Written: 23 August 2010
My first two weeks are done and I'm currently resting on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Tao which is blissfully quiet as all the other farangs (foreigners) have made their way to Koh Pagnan for the full moon party in 2 days time. Me and Emma however could do with a slower pace!
Week 1:
Was a beautiful introduction to Thailand and its culture and people. The trip started with a flight disaster! My flight to Thailand had an hour stop over in Abu Dhabi, an airport in the middle of the Arabic desert. But somehow on creating my flight ticket my travel agents hadn't included the ticket number for the Abu Dhabi to Bangkok flight. So Emma was allowed on the flight but I couldn't fly, and because we'd checked in together they took both our bags off the flight, not knowing whose was whose! I was stuck at the airport unable to do anything except wait 5 hours for the travel agents to open at 10 o'clock, as it was currently 5 in the morning English time. It eventually got sorted out and I was on the evening flight to Bangkok. That time alone. 14 hours in a highly air conditioned airport, gave me time to pray and realise just how much I was gonna have to trust God for the many things this year that would be totally out of my control. A scary start but it taught me from day one that even in the worst looking scenarios I needn't worry, and I felt like my prayers and the prayers of everyone who knew about it gave peace and a solution to the problem.
Having missed out on my hotel room in Bangkok I thought I might be able to catch breakfast, so boarded the shuttle bus from the airport, lugging bot bags, as the driver agreed that his bus went to my hotel. I had totally forgotten that if a Thai person doesn't understand what you have said they smile and nod! So I ended up in a bus station in the middle of Bangkok! After traipsing around several information places, leaving my passport and papers at one of them, I decided to go back to the airport and wait for Emma there! Reunited finally, we got our flight up to Chiang Rai.
Chiang Rai:
We stayed at a place
called Eden house which takes in and becomes a home to Thai girls living in hopeless or dangerous situations. They currently have 33 girls ranging from around 5 or 6 years old to 17 or 18. Most of them have come from the nearby hill tribes and are often referred to Eden by the local authorities as children at risk. They all go to local schools in Chiang Rai and enjoy love, security, food, clothes, activities and learning about Jesus int he homes. Emma and I took one of the girls cell groups (a small group who study Christianity together and support each other in prayer). We shared our testimonies, studied a part of the bible and prayed with them, they were so keen to hear what we had to say 
about the holy spirit, an issue of great confusion for them. We were able to encourage them in what we saw as their gifts from God. We joined in with a few worship meetings, including one to celebrate Thai mothers day. where we had some of the village mothers come to visit. A very emotional day. We were able to visit one of the older girls from Eden house in Chang Mai, where she had just started English at Uni. It was lovely to see how the girls had fully embraced their new family at Eden and were so in love with God. The couple from America who ran Eden house took us up to the hill villages to see their way of life, to learn the many cultural differences here and to hear about the stories behind some of the girls. Stories of grugs, murder, HIV and poverty, however, our visits also showed us the tranquil and self sufficient village life. We visited another former Eden house girl in the village who had just had a baby, and learned about the lack of freedom Thailand gives to village people. They are not considered citizens of Thailand so have no passports and if they leave the country they cannot return, they are trapped and are unable to own land, forcing them to precariously farm on the steep sides of the hills. We visited a village tribe with another missionary family from America, who ha
d been building relations slowly with the people. Then a village leader invited us into his hut for some tea and tribal gifts. We were able to pray we them and for his sick little girl, thanks to the American family's fluency in Thai. On the way out we passed a strange sight in amongst the gorgeous stilted bamboo huts, a western looking brick church. It was overgrown and unused because the pastors that had been trained up to work there preferred to work where there was more money for an income. Some of the villagers claimed to be Christian and we had a warm welcome, which left me to question how would I feel if people from another country and religion had come to my village and built a place of worship and talked to me about changing my faith, I'm not sure I would have been so welcoming, I guess it depends how it was done and whether God's love shone through with every built relationship. I was beginning a journey into the realities of Christian mission with many questions to find answers to. Like whether building a western looking church is necessary when God loves different cultures and expres
sions of faith, or maybe it is a helpful starting point to practicing such a different faith? Could church not have been like our meeting and prayer in the leader's hut? I was beginning to see many western ideas to solve eastern problems of poverty, but it lead me to question what really is poverty? In many ways these hill tribes were far richer than me with their self-sufficient skills of surviving and living often without running water or electricity. In a world with dramatically reducing energy supplies I couldn't help feeling like we should be learning from them. And what really is mission? I heard and saw some fantastic ideas at creating community and reducing poverty but wondered if a totally western idea would create too much dependence upon the westerners for its success, in turn reducing the Independence and self-sufficiency of the villagers. Thais know how to be Thai and relate to the culture infinitely more than westerners. Would a better solution be to communicate with the villagers and allow them the space to create ideas using the skills they have to relieve the poverty, using westerns as guides and fund starters, that would put the power back with the people? But maybe the people don't even feel like they are poor? It is easy to question as I am not actually trying to be a poverty solver or missionary in Thailand, and I'm sure the missionaries here have asked these questions. I have no answers and no judgement, only questions. One thing I cannot question is the genuine heart for the Thai people that the missionaries I met hold closely.
