Blissfully Untitled

This post is a little different than the others. I don’t have any blistering conviction to share, any one particular thing to point out except the broad umbrella statement that I am in Thailand. And I love it.

Our entire team is here now and there is a sense of complete among us. I sometimes go down the path of pitying Ben, our only boy, but then I look at the six outstanding girls he is surrounded with and realize that he is one lucky guy.

Our first group “project” was this morning, and the task was to lead church. Luckily, we have two guitar players, Ben and myself, three dancers; Natalie, Arizona and I, two artists; Nat and Caitlin, and all of us have taken a part in Young Life, at some point in our lives. SO, put all that crazy talent together, seven Young Life trained young adults and power them with the love of Jesus.. it was a pretty awesome service. We sang songs with body motions, performed a skit, taught and had 42 precious little eyeballs on us, soaking in the truth and love of Jesus’ teachings. There are few things in life that I find such purpose in.

From Friday onward, since the entire team has been here, we have been working through our orientation. The first night we went to a Bed and Breakfast (Most upscale hostel EVER), and listened as Matt unpacked the culture of Thailand, and what this trip was going to look like. We all adore Matt and thoroughly respect his vulnerability in his teaching. He challenged us with questions and flooded our curious minds with knowledge.

One of the things that I learned working on Summer Staff for Young Life last summer, was that something amazing happens when you allow people to know who you are, and accept the love that they offer. I asked Matt if we could all tell our life stories, in order to know the backgrounds of each other, and to better be able to understand our team, and he loved the idea. So, on the second day of orientation, we started our stories. It has been really amazing to listen and to know our team to such a great extent in the first three days.

Last night, we went to an authentic Northern Village style dinner. All of us gals dressed up and wore makeup and it was a blast. We all packed into the 15-passenger van and rode about 15 minutes into town from the orphanage. The night was full of really different food (it wasn’t my favorite, but great experience), dancing, and great conversation.

After some mad training at Pikes Peak Community College, I feel confident that I have a leg to stand on in at least watching dance, so last night was so fun in that aspect. I loved watching the performances throughout the night. In Thailand, the head of the body is very special, thought to be the cleanest and most important part. As you move down the body, the value, if you will, goes down. The foot of the body is not even okay to be touched and these thoughts are fully supported with threats of bad luck. These things may seem silly to Americans, but the deep roots Thailand has in Buddhism keeps Thai people aware of what will bring luck and what will somewhat curse them if they do not play by the rules. With that said, and with that knowledge in mind, I watched the dancers and how their beliefs rubbed off into their movement. In ballet, which is at the heart of a lot of movement that I have worked with, feet add to the delicacy and detail of the piece. The intentionally placed pointed toe completes a flawless leap or turn. A flexed foot communicates so much differently than that of a pointed toe. The women last night switched the focus from feet to hands, 100%. There feet just kind of flapped, which was beautiful in their context, and their hands twirled and spread and told a story of their own. It was flawless. And different. Worlds apart, literally, from the dancing that I know. And I just loved their work, and continue to just love what I am seeing here.

A few months back, one of my best buddies back home, Rachel, and myself went to the broadmoor for coffee. While acting super fancy and like we naturally belonged in a place such as the broadmoor, we decided it made complete sense to go all the way, and go in their jewelry store. So, strutting in there in our school clothes, which were nothing fancy, we went in and asked politely if we could try on the most expensive ring that they had. I have a picture on my old phone of Rachels hand being weighed down by a ten thousand dollar ring. It was beautiful, and silly, and fun. That night, I decided to look online and find what ring I wanted when I got married. Now we all know that I am single, and this is simply a dream, but I am a girl, and that is what we do, so humor me. I somehow got over to a Tiffany and Co. website, and man do I pity my future man saying this, but I totally found my dream ring. From that point on, I have had a mild LOVE for Tiffany’s. With that, I knew that in Thailand they had fabulous knock-offs, and I wanted something Tiffany’s SO BAD. I thought maybe I should buy my engagement ring and then sell it to my Hus when the time came J but decided against it. Anyways, we were walking through a market the other day, and guess what we walked right past? A WHOLE STAND that sold Tiffany’s junk! It was so awesome! I got a beautiful bracelet for 260 Baht, which is around 8 US dollars. I will forever cherish it J

Tonight we will start our house competition, which are seven teams (one American team captain per six girls) that will be competing together in silly relay games that we come up with. We will also start spending time regularly with “our girls” and continue to be a consistent part of their life for the next eleven weeks. Things like that make you have to say that God is good.

Tomorrow our first physical work project starts, which will be hot, and hard. Shoveling mud in 90ish degree weather, yeah. I really can’t wait though. I love it here so much. I love working with a paintbrush and a shovel and doing work that is dedicated to the LORD. Working along side of a team that also loves Jesus, and doing these things that will last. This work next to my working as a waitress just doesn’t even compare. I love this. Love the girls I am with, and Ben haha, love the precious angels here at the house, and am smitten with the God that I am here with, serving Him and walking with side by side.

Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for the girls here to open up and to feel a heavy amount of love coming onto them. Pray that we could pick up on Thai to talk to them without a translator. Pray that we would have strength in our wrestling with God on the questions of why there have to be 42 DARLING girls without mommies. Pray that we could be light, that we could be filled from God and that His name would be stamped across our foreheads. The preaching the gospel without words concept. Thank you for reading, and thank you for praying. J