The sad thing about not knowing when this baby will deliver has been not being able to commit to any ZOE activities this past month. The Thai school schedule runs from May to March, so some of the ZOE children have graduated from school. We would've loved to attend the school graduation. Also, ZOE runs a summer camp for the children while they're on break, but we weren't able to participate as we've been waiting for the baby. And ZOE's Ministry School had their graduation and we would've loved to witness the culmination of the accomplishments and dedication of the wonderful students. Fellow missionaries have great posts summing up some of these activities here and here.
These past months have allowed for opportunities to build some relationships and learn more about life in Thailand. Specifically, I've gotten to spend more time talking with the woman who works as our "maebaan" (literally "house mother") and comes to clean our home. It's not uncommon to hire maebaans here in Thailand as the noncarpeted floors have to be cleaned regularly due to dust, dirt, ants scouting for crumbs, etc. And it only costs about $2/hour. She's been a great resource for us as we can call upon her anytime to translate for us when needed. Conversations have allowed me to practice my Thai while also learning about her life. She's single and 39 years old. Recently I learned that she only completed her education through the 6th grade, which is very common here. Her brother and sister completed even less schooling than her. She and her siblings had to work in the fields with her parents at that young age. Also, they needed money to buy school materials and curriculum, which they didn't have. Her sister committed suicide around 20 years of age by drinking worm poison in her bed. Our maebaan accepted Christ several years ago through one of the families she cleans for. She works 6 days/week cleaning homes. She does all this even with a bad back. One of the families she used to clean for paid for back surgery for her. On Sundays, she currently attends school to complete her education, so she hasn't been able to attend church for some time now. Our prayers are that we can be a good testimony and encouragement to her in her faith.
Though I've taken a break from Thai lessons during the month of April, prior to this month, I've also been able to grow closer to my Thai teacher. She's a Christian, and we've had many opportunities to share about our lives as we practice speaking Thai. It's great to be able to come from different cultures, yet share the bond of Christ and encourage each other in our faith. She, too, would not have been able to complete her education, but the school allowed her to continue to attend on some type of scholarship basis and she was able to excel in school enough to continue her education. She's also been a wonderful resource to learn about life in Thailand and just knowing where to go to buy specific items, specifically items for babies because she just had a baby 6 months ago.
Hearing all these personal life stories really puts into context the value of what ZOE is doing in the lives of these precious children. They are growing healthy and provided with a great education. You can imagine the pressures of poor families who are lured into unknowingly sending their children to be trafficked due to false promises of a good education, or even knowingly selling their children for money. What promising futures the children at ZOE have...
Having my mom here has been a wonderful blessing as she has tirelessly been slaving and sweating away in the kitchen making meals and doing the dishes. I can't describe to you how hot it gets in the kitchen during the hottest month of the year here in Thailand. She tries to make dinner earlier or we order in or go out to eat so she doesn't have to cook in the evenings. Some of our new experiences here have been due to her.
On her first day out with a new Korean friend she made at the local Korean church, they went to the local golf course. I forgot to remind her to keep any money on her and not in her bag. Unfortunately, she had a small sack with a ziploc baggie of some cash. They had 2 female caddies. Her caddy kept putting the sack on her back, and my mom would take her bag back as if to look for something inside and then put the sack back in her golfclub bag, but the caddy kept putting the bag on her back. Then the caddy disappeared into the restroom for a long time, long enough that she wasn't available to give my mom her clubs at one particular hole. Being suspicious, my mom peeked inside her ziploc bag of cash and saw that cash was still there. As they finished up their round of golf and my mom reached in her baggie to give her caddy a tip, she realized then that she was missing about $60. Also, her makeup bag was dumped upside down and a wad of bandaids she had was missing. When she told her friend, her friend didn't want to tell the golf course as she felt there was nothing they would do. Also, her friend was scared that if the caddy lost her job, she might become angry and seek revenge. So they left.
When my mom came home and told us what happened, we told her she should've reported the incident to the course management. I called our maebaan to help us settle the matter. She said to go to the police station. We arrived at the station and our maebaan spoke with the head guy there via phone. We ended up driving to the golf course with two plain-clothed policemen. I had them drive because I didn't know how to get to the course myself. When we arrived at the golf course, the policemen questioned the caddy. She denied she took the money. Then all 6 of us, including the caddy and the other caddy that served my mom's friend, drove back to the station in my car. They took the caddy to another room to question her some more. She continued to deny that she stole the money, but the police indicated that they found she had a record of a past discretion so they believed us and felt she was lying. We told them that we didn't need the money back, but wanted to report the incident and inform the golf course what happened. The head policeman was very apologetic and said he would try to get our money back for us. The update is that they've told the woman to pay us $60. She still denies it, but she's paid some of it back and said she'd pay the rest this month. We're supposed to go to the station to collect the money. A great thing that came out of this is that the head policeman at the station gave us his name and number and told us to call him if we had any problems in the future. Hopefully, that'll come in handy if we ever run into something worse.
Will post more later, but I'll leave you with some pics...
Hazy March from burn season:
The haze is pretty, but not good for you:
Skyping with Mark...
...Henry...
...Danny, Cathy, & Carol who were all dining together:
ZOE staff fellowship activity at Sticky Falls:
I sat out since this game involved running...there's Dave in the blue though:
Staff having to sing a song:
P. Yim & Kaylee climbing the falls:
Grace & Yumi:
Group pic:
Rice farmers working on the field:
Boys playing before church begins:
One of our regular cheap Thai meals...rice, chicken & soup for $1:
Grilled chicken & pork, sticky rice, spicy dipping sauce for about $2:
Ian spotted this frog hiding in our front lawn. He has an eagle eye:
David poked it out with a stick, then flung it over our wall onto an open field next to our home:
Playdate with fellow missionary kids Ethan & Nathanael:
Storytime at school...there's Ian with his classmates Noah & Elise:
We're continually surprised at the various connections we have through ZOE Children's Homes. When the Wintersburg Presbyterian Church short-term team came, we weren't able to participate in the activities, but we were able to go to the BBQ they hosted at ZOE.
We were told that one of the team members looked like me, and her husband Sam, who didn't come on the trip, knew David when he was younger. We got to meet Amy who brought these great pictures from David's childhood. David remembered Sam as an older brother and great artist. Their families went to church together where David's grandfather was the pastor.
Here are Amy and me:
Can you spot David? Sam is the one in the cool blue suit and pink shirt in the back row:
David's the one in the brown shirt in the front row, and that's Mikey next to him in the other blue suit:
And here are Sam & David...how cute is this? And David was rocking the trucker hat before it became a trend:
