November, 2004
Hello from Bangkok!
It’s with great excitement that I write this first letter from the field. I hope that through these updates you will get a good sense for what this place is like and that your own heart would grow for the needs of the people here. Your prayers for this ministry and for me are extremely important.
My New Home
On October 6 I arrived safely in Bangkok and the next day moved into the squatter community of Permsup. The slum is home to about 120 families, living in shacks built on stilts over a swamp. There is limited (cold) running water and electricity, people take bucket showers and sleep under mosquito nets, mangy dogs and cats roam the twisting walkways. Most of the community is of the Issan minority group, speaking a dying language from the Northeast (as well as Thai) and delegated to low-income jobs such as construction, public transportation and food vending.
My new home is a three-room house of plywood and corrugated metal, though one of the rooms is used for storage by our landlord. It is in a fairly safe area (as far as slum housing goes), being at a kind of dead-end and surrounded by incredibly friendly neighbors. Our landlord’s wife and sister have practically adopted my teammate Jen and I, keeping track of our comings and goings, feeding us and even doing our laundry a couple of times.
Peace Community Church Network
Every Sunday there is a house church gathering in Permsup, led by my teammate Dave and a couple other Thai leaders in the Peace Community Church Network (PCCN). There are currently thriving house churches in four slum communities of Bangkok, with new sites already in the works. Services in Permsup are held in Dave’s home and consist of worship, sharing and prayer, a teaching from Scripture and communion. Believers and non-believers often join us from the community, either invited by friends or attracted to the strange sound of praise being sung in the midst of poverty.
Once a month the four congregations gather together for worship and, this month, for baptisms of new believers. November 7 was our most recent such service, and two members of the Permsup church, a father and teenaged daughter, were baptized. Seven others from another house church also made their public declaration of faith. Praise God for this fruit, that more Thais are following Jesus as their Lord!
Language Learning
I am now fully immersed in learning Thai. Each morning Jen and I meet with a language tutor for two hours, then with someone on staff with PCCN to develop a “script” (short paragraph) to practice with neighbors, street vendors, and anyone else willing to lend an ear for a few minutes. Most of the afternoon and evening are spent speaking as much Thai as possible to as many people as possible.
This has been exhausting work, but also incredibly rewarding. Where at first I could not recognize one word in a conversation happening around me, I can now often pick up on at least the topic, and increasingly more of the details, too. It is also an entertaining process, both for me and the Thais who find comedy in many of my attempts to communicate. On my side, I have gotten to hang out with some great people and eat some usually delicious and sometimes, shall we say, “adventurous”, foods. My most notable accomplishment has got to be the meal that included both a ground iguana dish and eel soup.
Prayer Requests
Pray for Ratchai and Pat, the father and daughter from Permsup who have recently been baptized (more pictures are on my website). Pray for God to increase their faith and love for him as they learn more of what it means to be a disciple. Praise God for these first believers in Permsup! Pray also that I would be a good role model for Pat, both now and as I become increasingly able to communicate with her. Right now Nim, a leader in the church, is discipling Pat; ask God to continue to bless that relationship.
Pray that God would continue to give me the energy and mental stamina I need for the labor of language learning. Ask him for increased memory and for many patient Thais who will help me. Pray also for patience for me, as I am anxious to be fluent and able to do more meaningful ministry here. Pray that I would have peace in knowing this is what it means to be faithful right now.
Pray for this Servant Partners team: Dave, Jen, me and our leader, Kevin. We are still in the process of getting to know each other, learning each other’s gifts and figuring out how to best support each other. Pray that God would knit us together and that we would be a blessing to each other.
Thank you each for your prayers, for those of you who have dropped me a line of encouragement or caught me up on your lives. It is really a blessing to stay in touch with you, so please do write to me! I will try to respond personally.
In Him,
Sara
