Month 9, Thailand, was full of so many new adventures and experiences, including having 2 different types of ministry this month.
The first, I was pretty excited about.
Ministry: Parent Vision Trip (PVT)
Location: Chang Mai, Thailand
Currency: Baht (32 Baht = $1)
Language: Thai
Overview: Parent Vision Trip (PVT) is a week in which a Racer’s parents can come out to the field and live/do ministry with them. During this week, we lived in a hotel, which was by far the nicest place I had stayed all year. We were also in the nicest, most westernized city I had been in since the Race began. We had access to so many things that I hadn’t seen in the 8 months prior. We were able to explore the night market almost every night, see a movie, have American food and even pet elephants and tigers. We took countless tuktuks, my dad ate a scorpion and we visited a Buddhist temple. It was such a fun week full of adventure and free time.
This was taken at a temple where we went to talk to monks. However, we came on a day when new monks were being added into service and we here able to watch that ceremony instead.
What types of ministry did you do for PVT?
We did not get a ton of opportunity for ministry during PVT, sadly. However, we did participate in cultural orientations, go to church, have worship nights, morning devotionals and a Beauty for Ashes women’s event. Also, the men had a day in which they painted a house, so my dad participated in that.
How did you get to ministry?
Most of the things we participated in were close enough to walk. However, if it wasn’t within walking distance, we took songthaews, pronounced “song tow”. These are large red trucks that are covered in the back and have one long bench seat along each side.
What did a typical day look like?
8:15am: Breakfast
9am: Devotional
10am: Church
Noon: Lunch
2pm-5pm: Free Time
5pm: Dinner
6pm-9pm: Worship night
9pm: Night market
We spent our full off day with a couple of other families at an elephant sanctuary up in the mountains. We were able to feed them bananas and swim with them.
The second type of ministry was something I had been wanting to do for a long time, as well.
(This is just some of the notes we wrote in Thai to hand out.)
Ministry: Ask the Lord (ATL)
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Currency: Baht (32 Baht = $1)
Language: Thai
Overview: Ask the Lord (ATL) is an Adventures’ coined term that refers to a more free style type of ministry. Whereas AIM would typically pick out our host, and therefore our city and living arrangements, for us for each month, during ATL they do not. Instead we’re given a budget that should encompass our food, lodging and transport and we find ministry opportunities of our own while relying on the Lords leading. For lodging, we ended up finding a nice air bnb in town for very cheap. We had bunk beds, AC and a bathroom with two showers and two toilets. We even had access to a fridge and a microwave, which is unheard of and there was a 7-11 a 5 minute walk away.
What types of ministry did you do for ATL?
Ministry for ATL was varied. We had the opportunity to tutor kids in English one-on-one at an orphanage; we wrote notes in Thai and passed them out with chocolate; we found a church and went the three Sundays we were there; we participated in evangelism and intercession and even worshipped on street corners. The final few days we were here, we partnered with a ministry called NightLight, who works with sex trafficking victims. With them, we hosted a beauty shop for working girls, worshipped on the street of the red light district and worked in their daycare center.
I met Bee thought the church we found during the ATL part of our month. She is Malaysian, but had lived in the UK for 10 years getting her nursing degree and working, then had been a missionary in Thailand for 30 years and then in Burnai for 5 years. She is an incredible woman and I’m so glad I got to meet her.
How did you get to ministry?
We walked a lot this month, typically miles per day when evangelizing/worshipping. To NightLite, we took the BTS system, essentially a sky train and anywhere else we went we used Uber.
What did a typical day look like?
Our time looked SO different day-to-day, that we don’t really have a typical day. Here is what one of our days looked like though:
7:30am: Walk to BTS station
8:15am: Take BTS
8:30am: Walk to NightLight
9am: Lead worship/testimonies for morning devo
10am-noon: Walk to daycare center/Walk kids to nearby park/Play games with them
Noon: Walk to/Have lunch
1pm-3pm: Walk back to daycare center/Kids have nap + snack/Sing songs + play games with them
3pm: Uber home
3:30pm-7:30pm: Free time/Dinner
7:30pm-9pm: Reflection/Team Time
10pm: Bed
11 Lessons from Thailand:
1. Each year, farmers in northern Thailand will burn their rice fields to make way for new growth the next year.
2. This year, the burning coupled with other environmental factors, caused Thailand to have the worst air pollution in its history and in the world. Air pollution at a level 100 is considered hazardous. Chang Mai was upwards of 500 for the duration of our stay.
3. To prevent sickness, individuals wore face masks everywhere, even inside.
4. Chang Mai is the perfect blend of local culture and modernization. You can find a local food market and get pad Thai or a scorpion for a dollar or you can walk half a block and eat at a Hard Rock Cafe or McDonalds. Haha.
5. Thailand uses Uber, but it is called Grab here.
6. There are many red light districts throughout Thailand and they each have different distinctive attributes. For example, the one my team worked in was known for the clients being solely old men.
7. In Thailand, the women are the providers of the family, but the men get the privilege of education. This leads many women into prostitution as a way to support their families.
8. Because women are the breadwinners, if a family only has a male child, they will raise that child as a female, so that they must provide for the family later on. This is where the large population of ladyboys comes from predominately.
9. Ladyboys also typically end up in prostitution, either in a massage parlor or at a bar.
10. A large population of ladyboys are actually straight, but with limited option for employment and a family to provide for, they end up in working as gay prostitutes.
11. Many of these working women and working ladyboys actually have boyfriends/girlfriends or husbands/wives and children and lives. I even saw a women being dropped off at a bar by her boyfriend the night we were out in the red light district.
We ended Thailand with one final mini debrief before we moved into month 10- Malaysia.
