has been working with these people for some time now and has built the children their a school. We were privileged to visit the school and just hang out with the children. We played games, performed skits, sang songs...just loved on them. It was so cool to see them just be able to be kids because frankly, their situation forced them to grow up way too fast. You had 8 year olds raising their infant siblings, like a mother/father would. Whenever a new load of trash would drive by, boys would scatter and start chasing it to get first pickings at the new stuff. It was heartbreaking. They are children, they shouldn't have to be concerned with such things. Its just frustrating, especially since they fled from a horrible situation in Myanmar and now are living in squalor and the government does nothing for them. On a much much much more positive note, at the school our group ended up doing our little open air set (including Bieber) on a whim. About 18 kids decided to give their lives to Christ! It was so awesome to see them all huddled together with their hands up in the air praying out to our God!
Friday we started a 'youth camp' of sorts for some kids at a Burmese school. They are really cool kids and we all really connected with them. We taught them games and just ran a VBS of sorts. Our focus was getting them to really take their faith out into their communities. Currently its Sunday afternoon and we just finished the camp and just have some down time. Next week is going to be filled with many more opportunities. We are doing jail ministry, going into a village, possibly the refugee camp, a clinic and many many more open airs. We leave Sunday, April 10 for Chiang Mai (further north).
Miss all of you guys and wish the best on Spring Break! Your prayers do much more than you could imagine over here. Thank you!
Josh
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