Foothills Ta Rua Tour 05

The week is over- Jesse

2006-10-27T18:14:00.000+10:00

Hello everone at home, I am sad beause the classes are over and they were soo much fun and i'll probly never see the kids agen. Mum 200 Baht is about $9.00, is eating the chili was worth it and it wasnt like haveing my guts ripped out. The weather is hot hot and if your lucky hot, so that nice. I went on the back of a motorbike down the freeway at about 110km/h with no helmut or any protection and that was fun as. Tonight we are going to a resturant which is the tallest builging in Bankok, then werte are going to ANOTHER market. Mum i have bought our family presents but i dont know wat to get Matt and Brenton. Ask Do you guys want any Cd's or Dvd's. How is everyone? In the class we tought the kids the superman grace and thay were singing for the rest of the day. I am going to miss the kidds, i got some photos of them. When i get home mum i expect at least 3 days off school. Thats about all see you all in a few days goodbye. Jesse

Teaching Thursday, Friday

2006-10-27T17:50:00.000+10:00

My typing is crap, sorry!!

Last two days of teaching, possibly last entry before we return.

Teaching has been great, and i've very much enjoyed getting to know the kids. Cklasses have been about language structure Thursday, and then colours ands animals today. It is such a jopy to work with these guysd, my heart just swells for htese kids. young guy sho i desribed as hard is named Meng. He wasn't around on Thursday, but was for half the class on Friday. I gave him somme responsibilities, and you could just see his confidence boost. What a priveledge to be here, thank you for your support in too many ways to count.

We have been so welcomed here - in a place where predators walk through and take davntafge of the young, the community have got used to seeing us and welcome us in ways that we would never have thought. I was admitring an ice treat that one child had,his mother took me by the arm, and led me to where they were selling them. THey call my hed a football, as there is no hair on it, and the still laugh, but it is all in good spirit.

Tonight Friday) is team dinner, with youth group before. Footvball is happeniung at the same time. Tema dinner is in a high rise eslewhere in bAngkok. Tomorrow a group of us are going on a tour to the floating markets, a temple, and elswhee - should be ll day., Sunday we check out of the hotel, go across to churcvh on Klong Touey, then hang out until 8pm, when we leave for the airport.

I realise i haven't unpacked much, but i will ,probably when i get home.
I've been overloaded with experiences, and i suspect it will take some time to work through. I have seen God at work, and i'm aware that i've been challenged in many ways.

I'm, sorry that i haven't rteplied to many comments, but computer time, althoughj i try to make time for this, is hard to find., thus the typos, etc.

Please continue to pray for us and leave messages.

Regards and Thanks,

Andy!!~

Hope the typing is better

Teaching Wednesday - Andy

2006-10-25T18:19:00.000+10:00

THe kids know me well now, and i them. THere is one young guy, 15, whoi is a real handfui, and who disapeared half way through class today. HE copmes across as very hard, meaning lots of attitude, agressiveness, but he tends to respond to me ewell. I put tihs down to relationship and mutual rerspect. We don't share alot of commmon words (and less writtten, as Mark R pointed out - thanks), but i'm very much wnjoying to get to know him.

THeee are other young peopel the same, and they tend to trust quickly. It will be hard to leave at the end of the week, and as we are driving into this slum, we don't see them around the community centre. Once class is over on Friday, i won't see them agaion - this is difficult, but i hope that i have given them some valuable languge skills, as well as shown some faith and beleif in them. I am very much enhjoying my experience here, although i iss my family hugely.

More later,

andy!!

Khao San Road - Andy

2006-10-25T18:10:00.000+10:00

Tuesday eveing we were taking on many forms of transport to get to this well known backpacker area, and shopping bananza - 2 buses, 2 river buses (fast, noisy things), and one tuk tuk. APperntly Bankok is well over prescribed noise polutions levels, and i'm not surprised givewn the noise of somoe of our forms of transport.

Khao San Road is the place where all the backpacker shang out. At nigt they cpolse the road, and market stalls spring up everywhere. Bartering is the thing to do, to get that elusive bargain, and the place for all your DVD and CD copies. THose who know me would know i gave these a wide wereth.

I did pick up some shirts and stuff, and it was good to see other parts of Bangkok, buty i really struggled with being in this environment after walking out of the slums. I don't enjoy shopping at the best of times, and i struggled being in two different worlds. I much prefer the slums - the people feel friendler (probably because they are not dealing with Ferungs all day).

Having said that, Wednesdayt we are going to a night Bazaar. I am told tha ttihj is more traditional, less touristy, ands i still need to get some things for opeopel. It's al;so closer, so easiuer to get home.

A big thank you to Rod for being our guide on Tuesday evening.

any oreders for dvd'S and CDs can be given to someone else.

Andy!

