If you are freaking out about the title right now...don't. I'll explain.
We are here in Buriram at Tree of Life Orphanage absolutely loving life. As Danielle indicated in our previous post, a lot of what we have been doing here is handywork. Painting, cleaning, moving sand, mowing, etc...like any house in America, the projects are endless and there is always something that needs to be done. I tell you what though, I'm going to borrow a saying of Eric Folkers here, our team has been working like a bunch of rented mules. Its been 90+ degrees and humid everyday and we have been working our tails off. I'm so proud of our team. Roger keeps saying that they made a list of things that needed to be done by the end of our three weeks here...we finished it in two. He and Phong, his wife, are so greatful and just can't thank us enough.
The kids are really opening up to us now too. They love to just color, play with the girls hair and just play in general. Here is where the mommy and daddy part comes in. There are two adorable little girls, Taan and Dtoy, who Danielle and I have fallen in love with. There favorite game to play is "mommy and daddy." Taan is especially grown attached to me and she melts my heart everyday. I even got the, "I love you." before bed last night. I melted. Its hugs and stories after school everyday now and it's really sad that we have to leave them in a couple of days. This past weekend was really fun with the kids here. Saturday night we had our own worship time together and then after we decided to teach them how to line dance. Phong was thrilled! She learned way back when she and Roger were first married and visited Texas and couldn't wait to do it again. She walked into the room with her cowboy hat and boots on ready to Texas two step. It was awesome. All of us had a great time line dancing and then we busted out Justin Bieber and the party really got started. It was an immediate hit and the kids loved it! We ended up dancing to anything and everything Sunday night again because they had such a fun time before. You can imagine with no AC that things get a little sweaty and hot but none of us care because its so much fun. I am dreading saying goodbye to all of them on Friday morning. It's going to be more difficult than I expected I think.
Nonetheless, the end is drawing near and we cannot believe it. I know we keep saying this over and over again but its completely true. We will be home before we know it!
Just want to give a shout out to ZEHS Track. Congrats on the success this year! Another bigger shout out to my little brother for his success in track and declaring his undying faith in Jesus Christ on Sunday. I am so proud.
Pray that Danielle and I find the energy to pour into the kids while we still can and that we have the strength to say goodbye. Its going to be a tough end to the week and we will need all the encouragement we can get.
God Bless you all!
Josh
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Scorpian for dinner? Say What!
We made it safely to Buriram Friday morning after a long bus ride from Chiang Mai. Roger and Phongsri Walker are our new contacts and we are staying in their orphanage called The Tree of Life. Many of us expected there to be millions of little kids screaming but there are actually about 12 or so ranging from 3 years old to middle school. They all come from varying backgrounds and situations. These children have been abandoned as a result of prostitution, parental death to AIDS, financial difficulties, disabilities, and alcoholism. They are great kids and I am starting to fall more in love with them each day! They love to tickle and scare us. Once in awhile I gather the kids together and do a "sneak attack tickle Josh" and they love it, but I have the consequence of getting the "really Danielle, Thanks!" look from Josh...oh well :)
Saturday was my favorite day, others didn't enjoy it as much. Our duty for the day as to clean some parts of the house! Let's just say it really needed it! We worked all day cleaning only a few rooms, but it made a huge difference. Audriana and I worked on the library. We took books off the shelves, dusted and deep cleaned. Josh referes to my cleaning as "she thinks of places no one else things of cleaning...and she could do this for days". Well in order for me to do a good clean, I wanted to pull out the shelves and find the "treasures" behind and under them. A few girls came and helped me move one shelf. As we lifted we saw a scorpian! At first we were not sure if it was just a toy, but after we poked it, it ran off. We told Phongsri and her face lit up with excitement! She said she wanted to catch this thing so she can cook it and eat it! So, we caught it and caught one more. They are currently alive in a bucket with no cover waiting to be cooked! YIKES!
