Flood Update - October 18th, 2011

If you haven’t heard… Thailand has been hit with a lot of flooding this year. Normally, every year parts of Thailand will flood. Only parts of provinces will flood but not the WHOLE province. This year the floods are the worst that they have been in over 70 years. At this point 61 out of the 77 provinces are flooded. This flooding is because a dam in the north has broken and the water that normally stays in the canal is getting filled to its’ maximum capacity! I’m not that informed on other provinces, but the province next to the province we live in is called Phatum Thani. A dam, very close to the Rangsit (where our church is) area in Phatum Thani has broken. Right now they have a wall of sandbags that is four rows wide and maybe approx two meters high that is keeping the water from coming into the Rangsit area. Right now the community in Rangsit is working 24/7 bagging sandbags to help make the wall higher and keep the rising water out of the city. MRC (Mahapawn Rangsit Church – our church) has become the centre for cooking food and sending to the volunteers at the site who are bagging sand. This is where any donations of food come to the center and water etc. Janna and I were able to help out a few days with the food prep and with the bagging sand. There is so much to do from cooking, to packing, to shoveling to moving sand bags to folding bags to make them easier to open to tying sandbags etc etc etc. It is so great to see the community come together in this time. It seems like regular life has stopped in the Rangsit area as everyone prepares for the flood. Hopefully the need for God will become clear in this situation and the fact the only He is the hope for them and us will be made known through this situation. Our church is in Muang Ake/Rangsit and some of our friends live at the church or very close in the boys staff house. If the water floods the area, it will hit the church first and the boys’ house in Mueng Ake next. So this area is at risk right now. It is good that everyone has had time to prepare for the flood. The church is surrounded with walls of sandbags as is the boys’ home. But keep praying! Our home where Janna and I live is an hour away from Rangsit and is called Hoganka. For now we are safe… We will wait and see if the flooding comes to Rangsit and then we will know whether or not it will come to Bangkok. But we are on the fourth floor of our building so we will be safe even if it comes. We are prepared with food and water just in case; but I’m not worried. Also Janna and I are heading to the South to a beach for a week starting tomorrow. So we will be out of the heart of the flooding for now. Please, please continue to be praying for Thailand. Flooding causes so much devastation and there will be homes to rebuild etc once the flooding has stopped. Pray that the flood waters would recede and that God would protect His children. He has proven that He is faithful already! We so appreciate your prayers for Thailand! Please continue to pray!

I went to see what the wall of sandbags looked like and here is a video that gives you a glimpse into the Rangsit area and the level of the water as well as you get to see the many many sandbags.

Also it’s not much but here is a glimpse into the scene where many volunteers from the church as well as the community are coming together to dig and bag sandbags, serve food and all that goes along with both of those things. Just a quick glimpse!

Also see Janna's blog for more details about the flood! www.jannaruth.blogspot.com 

Weekend in ChiangMai!!!

Okay, I KINDA don’t know where to begin! But maybe I’ll start at the beginning. On Thursday evening, I hopped on a bus and went to Chiangmai for the weekend. Last year when I was in Thailand with the DRIME team, we went to Chiangmai and I fell in love with the city and the people and the friends we made! So, because I am living in Thailand, I felt like I could not live so close to Chiangmai and not come up to visit at least once. And with not many weeks left here in Thailand, I was getting nervous that I might not be able to visit them. But with some encouragement from my teammate and some help from my friends Poy, Nid and A (telling me what bus to take, booking me a place to stay) I hopped on a bus and was on my way to a wonderful weekend. Eleven hours later, I was in Chiangmai, Thailand! Did I have a plan of what I was going to do when I got there? Nope. But I’m sure glad God did – because he filled my weekend so it was just packed enough but also refreshing and a bit relaxing too ;) haha. Such a great balance!