Adam's comments

2006-10-25T17:36:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone! Adam is finally taking some time to blog
I'm sitting in the air conditioned buisiness room at Boss Tower listening to a Coldplay CD I bought at Kho Sahn Road last night.
This is such a big contrast compared to where we've been spending alot of our time
The children that some of us are teaching live in an area called Rong Gow. I might describe it as a narrow street running under one of the main freeways for a bit.
The people here live so close together and it makes me feel so priveliged and welcomed because they let us invade their space when it seems to me that there is so little of it.
Dean, Michelle and I are teaching a group of about 25 kids aged from about 10 to 13. There is a higher number of girls than boys. Many of them are very attentive and really want to learn some English. I have a sence they realise that knowing English can mean the difference between having an alright job and having a degrading, life sucking job.
We don't know much about these childrens backgrounds because of language barriers etc. but we are able to engage with them in different ways. Pi(pronounced like pie) is teaching me what I call a hand slapping singing game. I've been playing a bit of soccer with Gap, It and Git. It's really special to be able to have fun and interact with these kids.
Last night we took a number of different forms of transport to get to and from the market. We took a taxi, boat, took took, underground train, bus and motorbikes. This cost us about A$5 each. Food is amazingly cheap as well.
On Saturday we're going on a day trip to the River Kwai.
It's amazing to see how the people in this part of the world are living and it's a great privelige to be able to look below the surface and find something real and good.
I'm off to play soccer at the community centre in a second.
See you all soon

Adam

Two Mantra Monday (Andy)

2006-10-24T16:58:00.000+10:00

More on the mantras later...started teaching today. I am teaching with a visting GHerman Doctor, named Urike, ans supported by Ash. Wew hav the bigger kids, and are they a handful. Ages form 11 - 16. Adolescent boys are the same everywhere - smae sort of attritudes, behaviours, etc. It's just like being at home (appart formt he language). We taught body parts , and of course itr got rude. I am getting to know names and faces, they know mine already, chich helps.

After lunch and planning for tomrrow, we wens shopping (bottled water, and the guys bught up buiig on chips, etc). Managed a swim, with rory and Jesse choosing to have a sauna(i don't know why, so please don't ask!).
Rory, Jesee ans i then went back to the community centre ands watche tyhe little kids play football - that ias until we were martched up agianst a 15 y.o. side. This was hard work, playing on a concrete pitch, with no breeze. We lost,though weer aloweds to play on until we matched their score - 3 all.

We were ten challenged by a men's teama - Thailand Vs Australia. We wre down to 4 players - Jesse, Rory/Josh, myself, and Ash, and we used a 'imoprt' as gaolie'. THe Match went fro 25 minutes - we wre surprised, asn stuffed by the end of it.

Arter this we were to go to a festival, near the airport - th eMouth Of THe River festival. Not enough car rtoom menat that i needed to ride on th eback of EWt's motorbike.

It is important to remember at this point is that the key to integhrating into commuity is to be part of it. I think i wrote earlier about motorbikes andt he lack of helmets - well i've now had first hand experience.

We set out,and ten it started raining - well storm and water dumping would be more appropriate! there were four bike altogether (Dean elected to go wit Rod - again), so it felt like a real pack.
Once the deluge started we rested in a shelter, while Pastor Suwat kept going with the others. We watied for 1/2 hour, then headed out. So the first mantra was, "do't let me fall, don't let me fall". Thrilling, frightening, exciting, and fun!

We arrived safely, grapped some hot food (we were somewhat cold by this stage), then found the others and rteturned. By this stime it had stopped raining, but with puddles everywhere, it made for an interesting trip back.. EW travbelled much fasted (don't know how fast, the speedo wasn't woprking (i ddefinitely didn't start thinking of what eslose didn't work on the bike)), and so the second mantra became, "oh my lord, oh my lord, oh my lord".
THe rip as frightening, but excillerating. i got to spend a great deal of time with Rod, Et, and Rod's housemates. We ate toghether, risked life together, sharted rain together. really enjoyed spendingh this time.

We are getting to know our way around te slum, and learnig the names of the people we are spending time with.

This trip is certainly lifechangeing, i just don't quite know yt how it is changing me. I am certainly awre of the p[overty that we spend much of our trime in, and am loving the people i ams spending time with.

Gotta go, more tromorrow!

Andy!!

hey ppl at home

2006-10-23T01:47:00.000+10:00

hey mum jack and ella
how u all doing. im doing great we start our classes tommorow so that will be different cant wait to see how it turns out.well gtg ill post another comment on tommorow.
cya love u all.

2006-10-23T01:44:00.000+10:00

Hello everyone at home, its Jesse here, i hope your having fun without us. Last night i earned myself a nickname which is chilliboy, and you can guess how i got it. All up it was a good night though, i had a load of fun though and i earnd some money too.Today(sunday) was really good because we actually went into the slum for the first time and it was eye opening.and we went too church in t4hai which was interesting. All in all i had an awsome day. We are teaching tomoro so im gonna get an early night.
Goodbye untill my next blog
JESSE aka Chilli boy

Sunday

2006-10-22T23:13:00.000+10:00

Last night as a team dinner - NEVER suggest to Jesse to do something. Rory offered 200 Baht to eat 1 tyeaspoon of cilli flakes. Jresse also learnt that you don't chase chilli with milk - oit was looking pretty ugly for a while, but Jesse pulled through.

THe team met in the hotel lobby, then walked into the slum together. We passed Rod's house on the way, and he led us on a mad dash through back alleys, and almost through people's homes to the Ta Rua Church.

We were warmly welcomed by ther Ta Rua Community. We cpouldn't understand what they were saying, we couldn't understand their praise songs, but it was great to be part of this community.

Steve spoke this morning, with Rod translating to Thai. It went as well as it couldm, though some onf steve's staiories losta bit in context, culture.

