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

The spirituality here is a strange mix of Buddhism and animism that I am still trying to figure out. But here are some of the observations I’ve had so far.

The Friday after Thanksgiving was the Thai holiday of Loy Krathong. It happens on the first full moon in November, at the end of the rainy season and the end of the rice harvest. Practically every Thai person buys or makes a “Kratong”, or small boat made of banana leaves, flowers, incense and candles. When night falls people gather at every body of water– rivers, canals, ponds and even pools– to float their kratongs and to offer petitions of forgiveness to the water godess for mistreating the country’s waters. More recently it has become a huge party with food vendors and fireworks, akin to our Fourth of July.

My teammate Dave and I decided to participate in this cultural event by offering our kratongs not to a river goddess but to Jesus, as prayers of repentance and gratitude. Dave and Ratchai, a new believer in the community, each made a lamb out of pipe cleaners and cotton balls to symbolize the sacrifice of Jesus, which they placed on their kratongs. Pie, Ratchai’s wife, gave me a pre-made kratong which I added three crosses to.

We took our krathongs to a nearby pond. Hundreds of people were already there, kneeling at the water, holding their krathongs up to their foreheads and placing all of their sins on the kratong. It was a really powerful moment for me, to see so many people praying to a god who cannot hear them, who cannot forgive them. It increased my desire for the Thai people to know Jesus, the “kratong of God” who can truly carry away their sins. As the four of us offered up prayers to the Lord and floated our kratongs I felt an immense gratitude to know and worship a God who hears my prayers, who is living and active, not an idol created by men. Pray with me for Thai people to increasingly turn away from their idols and begin to worship the true and living Lord.

—-

One of the most obvious symbols of Thai animism is the spirit house. Every building, from restaurants and banks to personal homes all include some sort of shrine to the various spirits that the Thai people believe reside there. The size of these red and gold structures depend on the size of the building– people in Permsup usually mount a small shrine to a wall, whereas a hotel could have a spirit house on its grounds that would nearly fill a home in Permsup. People stock these shrines with bottles of water (open, with straws sticking out), fruit and other food to appease the spirits.

At first I wondered if this was just a cultural decoration or custom, like the many “Christians” in the States who may have a cross or two in their house but whose religion means little to them. But as I’ve been increasingly able to talk with people I’ve come to realize that these spirits are very real to people. There have been a couple nights that I have spent alone in my house, which to me have not been scary at all– I have great neighbors who are always aware of who is coming and going in our neighborhood. But even those neighbors are amazed that I can sleep at night. I’ve recently realized this is because they are afraid of spirits. Whenever they are alone it is like they are haunted.

A couple nights ago Jen and I had a HUGE spider in our house, which sent us screaming and running out of the room, and which attracted all of our neighbors asking us what was wrong. When they found out it was a spider they all laughed and were very amused that the farong are afraid of spiders. Without batting an eye a couple of the women went in, caught the spider and let it go outside (bad karma to kill anything, you know).

The next day it was obvious that the story of the screaming farong had spread throughout Permsup. As I sat out in front of the community practicing my Thai with some of the women, many of them asked me if it was true I was afraid of spiders. They, apparently, are not squeamish at all of these giant insects. But many of them admitted they were afraid of spirits. When I would tell them I wasn’t, this was very perplexing to them. “You’re afraid of spiders but you’re not afraid of the spirits??”

Pray that I would be able to learn the words to communicate how I am not afraid because I am protected by the Holy Spirit from any other force in this world. This feels like an open door to be able to explain to people the peace I have as a worshipper of God. Pray for hearts that are open to receive this peace in exchange for their fear.

Because my teamleader is going on furlough soon, I am changing my address from his house to the church/foundation center where it will be easier to pick up my mail. Here is that address:

Sara Stephens
Thai Peace Foundation
3750/9 Soi Lad Phrao 146/1
Khlong Chan, Bangkapi
Bangkok 10240 Thailand

Thanks!

This term is similar to “gringo” in Spanish and is one of the single most common words I hear in a day.

