Thailand

We arrived at the YWAM office on Bangkok to work with Kings Kids, a project that works with the kids in the slums. We were met by Ek who leads the projects, and he took us for a quick bite to eat while he explained in more detail what Kings Kids do.



In the evening we visited the slums as the team were running English lessons for some of the older kids. We made our way through the slum and found ourselves outside a community hall right in the centre. At the back they had a room with air conditioning for babies, and the front room served classroom. We both sat down as the lesson began, but the younger kids were gathering outside to play. Ek told me I could come out to play with the younger ones while Jenn stayed inside and helped with the lesson. So I did. It was real good fun, the community hall had a roundabout, swings and Ek had brought along some badminton rackets and shuttlecocks for the kids. I had a great time watching them interact, and pushing swings and the roundabout.



After the lesson we headed back to the hostel for worship, some bible readings, testimonies and some teaching time. The evening was great, there were people from all over the world, and from all different church backgrounds, it was so nice to all be worshiping together and for Jenn and I to experience the freeness of it all. The testimony shared was so inspiring, the girl had been a prostitute, and had struggled a lot with her past when she became a Christian, she worried about what others would think of her so was touched when she read the passage that Jesus tells the person without sin to cast the first stone at the adulterer (John 8:7). I was so moved at her openness, it was so clear that she knew how much Jesus loves her!

The following day we were back with the younger kids in the slums, we took them to a nearby park and played games, sang and broke into small groups to make a Chinese lantern. I helped a little before sitting back and watching my small group help one another. One wanted love hearts but couldn’t draw the outline so her friend kindly took time away from her own artwork to help her out, both girls helped the boy in my group with his cutting as he was a little small to do it alone. I was impressed that they didn’t try to do it for him but instead guided his hand while holding his hard still, they all felt a sense of achievement in the end. Wee lesson for me there, I’m often tempted to take over when someone is struggling, but it was clear there is much more to be gained from supporting one another.



In the evening I had planned a skype meeting with my sister so we headed to the YWAM office to use the wireless. Jenn was going to have to wait around the office for a bit while I chatted as we’d decided not to be out alone at night. As we walked into the office a man sitting on the couch greeted us. He didn’t take long to pick up on my broad Scottish accent when I answered, we introduced ourselves, his name was Kevin, we sat down and started to chat, as we shared our stories of how we’d ended up in Bangkok it unravelled that Kevin was on his way back to Canada from Cambodia... This got Jenn’s attention right away, you may have heard her talk about a book called Urban Halo? This book is about a project in Cambodia run by an organisation called Servants Asia. Jenn’s first question was, of course, have you heard of Servants Asia??? She was fairly excited when Kevin answered that was who he was going to be working with in Cambodia, and was in fact friends with the author of Jenn’s book! And was actually on his way home to sell copies of the new book, which he kindly gave to Jenn!

The next day Tum collected us and we headed back to Pastor Mike’s church, Pastor Mike had organised a trip for us to go up country. On the way we stopped off and visited a man name Benjamin and his family. Benjamin had been very unwell a few years before and everyone believed he was going to die, however when he became a Christian people prayed with him and he made a miraculous recovery. We spent a little time talking with him and playing with his granddaughter, then we sang some songs and Pastor Mike read to us from the bible. We visited another man on the way and did the same again. After that we visited a widow who had just recently become a Christian. She had 11 children, we met three of her girls, Ning Ning had bought along pictures for them to colour and they sang to us. The girls were beautiful! This widow was living in a house free of rent, the owner had people interested but he felt that he should let her stay there with her children.




We were finally at our destination. We were spending the evening with Nang and her family, she was also widowed but lived with her mother, son and daughter. We again shared a bible reading and some songs before having dinner. Later on we went out for a walk to see the river and the market.



In the morning we got up early and headed back to the market to pick up breakfast. In the afternoon we visited another market which was 100 years old. We took a boat trip up the river to see a Thai house which was also a hundred years old. The highlight of my day was that I saw a small gator, I’m not sure on the exact name of the creature but it looked like a little crocodile.



