Sunday, January 6, 2013
Pictures
Here is a link to some of the pictures so far. We will try to keep it up to date so you can also see some of what we are doing every day. ~Deac-Bets https://picasaweb.google.com/thailandtrekker/CUCInThailand02?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIeUttLOvvfH6AE&feat=directlink
The Eye of the Tiger
Today started off heading to the Thai Lutheran church in Chiang Mai. The people at the church were so welcoming to us. It was awesome to
be singing and praising God together in different languages at the same time. We
even went up there and sang praise songs in front of the church. During the
sermon there was a man who translated for us. What I took away from the sermon
was that because it is the new year we will face new obstacles and fears but we
have God to be there for us. Which was great timing to be reminded of as we are
on this trip. The church even made us lunch for us to eat after the sermon. After
lunch we went to an Orchid Farm. It was beautiful. The flowers looked like
something from a magazine. Then we headed off to the elephant camp and
unfortunately they were closed by the time we got there but one of the great
things about are team is that we are flexible and can adapt. We will be going
later in the week instead. Since we couldn't ride the elephants we went to the Tiger Kingdom instead. There were all size
tigers there to see from newborn tiger cubs to 300+lb adults! I(Jordan) saw the younger tigers that were 3-5 months
old. This has been on my bucket list for awhile but at the same time I was
pretty nervous to say the least. Inside the compound I got to pet, lay on, and watch the
tigers play. It will be one of those things I will never forget. Then it was time for family style dinner at a
Thai restaurant. It was delicious and of course lots of rice. Some of us even
got brave and ate whole peppers and fish eyes. I was definitely not one of them! We
finished the day with a devo led by Jamie and are now hanging out at our hotel. Thank you all who have been thinking about us and
praying for us.
Jordan aka "Funky Peas"
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Thaitanium
Sawat dii!
We made it to Chiang Mai after an all day car ride full of fun surprises. First off, the bathrooms at the rest stops are such a cultural experience. You even get to bring your own toilet paper, just to add your own personal touch. The toilets are what are called "squatty potties." You can use your imagination to figure out what that is, or for those who need the visual picture, there is a little toilet bowl that you squat over. Therefore, it is slightly classier than squatting when you are hiking outside and such because it is in a stall with a toilet bowl, but the same idea. You do not throw your toilet paper into the potty afterwards, but into a trashcan because the toilets have no flusher. You "flush" the toilet by taking water from a container on the side and dumping it into the potty. Some members of our team still have not experienced this depth of culture by surpassing those stalls in the bathroom, but I am sure there time will come soon. Although the toilets did seem to overshadow everything else at the rest stops, the stops also included a gas station with other shops around. These shops included coffee shops, food shops, and convenience stores.
During the eight to nine nourish trip in the two separate vans, the team got to bond in their own separate ways. I heard great stories from the other van, but I personal can only speak for the van with the driver named P Bop. We sang songs, talked, bonded, and got to know our driver P Bop. Ben showed off his Thai skills trying to say the few phrases we knew, but through the translation services of Besty and P La we were able to have some great laughs with our driver. During the process we also learned some new phrases ourselves.
Now that we are in Chiang Mai, we are staying at the YMCA. Tonight we also got to experience our first taste of northern Thai styled cooking. Talk about yummy food! I really can't tell you what we all ate. I am good about trying things if I don't ask what they are. Then by the time I do, I forget. I know that there were types of pork and fish involved. For my family reading this (aka parental units), I know they will be shocked to hear this, but I liked the fish. It was in so many spices I couldn't even tell! The best part of the meal for me was sticky rice. On top of the normal rice we have a meals, sticky rice can be made into a ball and you can dip it on other things, or sauces that you want and it picks it up. I think if this is made back home in my apartment the possibilities are endless. Now it is time to call it a night and get ready for another exciting day in Chiang Mai!
God Bless and thank you for your continued prayers! :)
- Sarah
P.S. As I am typing this a stray cat just wondered into the hotel lobby. Don't worry mom, I didn't pet it.
