…to the ends of the Earth

Two and a half months ago, I left for Bangkok excited to get here and begin a new life following the calling and passion that I have had for sometime. I haven’t finished my college education yet, but I knew that I could continue from Thailand and I knew that at the same time I could be learning language and culture and everything in general about living permanently in a new country. The last thing on my mind was girls. I wasn’t expecting to come here and find a girl at any time soon, but I hadn’t ruled out the possibility of this kind of thing occurring in the future. I wasn’t looking for anything and maybe that is why I found something.

The first Sunday that I went to church with Witt, at the church that he was a part of while he lived in Bangkok, I was around a lot of people that I knew from previous visits and a lot of people that I had never met. A girl named Taam showed up and I was introduced to her just like everyone else that was at church that Sunday. I ended up becoming friends with her on a certain social media network like I did with several other people and having a few conversations with her and others that I had become friends with. She is a teaching assistant at an international school that runs on an American schedule and, thus, had the summer off. During one of our conversations via the web, we decided to have lunch and hang out since she had the second half of the summer free and I was just arriving and beginning to learn language. I saw this as an opportunity to make a friend and have someone to work on language with. I didn’t expect that anything more serious would happen between us, but I recognized the first time that I met her she was ridiculously attractive. One day of hanging out became several days becoming a regular thing and I began to really like hanging around her. She can speak English better than some people I know in the States and this was, of course, beneficial since there were no hang-ups in our communication.

We began to realize that we were interested in each other and I let her know one day and was pretty elated to find out that she was beginning to feel the same feelings that I thought were manifesting in me. We have similar attitudes and the best thing is that she is a Christian and fully understands why I am here and what being interested in me means. I made clear from the very beginning that I was here for God’s glory and that if she was interested in me at any point, she would have to primarily be interested in that. She seemed on board and we continued hanging out and I continued learning language and culture from her outside of the classes that our team members are attending. I also met tons of new people through her and I now have quite a few Thai friends, friends who are involved at church and friends who are not involved in anything. I didn’t expect to find something like this so soon, but I’m not arguing with the way things have happened. She has met all of the team, and the great thing about that is that she gets along with everyone well. She is outgoing and not afraid to meet and talk to new people. This is kind of a requirement considering the reason I came to Thailand. She has also met my parents as they traveled through Bangkok on their journey to Thailand and despite being nervous, she did really well and seemed to learn really quickly how to laugh at everything that my parents said in making fun of me. I was hoping she wouldn’t catch on to that quite so fast.

I just wanted to write a blog that explained the story a little bit since, according to that social media network we are all a part of, our relationship is official. I have had several opportunities to meet people and find new ideas of things we can be involved in as a team including teaching in after-school programs for primary school kids (grades 1-5), and teaching English through different avenues that she knows of through being involved with a primarily English school. Taam and I already meet several days a week with a girl that she is connected with through her hometown in Chiang Mai. This girl wants to learn to speak English and three to four days a week we meet at a mall and use print-outs from borrowed English as a second language books from her school. I am excited to see how this plays into why I am here and I ask that you pray for new opportunities for both of us to be involved in ministry and continue growing spiritually above relational growth. I know that growth in Christ is the most important thing, and relationships will follow accordingly. Thanks for reading.

Last week was an incredible week. My parents have officially come to the end of their third adoption and Isaiah is finally at home where he belongs in Smyrna, Tennessee. Having adopted siblings is such an awesome deal and I think that the three of them may be the hardest part about being where I am at. The rest of the family is included but Zac doesn’t have the ability to wrap me around his finger like one of the younger siblings. I don’t think I ever remember him being cute anyway.

I was so glad that my parents were able to work out flying through Bangkok before heading into China. There was a lot of skeptical discussion about whether or not they would be able to or how travel time would influence reality of that possibility. They were able to come through and spend a weekend with us and it was great to pick them up and show them around the place that I call home now. It was also good for the team to get together and meet with my dad and let him encourage and speak.