The Ta Rua community provided lunch for us - what an amazing spread. Most of it was mild (i think they took pity on us) but the falvours were amazing., It makes me think that our food mustseem pretty bland to others.

fter lunch we wlaked ti the community centre - about five ,imiutesd from the church, still in the slum. Here we broke into teachin groups - i will be working with Ash (Unoh worker who lives here), Jesse, and Jill form Sydney,a nd Uriker form Swantson St. We have tomorrow planned ansd part of Tuesday. We are working in the Rong Moo slum,shichis built at the old slaugherhouse. We're told thatofficially the slaughter house is closed, but woprk still goes on here. Tomorrow we will be teaching 'what's you're mame', and parts of the body,so we will be singing 'heads shoulders...' and 'hoke pokey', as well as playing simon says.

The CPOmmunity Centre just erru[ptyed - as write, there are people watching the Liverpool/Man United mtch live, and Man United just scored their second goal. Thai people are crazy about footvball, especially mte males, and most support one of these ytwqo teams.

This afternoon the 'Farungs'(foregners)were invited to play football; on a grass pitch. It was nine a side, and once ytuo have a goal scored agianst you, you lose, the next team take your place. We sacored one goals, by me as goalie, and this basically staes how bad we were. Howevere, sport is such a great way of breaking down barriers. The other teams certtainly laughted at us, especially gas we had our shirst off, and our farungness showed bright white, but the were laughing with us. We enjoyed rthre opportunity to mix with community - this is wahat this trip is aobut - engagining and sharing.

Coming back to the community centre (i am still here - it is 8:30pm local time), Adam and i spent some time ith some of the local kids, playing football on the conrete pitch, offering them target practice by standing in the goals, and getting to know their names, and vice versa. Once again, what a priveledge to just hang with these guys. As one person from team put it, we don't know the language, but sport, and especially football, crosses our cultures,a nd allows us to communitcate very effectivewly.

This will be an exciting week. We are learning to engage with the commuity hear, to communicate effectively, and perhaps to eat strange tihngs. Some guys came into the centre a offering us a pre packed snack. Once i took a bite, i was told, through ASh, that it was dried spiced cuttle fish. I should have picked up that some of the thai odidn't eat it, but then trust is a great thing. Thai humour is subtle but very amusing (eben though we saeem tyo be on the wrong end of it).

Sorry about the typos - trying to type fast

More in the next day or two,

Andy!!

2006-10-21T13:36:00.000+10:00

Hi all. As the others have probably said we arrived safely in Bangkok at about 6:30(Thia time)and 9:30 your time.
It is very warm and their is an interesting smell in the air.
Our drive from the airport(25km east of the city)to Boss Tower was amazing. There are palm trees everywhere and groups of people in the back of trucks zipping down the freeway. We also saw the edges of slum communities along the freeway.
This is an exciting city.
See you!

WE made it and were still alive

2006-10-21T13:34:00.000+10:00

We arrived in bangkok today and it was soooo hot, and really exciting. Everything went quite smooth and there were no hastles and we got through fine except we got ripped of by a taxi guy which sucked. Later on we are going to go for a walk around the streets and check out the scene. I hope nobody misses us to much, and i hope everyone is healthy and doing well. I'll see you in 10 days, untill then
Goodbye Jesse

we're here - Andy

2006-10-21T13:21:00.000+10:00

We've made it, after an overnight flight that kept on going. Not much sleep. Being offered green curry for one of our meals was great - yes, it was airplane food, but still GOOD!

Jesse got 'pre sellected', and had his carry on baggage seched for traces of explosives. They didn't find anything.

Catching a taxi to our hotel was an eye openner. I think this city is wned by motor bike ownersm, and they qare everywhere. THose people who think my driving is aggressive should come over here.

We're now trying to rest a bit, and waiting for others to arrive. We'll venture out later this afternoon, but for now, it's just nice to soak it all in.

Tomorrow we will meet with the Ta Rua community, where sTeve will be speaking. Tonight i think we are sharing a meal with the rest of the team, and tomorrow afternoon we start to plan our lessons for the classes for the rest of the week.

More later,
Andy!!

Two days to go - '06

2006-10-18T23:30:00.000+10:00

If you're just joining this blog, (and i'm guessing most of you will be), from below this point are postings form last year's trip. This year we are:
Andy, Rory, Jesse, Adam & Dean.

Two sleeps to go until we meet at the airport. I spoke with Jesse tonight, who is VERY excited aboput Friday. I can't wait to get going, meet the whole team in Bangkok, and start doing what we've been working towards for 1/2 the year - teaching English in the slums of Klong Touey.

We will endeavour to to update this blog daily once we are there, and I'll be encouraging the guys to make regular entries on how they are going and what they are experiencing.

YOU can support us through prayer, and also through messages. Yes, you can respond to our postings, by clicking on the icon below. Please journey with us.

I'll post more from Bangkok,

Andy!!

Next please

2005-11-25T11:11:00.000+11:00

If you have been following the journey and you want to read more or you just stumbled accross this page through many and various means, this is my last post on this site but ot read more go to Barro's site which will explore faith, life, culture, cricket and all things meaningful (and meaningless). Click here to read on.

