Here I am month 5 in our adventure around the world. In a sense it seems as if the first four months did not even happen, a simple lapse in time, yet in the same instance as soon as I attempt to recall all the things that have transpired in the past 125+ days my mind is left in a quandary. Simply stated a lot has gone on. I have changed immeasurably, seen innumerable new things, lived some serious life in close community, and learned many lessons that can’t be taught by books or teachers alone. The culmination of these many events has brought me here to Khao Lak, Thailand, so here we go.
In 2004 a magnitude 9.0 earthquakes occurred in the Indian ocean resulting in a series of Tsunami waves devastating bordering Asian countries including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Somalia, and Thailand. Over 280,000 people lost their lives and millions were subsequently affected. Among these thousands of people affected on the coast of Thailand were colonies of gypsies who lived on boats in the ocean. One specific colony we are privileged with the opportunity of spending significant time with now take up residence on land not far from their former water homes. Unfortunately these sea gypsies are looked down upon in the Thai culture. They have never been granted Thai citizenship although they have lived here their whole lives and many of the members of the colony are uneducated and illiterate. The families in the community earn income through harvesting crops such as lemon grass and these peculiar little nuts found in local palm trees.
catch the evil spirits and keep the families safe. Animals can be looked at as sacred in some cases and offered as sacrifices in others. The spirits of their ancestors and traditions passed through bloodlines seem to shape their worship. I would think typical of communities with little outside influence and minimal education their belief system tends to be rather fickle. More or less based upon whatever their most recent experience is for example, our contact and translator Dianne (Her American name she says) observed a bottle of water in the house of a man suffering from Parkinson’s disease, whom she helps exercise, and he told her it was blessed water given probably by a local shaman. She gave him a bottle of purified water and prayed over it. He kept it in his house and the next day felt a little better, so naturally he now believes it to be Christian God blessed water and has made it a permanent fixture in his house. It is encouraging to know the community is open to us coming in and spending time with them, but much prayer is needed to break down the walls of these misunderstood people’s hearts. In the 6 years Di
anne has been ministering in the gypsy communities not 1 member has come to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Granted there is a language barrier with many of the people who by in large speak their own modified version of Thai, and likely before Dianne they had never even heard the name of Jesus, yet it is still a disheartening statistic. Thankfully the message of Jesus is there is always hope. Through your prayers accompanied by our time in the community God is more than capable of breaking down these many boundaries. I believe he could instill divine understanding of his grace and love in the hearts of these beloved people and I hope you will join us in this mission. I hope to bring you many wonderful stories of God’s wreckless grace this month. Thank you for your continued support. Love yall, Dex.
