The Hill Tribe people live in northern Thailand

Judy and Dave

The King and I

The Thais love their king (and queen) and their pictures are everywhere!  But they don't like "The King and I" and it's against the law to show it here. As you probably know, Thailand was formerly known a Siam.

Guess who!

Buddhas everywhere!

We've seem ' em all...standing, smiling, the biggest, the emerald buddha, [actually made from jade), and then this one...a huge reclining buddha

Thai elephants

Winona feeds bananas to the local elephants

Sunday - a day of thanks and worship

On Sunday we attended the Methodist Church in Pattaya which is the church that "owns" the Blessing Home" and it meets in the same space as the Blessing Home. THere were probably about 60 there including the 9 of us. The service was very contempory with lots of praise music - in fact the first hour was all praise songs (in Thai). The entire service lasted 2 1/2 hours! THe nine of us contributed by singing two songs in Thai - (didn't think we could do that, did you!). We sang "Praise Ye the Lord" and "How Great THou Art". They seemed to enjoy it alot and joined in with us.

After the service there was a potluck dinner - I think there is one every Sunday but this time we were their guests and what a lay out it was! Alll Thai food including fried fish that was the entire fish lying there on the plate! Very few spoke English but we were still able to communicate in other ways. It was wonderful fellowship and by now we knew some of the members from our work during the week and when it was time to say good bye there were lots of hugs and pictures and much "waiing". And always the same question..... "Will you come back next year?"

As we left Mike and Sherri, I told them there were some of the saint of our faith, which I really believe as they work to bring Christ to the people in Pattaya and save as many children as they can from the child trafficking. A little shining light of love in a very dark city. But as our devotions tonight reminded us, nothing is impossible with God.

And with that we said good bye to pattaya and headed to Bangkok for a few days of seeing some of the rest of the country. I'm writing this on Monday night - our internet access is very limited and I'm not sure we'll be able to get any pictures on at least for a while.

One more little interesting tidbit about Pattaya - as we walked the streets, one of the most unusual food vendors we saw were those selling fried insects! BIG grasshoppers, deep fried... no batter.... just very crispy. Beetles, slug looking things and worst of all, scorpions! About 4 inches long, tails still curled up and now very crispy. People here really like snacking on these things! None of us could bring ourselves to taste these critters! UGH

The whole group!

The ice cream man cometh

Starting the tile floor

Saturday - final workday

The final day is always so hard. By now we've gotten to know the Thai people we've been working with and it's hard to say goodbye. We had a good day of work.... putting a cement plaster finish on the wall we built, and finishing painting the kitchen. And a new project - laying tile on the kitchen floor,... which we didn't get done. The will finish that one up. The tile floor is being laid with about 2 inches of cement under it. That makes it hard to keep level and so was taking quite a bit longer than it would normally.

Another great lunch and ice cream for a snack in the afternoon! What's a workteam without ice cream! And then late afternoon we had to say good bye to good friends. We gave them gifts and they gave us gifts and thank us profusely and asked if we were coming back next year. Then we took lots of pictures - group pic, pictures of each of us with new friends. It was hard leaving knowing that we would probably never see them again. But as we told them, we will always keep them in our hearts and pray for them and their church and they said they would be praying for us as well. And we said good bye.

Starting the kitchen tile floor

The cooks

Patty is checking out the fish that are being fried for todays lunch

Taking wood forms off the walls

The wai

Everyone, including the smallest children, do the "wai"....its a greeting..hello, goodbye, thank you...we're "waiing" all day long!

Thais like bright colors!

Putting the final coat of paint on the kitchen

Friday - a day filled with the love of God... from blankets to friendships

Well, like most mission teams, each day just gets better and better - and this day was no exception. We began the day by going back to Blessing Home to give the children the little bags of "goodies" that we brought for them - crayons, toothbrush and paste, paper, a piece of gum, stickers and a few other items. Thanks to Patsy Kutz we had 50 little bags provided by her dentist! But first, we gave out the blankets made by Stephanie's Small Comforts. Each child picked out the special one they wanted and this blanket was theirs to keep and take home with them - something pretty rare and special for them. They were so quiet and shy - completely overwhelmed with being given something. They hugged them, some put them on their heads, all smiled in disbelief. To Peggy and the ladies at First Church, known as The Comforters, thank you for sending the blankets - you will never know how very much it has meant to these children. The children also loved their little bags and were so excited to open them and explore what was in them. We had extra items to give to the teachers to use with the children. All were so grateful, excited and we were all wrapped in the love of God.

