This last week has been wonderful, as we’re hosting the Noarlunga Salvation Army Team. They come from Adelaide, where we spent the bulk of our time while we were in Australia in 2006. Sean randomly met Robert, the Captain of the Noarlunga Corps, at the gym. The following Sunday, we joined them for worship, and we realized we had finally found the church ‘home’ we had been searching for in Adelaide. They welcomed us with open arms and took good care of us. Immediately, Vanessa (Rob’s wife & co-Captain) and I clicked, and we all started making plans for a team to come to Thailand to visit. We stayed with Rob and Vanessa, and their kids, Rebecca and Adam, when we visited Adelaide last December. They are awesome friends and amazing servants of the Lord.
The team that we dreamed about is finally here!!
Left to Right: (back) Judy& Rod, Robert & Vanessa; (front) Sarah, Rebecca, Deb, Adam, Jessica.
They arrived on Tuesday, and we spent the first 2 days painting & renovating City Gate Church‘s new Coffee Shop, The Lighthouse. We also did some landscaping, creating a nice garden area for patrons to enjoy their coffee and snacks. Robert has had lots of experience painting, so he did a great job co-ordinating the workers and making sure that a high quality job was done. I managed to find a babysitter, and had a great time helping to flatten 3 mounds of dirt that will form the foundation of our new garden coffee shop.
Day 3 we piled our bags into the trucks and headed off to the village. This marks Samantha’s first village trip AND her first camping experience (Sean and I stayed in a tent). On the way we stopped at a beautiful waterfall, a crystal clear spring cascading over the cliffs. There were small pools at the top of the falls, so Sean and Samantha went swimming. Samantha just loves the water, so she had a blast. We even found a small crab for her to play with – LOL!
The first village we stopped at was Tung Daeng Prao. We had a delicious lunch of fresh fish (caught from the river just before we arrived) and rice. The we walked up to see the land for the new church that is going to be built. The old church is too small! They need a new one! So, we prayed with the pastor and then went onto our final destination.
Praduu Din is about 1.5 hours from Chiang Mai. This village is home to 4 different tribal groups, and the church serves them all. It’s a wonderful picture of the unity of the Body of Christ. After a short rest, we began to walk from house to house to pray for people. At the first house, the lady was quite depressed and would not smile or talk. So, the team prayed for her and as we were leaving this morning, she came to say goodbye and there was a definite change. I know it was exciting for the team to see her smile and talking willingly.
We held a service at the church, but I had to leave half way through, because Samantha was too much of a distraction (I was very disappointed, cause Rob’s teaching was *good*). Everywhere we go, people just stare at her and want to get her attention to make her smile and laugh. If they get a chance to hold her, they take it! So, I decided to take her to bed. Not so easy! I was trying to get her to settle, but it was impossible, cause we were surrounded by children looking in the window and door of the tent. It really felt like the “Samantha Show” – we were sitting inside the ‘box’, and all the kids were sitting comfortably, peering through the screen, smiling, laughing, commenting on everything that we did. And in situations like this, Samantha is an expert at putting on a show! So, I gave up, and we got out of the very hot tent and just hung around outside the church, with children gawking and pawing at Samantha. They didn’t know I spoke Thai, and the young girls were saying, “She’s my baby!”, “No, She’s my baby”, etc, fighting over who got to claim the tiny ‘farang’ for themselves. Eventually, one of the girls said, “Oh, I really want to hold her!”. So, I told her she could. At that she was so shocked and embarrassed that I understood her, she ran away! 😉
Samantha had a great first camping experience. She loved looking out the screen at the moon and the silhouettes of the trees. She also loved being able to sleep with Mummy and Daddy. I think she also loved getting really dirty. It’s impossible to keep a crawler clean in a village. Especially one as active and curious as Samantha. She just doesn’t stop! Everything must be looked at, then barked at (she loves animals, and will bark at dogs, chooks, rabbits, cats, anything), then captured, pulled at and finally, tasted. I’m sure all you Mums are nodding your heads. I just decided to let her experience it to the fullest. She discovered the joys of chickens, chicks and roosters. Who knew they were so exciting!? The village cat was successfully molested, and I think the cage was the only thing that protected the wild rabbit. By the time we left Praduu Din this morning, she was really dirty. I didn’t think it could get any worse. I was wrong. We stopped at Chiang Dao caves. I didn’t take her in, but while we waited she crawled around charming the socks off the tour guides, attacking dogs and scaring little boys. Samantha loves other kids, but when she sees them she gets so excited that she screams. This scares most Thai children. Seriously. She’s been known to make kids cry cause she’s so intense about meeting them! Anyway, the point was about dirt. Oh so much dirt. It horrifies the Thais that I let her crawl around and get her hands dirty. But, when she’s been sitting in her car seat for a couple of hours, she needs to let off some steam. I just make sure I have lots of wipes in case we can’t arrange a quick bath in the sink…
Oops, my obsession with my daughter has hijacked the blog about the team. I’m impressed with the servant attitude and flexibility of this team. They eat what’s put in front of them – last night they ate cobra meat and ant lava!! They don’t mind adjusting to “Thai time” and being ready at a moments notice for ministry. They worked so hard to get their project completed, even willing to work into a free evening to accomplish the task. Without them, The Lighthouse Coffee shop opening might have been delayed a month or two. And the 7 year old twins have been a dynamic part of the team, working alongside and participating in everything. Oh, and I’m really impressed that they haven’t complained about the food. In fact, they love the Rice Porridge and veggies that we’ve served them for breakfast. Impressive.
They’re only here a couple more days, and we wish they could stay longer!!!
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