Thanks to my parents, I was also able to fly to Guangzhou and spend their last week in China with them and my brother. That was huge for me since I wouldn’t have been able to meet Isaiah in person until sometime next year when I come home for a visit. I was a little worried about whether or not he would be interested in getting to know me after being in a new environment for only a week but the morning that he woke up and I was there went off without a hitch.  We immediately were able to play around and he was laughing at me and it never stopped from that point. He was always comfortable with me and loved to be around me. I am sorry that I won’t be able to be around as he attaches and begins to feel like a part of the family, but I am where I am supposed to be and I can always call on Skype and see him just as I do with my sisters. It was cool to be a tourist for a few days and though I lost my camera, I still have some pictures that I got from my mom’s camera and also with my phone.

I would definitely suggest that if you ever have a chance to go to Hong Kong, take advantage of the opportunity. It is an awesome city. I loved being there, but I also love being home.

I am having such a blast finding my day to day routine in Thailand. I love eating the foods that I eat and seeing the people that I see every day. I love being a part of a team who is so excited to meet people in Thailand and find potential people who can be poured into and seen to grow spiritually. I love living in Thailand.

Every day I talk to people who have no concept of what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross. It breaks my heart but it also serves as a reminder as to why I am here. I want these incredible people to understand the sacrifice that was made for them and what it means for their lives. I love being able to get around in a massive city that it has taken two months to learn the lay-out of and I am still learning more every day. The language is tough, but I learn more every day and each time I am able to speak with someone I feel like I become more conversational. I can’t wait until I can have spiritual conversations with these people in their native tongue. Even my language teacher would be a good prospect as he understands that there is a group a farangs (white people) who are called a church-planting team in Thailand. He may not understand our passions or calling for the Thai people, but the relationship being built is encouraging to me as a team-member who is here to see people come to Christ.

I love the fact that when I eat food that Thai people eat every day, which is the same food that I would prefer to eat every day, the Thais that I meet are impressed. The fact that this farang can eat spicier food than most of the people that I meet gives me immediate street cred. I was “checked out” by a guy who was concerned that I was close to his sister, and at some point over our pig brain dinner and how much I enjoyed it, it was decided that “I was mature and not a normal picky farang.” I love the friends that I meet every day and the influence that I have gained just by eating “abnormal” foods makes it clear to me that God has a plan for the “talents” that he has given me with language learning ability and an iron-stomach.

This transition has been very difficult for some of our friends as there has been a number of sicknesses and also a general fear of adjustment. It is not an easy thing to be dropped into a place that is different from everything that you have ever known for more than just a visit and the adjustment isn’t easy for everyone. Culture shock is a real issue and it is much worse on some people than it is on others. I ask that you continue to pray for the people on our team that are having some difficulty adjusting. It is natural to want things that you are familiar with from time to time and it is also hard to get those things without paying a major price, and I am speaking strictly monetarily. Getting Western food or even toys can be expensive and it is just a tough thing to have to learn how to completely live a new life. It is so important for everyone to constantly know how behind us people from Tennessee are. The support system that our entire team has individually and collectively is like that of no other. I think I can speak for the whole team in saying that even in the hardest time, we feel so backed up and ready to tackle this city for the Glory and the Kingdom. Thanks so much for being a part of it.

I know that more pictures are in demand and I will put some pictures of my day trip to Kanchanaburi on here. A freind and I made the 3 hour commute to Erawan National Park to hike a mile up a mountain trail to hang out around 7 different levels of water falls. After sweating profusely, the icy mountain stream water was one of the most refreshing things I have ever been exposed to.

These fish will eat dead skin off of your feet. It is terrifying.

This was a pretty phenomenal view from a small area of walking up the trail. I love being outdoors and this little day trip was one of the most perfect ways to spend a free day.

This last picture was the water fall at the top. After walking up a fairly long trail, it took climbing over rocks and trees to get up to this one. It is icy cold and, even if there were some angry monkeys throwing fruit at us right after one jumped and snatched an empty bag of snack food out of my friend’s backpack, it was incredible to hang out and get to experience what nature in Thailand is like. I can’t even tell you how much more I love this place every day.

