Sunny Coast Thaibodia: A Thailandish Christmas

DTS outreach:

These words induce pictures of sweat and grime, dirt floors with sleeping pads, bucket showers, unidentifiable food. We were prepared for radical living circumstance, extreme heat, bug bites, and stomach issues. We had high expectations for what it would be like. But most importantly, we came to Khaodee with the mindset that we were bringing something to a group of orphans that they had never experienced before. We expected to bring in teachings and an example of Jesus’ unconditional love for possibly the first time in their young lives. Somehow, we figured that we, the privileged westerners who are blessed to be able to travel the world like we have, would have something significant to give the fatherless of Chiang Rai.

We couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

As I have mentioned before, Khaodee is a very unusual place. For lack of a better word, it’s special. There is a genuine joy that abounds the moment you set foot on the property. It’s in the air, it’s in the smiles on the kids faces. And their smiles are not the typical “oh a new team to come play with me for a week” type of smile. As their lips spread to show their not-so-pearly white teeth, it is not simple a display of happiness. It’s not just excitement. It is the true, grand, life encompassing joy of God in the purest form.

If you were to ask Pastor Simoon, founder and teasing grandfather to Khaodee’s 100 kids, what is that makes Khaodee so different, he’d tell you very simply “This is God’s project. He takes care of it. They’re His kids, He’ll take care of them too.” He believes so intently in this concept (that has continued to be proven each day) that Khaodee has never asked for support from outsiders. Now, they do certainly have support, but it has never been sought after and has more than usually been anonymous. They are so dependent on God for everything, and God is always there to show up. There is story after story of trucks full of broccoli being delivered to the kids moments before a skipped dinner, Christmas presents coming after the kids had been asleep on Christmas night, huge sums of money from anonymous donors to pay off debt being donated moments before they were due. The list can go on. But Pastor Simoon and the staff at Khaodee have not once asked anyone but God to take care of them, and they are never truly lacking.

In fact, the kids live very well. Pastor Simoon says it himself. “God wants to give them His very best, so why should we do any different?”

So as we joined in with this portrayal of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, we found ourselves in a predicament. Our picture of the stretching, difficult DTS outreach had been destroyed. Instead of being made smaller, humbled, we found ourselves being out served by those that we had come to serve.

Isn’t that something? Often times, even though we are choosing to be a servant, we catch ourselves with selfish motives behind it.. We serve because it’s something that we feel like we have to do, it’s something that we have to strive to do. We are in constant prayer that God would continue to give us a servants heart and that we would be willing to die to ourselves.

But this isn’t the case for Khaodee. They are here to serve, the live to serve, they love to serve. Whether it’s us as a team or amongst themselves, they love to serve. And there is so much joy when they are able to do so.

If we, the privileged of the world can go to the hills of Thailand, to the Fatherless and be out served and out blessed, we have a problem.

So the serving war began.

Every chance we got to serve, we took it. Often times if we saw them working and offered to help, they’d always say no with such a pleasant smile on their faces. They wouldn’t want their guests to have to work. So instead of asking, we started to just take it out of their hands and do it for them. They’re too nice to get mad at you for it, and they actually really do appreciate it. If we were asked to simply plow a field, we tooke it a step further and made it ready to be planted. When they asked us to shovel pig poo for the day, we were done by noon ready to move on to the gardens as well.

And don’t hear me wrong, I am by no means trying to gain praise for our team. But God showed me something one day while locked in a battle over who was going to be able to clean up a room. This is what God’s community is supposed to look like. This is how the body of Christ is supposed to function. We should have so much love for our brothers and sisters around us that our only argument, our only disagreement, is who can serve the other and who must receive the service.

But it wasn’t even that they felt like they had to do it, it was simply in their hearts to serve us as best they could. Every meal we sat down to was always the very best they had to offer. They were always willing to drive us across town, to the top of Thailand, even to ride elephants on our day off. Sometimes they even tried to clean our dishes after meals and they were always asking what more they could do for us. They were such a blessing in more ways than we can count. But most importantly, they taught of what true service looks like, and this is something we’ll be able to carry all throughout the remainder of outreach and hopefully our lives.

So let me tell you a little about our holidays.

I vaguely remember opening my eyes at 1:00am on Christmas morning wondering what had woken me up. Kate and Whitney were a couple beds down laughing profusely at what was taking place outside our door. Voices penetrated our windowless room like they were standing directly over our beds as O Come All Ye Faithful rang out in loud shrill harmony.

They were caroling.

At 1:00 in the morning.

It was Christmas!

The preparation leading up to this day has engulfed all activity since before our team had even arrived. The different teams were already sporting their colors, red, yellow, green and blue, on their bamboo huts. (And let me just say, the picture you have in your mind at the moment of bamboo huts is not what these kids put together. We all decided we would be willing to live in one of these huts if the kids were willing to design and build one for us.) They had all been practicing volleyball, soccer, and their drama presentations for Christmas night without ceasing. Even as us girls would go to bed at night, we’d still have them singing us to sleep with their endless rehearsals.

