In the Summer of 2014 when our dear friends, The Cannons, suggested that we [yes, all four of us] would be great assets to their team going on a mission trip to Thailand the following Summer it all sounded so easy.
SURE! We'd love to fly to the other side of the world with a group of folks we hardly know; experience serious jet lag; sit on the upper level of an open bus for a tour of Franfurt, Germany during a heat wave; use bottled water to brush our teeth; have our children photographed almost constantly by random people; see some of the most beautiful scenery ever; make friends with some locals whom we'll miss desperately after we leave; ride on elephants; get on a speed boat with total strangers [in the dark!]; ride in the back of a Thai "taxi"; eat some incredibly delicious local food; drink coconut water directly from a freshly picked coconut; make friends with those folks we hardly knew; be 11 hours ahead of our family back home; be in charge of entertaining and caring for six 4 year olds, be the comedic relief to a group of teens; fall in love with the children we work with; meet amazing people who have been chosen by God to serve in very desolate and dangerous areas of the world to spread the Word; ride in a tuc-tuc through the streets and ally ways of Bangkok, share a virus with our family that makes Ryan sick in Bangkok, David sick in Germany, and Rachael and I sick in the States; and be so consumed with excitement to share about our experiences with everyone when we get home!
It was an incredible journey.
So, what exactly did we do there?
First and foremost we had the honor of getting to serve missionary families who have listened to their calling from God, packed up their lives, and moved to the other side of the world, where they aren't safe at times, where they aren't yet fluent in the language or all the customs. We got to know them [and their children]. Our group of about 35 workers oversaw this annual week-long convention of missionary families who serve throughout the Southeast Asia area. Some of us were in charge of the adults as they held various meetings. Others helped with the children of the families. We divided them up into groups- the teens, the 5-12 year olds, 4 year olds, 3 year olds, and the nursery. The ages of the children who attended ranged from 3 months old to 18 years old. Ryan was a part of the teens group. They mostly "hung out" discussing various Biblical topics, having tea time [because that's what they are accustomed to], and general fellowship with other American teens, something they only get to do this one time a year. I worked with the 4 year olds. We played, sang praise songs, colored, did crafts, had snack time, watched a short video related to our daily Bible verse, went swimming, read books, and had fun! Each one of those children stole a piece of my heart and I pray that I will get to see them again. Rachael, although she was still 3, was in my class and had a wonderful time making new friends and playing all day. We essentially treated each day like a super fun Vacation Bible School. David was with the 5-12 year old group. He LOVED it!! They did lots of big kids activities and games, but still used a VBS type model.
Many of the missionaries we worked with serve in areas of the world who's governments would not be happy to learn their true reason for wanting to be in their country. Because of this, I cannot post pictures of the missionaries we worked with. So, all of these pictures will be of our adventures in Thailand. But, we want those who donated to and prayed for us to know that we did LOTS of work while there, you just have to take my word for it.
We left Atlanta and headed for Frankfurt, Germany, a 9 hour flight.
We ate several meals on the plane.
And slept through the night. Some of us better than others...
The sunrise over Europe.
In Germany we took an open-top bus tour of Frankfurt. It was July and Europe was having major record breaking heat. It was hot!
German ice cream to help beat the heat!
We enjoyed our bus tour of Frankfurt, but would have liked to see the city in a different way. Much of this city was bombed during WWII, which is something they didn't want to talk about too much, understandably. But, we would have love to have learned more about that part of the city's history.
Once the tour was over, so was our layover. We hurried back to the airport for our next flight.
After a 10 hour flight we landed in Bangkok!
As we were leaving the airport [on our 2 hour bus ride] we saw many of these golden shrines in honor of the royal family of Thailand. There were many of these in the city.
Once we began to get close to the city in which we would be staying for seven days, Pattaya, we really got an eye-opening look into this city on the other side of the world. Check out those power lines!
This was the view from our hotel room. [I made a video of our entire room but it's too big to post here.]