Barro's weekend

2005-11-03T23:42:00.000+11:00

Well our trip is now over and we've arrived back in Oz, it doesnt take too long to get into the swing of things here. Had a great time and met some great people who are doing some heroic stuff amongst those who have little voice for themselves. Also met Jesus in the eyes of some young men and women this week as well.
I was privilidged to spend Sunday preaching at Ta Rua community, through an interpretor. It seemed to go well, at least they laughed at the RIGHT places. This was a great connection especially with our partership with the Ta Rua community, it was great to feel like it was home, now having attended the total of 3 times on Sundays over the past 14 months.

So the challenge now, as it was before I came, is to listen to what God has to say to me through those I met over the past week, and not to let his voice be drowned out by working for him this week. I'll let you know how I get on, if I'm not to busy...
Blessings
Barro

Wax's weekend

2005-11-03T23:41:00.000+11:00

It’s Sunday night and we’re back from the camp down the beach. A very long drive but it was well worth it.
On Friday night we left at 4pm and we arrived at Thap Sakae around 11pm. All were very tired except the lads as they were full of Guruna Juice and Caffeine.
After falling asleep after 3.30am we awoke to the crows of roosters at 7am YEH!!!
The day was a verrrrry hot 39oC, not much relief even in the shade. After an amazing breakfast we all pitched in and made a raft out of bamboo and inner-tubes. We went to a waterfall about an hour and a half away for a swim and lunch. When we arrived back at camp (a friends property) the lads took the raft down to the beach and launched telling us they were off to Australia. This was very short lived as the “craft” quickly succumbed to the rough seas and thirteen strapping young lads.
We sat around the camp fire that night and Ash gave all the lads a very fine rendition of Midnight Oil’s “US Forces” while dancing like Peter Garrett. I’m not sure if they truly understood what Ash was doing but not to be discouraged he followed it up with Boy George and “Do you really want to hurt me”. It wasn’t long until every one went to bed… well done Ash. Finally we get a good night sleep.
The next morning we left after another great breakfast at 9am. We all stopped at a national park where a river is flowing quite fast and the boys (except Nom and myself) hired life jackets and float down the river about a “K” then walk back up and do it all again. The temperature was a coolish 37oC so the boys (who had been traveling all this time in the back of a Ute) were happy for the swim.
At the place in the river where you exit the river and walk back to the start there was a bridge about 30 meters high. The lads were encouraged by a westerner (I wont mention my name) to jump from the top of the bridge. Without a blink of an eye all 13 boys gladly accepted the challenge. “Whoops” Ash told me later that the water was only 6 foot or so deep. The lads LOVED it and talked about it all the way home.
Another amazing experience from Thailand.
Update soon Wax.

End of English classes

2005-10-29T15:29:00.001+10:00

Well our week of English lessons has drawn to a close, it was great fun. We all learnt heaps through the people we met, and hopefully passed on a bit of stuff as well. Because of my back being dodgy I ended up being with Ash which was great, we were the kings of the ad lib...

Here are the crew of Klong Toey English class Oct 2005

Wax has now gone down camping with 15 young people Rod and Ash for ther weekend, I am hanging around Bangkok and have been invited to preach tomorrow at Ta Rua church and Dean is catching up with his parents.
blessings
barro

Thai boxing

2005-10-29T15:20:00.000+10:00

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time with the young people here as they went through their paces at thai boxing training. The young girls and guys are very determined and very fit, it is something which they can do to give them some hope. I was actually used as a bit of a sparring partner and was stuffed by the end of it. this gym has a framed signed photo that I bought over last year from my good friend and FTG resident Dave russel, ex cruiser weight world champ. They love the photo. Here I am with one om my students from the week, On.
Blessings
Barro

Happy Birthday Jack

2005-10-29T15:01:00.001+10:00

Hi Jack,

Happy 12th Birthday from everyone here in Thailand, (well a few anyway)
I hope you have a great day
Lots of love
Dad

Arjung Sawot

2005-10-28T10:10:00.000+10:00

Arjung or pastor Sawot has been a real source of inspiration to us this week. He is the founder pastor of Ta Rua church in the slums of Kong Toey. He works tirelessly and has a vision for faith communities in 12 of the local slums in the area. Already there are 3 worshipping communities in 3 different areas. Infact he has built these churches as well. He is THE ultimate net worker, building relationships with all kinds of people, and through this opening up doors for the gospel. He grew up in Klong Toey and was a small time gangster, drug dealer, heroin addict and spent over 4 years in prison. He was converted to Jesus through reading a Bible that was given to him and went off to Bible College where he was then sent up country with a local church. His heart though was with his people from the slums of Klong Toey. After speaking to his denomination about going back to Klong Toey, they told him he was crazy, so he went out alone to follow Jesus call on his life. He has spent the past 10 years relearning what it means to set up a church community in a slum, something he believes Bible College didn’t equip him for. He and his wife and 2 boys are constantly serving those around them and they challenge and inspire me in my call to build communities of hope.
Blessings
Barro

Wax's waffle

2005-10-28T10:09:00.000+10:00

Today started off well, Scott and I had the community leaders with us before the break, however, they were not with us after the break, and the difference in the behavior was remarkable. Before the break the kids sat on the floor, did some coloring, played some games and recapped on the past few days with numbers, colors and names. After the break and when the leaders had gone Scott and I lost total control. We will put it down to the bright pink very very strong cordial and the MSG laden chips, however, despite our attempts at harnessing the huge amounts of energy that was being released from 40 three to eight year olds all at the same time, our efforts were in vein. Regardless, we had a good day and ending the session early gave Scott the opportunity to connect with the community leaders on a deeper level.
Update soon Wax.