We went back to the church project then and continued building walls and painting. Today we interacted even more with the Thai people as we learned how to say "hammer" in Thai and thought them how to say it in English. We worked all day at learning each others names and that's not easy when their names are nothing like you've ever heard anywhere! (I'm sure they felt the same about our names!). We laughed alot and felt a special camaraderie that comes from working together in the name of Christ. "Brothers and sisters in Christ" always takes on a special meaning when you are in another country working with fellow Christians. Once again we had an extravagant lunch and afternoon snack.... way more than we could ever eat. Their hospitality has been incredible and yet they think WE are incredible! lol

I know there are those who think we are here on some kind of vacation but I wish those people could see us today! It was sooooo hot and soooooo humid and I don't know when I've ever sweated more. By afternoon we had so many gnats swarming around us - it was pretty miserable. It's no vacation! And yet, we are having the best time ever, we are totally blessed by our experiences here. We realize how much we take for granted at home and how much Christians suffer in other parts of the world. We are grateful to be here.

Their very own blanket

Love in the form of a blanket....Stephanie is smiling

Stephanies Small comforts

This morning we gave out the blankets...the kids loved them ! They get to take them home.

Video of Blessing Home

This video was produced about 3 weeks ago by missionary Mike concerning Blessing Home. It's very good and talks specifically about the little girl "Nat" who is the drug runner that I told you about. The video was made as a fund raiser for a new 24 hour facility for Blessing Home. Here's the web site you might want to check out for Thailand Methodist Mission which the Morrissey's work under which is under the umbrella of the UMC.--> http://thailandmethodist.org/

Blessing Home from tmm on Vimeo.

New friends

Building walls together can really cement a friendship!

Thai dancers at dinner Wed. night

The kids love Judy

The neighborhood where many of the children live

Missionary Sherri with one of the orphans - notice her string bracelet to keep her spirit from fleeing

Bonnie with little Ploy whose roof was blown off during the storm

The children love a horsey ride!

Patty's favorite little girl

Thursday - Full team and new job

Our last team member arrived at 7:30 this morning.  He had been vacationing in Asia and joined us at the end of his trip.  So now we are 9... and complete.

The rain finally stopped this morning so we started a new project that was supposed to be started yesterday - building a cement and brick wall around a church about 25 miles south of Pattaya... and paint part of the church.  The great thing was that there were many members of the church there working as well.  We really had a good time working together in spite of the fact that we couldn't talk to each other - but that didn't prevent us from understanding each other.

We got quite a bit done on the wall and the primer on the outside and inside of the kitchen... which is a separate building from the church, connected by a "breezeway" - cement floor and tin roof" which is their fellowship hall and our dining area.  The members of the church made a huge Thai lunch for us and we all enjoyed eating together.  later in the afternoon they provided a snack typical of their culture - looked like lettuce with eyeballs in it!  Actually it was balls of chopped peanuts made into a ball with some kind of jellatin stuff!  It didn't matter whether it was good or bad, we were delighted to share their culture with them!

When it was time to leave, the pastor offered a heartfelt prayer thanking God for us, especially since they thought we were going to be a youth group (LOL) and how inspired they were by us since their "old people" stay at home!  Ha!  We're trying to take that as a compliment!!  When we first arrived today, they told the men they could go and carry cement blocks and the women could paint...... well every last one of these Methodist women got up and went to carry cement blocks!

What a great day!

Mixing cement

We don't speak the same language but laughter is universal

The wahl

the wall goes up!