The weather was very humid, warm, and cloudy.
Directly underneath our hotel was a large market place. They had a little of everything- clothes, purses, beach toys, jewelry, decorative pieces, and locally grown food- bananas, mangoes, and coconuts.
Fountains around the hotel.
We went to the beach ONCE. It was kind of gross. There was a lot of trash that washed up from around the area. David found this cool shell though.
Rachael loved all the beautiful flowers everywhere.
They were super excited to be in Thailand!
The hotel provided enough bottled water for each of us to use to brush our teeth each day. We also had to be careful not to open our mouths in the shower! We did NOT want any of their water in our bodies!! We also drank a lot of ice cold, fresh coconut water [bought downstairs]. It was SO good!
The kids loved to eat the bananas and mangoes in the bathroom before going to breakfast. They were just so delicious!
We were able to have a few days to adjust to the time difference [11 hours] and jet lag before it was time to work. This was such a blessing. I can't imagine taking care of a bunch of 4 year old after just landing. We were exhausted our first day there.
But, the second day we were able to go exploring our "neighborhood". We crossed the street and met some locals and ate some of the most delicious food ever! From that day on we went there whenever we could. The food was fantastic and ridiculously cheap.
These open-air restaurants were so amazing. They could cook about anything you wanted and maybe some things you didn't want...
Iced Cocoa! A must-get treat after a meal. They loved watching the lady make them.
Each cup was $1 and SO yummy. Homemade hot chocolate and ice.
This chicken on a stick became our favorite dish. It was chicken thighs in a Thai BBQ sauce and grilled right in front of us.
Our usual table.
They kept these coconuts in a cooler on ice. It was the best coconut water!!
This sweet old lady made fresh fruit smoothies. We loved to visit her everyday too. You would point to the picture of the two fruits you wanted blended and off she would go. She'd cut up the fruit right into the blender and add a little sugar and coconut milk. We tried lots of combinations and each one was delicious.
She LOVED David and Rachael and would call to them, "Hello my babies!" The day before we left for Bangkok she lectured me about being safe there an keeping hold of David and Rachael at all times.
There are many stray dogs just roaming the streets.
Rachael wanted to bring every one of them home.
Our last night there.
Our chicken-on-a-stick cook let David help on the grill. [There is no health department in Thailand]
This sweet lady was amazing. Her family owned the chicken-on-a-stick restaurant. She was a teacher in Bangkok during the week and would come to the store on the weekends to work. She spoke Thia, Russian, and English. [She thought I was Russian!] She adored Rachael which turned out to be a lucky thing.
After finishing lunch one day, Rachael informed me that she needed to go to the bathroom. I asked the kind lady where I could find one and she took me to the back of their restaurant. She grabbed a roll of 1/2 ply toilet paper as she showed us the door. Rachael and I walked in, looked around and were quite confused. There was no toilet! Just a hole in the floor. I went back out and asked her what to do. She showed me how Rachael could sit since that's what she was used to, although she was supposed to squat over the hole. Then she waited until Rachael was done and showed me how to dip water out of the giant barrel in the corner to "flush". The small bucket in the picture was the water they used to "wipe" with. I was thankful she gave us toilet paper.
She was SO helpful. I don't know what we would have done without her.
I took lots of other pictures, but this is the best one for Rachael's modesty. It was like we weren't just on the other side of the world, but on a totally different planet.
After we got adjust to our surrounding and new time zone, it was time to get to work. Like I said, I'm not able to show you lots of pictures of what we did/who we worked with for safety reasons. But, here is one that I feel comfortable sharing.
Some of my little ones!!!
The older girl was a part of our group and my assistant teacher. And the little people have my heart forever. I miss each one of them so much.
We were able to take most of the missionary kids out to the pool in the afternoon. That was crazy, chaotic, fun! I was a nervous wreck because I was still in charge of my little ones in a pool of 50+ children! I was constantly walking along the side and counting. We had other adults, like Ryan, in the pool to help, but those babies were my responsibility and I took it seriously.