My bus was a little late arriving to the station – okay a lot late – two hours late. I found out from the lady sitting next to me, in her broken English, that it was because we had to go around 4 cities with flooding. I was so grateful for how flexible and patient P’Rew was at picking me up! He brought me to the TCCC guesthouse where I was staying, made sure I had everything I needed and was on his way. I was on my way to a great weekend! Before he left, P’Rew asked me what my plans were for the weekend… I said “I don’t really have a plan, just hope I can visit with my friends”.  Very weird for me not to have a plan! After I showered, I headed over to the pool to sit in the sun and read for a bit… I figured since it was Friday all the staff would be busy preparing for L.T.I camp the next week in Pai (the city) so I would just wait to see them until lunch or some other time. But I got near the office and Poy calls my name, “Samantha!” she greeted me, and brought me into the office to show me around. There, I found some more of my friends busily working away. I asked what they were working on and from that I found myself helping prepare for LTI camp… lol. Not exactly what I expected but it was certainly fun to be able to hang out with them even if I was just drawing lines on a piece of paper… I was contributing AND I was spending time with them J! Poy asked if I was hungry and I was, so we went just across from the office to a little place for lunch. It was A’Roi! After lunch I decided I was actually going to read by the pool. But I think I had gotten a couple pages in my book when I got a phone call from Yokie. (no joke) She was going to the market and wondered if I wanted to join her. “I would love to come!” I said, “Okay, my friend will pick you up on her motorbike at the office and bring you to my home so we can go together…” Uh… Motorbike? Oh. Okay. I was a little nervous but it was actually good. And by the time we came back I was riding on a motorbike WITH buckets and stuff we bought at the market in hand. (Only one hand to hang on with!) By the end of the weekend it was actually really fun riding on the motorbikes with my friends: feels Thailand-y. haha. On our way home from the market, I was asking Yokie if she knew P’Ae and Joy… Some friends working with AIA (Athletes in Action) who Janna and I had met in Bangkok. Joy is also “farung” and working in Chiangmai on a 7 month missions trip with AIA. Just as soon as I asked about them, I saw Joy washing her shoes in the front entrance of her home. I was like HEY!!! We chatted a bit. “I didn’t know you were coming up here this weekend” she said, “Neither did I; I just hopped on a bus and here I am!” “Cool, I was going to go for a swim… wanna join me?” she asked. A swim sounded good because unlike in Bangkok where it rains everyday – I actually saw the sun in Chiangmai!!! I also have to mention that there was absolutely NO flooding in the village in Chiangmai that I was staying in… It was completely dry – the river was low and the sun was out! So great! Anyways so I changed into my bathing suit and met up with Joy and we talked and swam a bit too. I met her friend Anne (who is also her Thai teacher) and Joy told me how they had been learning about Thai time… and how neung toom is 7pm and song toom is 8pm etc. It still kinda baffles me. Anyways, Ae suggested going out for dinner after swimming. So Ae, Anne, Joy, a couple more of their friends and I went out for dinner. I got to eat Italian! I haven’t found any Italian shops since being here. I had fetticini alfredo! Mmm so good! I mean A’Roi Mak! So, after dinner, Ae says, “So, we could go home OR we could go to a concert?” Jing la?! (Seriously?) Obviously we want to go to a CONCERT!!! Haha. Even with my lack of sleep and my 6:30am wake up call on the bus (not a wake up call I just couldn’t fall back asleep) I was totally up for it! It ended up being some sort of concert that was raising money for the floods in Thailand. So they were auctioning off things and they had different bands playing music. It was fun! J It’s funny because at the concert, we met this girl from YWAM named Suzanna. She was telling us how she was a missionary here in Thailand and then we were like, well, so are we! (She’s with YWAM, Joy’s with AIA and I’m with DRIME – oh the acronyms! haha) So anyways we had a good long conversation with her; she raves about the DTS program with YWAM. All in all it was a very packed, random and spontaneous Friday, filled to the max!

