As I have done the past couple of years, my first blog post will be taken from my first and last photos of the years.
It seems appropriate to begin with a sunrise. For this was indeed the beginning of not just a new year, but also a new ministry in a new location. We had moved into a subdivision called Ban Phrueksa 36 only about 10 days earlier. We were still in the process of moving and getting settled. We had not yet begun any regular ministry activities.
On New Year’s Eve, we stayed up late to watch the fireworks set off by our neighbors. But still I was up by 7, walking around, checkng out our new neighborhood.
Before the sun came up (or maybe it was up but obscured by the murky sky), I caught a photo of a palm tree silhouette.
Coconut palms are fairly common in this area. They are often planted at the edges of rice paddies or fish ponds. One of the things I came to enjoy about this area was morning walks or bike rides on the narrow country lanes—watching the birds and seeing the constant rhythm of life on the rice farms and fish farms.
We were also able to see the contrast of life in our subdivision with life outside the gates. Our subdivision is comprised of about 1000 units of tightly packed townhouses. These are relatively inexpensive units and give opportunity for those in the lower middle class to have affordable housing. We came to find out that many of the people who live here work at the airport or some airport related industry (e.g. import/export).
Outside the gates are the home of the rice and fish farmers. Typically the houses are on a narrow strip of land between the road and the irrigation/flood control canals. When the canals get really full, some people's yards (or even homes) get quite soggy. The minimum wage of 300 baht a day (about $10 US) would probably be an improvement for many of these people.
Sometimes the cluster of spirit houses (often 3 of them per household) seems to be in better condition than the homes.
It was into this environment we found ourselves planted, and like the coconut palm, we hoped that this would be fertile ground to produce fruit.
Even though things did not work out at all like we expected, we were able to touch many lives through our ministry here—teaching English, teaching guitar, teaching baking, playing games with the children, leading Bible studies, praying with our church family and telling people the good news about Jesus. And the fruit of our efforts was the lives we saw transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Fast forward to December 31st, 2013. It is New Year’s eve, but we are not staying up late like we did the previous year. We just arrived back from our first MINA (Mobilization in North America) less than 48 hours ago and we were quite tired from lack of sleep over the past couple of days.
(We were already tired coming back from MINA. While MINA was a great time to connect with people, it can be quite tiring for introverts like us. This is because one of the main activities of MINA is to meet with individuals, small groups and churches. We shared in 13 different churches (in Alberta, British Columbia, California and Oregon) on 13 different Sunday mornings.
Another challenge in meeting with people for me is that not everyone is a morning person. So we would tend to meet with people at dinner time or later as opposed to breakfast or before. But, as my saying goes, you can take a person out of the morning but you can’t take the morning out of the person. And so we would often stay up later than we are used to but I would find myself still waking early.)
And so we headed out early for a New Year’s Eve walk in our neighborhood—about 7 pm. “Christmas” lights adorn many houses—only these are more like New Years lights as opposed to Christmas lights. People had set up tables in the streets and the drinking had already started. We received many invites to sit down and consume so of the local brew (which we declined). Many children and youth were roaming the streets along with the adults. And one didn't have to look to see that big amplifiers were set up and running all over the place. We noticed that some people are much better at karaoke than others. It looked like it would be another good night for ear plugs.
Fortunately, the temperature is really cool this year and it is comfortable to sleep with the windows shut to keep out the noise. We watch a movie and hit the hay before 10 pm.
Goodbye 2013.
