Feb 18

Thursday we took the guys to the zoo. Since I’m coming close to the time I’ll be leaving here I was able to spend some of the extra money to sponsor them to go. We were able to take out seven of the kids because we had 7 volunteers that day. We took a lot of the kids that don’t go on outings that often, or who had never been to the zoo before. It was great to take them to experience it for the first time. They all seemed to love it tons, even though a lot of the cages had walls that were too high to see over from the wheelchairs.
Also, Paul (another volunteer with the guys) went out and bought some more swimming tubes so that we could take more of the guys swimming on Fridays. Yesterday worked out really good to because the girls were there and so were the smaller kids from the babies ward. It was like being at a giant pool party for them. I think they really enjoyed having so many people around swimming in the pool. This week we’re going to work on painting with them and some basic English also. I’m looking forward to that now that we have 2 more volunteers and so therefore can spend more time with the guys individually.

Feb 14
Last weekend we were able to go with Koon Visit, who is in charge of Friendship For Peace (another Thai organization we have become friends with here), to hike a mountain. It was quite an experience. There were six of us total, 3 volunteers and 3 Thai people. The mountain was 5.5 kilometers up and took us around 6 hours to conquer it. It was great to be with them for the whole weekend and enjoy the Thai culture with them. The Thai people are incredibly welcoming to us wherever we go which always makes the time spent with them great. I have to think that Thailand is probably the hottest country in the world (as far as I’ve experienced it) but still I almost died of hypothermia last weekend. I have seen my breath for the first time since last winter in America. I didn’t bring much in the category of warm clothes, and what I did bring became wet as it rained all day Sunday and our tent collapsed soaking everything I owned in water. Sunday night I didn’t have a blanket either since it was wet and I slept the night in my T shirt and plastic rain poncho. I made it through the night by remembering that the next day I would be cooking in the heat again and dreaming of that cold wet feeling again

Nin

NIN

Nin’s name means “blue sapphire”. I don’t know exactly what that color looks like, but I’m sure that Nin doesn’t look like blue sapphire. However, he’s a great guy to be around and one of the first guys I see in the mornings. Chork usually gets Nin’s wheelchair and pushes him to CCD in the mornings before we go and pick up the other guys. Nin is more clever than most of the other guys and so he is lots of fun to talk with even though he can’t move his mouth very well which makes talking for him difficult.

He’s 25 years old however, like me, which I think adds to the fact that I like spending time with him even more. He’s good at concentrating on things when we do paper mache and play games like connect four or even checkers. Usually he sits in his wheelchair all day (which he has trouble staying all the way up in it all the time since his body is so stiff) but when we do activities like paper mache we’ll sit him cross legged on the floor until it hurts his legs too much. This is a little harder for him because he has to keep balanced, but it’s good because he’s able to work on the floor with the other guys instead of at a table by himself. He seems to enjoy it.

Nin seems to enjoy playing games most of all when he’s with us. He’s really smart at connect 4 and likes to play simpler games like dominoes. The also like to play this memory game that one of the other volunteers had left for them and Nin usually gets more than I can! He plays connect 4 a lot with me and with some of the other guys like Sen and Pitaya. I think they like playing each other a lot but usually I have to be there to put the pieces in for them. Nin can do it himself but gets tired after a time. I don’t know how much he’s played checkers before me coming here but he seems to have picked it up pretty quick when P O, one of the staff, was teaching him. He plays it pretty good with me, except sometimes gets the rules confused because I taught him American style too since it was a little easier to play. He still hasn’t gotten chess figured out, but he sits and studies the board sometimes when me and P O play during lunch. It would be great if him and one of the other guys can be able to learn it before I leave here!

Nin, like the other guys, likes to arm wrestle with me. He also teases my by calling me fat, after which I rough him up a bit. He seems to never get tired of teasing me! He also is a Christian and loves to sing various Christian songs and learn the motions to them. Me and Paul, the new volunteer, teach him some English in the mornings. He’s getting good at responding in Thai to the questions that I ask him in English. It’s amazing how clever he is, hopefully he never stops learning new things and joking around with the volunteers here. He provides a lot of fun for all of us.

Feb 6

Saturday I went fishing again with two of the staff that work at CCD. It was good to be out there fishing, however, I don’t think I’ve ever fished for such a long time before. We arrived at 8 in the morning and didn’t leave till after 6 at night. We only caught 3 fish (2 of them were looking small) but didn’t catch the first one until 3:30. I caught that one and it was quite a good size. The day seemed a lot more fun after that. Saturday night we had all the volunteers here at the house for some games. Sunday morning me and Paul took two of the guys from the ward to church and then to eat at KFC afterwards. They seemed to enjoy it lots and loved being at church. Sen can speak much, but when I asked him what his favorite food was he was pretty quick to yell out K F C! It was great to be able to take them. Paul has been a great blessing to have here. I think that just the presence of another guy around is a welcome change, plus he has a good sense of British humor and English is his first language. He really likes working with the guys and has been a good source of motivation coming into the last month or so here. We’re going to try taking the guys out more often to church and other places. It helps having another guy around to help with all that here.
Allison has also been a great blessing since she’s been here. All the staff and the volunteers say that she’s doing a great job and they all notice the great love she has for the children in the wards. That’s been great because it’s the kind of love that rubs off on people. Please be praying for us and the government staff that will be here long after we leave that we won’t grow weary of loving these guys and taking care of them!

Oh yeah, the wrestling was pretty fun. It turned out to be American wrestling. The Smack Down Live tour. The one guy that all the kids knew was sick with pnemonia and the only other wrestler I knew was the Undertaker. Still it was great to take the kids to, they all seemed to love it!

Jan 30

Saturday night was good here in Thailand. We had a Western food cooking night for some of the friends that we met through the Friendship Foundation in Bangkok and also with some of the staff at CCD. They were interested in our different foods so we set up a night to treat them to a good western meal. I made hot wings using “Wild” sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings. Allison was kind enough to bring this out. Most of the Thais said it was too hot (more for me!) but some of them really liked it a lot! Sarah made some chili, mostly American style but with some Thai ingredients. We also had Swedish meatballs made by the Swedes (apparently they just call them “meatballs” in Sweden) and some mashed potatoes. Someone brought a yellow watermelon from Thailand too which was interesting to me. It was all a lot of fun though and a great night to be able to bond with the people we’ve met and those we are working with.

I had a chance to meet with the leader of Servant Partners on Thursday to talk about my possibly coming out to Thailand for a period of 5 years with that organization. They focus on urban poverty, both bringing to gospel to them and searching out ways to bring some social justice as well. It’s an incarnational ministry which means I would be living in a slum with the people for the time that I was here. I’m excited about the work they do and the possibility I have to come and serve with them. I’ll keep you more updated as I know more about my plans after I return. Only about 6 weeks left! The time is going fast.
I’m going to see some wrestling (I think Sumo Wrestling!) on Thursday night with some of the kids from the government wards! I’m very excited about this. Friday night I should be going into the slums for a prayer meeting and to visit the friends I have there, then Saturday I’m going fishing with about 8 other guys from CCD’s staff (which will be interesting since it’ll mean I have to communicate in Thai all day) and Sunday me and Paul are taking Sen and Ratchanok to church which they are really excited about. Paul is the new volunteer that has come from England to work with CCD for the next 6 months. It’s very good having another volunteer at work. Well, the next week should be full of lots of stories and hopefully some good pictures too!