First week of ministry in Thailand! Our normal ministry will begin next week. They have a book publisher coming to speak with them in a formal interview setting so we’re helping to restore a neighborhood playground this week while we wait!! The playground is located in a super populated neighborhood that has tons of kinds in it, and it is right next to a school. This means that all the kids will come play while they wait for their parents, or the parents will just bring them to get some energy out after they’ve been cooped up in the classroom all day! The playground sees tons of action, which is awesome but unfortunately it is in desperate need of some TLC. All of the paint has been picked off from overuse, and the metal has rusted on swings and slides. The lines on the main court and the smaller basketball shooting court have also faded and are barely there anymore. However this gave my team the opportunity to contribute to the neighborhood in a super unique and impactful way! I got to paint the fence with a new coat of white paint to make it look more inviting while others started on the main courts. After the fence I got to paint a small basketball court that was on the side of the playground. It was really only big enough to work on free throws so I got to paint a green, yellow, and red section for different levels of difficulty. The basketball hoop had also been super rusted so we added fresh paint to make it look more lively. Some of my other teammates also painted a beautiful hopscotch onto the ground. We painted over the swingsets and made them all colorful. By the end of the week we also left our handprints on one of the benches on the park so that we can leave a little piece of ourselves at the park for the future!
Playground restoration works from 9am-2pm, which is right through the heat of the day. This was because we could work on the playground while all of the kids were busy in school . However, Thailands temperatures were a little over 100° and had a UV of 10+ while we were there. We would work in the sunlight the whole time so we all got to start working on our tans! While we were painting, there were some neighborhood grandmas who would walk by and thank us for working on the playground. They told us how their grandchildren love to play here and they love to come be outside at the park. A little while later, the same Thai grandmas came back and brought us some bananas and snacks. The next day they came back and brought five 2L bottles of various sodas, ice, ice cream, and more Thai snacks. They set out chairs for all of us under the pavilion and brought fans. They were so kind and generous. The grandmas were determined that we would take a break and cool off a little. This was on Tuesday, and everyday for the rest of the week they brought more and more snacks, meals, and drinks for us. We were were joking by the end of the week that we were doing more relaxing with the grandmas than real work on the park. Our Thai grandmas were so excited for us to be there and we loved getting the chance to make connections with them! All of the people that we’ve met have been so overwhelmingly kind and loved us so well!
The weekend after working on the playground we got the opportunity to see a waterfall that our hosts at Bella Goose reccomended. It’s called Sticky Falls. The rocks of the waterfall are so porous that they don’t get covered in algae and they aren’t slick at all despite all the water flowing on them. This means that you can climb up the face of the waterfall which is soooo cool!! Sticky Falls is tucked into a forest so everywhere you look is lush trees and vines growing and at the top of the waterfall you can look out and see trees for miles! There’s a little staircase down to the base of the waterfall and a pool you can stand in. From there, they have ropes throughout the waterfall that you can hang onto while you climb up. The waterfall wasn’t super steep so it was pretty easy to climb, and hearing the water and all the sounds of the surrounding forrest made it feel so magical. The whole waterfall took about an hour to climb, mostly because we would hang out at every level and look around for a while. This meant that we got to climb the whole thing twice before our driver had to take us back down to Chiang Mai. We got to take a Roedang, which is like a tuk tuk truck, and sit out the back door as we drove back. The drive was about an hour, all through the winding mountains and it was stunning! We were so lucky to get to go see more of the rural area of Thailand since we’re living in the heart of the city!
December 4- December 11, 2023
