An incredible day.

What a great day. Drove up to Phang-Nga province today and saw many needs we are going to be able to help with. Got to chat with Jane. That was inspiring. Dinner with Emma. All good stuff.

Photos here. Sorry I cannot do more. Hope they tell the stories! And it is not KL, but Phuket.

I am so stinkin' tired and must to bed be.

Tomorrow we go to Phi-Phi. Hope there is some internet there so we can update, but not totally sure. Worse case we will update on Sunday.

Prayers for health, connection, and opportunity please. Cheers!

BBC NEWS :Malaysian tsunami funds queried

From the BBC: "Malaysia's anti-corruption agency has announced it is looking into nine alleged cases of misuse of tsunami relief funds."

June 27: Melacca and KL

Got a good night's sleep and that was so important. Grabbed some breakfast, and then Sivin picked us up to take us to historic Melacca, where the Malaysians triumphed in Independence hundreds of years ago...


We arrived, grabbed a yummy lunch, and walked around the old Portuguese fort that was built there. We learned about the spread of Islam from Melacca outward. We experienced what a traditional Melay wedding ceremony looks like. Very cool stuff... museums, old structures, etc.

Sivin, all distinguished...


Also discovered that just an hour south was a matriarchal tribe alive amidst the very patriarchal eastern Asia. So fascinating how that seems to have affected the architecture and everything.

Stopped by Sivin's old seminary, grabbed some candy, and headed back to KL. Got some Indian food... just bread and curries really. Then some more amazing Malaysian tea. Then the Twin Towers for an evening shot...


Then home. Tomorrow we leave back to Phuket.

I shaved my face tonight for the first time I can remember in almost 2 years. Maybe I have shaved in that time, but it seems like since we moved to Oceanside I have not fully shaved my face. Kind of a season of rawness and 'just as I am'-ness. Last night the hair fell off my face; it feels so strange today.

But it feels like God granted us this get-away in order for us to get some perspective, encouragement, and health (all-encompassing shalom, really) to head back to Phuket to serve. And I think it was significant that I shaved my face... in new covenant as we head back, this time with new perspective. God, help us keep perspective.

We are all feeling infinitely better. Really. Infinitely. Still a straggling cough for me, but no big deal.

Excited to get back to Thailand, visit some villages in Phang-Nga, then Phi-Phi for a couple days, then Chiang Mai, then Ben and Chara are off and Lisa, Heath, and Rhianon join us... and the journey begins again.

This will not be our last time to Malaysia. Thank God for the people we have met.

More pics here. And please check out Ben and Chara's blog.

June 26: Kuala Lumpur

What an incredible day. After church we grabbed some food and headed back to the hotel for some rest. I wasn't feeling too well. Woke up around 4pm for Sivin and Kea Meng to pick us up to take us to the Batu Caves... a sacred Hindu place built within these beautiful caves in the middle of KL. A hundred or so stairs to climb...


Strange though... it didn't feel so sacred per sé... rather more touristy to say the truth. But an interesting place all the same. With plenty of monkeys...


We then headed to a Malaysian state monument commemorating their triumph in a few wars. It was at a beautiful park. Group hug...


And afterwards, a Shandy... lemonade-beer... mmm...


Then... the MEGAMALL. This will be our 5th visit to a huge mall since arriving in Malaysia, which we will affectionately refer to from here on out as MALL-asia. Grabbed some food... many choices... this place has such incredible diversity. Still I stuck with my Penang Malaysian food and Holly stuck to her beloved Japanese cuisine. Then Malaysian Desert...


Kea Meng joked out loud that we had visited several places of worship today... first, church this morning... second, the Hindu Batu Caves... third, the State Monument... and now fourth, the Consumer Temple that is the mall... Hmm.

In the evening, we picked up Robert (an Irish friend) and Justin (I think, right?) and headed to Chinatown...


...and then out for tea. What an incredible time of dialogue, inspiration, amazing tea... Malaysian tea... Mmm...


Ask me sometime to tell you some of the things Robert mentioned about indigenous religions... particularly the Karen (northern Thai/eastern Burmese hill tribes) folk religion. Wow. Interesting stuff.

This weekend has been a conversation on contextualization. Such interesting things to share, but I must debrief with myself and others and then blog on the other site.

These people have become friends... and this will not be our last trip to Malaysia... for certain.

Church in Malaysia

Wrote this this morning during service and prayer...

Hear O Malaysia
The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus
In your midst

This God
Found in the warmth of a smile
In the cries of a child
In the love of a friend

Do you know?
Have you seen?
Have you heard?

The LORD God is One
The LORD God is Love

(The LORD God is not from the West)

This morning we were at Sivin's Church. Wonderful people... with a wonderful wireless router!


It was great to share this morning. A couple songs...


...and a couple words from Matthew 10...