Rachael and Shiloh [The Cannon's oldest daughter]
Rachael and Afton [The Cannons youngest daughter] taking a little rest
We greatly enjoyed our work. I know hanging out by a pool doesn't sound like intense work and it wasn't, of course. Our main job was to allow these children who spend 50 weeks a year surrounded by non-Christians, in countries that would deport or kill them if they knew their true intent, to have fun with kids like them! Many of the times I would have a schedule of events for my day with them, but most of all my little ones wanted no schedule. They just wanted to play with each other. So, that's what we would do. The teens that Ryan 'hung out' with just wanted fellowship and they wanted to discuss Biblical topic freely and with like-minded teens. So, that's what they did. One night we offered a date night for all the married adults. If they had children, they were able to leave them with us for pizza, popcorn, and movie night. This was essentially the only night this year that they were able to go out on a date. Another night we hosted a ladies night. We painted, ate, and had great fun together, something these ladies rarely get to do. And don't worry about the men there was a fishing trip for them to go on too.
After our 5 days of serving the missionary families we were able to explore more of Thailand.
Although it was a tourist trap, these floating markets were pretty cool.
Stephanie and I had the dead skin on our feet eaten off by some little fish. It's called a "massage", but it mostly tickled.
Gotta love that bathroom sign.
Suspension bridge across a murky lake. I was in a hurry to get across.
One evening we went on a very big adventure with The Cannons.
We ventured waaaaaay out on our own. We took a "taxi" to the pier in downtown Pattaya, Thailand.
Waiting for the taxi.
And here we are! Setting out on our adventure. I may have been a little nervous. This trip was a great test of my faith.
David and Rachael loved every second.
No, really, he did. He's just taking it all in.
We arrived at the pier, the only Americans for miles! People were looking at us and taking pictures of us as we walked.
We finally found a lady who said her son would take us to an island for a few hours. Oh, ok! Sure. Let's put our children on this boat with folks we don't know and trust them to take us somewhere AND bring us back safe.
Ok. There's our boat!
Here we go!
Mama's still a little nervous...
The ride across the bay was incredibly rough, but Shiloh slept through the whole thing. She literally looked like a dead body, and nobody questioned it.
The beach was nice, but not nearly as secluded as I had imagined. It had a small hotel and lots of people. But, we didn't mind, we still had fun.
We eventually got hungry and started to look for some dinner.
But these restaurants had their food way too close to the bags and bags of trash they had piled up everywhere. So, while we were on an adventure, we didn't want that to include Salmonella. We chose to go with all prepackaged food for this trip. The kids didn't mind.
As we were sitting there eating we watched a volleyball match.
But, most of the time we had our own audience and some of them wanted to take our picture.
Or some requested selfies with my children!
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset before getting on the boat to ride back in the dark. And then in another taxi IN THE DARK IN THAILAND.
When we got back to the pier we met some missionaries who were handing out Bibles written in Chinese to all the Chinese tourists who visit the piers on tours. China does not allow the production or distribution of the Bible, but a citizen could bring it back home and share it with their family and friends. These ladies stood on this pier every night handing out the Gospel to thousands of Chinese citizens praying that their hearts are spoken to but never knowing if they are or not.
Another awesome experience we had with the whole group was elephant riding!
Excited and ready to go!
Here we are!
But first, the bathroom.
Meeting the elephants.
Ryan and David rode together and Rachael and I rode on another elephant.
An example of the houses we saw along our elephant ride.
Shiloh and Rachael playing after the ride.
We also learned about silk worms there.
We watched them harvest the silk and then make silk for sale.
At the end of the tour they had these really cool old Jeeps to transport us back to our cars.
Daddy and Rachael rode in the front seat. No seat belt laws!
Our time in Pattaya came to an end way too fast. We loved getting to serve those who serve the Lord everyday. It was such a blessing and an eye opening experience. I am in awe of these people who left their comforts of America, their families, their friends because God called them to share the Gospel in places like- India, Afghanistan, China, Vietnam, all over Southeast Asia. Not the most welcoming of countries. But, they heard the call and they answered. I am forever changed by them and their children.