At first, being stared at and pointed at and labeled as a foreigner didn’t bother me. After all, I was new and I felt very foreign. It didn’t surprise me that people would gawk. Now, as I am feeling more at home here and things are less strange, it’s starting to grate on me that people are still awed at my very presence. When I walk through the mall that I’ve visited a number of times now, the majority of people literally stop what they’re doing and just unashamedly stare. Walking down the street I hear the word “farang” either yelled from far away or spoken between passing pedestrians, as if people think I can’t tell what they’re saying.

At a nearby convenience store there is a small child who was originally very cute but now is like a thorn in my side. She literally follows me around, grabs at my clothes, asks for money and all the while yells “farang!” right at me. I’m not sure whose child she is– maybe one of the street vendors’ right outside the door– but maybe she doesn’t belong to anyone. She’s always so dirty. It brings up a strange mixture of sadness for her and utter annoyance.

What I’m noticing is that most of this attention is not meant to be negative– people practically worship anything American, especially when it comes to appearance and fashion. Teenaged girls in the church or community without much inhibition will often hold an arm up to mine to compare the skin color difference, or run their fingers through my hair (any hair color that is not jet black is labeled “blonde” here and seen as beautiful). I’ll catch them standing close to me if there’s a mirror nearby where they can get a glimpse of themselves next to the American. The skincare aisle in a store here seems to carry more “whitening” lotion or makeup than anything else.

I’m not sure how to respond to all of this. Right now I can’t, really, since I have so few words. I did have one conversation with a girl who knew some English, telling her that her skin color is beautiful, and that white skin is highly overrated– it gets sunburned so easily. I told her that in America people spend hours in the sun trying to get darker, and here people spend money trying to get whiter. Really, we should be happy with the way God created us.

It’s a very different feeling to stand out and even be idealized. Normally I blend into a crowd very well– here it is impossible to disappear unless I am physically concealed. Activities like going for a run or hanging out at a mall on my Sabbath are much less relaxing because the attention I attract makes it feel like I’m some sort of celebrity. Especially because the area of town I’m in, whether in Permsup or near the Center, sees very few white people. The socio-economic level is lower here, and the main tourist hub of Bangkok is almost an hour away. There’s not much to attract other foreigners here.

Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts. I’m sure I’ll have new insights once I can start understanding what people are saying about me. That will be fun once I know Thai but everyone around me doesn’t know that I know.

In case you feel inspired to send me a care package at some point, here are some things that are hard to come by and would be much appreciated:

Lactaid (pills that allow me to enjoy the Thai coffee and ice cream here– mmmmm…..)
MigraHealth (vitamin supplement I take to help prevent migraines)
ibuprofen, general cold medicine
news magazines like The New Yorker, Harpers, etc.
granola bars
Christian books, CDs (email me if you’d like suggestions)
3-way Thai/English dictionary (with English, Thai characters, transliteration)– the best would be as small as possible
index cards, small cards to use as flashcards for language learning
photos!
anything Christmas-y
A simple letter or card would be exciting, too.
Here’s my address again, just in case:
Sara Stephens
c/o Kevin and Cynthia Walton
1048 Soi 34
Klong Chang, Bangkapi
Bangkok 10240 THAILAND

I didn’t realize how much I was going to feel like a college student again during this language learning process. I also didn’t expect that learning the vocabularly of a three-year-old would be more grueling than 400-level course at the UW.

Each morning I take a 20-minute, 10-cent bus ride (usually standing in the packed aisle, sweating at 8 a.m.) to the Center. This is where church services were formerly held, but since moving to the house-church system it is now mainly used as the church office, a place to hold meetings and language lessons, and includes two rooms that are designated to our Santisuk Partners team.

For two hours Jen and I meet with Juum, our language tutor. We are working through a series of books that takes you first through tone and sound reproduction and then into basic vocabularly. We’re not even learning the Thai script yet, but are using a system based on Roman letters. It’s hard enough to distinguish different sounds and tones without having to memorize the extensive Thai alphabet and complex spelling rules.

So far we know our numbers pretty well, can order some basic food and drinks at a restaurant, can (in theory) give simple directions to a taxi driver, identify colors, and say the basics like “hello”, “thank you” and the important greetings “have you eaten yet?” and “where are you going?” which, I’ve learned, don’t require a full answer– they’re more like our “how are you?”

