Farewell to Thailand!

This is Gwyn catching up on the blog for Team Two for July 7th. After we spent three days in the village of Pong Aang we came back to Chiang Mai on Sunday night. Monday morning Somm met us at the hotel and took us to our one day project at an orphanage in Doi Saket. It’s a small orphanage run by Pastor Pong and his wife in a small home. They have 8 children at this time and hoping to grow. This orphanage is part of the work of a foundation run by Pastor Kamm Seen and his church. The majority of the group are from the Karen tribe and from the Pong Aang village. Our job was to put in a water filtration system so the children would have clean water. Your money and ours bought a large water holding tank and a filter system that was in the house. Chase, Ryan and Cameron broke up the cement so the pipe could be laid and after it was hooked up they poured new cement. What a thrill is was to hear the sound of water flowing into the big tank and know that they wouldn’t have to drink unsafe water anymore. While the boys were working on the water pipes the rest of us helped clear their garden area. We weeded and prepared for the new season and cleaned up lots of brush. They needed the fence to be repaired so we split bamboo and wired that up over the barbed wired. When we asked why all the extra fencing they said it was to keep the water buffalo out. They roam free even in town and you can’t do anything to them. When ever we’ve had jobs to do all they all join in and work beside us. This gave us a great opportunity to visit and get to know them. Kam Seen wife Pimpar worked along side us as well as Somm and Sarah. Sarah is Kam Seen’s director of the Foundation and speak’s very good English. They took us to lunch to a small restaurant in the town and we enjoyed the local food.
In the afternoon we finished up the filter system and enjoyed practicing English with the women. I didn’t realize until working in the village and then the orphanage how much the honored their elders. I got so much special treatment it was almost embarrassing. They couldn’t believe I didn’t need to sit down every five minutes. We stayed until the children came home from school and met them all. Each one was introduced to me first and they gave me a hug and then they got to change into their work clothes. They all had chores to do besides homework. I forgot to tell about Craig. He is retired out of the Navy and he and his family have moved to Chiang Mai for the states. He wants to work with the Karen tribe people and connected with Kam Seen. It was fun to be able to talk to someone who could understand us. There are so many special things to share with you all when we get home. We felt like for very little money we were able to see immediately the benefits of our work. Clean water is such a precious thing in Thailand and all Third World countries.
Hopefully we’ve made some connections that will continue on. One of the drivers we got close too started calling me Me Mar which is grandma in his tongue. They enjoyed getting me to laugh so they could laugh. Won’t be long and we’ll be home.

From Hong Kong

Hello all,

It's Jon again. You haven't heard from me since the very beginning of this trip, so, hello! I hope you are all doing very well and I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon (though I must say especially Kate Shaw and Graham Shaw).

Thanks to Garrett for managing the blog on our trip! And as you can see below Jordan Asher has a new post up, it's great, make sure to read it.

Well, we are now in Hong Kong, the last hours of our mission trip together are passing away. It's been an amazing, challenging and full experience. A trip unlike our church has every attempted before. It's been longer, with more people and planned in less time than ever before. Each component of that stew has brought challenges, but also incredible opportunity for growth and service.

Our last days in Thailand were wonderful, with time spent with Heather Ward and her husband Chuck, who were amazing hosts to us, and a little time in the city of Bangkok. What an incredible place! More about that later.

Anyway, just a brief check in, we're all doing great and are looking forward to seeing you again. Much love from everyone,

Jon

Village Day Four - Jordan

Hey everyone!!

Wow this trip has been so amazing! Like Kenya, it has inspired me to seriously think about doing mission work. I think it has also strengthened my faith. One of the most amazing parts of my trip was the village.

Our last day at the village was awesome!! I think everyone slept the best our final night. We got up with the rooster once again!! J After breakfast we all had quite an interesting opportunity… we got to plant rice!!!! We all went out on the rice patties with no shoes on. We all had to get into the squishy mud/ankle deep muck. It was so nasty feeling between my toes!! They gave us little rice shoots and we had to stick them down to the muck. We had to put them in rows evenly spaced. We didn’t do too well… :p The Thai people across the patty started at the same time as us and caught up to us after like five rows!! The realization that this is what some people do their entire life made me appreciate all the opportunities that I have at home. And every grain of rice I eat will be a constant reminder! J

After that I spent some time with Som picking some herbs to cook with. Her neighbor brought her whole fried bats and birds. It was so weird!! Then we all went and worked on the cement again. I really enjoyed working so hard even in the hot conditions. I felt like I was really making a difference and connecting with the people there.

Then we all had lunch. During our entire stay there none of the villagers joined us for any of our meals but they did for our last lunch together. It was really moving. They thanked us for the work we did and our commitment. Then we did the same, thanks to Jasmine who translated it all! It just seemed like we all gained so much more than we gave. The whole experience really showed us a lot of things and helped us grow as people and in faith. It was almost like it took more effort for them to provide a place for us and preparing all of our meals in comparison to what we did. But I think together we all saw the unity of our one God regardless of any cultural barriers.

After lunch we finished the cement ground. It was a very accomplishing feeling. It was crazy how much work we put in such a little time and how noticeable it was! Then we all packed up and said goodbye. It was kind of sad! The village was a place that really opened my eyes!

I hope everyone is doing good at home!! I miss you all very much and look forward to sharing my experiences!! I also got to call my uncle Butch today (who lives in Bangkok), he said he is doing well and hello to the family!!

J

See you soon!!!

Jordan Asher

More pics from the village.

It's hard to believe the tasty meals that are prepared in this kitchen.




The "Happy Room"

Climbing to get some coconuts for a snack. Note the foot holds cut into the trees.

The village church.

Setting a door frame.

Megan helped keep us informed with an occational zoology lesson.