Rain has stopped...hard ar work

We are helping build a wall for a church...working with the Thai congregation

I'll try to post some pictures you might enjoy

Wednesday - after the storm

Out of nearly 200 mission teams from our church, the "What to Bring" lists have always included "rainwear"..... until now.  The missionaries here, plus all the guidebooks said there was 0% chance of rain this time of year.  So.... I took "rainwear" off the list.  Big mistake!  Last night a huge thunderstorm came thru, with lots of thunder and lightning and strong winds.  The electricity at the hotel went out for about 2 hours early this morning.  Everyone here was shocked to see rain this time of year...but they say it also snowed for the first time ever in Vietnam last week!  The rain continued most of the day, completely throwing off all our work plans.  But we are nothing if not flexible!

We started the day by going back to Blessing Home to distribute gift bags we brought for the kids along with a Stephanie's Small Comfort blanket for each child.  But only 11 children, out of 50 showed up and we found out it was because many of their homes had been damaged by the storm.  Since we couldn't build the cement wall planned for today, we took umbrellas and walked to a couple of near by homes of some of the children where there had been damage.

I'm so glad we got to see some of the children's homes.  Pattaya is a pretty big, touristy city and and seeing the "slums", as they call them, was quite a contrast to the rest of the city where all the tourists are.  Suddenly we were on dirt, rugged roads and the homes were all made from corragated tin, wood and whatever else could be salvaged from somewhere.  Some of the homes were completely open on the side toward the street.  The wind blew some of the tin roofs off some of the homes and rain was coming into these homes.  Family members and lots of their belongings were all wet.  We wanted to help but you just couldn't get up on those roofs when they were wet.

The church van took us a little further away to another area where many of the children came from.  We went as far as we could by car and then had to get out and walk as the car couldn't get thru any further because the roads were non-existent.  We walked around for about an hour saying "sawhatika"  (hello) to all we saw.  The poverty was horrible and it was hard to imagine people living in those conditions.... especially since just several miles away was this beautiful beach vacation spot.

Everyone was home during the day because the children couldn't go to school because of the rain and the adults (many of them) are involved in the drug trade that goes on at night.  During the day they are involved in drinking, a huge problem here.  (I'm relating what the Methodist pastor was telling us).  We visited the home of little "Nat", a little girl (maybe 4 years old) who goes to Blessing HOme.  The people she lives with are not her family or relatives.  They only took her in to be a drug runner for them.  Mike and Sherri are trying to get her out of this home but it's very involved.  All of her real family are in jail.

It was an interesting morning and good for us to see where the children live.  Remarkarbly, even tho there aren't a lot of Christians here, they are looked upon very favorably.  Thais see Christians as loving, caring and compassionate and willing to put their faith into action. In wandering around town, if you try to speak Thai, you are ask if you are Christian because most of the tourists don't even try to speak their language but the Christians do.  They say we "love them enough to learn their language".

Our "ah ha" moment of the day - learning that the lines painted on the streets to divide the two sides of traffic are only suggestions!  If your lanes of traffic are all backed up, you are welcome to drive in the on-coming traffic lanes and they will just veer around you!  Not good on the heart tho!  lol

As many motorcycles as cars

Thousands of motorcycles....drivers must wear helmuts, but not passengers.  Some women ride sidesaddle on back carrying new born babies on there laps

The hotel shuttle

This pickup, with seats in the back, takes us to dinner every night...a fun way to travel!

Thuesday at the Zoo

Today we took the 50 preschoolers from Blessing Home to the Zoo - what a trip!  This was the first excursion for them.  Thank goodness they are well behaved!  Besides the eight of us, there were about 8 staff from the home plus Mike and Sherri.  Thanks to some UMW women at First Church, all the children had matching bright blue tshirts to wear so we could easily keep track of them.  The zoo was about 30 minutes away and we went in rented vans.  It was a fantastic zoo,,,, very large.   Called an 'open zoo' and many animals roamed fairly freely and there was much more opportunity for petting and feeding animals than in the US.

