Goodbye Canada, It's been great!!

So here I am at the other end of my journey. I started this blog a little over 6 months ago at the Sydney Airport to keep you informed of my adventures with YWAM Nexia. I am now at the Vancouver Airport awaiting for my flight home.

It has been an exciting 6 months, and a time that I do not want to forget. At the moment it all seems like a blur. It's hard to believe what I have seen and experienced in the past 6 months, and especially in the outreach part of that time. I feel like I have grown so much in my relationship with God, and also in my own confidence, and have so many amazing stories to share that I have not posted in this blog.

I'm not really sure what going home is going to be like. I am totally pumped for seeing Mum and Dad and Em and Tim and Gran and Mog and  the rest of my family and all my friends. I am also sad that I don't know when I will see my amazing YWAM friends again. What I do know is that I want to continue to grow in my relationship with God, and not go back to the 'shy-ish is different circumstances Meg' that I was before. I really want to know God and make Him known- and if I can do that once I get home-then the past 6 months has been more than worth it.

Almost...

Outreach is almost done and soon this time away from my home land will be done. And I maybe have started my count down to home too early. Only Sip Hok (16) days. Now I may not have totally enjoyed my time here in Pattaya., but today on our last day of ministry, I was reminded of how totally impacting the little things we have done here are.

At the mall today I was about to sit down with an iced coffee (sadly not as good as my ice break) and start my 1000 page evaluation, when a young Thai women came running towards me with the biggest smile on her face waving like a mad women. For a moment I wasn't sure if she was waving at me or someone else. Then I recognised her, and I was totally blown away.

Two weeks ago, the girls from our team went out with staff from the Tamar Centre* to talk to the women who worked at the bars. During this time I was able to pray for a young women and share God love with her. She also bet me at Connect Four so many times that I don't think I will ever play that game again. I spoke to her for maybe half an hour but that was enough. Enough for her to recognise me at the mall today, to run over to me and to hug me like a long  lost friend. It brought tears to my eyes. As she left and rode the escalator to the next floor she smiled and waved to me the whole way up. I thought that was probably the last I would see of her, but I was mistaken. About two hours later she came back down the escalator, saw me again, dug deep in her bag and pulled out her camera. She hugged me again as we had a photo together and then she was gone.

Sadly I cannot remember her name, but I do know that she has two children and a nephew at home in Northeast Thailand that she is supporting, and her story is one that you hear everyday here in Pattaya. We are lucky enough to be leaving this dark city tomorrow. But for so many women, such as my friend, they are not able to. But there is hope and I can see that. God is at work here in this city and every little bit we do helps shine God's light a little bit more.


*Tamar Center is a center for help, healing and hope, offering women who are wanting to change their lives opportunities to do so.
http://www.ywamthai.org/tamar/

From Innocence, Light and Hope to Darkness, Heaviness and Despair.

I feel icky, I feel sad, I feel mad and I don't really know how to explain any of it. All I really know is that I don't want to be here and I want to be home.

Where is here? Pattaya, in the heart of the red light district. It's a heavy dark place and it makes me feel sick. But for the last couple of days I haven't been able to put my finger on exactly where the sick feeling comes from. I have come to the conclusion that it's not the prostitution itself, but the demand for it. And this is where I become very judgemental because I don't know what they are here from and I am just assuming, but there are so many elderly, western, single men here. That's what makes me feel sick, that here in Pattaya, I feel like the view seems to be people from the west are only here for the one thing. I don't want to be connected to that in anyway, but I feel like I am because of the country I have grown up in. In this city I feel ashamed for being from the west.

What also makes me feel totally sick, is that kids, like our orphans, are here. Growing up in this place not knowing anything different. Being trapped. Being sold into prostitution because their parents need money. Or being left to fend for themselves while their parents go out and earn money. Because of this, it makes me more and more thankful everyday for the Elisha's Children's home in which we came from before we came here. There they are protected, they are able to to be children, they have their innocence and they have a bright and hopeful future

How Great Thou Art

‘Then sings my soul,

My saviour, God to thee,

How great thou art,

How great thou art.’

What an awesome spine tingling hymn that is, especially when it is sung in at least 5 different languages. Today it was so powerful that you could nearly see the roof lifting off the support beams.