VALIDITY OF SHORT TERM MISSION:

2005-10-28T10:06:00.000+10:00

Its Thursday and the second last day of the English camp. Everyone is enthusiastic yet a bit sad that tomorrow will be our last day with the kids; a week is way too short. We have certainly had an impact, but I can’t help but wonder if we have made any difference at all. The good thing is that this type of “short term” mission does the ground work for Ash, Ang, Scott, Rachel and Rod to connect with new community groups such as Glua Prik and others around Klong Toey. Knowing these guys and their commitment to this area I can be sure that the “long term” will defiantly make a difference.
Update soon Wax.

Bangkok rain

2005-10-27T16:08:00.000+10:00

Another morning of rain, I guess this is the rainy season though, very muggy and floods everywhere. Makes going on the back of a motorbike fun though.
Blessings
Barro

Deans stuff

2005-10-27T02:12:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone, Apologies for the delay we have been busy here is an update for Monday and Tuesday
Monday was an awesome day with me and one other guy (Matt) heading up a class of around 22 little Thai kids. (4 boys and 18 girls)We had a great time teaching them some songs and some new words as well as some words they already know. Some of the kids have been to the ESL courses before and they have some basic skills. It is so good to see the smiles on their faces when they receive praise from me about them doing well. Kids are so good at picking up new languages - they learn much faster than I would have expected!!!We spent the morning doing lots of drawing, colouring in and some craft to help them associate words with their meaning - this was a lot of fun for me and I think it is something I really would love to do regualrly.The children were a little hesitant with me (the FERUNG) (Westerner in thai) being new and stuff so that made it a little hard to get them to talk but it was still great.We spent the afternoon walking around a bit and seeing some more of this slum - it is really easy to get around and the locals have been very suspicious of us but when we speak a little in thai they respond well and can see we are not just tourists. It is interesting here that you need to be very careful not to take photos too much. This is a sign of respect as no community would want you to simply come in and start taking photos of their kids and houses without them first knowing and trusting you. (something to think about for all).Was incredible to start the week and have loads of expectations for the coming days! God thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and to connect with the kids. I hope they can see your love in the next week and that we connect at a deeper level. Many of these children come from very broken homes - it's not just poverty in the financial sense. Their is so much poverty of spirit and this is not always obvious on the surface. Use me Lord to reach out with your love and compassion. Give me patience, mercy and hope for them.On a weird note - thought I should also mention that tonight I watched a DVD at Anji and Ash Barkers - was nice to relax with them. Afterwards Rod (Missionary here) took me back to the hotel (we had to move from the floor of the slum back to the hotel as Steve's back was bad) and on the way we had a motorbike accident. We hit a truck - can tell you was not much fun BUT praise the Lord he was looking out for us as I am fine - Rod got some cuts and bruises but he is also fine. Was more a problem as the bike belonged to the commununity centre so need to pitch in and help him with that when I get home. Wax and I will work on something to help. The truck had stopped dead in front of us and I can still see the impact running through my head - I know God was protecting us though so we are both completely fine!
Tuesday came and I felt much more confident with the need for me to teach on my own!I was fine with that as Matt had to help another class - so its just me and my thai teacher. She is a great help to me and I have connected well with her. Today we studied things more like their names in English with practive writing their name - understanding the sounds and spelling. The kids loved that. It was a bit of a revision from the day before and we also spent time going over the animals, learning them, colouring them in and drawing them - my childhood comes back to me so easily!!!!!! I can really see the "hope" in these children today. I feel like I am connected at a deeper level and a couple of them seem to look up to me already (especially 2 boys). The innocence and pure heart that these kids have is really the heart of God. They say that you see Jesus in the eyes of the poor and it is true!!!!! These kids have so little yet enjoy every second so much. I am becoming more convinced that our Western culture has so much yet we are rarely happy. God what you are revealing to me is awesome. You are showing me that less is so much more - so much more indeed. I can see that these kids have so little prospects for life but if they can just learn some English perhaps they can find work and have some hope of an income. It's probably normal for people to think that this trip is about me, Wax and Steve giving but it seems to be more about us receiving. I can see that Wax is really challenged by this and that his heart is also broken for these kids. Steve has been a great support to us both and I know that the three of us are forever changed by this experience already!Played a bit of sport with the kids after class today and we had so much fun - the laughter, the joy, the simple pleasure of being with a ferung friend - thank you Lord for your love.......you make me so overwhelmed at your goodness to me and if I can just reflect the smallest amount of that to these kids I will be forever grateful. I keep thinking that our Christian walk needs to be as simple as a child's heart - we overcomplicate it all don't we?Looking forward now to Wednesday's class!!!!!!!Today we also spent time going to the other slum communities where Ta Rua church is planting new buildings - they have so little but such a strong sense of community - it is awesome to see that these people are living in some of the hardest conditions on the earth but that they know God and his love so intimately. The leaders in each slum community are just so lovely and are already making a difference in their community. I am learning how much of our Christian walk needs to be about community and discipleship. Living each day with people and sharing life is so simple but we miss it way too often. We took some photos so will share these on return but words can not describe the smells and very poor living conditions - yet the thai's smile so much!Tonight we also went for a break to visit a night bazaar (market) - it was great with lots of diverse items to purchase. Was very suprised at the range of things and some were very cheap. Was nice to spend some time with Steve and Wax and a few others away from the slum for just a couple of hours.
Look forward to Wednesday..........see what is in store.