Buriram is about two hours from Cambodia. Lots of mosquitoes, insects, and squaty potties, and cold showers with no air conditioned rooms. On the other hand, we are blessed to have a washer! Josh was so excited to not have to wash his clothes by hand today. Rogers wife cooks wonderful Thai food for us as well and we are all able to have a family style dinner together each night which is something we haven't done as a team since Masot.
We attended the Thai church this morning. We walked in and everyone watched us as we walked to the front. I had a wonderful time praising God and worshipping him even though I didn't understand what the Thai's were saying. The Thai people were so passionate and praising God is made me want to cry...seriously it was really awesome!
This week I think we will be up to more "Danielle projects". More cleaning, painting, and yard work. At first I got really down because people think I am crazy for loving it, but I realized this is one of the gifts God has given me. Seeing the smiles on Roger and Phongsri faces as they saw all the hard work everyone did makes all the hard work worth it!
I can't believe we only have a few weeks left! It get's harder each day to think about our time here is almost done. I am super sad and don't want to leave. Please pray that we keep pressing into these kiddos and this city!
Love you all and thank you for the continued support. Also, I think Rachael is almost finished with our 3rd video update...so get excited :)
Saturday was my favorite day, others didn't enjoy it as much. Our duty for the day as to clean some parts of the house! Let's just say it really needed it! We worked all day cleaning only a few rooms, but it made a huge difference. Audriana and I worked on the library. We took books off the shelves, dusted and deep cleaned. Josh referes to my cleaning as "she thinks of places no one else things of cleaning...and she could do this for days". Well in order for me to do a good clean, I wanted to pull out the shelves and find the "treasures" behind and under them. A few girls came and helped me move one shelf. As we lifted we saw a scorpian! At first we were not sure if it was just a toy, but after we poked it, it ran off. We told Phongsri and her face lit up with excitement! She said she wanted to catch this thing so she can cook it and eat it! So, we caught it and caught one more. They are currently alive in a bucket with no cover waiting to be cooked! YIKES!
Buriram is about two hours from Cambodia. Lots of mosquitoes, insects, and squaty potties, and cold showers with no air conditioned rooms. On the other hand, we are blessed to have a washer! Josh was so excited to not have to wash his clothes by hand today. Rogers wife cooks wonderful Thai food for us as well and we are all able to have a family style dinner together each night which is something we haven't done as a team since Masot.
We attended the Thai church this morning. We walked in and everyone watched us as we walked to the front. I had a wonderful time praising God and worshipping him even though I didn't understand what the Thai's were saying. The Thai people were so passionate and praising God is made me want to cry...seriously it was really awesome!
This week I think we will be up to more "Danielle projects". More cleaning, painting, and yard work. At first I got really down because people think I am crazy for loving it, but I realized this is one of the gifts God has given me. Seeing the smiles on Roger and Phongsri faces as they saw all the hard work everyone did makes all the hard work worth it!
I can't believe we only have a few weeks left! It get's harder each day to think about our time here is almost done. I am super sad and don't want to leave. Please pray that we keep pressing into these kiddos and this city!
Love you all and thank you for the continued support. Also, I think Rachael is almost finished with our 3rd video update...so get excited :)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
From college students and bars to orphans
The time has come for us to say goodbye to Chiang Mai. Our time here is has been so much fun and we will certainly miss it but we look forward to our experiences at the orphanage in Buriram. We hop on a bus for our 14 hour journey through Thailand on Wednesday so there are a lot of memories from this past week since we had to live it up one final time in Chiang Mai.
We had our normal schedule again this week: teaching classes and then hanging out with students after. We also had some additional ministry opportunities this week but first, our classes. Its been so fun connecting and teaching these students. They have really opened up to us and just become our friends. Annie and I finally were able to go out to dinner with some our students and it was so much fun. We just sat and talked like any other friends in the world would do. They make fun of us, laugh at us, and just ask us questions now. It makes class really fun. Yesterday was tough. A lot of us were thinking it would be our last day to teach so we wanted to do something special for them. Annie and I were going to play Apples to Apples and have junk food. Around 3pm it started to rain, hard. Unfortunately our class starts at 4pm and because of the torrential downpour the students didn't show. I was so upset. A lot of the class were a no-show as well. Fortunately, I found out today that we are teaching on Monday and Tuesday! Yay! I would have been very upset if I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. I am looking forward to hanging out with them again but at the same time I don't want to have to say goodbye.