We headed home to pack our bags, say goodbyes and head back to Bangkok. On the way home we stopped at Pastor Mike’s friend’s home, they ran a ministry making small phone charms and silk paintings. They took us to visit an old lady that was 103 years old, we sang and read the bible together then she sang us a song and prayed for us.



The following day was Sunday, during the service Pastor Mike asked us to say a bit to the congregation, Jenn and I both thanked them for the kindness they had shown us, and how we’d really felt at home during our stay in Thailand. After that Pastor Mike announced that we would be making stovies the following evening and invited the whole church. ‘No more than 20’ he told me after the service, but I was panicking!

That evening Toey took us for dinner to a Japanese restaurant, I don’t remember the name of the dish but basically you have a pot of hot water in the middle of the table, and they bring you raw veg and meat and you make soup. It was very fascinating! And of course ‘Delicious’.




So after dinner we headed to the shops for ingredients. No carrots, no potatoes and as for sausages... well I still don’t really understand what happened there. We visited another shop and managed to buy everything there (we substituted sausages for mince), Jenn had gathered the items to make a tray bake and we set off home. We arrived back about 10pm and Jenn immediately started on her tray bake... with an audience of about 6 oooohing and aaaaaahing. I don’t know what the Thai’s must think of Scottish cuisine now.

The following day Jenn and I prepared the stovies and helped to set up the church for our guests, one of the ladies, Oy had made a flower arrangement for the centre of the table and had also put some roses in water to decorate the room. It was looking beautiful! Our guests were starting to arrive, we quickly nipped upstairs to grab our tartan blankets and wrapped them round our waists and gathered the ipod and speakers and set up some Alexander Brothers tunes.




I think our guests enjoyed the evening, I’m not so sure about the stovies right enough, one lady ate them with rice, which was very amusing for Jenn and me. I know they enjoyed Jenn’s traybake!!!!! We gave a card with a Scotland flag and a Scottish magnet to them, they were all very fascinated when we told them about Edinburgh Castle and the Forth Rail Bridge, this included a google search for photographs and of course an invite to Scotland anytime!

When we went to bed that night Jenn told me the Tum would be taking us to the market the following day, ‘for breakfast, I think’ Jenn said ‘we’re leaving at 8am’. So we got up early and shoved on some clothes, tied our hair back and grabbed a little money, a camera (just in case), postcards and a HUGE bag of clothes we wanted to send home. Tum asked us before we left if we had our passports, ‘PASSPORTS?’ we asked, ‘eh postcards’ she replied. A little language breakdown! We took a taxi to a small market, left the market crossed the road and walked up the street. We must be going to the post office first then we’ll go back for breakfast I was thinking, but no, we were now at a bus stop. We boarded the bus and were on for a good half hour before getting off at another market. Breakfast must be better here! Again we walked through the market and left, this time we must be going to the post office then heading back to the market! Next thing we were on a boat, Jenn and I started to worry that maybe we did need our passports after all!



After a good hour on the boat we got off, walked through another market, Jenn and I had given up guessing by now, and we found ourselves in front of the palace, it was beautiful. We couldn’t believe the misunderstanding! We took some photographs (all the while Jenn holding the large bag of clothes) the and giggled about the confusion before finally visiting the post office and taking the boat, bus and taxi home.




Left over stovies for dinner that evening, with rice, soup and of course, fried egg! And everyone, all ten of us, piled in the cars to head for the airport. Jenn and I were so touched that so many people came to wave us off, there was as many at Glasgow airport when we left Scotland! Pastor Mike prayed for a safe journey, we took lots of photographs, Oy plaited my hair and we were off. Jenn and I still can’t believe how kind everyone was to us, how well looked after we were in Thailand, and how much we learned about Thai culture! It’s definitely up there on my places to visit!







Laura x