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Buriram images
2007-04-03 17:32:00
 In Buriram , everybody's got a water buffalo. Where do they get them?  I don't know.  ] You won't find cuter kids on the planet.   
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Noi came back
2007-04-03 16:34:00
Noi came back at about 8pm last night, accompanied by her dad, great aunt and uncle who drove his taxi.  She was sheepish and quiet.  Her family stayed for a few minutes, smiling and being nice.  Her dad joked that she was naughty.  Her aunt told us a few times to hit her when she was bad.  Kay jumped to our rescue, "They don't hit people here." With Noi, we mostly did the prodigal son thing--just welcomed her back, told her we loved her and missed her.  We will spend more time with her later.
More About: Back

Trafficking
2007-04-03 02:44:00
Today Onn brought her friend "Behn" by again.  Behn is 22, not so pretty but like every northeast Thai woman is necessarily cute.  I first met her 10 days ago when she came by, saying she had just come from getting a passport photo and would be going to England with her aunt.  Onn another friend later told me that indeed it was not a legitimate trip--the passport Behn was getting would be fake, and she would be going on a tourist visa with the full intention of staying on illegally in Britain and working as a prostitute. Onn was able to get the name Behn was using, so I sent it to British friends who said they had contacts in the embassy. Today Behn reported that her visa was not approved but that on Friday she will be leaving for Japan, claiming that the same aunt was now taking her there to work as a nanny.  Uh oh.  According to material I've read, most likely her traffickers will take away her passport and she'll be assigned to work in...
More About: Traffic , King

Noi Ran Away
2007-04-02 03:28:00
Noi, our 13 year-old, ran off last night. It was not completely unexpected.  She came to us as street-wise, with tattoos on her upper and lower back and her breasts, pierced tongue and a scar by her left eyebrow where a pin was ripped out.  Last night she asked to use our phone to call her mom, then in tears, told me she missed her mom and wanted to go see her. Tonight Her mother is at least 1/2 hour away, and for me to run around Bangkok alone with a 13 year-old Thai girl is asking for big trouble. I sat down with her and listened to more of her story.  She's tried everything--the sex, the drugs, the drinking, the partying.  At 12 she was raped.  She said she didn't do all those things because of peer pressure--she was just looking for fun. Her parents lived in a slum, and in order to put her in a nicer home, sent her to an aunt.  But the aunt's sister was a drunk, and Noi's uncle wasn't nice to her either.  She di...
More About: Away

Candle in Buriram
2007-04-02 03:17:00
Written Wednesday, March 28 About 40 kids came to Prang's house today, about the usual daily number.  They start showing up at 6:30am, even though activities run from 9am to 3pm.  Prang says it's tiring, but she is obviously happy. In the evening we went out and visited some of her neighbors: Peun, a 50 year-old woman who became a Christian a week ago; Jay, a pretty 21 year-old mom who was struck by lightning a week ago and survived with burns to her face and abdomen; an older woman who has become a believer and who was instrumental in Peun's intro to Jesus.   I couldn't help thinking about my first visit here 3 years ago.  It was with a small mission team, before we moved to Thailand.  A week before we had met Prang for the first time at Soi Cowboy.  Prang was an unhappy bar girl then.  Now she is, happily living like Jesus in her village.  She is a natural evangelist--very kind and loving. Prang mentioned that her cousin...
More About: Buriram , Candle

Not a Pastor
2007-03-31 09:22:00
Written Tuesday, March 27  Tonight in a small village in Buriram, about 6 hours northeast of Bangkok, I showed Prang the set of Train and Multiply materials I brought for her.  Train and Multiply is a curriculum for equipping average believers, even new ones, to start and lead small churches.  Prang has been actively talking about Jesus with her neighbors, and doesn't know what to do with them all.  It's too difficult to get everyone to the nearest church.  So I told her she needs to start one right here. Train and Multiply is basically a set of 63 booklets, each on a different subject.  The idea is that a coach would normally cover about a lesson a week, depending on the topic that needed to be covered.  For instance, if a question came up about the nature of God, perhaps the lesson explaining the Trinity would be covered that week, and taught by the church leader/trainee at the following meeting.  Since they are simple booklets t...
More About: Past , Stor , Pastor

