What a week this has been! We are working with New Beginnings Calvary Chapel on the island of Phuket, Thailand. We are living at the church (sleeping either in the sanctuary, Pastor’s office, or a hallway) and spending our days running around with Pastor Joe Nelson and his awesome family! Inspired by one of my teammate’s latest updates, I though I’d share all of what I’ve done in the past 7 days.
SUNDAY
I wake up in the church sanctuary at 8 after tossing and turning on my sleeping pad – travel sized pillows are not my favorite things. I grab a yogurt and buttered bread for breakfast, with some hot tea because of course I have a sore throat. I have to stow my sleeping gear upstairs so it’s out of the way for the service. I take a quick shower and put on my Zambia dress, paired with earrings I got in Cambodia. Church starts at 10 a.m. I sing in the Praise Band with my teammate Natalie. We have a delicious Persian lunch, then squeeze 10 people into a small car to go to a Nepalese/Burmese house church. Singing, sermon, more food.
A little after 3 p.m., we get back to our church and participate in a going-away party for another missionary. Eat more food – watermelon and naan. Yum! We manage to fit 6 people lying on sleeping pads in the small room that holds all our stuff for a short rest, then we drag ourselves to the beach for volleyball ministry. Light-hearted games quickly become competitive as a Russian and Iranian join my team. We win several games. The Iranian tells us to relax. We head home at a reasonable hour and then have a 3 hour team meeting (sadly, our only team time of the week). I make my bed downstairs while some of the kids watch a Bollywood movie that thankfully quits loading shortly afterwards and they go home; I go to sleep.
MONDAY
Bleary eyed, I wake up at 7 a.m. I go back to sleep and finally get up at 9 a.m., still feeling stuffy. Same breakfast. Remember that we were asked to pray over a list of church members and send up an apology prayer. Pastor Joe and his family show up at the church around 10:30. We spend the morning cleaning the sanctuary and kitchen and decorating for Christmas. I volunteer to mop and then remop. We break for a late lunch – sticky rice, chicken, and fried garlic. Then I take a long nap.
We eat dinner all together and then go visit some church members at work to deliver the brownies and prayers. We have to walk through the Red Light district (one main street) to get from one workplace to another. It’s Vegas on steroids and sad to see. But visits! People are encouraged. We are served fried vegetables and chai tea. I do a lot of sneezing. One woman asks us to visit her at her house when her shift is over. We show up at 11 p.m. and meet her awesome daughter. Sing, listen to people talk, tune out as they talk a lot more, get fed lots of weird candy. Eventually we leave and get to bed by 2 a.m.
TUESDAY
I’ve borrowed a pillow I found in the church office, so I sleep until 9, only waking up once! But now I have a runny nose. I start catching up on Bible reading at breakfast and write a blog about all the emotions swirling around my Pepaw’s funeral/birthday. I finish reading a Kindle book. Remember I can’t sit around in my pajamas all day. Joe makes lunch – something with rice. It’s always rice. I play a few games of chess while teammates bake brownies. We get to sample some today!
At 6 p.m., we should be teaching English at the church, but none of the Advanced students show up. Play a game of Hearts instead. After dinner, we visit some church members/the Nelson’s neighbors for a time of fellowship. Natalie and I deliver the brownies to a different neighbor. I hold a cat during this whole conversation. We drive from their house over to an Irish pub to listen to a band comprised of more neighbors. I sit in the corner and watch my teammates sing with the band – they are fantastic, obviously. We stop at the house again so Sarah (the pastor’s wife) can get me some cold medicine. Sleep at 1:30 a.m.
WEDNESDAY
The cold medicine knocked me out, I don’t wake up until 10:30! Today my head hurts. I take a shower which helps for a while. The morning passes by in a fog. We eat and then I go take a nap on a real bed! I end up sleeping on and off for 4 hours. I have stored up enough energy that I can help teach English – I give a lesson on Passive vs. Active Voice that I gave last month. I cough a lot. 7:00 is youth group, which is kind of a Bible study. The group goes to play volleyball afterwards; I go lie down again. Dinner doesn’t happen until volleyball is over, people start returning to the church around 11:30 p.m. Thank You, God, for Sarah and the cold medicine. Standard bedtime is now 1:30 a.m.
