3 Days Left in Outreach

Well, I know that its been less than a week since my last update, but I’m trying to get back into the routine of updating the blog on weekends, so here its goes.

            So, I just finished up my laundry, and now I’m listening to a CD my sister sent me (Jon Bryant- Two Coasts for Comfort, check it out, its amazing) and enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. Now let me tell you something, when I first came to Thailand, hand-washing my laundry was kind of fun, actually it was rather relaxing. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the fun has worn off a little bit. In all honesty, I don’t mind the actual washing part (except for the socks, they’re wretched pieces of clothing that get the dirtiest by far, and they are expected to be so white when you’re done washing them, plus, you get not one, but two of them dirty every day!) Anyways, the washing is not so bad, it’s the wringing them out to dry and then waiting for them to dry that gets me. You see, if you wash a thick sweater, you have to make sure you wring it out REALLY well, and that it will dry within the day, if it doesn’t dry during the day, then it gets dew on it overnight, starting the drying process all over again. And if it doesn’t dry properly the first time, it’s most likely going to smell nasty. I have a sweater that I’ve washed three times and it still stinks. I’ve given up on that one until I can bring it into town to wash and dry it, that’s the only way to guarantee it will smell good. I will be thankful to have a washer and dryer when I get home.

            Sorry that you had to fall victim to my little vent session about the laundry, I’ll do my best not to let it happen again, although I can’t make any promises. :) The work in the tea field is done, yay! Although I’m sure that if we asked, more work could be found for us up there. This week we attacked a hill with our hoes and made levels with rock walls. It kind of looks like an RV park now if that makes any sense. We had to pick through rock piles to find good-sized stones for the retaining walls. As it turns out, there are a lot of little creatures that call rock piles their homes. I can’t even begin to count how many scorpions we killed.

            Work in the school has also been going well, although, with all their days off, we’ve had to read through the Bible stories so fast. Tomorrow, even though the kids don’t have school, we’ve invited them to come and listen to us tell the Jesus story. Hopefully lots of them show up. We teach them again for the last time on Tuesday, and then we pack up and leave on Wednesday to go to a different place for debriefing.

            On Friday morning, we split into our little groups of three and went to the houses we were assigned. Pong, Gai, and I ended up in Asaweend’s house. He’s a 9-year-old boy whose Gr. 3 class I teach in. He’s the youngest in his family, him, his mom, his dad, and his oldest brother live in the house together. There are five other kids in the family, but all of them are in the city for schooling. On Friday, we went to their flower fields, where we spent the day pulling the leaves off the bottom half of the flower stems. If the leaves are left on, they take all the nutrients from the ground, and then the flower itself doesn’t get enough. It was a lot of crouching and squatting. I was totally fine doing it for one day, but I have a respect for them for being able to do it all the time. On Monday Asaweend’s mom and brother will cut one of their other fields of flowers. They are able to get anywhere from 1 Baht- 4 Baht (3-14 cents) per flower depending on the grade of flower.

            That night, after dinner, we spent some time praying with the family for whatever prayer requests they had. The next day we didn’t do a whole lot of work, but Asaweend’s mom took us to their other fields and showed us around. I got to try sugar cane for the first time, which was fun. It’s really good. She also shared with us some of the problems that she has within her family. Six months ago, her husband told her he wanted a divorce. He needed to get out of the house, so he went to spend the night at the flower fields. When he tried to go to sleep, evil spirits came and he says he almost died. After that he started questioning what he was doing. He prayed to God and asked him for forgiveness for wanting to leave his wife, and went back home. They’ve been doing a lot better since then. Crazy eh?

            Some good/bad news that we’ve got from one of the other outreach teams is that one of them is in the hospital. Her name is E.E., her, her husband Tun and their two kids (the boy is almost one, and the girl is 3) are all in this DTS together. Anyways, she’s been in the hospital for a few days with a high fever and she’s been really sick. The bad news is that she has pneumonia, the exciting news is that she’s pregnant! The doctors didn’t know she was pregnant when she first came to the hospital, so we’re praying that the baby is still okay seeing as E.E. has had such a high fever for a couple days, which could have a really bad impact on the baby. They’re moving her to a different hospital today or tomorrow I think, so that she can have better treatment. So hopefully her and the baby will both be healthy again soon.

            Anyways, that’s about it for this little update. Some prayer requests

1.     E.E., the baby, and her husband and kids. Also for the team who has been helping take care of the kids while Tun stays with E.E. in the hospital

2.     Asaweend’s family’s prayer requests:

·       That their oldest son will be able to go into Chiang Mai and complete a two year course to be a lawyer

·       That their fields will produce lots of flowers

·       That they will have enough money to build a new house

·       That the dad will give himself completely to God and not go back and forth between God and spirit worship

3.     That our team will push through and give 100% in these last couple days of outreach

4.     A revival in the village that we’re in. A lot of people here come to church off and on, but don’t really understand the real meaning of being a Christian

Well, I will be seeing most of you in 3 WEEKS!!!!! Bizarre!

Today’s Fun Fact:

Geckos like to poop on beds. Actually more accurately, geckos like to poop on pillows. Luckily the gecko living in my room hasn’t aimed for my pillow yet.