Back Where I Belong (Ja Rurat)

First - a medical update. The injection last week did no good, so I met with my doctor again Friday and we scheduled disc surgery for this week. I will go in for some simple tests tomorrow and then check in Wednesday morning and have the surgery that afternoon. Some of you are familiar with this kind of thing, but they will remove a small piece of bone from the vertebrae to get access to the disc and then they will cut away the portion of the disc that is compressing the nerve. I'll be released one to three days afterward and will be able to return to work (at least part days) pretty quickly afterward. I do appreciate your continued prayers.

#### Now, on to Ja Rurat. After missing last week, I was extremely eager to get back to Ja Rurat. Today, I talked about Joseph and his caring for Mary. Nok taught the kids the character trait of 'thoughtfulness,' and we sang a couple of songs and then colored a sheet with Mary, Joseph and Jesus on it, along with teaching the youngest kids to write the letters A and B.

My biggest burden with Ja Rurat is to reach the parents and to start somehow connecting with the adults. Today, I was shocked and thrilled when two mothers joined us in helping the kids do their coloring. May not sound like much, but I believe it was a BIG step!

Nok talks about thoughtfulness.

My buddy Fern. She didn't show up originally, but toward the end, she wandered by, and when she did, I was ready. I had made a screen print of this blog and the entry with her photo on it, to show her that she really was on the Internet. There is a feature with this blog that allows me to see where visitors to the blog are from (home country.) Don't worry, it doesn't reveal identities or anything, just where in the world you are. I was able to tell Fern that people from England, Spain, the US, and Thailand had all seen her photo on line. She tried to act casual, but you could tell she was blown away by the thought, and she took this paper to every adult nearby and showed it to them. I told her she was a real star now!

Oh, please pray for Fern. I so much want to see her give her heart to Christ, and find hope and a future in Him. Unless something dramatic happens to her, she faces a rough, difficult life, and it just tears me up to think of that.

Sometimes, it's more day care than teaching.

Ohm, sporting his new summer haircut.

Me and Ice.

Good times.

The real Ja Rurat

I don't think I have done a good job of describing Ja Rurat, the first of the two slums I work at each weekend (and the one dearest to my heart.) Some folks have made comments about how the kids seem clean and the area doesn't look THAT bad. One or two folks have asked if this area is a 'true slum,' or if that is just a phrase used by the team that ministers here.

I can't add the sounds or smells to this blog. It's hard to get photos of the green, brackish water flowing across the sidewalks throughout. I did try and get a few photos to give you a little better sense of this community.


When J visited, afterward, he spoke of how hard he was hit when we parked at the entrance into the community and the first thing he saw was a mountain of garbage and refuse. I am so used to it, that I don't even notice it. The narrow passage in, is just to the left.

There are no streets. Just a concrete walkway that winds all the way through it. There are no yards. What you see here is what it is like all the way through. "homes" are all connected, and they face one another across a narrow walkway, maybe four feet wide. It is seriously like a maze, and I have not been all through it, by any means. There are hundreds of homes. These crowded conditions and the fact that vehicles can not get back in here, make fires, like the night before our Christmas party, potentially very deadly. Each year, fires wipe out several slum communities in and around Bangkok and lives are lost.

Again, homes on each side, and lots of twists and turns. We are in summer here, so temps are in the mid 90s with high humidity. With these cramped conditions, there is no breeze, and there sure is not any air conditioning, so it is stifling hot.

Each week, this old woman is near the area where we where we work with the kids. She carries all her belongings strapped to her back and in these buckets. By the way, there is a large more open area right around the "community center" where we meet with the kids, and folks will bring motorcycles back in on those narrow walkways and leave them parked here. This is the only area inside big enugh to park motorcycles. There are many parked outside the edges of the slum.

It is my deep hope that as we continue to work with the kids, we'll make inroads with the parents. Today, two mothers stepped in and helped the children as they colored a Bible story coloring page. To me, that is a big step. My great goal is to one day see a house church planted in this community. More than anything else in Bangkok, my heart is with this place and these people.

