“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
- Psalm 139: 9-10
12 days, 9 volunteers, 3 ministries, 1 heart: to seek and to serve God’s heart for the city of Bangkok. From micro-finance loans to the poor, to church community that unites locals and expats, to safe houses that offer bar girls a path out of the sex industry, we witnessed and experienced God’s hand touching and changing lives – theirs and ours!
After the craziness of Hanoi, Josh and I were so relieved to return to Bangkok for one last day before returning home to Melbourne. It was ironic that just 2 weeks earlier, we would have described Bangkok as chaotic, but compared to Hanoi, Bangkok was organised!
Returning to Bangkok was a surprisingly therapeutic way to say goodbye to a city that had impacted our lives so dramatically. Boarding the BTS skytrain without the team didn’t seem quite right but each station reminded us of our many God encounters along the way.
On Nut BTS was our stop to go to The Well. It was at The Well that we saw God in the process of changing very raw hearts of bar girls struggling to leave the sex industry. Whoever said Thai girls do not show emotion hasn’t visited The Well. Over the days we were here, many tears (and laughs) were shared with real heart-tugging stories and struggles. We came here to teach music but left having learnt a whole lot more.
Na Na BTS took me straight back to the nights where the girls on team shone the light of Christ directly into the bars. It was here that divine appointments were made between the girls on team and the girls working the bars. Over the course of two weeks, friendships were formed and more stories and struggles were shared behind many more tears (most of them Nat’s!). Na Na also happens to be a very funny and contagious Thai word to say (just try it next time you’re around a Serve Bangkok team member).
Khlong Toei BTS reminded me of the slums and the day that we spent there with Timotheus of YWAM/Step Ahead Micro Enterprise Development. It was here that we not only were told stories of the poor who have been able to stay in business because of Step Ahead, but we were also able to visit them and see several of the micro-businesses they run – we even ate at one of the borrower’s kerbside food stall!
Asok was the BTS closest to our hotel – the place where the team returned for debriefs, washing parties, swimming pool antics, impromptu prayer and worship sessions, emailing, skyping, blogging and very little of the thing we needed most: sleep!
Phrom Pong BTS was the stop closest to Newsong Church Bangkok – where we joined them for dinner and a special free prayer & worship night. It was here that we experienced a taste of what it would be like to be planting an international church and the very different challenge involved in knitting expats and Thai locals – several different languages and cultures – together into one Christian community.
The walk between our hotel and Phrom Pong was also the site of perhaps the team’s funniest ghosting effort. It was here that 8 of us tandem ghosted an older couple for a good 5 minutes until the lady suspected something was up. Later on that evening, the same couple turned up to the same massage place where some of the team were at! The ghosters became the ghosted!
Phrom Pong BTS was also a very special stop for us this day as we had our last chance to meet with our fearless Serve Bangkok IV Team Leader Jess Dean! Jess is staying on in Bangkok for eight weeks to investigate different opportunities for future teams coming to Serve Bangkok. I’m not sure who was more pleased to see the other but we were so glad to share this last day together, reminisce about how amazing these last few weeks have been and also talk about plans for the future – both here and in Bangkok. Please pray for Jess for wisdom and clarity in decision making – and also to be surrounded with great and lasting friendships while she’s there.
In addition to all those fond memories, who would’ve thought what a great source of humour the skytrain station names would be for us? If you see any of the team be sure to drop any or all of these BTS stations to them in conversation: Na Na, Phloen Chit, Mo Chit, Bang Sue and Thong Lo!
I’ve still got a million thoughts running through my head which I’m sure will find their way onto the blog in some way, shape or form, but for now to wrap it up, I think Jodi summed it up perfectly when she prophesied to the girls at The Well on the last day of Serve Bangkok IV:
“Its our last day but don’t be sad. We are running our race in Australia and you are running your race here in Bangkok. For these 2 weeks our paths have crossed and we run together. We may not see each other again here but we will see each other again one day – in heaven! There we will all be together and sing together and there will be no more need for translations!”
Kup Kun Krup!
Adam (on behalf of the team).
Related Links:
* Photos from the last day in Bangkok
* The Well
* YWAM / Step Ahead Micro Enterprise Development
* Newsong Church Bangkok
Related posts:
- The Journey Continues…
- Serve Bangkok IV: Day Eleven
- Jess Dean: Still Serving Bangkok
- Serve Bangkok IV: Day Five
- Serve Bangkok IV: Day Three
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