We drove to Bangkok the day before our flight out.
An underpass/someone's home in the city.
Once in Bangkok [the capitol of Thailand] we did a little sight seeing. The religion of Thailand is Buddhism. I didn't know anything about it and I only learned a little bit about it while I was there [from a member of our team!]. In Bangkok there is the biggest golden Buddha in the world. It's a mecca shrine for orthodox Buddhists and an interesting monument for those who are not.
Women's shoulders must be covered, no shoes are allowed inside and you could only whisper.
Everything in and around is ornate and excessively covered in gold.
The entrance.
The Golden Buddha.
The devout had a roped off area directly in front of the Buddha where they could place their offerings [which they purchased just outside this building] and pray to Buddha- a man who claimed to have been the first person to achieve "enlightenment". That's it. These people put their faith in a regular person who came up with his own doctrine based on his claims and beliefs. WHAT?! I just wanted to start sharing the Gospel of Jesus to these people, but I didn't want to end up in a jail in Bangkok the night before our flight home.
The ceilings. Everything was shinny and covered in gold.
Inside and out there were MANY places for visitors and Buddhists to make a donation.
Here's the ladies making the offerings for people to purchase and lay at the feet of the Buddha. You were not allowed to bring offerings made from outside the temple area. While we were there we saw the staff collect the offerings already placed in front of the Buddha. What do you think they did with them after that?
More ornate structures in the temple area.
Just outside the room of the Buddha.
After that interesting adventure we headed out on an even more exciting [and terrifying at times] adventure!
Our group got a couple of tuc-tucs [the traditional taxis of Bangkok]. We asked the drivers to take us around the city. They agreed.
Here we go! Trusting a stranger to keep us safe in a city we know nothing about. The Mama pictured is a bit scared, but excited for the adventure.
Others from our group crammed in their tuc-tuc.
Our view.
David loved it!
But, first our drivers "needed gas". While we waited for them to fill up they suggested we take a look inside their friend's store.
They could custom make Ryan a suit or me a dress in just a few weeks and mail it to us! Ryan played the customer role.
And....then we left. We didn't buy anything.
We asked the drivers to take us a pier where we might could take a boat ride down the Chao Phraya River. They took us down several alley ways, making lots of turns. I video taped it just in case something happen to us...
They did take us to a pier, which their friends owned. But, they wanted to charge way too much for a boat ride. We didn't come to an agreed amount, so we fed the big fish in the water with some bread that they had. The kids loved that!
We then went back to the shopping district of Bangkok where our drivers dropped us off.
Across the street- another ornate Buddhist temple. Behind it you can see half built buildings. That's the way the whole city looked. Construction everywhere amid other buildings that look like they were about to fall down and then these random, beautiful temples.
We got a regular car taxi back to our hotel, where we ate dinner and went to sleep. That night Ryan got sick. He was throwing up a lot. The next day we flew to Germany. He slept most of the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt. That night in German, David threw up multiply times! Thankfully he was fine when boarded the plane for our 9 hour flight headed for home.
These kids were the best plane riders EVER! They never once complained except when we landed in Atlanta because they wanted to keep flying. They loved getting to watch movies on the screen right in front of them, playing with lots of the toys they packed, walking around the plane to stretch our legs, sleeping whenever they felt like it, changing clothes in an airplane bathroom, and having food and drinks brought to them [much more often than on a domestic flight].
Rachael and I got sick back here in the States.
I am so very grateful to God for his mercy and that none of us felt sick
on our flights.
What an amazing trip!
For us to have the opportunity to serve missionaries was such a blessing beyond words. I really can't think of how to properly explain the joy it brought us to help these people who have moved across the world to spread the love and Gospel of Jesus. Thank you to all who donated and prayed for us on this trip. We are truly grateful to you for your love and support.
