Blessings in Disguise

I have had so much to say, but the internet has been uncooperative. Let's start with me relunctantly taking the shopping trip with the ladies. I wouldn't have missed it for anything!!
We headed out around 7 AM for our five hour drive - yes, five hours! However, these women are a delight! I heard one story after another from them. Three of them grew up in the Philippines and none of them were well off. The tales of how they worked their way through school and found their way to the mission field with all the adventures that entailed passed the time quickly.
Much of our travel was through rural areas where I felt like I had stepped into National Geographic; people in tradional Thai hats in rice pattys and water buffalo dotting the landscape. There were small towns interspersed through our trip. As we were just leaving one of these towns and rounding a bend, we had to stop quickly for the water buffalo being herded across the road!
Upon arriving at the Cambodian border in the town of Aranyaprathet, where the market is located, we checked into our cabins, as we were staying overnight. Janice and I shared one cabin. Each cabin actually had a bathroom with a real toilet! Ask me about squatty pottys some time! The bathroom was one big tiled room, which is very Thai. There is a hand shower on the wall which runs through a small heating unit. However, to truly bathe like a Thai there is a plastic garbage can filled with water and a small plastic pot for dipping. You just pour water over yourself.
Lunch on both Friday and Saturday was at a small open building where the woman prepares traditional Thai food. I was the big spender, as I bought a Coke. The meal cost about $1.25. I love all the food that I have tried so far. I did pass up the fried crickets and silk worms for dessert Saturday night though - I just knew I would not enjoy them!
In the cabins and on food tables alike one finds a plastic holder that has paper sticking up out of it. The container holds a roll of toilet paper. This is what is used for napkins, tissues, etc.
Friday afternoon found us at the market and it was a very difficult time for me. There were more buildings than you could count and the best way to describe them would be that they remind me of storage units. Some of these units are open from one side to the other. Filling everyone of these units was stuff, mostly clothing. At least half of what was offered was new and every brand that you could find at the mall is represented there. It seems that most of the clothing we buy in the US is made in Cambodia or Thailand. Due to imperfections or overstock they find their way to this market. You can find most anything, if you are willing to explore, for practically nothing. As an example, you can buy a Holister shirt for 60 baht, which is about $1.65 US.
There is also used clothing and much of that comes from the US. It made me wonder if anything from the ministry, ACTS 4, might have ended up there.
So what was so difficult about any of this? The people and their situation. People of all ages sitting at sewing machines mending clothes or on top of piles of bags of clothes sorting. Whole families work there and many live right there. There were children, large and small, who know no other way of life. How much can these people make to live on? Do they ever know anything else?
I struggled with even being there. Should I buy anything? Would it help them or help to continue this situation? Being one person and realizing the situation isn't going to change I thought I could show kindness with a smile or a nod. Words wouldn't work as we had no idea what each other was saying!
Everywhere that I have gone thus far in Thailand the people have been warm and welcoming. The people at the market were no different.
Saturday was my birthday and I was woken up by my three Phillippino friends serenading me with "Great is Thy Faithfulness" followed by three birthday songs; a Philippino one, of course, then Thai and the traditional American one. When I opened the door they presented me with a basket of oranges and flowers and a small cake! We breakfasted outside at a table with a roof. My birthday was cause for celebration the whole day through. Boy, did I feel special! I told them I think I need to celebrate all my birthdays with them from now on!
Today, Sunday, Janice and I went to one of the leprosy villages to attend church. They asked me to speak to them, which I did with Janice interpreting. How humbled I was by how grateful they were that I would visit them and that I have been praying for them. As I have prayed for Janice for years and part of her ministry is to these people, they have been in my prayers.
We had lunch at an orphanage and this just added to the sweet sorrow one experiences being with such precious, humble, loving needy people.
How can the people of Thailand be helped? I have been asking the LORD the answer to this question. I believe the answer is right in front of me. The Bible school. Pastors and leaders are needed. If we try to reach out to one Thai person we help them, maybe. Maybe their family, but without guidance they will not change. You need someone to come along side them. The lepers are an example of this. Many were given medicine, but took it back to their village to save it and so the leprosy spread. Those who were in a village with a nurse or doctor took their medicine because of their constant guidance. Thus the leprosy did not progress.
This land and its people have so many needs. Their religion just compounds the problems. They need to hear the Good News, but how can they hear if there is no one to tell them? Sound familiar? They need leaders to guide them.
Please pray. There are those who feel called, but have no financial means to go. They need training. It costs a whole six hundred dollars a year for them to attend school.
Tomorrow I head to Bangkok via bus to catch a plane to China. The next leg of the adventure and, I am sure, more lessons for this one wants to follow her Savior wherever He leads.