We made it to Chiang Mai after an all day car ride full of fun surprises. First off, the bathrooms at the rest stops are such a cultural experience. You even get to bring your own toilet paper, just to add your own personal touch. The toilets are what are called "squatty potties." You can use your imagination to figure out what that is, or for those who need the visual picture, there is a little toilet bowl that you squat over. Therefore, it is slightly classier than squatting when you are hiking outside and such because it is in a stall with a toilet bowl, but the same idea. You do not throw your toilet paper into the potty afterwards, but into a trashcan because the toilets have no flusher. You "flush" the toilet by taking water from a container on the side and dumping it into the potty. Some members of our team still have not experienced this depth of culture by surpassing those stalls in the bathroom, but I am sure there time will come soon. Although the toilets did seem to overshadow everything else at the rest stops, the stops also included a gas station with other shops around. These shops included coffee shops, food shops, and convenience stores.
During the eight to nine nourish trip in the two separate vans, the team got to bond in their own separate ways. I heard great stories from the other van, but I personal can only speak for the van with the driver named P Bop. We sang songs, talked, bonded, and got to know our driver P Bop. Ben showed off his Thai skills trying to say the few phrases we knew, but through the translation services of Besty and P La we were able to have some great laughs with our driver. During the process we also learned some new phrases ourselves.
Now that we are in Chiang Mai, we are staying at the YMCA. Tonight we also got to experience our first taste of northern Thai styled cooking. Talk about yummy food! I really can't tell you what we all ate. I am good about trying things if I don't ask what they are. Then by the time I do, I forget. I know that there were types of pork and fish involved. For my family reading this (aka parental units), I know they will be shocked to hear this, but I liked the fish. It was in so many spices I couldn't even tell! The best part of the meal for me was sticky rice. On top of the normal rice we have a meals, sticky rice can be made into a ball and you can dip it on other things, or sauces that you want and it picks it up. I think if this is made back home in my apartment the possibilities are endless. Now it is time to call it a night and get ready for another exciting day in Chiang Mai!
God Bless and thank you for your continued prayers! :)
- Sarah
P.S. As I am typing this a stray cat just wondered into the hotel lobby. Don't worry mom, I didn't pet it.
Concordia Daycare and JJ Mall!
Sawaat dii!
This post is coming a day late because we were all pretty tired last night, but here's a run-down of our first non-sightseeing day. Yesterday, January 4th, we had breakfast at the hotel before getting in our trusty vans and heading to the Concordia Daycare, which is located in Bangkok. We squeezed out of the vans - as they were parked pretty close to the wall - and walked into a yard full of Thai preschoolers. P Dang and P La explained to us that all of the children at the daycare come from the next-door slums. If not for the daycare, many of the children would be locked in their houses all day while their parents worked. Kids from ages one and a half to four are welcome in the daycare for free, and each day they receive a breakfast snack, lunch, and a bath. They also learn their alphabet and basic social skills, like how to interact with other children (remember that most of them had been alone in the house all day). In Thailand, public schooling is free and they are eligible to begin at age four, but the daycare also provides evening classes and homework help for the older students.
Our team arrived and immediately began to sing songs, both Thai and English, with the little ones. Then we did some impromptu skits of Bible stories! We first did the story of David and Goliath, and how God is strong even when we are weak. They asked us to do it twice, and then we followed it with the story of Noah's Ark. The kids all got up to help us "build the ark" and then came on two-by-two like the animals. After that, Marshall (Deac. Betsy's nephew) handed out frisbees and our team got to enjoy lots of playground time with the kids. We ran around and even played Duck duck goose in the heat before helping with lunch and bringing them all into the house (with our shoes off, of course) to get them ready for baths and nap time. Scotty played guitar and we all sang songs with motions for them, including "Jesus Loves Me" multiple times. Then we had various Thai snacks (including Coca-cola with Thai on the can!) and prepared to go walk through the nearby slum. Everything was made out of tin pieces and there was water and trash running underneath everything because there is no sewage there. All of the families are living there on someone else's land, and P Dang told us that the owner had tried to reclaim his land multiple times by burning it. Thankfully no one was injured the last time he tried to do so.
Next we arrived at the JJ Mall. However, the JJ Mall is not what you would think of when someone says they're going to a US mall! It was more like a market jam-packed into a building. We got food cards to eat in the mall and had various dishes, including fried rice. We also had some Thai tea called "cha yen," which means cold tea and it was extremely delicious! David and I finished by eating some traditional Thai desserts: pumpkin steamed in coconut milk and mango with sticky rice. Both were delicious! From there, our team split up into smaller groups to explore all the little stalls. Some of us bought really fun Thai pants, scarves, and other clothing items. Others, including myself, got a traditional Thai massage. It cost 150 Baht for a 30 minute massage. Now to put that in perspective, $1.00 is worth about 30 Baht… so we got a massage for $5.00! Everything here is much cheaper than at home, but it seems more expensive just because it costs hundreds or thousands of Baht.
We made it back to the hotel and were able to beat the Bangkok rush hour traffic. Then most of us took advantage of the pool before walking to the Big C shopping center for dinner in the food court. I had some tasty pork pot stickers and we even went to Starbucks afterward. It tastes the same as the US, and it costs the same too… It was still a really fun excursion in the city though. We had our nightly devotions once returning to the hotel and then we were all pretty wiped out. It was a full day of exploring and sharing, and we were all very excited to actually work with the kids (although we've enjoyed our sightseeing as well).
Please continue to pray for our team as we being our work in Chiang Mai with the student center, and we'll keep you updated on our adventures!
- Jamie Helmreich and the rest of the Thailand mission team
This post is coming a day late because we were all pretty tired last night, but here's a run-down of our first non-sightseeing day. Yesterday, January 4th, we had breakfast at the hotel before getting in our trusty vans and heading to the Concordia Daycare, which is located in Bangkok. We squeezed out of the vans - as they were parked pretty close to the wall - and walked into a yard full of Thai preschoolers. P Dang and P La explained to us that all of the children at the daycare come from the next-door slums. If not for the daycare, many of the children would be locked in their houses all day while their parents worked. Kids from ages one and a half to four are welcome in the daycare for free, and each day they receive a breakfast snack, lunch, and a bath. They also learn their alphabet and basic social skills, like how to interact with other children (remember that most of them had been alone in the house all day). In Thailand, public schooling is free and they are eligible to begin at age four, but the daycare also provides evening classes and homework help for the older students.
Our team arrived and immediately began to sing songs, both Thai and English, with the little ones. Then we did some impromptu skits of Bible stories! We first did the story of David and Goliath, and how God is strong even when we are weak. They asked us to do it twice, and then we followed it with the story of Noah's Ark. The kids all got up to help us "build the ark" and then came on two-by-two like the animals. After that, Marshall (Deac. Betsy's nephew) handed out frisbees and our team got to enjoy lots of playground time with the kids. We ran around and even played Duck duck goose in the heat before helping with lunch and bringing them all into the house (with our shoes off, of course) to get them ready for baths and nap time. Scotty played guitar and we all sang songs with motions for them, including "Jesus Loves Me" multiple times. Then we had various Thai snacks (including Coca-cola with Thai on the can!) and prepared to go walk through the nearby slum. Everything was made out of tin pieces and there was water and trash running underneath everything because there is no sewage there. All of the families are living there on someone else's land, and P Dang told us that the owner had tried to reclaim his land multiple times by burning it. Thankfully no one was injured the last time he tried to do so.
Next we arrived at the JJ Mall. However, the JJ Mall is not what you would think of when someone says they're going to a US mall! It was more like a market jam-packed into a building. We got food cards to eat in the mall and had various dishes, including fried rice. We also had some Thai tea called "cha yen," which means cold tea and it was extremely delicious! David and I finished by eating some traditional Thai desserts: pumpkin steamed in coconut milk and mango with sticky rice. Both were delicious! From there, our team split up into smaller groups to explore all the little stalls. Some of us bought really fun Thai pants, scarves, and other clothing items. Others, including myself, got a traditional Thai massage. It cost 150 Baht for a 30 minute massage. Now to put that in perspective, $1.00 is worth about 30 Baht… so we got a massage for $5.00! Everything here is much cheaper than at home, but it seems more expensive just because it costs hundreds or thousands of Baht.
We made it back to the hotel and were able to beat the Bangkok rush hour traffic. Then most of us took advantage of the pool before walking to the Big C shopping center for dinner in the food court. I had some tasty pork pot stickers and we even went to Starbucks afterward. It tastes the same as the US, and it costs the same too… It was still a really fun excursion in the city though. We had our nightly devotions once returning to the hotel and then we were all pretty wiped out. It was a full day of exploring and sharing, and we were all very excited to actually work with the kids (although we've enjoyed our sightseeing as well).
Please continue to pray for our team as we being our work in Chiang Mai with the student center, and we'll keep you updated on our adventures!
- Jamie Helmreich and the rest of the Thailand mission team
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Orientation Day 1
Dear Friends,
After 20+ hours of traveling our group made it to the TK Palace hotel in Bangkok, and most of us went straight to sleep. We were met the next morning (around 6 hours later) by Dang (CWEFT director) who took us to the LCMS/CWEFT office down the street. There our group met 2 other staff members, P La and P Yung as well as Deaconess Christie Nelson who is on holiday in Thailand. They gave us a brief introduction into the history of CWEFT in Thailand and shared a little bit about their experiences working with the Thai people.
Following this we loaded up in our vans and traveled to the area of Bangkok where the Grand Palace is located. After stopping for a bite to eat at the typical open air Thai restaurant, we found our way to the crowded and beautiful Grand Palace complex which is also home to the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is quite an impressive place and give visitors a very vivid picture of Buddhist culture and how much it intertwines with the Thai way of life. There were so many people there and it was incredible to see them all there for so many different reasons. While we were there to learn more about the culture and see how Buddhism is practiced, we weren't like many if the other tourists who purchase offerings or other gimmicks to earn merit or participate in a Thai experience for good luck or just to experience the culture.
While we were there, Marshall had his first experience with having strangers take pictures with him because he was a blond 11 year old. He took it in stride though, and even though he thinks it's weird, he realizes that he's kind of a celebrity.
After we toured the Grand Palace, we took a quick visit to see Wat Pho which is the home of the enormous Reclining Buddha. The size of this Buddha is so big, it takes up the entire temple it is built in.
By the time our temple tours were over, we were all quite hot and tired, so we went to an air conditioned mall near the Chao Phraya river and mall walked until we all found a place to sit down and amuse ourselves with games. We had to wait an hour until our dinner cruise was ready to sail off at 7pm. Even though it was early jet lag was claiming a few casualties. I am sure that I was the first to doze off followed by at least 3 others. This created a lot of entertainment for my dinner table mates as I apparently would fall asleep in mid sentence and then suddenly awake with a start. The cruise was still very nice. We were served 3 courses of delicious Thai food and treated to Thai dance performances. Scotty was chosen to dance one of the last dances, so now he can teach the rest of the group how it is done. We all want to be able to bend our fingers like they do!
Overall it was a great first day in Thailand. We were kept busy all day which meant almost everyone slept soundly! Much more excitement to come on day 2! Stay tuned! ~ Deac Bets
After 20+ hours of traveling our group made it to the TK Palace hotel in Bangkok, and most of us went straight to sleep. We were met the next morning (around 6 hours later) by Dang (CWEFT director) who took us to the LCMS/CWEFT office down the street. There our group met 2 other staff members, P La and P Yung as well as Deaconess Christie Nelson who is on holiday in Thailand. They gave us a brief introduction into the history of CWEFT in Thailand and shared a little bit about their experiences working with the Thai people.
Following this we loaded up in our vans and traveled to the area of Bangkok where the Grand Palace is located. After stopping for a bite to eat at the typical open air Thai restaurant, we found our way to the crowded and beautiful Grand Palace complex which is also home to the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is quite an impressive place and give visitors a very vivid picture of Buddhist culture and how much it intertwines with the Thai way of life. There were so many people there and it was incredible to see them all there for so many different reasons. While we were there to learn more about the culture and see how Buddhism is practiced, we weren't like many if the other tourists who purchase offerings or other gimmicks to earn merit or participate in a Thai experience for good luck or just to experience the culture. 
After we toured the Grand Palace, we took a quick visit to see Wat Pho which is the home of the enormous Reclining Buddha. The size of this Buddha is so big, it takes up the entire temple it is built in.By the time our temple tours were over, we were all quite hot and tired, so we went to an air conditioned mall near the Chao Phraya river and mall walked until we all found a place to sit down and amuse ourselves with games. We had to wait an hour until our dinner cruise was ready to sail off at 7pm. Even though it was early jet lag was claiming a few casualties. I am sure that I was the first to doze off followed by at least 3 others. This created a lot of entertainment for my dinner table mates as I apparently would fall asleep in mid sentence and then suddenly awake with a start. The cruise was still very nice. We were served 3 courses of delicious Thai food and treated to Thai dance performances. Scotty was chosen to dance one of the last dances, so now he can teach the rest of the group how it is done. We all want to be able to bend our fingers like they do!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
We made it to Thailand!
Dear friends, I just want to quickly let you know that our group all made it safely to Thailand. We got to the hotel around 2am January 3rd and tried to get some sleep. Today we have orientation with Dang and the other staff of CWEFT. We will let you know how it goes. God bless! ~Betsy
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
We're Going On An Adventure!
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