THURSDAY
Don’t wake up until 11 a.m.! Feel a little better – still have a cough but no more stuffy nose! Drinking 2-3 mugs of tea during the day has become normal. Skip breakfast because we’re out of my favorite yogurt and there’s no working lighter to start the stove. My stomach feels weird anyways. I read/play chess/open my computer. Lunch. I’m finally glad for plain white rice. Anna and I spend the afternoon making Snickerdoodle cookies.
While playing cards/chess, I accidentally let the first two batches bake too long and we eat a lot of cookie crumbs. I do listening prayer for 2 church members we’re going to visit later. Dinner. We belatedly light the Advent candle after Jenna buys the necessary materials (we have to settle for red candles in place of purple ones). Most head to volleyball while Natalie and I join Joe to visit church members. We have a blast, Natalie sings at a restaurant, then we head to the beach. Kelsey and I walk back and get ready for bed. I fall asleep at – you guessed it! – 1:30.
FRIDAY
The glory of sleeping in is interuppted by children’s choir practice at 10:00. I hide with my sleeping stuff in the church office and do crossword puzzles. Breakfast is one solitary apple – still no lighter. (I just want some oatmeal!) My teammates disperse, so I spend a couple of hours playing chess and different card games with two of the pastor’s kids. I can tell I’m feeling better because everything is funny. Everyone returns for lunch – we get eggplant with the rice! Yay! I sit and talk for a while, waiting to be picked up so Natalie and I can spend the afternoon playing with and observing a little girl with Downs Syndrome. (She’s the cousin of the family who has the Nepalese church at their house.) We have fun, manage a few tantrums, get bitten and spat at, and smile at the family’s 2 week old baby.
At 5:30, we find out that our ride will be 1 ½ hours later than agreed upon. With no alternative transportation, we stay. When we finally get dropped off at the church, it’s empty. We share a bag of chips and rest. At 11 p.m. we learn that the team has already had dinner, so we go looking for food. We get picked up by the Pastor instead and grab a bite to eat on our way to a Bible study. There is lots of singing, talking, and reading. Also yawning. We are served a strange purple rice that I manage to finish. Finally, we leave. I shower and video call my dad. I foolishly drank a soda, so I stay up until 3:45.
SATURDAY
Off day! Wake up at 7:35. Good news: the cold is mostly gone. Bad news: We’re supposed to be ready at 7:45 to go on an excursion to James Bond Island. I grouchily throw my swim suit on, brush my teeth, and make a peanut butter sandwich and tea. We take an hour long, stomach-churning drive to get to the dock we’ll leave from. The nausea does not improve my mood. I grab a Sprite and we walk over to our boat. The scenery is stunning – finally I start to enjoy the day. We stop at a beach/National Park for some swimming then hop back on the boat for a delicious lunch. I eat noodles!! Our second stop has us getting into canoes to be paddled through a cave. It is eerily entrancing and we spend far too little time inside. We have more time to swim, so several teammates jump off the 2nd level of the boat into the water.
Finally, we end up at James Bond Island. One of the older movies was filmed here: The Man with the Golden Gun. To avoid the massive amounts of tourists, Anna and I climb through some caves and some jungle, stopping only when the giant ants and prickly trees get to be too much. Most of us nap on the long journey back. I buy some sunglasses at the dock because they’re yellow and it’s silly that I’ve already gone 2 months without any. On the van ride back, we decide to have a pizza party for dinner. It’s everything I could have hoped for and more. I rinse my feet off and then sit down with my computer. Today, I plan on going to bed at 10 p.m., right after the Praise Band finishes rehearsing.
Phew!
I can only imagine how crazy the next two weeks will be – we will be traveling a lot, mostly so that we can help at some English camps, but maybe I will get a chance to visit an orphanage! (And maybe find some time to rest in all of this!)
