New Year’s Eve. First day at Wongen Kafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Our ministry site and home (above the coffee shop) for the month! [Check out the awesome organization! www.lighthouseinaction.org]
Some of the first floating lanterns we saw on the streets. Since we weren’t in Thailand for the Festival of Lights in November, I was ecstatic to find out that we’d still be seeing lanterns on New Year’s Eve!
Walking the red light district on NYE.
Angry Birds are everywhere… even in the form of floating lanterns!
View of the Chiang Mai NYE Countdown craziness from the second story of a McDonald’s.
Fireworks and lanterns all across the sky, officially marking the start of 2013! It was amazing to be a part of this.
And then the ladies of Team Redemption Valley bought and let off their own lantern! (for 50 baht = $1.66)
Street food galore- I bought pad thai, sushi, spicy seafood udon, green tea, and coconut banana bread all for the equivalent of $4.50!
The beautiful Cathy Carty looking up at the awesomeness in the sky. 🙂
Amanda Grimwood feeling the breeze at the back of a songtaew (jeepney). First ride of 2013!
On New Year’s Day, we visited a couple of Buddhist temples nearby to learn more about the Thai culture.
There were so many of these charms and heart bells lining the temple. My heart breaks for these people who are worshiping idols that are not real, living, and responsive like our God is. I’m praying that in this predominantly Buddhist area and country, the true and living God will continue to penetrate through layers of brokenness and desperation to draw His people back home.
Buddhist coin offerings. I’d never actually seen this before. Though this was a tourist temple, there were lots of worshipers, especially since it was New Year’s Day.
I feel so blessed to be here. Here in THAILAND. To begin another year, hopefully my new best year! I love the ministry, the food, the friends I’ve made. I love the coffee shop we’re living above and the vision of Emmi, who started it all.
Our ministry base and home this month is WonGen Kafe in Chiang Mai, a major city in northern Thailand. WonGen Kafe (“Won/1 Generation”) is one of the three main branches of a Emmi’s amazing relational ministry called Lighthouse in Action. WonGen is a cafe that aims to serve the university students in the area through food, music, and friendships through English tutoring, game nights, open mic nights, and awesome conversations. Love Acts is another branch that ‘loves through actions’ in the red-light district of Chiang Mai. They mainly love and build relationships with the girls, ladyboys, and children in/near the bars. The third branch is called X-Life, which focuses on the rural villages from which many people are trafficked. They target the root of the sex trafficking issue, hoping to prevent further trafficking and spread God’s love by living with and working with the locals in the village.
So the ladies of Team Tumbler and all of Team Redemption Valley (an all-female team) are living above WonGen Kafe and ministering in and near it. We’re building relationships through English tutoring, game nights, open mic nights, and lunches on the university campuses across the street (Chiang Mai University- 35,000 students, and Techno- 10,000 students). It’s cool to be living what feels like more of a ‘normal’ life here and incorporating ministry as a lifestyle. It still feels a bit weird to me, almost like I’m not on the Race, because this month is probably going to have been the most comfortable and urban month. But God calls us to reach all people everywhere, and for this season He has placed us here! It’s certainly a stark contrast to last month’s poverty-stricken barangays in the Philippines, but I’m fully present here and it’s good. As Emmi told us during our orientation, our time at WonGen and in Thailand will truly be what we make of it, what we put in. It’s our choice to invest in relationships; to steward our freedom well; to intentionally love our teammates, the staff, the students, and the locals. I’m so excited to see more and dive deeper!
