Our first W&W team experience in Thailand

We are now back in Bangkok after having spent nearly 2 weeks up north in Chiangmai and Maetang and we now have time to reflect on all that we saw and experienced.  I am going to write about these experiences in two separate posts.  This, the first, will give you a general idea of what it was like to be with our first team and what a Work and Witness team looks like.  The second post, will be specifically about the Maetang Tribal Children’s Home.

Our first team experience has been a really good one.  The team was a group of 11 young women from Olivet Nazarene University and was lead by Phil and Denise Anderson. Denise and Phil both teach at Olivet, but have also lived in Thailand as missionaries.   What a blessing!  They actually lived at the Maetang Tribal Children’s Home for 11 months as volunteer missionaries.  They then went on to serve in the Dominican Republic and in South Africa before moving back to the states to work at Olivet.  They are also beginning a new work: a church plant near Olivet called Communtiy Cup.  We were very blessed to get to know them and glean from their wisdom and experience.

We decided to first meet up with the group at a mall.  We met for dinner to get acquainted and then met up at the airport the next day to fly to Chiangmai.  In Chiangmai, we were met by the Sam and Lu Me (pronounced LooMay) Yangmi.  Sam and Lu Me have been working in Thailand for over 30 years and founded the children’s home we were we would do most of our ministry work.  We spent two days in Chiangmai.  The first night, we dropped our things at the hotel and then went out for dinner at the night Market. May is the beginning of the monsoon season and we definitely experienced it that first night.  The rain pounded down in huge drops that flooded the streets and soaked anyone unfortunate enough to be unsheltered.  It also drove the cockroaches into the open air restaurant where we were eating dinner and trying to converse over the rain.  I saw something scurry across the floor out of the corner of my eye and wondered initially if it might be a very tiny mouse, but it was too small.  I decided that it was probably a cockroach, but decided not to say anything because I didn’t want to alarm the girls over one big bug.  However, they soon discovered them themselves and after the initial screeches, were eating with feet up on the rails of the chairs, while waiters tried to kill and shoo the pests away.  The girls were instructed later not to leave any open bags or suitcases on the floor of the hotel rooms.  I personally never saw any cockroaches in our hotel room, but Kevin said he did see one that was already dead.

After dinner we explored the night market where vendors had set up rows and rows of colorful booths selling everything a tourist could want.  Beautiful clothing, bags, shoes, leather goods, kitchen and housewares, trinkets, t-shirts, and so much more.  I couldn’t even begin to describe everything there.  The majority of the market takes place under canopies so the rain did not deter us from shopping.

On Sunday we all slept in and had lunch out together followed by a meeting with Sam detailing our itinerary and things we needed to know about Thailand. After lunch we changed clothes and went to Chiangmai First Community Church, an international church that many missionaries and expats attend.  Their services are in the evening which allows them to minister locally on Sunday morning and attend a service in English in the evening.  After church, we attended a cultural dinner where we were fed wonderful Thai dishes and were entertained by traditional Thai and hill tribe dances, costumes and music.  It was a feast for the senses!

On Monday morning we checked out of the Chiangmai hotel and drove about 45 minutes to Maetang.  There we checked into another hotel and drove over to the Children’s home.  At the Children’s home, we were introduced to the students and staff and we assessed the work to be done in the coming days.  This team divided their time between working on cleaning and painting the boys dormitories and ministering to the students.  Each morning, while the kids were at school, we would clean walls and scrape railing, prime, caulk and paint.  We would break for lunch and work again until about 3:30 p.m.  The team would then get organized for their time with the students.

Once all of the kids were back from school, around 4:30, we sang songs, taught them a Bible verse in English, and played games and did crafts with them.  It was a really great time of getting to know the students and the staff.   We were fortunate to be with the students at the beginning of their school year and were able to attend their back to school prayer assembly.  We were able to sing and pray with them as they began their academic journey for the year.  After our time with students each day, we ate dinner and went back to the hotel to sleep (and sleep we did).  Dinner was usually either brought in or made for us by our wonderful hosts!

We took a fun day on Friday and went an Elephant camp where we rode elephants, took an oxcart ride, and rode bamboo rafts down a river. It was great fun.  Did you know that they make paper out of Elephant dung? Or that Elephants can paint pictures?

Saturday was spent entirely with the kids, since they were not in school that day, and culminated in a water balloon fight!  It was a fantastic day building relationships with the students.  Our boys fit right in with the Olivet students and quickly became favorites of the children at the home.  They really loved their time there.

Sunday, we drove up to a Lahu village to go to church.  It was a wonderful experience!  We were warmly welcomed by beautiful, friendly brothers and sisters in Christ.  The church is a one room building.  Their choir sang two beautiful songs a capella in four part harmony. Their children’s choir also sang.  Kevin played the keyboard for the congregational singing and was surprised to see that they don’t have music written out in their hymnals like we do.  The music is written in solfegge (that is what most of you know as do, re, mi, etc.).  It is written for them to learn to sing in parts and to learn intervals.   He was able to catch on quickly though and accompany the congregational singing.  Some us had hymnals and could sing along, but others of us had to just listen as they all praised God in the Lahu tongue.  Phil preached a sermon that was translated by Sam and afterward we were all invited to lunch at the pastor’s house where we were fed a traditional Lahu meal, sitting on the bamboo floor eating around small rattan tables.  We had yummy rice, pork, soup, and spicy meatballs followed by home grown tea.

Sunday evening we visited a large Buddhist temple set up on a mountain.  It was ornate and obviously a popular tourist attraction.  There Sam talked to us about Buddhism and how it is practiced in Thailand.  It was sad to see so many people seeking truth and enlightenment and clinging to Buddhism while we know that Truth and Light can only be found in Jesus Christ.

This trip was a great time of learning for us.  We have been able to learn all about the ministry happening at the Maetang Tribal Children’s Home (to be detailed in a later post), we have learned about construction and painting in extreme heat and humidity and what tools and resources are and are not available here.  We have also learned about the different people groups and some of their customs, strengths and challenges.  We look forward to taking more Work & Witness teams up to Maetang and continuing our relationship with the churches there and with the students and staff at the Children’s Home.