On Monday and Wednesday night of last week we did red light ministry. All the other times we have gone I have felt like that I was not supposed to go into the district but just stay back and pray for the group. On Monday this finally got to me. Hearing all of their stories made me jealous to be frank. So, Wednesday I finally got the feeling that I was supposed to go in. A little nerve racking and exciting was what I was feeling but I knew I was supposed to go in. So I hooked up with another guy from Norway and we headed out. To say I was overwhelmed at first is an understatement. It was just so much to take in. So many emotions going on inside of me: anger, sadness, longing to tell them there's more. We ended up going into two different bars. One of which I got into a good conversation with a U.S. Marshal who is stationed in Saipan. We talked about his job, his 13 year old son who lives with him and he had a lot of questions about what I was doing and what organization I was doing it through. We played pool with him and three other guys from Europe and just had a good time. Hearing his story, I could get a sense of the loneliness and brokenness he was carrying and only wished he knew that these girls weren't the answer. I had a small victory in God later in the night. As we were gathering as a group to head back to our meeting spot, I saw him walking back to his hotel, alone. It made me smile a little and wondered what God had done during our conversation about just life. There is so much more to tell about this story and other from that time down there that I'll have to tell when I get back. I'll just leave it with the awe at how much despair and loneliness there is on that street and in those bars. There is no possible way to win down there. The girls attach to a guy and feel loved until he leaves and then they are heart broken, lose. Or they don't get a guy and they think they are ugly, lose. The guys get a girl and think they are macho and loved until they realize they are paying for it and she will just go back to the bar later and find another guy, lose. It seems like a hopeless situation, a perfect place for us as Christians to be, a perfect place for God to be. Just this past Monday we went into the red light district one last time. I decided that my place was back praying again so I don't have too many stories. When I was praying though, I was overwhelmed with this sense of hope, joy, and confidence that God will change the hearts of the girls in the bars that our girls made relationships with. Our debrief time was somber and sad. Many of our girls had developed a friendship with the girls down there and were broken to leave them in that situation any longer. God gave me some words for the team that were powerful to me and I hope the rest of the team: "The pain of goodbye means you have done well. It means you have loved, truly and deeply loved, the 'unloveable.' So well done, good and faithful servants." Isn't that what our lives are supposed to model everyday? I think our girls did an amazing job just loving those girls and I'm honored to be on DTS outreach with every single one of them.
Tuesday was our last opportunity to teach our students English. It was a sad day realizing we don't have any more time left with these students. Of course we didn't teach. Annie and I decided to just teach them by eating junk food and playing Apples to Apples! It was really fun and I think they enjoyed it too. Its so sad to know that we won't be able to hang out with them everyday anymore. They were awesome and I will truly miss all of them. We didn't have anyone get saved but its up to God now and the people he puts in the rest of their lives to disciple and lead them to Christ.
Its hard to tell everything from our week because its always filled with so many stories. Here are some highlights from this past week though:
- Playing Phase 10 with people at the Centre and just laughing because Rachael and Scott (he is from the Australia team) are stuck on phase 1 while the rest of us are on phase 6 or 7.
- Being able to go out to dinner with two of our students, Pan and Mao, and introducing them to the Hong Kong Waffle. Delicious!
- Getting to know the Australia DTS team. We will miss them.
- Visiting the Chiang Mai Zoo Saturday
- Celebrating Rachael's birthday at The Pizza Company and seeing a movie
- Playing Apples to Apples with our students and saying goodbye
- And last but certainly not least...Celebrating 3 years with Danielle Veltema on May 6th! I love her...
Like I said before we cannot believe the end is near and are sad to see it go by so fast. Yet, we miss home and cannot wait to share all that we have learned over this whole adventure. We will see you all soon and tell you all that we can remember.
