Anyways, we traveled down to Pattaya.But on the way we stopped by the Detroit of the East (who knew!) and hung out with some good family friends, the Herrmanns: We stayed up late after the kids passed out and played speed scrabble and Euchre!It was a lot of fun being around people (and teaching them facebook and talking about apple computers) from home even if it was for like 16 hours.
Then it was down to Pattaya.We showed up at this orphanage and it completely broke our hearts what these children have gone through and where they have come from.Pattaya is a much smaller city then Bangkok but the amount of sex industry workers is unbelievable.So you can imagine the backgrounds of these children and the necessity of the work that is being done at the Mercy House.They sent us to the backyard with a weedwacker, extension chord, hedge clippers, and a bucket.The backyard of the home was in bad need of edging and poisonous snakes had begun to sneak into the yard beneath the concrete fence and were making homes in the edge growth.We killed no snakes, but many weeds.
We headed downtown to beat the party crowd, find a guesthouse, and set up our plan for the water bottle distribution center, but ran into some problems.No inexpensive guesthouses were available (who would have thought on New Years Eve in party central, Thailand).By 4:30 we had wondered all over and exhausted ourselves trying to find a place.We were warned by many people about Pattaya.Many missionaries, Thailand residents (foreign and Thai), and even our travel books told us that it was a dark place.And by 4:30 that day, we really felt it.I sat down to eat some KaPaoGai and Oliver and I started sharing what we were thinking and seeing in this place.Oliver couldn't even eat he was so disgusted (okay may he was a little sick).I think I saw more old foreign males on the street then Thai males, and many had a very young Thai girl on their arm, and this is from 2:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon!
I may butcher these statistics so please look them up for yourself somewhere (Google it or something),Thailand's economy is based mainly around tourism.Anyone can see this, it is a beautiful place and people should vacation there.But of those tourists 62% are unaccompanied males.I don't know how many of those males are involved in sex tourism, but that is a lot of men traveling to a country alone.I hope there is a group somewhere in internetland that is Thailand Tourists Against Sex Traffickingor a group along those lines (again Google it or something).We made the decision that because of the atmosphere, tiredness of our bodies, lack of a room, weirdness of stomach, and a funny feeling in our spirit, that it would be best to get back to Bangkok.We did and both were fast asleep when the clock struck 2009.Now, five days into the new year, I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Crazy days it has been.We went taxi, to train, to tuk-tuk, to foot, to bus, to taxi, to tuk-tuk, to moto, to foot, and to new contact!We met lots of great people along the way, and definitely had some American personal space boundaries broken.This is us in a Thai tuk-tuk, with Rob from Oklahoma:
Cambodia is a very different place from Thailand, mainly Cambodia has real coffee; being a French colony at one point coffee and bread are abundant.Cambodia is very behind its economically booming neighbor, but we are taking to this place quite well, even driving around in it at night: We met some friends at church and our contact convinced us to just take the car and meet them.We got wildly lost, but Oliver felt like he was back behind the wheel of old Mother Mayleye.Gotta love Toyota Camry hatchbacks (Oliver's 1994 & Mordegi's 1985!)
This is Mordegi, he is one of the most hardcore guys I know.We are living in the upper room in his house and it has been a blast.This is basically what goes on:
Yes, and after some muddin' he sets up a medical clinic in a village, and shares the Gospel.Since we don't know how to do medical stuff, we mostly play with kids and help him get organized:
We even tried to organize a game of baseball (with a stick and what looked like petrified cow dung), we failed, but the kids had a blast.
Oliver and I have this ongoing competition over who's home schools have more apparel in Asia.So far Texas Longhorns: 2, Michigan Wolverines: 0... It is just that type of year. No one, even in the 3rd world, wants to rep U of M! Alright till next time, we love you guys!And please keep praying.And, to our moms...we love you!
Well its Christmas here in Bangkok, and of course we miss everyone. We plan on being up very late and running out of skype credit, but it will be well worth it just to be able to talk to all of you our faithful crew. As you can tell by our pictures it is freezing here in Thailand, several feet of snow have fallen and we are snowed in! Can you hear the sarcasm. The only thing white about this Christmas is the salty sweat stains on our sweet Tulsa tank tops that we wore everyday while working in the balmy south of Phuket, google it its gorgeous! It is a little weird being out of the country during the holidays, but i was actually thinking that when i grow up, ha ya right, that i would make my kids spend at least one Christmas overseas. It would really teach them, and has already taught me, the real meaning of Christmas. Its funny what i miss...its for sure not presents. Its the times spent with family and friends over an amazing meal, not noodles of fire please I'm dying, catching up on whats going on with the fam, and he stupid traditions that only we get. My extended family does secret santa, and it never fails that something exciting will occur. The best time i remember was one Christmas my cousin forgot to buy my little brother a present. It was so funny, he just grabbes 60 bucks and gave it to him, it ended uop being a hilarious story and turned out to be the most expensive gift given. Then next year we rigged the raffle so that he drew his name again, and he baught him a African American History board game, such a great memory. Thailand however has braught many amazing memories and experiencies. Last night me and Josh feeling a little nastalgic, watched Charlie Brown Christmas. As we sat there silently attentive, it felt like home, and all was normal in the world!
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!! - Oliver
In case you haven't watched them this season yet: Charlie Brown Christmas part 1, 2, & 3 Garfield Christmas part 1, 2, & 3
Welcome to Christmas in Asia, this is actually what it feels like over here!!!
