Seasons

     The last month of the World Race for the August 2009 squad was spent in Thailand.  My team, which consisted of Chelsea, Halley, Lacey, Nick, Priscilla, Brenda, Brittany, and myself, spent three weeks in Chang Mai working with Emmi and her cafe team at the WonGen Coffee Shop.  

 

   

      After two days of our arrival to Chang Mai, a YWAM DTS team came in from New Zealand and camped with us at the Lighthouse Hostel.  My team, we named ourselves “Redeemed”, worked the morning shift at WonGen, leaving the Lighthouse via our private tuktuk at 9:15am.  We would put out the signs, sweep, mop, clean the tables, straighten up the lounge pillows, refill syrup bottles, clean dishes….whatever needed to be done, we would help out to do.  Then around 11:00am, we would have team feedback/prayer time, and at 11:30am we headed out to two campuses (the University of Chang Mai campus, which was located directly across WonGen cafe and the Technicollege which was two blocks east of WonGen) and distributed brochures, advertisements, and coupons, inviting students to be part of WonGen’s promotion programs:  afternoon English conversational “classes”, Games and Karaoke night, Movie night (and of course, eat the delicious foods there….spaghetti, chicken fajitas, beef nachos, all-u-can-eat-within-1-hour ice cream buffet, smoothies, lattes, and much more). By 2:00pm, we have had lunch at WonGen and then head out in our private tuktuk to the Lighthouse for some R&R before we hit the streets of the redlight district for our evening ministry that started at 9:00pm.  That was our daily schedule, Mondays-Saturdays.  Sundays were our days off, so we used that day to rest and/or go shopping at the night markets. 

            

    The second Sunday that we were there, we planned for a day excursion to ride elephants, swim in a waterfall pool, visit a tribal village, and raft a river on bamboo rafts.  I enjoyed riding the elephant, although the elephant that I rode was carrying two other people, and it was pregnant, so I felt bad for her.  We fed her an extra helping of bananas, so I hope that made up for the hard work she went through carrying three people and a little ele around.  One of the male elephants in the parade started to direct a female elephant off course.  I think he wanted some alone time with her.  Whoa there nelli!! World Race flag!! Get back on course! The waterfall was pretty, but the water was mucky.  The only bathing I did was shade bathing.  Ahhhh.  The tribal village was like a tourist trap to buy artifacts and crafts made locally. BUT the bamboo rafting was a splash!!  I had so much fun rafting and playing “Pirate” as guys and gals were jumping from raft to raft getting “looty” (the bamboo sticks used for steering) and kicking pirate booty. Ahoy Matey!!

 

 

 

       Yet, one of the most memorable seasons of this year was when Lacey and I witnessed the harvest of one life into God’s Kingdom.  Her name is Tai.  We met Tai the second evening of our night out to the red light district.  She came to Chang Mai from Bangkok with her friend, and they worked together at the bar where we met Tai, but soon after their arrival to Chang Mai, her friend left to be with her boyfriend, and Tai was left to work as a cashier at the bar with no friends to hang out with.  So, we were Tai’s new friends and we tried visiting her every night, some nights just talking, other nights playing Jenga with her.  Lacey and I would always try to invite her for lunch or early dinner somewhere so we could talk at a normal voice level, and not having to compete with loud music, but it never panned out for her.  Until one day, the day before Tai left for Bangkok and two days before we left Chang Mai, Lacey and I finally got to have lunch with Tai.  It was a great time of sharing and getting to know Tai some more.  We told her a little about what we did for the past year and then let her know that we would be leaving in two days, but there was Someone she can be friends with forever, and He would never leave her.  She asked us who this would be.  We told her Jesus.  Her eyes lit up.  She wanted to know more about how He could be her friend.  That day we introduced Jesus to her and that evening she text us with this:  “Thank you to make me realize this wide world is not so lonely, and wish you going ahead confidently with your faith. (Me Happy)”  We left a Thai Bible for Tai at her place of work, so hopefully, as of right now, she is reading the book and getting to know her Best Friend better.

 

        The last week of June was our debriefing week.  To this day, however, I am still debriefing.  It is not easy processing through a year of so many changes while life continues to bring new adventures my way.  How does one process the learning experiences of one year while currently processing the learning experiences of the here and now?  I think I need to upgrade my single processor to a dual-processor. 🙂

        Thank you all for your financial support and prayers for this trip.  I really learned alot through it all….alot about the world, about different countries and their cultures, about survival, and about myself.  Life is an adventure and that is where you will find me.  If you want to continue to keep in touch, befriend me on Facebook. Thank you again.  Love you all!