opening doors and bowling

For a long, long time now, I have been anxious to make some kind of connection with the older kids in the Ja Rurat slum community. What we do each Sunday with our English and Bible lessons is aimed at too young an audience to have much interest for young teens. I have kind of envisioned a sort of Big Brother/Big Sister kind of program with some of the guys from our Young Leaders group and the young ladies from church. Giving the teens of Ja Rurat a sort of mentor... someone a little older, but that they can still relate to. These teens are at the age where they will be tempted to start using "yaabaa" (meth) and making all the other bad choices which will leave them trapped right there in that community for life. If they had a mentor in their life to talk through those choices with, and to show them there is a better way... wow.

I have already made connections with a couple of them, a fifteen year old girl named Fern (seen elsewhere in this blog) and her buddy Toey. Some time ago, I asked if they would be interested in going bowling with me and a couple of guys from Young Leaders. They said they would. We planned a date three times and each time, something legitimate came up that caused us to postpone. FINALLY, we got it done this weekend, and it was a blast!

John, Seth, Pai, Mix, and Boyd from Young Leaders were joined by John's sister Kara, and Ah Jan Vee's wife, Mewi and we hopped in the van and went to Ja Rurat to pick up Fern and Toey. Last week, Fern asked about taking another friend, Noon. When we got to Ja Rurat, they were very intimidated and not sure they really wanted to go through with this. Finally they came out and joined us (I thought it was interesting they were wearing their very best clothes.) As we walked to the van, Toey asked about taking one more friend, a younger boy named Ja, so we had him tag along, too.

Below are the sights from a great day together.

Gotta have energy, so first stop was the food court at the bottom level of Siam Paragon.

"All right ladies, let's show these guys how it's done!"


Pai, ready to knock 'em down.

Mix doing... well, I am not sure WHAT he is doing.

Seth, doing something stranger than Mix was doing...

John... this is more normal. But then John IS more normal.

Toey checking scores...

Fern... having fun. And that was the point. You know what? She is also learning that Christians CAN have fun. Strangest concept, I know...

Highest score for the day.

Toey is the Champion!

The kids... Fern, Toey, Noon, and Ja, had a fantastic time. They laughed and smiled and interacted (a little) with the guys from church, and I know they left with a whole different feeling about these people from Immanuel Baptist. Doors were opened. My prayer is that this is a turning point that could lead to something that will make all the difference for these kids' lives. And who knows? Maybe for the lives of other teens in that community. Oh, and I think the Immanuel gang had a good time, too.