The morning brought the parade that would have sprung a teary leak in anyone’s eye, even Gui, our translator who has been with Khaodee for 11 years. She nearly teared up again as she retold of the joy on their faces, these kids who have nothing, celebrating the coming of the love of Christ. The games lasted through the morning. Balloon popping, relay races, you name it. The teams were sporting their colors on headbands, shirts, some even shoes. This is the day they had been waiting for.

But even in the morning games, the afternoon sports, the kids never stopped loving one another and having fun. There was nothing competitive in their attitudes. It was simply about having fun and celebrating the day with each other. Even as those on the side cheered for the team, trying to over power their competitors, they were singing the songs they learned in Sunday school. “Do you love your Jesus?” to which the other team would respond as loud as they could “Yes I love my Jesus!”

That evening was the food competition in which each bamboo hut prepared a meal for everyone, to be judged by some visitors. Red team, in charge of the meats, made the traditional Christmas dish of dog and pig intestine. (Whether that’s actually tradition, we have no idea. But in our minds, it’s always going to mean Christmas time. ) Everyone was able to enjoy the others company. To sing songs, to perform, to celebrate the day. But most importantly, they were there to praise Jesus for his salvation here on earth.

It was truly something that we as a team will always cherish. It felt like whoville. The kids didn’t have a typical Christmas. They didn’t have presents under a tree. They didn’t write Christmas lists. They didn’t get to open a stocking, But they knew why they were there. Even on the last night when they each got their one gift (randomly draw, like a game.) They were so happy with what they got. Whether it was milk and Pringles or a new pillow, they were so happy.

It really puts Christmas into perspective. What is it that we truly celebrate during the holidays? The presents? Each other? Or maybe we’re simply celebrating a season. We have trouble getting into the Christmas spirit too early. We feel stressed during the holidays with all the presents to be bought, and the cards to send out, and the people that we have to be friendly too. But what happened to celebrating the day for what it is? It’s the coming of our Savior. The moment that He came to bring redemption to those of us who don’t deserve it. It means that God, the God of Heaven and earth, the God that breathed and spoke life into being, has come to save us. We always paint this pretty picture of Christmas in our minds of wise men and shepherds and a beautiful star in the night sky. But we often forget that 33 years later, that baby was crucified for our own sins. We were the ones that put our savior up on a cross, to be mocked, to be abandoned. Yet in His great love he was willing to come. He humbled himself by putting on our skin and bones and laying everything down.

This is the reason we celebrate. Not for warm fuzzy feelings, but because we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, the blood that came in the form of a little child, the Son of God.

This is the celebration that we witnessed at Khaodee.

This is the Christmas that we will never forget.

It was just a few short days after Christmas that God had us leave Khaodee. We were meant to stay for a bit longer, but to put it simply, God told us to move. He’s been opening doors for us non-stop, and we’ve found ourselves about four hours south in Chiang Mai at the Abba House Foundation.

Abba House currently takes in young girls who are at risk of prostitution, as well as some men that are former prostitutes and prisoners In Thailand, it is a very common thing for families of hill tribes to send their oldest son into the city to get a job and provide for the family. Unfortunately, there is very little chance of them actually getting jobs. So they have found themselves far from home, with no money, and no means of going back. Many places will in turn, take these boys and offer them a bowl of rice to be sodomized. They literally are forced to sell themselves for a bowl of rice.

These are the men that we have been working with. We teach them English, do bible studies, worship, and really just love them and encourage them in their walk with God. They’re such a joy to be around, it’s been a blessing for us.

Throughout the week we have had he chance to visit an orphanage for kids with HIV, as well as go into the city at night to minister to some of the girls at the bars. It’s been difficult, but God has been so good. He’s really been working in our lives as well as the countless women, God’s daughters, that work the bars. Please continue to pray for us as we have two more nights of this ministry.

God is a God that wants to rescue his people. He doesn’t look down and say oh, that’s just the way life is. That’s just Thai culture. And He certainly doesn’t look at them as a lost cause.

So often we get caught up in the enormity of a problem such as prostitution, forced or not, and we think we can never make a difference. We assume that it’s too big for us. It’s something we can’t handle.

But that is not the way God see’s it. It’s not about the problem as a whole. It’s about the One. It’s about the one girl that finds hope in Him. It’s about the one girl who begins to see herself as more than just merchandise, but as something of value. It’s about the one who is rescued from a life of rape for profit. God is a just God and his desire, his heart, is to see his children pulled out of that. He is a God that wants to rescue his children from bondage.

So that’s why we’re here. All we can do is hear God and obey and that is our desire as we work with this ministry. Leave the God things to God, they’re too big for us to handle.But as for us, we’ll show his love and the hope that it brings to those who feel like they have none.

So please continue to pray for us as we listen and obey.

We lave here on Thursday the 6^th for Bangkok, and then we’ll leave Bangkok for Cambodia! It’s going by so fast, but God as been good and we’ve cherished every minute of it.

We all miss you (friends and family) like crazy! Thanks for the covering of prayer that you’ve placed over us. If God has shown us anything lately, it’s that prayer is not a “last resort.” It’s not something that we do after we’ve tried everything else in our power. Prayer is a powerful weapon. It packs a punch.

So as we’ve immersed ourselves in prayer, we’re grateful for everyone you’ve sent our way!