God bless you all!
Josh
We had our normal schedule again this week: teaching classes and then hanging out with students after. We also had some additional ministry opportunities this week but first, our classes. Its been so fun connecting and teaching these students. They have really opened up to us and just become our friends. Annie and I finally were able to go out to dinner with some our students and it was so much fun. We just sat and talked like any other friends in the world would do. They make fun of us, laugh at us, and just ask us questions now. It makes class really fun. Yesterday was tough. A lot of us were thinking it would be our last day to teach so we wanted to do something special for them. Annie and I were going to play Apples to Apples and have junk food. Around 3pm it started to rain, hard. Unfortunately our class starts at 4pm and because of the torrential downpour the students didn't show. I was so upset. A lot of the class were a no-show as well. Fortunately, I found out today that we are teaching on Monday and Tuesday! Yay! I would have been very upset if I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. I am looking forward to hanging out with them again but at the same time I don't want to have to say goodbye.
On Monday and Wednesday night of last week we did red light ministry. All the other times we have gone I have felt like that I was not supposed to go into the district but just stay back and pray for the group. On Monday this finally got to me. Hearing all of their stories made me jealous to be frank. So, Wednesday I finally got the feeling that I was supposed to go in. A little nerve racking and exciting was what I was feeling but I knew I was supposed to go in. So I hooked up with another guy from Norway and we headed out. To say I was overwhelmed at first is an understatement. It was just so much to take in. So many emotions going on inside of me: anger, sadness, longing to tell them there's more. We ended up going into two different bars. One of which I got into a good conversation with a U.S. Marshal who is stationed in Saipan. We talked about his job, his 13 year old son who lives with him and he had a lot of questions about what I was doing and what organization I was doing it through. We played pool with him and three other guys from Europe and just had a good time. Hearing his story, I could get a sense of the loneliness and brokenness he was carrying and only wished he knew that these girls weren't the answer. I had a small victory in God later in the night. As we were gathering as a group to head back to our meeting spot, I saw him walking back to his hotel, alone. It made me smile a little and wondered what God had done during our conversation about just life. There is so much more to tell about this story and other from that time down there that I'll have to tell when I get back. I'll just leave it with the awe at how much despair and loneliness there is on that street and in those bars. There is no possible way to win down there. The girls attach to a guy and feel loved until he leaves and then they are heart broken, lose. Or they don't get a guy and they think they are ugly, lose. The guys get a girl and think they are macho and loved until they realize they are paying for it and she will just go back to the bar later and find another guy, lose. It seems like a hopeless situation, a perfect place for us as Christians to be, a perfect place for God to be. Just this past Monday we went into the red light district one last time. I decided that my place was back praying again so I don't have too many stories. When I was praying though, I was overwhelmed with this sense of hope, joy, and confidence that God will change the hearts of the girls in the bars that our girls made relationships with. Our debrief time was somber and sad. Many of our girls had developed a friendship with the girls down there and were broken to leave them in that situation any longer. God gave me some words for the team that were powerful to me and I hope the rest of the team: "The pain of goodbye means you have done well. It means you have loved, truly and deeply loved, the 'unloveable.' So well done, good and faithful servants." Isn't that what our lives are supposed to model everyday? I think our girls did an amazing job just loving those girls and I'm honored to be on DTS outreach with every single one of them.
Tuesday was our last opportunity to teach our students English. It was a sad day realizing we don't have any more time left with these students. Of course we didn't teach. Annie and I decided to just teach them by eating junk food and playing Apples to Apples! It was really fun and I think they enjoyed it too. Its so sad to know that we won't be able to hang out with them everyday anymore. They were awesome and I will truly miss all of them. We didn't have anyone get saved but its up to God now and the people he puts in the rest of their lives to disciple and lead them to Christ.
Its hard to tell everything from our week because its always filled with so many stories. Here are some highlights from this past week though:
- Playing Phase 10 with people at the Centre and just laughing because Rachael and Scott (he is from the Australia team) are stuck on phase 1 while the rest of us are on phase 6 or 7.
