James 1:27 “ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
It started with a 12 hour bus ride.
To be fair, the bus was a lot more posh than any of us expected. When one hears of taking a bus from Bangkok to Chaing Rai, of course they would picture a rickety old piece of metal that is hardly able to make it up the many hills and pothole filled roads to the top of Thailand. Yet we were pleasantly surprised as we climbed to the top of our double decker bus to find blankets and pillows in our reclining seats. We even got a chicken drum and a donut for the ride. Not too shabby.
But it was when we got off of our bus of seemingly royal treatment that our adventure began. We were woken up around 7:00 am by the stewardess, whose fast paced Thai was way more than we could begin to understand. This, however, did not stop her from trying to communicate as her hands frantically started waving around in an attempt to get her point across. A man nearby kindly told us in English that this was our stop. Groggy eyed and with no recognition of where we were, we climbed out of the bus and grabbed our luggage. As the bus rolled away, we all shared a moment together. It went something like this.
“Um…..Now what?”
We looked around at the empty street as the sun was just beginning to rise. We caught a glimpse of the deep blue mountains surrounding us and realized we were certainly not in the city anymore. A bus full of young boys apprenticing as monks (perhaps called… monkees?) drove by in the back of a truck. We waved, thinking how crazy of a sight it is to see them in their Buddhist Monk official dress, and they stared at us, I’m sure thinking that we looked even crazier as white “farangs” sitting with a massive pile of luggage on the side of a road with no where to go. (Keep in mind we had just taken a bus over night for 12 hours, so we probably didn’t look our best.)
So what did we do sitting on the side of the road in Chaing Rai? The only thing we could do: wait. We ate some left over snacks, played a little guitar, did what we could to fill up the time. And low and behold, after about 20 minutes, a truck pulls up ready to carry us away towards the mountains. So we all pile in without any expectations, just happy to have a destination and a means to get there.
The drive is surreal. The rays of light from the beautiful Thai sunrise, one of many that will be seen by us over the next three weeks, danced along the green of the mountains around us with such energy that we were easily refreshed from our long night of travel. The air was crisp as it whipped at us along the truck bed, pleasantly contrary to the hot, humid air in Bangkok. We were all excited by the change of atmosphere in the air around us. This was the type of outreach that we all had pictured in our daydreams. This, we feel, is where we can make a difference.
But when we finally pulled into the orphanage that has so quickly become our home here in Thailand, we realize that God is already at work in the lives of the one hundred children here.
What a beautiful orphanage.
Those words do not typically coincide in people’s minds. An orphanage is normally seen as a place of sorrow and desolation. It’s seen as a place of mealy food and dirt and grungy beds. In our minds, the word orphanage is accompanied by the sad soundtrack of a TV ad trying to gain support for overseas missions. But as I sit here in my room, I do not hear a gloomy soundtrack behind this orphanage. No, at the moment I am being serenaded by four different groups of beautiful voices singing praises to Jesus in preparation for the family Christmas presentations.
Kahodee Orphanage is a beautiful home for 100 sweet, precious children. They’re a family. We have been here only a couple days and you can already see the tremendous love that they have for each other. They take care of each other, they love to work, they love to learn, and most importantly, they love to play and be joyful.
We are blessed beyond measure to get to be in a beautiful place like this, not to mention partnering with such a wonderful ministry. I feel like we’ve been welcomed into a home. So as we serve here over the next few weeks keep us in your prayers.
Our days our filled with lots of outdoor labor in gardens, cleaning grime off of metal rods for a new building, and a lot of playing with the kids. Night time brings fun and games and singing with the kids as well. Tonight we taught them Bambalela.
Of course meals are always an adventure (and always good. I mean come on, we’re in Thailand). Within the first hour of arriving, we watched as a pig was slaughtered and chopped up (a few of us got to help!) and we have enjoyed eating him over the past few meals. (I’m told sometime this week we’ll have the honor of building a foundation out of pig poop as well.)
But our best food moment was this after noon at lunch when they brought us some of their hottest peppers. And let me just say, there’s “American’s hottest peppers” and then there’s “Thailand’s hottest peppers.” We’re talking Thailand’s hottest peppers. Ben grabbed the biggest on the plate. After all, in his words, “it’s time to experience the culture.” A few more of us nervously grabbed some smaller ones as well.
What came next was, for some, a memory that will always inspire laughter at the looks on our faces. For others, such as Mr. Ben Gleason and his massive Thailand pepper, it’s a memory that I’m sure will be accompanied with anguish and a type of torture he never expected. Within seconds, Ben was brought to tears by a small, light green pepper. His tongue went numb, his face scrunched up, and the tears started rolling as he frantically grabbed for his water and rice. But nothing worked to stop the heat. Not even standing in front of a fan with his mouth wide open (yes, this was attempted and yes, it was just as funny as the picture in your head right now.) He slowly was able to calm the atomic bomb in his mouth as he sucked on his rice. Just down the table, Ryan was popping them in his mouth like M&M’s.
*Note: He looked it up later and found out that they’re Bird’s Eye Peppers, only recently dethroned as the hottest pepper in the world.*
So needless to say, we’re very much enjoying ourselves here. But more importantly, it’s been amazing to see God’s love for these children. He loves them so much. They mean so much to him. And being here and being able to love on them in such a small way has been a dream come true.
So keep us in your prayers in the weeks to come. We’ll be joining with other ministries along the way here in Thailand, as well as taking a couple quick trips to some nearby hill tribes. Please prayer for safety as well as just a continuance of servant’s hearts. Also for energy as we are up with the sun and working in the heat. But mostly, pray that we will be able to be a small picture of God’s relentless love to these children while we’re here.
We love you and miss you all!
-The Thaibodia Team