Dealing with my crap

2005-10-27T02:09:00.000+10:00

After a few days of avoiding the inevitable I finally succumbed and did to what most people comes very naturally, that is squatted for number 2’s. It was not something that I was looking forward to and had successfully maneuvered my way around it since my arrival, finding the clean western style sit down loo, but just before lunch time today the urge again came and I knew I had to take the plunge. At the end it wasn’t as bad as I had thought, but it did give me a moment to reflect on the way that I deal with all kinds of crap in my life. Usually I try and hide it’s untimely smells with pinoclean, sit for a while, enjoy a book, nicely push a button and forget about it, then off to the rest of the day. But here my crap has to be dealt with in different kinds of ways. Even the attempted flushes with a cup of water may not get rid of it, infact it may even rear its head again. Our crap can’t hide our inadequacies with nice smells, we all have stuff we need to get rid of daily, and it should come naturally as we give stuff over to God to deal with.
So again I will squat and try and reflect of the God who wants to deal with all of our crap, without spraying over it with nice smells.
Blessings
Barro

Cheap Grace

2005-10-27T02:05:00.000+10:00

Today I spent the afternoon with Ash in an upmarket department store, catching up for coffee, before getting his daughter Amy from school. On the way through the store we saw a perfume collection entitled Hope in a jar; Where there is hope there can be faith; Where there is faith, miracles can occur. Next to this bottle was a bottle of grace, but at least Deitrch Bonhoffer would have been impressed because it wasn’t cheap grace, in fact it was 2,850 Thai Bat. (Aust $100-) a bottle!!!
Blessings
Barro

The face of AIDS.

2005-10-27T02:02:00.000+10:00

Today I started the day with the morning meeting and communion with the team. Steve led communion. We then proceeded to our areas for the morning lessons.
The session went fine with the normal morning tea break. During this time a little girl named “Om” had a mouthful of her cordial and a small bite of her cake. She asked if she could take the rest of the drink and cake to her mum. I was amazed and touched by her selflessness at a time when all the other kids were happily indulging in their cordial and cake. The fact that she decided to give it to her mum blew me away. While having the break Scott and myself were talking about the different characteristics of the children – some are shy, some are confident and then some are like 7 year old “Luktarn” in constant pursuit of attention. Every time I sit on the floor she is always the first one who site next to me, leaning on me, climbing on my back, always asking for a new nametag and lots of questions. Scott decided to ask the Elders of the community about her history to see if there was anything we could do and they informed us that she is HIV positive and has lost both parents to HIV/AIDS. I was absolutely overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness. Like being stranded in the middle of the ocean, there was nothing that I could do or say – I just wept.
I’ve seen these kids on the TV, read about them in the paper and I have always dismissed it as someone else’s problem. It’s never really had an impact until this beautiful little girl grabbed me by the hand! I don’t know if there is anything I can do and there is nothing I can say that will take away her pain or change her future. There is no doubt that knowing her has changed me forever.
Update soon
Wax.

A boy called On

2005-10-27T01:59:00.000+10:00

Over the past couple of days I have been getting to know many of the young boys during our morning lessons. It is a great time but we are certainly kept on our toes, these boys are wired. One young boy, On is one 9 year old that we have got to know. Today I was talking to Ash about his lack of boundaries, Ash was talking about the fact that both of his parents had died over the past couple of years and that he is being raised by his grandmother in a real lean to. On is just one of many stories of Klong Toey, yet it is hard to ignore his story as I connect with him each day. His story connects with me as I see in him the eyes of Jesus.
Blessings
Barro

Jesus calls us again

2005-10-27T01:58:00.000+10:00

Today I was asked to lead our morning communion session and I lead a reflection from Mark’s gospel on the call of Levi. (Mark 2:3-17) It was especially relevant to us in Klong Toey, as Jesus calls and celebrates life with those on the margins, those who are rejected by the main steam. We were all reminded how Jesus sees every face in Klong Toey as precious in his eyes. So the challenge by those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus is do we see the poor as Jesus sees them or are they just there for our camera lenses, what is it that he is calling us to?
Blessings
Barro

