Songkran Festival

This week was the biggest holiday of the year; Songkran, which is originally a Buddhist holiday meant for spiritual cleansing and a sort of "spring cleaning" for the traditional new year; has now become a huge excuse to take to the streets and enjoy cooling each other off. Everyone is fair game, (farang = bonus points), and regardless of if you're on foot, in the back of a truck or on a scooter just going to work; you're a target of this good-natured (albeit otherwise extremely rude) festival.

I went downtown on Thursday with some friends; here's some photos of what I saw during the 7 hours of water craziness:




Middle of the crowd of "Songkraners"







 
It's absolutely impossible to stay dry.







This holiday spans all social class separations; poor, rich, young, old, Thai, farang; everybody just enjoys a great deal of fun thoroughly drenching each other.

Location:Old City, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Over the hump?

According to most expats and missionaries in Thailand, the first 6-9 months are the hardest to get past. The initial honeymoon stage followed by the roller coaster of emotions that follow.
I just made it to my 7 month benchmark and things are looking like they might be smoothing out from the rocky first 6 month climb.

This last month I moved into a house on the Southern side of the city. Although the location of the house is farther away than I wished to be from BHJ, it's been working out despite the longer commute (especially on rainy days). The move allowed me to set up a home base and live with 2 awesome Christian roommates, both guys similar in age. Although I miss being so close to all the smiling, cute faces out in Doi Saket, it was never the long-term plan to live out there 24/7; and not exactly healthy on the whole. Now having a steady community of fellow believers close by and guys my age is a nice breath of fresh air and a major booster shot to help get through the disgustingly hot and sticky "Hot Season."

Also this month I've been helping out with a church planting and college-age ministry called The Light every weekend, improving my Thai with anyone and everyone I can and building better community through our meetings, and our new bi-weekly soccer games. Reminds me of the gang ministry we used to do in Lima, Peru but with less Spanish.

Breanna's girls have mostly all been back in the villages these last few weeks, staying with remaining relatives or family friends while the major bathhouse project has been underway. Giving the 6 Thai staff the opportunity to take some vacation, which they deserve more than anyone has ever needed it. And thanks to the relationships we've been making with the village pastors and elders we've been able to keep much better accountability with the girls while they're home compared to previous years. It's only been a few weeks but I'm very excited to see all my "little sisters" again next week when they come back right before the biggest holiday of the year - Songkran. (Basically a 3 day country-wide water fight!)

Guess who's excited?!
THIS GUY!

Location:Mu Ban Kunlaphan Village,Mae Hia,Thailand

Unorthodox Joy

A few days ago a question was posed to me: "When are you the most joyful?"

I thought about it for a few moments, and the answer I responded with was a little less than orthodox:

-I'm snowshoeing somewhere deep in the outdoors of the Colorado wilderness. I've just come into a secluded but open area surrounded by trees and mountains. It's snowing, but not so hard that I can't see. Rays of sunlight peek through the snow clouds blanketing most of the sky. I'm standing still and listening to the silence, the falling snow canceling all noise from the otherwise busy world. The elements freeze time and all is in an awed hush...and that's when I hear Him whisper, "I love you. I love you. I love you!""

-Or I'm sitting in a coffee shop near a window with a half-finished cup of coffee. The place isn't crowded but isn't completely empty either. My Bible is laying open next to my journal and I have my headphones in listening to songs by Hillsong United and Desperation Band. There's an unfinished sentence on the freshest page of my journal as I take a moment to look out the window and notice the rain splashing against the pane. And that's when I hear His praises being sung, electronically transmitted from a heart that matches my own; "You hold it all...together. You hold it all...forever. You hold it all. You started it all. You are my all in all!"
And my heart begins thumping, not because of the bass drum or the beat of the song, but because if I don't worship with my emotions; hands trembling, tears rolling and spirit weeping, I'm almost positive that the rocks and trees outside are going to start screaming His glory!

God forbid we should ever forget these moments! Rather, may we only add more and more to them until the day they become the daily norm; yet far from mundane!

What awesome moments of experiencing His presence and joy have you been given the privilege of participating in lately? Not so recently?