A view of the village from a nearby cliff.

Group 2 at the village in pictures

Surveying the work site.



Clearing the remaining vegitation from the play area.


Be careful where you dig!



We're from Washington, we don't stop for rain!


Megan chatting with a few of our hosts.

Mixing concrete.

Bucket brigade.

Ryan being handy with the flat work.

Leveling the play area the old fashioned way.

Ryan is a brick mason too!

The walls are going up.

Break time! Local version of the ice cream man.

Who is the King of the Jungle?

Almost ready for use. Contractors will put the roof on after we leave.

We're sad to be leaving.




Go Grandma Gwyn!!!

HAPPY FEET!

Ever had fried leaves at your picnic?

Feeling on top of the world.

Village: Day 3 - Emily and Abbie

Hiya everybody, this is Emily and Abbie. We are doing a joint blog on the 3^rd day of the village. We woke up one fine morning to sweltering heat and ridiculous humidity. Ok maybe it wasn’t that bad but it was pretty dang hot. We woke up that morning and ate a nice breakfast and after that it was off to work. We had done a lot on the first day of work but there was still a lot to do. We had to finish digging the toilet hole, we also had to lay down concrete, and clear up the debris. We were on the digging team. We had been going at a fairly slow place when one of the villagers (whose name happened to be Bung) asked if he could dig the hole also, and who were we to disagree? The villager was a monster digger. He dug very deep by the time his friend (La) showed up. They were both very efficient at digging. We took a break and learned that La spoke some English so we talked to him for a while. Break time was over so we went back to moving the dirt they dug. We accidentally dropped one of the buckets and it got all over peter, Bung and La. After that I had started throwing mud at Abbie and then we both started throwing mud at Peter. We were pretty sure that Bung and La thought we were crazy. However out of nowhere Bung started throwing mud and sooner or later we were in an all out mud war that Jon had joined. We had gone to clean up but that it self turned into a water fight with a giant spider. We finally had finished digging the hole after many obstacles we finally got to put in the plumbing. It was so exciting. After that we had started to lay concrete and we got dirty again, we were so close to being finished but it was too much for one day so we decided to wait until the next one. After we finished work the boys wanted to go and play soccer with the villagers so we all went to watch. They asked us if we wanted to join but we politely declined. We soon left the soccer game in favor for the hot springs for a nice cold shower and some huge spiders. After we were all cleaned and showered we went back for dinner, which consisted of fried onions, bamboo shoots and a fried leaf. Som had asked if anyone wanted to eat the flying squirrel that Pastor pong had shot. There were 3 takers Jon, Dan and Peter. Dan the lucky boy got to eat the eyeball, but they all agreed that there wasn’t enough meat to tell what it tasted like. So Som seeing them try the flying squirrel asked if they wanted to eat some frog (which by the way smells like a rotting corpse). There were 5 takers Jon, Dan, Peter, Rick and Jordan. Rick did not like it but the others said it tasted like burnt bacon. After dinner we sat out on the porch as Pastor Pong and another man went hunting and asked Jon if he wanted to go but he declined and we all went to bed with nice full tummies. Yep we are having a lot of fun here in Thailand and hope to have more experiences.

From Nancy

Sao de Ka! This is Nancy! This is our third day in the village and we got a lot done! We finished digging the toilet/sewer and set the cement rings and top, which was the actual sewer tank. Some local boys came to help with the digging and thru the course of the digging a mud fight ensued! Abbie, Emily, Peter, Jon and the boys had a ‘bonding’ moment! I’m not sure who started it, but fun was had by all! Jordan, Peter & I finished leveling out the area where the shed had stood and Dan, Jon, Ellie & Rick helped finish putting on the roof of the extension. Val, Julie and Jasmine cleaned up where we had hacked down all the plants and picked up general garbage on the property. We did all this BEFORE lunch! In fact, we were so dirty and smelly we asked to eat outside so we wouldn’t dirty up the house or stink them out! ;~)

Before lunch, Julie let us know that Jessica still wasn’t felling well. She had mentioned having a sore throat earlier and we had tried some things to help but she was definitely worse and in looking at her throat I knew we needed to get her to a doctor. In talking with Somm and Jasmine thought the clinic in Chiang Dao was the best. After lunch, Somm drove Jasmine, Jessica and I went in to Chiang Dao, which was about 45 minutes away. It was and nice clean clinic and professional looking. The receptionist asked for Jessica’s passport to copy her name and then took her blood pressure. Somm waited while the 3 of us went back to see the doctor. Jasmine explained Jessica had had a sore throat for several days. He asked about any cough or nose problems of which we said no. He then asked about a fever and I felt her forehead as any mom would do and said yes!

The doctor then looked into her throat and said, “OH!” It was easy to tell he thought that her throat was very bad. He explained that it was tonsillitis and wrote out a prescription for antibiotics and pain reliever. We stepped out back into the waiting room where Somm was waiting and the girl behind the counter filled the prescription. The total cost for everything was 315 baut, which is about $10! It had taken a total of 10 minutes at the most and we were walking out of the clinic! The pain pills were really helpful and we were able to get both doses of antibiotics into Jessica that day to help her get felling better faster!

When we got back to the village, they were working on the concrete floor of the addition having mixed and poured one batch. It was an interesting prosess where they mix the concrete on the ground and we used buckets to measure amounts of sand, rock and then pour the concrete. We got good at being a bucket brigade! We got about 3/4ths of the floor done and would finish tomorrow before we left.

Lastly, Jon, Dan and Peter all tried flying squirrel at supper and then Somm brought out some fried frogs for people to try! Dan, Jon, Peter, Jordan and Rick were the adventurous ones!

This is an amazing place and I am cherishing my time here wish you were all here with us! In Christ’s love and mine,

Nancy Rasmussen