Ministry of the month
This month began with a new team (Team Honda…because we are all in one accord…get it? Huh? Huh?). We spent the month with a ministry called Remember Nhu. This organization has 3 children’s homes in the Chiang Mai area filled with children who were brought there from their home because they were in high risk of being sold and trafficked. We worked the first half of most days clearing the land of brush at the location of a new children’s home. Most nights for dinner were spent at the children’s homes playing games, helping with homework and just hanging out with the kids.
Church situation
We attended church at one of the children’s homes each Sunday. The children that live there ran the worship and special music portions of each service.
Favorite memory
One of the first nights at the girl’s home, I found myself drawn (as I often do) to the girl playing guitar. Her name is Nat and she works at the girl’s home. She is 24, but looks like she is not a day over 12. She was sitting with a few of the girls as they took turns playing guitar. I sat down next to them and spent the remainder of my time at the home passing the guitar back and forth and singing familiar songs in English while she sang in Thai (or English if she knew them).
Biggest challenge
I had a really hard times connecting with the kids and the ministry that we were doing this month. For some reason, the kids seemed to remain at a distance and I followed suit. Something here in Thailand continues to tug at my heart and make me long to return someday, however, and I have no idea what exactly is doing the tugging.
Food
Oh man!! Food!! My one expectation for Thailand was food and boy they didn’t disappoint! Here are a few dishes we had on a weekly basis (my descriptions, and spelling, will probably not do them justice as to how great they tasted!): Kalsoy: A soup-like dish with egg noodles, pork, onions, lettuce, sprouts and a spicy base. Fried Rice and Pad Thai: I am sure a lot of you are familiar with both of these dishes, but man are they waaay better here than in the states! Masamon: A yellow curry dish with potatoes, pork and other veggies and served over rice (this was one of my favorites and we only had it a few times). Pakapow: A minced pork dish mixed with chili pepper and green beans thinly sliced and served over rice. Rotee: A dessert that I would have eaten daily had my budget allowed! It is fried dough (often filled with bananas) and sweetened condensed milk drizzled over top. Iced Thai Coffee: Again, I would have had this daily if I could! Iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk in it! (I really think the Thai’s are onto something with the condensed milk!!) These are just some of the things we had on a more regular basis, not to mention the BBQ pork, fresh fruit smoothies and little fried donuts!
Random WR moment
This month, we were blessed with a pool right down the street, and with an entrance fee of about 1 USD and a temperature of well over 80 we found ourselves there a lot!
Also, we had great internet this month which allowed me to live stream the Green Bay Packer games (who cares if they were on at 3AM and 12AM and we had work to do at 8 the next morning!)
Funniest moment
The times spent discussing our team names were never dull moments. We started out with Chocolate Melk (Because we have a little bit of chocolate mixed in with our vanilla! And Melk because apparently Nick and I pronounce things funny being from Wisconsin…I don’t notice any difference!). We bounced around other CM ideas (because we had already marked our stuff with those initials) and came up with things like Christ’s Minions. We finally ended up with Team Honda (because we are all in one accord…my mom also suggested it was because our 11 months are an odyssey and that we are all civic minded; still not entirely sure I get the civic one…A little help mom?)
What I will miss
I will miss playing guitar and singing with the girls.
I will miss a crowd of young girls running up to us and giving us hugs when we arrive at an event they are participating in.
I will miss the French toast that Margie made for us most mornings.
I will miss morning prayer on the back porch.
I will miss internet that is strong enough to live stream Packer games!
Spiritual lesson/revelation
One week this month I fasted from something different each day. Through this, God taught me a lot about myself and others. I will be posting a blog about this soon!
Prayer requests
Pray for the children that live at the remember Nhu houses; that they will know Jesus and be able to heal from their family life.
Pray for Margie and Mike: That they will not grow tired in hosting teams and that their marriage will thrive through the times that they have teams here.
Pray for our team as we enter into Cambodia and ATL/UHC month and look to follow where the Lord is moving and in finding those people who are already here to further His Kingdom.
Pray for continued focus for the squad as we get close to the end of the race.