(Song: You Hold It All - Desperation Band)

Location:Huai Kaeo Rd,Chang Phuak,Thailand

Six Months!

It's been just barely over 6 months since I left the states; since the first blog was written about the beginning of the "Thai Adventures" upon landing in Los Angeles. So here's a quick re-cap of the initial time spent here with a little more detail on the most recent month.

September-November: Arrived in Chiang Mai on September 2nd, met up with the Parkers and the 6 other "interns" who had just flown in from the States in the previous few days. I spent a lot of time teaching English to the staff and working on different work projects: (ie. wall painting, gravel spreading, planting, etc.). We did a lot of different games and discipleship things with the girls in the evenings and on Saturdays. Had time on Fridays to take a day off and explore Chiang Mai via hopping a Songtaew or TukTuk to get us around town, meet friends, eat American food, etc. Also took time to visit the Northern villages near Chiang Rai, explore a little bit of Bangkok, and finally debrief with a week of respite in Phuket and Koh Phi Phi. It was an awesome time for reflection, exploring and seeing what God really had for me/us as far as where in the wide world I/we fit.

December - After a quick run across the border to Vientiane, Laos (12 hour busride one way), and coming back with a new Thai visa I got to work on setting some roots. I was able to purchase a scooter instead of just renting one monthly, got all the stacks and stacks of paperwork for the work permit accomplished. (Thanks largely to the awesome translating skills of Chat Chai). And then was able to help with different projects around the Christmas season.

January - School. This month sticks out in my mind as the hardest one so far. Mostly because if it weren't for the girls' free Saturdays, soccer with friends from church on Sunday mornings and an random invitation to an Ultimate Frisbee tournament I wouldn't have had any life at all outside of school. Every weekday morning from 9-12 was dedicated to studying and mastering the "art" of reading and writing the Thai language. Once that was finished for the day I'd "scoot" (pun intended) back to BHJ, have lunch, and then teach English to the staff for the next 2 hours. Once finished with class I'd have just a bit of time to get stuff done before the girls came home and things like homework or bible study would begin after dinner. January was a good month setting roots and making good friends with Thais and Farang through church, soccer, and a Thai campus ministry called The Light. Also after just having gone through the hassle of getting my Work Permit, I helped several other people get theirs with a lot less brain damage and much more quickly. This in itself might turn into a big ministry asset in the future of being able to help other missionaries stay in the country and not always having to leave for new visas every 3 months.

February - This last month was a little more even paced with days beginning to see a good rolling average of routine. I've set up a structured teaching schedule so that its not too fast for me or the staff, having a day in between English classes where I can go to Thai tutoring and they can do their own work related activities in the mornings. This schedule has allowed me to manage teaching/learning at a more reasonable pace for everybody, and then thus opening up slots of time devoted to the liaison part of my job description. I've been working on keeping the sponsors in better contact with their girl(s) and vice versa; therefore uploading more recent photographs and bios of the girls as some of our sponsors haven't heard new information since they began supporting them several years ago. Big problem in our mind. So I've been working on making things run a little more smoothly and less of the "well I hope they're using the money I'm sending them."

So there's a quick 6 months in a nutshell. As always, I'm extremely grateful for those who have helped get me here and who continuing to keep me in this part of the world. Now that I'm past the initial 6 months "touristy" phase, really excited about the long-term fruit that is only viewable from the extended stay!

Reading with Yada

Here's a short video taken by Matt on his phone of Yada attempting to test my Thai reading abilities with the Thai Bible...lets just say I still have a ways to go before I'm reading Thai novels for fun. :)

Success Story

This past weekend I got to be a part of a success story...

...Last Satuday morning found Matt, ChatChai, several of the older girls and I crammed into the van heading towards a part of the city that the girls hardly ever travel to; the side where multitudes of young men and women throng the many internet coffee shops, cheap eateries and hang outs wearing their matching uniforms that identifies them as college students.

This side of town isn't secluded, nor is it hard to get to; yet the girls from BHJ rarely see this area solely because its not part of their world...yet.
Amporn was one of the the very first Breanna's girl to come here and live outside the walls she had known for many years previous.
Likewise she was the very first to wear the uniform,

first to walk the procession,

first to bow to the headmaster

and

first to receive the intricately written, stamped and signed DIPLOMA.