What a way to start our day. Today we went to the sister church of the Nonsomboon church, which is about 30 mins away from where we are staying. We have spent most of the week there doing treasure hunts in the village and running a children’s program. The church is pretty small with only about four families that attend, but boy do they have a heart for God and a passion to make Him known in their community.

It was my absolute privilege to be able to bring a word of encouragement from God to them. To encourage them in their own walks and in reaching out to the broken hearted and the lost in their communities. It was a pretty humbling experience. What right really do I have to bring them this word, when I don’t really do it myself. I guess God really used this to teach me something too.

He has shown all you people what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly, and to love mercy, 

and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Half over, or only half begun?

Can't believe we are half way through outreach. The time is going by so quickly.

As I mentioned in a previous post we are in Non Som Boon in Northern Thailand, at The Elishia Childrens Home, which we have made our home for the past 2 weeks, and still have 2 weeks to go here. A week here can be pretty crazy, but we have a fairly set schedule and most of the time it works.. lol.

A quick run through of a week:

Monday- Day off

Tuesday and Wednesday -up at 7, team time, some kind of manual labour- (we have been painting the buildings), sometime off in the afternoons, teaching English when the kids get home from school, dinner, activity and homework after dinner, bed by 9.

Thursday and Friday - up at 7, team time, morning off till lunch, school visits to teach English and do activities,   sometimes prayer for people in the community or a treasure hunt, activity after dinner, bed

Saturday- up at 7, team time, help run a kids program for the kids who are sponsored by compassion in the area.

Sunday - up at 7, church, lunch with the church members, youth group in the afternoon, dinner, bed.

I totally love being in bed by 9. And yeas you can tell me I am a Nanna for going to bed that early but it's better for everyone in the long run if I do. hehe.

So what else can I tell you?

Well I love our transport here. Last week a few of us on our day off went on a road trip. The pastor took us in his ute and six of us piled into the tray and headed off down the freeway at 120km/hour, with a blaket over our knees to keep us warm. It was awesome!!

 We also do a lot of travelling in a song taew. 

And something I have gotten used to? Using a squatty potty! In fact sometimes I prefer to use them. There are some important things to remember though- if you are wearing long pants-always remember to roll them up so they don't touch the ground and soak up unidentifiable yuk. Always carry a roll of toilet paper in your bag, unless you like to use the hose and come out wetter than what you went in. Do not flush the toilet paper in the potty as they will block up. Therefore before you go into the toilet, check to see where the closest rubbish bin is in the vicinity of the bathroom, because you do not want to carry around used toilet paper for longer than you have to. Especially if the whole chilli's you had for lunch earlier that day has totally stripped your insides. (not speaking from experience)

What’s it like to be a rockstar?

It’s a pretty tough gig. Fans screaming and wanting to hold your hand or your arm. Signing autographs and hi-fiving everyone. That’s what it is like when we walk into a school here in Thailand. It is pretty overwhelming. We are ordinary people just wanting to visit the school and have fun with the kids.

Yesterday was our first school visit and we were totally underprepared for what was ahead of us. We had a English lesson prepared for what we thought was going to be a class of 20. It ended up being close to 400 students of all ages! It was epic! We went with part of what we had planned and threw in a whole lot of songs for good measure. Na Na Narni and Father Abraham are at the top of my setlist.

I think it went pretty well- I don’t think you can really go wrong if you can sing a little, dance a little and are able to laugh at yourself and have a good time. If all else fails Hi-fiving every kids in sight, they never get tired of that.

How to break the language barrier….

Have fun and lots of it. The past few days has been great, yet tiring, We  are now in Non Som Boon in Northern Thailand, at The Elishia Childrens Home. The kids are great and will run around and want to be played with all day. It doesn’t matter that we can’t speak Thai, having fun is the same in any language.

 At night after dinner, before homework time we play games. Drop the blue plastic block (aka drop the tray) has already become a popular game to play here.  So simply, yet so much fun. We have all the kids playing, even the youngest boy who is only two. It’s great to see how much the other kids love him and ensure that he is included in whatever they are doing.  At the moment it’s hard to introduce a new game. Tomorrow night I am going to try for Jacob;s ladder. Hopefully that will become a favourite as well. Either way, it’s just great to hang out with the kids and see their little smiling faces.