Good stuff. Then Ben and Chara and Holly shared...


Good stuff. This has been an enchanted time here. But I am feeling sleepy. A nap before our evening activities? You bet.

June 24-25: Malaysia

So we arrived safe and sound... only a short flight from Phuket to KL. On the plane we met Elmie, a Melay who was very helpful in trying to make Holly as comfortable on the flight as possible. He also became a new friend. He told us to skip taking a cab and instead take the train with him and then he would drive us to our hotel. Sweet. We're hanging out Sunday evening with him in Chinatown.

Oh, so step back: Before we left Holly and Chara still didn't feel well... especially Holly. So we gathered right before we left for the airport and I prayed that somehow the sickness would leave us and stay here in Thailand, so as to not take it with us to Malaysia. I do not know how prayer works, but surely Holly and Chara are feeling a thousand times better after a day in Malaysia. Wonderful!

So, after riding the train and Elmie getting us to our hotel, we met Sivin Kit and Kia Meng. Very cool people. Both Chinese Malaysian. The history of Malaysia is interesting. Because of British colonialism, it is a very diverse place. Probably more diverse than the US. Grabbed some dinner and had wonderful conversation. A great time to debrief about our trip in Thailand so far.

Malaysia is very different–very different–from Thailand. It sometimes feels like the city of the future!

Slept in Saturday and then Kia Meng took us around town. Saw the (dare I call them) Twin Towers...


...they used to be the tallest buildings in the world, now the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere. We also did a short trip around downtown. Then we headed to the Emergent Malaysia get-together. Really cool.



It was amazing to meet people in such a different place embracing some of the same hard questions about God, life, church, spirituality (and all its implications) as we are in our small circles back home. So cool to be a small part of it. We discussed the baton that the older generation passes on to the next generation and why the younger generation doesn't want to embrace it and is it the church's or the family's responsibility. I say the older generation is often times trying to make an evolving baton into a static one. There is no pure baton... only a contextualized one. History, if nothing else, shows that clearly. But the eyes of modernity say that we (whoever we are) have the pure baton and must pass it off to the next generation so they will carry the same pure baton. Rubbish!

Anyway, that was cool to be a part of. More pics here.

Malaysia? Check.

We made it. And we have made several friends. Wow, what an incredible time. What an amazing place.

And everyone is feeling better! Praise God! Seriously. Wow.

Okay, I'll blog more later with pics and such, but for now suffice it to say that we are here and we are well.

5.30am

...and Holly's headache and fever are back. Please pray for us as we are trying to leave for Malaysia in 7 or so hours. Please pray for health and healing.

And another one bites the dust...

Chara is down. We have a Chara down.

That's right. Our last healthy person (the strongest of us all) was up all night with the sicko-blues. Bummer. But Ben says that she is still denying that she is sick. Perhaps food poisoning?

But the better news is that Holly is feeling better. Lots better. After reaching 103 degrees last night around 9pm, her fever finally broke. Over the next 45 minutes, her temperature dropped back to normal. Wow. Korpkun Pra-jow! Thanks be to God!

No going to Takua-Pa today. Hoping to go to Malaysia tomorrow.

Please pray for us shalom in all areas... physically, mentally, spiritually, in all ways... thanks.

Tug of War

This was Holly this morning at the hospital. The doctor said she could go home around lunch. Yeah!

Since she has been home, her temperature has risen and she has had vomitted several times. We bought some anti-vomitting pills and right now she is struggling to hold them down while I am feeding her ice to hydrate her (water does not sound good to her stomach) and cool her off.

Again, your prayers are covetted. It's probably nothing more than a stomach flu/bug, but still she is in a good deal of pain and just can't seem to sleep.

If she is feeling better, perhaps we will head to Takua-Pa tomorrow and see Jane whom Relational Tithe helped her to rebuild her fence. We shall see tomorrow morning...

Please Don't Freak Out!

Holly is doing well now, but we had quite a scare this morning when we had to take her to the doctor... which means taking her to the hospital. She was still feverish this morning and ended up vomitting, so we figured it was time to seek some 'real' help!

This is a nice hospital with nice staff and fairly high standards.

Here is her fairly back to normal this afternoon...


When we arrived this morning, they rushed her into the Emergency Room (not at our request!) and diagnosed her with tonsilitis! What?!? They put her on a drip (which was trying for both of us since neither of us like needles!) to rehydrate her and that has been a really, really good thing. Fluids can only help...


I signed off on us staying at the hospital for at least one night... maybe two. I got her the 'nice room'. It is a private room with a beautiful view and a nurse to attend to her when she needs it. She has gotten a little rest since she has been here...


Holly has had a painful headache since she has been in Phuket, so they have given her some good pain medicine and that has helped immensely. The staff is really nice.

