Thailand mission

Going home -In Singapore - last entry!!

2006-05-03T05:00:00.001-07:00

I believe that God has opened our eyes on this trip. In particular i feel the question: "Am I in control of your life? has been one levelled at me during this mission" What a great question for all of us!

I feel humbled to have engaged with and shared Christ with our team as we have encouraged each other and spoken from the heart during our daily devotionals. Working together in the heat. I have glimpsed servant-hood through the examples set by Pastor Suwat, Ash Anj and Rod, who have surrendered their lives for good works!!I've had fun horsing around with the boys (the Tims, Jake and Ben) but most of all I've had the privaledge to learn from the Thai kids. I hope that in some small way the kids remember any of those little (God) moments. In short i think that we have connected with the heart - beat of Christ!! Been engaged and empowered - Now the challenge is to continue embracing this heart at home!!

2006-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Last day - visit to temple and more thoughts..

2006-05-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

This morning (before I left for home this afternoon) I visited the Buddhist temple (Wat Prah Krew-speling?). More contrasts - many tourists. After walking around and marvelling at the architecture I entered the main temple - the focal point of the Grand Palace that contains the emerald Buddha. In order to enter this palatial temple one must remove footware and sit with the feet (the lowliest part of the body in Thai culture) away from the Buddha. No one is allowed to take photos. Guards survey the room. The emerald Buddha sits on high upon mountains of ornate gold.People bow and pray - gazing upwards.

It struck me as i sat there that the creators have tried to create a vision of heaven on earth. I imagine the art works at Vatican City to be equally impressive. As i sit gazing I'm struck by the contrast between this scene and our works in theslum. With the concept of servant-hood and the heart of Christ. Christ's call to help the marginalised and impoverished. Romans 15 reminds me that strength is for service, not status!!..

point

Last day of teaching and more ramblings...

2006-05-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it... I go home tomorrow!! As much as I'm looking forward to that I feel like a small part of me will be here in Bangkok with the other guys in the team.

My last post left with us just about to head off to church on Sunday morning. Steve Barrington (Barro - "is he any good.. he's ok..!!") gave the message whilst Rose - one of the team members from Perth who speaks fluent Thai - translated.

It is amazing what can be revealed through simplicity and I found I was captivated and God was again showing me something new as I listened to the story of Jesus gathering his disciples (in particular Levi)!! I have to say that through this mission a number of things have hit home with me. I'm feeling upon my return that people will expect me to be able to succinctly para-phrase my experiences here into some sort of short "grab" but it's just not that easy.

Today (Tuesday) Cathy, Rose, Myself taught the younger girls at "Rong Fork" slum - it's a contrast to teaching the older guys last week at the community centre. Gabby, Tim C and Pete are teaching the younger guys along side us. Once again the kids are fantastic - it's such a joy to be with them!!

In particular however I am being shown new ways by God... but more about that later

1 week down - 1 week to go!!

2006-04-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well it's Sunday morning here as I type - in 45 minutes we will assemble in the hotel lobby to go to Ta rua church - so this will be a quick entry!!

There are so many positives on this trip. We have all been teaching for 5 days now and I think we all refer to our kids as "my boys" or "our girls". It's very cool walking through the slums and high fiving one of "my boys" (Jack) as he shouts my name I see him pass by on his bike.

One of the great things has been meeting as a group for devotionals every morning at 7 am and sharing thoughts from the journals that we have been keeping. In this sense it has been fantastic literally watching the boys (Jake Bentley, Tim Beasley and Ben Everard) step up to the plate and lead - not only in the devotionals but in teaching also. Tim Cameron's sense of humour is infectous - there has been plenty of silly song singing going around!! The young guys have really established a repoire with the young kids from the slum and each morning they can be found playing football (soccer) with the kids before class - many high fives going around as they play. During a recent morning devotion Ben expressed his amazement at the Thai people - their gentleness and sense of fun - in particular we are amazed at how much of a "dude" Pastor Suwat is!! In translation - I think that means that he's a very cool guy who seems to know everyone in the community!!

Another focal point for us all has been coming together as a team at the community centre every morning for communion - usually sharing rice ( the bread of Asia!!) and Gatorade as the emblems.

OK - better fly have to go up to the room and wake up the boys for church!!

Our first day of teaching!!

2006-04-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Monday - 24 April

We arose for our firat day of teaching.
Our day starts at 7:00am with our group (One Community) getting together in the girls' room at Boss Tower. At 7:30am we headed out into the relative coolness (ha!!).

In order to get to the commumity centre we cross a busy highway - it's a scramble and he who hesitates is lost given the chaotic nature of Bangkok traffic. We pass down one of the main streets through what could be called one of the "up-market" parts of Klong Toey. The housing is basic - street vendors are cooking breakfast - we hear the sizzle of ingredients cooking in wok-like pans. Exotic smells fill the air! We continue on past small temples and offerings that are made to animastic spirits by the side of the road. The air is hazy and thick. As we round the bend and continue on we see 2 Buddhist Monks in their saffron robes. As part of the Buddhist ritual the Monks are given food for the day by the community early in the morning.

We cross another road - look carefully - move fast!! Then we enter another world - turn down a tiny alleyway that passes through a shanty town. The alleyway is totally enclosed. Mangey dogs and cats lie restless as we pass ricketty houses built on stilts over a putrid river. We all approch the next part of our journey, crossing the river over a delapidated brigde, with trepidation. The stench is over-powering and i literally try and hold my breath as we cross. As a Westerner I feel like I've become so soft - protected from the harshness that the locals live with every day.

After crossing another road and freeway under-pass we arrive at the community centre.
As you walk in you are greated by a vasy expanse of concrete that serves as a soccer pitch. The buildings lie around the outside. We play football and soccer with some of the local boys - Tim B, Ben and myself are covered in sweat. Not a good idea Rog. Saturated and uncomfortable before our day even starts!!