Translations are awesome here.

I love the random translations that you find on things here. There was a sign on the bus today that said “passencerter” instead of “passenger.” The gems in this city are huge.

From the Hathcock's apartment

This is a picture of some of the skyline from the middle of the city. The tall, white building in the middle is mine and Kyle’s. The Clarks are also going to be living in that building, about which I am so pumped.

Taam at the slurpee machine.

Yeah, we do have 7-11’s all over this city, and some of them even have slurpees. I didn’t know this until tonight, but rest assured, I drank a coke slurpee tonight and it was delicious.

I don’t actually know what the sound of settling is, other than a song written by Ben Gibbard, but I could imagine that I have been experiencing something like it the past few days to say the least. I have almost gotten into a groove here where I can get around the city and I know where things are. It is so much easier to live in a big city when you have your bearings on the locations of things. I am starting to get really comfortable in this place and I am learning my way around. I have also started going on Sunday mornings to the church that Witt lived at for a few years. There is currently an summer team of college age students sent by the IMB here and it is good to be able to go to the park, as is weekly tradition, with a mix of Thai and American people. The friends section on my facebook page is also starting to get invaded by a bunch of new friends that I have met since being here. I love the atmosphere in this city with someone always ready to hang out or go somewhere to eat. I have also managed to lose weight despite the amount of food I have been eating. I can tell my clothes are getting more loose as the weeks roll by. The sweating and walking do an excellent job getting me slowly into shape.

The knock-offs and international versions of things get me by also.

The real German version. It's "Koffein-Frei"!

I love getting plugged in. I am excited to be a part of the church here where a typical Sunday consists of service at 10:30, followed by hanging out the ENTIRE day. The park and food court are always on the slate for the day. I was also able to share my story with about 60 kids when Witt and I went up north. I had a blast doing that and I hope I have a lot more chances very soon to do something similar. It was a spur of the moment thing, but I was able to speak with Witt as a translator and the kids did two songs they prepared since I would be there that night. I’ll leave you with a shot of what it looks like a little ways down the street.

The hills of Mae Charim

I spent last week in the village of Mae Charim with Witt Kaminh while he was visiting his family. I decided that I would tag along since I wanted to get outside of Bangkok and see the “real Thailand.” I love this country more and more as I experience new things here. There is something really special to me about sleeping on a wooden floor in a house with no air conditioner in a community that really knows what it’s like to help each other out. I had a blast despite the language barrier. I haven’t learned enough Thai yet to do me any good in conversations with people that I meet. I was supposed to start language school yesterday, but Brandon, Crystal and Kyle were delayed in Detroit causing them to have to spend a night in Tokyo.

Witt's brother and sister-in-law

We were walking down to the river to go fishing in the above picture. That is Witt’s older brother and his wife and they did their best all week to talk to me. They opened up a little more toward the end and when I can speak better in a few months, I will be really excited to be able to have conversations with them when I go back to visit them. I loved hanging out with Witt’s family and eating the food that they eat and seeing how they live their life. The farm land out there is beautiful and so is the attitude of the people.

Lunch that was caught from aforementioned fishing

Those fish were coated in salt and we ate pretty much the entire thing guts and all. It was great. I love the life of the people in northern Thailand. We had a lot of fun. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite pictures.

I finally made it to Bangkok. This whole thing has been a long time coming and I have been ready to be here for about a year and a half now. I love noticing the difference in being here now as opposed to the first time I left. I love Malaysia and I always will, but leaving home for the first time for the opposite side of the globe definitely made a mark. It was hard coping the first couple of weeks in Malaysia, and even though I made incredible friends, I didn’t see that I was loving it for a while because I let homesickness get in the way. I have been incredibly free of homesickness to this point. I miss my family and friends and church back home, but I have been preparing myself for this exact thing for a long time and thanks to my experience in Malaysia and Nepal, I knew exactly what to expect. I am in love with this city. I am just as in love with this country and all of the people here. Despite the difficulty that comes with learning a tonal language, the overwhelmed feeling I have had for this past week has felt awesome to me. I’m overwhelmed because I am where I am supposed to be and I don’t even know how to do anything yet. I am about to rent an apartment and I don’t even know how to pay utilities yet, let alone work out the amount of kilowatt hours I am using to keep my electricity bill at an acceptable level. The bus system is outrageous, the traffic is insane and I am loving every minute of learning how to navigate this place. Sitting on the back of a motorcycle taxi going a lot faster than a decent speed in heavy road congestion is one of the things that has gotten me pumped the last few days. I will be excited when I have a motorbike to put around this city on.