- Being able to go out to dinner with two of our students, Pan and Mao, and introducing them to the Hong Kong Waffle. Delicious!
- Getting to know the Australia DTS team. We will miss them.
- Visiting the Chiang Mai Zoo Saturday
- Celebrating Rachael's birthday at The Pizza Company and seeing a movie
- Playing Apples to Apples with our students and saying goodbye
- And last but certainly not least...Celebrating 3 years with Danielle Veltema on May 6th! I love her...
Like I said before we cannot believe the end is near and are sad to see it go by so fast. Yet, we miss home and cannot wait to share all that we have learned over this whole adventure. We will see you all soon and tell you all that we can remember.
God bless you all!
Josh
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I may or may not have a Thai accent when I return....
Over the past week we have started the relation based evangelism in Chiang Mai. Josh and I both started teaching English classes. We paired up with someone else on our team, and we have about three students each. Before and after classes we hang out at The Centre playing games and talking with the students. We hosted a cooking night on Tuesday. We made pasta with different sauces. Friday night we hosted a Mario Party game night and continued to create relationships with the students. This week I was able to go out for dinner with two students First and Bye. It felt so normal and comfortable, like hanging out with friends from home. As we drove to the restaurant I describe things in English on the way. I started noticing that I constantly think/talk like Thai people. After dinner they took me to Swenson's, my dream restaurant! It was an ice cream restaurant in the mall. You sit down and on the menu is ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream! We had nine scoops of different flavored ice cream and a chocolate fondue pot with fruits. (Thailand style scoops..so small. All the scoops together were like the size of the Village Dippers small.) It was great hanging out with First and Bye and being able to have normal conversations and creating a better friendship.
We were able to go out two times this week to the red light district. Josh and a few others stayed back at the guest house and prayed for the rest of the team that went out. Praying is just as much or even more of a part of this ministry than going into the red light district. The first time we walked through the streets we were lead by two other YWAMers, Amanda and Sam, that have been doing this ministry over the past few weeks. We first walked up and down the streets soaking it all in, and also sat down at a bar to observe. I saw the women lined up on the street and sitting at the bars while shining with glitter and glamor. I also took notice of the men ranging of all ages, even some with rings on their fingers. We also had two kids Baan and Oht come to us and asked us to buy flowers. Amanda and Sam have been hanging out with them during their time at the bars. They told us that the kids have to sell all their flowers by the end of the night if they want to eat or sleep. If a someone buys their whole stack of flowers, their Trafficker notices and gives them more flowers to sell making the cycle never ending. I saw the children faces light up as we just loved on them, played thumb wars, checkers, and rock paper scissors. The kids are really good at these games because they play them in order to get more money. It's heartbreaking to realize these children will never experience a normal childhood. At first I felt really angry at the men, traffickers and pimps and didn't understand why anyone hasn't stopped this yet. I saw brokenness, hurt and shame. I prayed to God to not let me be judgmental and let me walk and be a friend among them just as Jesus would. I started to look at it from both sides. Many of the people come here because of a deeper problem. I wonder why anyone would want to hurt Gods beautiful woman and children? I realize though that many of the men are lost and hurt themselves. The second night, me and another girl from my team went and actually talked to many prostitutes, lady boys, and played with the kids again trying to create relationships. We sat down at a few bars and just listened to peoples stories and just loved on them and had fun. I have so many stories to share and I wish I could tell you so much more! I can't wait for this week to go back into the bars and follow up on the relationships I have created!
This week we are doing the same thing. Team time in the morning, English classes starting at about 4:00pm at the Centre and red light ministry starting 9:00pm till about 2:00 in the morning. We also work with smaller ministries as well to fill some time. Last week was such a good week, please pray that this week is even better!