We are not sure what she has, blood work will tell us tomorrow most likely. Most likely it is a simple virus like a non-fatal influenza or dengue fever or something.

Please continue to remember us in your prayers... this has been quite a shock for us. Pray that Holly can get a solid night's sleep tonight and continue in recovery that we might be able to leave tomorrow. Also, I still have a bad hacking cough, but haven't sought advice from the doctor yet. Perhaps if he comes in tonight.

In good news, Ben and Chara rented a second car to drive up to Phang-Nga to help with a volunteer organization that needed some data entry. We will hope to see them this evening.

Okay, we will call family as soon as the sun breaks to let you know that we are doing well!

For more pics, click here.

alive and kickin'

so contrary to Ryan's last email...I did not throw up... but I was hovering over the porcelain a few times just in case...

I had a bit of a scare though. I had a really bad fever last night and a good part of today. You know something is wrong when your wearing a beanie, sweater and socks in Thailand and your still shaking because you're so cold. Our friend who lives in the same complex as us here and has worked with many American groups over the years told Ryan today that it could be malaria (not to freak us out though) and if I didn't feel 90% better tomorrow morning I should go to the hospital just to check it out. I laid on the couch all day today with my bucket by my side (just in case) and I slowly started to feel better. Hopefully with a good nights sleep I will be totally better tomorrow. No malaria for me! It would have made for a great story though. Thanks to all those who have been praying for our health.

-holly (perhaps I will try this blog thing more often now)

Sea Gypsy Village

Saturday was a good day. A pastor from Bangkok drove down to meet us. Wow. So cool. Good lunch with David and folks from Hope of Thalang.

During lunch, it monsooned on us. Wow. So beautiful.


After lunch, we headed to the Sea Gypsy village on the north part of Phuket. Played some songs for the kids and then went over to find the baby we bought milk for last time we were here. In our broken Thai, we conveyed what we needed to to find the baby. It looks as though he has found a good set of adoptive parents. That made Holly very happy.

My sickness continued...

Today Holly is still very sick.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will head up to Takua-Pa and Nom Kem and to the Resettlement Camps. Please pray for us vision and health. Cheers.

Phi Phi

(Reminder: all the below photos are low res versions of the full-gallery photos there on your right...)

So, Ben was on the mend, so we decided to head to Phi-Phi Island, one of the most devastated areas and one of the slowest to rebuild because of little to no government aid.

This is one of the most beautiful places on earth...or at least the few places on earth we have seen. Wow. And to see such trash and refuse everywhere is beyond words. They said they have already taken off 7,000 tons of garbage since the tsunami. The government can at least be thanked for that.

We arrived there and found a hotel (thanks to Moo for her help in getting us discounts on the ferry and on our lodging...it's good to know locals!).

Immediately after unloading our stuff, we headed to Hi Phi Phi, where you can just sign in for the day (or week or month) and volunteer. Easy system really. Our project for the day was to help create a small garden near a bar on the back side of the island. The earth was so packed down and full of debris, that it was quite a job to get it 'garden-able' if you know what I mean.

While walking to our gardening spot, we got to take a look at the wall that we built last time we were here. We also got to see the restaurant we helped with and of course the house that we helped to clean out (which is now the Hi Phi Phi tool shop).



Ben took some good shots as well.

After finishing this, we headed to the pool to cool off...then some dinner...missed the meeting...checked in with a local bar to see if I could play some tunes...and then headed to a Bible study type thing that Moo set up with other Thai Christians on the island.


As soon as we were done, we headed back to the bar for me to 'gig'. Aw yee, it was sweet playing an out of tune, knock-off ovation with no strap. Actually, it was quite tricky, but fun all the same.

We found out that our second day there was Hi Phi Phi's day off. This is primarily because it is a Muslim-dominated island and Friday is their sabbath of sorts. No worries, we took a 2-hour tour of the tsunami's effects of the island. Be watching for Discovery Channel to do a great special on what actually happened out here. Interesting stuff... and interesting who knew about what was happening. Oh, also this day, I woke up sick...

Grabbed some lunch, did a little shopping for gifts and reading, and then back on the ship to head home.

The trip back to Phuket was very different than the trip to Phi Phi...really. 10-12 ft. swells left Ben puking of the back and Holly and Chara and I hanging on for dear life for about 3 hours. Moo sat inside clutching a life-jacket. All in all, a fun experience (but perhaps not for Ben), but one that did make me wonder if we would die. Check out Ben's thoughts here.

Landed, headed for some food and then home.

Hoping to do some work in Phuket and Phang-Nga this next week before heading to Malaysia and then spending most of our last week on Phi-Phi...it just seemed to be a place where we could be used easily. Please pray for us: vision and health. Thanks.

Phuket

Where to start? Hmm...the internet.

