Nung, Song, Sam (1,2,3)
Our time is winding down an our intensity increasing; we want so badly to finish strong. For three months, almost, we've been focused on individuals but I think our perspective is starting to widen as the end of outreach is approaching; realizing that these problems and injustices that we have seen will still exist when we leave. Questions such as, "What do we really have to offer these people?" are beginning to surface; but I think these questions are a result of our hearts feeling the difference between restoration and prevention work as well as the difference between short-term and long term missions.
These past couple of weeks we've really been able to minister to the kids in the red light district which has its ups and downs. The upside is getting to love on kids and just bless them. The downside is that THERE ARE KIDS WORKING IN A RED LIGHT DISTRICT!!! I got a really good dose of culture one night when our Thai translator and I were discussing the kids being there and he said how it was an honor for those kids to make money for their families, that if they didn't come and work that their families wouldn't eat. A little more culture than I wanted to hear, to be honest. I adamantly replied that I didn't care, it's not the child's responsibility to put food on the table but he disagreed. --> Just a small taste of the cultural "values" we go up against everyday. But then again that's what makes battling injustice so complex because it's not just an action or a crime that needs correction, it's often times a worldview that is painted by culture and tradition sometimes dating hundreds of years back.
One cute thing happened with one of the kids. I arm wrestled him and he won so we asked him if he wanted a rotee, he said no; we asked if he wanted a soda but again he said no; then we asked if he wanted to go to 7-11 and his eyes lit up. So Robert and I put him on our shoulders and were cheering "CHAMPION!" He was cheering and celebrating as if he was Rocky Balboa (except not melodramatic like Sylvester Stalone). We took him to 7-11 and told him to pick out his prize, to get whatever he wanted, and his eyes got all big and aglow; he picked out some Pringles, a drink and some candy after some coaxing and reassuring.
These past couple of weeks we've really been able to minister to the kids in the red light district which has its ups and downs. The upside is getting to love on kids and just bless them. The downside is that THERE ARE KIDS WORKING IN A RED LIGHT DISTRICT!!! I got a really good dose of culture one night when our Thai translator and I were discussing the kids being there and he said how it was an honor for those kids to make money for their families, that if they didn't come and work that their families wouldn't eat. A little more culture than I wanted to hear, to be honest. I adamantly replied that I didn't care, it's not the child's responsibility to put food on the table but he disagreed. --> Just a small taste of the cultural "values" we go up against everyday. But then again that's what makes battling injustice so complex because it's not just an action or a crime that needs correction, it's often times a worldview that is painted by culture and tradition sometimes dating hundreds of years back.
One cute thing happened with one of the kids. I arm wrestled him and he won so we asked him if he wanted a rotee, he said no; we asked if he wanted a soda but again he said no; then we asked if he wanted to go to 7-11 and his eyes lit up. So Robert and I put him on our shoulders and were cheering "CHAMPION!" He was cheering and celebrating as if he was Rocky Balboa (except not melodramatic like Sylvester Stalone). We took him to 7-11 and told him to pick out his prize, to get whatever he wanted, and his eyes got all big and aglow; he picked out some Pringles, a drink and some candy after some coaxing and reassuring.
This week we've started doing kids ministry in a nearby slum. Tuesday was our first day out there and we decided to just spend our first day sussing it out and seeing what we have to work with but to go out there with face paint and just break the ice. We painted our own faces so that they could see what we were talking about it. They responded exactly like we thought they would, they were terrified. Not only were we probably some of the first white people these kids had ever come in contact with but we looked like aliens. Most kids we're afraid to come too close to us but once they realized we weren't ghosts they began to warm up to the face paint and to us. Next thing we knew we were overflowing with kids and their requests for what animal they wanted to have painted on their face. It was amazing! It never ceases to amaze me how, once kids realize you're for real, they open up to you and just unfold with trust. It's a beautiful thing that unfortunately is often overlooked or manipulated. Those kids are so beautiful and each one of them reminds me of some Compassion International campaign poster making it almost eerie/painful to look at them.
The slum itself was a lot to take in. You can't help but think how unfair it is for people to have to live like this; how at the end of the day it's only God's grace that kept you from being born in that place. It makes me even more determined to honor the grace that's been given to me by letting this life of privilege not be spent on me in vain.
We've got 8 days of ministry in Chiang Mai left then it's debrief week. We've already started on our debrief packet and are starting to process these past 5 months as well as begin to really process what's after DTS. As for me, my application for staffing the next school is being processed; I'm waiting for a reference to come in. My re-entry to the States will be much different than most because I'm not leaving the mission field and I'm not trying to figure out the next step. My purpose in going home is simple...family first and foremost, to share my stories with people and raise more support as I start my career as a full-time missionary. Nevertheless, leaving is still hard. A lot of feelings from Ukraine are resurfacing; feeling like I'm being taken away from the mission field, finally feeling home and then forced to leave, and feeling scared I won't be allowed to return. What's so ironic about all these past feelings resurfacing is that they're completely irrelevant, they don't apply anymore and they're not the case. I'm not being stripped away, I'm just having a sabbatical. Who knows when I'll get to be with my family for a whole 3 months again. I'm excited to be with them and to see them; it's gonna be great to catch up and make new memories to carry us through the next stretch. I think it's just the enemy because they're complete lies and that's what he's good at so....I'm just not having any of it.
I'm really excited to be back in NZ, see everyone from DTS, and friends I made on the streets. It's going to be cold when we get back, which will either be wonderful or miserable depending on how our bodies decide to handle the major climate shift. The first things I plan on having in Auckland (we've been discussing this with more frequency as our dissatisfaction with rice intensifies) are ginger beer, L&P, Mountain Dew, and fish and chips; possibly all together. I look very forward to other starches besides rice and noodles, like potatoes. I'm totally excited about cheese, we never get because it's so expensive. I'm looking forward to all of my side dishes not being mixed together with the entree; it'll be amazing to have my veggies, meat, etc all separate rather than blended together. I'm not looking forward to paying $8-$10/ meal which is what it costs fir our whole team to eat here. I'm going to make sure to bring back 30 baht, go to the Thai restaurant in Lim Chou on K Road, and politely give them 30 baht for their pad Thai (their plate of pad Thai costs about 260 baht. Ridiculous!!! I could get an hour long full body massage for that!!!!) I will miss the cheap fruit that's readily available, the 7-11s, the ..... What am I doing?! I've still got a week left! Ok rain check on the things I'll miss; we'll save that for the final Thailand post....NEXT WEEK! Oi!