As for my diet… I have been reunited with the food that I believe God revealed in revelations to people. I am not even talking about the crazy stuff. I know I like noodles but learning how to order a bowl when the noodle selection and meat is a factor in the meal is a whole different ballgame in another language. It has taken me a few days to distinguish what is what and how to order it. I do love the fact that I can finally get a decent squid on a stick, though. The chili sauce is out of this world and I don’t even care that half of what I have eaten involves organ meat. I can’t even express how surprised I was about how much I liked eating pig heart, something that makes me think of my granddad as I was growing up. I’ll never forget seeing a man gnaw cartilage and what little bit of meat exists on a pig’s foot off and enjoy it when I was young. Perhaps that is why I feel so comfortable around the foods that disgust most westerners. I felt like I would be making a statement eating a little brick of aged blood and exhibiting my flexibility and iron stomach, but I didn’t know that I would be completely happy with having a brick in every bowl of soup I ate. I love living in a place where nothing is wasted if it can be eaten without harm.

I do find the level of heat and humidity a bit ridiculous, but you can’t win them all. I am sure I never walked this much before even visiting other big cities or trekking through the Himalayas. I think the Himalayas may have been easier than feet pounding concrete in the kind of temperature and humidity the air is registering, and not even in the hot season. Despite that, I am ecstatic to be sitting in a hotel room in Bangkok waiting for tomorrow to come so I can eat my standard breakfast of pineapple and chicken fried rice and go put a deposit down on an awesome apartment in the middle of the downtown area. There is so much to do in this place. I can’t wait to see what happens when our team is speaking Thai and can have conversations regularly with people on the street.

This Sunday, Witt Kaminh and I are heading up to the northern part of Thailand to visit his parents for a few days. Witt is planning on helping his dad and brother build and/or fix a house and I have offered my hands, but I think it is probably going to be a lot of me standing around and watching since I think I would do more harm than good. I’d hate for them to have to build a new house after I made a wrong move and single-handedly tore down someone’s home. I’ll leave repairing Thai houses to the experts, but I’m going to learn as much as I can and seize the opportunity to get out in the countryside and see how I can play a part in something productive. I can’t wait to see what God does through our team and I am pumped that it is getting closer for most of them to show up here. I love this place and I want to see it impacted.

I WILL be posting pictures as soon as I can pick up a card reader for my computer. My camera won’t sync up and let me pull anything off of it yet. I’ll have to work around it, so give me just another day or two. Thanks.

The team is completely done with our phase in Atlanta and everyone, I believe, has officially transitioned back into the briefest of stints back into every day life before the big move. I know that we all are leaving at separate times, with Bret and Susie Cox being the first heading out in only 6 days. I follow pretty soon after leaving on the 10th. It is pretty surreal and I am not sure if I am excited or anxious. I have already made it through one set of “goodbyes”as I had to see my Bhutanese friends in Atlanta before I headed back to Tennessee. This was difficult because I am very close with Tanka and Damber and their children who are all around my age. Kumar translated for Tanka when he couldn’t communicate with me in English and told me that I had to call them from Thailand and visit them when I was back in the states. Tanka told Kumar to make sure that I understood that I was like another son to them. This really made me feel awesome. It was such a privilege to get close to them these past few months.

