arrival: amazing thailand

so i wanted to wait a week after arriving before i wrote my next update to all of you (you know to get a feeling for what life here was like) and wow what a week it was. in one week i think i've tasted, smelt, seen, and done more new things one person could expect to experience had they fallen into another dimension and in some ways thailand really is somewhat of an alternate reality.

culture shock?

no.

more like culture amazement. i'm beginning to understand why they call it "amazing thailand", i'm struggling to find the words to describe it all. i think you should know something about me. i find it very hard to tell people things if i can't fully and accurately communicate what i want to say. maybe it has something to do with a limited vocabulary and a non-fondness for the english or maybe something deeper, but never the less it's something i struggle with. so i can tell you about the things we've done so far but it makes me squirm a little bit because there really isn't a way for you to get this any more than hearing a nice story and looking at some pictures. and man it is so much more than that. let me just say right now to any who may be thinking about it "go on a mission trip" and the longer you can stay the better i think. i'll leave it at that... for now.

let the uncomfortableness commence. so we arrived in chiang mai a little over a week ago now. the first people we met was our mentor, robert reagan, and three short-term interns from singapore and malaysia (mit, adelina, and han). after a nice breakfast at a nice little place called bake and bite we headed to the christian zone (the name of the place we are staying), met a few more people, and began to unpack our things. the christian zone is a three story building close to payap university. the first floor is a hangout area for the students (equipped with ping-pong table), an office, a library, and a few other small rooms. the second floor has a small kitchen area with a balcony, robert's office, a computer area, and a few dormotory type rooms for interns such as us. finally, the third floor is a large open area with windows lining both sides and is used for church services and large meetings (there is also a baptismal with a lovely mural in one corner). drew and i are currently sharing a bunkbed in one of the rooms on the second floor (nothing foreign about that as we have already shared a room last semester in college station). that night we had a amazing meal and small impromptu devotional at robert's house with his family, some former interns and some of the thai christians.

over the next day or so we began to familiarize ourselves with our new environs. the university is less than a block away. there are a number of eating places on campus as well as several right outside the zones front door (i'll do a post later on about the different meals we come to know and enjoy). the food is amazing and it's really a big part of our ministry. in the past lunch time on campus has become a key tine for meeting people and make friends with the thai students here. the other interns took us for a walk along a small river that borders the campus which lead to a large open area that was oddly serene for a landscape found in the city. julie and i ran around the campus that first morning. it's not very large coming from the comparatively monolithic campus of tamu, but it seemed quaint and sufficient with the beauty of lots of flowers and a few small ponds and the ever so essential football fields and volleyball/basketball courts.

our first group activity was cell group which takes place every thursday night for the payap church. just a small gathering with singing and sharing (mostly in thai) that is all started with a common meal (i told you food is a big part of the ministry). afterward we got to hangout with everyone and play games and continued singing. the next day we went as a group to what we were told was a bb gun paintball-esque place [LINK-TO-COME]. fortunately the "bb guns" were only automatic air-soft rifles [LINK-TO-COME]. nothing say lets be friends like shooting small plastic pellets [LINK-TO-COME] at high velocities at each other. right after we returned from doing this we packed up for another trip to a "house-boat" for a day and night of planning/relaxing/getting to know each other. now back in the states a house boat is a small to mid-sized boat that happens to have an area to live in, kitchen, bed, bathroom, etc. well what we eventually came to was more of a small floating hotel. again that word amazing pops in. we drove a good distance up into the mountains in the back of the jao-ford [LINK-TO-COME] (the church pickup), scenery becoming even more beautiful and the air becoming cooler as we drove higher and higher. the pictures can do a better job than my words can. suffice it to say that once we got there we were blown away. being an engineer i was amazed that the entire structure including ourselves was supported by bundles of bamboo. the morning view was even more majestic than what we saw the night before. it is the kind of sight the makes your heart melt with appreciation for God's love and His power. it is that it was the kind of beauty you want to share with the person that means the most to you.

a truck-load of credit to robert for know how to motivate and energize his charges with the natural blessings thailand has to offer. we returned to the zone after a breakfast and some morning equipping time feeling rested and renewed. (equipping time is time we spend with robert every morning or sometimes afternoons learning and discussing various things related to out work. currently we are going through what is called the "red book"). church on sunday was even more fascinating. i love music as i've mentioned and singing in thai was just... well... amazing. for the lesson jan, robert's wife, translated through theses little wireless earpieces that you see diplomats and dignitaries wear during  meetings at the UN. probably not as high tech but still you can be sure that drew and i felt pretty cool about ourselves. it's really very motivating to learn the language when you are surrounded by it (and i'm a computer science guy, new languages are our business). drew and i are both going to lead sunday service at least once while we are here and we both think it would pretty stinkin' awesome to close with a prayer in thai, no translation needed.

if you're still reading this you're beginning to understand my need to use a lot of words to convey the experience of being here. i thank you for your patience and i want to leave you with one last thing. the experience isn't a cakewalk despite the wonderful things i've tried to describe. no mission trip is. there are always team issues and other problems. i'll be the first to admit i'm still trying to find my groove, still trying to fit in, still learning to adapt to the culture. a fish, not out of water, but in waters of a different... feel. do you remember how when you won a goldfish at a fair or bought a guppy from the store they put it in a little bag and before you released it into you tank or bowl at home you were supposed to let the bag sit in the water for a bit so the temperature would adjust slowly for the fish. if you didn't do this i always imagined the fish felt awfully uncomfortable. it's kind of like that, an uncomfortable fish that is trying to clear it's head and understand this new home it's been placed in. but this is precisely why mission trips are so powerful. God can do amazing things with the uncomfortable, but it isn't too often that we are willing to place ourselves in situations that make us squirm like fishes.