Errant Fact
2007-03-31 09:19:00
Celeste McGee forwarded a message from a friend--here is an excerpt: "I just went to a children-at-risk conference last weekend....  I found out that half of the sex workers on Bangkok are less than 14 years of age. they just aren't allowed to be taken out of the rooms, so you don't see them out on the streets. the pimps say "for make love only, no massage, stay in room since so young"  Lord bring justice, Lord have mercy... His heart breaks." This statement is almost certainly not true.  We are not hearing of Thai girls kept under wraps like this.  We don't doubt that it happens, and that fact alone, whether 10 girls or 10,000, is still horrific.  However I think it's important to be avoid overstating the situation.  Perhaps it helps to draw our attention, but can lead us to the wrong target.  Far, far more Thai girls are damaged by domestic sexual abuse and early sexual activity in their own age group than ar...
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Heading to Buriram
2007-03-27 00:34:00
Leaving in a few minutes for Buriram with a small team to hang out with Prang.   Bought her a $50 guitar last night and copied a bunch of church planter training material.  After the last 10 days, a long bus ride (7 hours) will be a nice break.
More About: Head , Heading

Week in Review
2007-03-24 14:38:00
Stuff sometimes happens here faster than we can think.  Some highlights this week: Spent time with 6 aimless teenagers, age 17-19; jobless, penniless.  One finished only 3rd grade; none has a sense of direction for the future.  We see this commonly here. Welcomed "Noi", a 13 year-old girl into our home, with Kay as her mentor.  Noi quit school halfway through 7th grade because she said teachers were giving her too much homework.  For the last several months she has been hanging out with friends, including a boyfriend in his 20's.  Thursday Kay took her to the doctor to be treated for an STD. Had lunch with "Beau", a 22 year-old who has been in the sex industry for several years.  Ae had just come from getting a passport picture taken, and said she was hoping to leave for England in just a few days.  According to our students who brought her, the passport Ae is getting is fake, and as I suspected, she is not in fact g...
More About: Review , View , Week

Restart
2007-03-20 18:01:00
Ok, after over a year I'm trying again.  This time it will be short posts, not trying to write an essay each time, ok? Sunday afternoon we had 14 people over to our house for church.  Eight were not Christians.  Great fun. Four were teenagers.  Two were sisters who make about $4 a day sewing shirts for Nike. One has a child, and to make ends meet, tries to sell herself on the street a couple of times a week. Looking at Nike's web site, I see that their cheapest men's t-shirt goes for $25.   According to this article, Nike budgeted $476 million for celebrity endorsements in 2006.   Draw your own conclusion. 
More About: Start , Star , Rest , Tart , Restart

why prostitution is bad: second reason
2006-01-15 03:56:00
Yesterday I received an email from "Som", one of our dear bargirl friends, telling us she had gone to get an abortion last week.  She had discovered she was pregnant, and made a quick decision.: It was 1 month old. I just to know the 2nd january I was prenant. My breast look tight and my friend said I was like pregnant woman cause they say Iam fatter from before so I buy the tester kit. I teste and itwas positive. I go see doctor for sure, I was pregnant sure now. Doctor she know I not ready to keep baby, she ask me to inject the medicine. She say if a lot of blood come out from me it mean baby is remove. But it will be in 2-10 days. If no blood then procedure in not successful. Iam wait until 8th I go see doctor for find another way. I think you know which way is that? It was very painful thought it not much like give birth time. But I feel more painful in my heart, I don,t know how relate to you. I want this baby and I love not lesser than my another one. But Iam...
More About: Prostitution , Second , Reason , Econ , Prost

What God Wants
2006-01-13 03:54:00
In my last post I wrote about Nui.  Yesterday she joned The Well.  Some Thai friends came by with another young woman they had been helping--I'll call her Sai.  Sai is just 20, with a 4 year-old son she hasn't seen for 2 years.  She comes from a northern province notorious for families selling their children.  Sai was depressed.  With only a 6th grade education, here basically alone, she felt helpless and hopeless.  As we interviewed her she silently fought back tears, mostly with success, but a couple of times they flowed freely.  She never sobbed--the tears just quietly pooled in her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks. I poked around a bit on the 'Net for info about emotional tears.  As I suspected, animals don't cry, except for a big 'maybe' on Indian elephants and seals.  Chimpanzees do not.  Here's one interesting article:  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08 /27/1061663846142.html.&n...
More About: God , What , Hat , Want , Ants

why prostitution is bad: first reason
2006-01-10 03:52:00
There are several reasons why I have a clear position that governments should not legalize prostitution.  I will try to write about them over time.  Thailand, by the way, does not officially have legal prostitution, just hardly enforced.  In any case, here's reason number one: Judy and I stopped by a few of our known bars last night.  At one of them, the cashier has become a Christian and attends church semi-regularly.  As we were sitting catching up with her and a couple of the others, I noticed a new face in the corner a couple of stools away, looking unhappy.  I smiled and introduced myself.  Nui said she was from Surin, and had only been working there a few days.  Sai walked up to the counter to say hello, distracting my attention for a minute.  Meanwhile Tuk motioned Nui over to Judy for prayer, saying she said Nui had a lot of problems.  Tuk considers Judy to be "lucky", because so far everyone she has prayed for...
More About: Prostitution , Reason , First , Prost , Rosti