Yesterday was our first day of also creating a “script”, or short paragraph, to memorize and then practice extensively with local vendors and people in the community. Our script yesterday essentially went like this:

“Hello. I am learning Thai. My name is Sara. I come from America. Now I am staying in Bangkok. I will be here two years. Can I come back and see you tomorrow?”

It’s a little ridiculous sounding, but I’ve found that people like to talk to the weird Americans and are just happily amused by us. Almost everyone here is incredibly friendly and helpful.

So now the routine will be two hours with Juum, and hour or two with a “language helper” (someone on staff here) who knows enough English to help us develop a script for the day, and then most of the rest of the day practicing the script. I also set aside time for a daily devotional time, as well as some time to practice parts of the language lesson that we didn’t incorporate into the script.

By the end of yesterday, my first full day of this, I was exhausted. This stuff just hurts my brain. Not to mention it involves much extroversion which for me requires a lot of energy. But I’m also highly motivated. It’s nice to have just one thing to focus all of my efforts on. And it is so rewarding– I’m already noticing I can pick up more words in the conversations around me and can communicate in limited ways already.

Please keep this process in your prayers. Ask for God to increase my memory capacity, to give me increased discipline as this is largely a self-motivated process (much like being a college student– pray that I don’t fall back into some of my old habits of procrastination!). Pray for energy and for patient Thais who will work with me as I practice. Thank God with me for the excitement and hopefulness he’s given me already, and for how much he’s helped me in these first few weeks.

How do I share about my first two weeks as a missionary in Bangkok? Well, first of all, I don’t feel like a missionary yet– more like a small child. So much here is unfamiliar. I had to learn how to use the bathroom all over again (the “squatty-potty”), people have to lead me anywhere I want to go, and to order food I have to rely on pointing and grunting. I can’t even sound out the words on signs here because it’s in an entirely different script. It is very humbling! But also exciting as I embrace a new culture and life.

Instead of giving you a day-by-day account of what I’ve been up to, I think I’ll mostly post snapshots of life here. The first will be of Permsup, my new home.

Permsup is a community of about 120 families living in mostly one- or two-room shacks built on stilts over a swamp. We are in the shadow of a driving range and a massage parlor, a short stroll from a large informal market within sight of modern cars, buses and convenience stores. The walls of the houses are plywood and the roof is corrugated metal, making it sound like you’re in a tin can during the downpours (we’re at the end of the rainy season right now). Holes in the walls and floors allow little lizards and various sized roaches to come in and out, but happily they try to find the first exit once they realize you’re in the room.

Jen and I use one room of our house as a shared bedroom and the other as a kind of “main room” which at the moment consists of a small refrigerator and a low table (the kind you eat at while sitting on the floor– chairs are almost never used in the homes here. In fact, meals are most often laid out on the floor, too). We have hopes of getting some mats or other things to sit on, but probably won’t have a full kitchen, at least for awhile– meals from the numerous street vendors are rarely over 75 cents, so making our own wouldn’t save much money but would be a demand on our time.

The other room is our bedroom. We sleep on thick mats under a mosquito net, and burn coils to smoke them out, too. We have a couple sets of plastic drawers and a fabric enclosed wardrobe thing. We wash our clothes at a nearby store and then hang them to dry outside. Our bathroom is a kind of outhouse located just out our front door, with a squatty-potty and giant urn for bucket showers.

The conditions are really rough, but mostly it just feels like camping. Still, I can’t imagine raising a family here. There are mangy dogs and cats around and some sketchy characters in other parts of the community. But most of the people here are so friendly. Our landlord, Chai, and his family have been really helpful and are looking out for us. Chai’s wife Lin even did my laundry for me the other day. On a daily basis one of our neighbors or someone Dave knows will invite us in for a meal and to teach us some Thai phrases. There are adorable kids running around and plenty of people stopping by our house to chat (or gesture and smile, in our case).

Permsup, along with most of the 1,000+ slum communities in this city, are largely Isaan. The families migrated here from the Northeast looking for work and have been mostly confined to low-income jobs such as construction, bus fare collection, and selling food or goods in the informal economy. Thai is their second language, though they are fluent, and we hope to eventually also learn Isaan, their heart language.