Less than 1/2 of 1% of the population here are Christians.  Mike and Sherri came here abot 4 years ago.... first missionaries here.  They've started 12 churches now.  The churches play a huge role in keeping the children safe from child trafficking.  If children are enrolled in school and/or belong to a church group, they are 95-99% less likely to be involved in the sex trade here.  This is how Blessing Home got started.  The only way to intervene in the child trafficking is to reach the children at a very young age.  Boys are taken at about 8 years old and girls at 10 (into the sex trade).  They are kept locked up in attics here in this very city and drugged until they are hooked on the drugs and then they are put to work.  They is almost no way to save the children at that point.  It's heartbreaking.  Parents will selll their children for $200 to get mostly refrigerators and Blackberries (phones).  The children at Blessing Home are being raised to know and love God... by Christian teachers.

Blessing Home is also trying to document all the children because without a birth certificate they are not considered 'legal' even tho they were born here.  And without birth certificates they can't go to school or work when they are older.  For the street children and many of the others who aren't living with their parents, it's a long and hard process but the church is committed to helping make a better life for these children.

Everywhere I go, it is so evident that 'the church' is the hope of the world.  Here.... more than ever.

The blue shirts

These blue shirts were bought by some of our UMW women....we could easily identify our kids at the zoo....thanks UMW!

Lunch at the zoo

At the zoo

First trip to the zoo...first trip anywhere!  50 preschoolers...we are tired!

Weary team

Arrived tokyo 1am wichita time....loooong flight! All flight attendants volunteered for flight as regulars wouldn't go...all looks normal to us tho

Monday - arrived!

24 hours later we arrived!   We flew to Chicago, then 13 hours to Tokyo and then 6 and 1/2 hours to Bangkok!  We crossed the International Date Line so were totally lost on time and day but for 13 hours the sun never set!  Tokyo was very calm.... not that many people in the part of the terminal where we were.... wouldn't have known anything unusual was happening there.

We arrived in Bangkok at midnight Sunday which was noon Sunday Wichita time.  We're exactly 12 hours ahead of Wichita.  The missionaries here... Mike and Sherri, picked us up and we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Pattaya, on the coast, where we will be all week.  We really knew we were somewhere different when we arrived - saw things we'd never seen anywhere else.  The Islamic stewardesses were the best - dressed in very smart looking suits, red tallish pill box hats and white chiffons coming from hat to buttons in front.  Looked like "I Dream of Jeanie".

After a short night we went to "Blessing Home", a "day" home for 50 kids, mostly street children, ages 2-6.  The Methodist Church here is trying to save these children from the sex trade here.  Many are orphans, some live with strangers basically, ... they were handed off by their parents.  We are at ground zero for the sex trade and child trafficking in southeast Asia.  It is so prevalent here and it's the children that people want (mostly pediphiles).  We helped the children eat their lunch and then we ate ours when they went for a nap.  The pastor thanked us profusely because evidently what we did was so unusual here.  Usually the children would ot eat until we were done and they are expected to bring the adults their water and food, crawling on their knees.  Instead, Americans..... highly respected here..... sat on the floor with the children and helped them eat their food before we ate.  The pastor said the act of what they consider people from the "highest" rank in life serving the "lowest" (children in Thailand), was a powerful lesson in love to all involved and wouldn't be forgotten

Farmers here make about $100/month, nurses and teachers about $350 / mo. , pastor about $150/mo and prostitutes about $600/mo.   $500/mo rent is considered middle class and that gets you a small concrete building that connected to other buildings on both sides and probably two floors.  If you want a toilet or stove or air conditioning, you put it in yourself.  Most here can not afford this.

We're still amazed we're even here!  Thailand - wow!

Getting ready to go

There are 9 of us getting ready to head to Thailand with this mission team.  We'll be working at a children's home in Pattaya.  We're taking homemade quilts to each of the children and little bags of goodies that will include bubbles, crayons, paper, toothbrushes and a few other things.  Pattaya is the center in all of southeast Asia for child prostitution.  We'll be spending some time with the children and also working on the orphanage as well as the United Methodist Church which sponsors this home.  Methodism has only been in Thailand for 3-4 years.  Less than 1/2 of 1% of the population are Christians.  We'll try our best to keep you posted on our adventures!