Suzanna, me and Joy

Oh and it ended by me finding a LIVE cockroach IN my toilet!!! AH!!! Good thing I know how to flush or else I would have been nervous to sleep with a cockroach in my room! Still kinda was, even though I had flushed him down the toilet!

baking snickerdoodles

Saturday morning I got to sleep in, but first I got a phone call from Yokie at 9:30am. She said “Tom a’rie yuu?” And in my very tired state I was STILL able to “kaow-jai” (understand) what she was saying!!! She was phoning because we were maybe going to go ride elephants on Saturday but she thought it would be better to do on Sunday afternoon. She called to tell me times and prices and stuff. Before she hung up she asked me if I was hungry (for breakfast) and I said – I think I am going to go back to sleep. With the lack of sleep on the bus, the 6:30am wakeup call and the packed day on Friday I was SO EXHAUSTED!!! So she said I could meet her for lunch (I love that they are taking care of me in terms of meals and things to do!) So I did sleep some more! I think I could have slept forever but I decided to wake up at 11:30am. I headed over to Yokie’s place for lunch. I didn’t QUITE remember where it was but I kept walking and all of a sudden I heard my name! haha. So I found her house! Poy asked me if I eat “som tom” ummmm I can TRY. (I normally don’t eat it – mai chop ped) So we had Thai style lunch… chicken, rice, som tom, bamboo and some other things that I tried. One of the foods I tried was bitter and one was sour… but I liked the sour one so I got some more and the girls were happy that I liked it haha. After lunch it started to rain so I played guitar for a bit and watched part of a movie that was on tv with Yokie. Then Joy and Ae walked past the girls’ house. They were going to get some eggs so I asked if I could join them for the walk. After we got eggs Joy came over to the guesthouse I was staying in, because they had an oven, and we made snickerdoodles. Yummy. After we made cookies, I went for a quick swim and then I went to the office to check bus times on the internet for the next night. Turned out Yokie was phoning and booking my ticket for me before I even had a chance to see bus times! So great that she was working it all out for me! My friends were taking such good care of me! Suggesting places to go and things to do and making sure my weekend in Chiangmai was wonderful!

Joy and I at Chiangmai's Walking Street

Joy and Ae had suggested earlier that we go to the walking market… I didn’t know what that was but it’s basically like a JJ Market in Chiangmai. So we went there! We took a red song tow to the market. We were waiting for one to come and it was taking awhile but then we saw one pull into 7/11 on the other side of the street. SO… Joy, Ae and I (looked for traffic) crossed 4 lanes of the highway to get to the song tow at 7/11!!! I feel like I should make a joke out of this: “Why did Joy, Ae, and Samantha cross 4 lanes of the highway???” Answer: “To get to the song tow parked at the 7/11 on the other side!” lol. Anyways, everything at Chiangmai Walking Street was SO CUTE!!! I wanted to buy the whole market and take it home with me… But I didn’t. haha. But it definitely was a lot of fun! At the walking street, Ae bought some lanterns that we could take home and fly this night. It was SO FUN!!! Think Disney’s Tangled (the movie)… and all the lanterns that just float up in the air… We got to DO THAT!!! So exciting! It was a more relaxing beginning of my Saturday but it still got very packed with lots of fun!!!