I am elated to be heading back to Asian soil, but this time is different. I don’t have a return date. I don’t know how long it will be before I can travel back to visit. I won’t see my family or friends in person more than a couple of times a year for the next three years depending on travel. I am having a blast hanging out with my sisters now and I know that I will miss them when I leave. It is harder when you have those members of the family who understand that you aren’t around, but can’t begin to understand why they can’t see you all the time anymore. This is mostly about Jadyn. She had a hard time when I would leave for Atlanta after visiting for a weekend and it usually bothered her. It bothered me as well. I know that it is going to be a lot harder when I am leaving and not coming back for a while.

This is also a different transition for us since we have been living as a team in the same apartment complex for 5 months and we have seen each other almost every single day. We have all come back to Tennessee and fit back into these lives for just a little while only to transition again in the near future. This is not a problem for myself, but I know that the constant moves and changes aren’t easy on the kids. Pray for our families with kids. I love my entire team and I am so glad to be serving alongside such an awesome group of people. They will serve as an excellent family for me to be plugged into while I am serving in Thailand and I think that they will make it easier when it comes to adjusting. We will be able to laugh at each other as much as we laugh at ourselves. I am glad that I am on a team who wants to see God’s glory shine in a place that doesn’t acknowledge it.

Keep our team in your prayers as we all make that transition in the coming weeks and months. Thanks for reading along.

Holding true to form, it has been over two weeks since my last update. We have been swamped here in Atlanta and I am going to skip over updating on my story and give you a synopsis of the things that have been going on here in Georgia since the last time I gave any information on this. We are wrapping things up and this phase is coming to an end. Our relationships here are only growing and this is making things harder knowing that the end is looming and we are going to have to say our goodbyes to our refugee and international student friends very soon. Some of us have the benefit that the international students we have become friends with are going back to Thailand at different times after our arrival. Those relationships will be able to continue in person.

Most of our team is scrambling to get rid of furniture and things that are unnecessary for the next phase in our lives, which comes incredibly soon after our end here. We have less than two weeks remaining in Atlanta. Brett and Beth Clark are ahead of the game as most of their furniture was loaded up and taken to Clarkston to furnish the home of a family of Burmese refugees. The stuff in my own apartment is going to World Relief to be meted out appropriately for new refugees who arrive on a weekly basis. I am ready to be sleeping on the floor for the next couple of weeks if they will be swift about picking up our beds. Others have a more imminent need for them than we do. We are excited about giving these things to people who can use them and will be appreciative of having them. I sleep better on the floor as it is.

I was able to get rid of my Isuzu. I was very concerned about this, since the car needs a lot of work. I got hooked up with a group of Somalians who were looking for a car and I didn’t feel good about selling a car to refugees who needed a reliable way to get to work. I tried everything in my power to talk Daud out of buying the car and in his resilience I succumbed to agreeing on the condition that he only pay me $150 for it. I didn’t even feel good about that price Daud assured me that “your heart is clean, I know it needs maintenance and if it breaks down I will never think back to you.” I just hate the thought of putting some refugees in the position of losing money for a car that may not prove reliable. Hassan, Daud’s friend, assured me that in America people do not start out buying nice cars and after finding a job, Daud would be able to upgrade. Daud and Hassan had a conference meeting in the room while I was drinking the second glass of juice they poured me that I swear was bowed over the rim and held together by surface tension. They decided that the car was a go and refused to let the car slip through their hands. I hope that Daud makes it last for a while before he drops the transmission out of it as he almost did after he assured me he could drive a manual.

With Tanka and Damber, I am anxious about telling them goodbye. I know that our friend Michael that lives their in the apartments with them can carry on with them and continue to share his faith. They are in good company and have already assured me that they will miss me. I have had to promise their sons that I would come through Atlanta when I come back to visit America. I love their culture and their meek personalities. They are such an awesome group of people and so obviously appreciative of having friends who will just show up and hang out with them. I would encourage you to go and find some refugee friends. They need friends no matter what city you are in.

I also want to finish this post out encouraging you to read. On top of digging in the word, I think it would benefit you greatly if you went out to your local bookstore and picked up a copy of the book Radical by David Platt. Platt is the pastor of a church in Birmingham, Alabama and writes an incredible book about what faith should look like in spite of the American dream. Thanks for reading.