My first two weeks are done and I'm currently resting on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Tao which is blissfully quiet as all the other farangs (foreigners) have made their way to Koh Pagnan for the full moon party in 2 days time. Me and Emma however could do with a slower pace!
Week 1:
Was a beautiful introduction to Thailand and its culture and people. The trip started with a flight disaster! My flight to Thailand had an hour stop over in Abu Dhabi, an airport in the middle of the Arabic desert. But somehow on creating my flight ticket my travel agents hadn't included the ticket number for the Abu Dhabi to Bangkok flight. So Emma was allowed on the flight but I couldn't fly, and because we'd checked in together they took both our bags off the flight, not knowing whose was whose! I was stuck at the airport unable to do anything except wait 5 hours for the travel agents to open at 10 o'clock, as it was currently 5 in the morning English time. It eventually got sorted out and I was on the evening flight to Bangkok. That time alone. 14 hours in a highly air conditioned airport, gave me time to pray and realise just how much I was gonna have to trust God for the many things this year that would be totally out of my control. A scary start but it taught me from day one that even in the worst looking scenarios I needn't worry, and I felt like my prayers and the prayers of everyone who knew about it gave peace and a solution to the problem.
Having missed out on my hotel room in Bangkok I thought I might be able to catch breakfast, so boarded the shuttle bus from the airport, lugging bot bags, as the driver agreed that his bus went to my hotel. I had totally forgotten that if a Thai person doesn't understand what you have said they smile and nod! So I ended up in a bus station in the middle of Bangkok! After traipsing around several information places, leaving my passport and papers at one of them, I decided to go back to the airport and wait for Emma there! Reunited finally, we got our flight up to Chiang Rai.
Chiang Rai:
We stayed at a place
called Eden house which takes in and becomes a home to Thai girls living in hopeless or dangerous situations. They currently have 33 girls ranging from around 5 or 6 years old to 17 or 18. Most of them have come from the nearby hill tribes and are often referred to Eden by the local authorities as children at risk. They all go to local schools in Chiang Rai and enjoy love, security, food, clothes, activities and learning about Jesus int he homes. Emma and I took one of the girls cell groups (a small group who study Christianity together and support each other in prayer). We shared our testimonies, studied a part of the bible and prayed with them, they were so keen to hear what we had to say 
about the holy spirit, an issue of great confusion for them. We were able to encourage them in what we saw as their gifts from God. We joined in with a few worship meetings, including one to celebrate Thai mothers day. where we had some of the village mothers come to visit. A very emotional day. We were able to visit one of the older girls from Eden house in Chang Mai, where she had just started English at Uni. It was lovely to see how the girls had fully embraced their new family at Eden and were so in love with God. The couple from America who ran Eden house took us up to the hill villages to see their way of life, to learn the many cultural differences here and to hear about the stories behind some of the girls. Stories of grugs, murder, HIV and poverty, however, our visits also showed us the tranquil and self sufficient village life. We visited another former Eden house girl in the village who had just had a baby, and learned about the lack of freedom Thailand gives to village people. They are not considered citizens of Thailand so have no passports and if they leave the country they cannot return, they are trapped and are unable to own land, forcing them to precariously farm on the steep sides of the hills. We visited a village tribe with another missionary family from America, who ha
d been building relations slowly with the people. Then a village leader invited us into his hut for some tea and tribal gifts. We were able to pray we them and for his sick little girl, thanks to the American family's fluency in Thai. On the way out we passed a strange sight in amongst the gorgeous stilted bamboo huts, a western looking brick church. It was overgrown and unused because the pastors that had been trained up to work there preferred to work where there was more money for an income. Some of the villagers claimed to be Christian and we had a warm welcome, which left me to question how would I feel if people from another country and religion had come to my village and built a place of worship and talked to me about changing my faith, I'm not sure I would have been so welcoming, I guess it depends how it was done and whether God's love shone through with every built relationship. I was beginning a journey into the realities of Christian mission with many questions to find answers to. Like whether building a western looking church is necessary when God loves different cultures and expres
sions of faith, or maybe it is a helpful starting point to practicing such a different faith? Could church not have been like our meeting and prayer in the leader's hut? I was beginning to see many western ideas to solve eastern problems of poverty, but it lead me to question what really is poverty? In many ways these hill tribes were far richer than me with their self-sufficient skills of surviving and living often without running water or electricity. In a world with dramatically reducing energy supplies I couldn't help feeling like we should be learning from them. And what really is mission? I heard and saw some fantastic ideas at creating community and reducing poverty but wondered if a totally western idea would create too much dependence upon the westerners for its success, in turn reducing the Independence and self-sufficiency of the villagers. Thais know how to be Thai and relate to the culture infinitely more than westerners. Would a better solution be to communicate with the villagers and allow them the space to create ideas using the skills they have to relieve the poverty, using westerns as guides and fund starters, that would put the power back with the people? But maybe the people don't even feel like they are poor? It is easy to question as I am not actually trying to be a poverty solver or missionary in Thailand, and I'm sure the missionaries here have asked these questions. I have no answers and no judgement, only questions. One thing I cannot question is the genuine heart for the Thai people that the missionaries I met hold closely.