On Sunday morning, I got up and went to church. It literally was next door to my house. I didn’t expect it to be a church full of farung… But it was! haha. It was called Chiangmai Christian Fellowship (CCF) It was so nice to sing English worship songs! To belt out praises to God! One song in particular stood out to me but I forget what it’s called at the moment. The message from the Pastor was really good too! It was about Genesis 40 and just talking about missionaries in Thailand and the slow process. How we aren’t where we expected to be… and about struggles we face and stuff like that. There was even a baptism after the service in the pool next door! Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay because we had to quickly grab lunch because the song tow was coming at 12:30pm to take us to the Elephant camp!!! It was so great! I loved riding in the song tow and going around the twists and turns to get to the camp and just remembering last year when we came! It was even sunny for us! When we got there Ae got us discounted tickets because they charge more if you are farung! :P Even the bananas I bought for the elephants were more expensive than I was expecting. Anyways Joy and I went to watch the show and it was SO HOT out! I definitely got some sun on Sunday! During the show the elephants painted, played soccer and basketball, played harmonicas, hula hoops on their trunks, played darts and lots of fun stuff! After the show we went to ride the elephant! The elephant we rode’s name was Jumbo! I asked if I could sit on the elephant’s neck at all, but I wasn’t allowed. Maybe one day! The elephant trainer guy was impressed that we spoke a little thai, he took some pictures for us and asked, “Sa nook mai?” (Are you having fun?) Yuppers! He told us that Jumbo was 31 years old and that elephants can live to be 100 years old!!! Just before the end of our ride, it started to rain. Apparently the elephant guy asked me if I wanted an umbrella, “Umbrella ow mai?” but I thought he asked if I had one… but I didn’t so I said no! :S My bad. We headed home in the song tow and then I went to pack my things. It was still raining when I finished packing and I was hungry so I went to Joy and Ae’s house (cuz I didn’t know where to get food – nothing was close) So I had some crackers & peanut butter and popcorn for dinner and Joy and I played Skipbo for a bit. I went back home to finish getting my stuff together and then headed to Yokie’s because she was going to drive me to the bus station ON HER MOTORCYCLE!!! So she took me to the station and I got on a bus for 12 hours! In the morning I was home in Bangkok! Oh, how I’d missed it… and in the afternoon I headed to MRC with Janna to help with the flood stuff! Long day/packed weekend – but lots of fun! We slept over at the church on Monday night because we got back from helping so late… It was so wonderful to be surrounded by my family in Bangkok after being away from them in Chiangmai. What a wonderful weekend and a perfect way to come back home to reality (and friends)! Missed my leaders, Janna and my friends in Bangkok. <3 Happy to be home!

Here are some more pictures from my trip...

Yokie and I

Lantern flying

Joy and I 

The pool outside of the TCCC office

Poy and I

Lantern lighting - like in Disney's Tangled!!!

Me at the elephant camp

More updates about the coming floods...

If you want to see more/hear more information about the floods in Thailand check out Janna's blog at: http://www.jannaruth.blogspot.com/ she has some links to different sites with news about the flooding.

Or check out my friend Matt's blog (who lives in the at risk area) where some of Janna's video come from: http://thematthewscott.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=57&Itemid=153

Please keep Thailand in your prayers!

Hello from the DRIME Thailand Leadership Team - Video Blog (Vlog?)

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek and an introduction to our leaders!

Hello from the DRIME Thailand Leaders!

This is a video we made to say hi to other DRIMERS :)

Check out this video of how silly our DRIME leaders can be - makes for GOOD BLOOPERS hehe. It took quite a few takes to get a good one ;) so many silly things happened in the process :P

And for those of you who speak Thai (or want to learn/hear what it sounds like) - this video is for you!

Hope this gives you a little glimpse into what our leaders are like and why I love them so much!

Leaders, floods & prayers...

Our DRIME Thailand leaders

(campus team – or – “R_DRIME” – the rangsit zone team)

I LOVE our leaders! They just bring me so much joy and I cannot help laughing when I’m around them! I feel SO BLESSED to get the opportunity to spend time with them and build friendships and teach them about DRIME. Yesterday we had the opportunity to perform at the National Plan Meeting. This is a meeting where all the church leaders of the different churches come together to talk about their plan as a nation. Right now they want to see 1 million Thai Christians by 2015 – their slogan is “With Him We Can” Vision 2015! Our DRIME Thailand leaders did an amazing job of learning a drama and performing it all in less than a week! I literally was beaming like a proud parent as I watched them perform Ragman in a room of about 60 – 75 people. Every time I sit back and watch our leaders I can just see how much they are growing (especially Kong - he's come along way already) and it makes me so excited and proud of them every time! He has definitely come out of his shell and it’s amazing to watch! And being able to have the opportunity to hang out and get to know our leaders better is so wonderful! They have this DRIME bond as a leadership team already – they have something you cannot teach - they are crazy and funny and they are “monkeys” (that’s what they say). They constantly make me laugh and they are just suud yod mak! We hung out at the boys’ house a couple weeks ago on Sunday and Por started making up songs on the guitar about DRIME and about prayer and about Kenya and Arm was right in there with the percussion and Kong was in there with the rapping version of the song. Just so funny! I love our leaders so much! Chan rak our leaders mak mak ka!

