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| Bit of an Excellent Rooftop Eve. |
Good people!
So Thailand and Bess continue to become better friends. Yes. We are quite close now. Thailand is impressed with Bess' skills of motorbiking three people at once whilst holding a backpack (shut your ears dear parents, Emma Chow and Corey Sleap) and also impressed with Bess saying very important things in Thai such as, "You're crazy and fat" , "No MSG or crabs" and "I like boys" .. these sentences will take you places..
I'm now 'besties' with the papaya salad vendor lady now. Her name is Boonpen.. Maybe!? I am likely incorrect. She makes it just the way I like it without me telling her now- and gives me a few drinks while I am waiting.
The past few weeks have included many things like caving, massages, a baby elephant, cafe training and new friends. Also in the mix have been gorgeous green-jungley (yes, it's a word) walks, UNO, dancing in the sunset with the DR girls and tubing down a fast flowing river at night with a little gang of good people, including one young Thai girl who doesn't speak English and cannot swim. Fun always, safety sometimes. That's Thailand.
Volleyball is becoming a regular arvo activity here too which is fun, but let's just say that I am REALLY REALLY GOOD at.. lots of other things. Sorry Steve "Killer" Kilpatrick, the sport king, I'm a letdown as your child.
For those who think I am just having a ball and living the dream- there are bad things about being here too! Like.. mosquitos. Man oh man- not too deadly, except for the expletives that they make you want to yell sometimes. They evoke deep anger in me.
Missing people back home is kind of bad too- in a bittersweet way, a mini Skype session recently made me so thankful and happy for the crew I am part of back home. Bittersweet, yet the best.
Okay, so I do actually work a bit too..
The Cafe still is not overly open. It's fairly shut. But this is okay! There are worse things, like death and boring books. The girls are getting more and more competent in cooking and I am actually feeling more and more able to run this thing (This feeling comes and goes daily!). I do love how big tasks that require much trust and confidence can ONLY be successfully accomplished through a Higher help. This whole experience is and will be great testament to that Truth.
I'm in the process of hiring some external staff- some Thai girls that speak fairly decent English, which would be a wonderful help. Whilst these girls may initially have supervising-type roles in the cafe/restaurant, I would LOVE for my DR girls to gain the confidence and skills needed to have leadership roles in this business in the coming months. This is so much more than merely business endeavour for DR. The potentially longterm impact for these girls and their future is exciting.
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| Entree at DR Cafe "Joys Vegetarian Nutballs" High five to my Mumma for the recipe! x |
One of my girlies became a Christian last weekend. Yeah! Way cool, she has been at DR for about 18months- I remember meeting her briefly last year and it's cool to obviously see a softness and peace in her that she didn't seem to have before. I hope that doesn't sound cliche, but it's just so easy to see it.
The rooftop of the cafe is getting a bit of use, it's awesome! - a good chill out place for some of the our crew when it's not 'PhonTok-ing' (raining).. Everyone grabs their own 30baht take-away meal, bring music, a deck of cards, candles and a sweet sweet night occurs! I say we add a new element each time we go up there: hammocks, mini blow-up pools, hula hoops and all that good stuff.
Erin, my lovely sister, came to visit. It was a excellent, yet too short a trip. Poor Ezzie has had a whirlwind few months and yet another environment and community to meet and then ANOTHER goodbye would not be an easy thing. But in her elegant way she handled it well and even managed to enjoy herself I hope! We had a few good meals, chats, laughs, elephant and bike rides. We are very different, her and I, but how rad- life is much more interesting with variety AND we come from the same rad, righteous heritage. That is nice to share. Thanks God. And just putting it out there- I am SO glad I got the Thai-end of the Missional stick and she got the Soviet end.. Hehehe. Humidity is good. Erin disagrees.
I've learned a great many things today. And yesterday and pretty much every hour I am here, I learn something new. About myself, about others, about things to change, about how to run stuff, about how to be less selfish. I can see God doing some cool things in my life and character - I can see how small and feeble I am and how huge God is - somehow that is lots of empowering than having merely my own humanity to rely on.
Job 38:4-5 " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me if you understand, who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!" I love it. I'm His.
So I'll blog sooner next time and post some photos too so you can see roughly how the progress is. Keep Destiny Rescue in your prayers. These young women have experienced trauma and evil that should break your heart. I feel so humbled to be here and befriend them.
LOVE YOU ALL BUNDLES! Bessie xx
Ps.
My address is: PO BOX 251 Muang Chiang Rai, Thailand 57000.
Please feel free to send me mail, chocolate, love, my camera (what idiot forgets a proper camera when moving O/S for a year!?), current peppermint magazine issues, joke books and my Vivienne Westwood boots. Sigh. ASOS doesn't ship to Thailand.
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| Getting into the road side cheap food. Pork Noodles and Pad See Ew. |
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