How's the Weather at Immanuel?

Immanuel Baptist has a number of very gifted musicians in their worship team. None more so than Ah Jan Winit's nephew, Sunny. Sunny plays piano for the worship team, and is a remarkably talented jazz pianist. He is a two time winner of the King's Jazz Music contest (the king here is a jazz lover and sponsors a competition). Sunny has also won an international jazz contest held in Colorado two straight times. Earlier this year, he did a concert at church and it was phenomenal.

On occasion, his little brother leads the singing, as he did today. Sunny's little brother is (I kid you not!) Rainy. Rainy has a fantastic singing voice. Some families sure seem to get more than their share.

Rainy leads singing this morning, as Sunny plays piano.

Rainy (left) and Sunny (right).

Bee - and a pain in the backside

Bee is one of the terrific young men who are serving God at Immanuel. He's been such a blessing to me, with his sincerity and desire to serve. He has such a heart to be involved in ministry. He very much wants to attend Bible College, but he dropped out of high school and would have to get the Thai version of a GED before any local Bible college (there are several) would accept him. Our church, though, ha s a good relationship with a Bible College several hours north of Bangkok, and they have given Bee a real opportunity. He can begin classes there in May and take evening classes to work toward his "GED." Here, Bee is telling the church this morning about this blessing and his plans to start school in two months!

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On an unrelated note, I welcome your prayers for a challenge I am facing. A month or so ago, I started feeling a strong pain in my right hip. It is a familiar deal. Fifteen years ago, I had surgery to repair a herniated disk in my back which at the time caused extreme pain in my left hip and leg. Two years ago, the same pain recurred on the opposite side. At that time, A series of epidural injections relieved the pain and let me go on as usual. This time, it was clear, I was having the same issue. It kept getting worse, until two weeks ago, my right foot and calf became numb and weakened. I went to the hospital and eventually had an MRI performed which showed a severely herniated disk (same one that had been operated on before.)

Last Friday, I had a procedure done to block the nerve receptors on the sciatic nerve going down my right leg and to inject cortisone into the area around the disk to try to lessen the swelling that presses against the nerve. The doctor does not necessarily expect it to work, but wanted to try it before surgery. I meet with her again Friday to determine whether we need to operate.

The good news is that Bangkok's medical system is outstanding, the best in Asia. ('Medical tourism' is big business here, as people from around the world come to Thailand for great, inexpensive medical treatment.) The hospital I go to is phenomenal and I have tremendous faith in the doctor I am dealing with. And disk surgery is far different today than it was fifteen years ago. In some cases, you are home the next day.

Still I welcome your prayers and I will keep all updated.

Makin' a Sammich!

Today at the Baring slum area, making American food. In this case, a ham sandwich with tomato and lettuce. Rin (Thanee's wife) demonstrates.

Everyone gets to make their own.

Bom shows off his handiwork.

Finished product. Eat your heart out, Panera!

Showing off.

Meanwhile, the twenty somethings work on English.

We have a big area with the almost completed 'annex.'

When last we saw this area, we had spread gravel down. It was becoming clear that the neighborhood dogs and cats were going to use the gravel as a litter pan, so last week while I was working, the gang raked up the gravel and used it to help make concrete and pour a floor.

Ah Jan Vee. Can you say 'dork?'

Ah Jan Winit, practicing what he preaches.

My girl Fern

All of today's photos from JaRurat (except the one immediately below) were taken by my girl Fern. I would guess Fern to be maybe twelve or thirteen at the oldest. She's a bit of a Tom Boy and pretty rough. Kids in the slums grow up fast and hard. For a long time, she would hang around in the distance and watch, but never join us. Ah Jan Vee has talked with her off an on, and I have made her my personal project, telling her I expect her to join in with us and to help. Finally, a few weeks ago, as the kids were getting into their weekly activity, I saw Fern off to the side and I went to her and gave her my camera. I showed her how it works and she spend the rest of the day going around taking photos. They were great! Better than the ones I take, anyway. So I have named her my official photographer.