And as I watched, trying to pick her out of the large crowd of graduating students, I realized something...
I COULD'N'T!
I truthfully couldn't pick her out from the girls who had come from rich families, decent families, broken familes, or no family at all.

However, later on when I finally did pick her out and the buzz of cameras' clicking started anew, I could see something different; and that was her Smile.

She had the biggest smile of anyone around; and all we could do was smile too. Sharing the happiness and joy of this mile (or kilometer) marker was nothing other than the divine moment that a great God had seen coming long before any of us were involved. And I'll bet that it made Him smile too.

How in the world...?!

It hit me today, as I was sitting in a YWAM coffee shop talking to a Thai friend named Nok Noi (นกน้อย), a thought that caused me to stop conversing mid-sentence.

"How in the WORLD did I get here?!"

Not literally of course, I had just ridden my scooter from the Thai Immigration office after several hours of pure bureaucratic bliss complete with queue lines, crisp documents and finally the satisfying THUD of a stamp on passport pages specifically designed for such purpose.
But as I just described I knew how I got to this conversation with Nok Noi while I waited for photos to upload to the site I was working on.

But I really stopped speaking so abruptly and pretty sure I had the kind of face that makes most people give the sideways cock-of-the-head shock and awe, quizzical look that says "are you ok?" (No exception here, 'cept she did it in a more Thai-ish way adding the phrase "mee aray?")

It took me a second to respond, because first of all I couldn't quite explain it to myself in English much less take the extra step to translate into Thai. But here's what I came up with after a few moments pause:

-About 12 months ago I got an email from a former youth pastor inviting me to come on a 3 month internship/mentorship/decipleship trip. To which I immediately deemed unworthy of a response. (Thanks but no thanks, I'm not interested in short-term...especially in Thailand!!)

-However God wouldn't let me drop it; He continued to bring up the issue and keep my attention from random people talking about different ministries in SE Asia and how they could use a guy like me, or God tugging on my heart whenever mention came up of trafficking or prostitution. He just wouldn't quit bugging me!

-after 3 months of stubbornness on my part, I finally consented and responded to the email with words along the lines of "I'm mostly doing this to get God off my back and I doubt the offer is still open but...if it is I'm open to explore what God's up to. But one question: if I come, can I stay long-term?"

-To which God of course had already known Matt would reply "Yes. Let's talk". After a several hour meeting with him I went to my parents' house and told them about all that was starting to unfold. I took another month to pray/seek/whine/give in and tell Matt that I was in.

-Then the fun part began! I began researching tickets for flights to the last place on Earth I had ever seen myself going and really curious how God was going to make this all happen...because as I forgot to mention, with all my seeking/praying/whining I really felt an uneasiness about raising support for the first 3 months that seemed more of a vacation/respite with missions mixed in rather than full-on gritty missions. Long story short; God is God and I most certainly am not...because when I found an amazing deal on a one-way flight ($600 talked down from $1200), He sent me the work bonus and extra pay period the exact day (and for the exact price) I had to book the flight; essentially allowing me to still pay all my bills at the end of the month.

-Summer came and I worked at Camp Kivu in Durango, Colorado as a counselor, rock climbing guide, backpacking guide and just about anything else they needed. As my third and final summer with them I had a blast with great friends and resting in the Lord while hanging out with kids from all over the world just trying to show them how awesome our God is. (Not hard to do when you are playing in Colorado and Moab).

-August came quickly and the last month to get all my money together was drawing to a close quickly. Problem: Camp ended early and so my paycheck wasn't as large as I had expected, so after several very uncertain days of what was going to happen God allowed me to sell my car for the exact amount I needed to pay for the initial 3 months.

-Now 5 months and a whole lot of stories/memories/passport stamps later I found myself in a coffee shop a complete world away from my original plan...whatever that was anyway!

I didn't explain it to her in that many words of course, English Major she is, but she got the idea. I can't speak for certain for her but I sure left that cafe with the freshest feeling of "God is absolutely God and I am absolutely not!"

I'll never get tired of that feeling.

Location:Mueng Chiang Mai, Thailand