Prior to the teaching Ash takes us for communion in the community centre. He reads of the story of Jesus and the disiples crossing the sea - to the other side. The encounter with the possessed mad-man - monster. The things that impoverishment can do to people!! We are reminded that that we too ave crossed to the other side.

Afterwards we move into the main building and sort into our teams. There are 4 teams - each one goes to one of the 4 slums that comprise the collection of Klong Toey slums.
i'm statying at the Klong Toey community centre and Tim B and myself are (teaching) partners in crime (so to speak). After the initial greetings the kids are divided into 4 groups. We sing songs - the "Bomm-boom-boom-boom song " (if you want the football club rendition get Tim Cameron to sing it to you!!) ; and then "Hokey Pokey". For some reason I was leading this one out the front wit Ash and pretty much went ballistic with over-enthusiasm. We then take the kids to our respective class rooms. Tim and myself have the "older" boys.

We have help from a Thai woman who luckily for us has taken on the crowd-control role. The kids are sensational - they love sports and craft!! You give them an activity and they maticulously color in everything. They write in their small exercise books and carry them carefully back to their pidgeon holes in the class rooms.

After 2 teaching sessions, with a round of ultimate frisbee played on the soccer pitch in between, the kids go home. I'm fried - I'm sweating like a pig! The other teams return to the community centre from the other slums and we have a de-brief session. Everyone has that pink, heat glow on their faces.

After the de-brief - it's time to ramp up and prepare for tomorrow!! It takes a while for me to get the energy flowing - but we've nutted out a plan!!

OK - time to go - the others guys (Tim C, Tim B, Jake and Ben) have gone to play soccer at the community centre. Me I'll go and cheer in the heat from the sidelines (maybe)!!

more later.....Rog

Our first Sunday in Bangkok!!

2006-04-24T02:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we attended Tarua Church during the morning. Pastor Suwat was in dynamic form and the service lasted for 2 hours!! There was much singing and we all seemed to get into the spirit of things (literally!!). Luckily Rose (one of the teachers on our team) speaks fluent Thai and was sitting with Cath and Faye and translated. I was fortunate enough to have Ash Barker sitiing behind me and he was giving us tips and translations also.

After the service we were all treated to a magnificent lunch. The church floor was cleared of pews and various bowls of rice, curries and pieces of banana and mango (to die for!!) were all part of the meal we shared. After the meal we piled into the back of Pastor Suwat's ute and rocketed through the slums to visit one of the new churches in the slum. Much work has been done and Cath and Faye were bowled over by the progress made since they were here last year.

The heat and humidity are just UNBELIEVABLE and energy sapping. We returned back to our accomodation at Boss Tower and headed for the pool. Early Sunday evening was spent going through orientation and preparing the next days lessons at the community centre. Then we headed out to one of the night Bazaars.

Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Stall after stall of goods - all very touristy and a bit more upmarket than the Klong Toey slum to say the least!! Tim Cameron got in an infinite loop (sorry a computer term there) with a watch vendor and eventually just walked off in frustration. Although he didn't want the watch he got the vendor down fromm 4,500 Baht to 800 Baht!!

The central area of the Bazaar is like a HUGE food court with a retracting roof, many tables and a rock concert stage down one end and huge sports video screen down the other. As I ate my Thai green curry (Ben, Tim B and Jake really stepped out and had pizza!!) I felt like I was in a parellel universe as a rock/rap act - complete with go-go girls - pumped it out on stage and some sporting event played on the video screen down the other end!!

We finished the night by catching a "tuc-tuc" home - a motorbike taxi!!

Thailand is such a land of contrasts!!

Walking into Klong Toey slum

2006-04-22T17:27:00.001-07:00

We have all arrived safely but I really just wanted to convey my thoughts and impressions - particularly the experience of walking into the slum for the first time on Saturday evening (yesterday).........

I feel as though words are useless!! They are not adequate enough to describe the observations or feelings of first walking into the Klong Toey slum. To say the experience is a confrontational one is an understatement! My senses seem like they are going into overdrive - the smells particularly are overwhelming on occassion. All of the sights and smells are enveloped in the relentless heat and humidity. Feelings of claustrophobia arise from time to time as we make our way down narrow sois (streets). In places the sky is barely visible as one looks up through the overhanging roofs. We pass over putrid canals on ricketty bridges and next to open drains-the stench almost unbearable; see garbage floating on the water; sickly looking dogs skulk about. We glimpse the insides of tiny, dingey homes as we make our way to the community centre through the maze of tiny alleyways. Many smiles as the locals watch the "farangs" (westerners) walk through their neighbourhood. And yet a paradox - light from modern televisions filters through the windows and doors of the small houses. Sub-frequencies pump from surround sound systems.

As we wind our way through the slum the streets are brimming with life - a strong sense of community pervades. - I'm suddenly struck by the though that in comparison in Australia I live a somewhat bland, sterilised, filtered exsistense in some sense -. Busy people cook their dinners in their open homes by the roadside; motorbikes dart by carrying passengers and smiling children laugh and play. Outside the community centre children play soccer - we join in but they run rings around us!!After playing in bare feet on the concrete I'm struggling to walk back to our hotel located on the edge of the slum.

Despite the overwhelming poverty I'm struck with a sense of amazement and wonderment that God is at work in this place - that people have surrendered to devote their lives to making this a better place.

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OK - more later - Rog D

Thailand - 22 April - 5 May 2006

2006-04-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

I am going to Bangkok to Klong Toey slum on a mission trip with "Urban Neighbours of Hope" to help teach on an English as a second language course . This blog will allow you to see how the mission evolves!!