Day on the islands

I wrote this post over 24 hours ago, but am having trouble editing photos to go with it. Several of you who are encouragers of our trip are telling me you are checking the blog and missed a post yesterday. So I will post what I journaled with a few photos, but they are not the best. Judy has better ones on her camera, my camera battery died. I will add more photos tomorrow to the blog. Thanks for following!

We anticipated the island part of this trip to last two days, but in retrospect, seeing how bad the weather was, I am so thankful we were even able to go to the islands. I was so excited for this part of the trip! I have been to the islands with Mike and Judy countless times over the past four and a half years through the lens of Judy’s camera and the stories they have told. Nothing, however, could have painted the picture of the culture and heart of the people, like being there. Getting there (and back) only made the discoveries more precious.

On our stormy ride for four hours to the first island. The driver, Swat (pronounced s-wat) was very skilled at manueveringus through the waves. I really did feel pretty safe with him. He put his whole body into directing the boat to face into the waves, and at times, to ride the waves. Under the cover is Somsak, (pronounced some-sock) is a pastor who has just opened an orphanage for 10 orphan Moken kids (pictures in yesterday's post). The other woman is Latii (pronounced la-tea) is Swat's wife. In the front of them were the four of us on the boat.

Monsoon season in southern Thailand, on the Adaman Sea, makes a US ‘torrential downpour’ seem like a cheap showerhead. Our introduction to monsoon season was seven hours on the sea with rain so intense, the line between the seascape and the sky was invisible. Add heavy winds, waves, and lightning, and I was looking for the basement of the boat, certain Jesus must be calmly sleeping, and all I needed to do was wake him. There was no basement. There was no sleeping going on. But there was prayer. Lots of it, by this novas sea(wo)man, I can tell you! I did learn how to take photos with my camera in a plastic bag. Not bad. I wore my anti-motion sickness patch and it worked well, except for one time when I tried to sit under the little cover in the back of the boat, huddled too close to others with the diesel air hanging like a cloud. Good combination for offering my lunch to the sea creatures. Not to seem over dramatic, but it was all worth it for what I experienced in the six hours on the islands.

We were bundled up in rain coats, as we rode the longtail fishing boat that is run by a 1 cylindar John Deere B deisel engine.

Selecting words to pull you into yesterday’s experience leaves me as helpless as it was to verbally communicate with the Moken people, unable to speak their dialect of Thai.
Who are the Moken people? I am anxious for time to look them up and study them more. They are a tribe of sea gypsies, so like you and me, yet vastly, vastly different. They remind me of the mental picture I have of cave men. Self sufficient, self reliant, self governing, and self sustaining. Yet among themselves, they are dependent, reliant, abiding, and supporting. Mokens are not citizens of any country. Their ancestors are Burmese as well as Thai. They lived in grass roofed huts prior to the tsunami, but now have walls and tin roofs, due to the ministry of Mike and many others through Campus Crusade for Christ, the International Mission Board of the SBC and other generous ministries and people.
I am trying to keep this post short of a bound book, bear with me, there is a lot on my heart and mind. In order to get this post out for you to read, pictures will be limited.
We had the thrill of helping to provide for these people. We took clothes and each child got one garment. Then our dear Sunday school class sent money to purchase a school uniform consisting of a black back pack, shirt, shoes, socks and pants or skirt. The children came to us one by one, received their bundle of uniform items, then thanked us by folding their hands and bending forward toward us. They don’t show much emotion, but we knew they were happy to receive these items. We gave most of them a little Chick-fil-A cow, that they SO proudly carried everywhere.

If you are ever looking for a picture of bonding, put a grandpa and grandma in the center of adorable native little dark brown children! Language barriers are minimized. There were a few little tykes who clung to us, following us everywhere - much to our delight. Typical grandpa and grandma enticements are well received in any culture: a few sticks of gum in the pocket, arms to hold, attention, laughing at antics, and time. We overlooked garbage all around our feet, diaperless babies, head lice, decaying baby teeth, unsupervised babies playing alone on the peer and sea shore, mismatched American clothes, crowing roosters, fighting chickens and fighting dogs, and sickness.

What we did see was hearts and people who have little hope and future in the terms we evaluate hope and future by. But why do they need our future? The children are in schools taught by the Thai government, the families have little monetarily because they live off the sea, and their social needs are cared for within their own. What they need is Jesus. That is where their hope is empty. Buddhism is not their religion, although there are flavors of it in their belief system. Their faith is centered in ancestral spirits and ancestral worship. New born babies wear a string tied around their wrist to protect them from evil spirits.

Jesus has been introduced to them since the tsunami relief ministries over the past four and a half years. They are gradually turning from their spirit hope into hope in the living Jesus. Many of their cultural ways have not and may never change. I was overwhelmed to hear these people sing praise to Jesus in a language I could not follow, knowing it was precious to the one who created them.

I was disturbed to see the children raising children. Babies are cared for tenderly in their homes, in a swinging mosquito netted carrier. Once they are beyond infant stage, they are carried. Once they walk…they walk all around, guided by older children. They toddle along with the 5-8 year old kids to the pier, ocean edge, under huts, etc. Their little bottoms are uncovered completely until they are potty trained. Then they wear pants and underwear if they have them. School girls have two pair of panties to switch off/wash every other day. Boys are without shirts most of the time.

For school age children, clothing is different. Uniforms for school children are very important in Thailand in all cities, even these islands. Children are disciplined if they do not wear them and do not bring a P.E. uniform. This is why it was so precious to take money from our Sunday school class and go to town to buy uniforms for about 40 children. Some of the children had uniforms, many did not. Pastor Somsak and his wife got counts from the two islands we went to, knowing approximate sizes and number for us to shop. We went to the uniform store and bought shirts, skirts, shorts and belts, socks, shoes and a backpack. The children were instructed when they received them that they had to take them off when they get home from school and put on other clothes. They don’t know these things, but are being taught how to value things.

In addition to over 100 huts that have been constructed, ten concrete homes have been built through Mike’s leadership, and five of them were ready to be moved into the day we were there. The five homes were given to three widows, the island supervisor, and another young couple. Each home is one cement room, with a separate room containing a squatty potty. They will live, sleep, study, cook, and play in this one room. Each person or family has a story. It was so cool have them tell their story before they got possession of their home. Since we were there for giving of the ‘key’ to these families, Mike asked Kyle, Judy and me to each pray over one of them. Then they sang praises to the Lord for what they were given. I was overwhelmed.

I know I need to close this posting. It is already so much for you to read. I wish I could promise something like “if you made it to this point in the post, you have earned a trip to experience what we did on the islands”. Enjoy the photos and be reminded of how vast is the love and attention of our God, that He delights in the lives of ALL His children!

Now for a day and a half at the LeMeridien Resort. What a contrast…the same ocean, same water, same skies. The contrast is in the people that are inhabiting each.