Barro's bloggings

2005-10-24T21:53:00.000+10:00

Here we are the end of day 1 at English camp. Wax, Dean and I all went our seperate ways this morning, I went to a different slum community about 2km's away. It is much more heavier populated than where we are staying. The Ta Rua church has a small community church building here, it is one of their communities of hope. It appears to be poorer, not as established and absolutely NO place to even swing a cat, no play area for the kids. We had 40 kids turn up, Anj and I had 19, 4-7 year olds. Feral, is one word that comes to mind to describe this morning, a little like some of my RE experiences at FTG PS with the preps. Even Anj thought it was a little wild, still a great time with kids who had plenty of energy and spark, but obviously lacking other basic stuff in life. We ran some great games and had lots of fun.
Unfortunately my upper back didn't agree with the paper thin excuse for a matressthat I had ben sleeping on for the past 2 nights, so by mid morning my neck had decided to pack it in. One of our team is Laurie and Libby from WA, and Laurie is a chiro, so has done some wonderful work on me so far. After lunch he worked on my neck and told me it was the worst one he had seen for years, and gave it a massive adjustment. So as a consequence the foothillians have moved back to Boss Tower, accross the road from the community for some good nights sleep.
An early night tonite, it is raining heaps which makes the raods in places like lakes, hard for street vendors to get around.
Until later, I'm getting back to my red curry,
Blessings
Barro

Wax's waffle

2005-10-24T21:35:00.000+10:00

Monday has drawn to a close and the night life is about to begin.
Today was a great day spent with the kids of Klong Toey. “The Rodster”, Ilean (that’s how the locals pronounce Irene) Scott (a missionary) and myself went to a new sight about a “K” from the community centre where the Barkers are living called Glua Prik. This community is one of the poorer in Klong Toey as the streets are dirt with rubbish that aligns them. They have large pot-holes that are filled with water after it rains and surrounding the shacks are big pools of stagnant water as well as open sewerage. Despite these desperate living conditions these children had an amazing zeal for learning. Their smiles were huge and the way they picked up the language put most of us to shame.
We arrived at 9am to not the most excited welcome. The adults were quite wary about four “Furrungs” (foreigners) in their neighbor-hood. But after a word with the community leaders an announcement was made and the kids came from everywhere.
We had 50 kids aged from 5-19 with another 12 to come tomorrow. Scott and I had 23 5-10 year old kids and we taught them ‘Hello what is your name?’ and ‘my name is …?’ as well as ‘I am? Years old’. Tomorrow Scott and I are teaching them body parts and getting them to make their name out of plasticine. Can’t wait.
Update soon Wax.

Todays pix from the papparazziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2005-10-23T21:56:00.000+10:00

Here are some pix from last night

Barro's Blurt

2005-10-23T21:10:00.000+10:00

The end of the second full day has been full of action and adventure in Klong Toey.
We all went to Ta Rua church this morning with pastor Sawat. 2 Hours of Thai worship! (Good for the soul and ears - lucky for the translators!)
Was great to be honoured and recognised for our partnership with Foothills and the Ta Rua community - to bring greetings from our community and to present the banner. The church were VERY impressed with the banner and Arjun Sawat (Pastor) immediately hung it on the wall during the service. It is very humbling to have a partnership relationship with people from another country, like the Ta Rua community where I feel incredibly inspired and challenged in my faith through that relationship. I know they are blown away with the fact that Ferung's (foreigners) across the world are interested in being involved with them in the middle of a shanty community.
Tomorrow we start our ESL classes which will be very exciting and challenging for us all. A lot of the classes will involve games and activities with the young kids. our days will be full over the next week so we would appreciate your prayers.
Through Anji's translation this morning - I heard some of Arjun Sawat's sermon which was about the call to follow Jesus - into transforming communities through the Gospel of love. The challenge for us this week is to live out God's love and grace through serving sisters and brothers in this place as we too follow Jesus.
posted by Barro

Wax's waffle

2005-10-23T21:01:00.000+10:00

Sawadee-cup.
Wow!! What an introduction to Klong Toey community. This is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The complete contrast from home (FTG) to here, a bit surreal. The people are very friendly and quite suspicious at the same time. Food is A-roy Mark. We meet the Ta Rua community today and we (Steve; and Wax but he doesn’t yet know it – steve) are doing something on behalf of Foothills.
Update soon Wax.

Deano's dribble

2005-10-23T20:50:00.000+10:00

G’day all from Bangkok
It has been an awesome time here with some really great food. The street vendors are amazing and always cooking. The food is really good and quite different to the normal thai food at home!
Ash took us on a walk around the entire slum yesterday and we saw a very diverse level of poverty (the rich poor and the poor poor so to speak). The really poor areas were really hard to handle. I have seen poverty in other countries before but this was a new level for me. The poorest live in an area that sits over the open sewer river (must say that the smell is something you never forget). Their houses (if you could call them that) are not much, delipidated and falling apart. I can not imagine how hard it would be for them to live on top of the rubbish and sewer. Ash explained that when it rains heavy the area floods and the rubbish and sewerage floats up into their homes. We could also see children playing in the dirt and sewerage as if it was normal. That really hit me as I could not imagine Zak playing in that! Despite this though the people are great. They have constantly been staring at us (I can only imagine that seeing us blokes would be a sight for them indeed) but they are friendly none the less. We are about to prepare for church which should be fun. We have also met some others here who are helping out with the ESL course and they are great people too. Went to a night market last night but they were small with limited things and most were closing by the time we got there.
We know that this place is so very special (despite the difference to our home town) and that the work people like Anj, Ash and Rod are doing makes a very big difference.
It will be fun to do some clowning and quite a challenge with the heat – I am sure my face will melt off but that will be part of the fun.
We are incredibly lucky to be staying in a house here that is really good compared to a lot of the others. The house is great and has a kitchen, shower, etc so quite easy for us to be honest. The house belongs to a drug lord from here that has been in jail since being arrested for drug dealing. Apparently he gets out in a month and will come back here but in the meantime this is a great house to stay in.
Thanks all for your prayers – we look forward to the coming days and the children (despite it making us miss our own kids)
Love to all Dean

Day one - the breakfast club

2005-10-22T12:14:00.000+10:00

Sawadee-cup
the three amigos here at breakfast ready for the day ahead
We all arrived at the airport last night and then came to Boss Tower but of course decided to take in the local cuisine - yes, at 1am!!!!! (bangkok time - 4am your time).......we had a great meal at the street side vendors who were thrilled at our praises (the food was great) AROY AROY!

