WORLD RACE MONTH 9
Where:Phang Nga, Thailand
When: August 26th – September 23rd
Who: The Thunderbirds (Abbie, Jillian, Lindsey, Jackie, Lauren, and Britney) AND Hayley!
Ministry: This month, our team is working with a ministry called Share the Love Foundation.
Hosts: Yui, Yoi, Bume, Jamie, Peter, Olivia, Joanna
Currency: Thai Baht
Language: Thai and some English
Dress Code: “Hide yo knees, hide yo shoulders, cus they judging errbody out there.” So this month, whenever we leave the Share the Love Foundation campus, we have to wear longer shorts or pants and we must cover our shoulders and show no chest. This is pretty normal compared to past ministries. The only thing really new is that we must cover our tattoos, which is being done by wearing long clothes, wrapping ourselves with ace bandages, and even masking tape. In Thai culture, monks were the original tattoo artists and people would only get them in order to receive spiritual strength or protection. It is known as Yantra tattooing. Just like in America, the tattoo culture is changing, but just to be super culturally sensitive, we cover them.
* Fun fact: There are over 50 tattoos on our squad of 35 people. #proudparents
Food: Again… this is not anything like Panda Express. Luckily, this month we get to cook for ourselves. Which for me includes making grilled cheese 3 times a day! Yay for adult-ing! We do have opportunities during the week to visit the local restaurant across the street and buy market food, but I’m too picky for that junk. There are several people on the team (Lindsey & Lauren) who will literally try anything, so we just get to live vicariously through them.
Lodging: This month we are sooo spoiled. We have A/C and beds!!! All 7 of us share one big room with bunk beds. We also have several hangout areas around the property. It has been so great to have our own space and not be down each other’s throats all the time. Community and closeness is very important, but sometimes I just want to be able to lie in bed without accidentally spooning someone, and this month I have that!!! #space. We also have an entire extra room for our packs.
Bathroom: This month we have 4 toilets and 4 showers. It’s ahhh-mazing because there’s never a line. We do have those weird/awesome bidet things, but once again we’ve given up and bought toilet paper. In the words of our host, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.
Laundry: We have a machine!!! So our clothes smell amazing when they come out of the machine, but then we hang them on the lines to “dry”… this is Thailand in the middle of monsoon season, NOTHING is ever really dry. But it really is such a #blessing that we don’t have to hand wash anything.
Ministry:
- Teaching English Camp: Our team got the opportunity to host an English camp at a local school. It was a full fun-packed week of games, lessons, dancing, and translating. It was seriously so much fun and also exhausting. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to hang out with over 180 kids and share some of Jesus’ love with each of them.
- Church Set-up: Every Saturday, our team has the responsibility of setting up for the Sunday service and the meal afterward. This includes basically just sweeping and setting up chairs and tables. Super easy.
- Sunday School: Each Sunday the kids are split up into two age groups and half of our team teaches the younger kids while the other half tackles the older kids. I seriously love the older kids because they speak decent English and are super talkative and open to our weirdness.
- Beach Cleanup: One day, our team got the opportunity to do a beach cleanup. And with half of our team being from Florida, we felt right at home. We collected over 30 trash bags full of shoes, food containers, and glass bottles. It was a super satisfying day.
- Evangelism: On several days we loaded up into the back of the truck and headed out toward the villages. While there, we talked and prayed over people and played with kids. Those days are exhausting, but it’s so awesome to get to talk and form friendships with the locals.
Adventures:
- James Bond Island: On our first official adventure day, our team ventured out into the pouring rain to experience Thailand. After an hour-long bus trip, a ride in the back of some mans’ truck, and a sketchy wooden boat ride; we finally reached our destination, James Bond Island. After researching the island for about a week, we were underwhelmed to say the least. The pictures made it look HUGE, when in reality it was tiny. Also, the fact that we were in a small, sketchy boat in a monsoon may have added to our dismay. BUT, our driver (a twelve year old looking boy) did stop on an island to let us swim. Despite the rain, it was such a fun day and it will definitely be a day we all remember.
* Fun Fact: James Bond Island (also known as Khao Phing Kan) was featured in two James Bond films including The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies.
- Phuket/Patong: One weekend, our team ventured down to the city of Phuket. We read that this was a must on the travel sites because of the beaches and nightlife. We booked a cheap hostel (Bodega Hostel) and spent the weekend touring the local islands, singing karaoke, and getting completely sunburnt. It was so great not having a schedule and just being able to relax for a little bit. The only downfall of the weekend was the amount of sex trafficking that was so present in the nightlife. Specifically on the main strip called Bangala Street, google it. It was really hard to see the women basically being advertised on top of the bars and the lack of hope in their eyes. It’s heartbreaking especially not knowing how to help. This industry is huge and yet I feel like no one in America really knows about it. Seriously google it and find out how you can get involved to help these women.
- Super Thai Day: For our last adventure, the 4 of us decided to really experience all the iconic Thai attractions (3 members of the team were at PVT in Chang Mai). The day included playing with monkeys, riding atvs, riding elephants, going to an elephant show, zip lining, visiting a waterfall, and eating a thai lunch. It was an awesome day and we did it all for $47 USD!
Thank you sooo much for your continued prayers and support. It means the world to me.
If you want to reach out to me, please do! Even just to say hi! Facebook is the way to go and I’ll reply as the wifi allows.
Love you all!
Cheers, Abigail Sheckells
(Also, Check out all our videos on YouTube. Just search “Worthy Pearls”)
(Also… Shout out to Anne Martinelli for being the best race mom ever!)