So, part of this trip is trying to balance some work (part-time albeit) back home with some volunteer work/pilgrimage in Thailand. So, the internet would be of great importance. There was little we could do before leaving; we just had to wait to see what it would be like.

We requested high-speed (which turns out to be 72k...wow) and waited a few days to get it. We would be told one day and then the person would not show...so we ended up 'wasting' a few days on the front end. But with Ben being sick, it was okay. Plus we got some work done in advance.

So, after a few days here of settling in, trying to get internet, and trying to nurse Ben to health, we decided to drive the island so that Ben and Chara could get a feel for Phuket Town (the big city) and the beachfronts. We visited several markets.

That evening, the internet came...

...and that's the line being run...

The next day, Ben was still sick, so Holly and I ventured with Emma (have we introduced you to Emma?) to Phang-Nga provice...specifically to the village of Takua-Pa.

Emma is a cool girl we met once out here who is presently... 'displaced' shall we say? as she is waiting to hear if her schooling for this next semester will be in Bangkok or not. She is an American who has been in Asia for 18+ months (I think) now. She has done a great deal of education work in smaller Nepali villages, teaching English, helping to expose child sex trafficing, and for the last several months has been living in a community center that helps young Bangkok prostitutes get off the street, away from the life of prostitution, and helps to develop their skills and give them a hopeful future. Wow. Inspiring person to be around.

Anyway, Emma and Holly and I went to Takua-Pa to help paint their church/tsunami relief center.



We met Wong and Pastor Chatchuwan. Here is Wong helping us repaint our lines. We found out that we sucked painting the Thai way! Wong was so kind to us.

Did some more painting after lunch and then dropped Emma off in Khao Lak... In some ways her life reminds me of the unfettered life that I hear Jesus talk about when explaining to Nicodemus that the life of one born of God is a life that is blown about by the wind.

God, please help Holly get better... and please give us direction... we are beginning to feel a bit lost out here... please pray for us, dear friends...

Catching Up

Sorry it has been so long between posts. My hope was to post once a day or at least every other day. Turns out it has not been that way.

It's always so interesting the difference between how you think things will go and how things go...

For example, since arriving in Phuket, at least one of us has been sick. Started with Ben who had a throat thing, then an overall sick thing, then it moved to me and I am still recovering, and now Holly feels possibly worse than Ben or I felt, and then last night Chara said that she wasn't feeling so hot.

That puts big kinks into our 'plans' you know? And we sit at home, thinking about how we have been planning on doing this for so long, talking about it, etc, and now that we're here, we're all sick... It sucks.

Please pray for our health. I never thought that would be the big request, but it is hindering doing much of anything.

Okay, I am going to post photo galleries soon. Hang on...

So tired...

A good day in Takua-Pa. Me and Holly and Emma and Chatchuan and Wong.

Right now, we must go to sleep. Early day to catch the ferry to Phi-Phi, where we will be for 2 days.

Please remember Ben. He is still pretty dang sick.

More to report on later. Perhaps I'll do a catch-up on Saturday or Sunday.

Please pray for us opportunities to serve and develop relationships and offer help.

More Phuket Photos...

All of the below photos are thumbs of the real pictures that are available by clicking any of the side galleries. Cheers!


Just after our last meal in Bangkok, posing for GAP Bangkok: Fisherman's Pants...


Some cleaning pics...


Holly and Pe-Nong, our amazing friend and hostess...


Hon-beeng, the little girl who runs around our housing complex. Her parents both work in this subdivision...and they have trained her to be very polite. She gave me a kiss the other day for giving her a Coke!


Cutting the cake for the one-year anniversary of Hope of Thalang Church. What an honor that they decided to include me in this...


Durian (aka "Stinky Fruit") is Thai for "golden pillows". It is an unusual fruit that most farang (foreigners) do not like. We tried it at least...


Some of the Sea Gypsy children doing a dance...

June 11-14 - On Phuket

We made it safe and sound into Phuket. Such a beautiful change from noisy, polluted Bangkok! We were greeted with new and old friends at the airport.

On Saturday, Pe-Nong showed us to our house and we cleaned and prepared it for our 6 weeks here.


We were greeted with a gift of papaya!

Sunday was a Hope of Thalang Church's one-year anniversary, so we celebrated with them for most of the day, with a little cleaning of the house in the afternoon.


Monday was a work day for us, but also a Thai language night. Nice to trade some Thai for English!


Here is Chara diligently doing her Thai homework!

Tomorrow (our Wednesday) we head up to the province north of Phuket (Pnang-Nga) to help with construction of a church/tsunami relief center...and then on to Phi-Phi for Thursday and Friday.

Hope to have internet in the house by tonight and be able to update more regularly and check our voice mail!

Some Phuket photos here.
And don't forget to check out Ben and Chara's blog as well.