We served some excellent Thai food to an elderly community for a Christmas celebration. Oliver worked as backwait staff, and I got to bust out my server skills. It was a lot of fun. I felt like I was back at my high school job at Fox Run Retirement Community. We joined a YWAM team for the outreach and it looks like we are going to be working with them a bunch in the next couple days.
Tuesday:
While talking on monday with one of the YWAM team members they suggested we visit a temple in order to get a better feel for the nation's spiritual atmosphere. So we jumped on a bus and rode it all the way downtown (1.5 hours).
We spent also of time in silence praying, observing, and journaling while in the grounds of Wat Pho. After walking out of the forty-six meters long and fifteen meter high Reclining Buddha, I was a little shaken up from the intensity of the atmosphere, but Oliver had one thing to say. He said, "Is that the biggest one they got!?" I was glad we went and experienced the temple, it pushes me on much stronger to make known the Good News. Speaking of Good News, while walking in the temple ground we heard some Thais celebrating the birth of Christ:
Then we sat in this for three hours to make it back to the YWAM base for a Christmas Party Outreach. We have been listening to and singing tons of Christmas carols, and I admit, despite every Christmas tradition I have done my whole life is near impossible here in Bangkok, it is beginning to feel like Christmas.
-Josh
Monday, December 22, 2008
NEW VID CHECK IT!!!
Since this video really still doesn't want to work, go to our YouTube to view it.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Well...It has been a crazy first two weeks in Thailand! To give you a lil taste of the craziness we came here having never met anyone, and only having contact with one faceless person. Well two weeks later and we still have not met this hombre, and we have made three other contacts just by Gods providence. Our trip to the south started off with a 12 hour bus ride to Krabi. From there we went to Railai Beach and camped out in a backpacker village, living on mango and sticky rice for two days. We then got onto another bus, four hours this time, and headed to Phuket, one of the areas hit hardest by the tsunami of 2004. We worked with a couple from So Cal, who have been living in a poor part of the island for ten months. WIth them, we practiced the common catch phrase, "Preace the Gospel, using words if you have too." SInce March, the man we were staying with has been clearing out vacant lots of weeds and overgrowth, and cleaning up the roads which were a complete mess. It is an awesome testimony to sweat for the salvation of a community, and it opens so many doors. The simplest forms of ministry can often lead to the biggest breakthroughs. We then went to a small village in Krabi, Thailande worked with a national there by the name of Radt. From her, the biggest thing I learned was that ministry starts in your own backyard. Her father is a local pastor, and his heart turned from the church he started to the poor area behind his house. The government had set up a little projects area, and he has started holding church and childrens services in the community center. We got there and immediately put on two childrens services on Saturday, and then another childrens service on Sunday, then we spoke at the adults service. We also got to pass out Christmas presents to the children thanks to the awesome donations of Operation Christmas Child. From there we went into a village called Au Nong. We stayed with a couple from San Francisco, and they LOVED Muay Thai. God can totally use all of our gifts, and fighting is no exceptoin. Because of their Muay Thai affiliations, they gained access to a Muslim village that is completely closed off to Christianity, but they are treated like family. God can use any of our giftings and our talents to proclaim his name. We then went back to Phuket to clean more streets and clear out more vacant lots. Now we are back in Bangkok after an all night bus ride. What does Father have in store for us...your guess is as good as mine, but I know that it will change Thailand, and shape this country into exactly what God's sovreign plan wants it to be!
- Oliver This is Dana. He is one dude with an attitude! Five days a week he goes into the community and does yardwork on public land that has been neglected since the tsunami. The other two days he pastors a church, and takes his wife out on a whole day date. Dana and Cindy are missionaries from So Cal and thats their dog Muttly who totally has three legs. This is Radt...she is rad...so is her dad...dont be mad...be glad! Heads shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes First off hilarious in the fact that he was wearin a full outfit of masked rider gear, and i really look like i ate some bad noodles but i didn't. This is Radt's father, a man that we lovingly refer to as the road warrior. He is an intense man of God, a great pastor, and a pheonominal community leader. He retired from pastoring, but then built a church behind his home so that those living in the government land in his community would have a place to go for church. He also had a sick protective vest that Rhys is striking a pose with while riding on the back of this motorbike-with-a-sick-side-cart. There is nothing quite like a little red light, green light to re-inforce the good news. Radt's father, the road warrior, agganged for the children in his community to recieve Christmas presents through Operation Christmas Child. I have been on the side of making these boxes, but it was an awesome experience to see children recieving the boxes. One of the many photo-ops that the road warrior had us pose for. When you pack boxes be sure to inculde winner items like this. This little guy wore those glasses for most of the church service and sharing a testimony while looking at that was just plain sweet! Some missionaries of Muay Thai...super legit and some peeps that you really wouldnt wanna mess with! We did take some time to hit the beach and saw lots of sun. This was my favorite. Here's those feet! They have held up so far, keep praying they follow Christ's footsteps.
We stayed up late after the kids passed out and played speed scrabble and Euchre! It was a lot of fun being around people (and teaching them facebook and talking about apple computers) from home even if it was for like 16 hours.
We met some friends at church and our contact convinced us to just take the car and meet them. We got wildly lost, but Oliver felt like he was back behind the wheel of old Mother Mayleye. Gotta love Toyota Camry hatchbacks (Oliver's 1994 & Mordegi's 1985!)
This is Mordegi, he is one of the most hardcore guys I know. We are living in the upper room in his house and it has been a blast. This is basically what goes on:
Alright till next time, we love you guys! And please keep praying. And, to our moms...we love you!