There are my observations so far. More later!

It’s just about time!

As of this morning, I have a one-way plane ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. I will leave the evening of October 4 and arrive late on the 6th, Thailand time. Weird, huh? That’s three flights (Portland to LA, LA to Taipei, Taipei to Bangkok), the longest being 13 hours. This will be the first of many new experiences for me.

My time in LA was wonderfully relaxing and a real blessing to get to meet so many Servant Partners people. I feel like part of the family now. I’m back in McMinnville tonight and have a huge list of things I still need to get done. Keep me in your prayers that I would be able to tie up all my loose ends without developing an ulcer in the process. Generally, I’m extremely excited to be on my way, just experiencing that jitteryness (is that a word? it should be) that comes with stepping into the unknown.

Just a quick update on the visa situation…

I have mine! My passport that I left at the Thai consulate arrived in the mail yesterday, with a real-live, official visa stamp inside. I’m still a little incredulous that it actually worked. When I arrived at the small consulate office in Portland there was no one waiting to be helped and I just walked up to the woman who looked to be a receptionist and she okayed my paperwork within five minutes. No mention of an additional letter from the Thai government at all. It’s like one consulate doesn’t know what the others are doing. So, next I will take Jen’s application in for her and I expect it will be the same easy process.

So praise God! He is a good provider and takes care of all the details when he calls someone into his work. Thank you all for your prayers. I will probably leave for Bangkok in late September or early October. I’ll keep you posted!

August, 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are happening fast! In about a month or so I will be in Bangkok, Thailand, starting my life as a missionary. This week I will be moving from Eugene, Oregon, where I have been since September, back home to McMinnville, Oregon. Right now I am training my replacement at the law firm I have been working at, and am beginning to think about the somewhat daunting task of packing (and getting rid of things). I will also soon be applying for a visa (see more below). But despite all of the details that need to happen before I leave in mid-September, I have been surprisingly peaceful. God has been providing abundantly and giving me time to rest, have fun and enjoy my summer.

Seek first the Kingdom, and these things will be given to you…

Less than three months after I sent out my first prayer letter, my entire budget was raised. Praise God! And I thank each of you who gave, who prayed, who encouraged me in this process. We serve a wealthy God, who truly does give good gifts to his children, and provides seed to the sower.

Team News

The team I am joining in Bangkok is still in its early stages. My team leader, Kevin Walton, has been in the city for several years as a pastor, and has been recruiting missionaries to join in the task of ministering in the slums.
· Dave Von Stroh has been in Bangkok since September, learning Thai and recently beginning to disciple believers, host a house church and attend training on community development and organization.
· Jenny Godoy, from the Philippines, has arrived in Bangkok recently.
· Jen Wilson, from California, and I will be arriving around the same time and will probably be roommates and go through culture shock together.
· Three more future teammates are beginning their fundraising in the states.
· The church we will work under is in the process of transitioning from being a cell church to being a network of four house churches. Pray for wisdom and discernment for Kevin as he facilitates the transition.

Pray for our visas!

Jen and I are attempting to get our non-immigrant visas and it is proving to be more difficult than we expected. Jen has been turned down twice and is having to delay her departure date. Thai consulates, just in the past few months, are requiring a letter of permission from the Thai government, which we do not have yet. Kevin is beginning to navigate the bureaucracy to request the letter, but it could take quite awhile. In the meantime I will apply in Portland and hope they are lenient. Pray for favor with the authorities!

This will be my final letter until I am in Thailand, but check my website for more updates. Below is my new overseas contact info. Also, please note that my email address has changed since my first prayer letter.

Though my personal budget is met, if you would still like to contribute to the ministry in Bangkok, any additional funds will go into my ministry account, to help directly with costs of our churches and programs. We can never have too many of these donations!

Again, thank you for partnering with me in this ministry—I would not be going anywhere without the support and prayers of my community back home.

Blessings,

Sara

Sara Stephens
c/o Kevin and Cynthia Walton
1038 Soi 34
Klong Chang, Bangkapi
Bangkok 10240 THAILAND