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
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