Okay, so there's also the downtime we have with the team. I love to go exploring and trying new things. The other night on our walk we decided to check out the McDonald's that's down the street from us. On the menu they had a "Broccoli, Corn or Pineapple Pie". In America the last time I checked we had apple and cherry. I am not a big fan of McDonald's as some of you may know, but I was very curious about this broccoli pie. So, I decided to get one and have the team take a bite. It tasted like cheese broccoli soup stuffed in a spring roll. I was wondering if it has been placed on the menu yet in the states...and if so, please don't get it!
Anyways, it's over half way through outreach and we have many stories to share. Don't worry though, we will be home before you know it and we will be able to explain more, tell you more, and most importantly tell you how amazing and great our God is and what he has been doing in our life!
We miss you and love you all, and thank you for your continued prayers.
Our shout out for the week goes to all the college students...you have finished another year! Also, congrats to Josh Knap on receiving your masters! Woot woot!
Also make sure to check out Salem's blog post, www.ywamsalem.org/outreach-blog, because Josh updated it this week for our team.
-Danielle
We were able to go out two times this week to the red light district. Josh and a few others stayed back at the guest house and prayed for the rest of the team that went out. Praying is just as much or even more of a part of this ministry than going into the red light district. The first time we walked through the streets we were lead by two other YWAMers, Amanda and Sam, that have been doing this ministry over the past few weeks. We first walked up and down the streets soaking it all in, and also sat down at a bar to observe. I saw the women lined up on the street and sitting at the bars while shining with glitter and glamor. I also took notice of the men ranging of all ages, even some with rings on their fingers. We also had two kids Baan and Oht come to us and asked us to buy flowers. Amanda and Sam have been hanging out with them during their time at the bars. They told us that the kids have to sell all their flowers by the end of the night if they want to eat or sleep. If a someone buys their whole stack of flowers, their Trafficker notices and gives them more flowers to sell making the cycle never ending. I saw the children faces light up as we just loved on them, played thumb wars, checkers, and rock paper scissors. The kids are really good at these games because they play them in order to get more money. It's heartbreaking to realize these children will never experience a normal childhood. At first I felt really angry at the men, traffickers and pimps and didn't understand why anyone hasn't stopped this yet. I saw brokenness, hurt and shame. I prayed to God to not let me be judgmental and let me walk and be a friend among them just as Jesus would. I started to look at it from both sides. Many of the people come here because of a deeper problem. I wonder why anyone would want to hurt Gods beautiful woman and children? I realize though that many of the men are lost and hurt themselves. The second night, me and another girl from my team went and actually talked to many prostitutes, lady boys, and played with the kids again trying to create relationships. We sat down at a few bars and just listened to peoples stories and just loved on them and had fun. I have so many stories to share and I wish I could tell you so much more! I can't wait for this week to go back into the bars and follow up on the relationships I have created!
This week we are doing the same thing. Team time in the morning, English classes starting at about 4:00pm at the Centre and red light ministry starting 9:00pm till about 2:00 in the morning. We also work with smaller ministries as well to fill some time. Last week was such a good week, please pray that this week is even better!
Okay, so there's also the downtime we have with the team. I love to go exploring and trying new things. The other night on our walk we decided to check out the McDonald's that's down the street from us. On the menu they had a "Broccoli, Corn or Pineapple Pie". In America the last time I checked we had apple and cherry. I am not a big fan of McDonald's as some of you may know, but I was very curious about this broccoli pie. So, I decided to get one and have the team take a bite. It tasted like cheese broccoli soup stuffed in a spring roll. I was wondering if it has been placed on the menu yet in the states...and if so, please don't get it!
Anyways, it's over half way through outreach and we have many stories to share. Don't worry though, we will be home before you know it and we will be able to explain more, tell you more, and most importantly tell you how amazing and great our God is and what he has been doing in our life!
We miss you and love you all, and thank you for your continued prayers.
Our shout out for the week goes to all the college students...you have finished another year! Also, congrats to Josh Knap on receiving your masters! Woot woot!
Also make sure to check out Salem's blog post, www.ywamsalem.org/outreach-blog, because Josh updated it this week for our team.
-Danielle
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