Hi there! I’m writing
from my hotel in Chiang Mai – I’m back in Thailand for another season with
Compasio on the Thai/Burma border, and very excited to be back! Last time I wrote quite a bit about the
journey travelling here but I’ll spare you most of that this time. I’ll just say that the sushi in Tokyo is
pretty good, and that 5 airports, two taxi rides, two guesthouses and ZERO bus
rides (or complications!) later I’m here, decently-rested, and grateful. All that remains is a 6 hr car trip from
Chiang Mai to Mae Sot, where I’ll be living until October. If you're one of the people that's been praying for traveling mercies for me, that definitely was the case. I even......wait for it......SLEPT (some) ON THE PLANE. This never happens, except for the kind where I fall asleep for a nanosecond and, failing to balance it properly on my neck, immediately loll my noggin backwards with an alarming snort and jar myself awake, looking around to see if anyone saw me. They never do, because they're all dreaming away like comatose babies. Jerks. The only thing that would count as a complication was the fact that the luggage for our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok took a good hour to show up at the carousel, and this was after we sifted our way through the customs line. The helpful prerecorded message over the PA told us that our baggage was delayed for...(pause)..."other reasons." I don't know what the other choices were that were not covered by our circumstance, but it lets the imagination wander. Not mechanical? Not weather? Not unruly monkeys? Anyway...
I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be here again and work with
these wonderful children alongside a tremendous staff in a beautiful
place! Bonus: it seems like this
can be a long term arrangement – I’ve got a new employer back in the states
that will work me part time and turn me loose to come back to Thailand every
year – kind of six months on, six months off.
This time it works out to about 4 1/2 months in Thailand before I need to be
back in Colorado in October. Besides
work, I’ll be a new uncle this fall when my brother and his wife welcome to the
world their first kiddos – twins! – and I want to be around for some of that insomniac diaper-changing extravabonzo. No, really.
So, differences this time:
I’ll be doing a lot of the same sort of fix-it-guy type stuff and from
what I hear, there are a few things that need some attention. But, I’ll be also going to class every day
with a new round of Compasio Training School.
The organization wants all the staff and volunteers to attend either
this school or a DTS (through YWAM) or some other sort of “Hey, so you’re a
missionary, here’s some baseline stuff you ought to know” training – stuff about
culture, child development, language, how Compasio does its mission, how not to be trampled by street kids, that sort
of thing. It’ll be good to know and a
solid foundation to build on. Another
difference will be living conditions – in 2010 I stayed in a guest house in
town, by myself, and this year I’ll be living with three Burmese guys (also
Compasio people) and have a really good opportunity to absorb some
language and be perpetually confused :). A third difference will be the
staff – there are several people here who are the same as before, which is
awesome, but also a lot of new people.
I’m not worried about it, but there’s always a danger when you return of
expecting it to be just like it was – and a lot of how it was had to do with
other volunteers or staff who have since moved on to other things or other roles with
Compasio – so there will be some adjustment needed and a re-determining of
where I fit in the mix. Like I said, not
worried, but I need to go in realizing it will be different this time and each time after that.
Today, I’m hoping to get some phone stuff figured out (might
jailbreak/unlock my iphone, ever try that?) and deliver some of the things I
carried over here from the states to the Browns – it’ll be good to lighten my
luggage a bit, and great to see them!
Thank you again for your prayers!
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Ever do something kind of epic, let some time pass, and then try to experience it again? How’d that go?
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