Waiting now for Ash Barker who is coming to collect us - thank you to all who have posted thus far and we will keep you up to date on a daily basis.

For now Lagorn (Goodbye but only for now!)

Steve, Wax and Deano
(posted by Dean)

Time to go

2005-10-20T23:24:00.000+10:00

Well here it is, 11.30 at night, I haven't yet started to pack. I kind of promised myself that this time would be different, I would be organized. But instead here I am on the computer wondering should I get up at 6.00am as usual and go for my swim or should I get up then and PANIC. But then I try and put life in perspective. My blog tells me I am in the top 4.6% in terms of worlds wealthest people. I can CHOOSE to go for a swim, I can CHOOSE to stay on the net, I can CHOOSE to fly out to another country tomorrow, my 9th overseas trip during my short 41 years of mostly self indulgent life. I have lots of choices, and I am about to spend 10 days with people who have very few choices.
I am proud that over the past 12 months our Foothills Neighborhood Communities have build a good partnership with the Ta Rua church in Bangkok, via our close relationship with UNOH. I like to say that I follow Jesus who has a special place in His heart for the poor and marginalised, yet i know that the next 10 days will again radically challenge my very being. Then I will return back to the foothills of eastern Melbourne, back to the ratrace of life here. So my challenge is will I take the time to listen and reflect to what God is saying to me while I am there, as well as what he is calling me to be apart of during the next few days.
I am looking forward to seeing people I met last year, Pastor Sulwat and his family, Anj, Ash and Rod. Also looking forward to spending time with Wax and Dean, my 2 other travelling Foothillians, its been great being a prt of their journey over the past while and seeing them respond to the call of Jesus.
Its late, bed wins, the pool will have to wait, I'll get up early ,pack, spend time with my kids, Rory, Jack and Ella, take some of them to school, see Helen, see my chiro Jonathon for one last time, then the final dash accross town. The point is though these are still CHOICES. But for now I choose BED.
Blessings
Barro

When we go

2005-10-20T08:12:00.000+10:00

We fly out from Melbourne tomorrow, Fri Oct 21 and arrive in Bangkok late Fri nite, jump into a taxi laden with gifts for our hosts and stay the first night at the infamous Boss Tower Hotel in Klong Toey. Sat morning we cross the road and meet our hosts, Anj and Ash Barker and Rod from UNOH, and Pastor Salwet from the Ta Rua Church. We have a partnership with his community and Barro met him and their community last year. We then settle into our shanty home for the week, and work on our ESL lessons as well as our nite time entertainment with the community. We are taking lap tops and data projectors ready for outdoor big screen movie nites. If only we were better soccor players...

Rods plans for us

2005-10-20T07:55:00.000+10:00

This is what Rod has planned for us, stay tuned for updates:

Sun 23
9-11am setup chairs for wedding
12-1pm lunch with volunteers
1-3pm orientation/preparation
4pm wedding
6pm dinner
7pm packup chairs

Mon 24
8am communion @KTCC
8:30am leave for classes
9am start ESL (getting kids sorted)
10am break
10:30am resume ESL
11:30am finish ESL
12pm lunch @KTCC
1pm prepare for next day
2or3pm free time

Tues 25 - Thu 27 same same

Fri 28 but different?
8am communion @KTCC
8:30am gather kids for special program ?
11am presentations?
11:30am finish
12pm lunch @KTCC
1pm packup gear
2pm get ready for camp
3pm meet at Ta Rua church, pack cars, snack
4pm leave for Kaeng Kajan
7pm arrive camp setup
8pm dinner
10pm sleep

Sat 29
6am wake
7:30am breakfast
9am Rappeling, Flying fox x2 types
12pm lunch
1pm Rafting
3pm rest
4pm sport fire ball
6pm dinner
8pm postman, stealth
10pm sleep

Sun 30
6am wake
7:30am exercise
8:30am breakfast
10am drive to utayan waterfall
10:30am hike in jungle
11:30pm lunch in the forest
12:30pm return
1:30pm arrive cars
2pm pack camp
3pm leave camp for beach
4pm arrive beach
6pm dinner
7pm leave for Bangkok
10pm arrive Bangkok

Sleep yeah!

Welcome Aboard...

2005-10-20T00:18:00.000+10:00

Welcome all, to the diary of Wax, Dean and Barro, 3 naive yet expectant souls about to leave the comforts of outer eastern melbourne for 10 days of action and adventure in the slums of Klong Toey, Bangkok, Thailand. This is part of our partnership between Foothills Neighborhood Communities and the Ta Rua church in Bangkok. We are helping out with a 5 day ESL camp, faciliated by our good friends at UNOH Bangkok. Stay tuned for daily updates.