Apparently they told us we say “perfect” too much so we asked a new word we could say: suud yod (greatest)

City Team still unknown

We have decided that there is not enough time to work on two teams while we are here without going completely insane and stressing out… It’s an overwhelming task to think of on top of training our current leaders. But we are training Kung in everything she needs to know to start up a city team when we leave; especially because January to March are the slower months at the TCCC office. The only thing is we don’t know if we can give some extra training to some potential leaders while Janna and I are here to help Kung out… and that depends on if God lets us know that this person should be on the city leadership team and all three of us agree that’s God’s plan. Keep this team in your prayers and that God would guide us and give us wisdom about this situation and what is best for Thailand.

Floods in Thailand

“Do you own a boat?"

"No I don’t."

"You should get one."

"Can I borrow yours?” 

"Okay, I'll come pick you up on the way to work"

Lol. (The campus staff joking with us lol) Maybe we should build one like Noah did :P

Update about the floods in Thailand. I’m sure a lot of you have been seeing and hearing about the floods in Thailand. The river and canal levels are higher than they have ever been and with all the rain this rainy season the level of the river is rising higher than the dam walls. So everyone is taking precautions. Filling sandbags and making more barricades. People are making sure they are prepared with water boxes (jugs of drinking water) noodles and food supplies in case the floods come. In other districts and provinces they have come. Our friend, Looknut, said that 60 out of the 77 provinces in Thailand are flooding. My heart has definitely grown for Thailand and it breaks at the families and homes that the floods have affected. The area in Bangkok, called Hoganka, where we live is not near the river and isn’t in danger of flooding. Please keep praying – just because I am safe doesn’t mean that you should stop praying. I truly care about this country and the people who are at risk - God is bigger than this water and I know there is a purpose in all of this; a reason why Janna and I are here during this time. Thailand has experienced flooding before but never like this. God is and will protect his children and can use this experience for good, I know! God wants us to rely on him always, but usually we are reminded when things like this happen. Praying that we all draw closer to Him through this.

I’m not writing any of this to worry you. But rather to inform you and to ask that you keep praying for Thailand. I am not worried. I know I am safe and God is protecting me. I have confidence God hears our prayers “if we ask anything according to his will” and “if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask -  we know we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14b-15) Some of my friends live in districts that are closer to the river and close to where the flooding is already happening. I know God will protect them and keep them safe too but you can never pray TOO MUCH! Keep them in your prayers! I appreciate them (your prayers) so much! Khorb Khun Mak ka!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for my friends that live in areas that may be affected by flooding. Pray that God would keep them safe and keep our church safe from the floods!
• Pray that through the flooding, people in Thailand will come to know Christ.
• Pray for my back – it was re-aggravated last week and I just want to be fully healed not back at square one.
• Pray for our decisions in helping train one potential city team leader – that God would help us to determine the right plan of action and for His wisdom to discern whether or not this potential leader would be a good fit for DRIME leadership – if that is God’s plan for him.
• Pray for all 3 of our leaders but especially Por to get some rest and relaxation the last two weeks of October. He is going home to see his family and then to Chiangmai for bible camp. But right now he’s like the energizer bunny – as Campus Director (and DRIME Thailand leader) he keeps going and going with so much work to do. His body is physically telling him to stop by making him sick and tired. So pray that he gets the rest he needs and the rejuvenation to come back strong next semester. Pray that God would be his strength when he is tired and weary. Also pray for Kung and Kong to have restful and relaxing breaks. They ALL have many things that they are busy with and rest is so important!
• Pray for recruiting – people go back home after exams, during the October break from school so our leaders don’t have much time to recruit during this time. Pray for LOTS of interest and that people would be willing to decide to commit to be members by November 11^th – 13^th when Bootcamp (and kick off to the year) is scheduled for. Pray for God to show himself through this and providing lots of interested members! Praying for at least 15 to 20 team members to sign up and be involved. (if not MORE :D!)
• Pray for the desires of our heart... in terms of how our October will look - pray that the things we would like to do in October fall into place and our schedule allows!