Transitioning Again

Okay, so I’m not so sure how people traveling overseas stay constantly on the move? Unpacking, repacking, seeing a place for only a few days? Not my style by far. I’m so glad that I was able to be in Trang for 6 weeks.

But, as I sat on the train on Saturday, tears running down my face because I was sad to leave, I could see the convenience of staying only a few days: you don’t get so attached, you don’t invest quite so much, you stay a tourist more and less of a temporary resident. There were so many different aspects to my time that have affected me – relationships with the Thai staff & learning about their lives, getting to know the other volunteers & where they are in life, boundary issues in making my placement be a good fit for me, handling the frustrations of the language, appreciating time alone and enjoying time with people. I’ve had many conversations about Christianity, Buddhism and other beliefs along the way. The consensus seems that most do not have a belief system that influences their daily life and that all roads lead to the same place. I’m grateful for opportunities I’ve had to tell new friends that Christianity is different – only faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for sin offers salvation that isn’t based on what you try to earn. He changes our hearts and then our actions – we don’t have to clean up our lives ourselves.

Since before arriving in Thailand, I was interested in an overnight train ride – sounded so fun in spite of the longer travel time. So, early Saturday night, with the help of Cha (he carted my super-heavy suitcase) and Khem (she surprised me by bringing a take-out dinner meal to our last goodbye), I settled in for my 17 hour ride. The standard cars were full so I had a seat in the Japanese car – absolutely wonderful – plenty of room. Around 9pm the porter changed the seats to beds and for the next 12 hours I had a window all to myself. I woke up through the night and looked out in the moonlight or street lights at the countryside, the towns and the train stations we were traveling through. As the sun came up, I had a wonderful view of the western outskirts of Bangkok. I read and relaxed and enjoyed the whole experience.




PATTAYA

Via the train, subway, skytrain & government bus, I arrived into Pattaya Sunday afternoon around 3pm. Eve, one of the leaders of the Tamar Center with YWAM/Project LIFE, picked me up from the bus station. Sunday was a perfect arrival day – that night I joined a farewell party for a Thai woman who was leaving the Tamar Center to work at a local church. Over forty women and a couple of husbands (there’s few men around the Tamar Center b/c of the sensitivity for women leaving bars & prostitution) gathered to thank this woman for her influence in their lives. I could understand very little b/c most everything was spoken in Thai but I could see the emotion on their faces. The majority of the women gathered had left the bars – some just recently – and now work with one of the ministries of the Tamar Center. The Tamar Center has a bakery, hair salon, coffee shop (street photo shows sign for coffee shop) and card making business. Different women provide training and then jobs to girls coming out of the bars so they can support themselves.

Immediately there have been Thai women who have greeted me, smiled and hugged me and women, newer to the Center, that seemed resistant and cautious. Typical, I’m sure, as the Tamar Center has lots of short-term teams & people going in and out. It has helped so much that I have a few Thai phrases & words – it seems to open them up that I know some Thai with which to start friendships. Of course, I’m frustrated that I don’t know more but glad for what I do know. I listen with envy at Eve (Dutch) and Katherine (English) who so easily speak Thai.






FITTING IN?

So, what will I really DO here? Well, I’m not completely sure. So far I’ve helped teach English with Marleen, another volunteer, at a local Baptist church for the last 2 mornings (photo of me with two ladies), I went to a bar yesterday to invite women to an English class we’ll have tomorrow afternoon and this afternoon we went to the beach with a big sign offering prayer. The last 2 things seemed pretty strange to the people around us – we stick out like sore thumbs – BUT it has generated conversations and opportunities. At the bar yesterday, Becky (American from California who’s been in Thailand serving at a local church), Ali (DTS outreach YWAMer from Australia) and I struck up conversations with a couple of bar girls. There were about 12 of us that went together from the Tamar Center. We broke up into smaller groups so we had someone who’s gone before & someone who speaks Thai in each group. We sat at the counter and bought sodas while we took up the girls’ time. There were 4 girls working at the bar we sat at. The atmosphere felt dark: forced smiles and hollow eyes, evil was cheap and available everywhere. Becky and I talked with a 21 year old girl who arrived about 1 month ago. She said she calls her family everyday but that it’s okay that she’s here. She’d like to go home but it’s a full-day trip and she needs to stay. Most of the bars have games, like Connect 4, to play at the counters – easy way to make conversation and small talk for hesitant buyers. We used the games to break the ice and ask about the girls, where there from, what their interests are. We invited them to the English class tomorrow. At the beach today Katherine and I spoke with two 19 year old girls – they looked more like 15 – one all dolled up with fake eyelashes and circles of blush on her cheeks. They said they’d come tomorrow to the English class. Please pray with me for the Lord to bring these women to the Tamar Center and for opportunities for them to find hope in Jesus. There’s another world available to them but the enemy is fighting not to lose ground.

A HUGE blessing to me is Marleen, a Dutch volunteer who’s been here for a month. I’ve been able to join her in what she’s doing and I’m grateful for her explanations along the way as the staff are very busy. Marleen had been praying for the volunteer to arrive – me – that we would become good friends and that we could serve and have fun together. This is so great! I hope to sit down with Eve in the next day or so to go over the schedule & learn additional ways I can help out.

Internet access is less frequent for me but I’ll try to keep you up to date. I miss you guys and love that you’re standing by me on this journey! Becky