Be praying for Fern. She runs with a group of pretty hardened young guys and they were already calling out to her today, trying to get her to leave and join up with them. She is going to have a lot of very bad influences tugging at her... maybe for the rest of her life. We are in for a fight to try to keep her with us. Believe me, it will be worth it.

Immanuel serves a simple, but usually very tasty lunch for the entire church each weekend after the main service. The people of Immanuel go out of their way to serve me in every way they can, so I decided I needed to show them in a tangible way that, just because I am American, as a believer, I am not excused from serving others. Every third Sunday now, I help serve lunch. It is such a small thing, but the Thai people at Immanuel seem to really like seeing me in this capacity. And I love getting to meet new people I otherwise might never speak to.

Ah Jan Vee and I handing out special snacks to kids who can remember the key points from last week's Bible lesson.

This woman actually lives right here, on a corner of the stage in this community area where we meet the kids every week. No home, just a small cookstove on the corner of the stage. But she is so positive and cheerful every time I speak to her. Humbling.

Thank you, God, for another good week at JaRurat. And bless the treats!

A Working Supper

Today, instead of going to the slums, I had to come in to work and help one of the project leaders I mentor, Momo, as he supported the installation of huge software project. Not a bad day, for a day at work. Midway through, we broke for supper.

Momo.

The gang, with my fellow expatriate, Steve Lee, in the dark shirt to the left of Momo.

Thai Pizza. If you look closely, you will see the imitation crab and the shrimp. If you look REALLY closely, you will see this is a "stuffed crust," but it is stuffed with hot dog. (Yes, seriously.)

In Thailand, pizza comes with very little sauce (which is rather sweet), but it always comes with a big baggie full of ketchup packets.

A Big Day for Bamboo Pai

I had to work this weekend, monitoring a major software install, so I was not able to go with the team to the slums (hoping that is the last time I miss for a long time), but it has still been a wonderful weekend.

Some of you will remember the story of Bamboo Pai. Pai is a young man I met at the Baptist Student Center, where I was volunteering to help students practice their English skills when I was here in 2006. He crossed the line of faith shortly before I returned to the US. We stayed in email contact while I was state-side.

Pai lives a long distance from Immanuel Church, but has been attending off and on for several months now. He's gone with the teams to the slums and had his heart touched by what he's seen there. (He told me after his first visit that he had no idea such places existed here.)

Friday he told me he was going to Chiang Mai for several weeks this Spring on an internship related with his university. He said before he went, he wanted to be baptized. I was surprised because we'd not yet even spoken about that subject and he had not spoken with Ah Jan Vee or Ah Jan Winit about it, either. Friday night, though, he spoke with Ah Jan Winit, who was thrilled, and so this morning, Pai made a public profession of his faith and was baptized! Although I had to support the install for work, I wasn't missing this, so I made it for this big event and then raced for a taxi to get back to work.

An earlier photo of Bamboo Pai. That's really a play on words. The Thai word for Bamboo sounds roughly like 'my pie,' and Pai, sounds like 'pie,' so I have called him Bamboo Pai forever. He hated it at first, until he realized I would only tease him like that if I liked him.

Early service worship with my friends. Left to right... Ting, Son, John, Oat, Eddie, and Sunit.

Ah Jan Winit telling a bit of Pai's story.

Out of the water.

Making progress

As always, the day started at Ja Rurat, but we had additional help today, including Note, one of the worship team leaders at Immanuel. We were also joined by Pin and Vhe. Good thing, as we ended up with thirty kids today, and we also started basic English instruction.

By the time we arrived at Baring, English instruction there was well underway.

Ah Jan Winit assists as we get the frame ready for our vinyl 'roof.'

Thanee perched on top of the new extension at Baring. We probably need a other week to complete it, but it is almost ready for use now.

Son taking time with the little boy who lives across the street.