Countdown to leaving Thailand

 In eight more days, we will leave Udon Thani to fly to Bangkok.   We will have one night and the next day in a hotel to rest before our long trip back to Atlanta.   From Bangkok, we fly on Qatar airlines for 7 hours and after a few hours in the Qatar DOH airport, we catch the flight to Atlanta for 15+ hours, depending on the tailwind.    If they don't bump us from the seats Ron selected, we should get extra leg room for the first flight in coach.    The 2nd flight is business class, but I don't trust them not to bump us from that if they can sell all of the seats.   When flying on air miles, they sometimes give priority to paying customers.   A young man sitting beside me from India on the way to Thailand, told me the seats with extra leg room are given to families with children even if others have paid for those seats.   

We face problems at the house when we return as a water line froze while we were away.   Ron thought he drained all of the pipes but there was some water in a line in an upstairs bedroom that burst.   We have to get some plumbing repairs done that may be expensive.    

Ronald and Gigi will arrive four days after we get home.   They will leave again in two days to start traveling to give reports to their supporters for the next 4 weeks.    We will see them again, hopefully, for a couple of days at the end of their travels just before they return to the Philippines.    Since they were coming home right after we got home, we did not make a trip to the Philippines.   We miss seeing the children and their beautiful campus.   We look forward to seeing them again after three years.

Leaving Udon Thani will be bitter-sweet.   TG has won our hearts as she has taken such good care of us.   She picked us up at the airport when we first arrived.  She has been like a constant companion ever since.   I will write her a thank you message for being so very patient, loving and kind to us old folks.  

She tackled the remodeling of the house, finding workers, supervising the work, buying supplies, and working herself right along with workers.   She even got on the scaffolding to finish painting one side of the house on the 2nd floor, so they could finish and return the rented scaffolding one day early.    She is at this very moment, using a drill to hang a mirror so girls can see themselves before they walk out the door to go to school.  She's moved the fridge and tables in the kitchen to have a complete laundry room area where she has installed hooks on the wall for the girls to hang their towels.    

Although we have grown close to her and almost feel like she's our daughter, we need to go home as our work is complete here.   TG knows what to do and she will be a good house mother.   If she gets good girls, she will have no problems.    If the girls truly want an education and a better life and cooperate with the rules, it will be a very rewarding job for TG.   Like with parents, she will experience heartache if she has trouble with a girl.   We will pray that things will go smoothly for the safe house group in this location.    

We are confident that we are leaving things with the best possible house mother.    Not only is she skilled in doing nearly everything, but she is also compassionate and very tender-hearted, caring for people at church and always ready to give anyone a helping hand.    

It is a very nice house after remodeling.   We have lived in the house mother's bedroom since January 1st.    Much work has been completed since that time.  We have lived in the midst of it while it has been a work in progress.    Many of you have lived in a house while remodeling a section of it, so you know the feeling.   

Yesterday morning, Ron discovered we had no water.   This is common in Asian countries.   When we visited the safe houses in Laos, they had a large container of water in each restroom with a big dipper. In case of water shutdown, they had a supply of water to flush toilets.    In the afternoon, TG started checking about the water and discovered that neighbors had water.   She investigated the property and found a coconut from the tree had fallen on the plastic water line and crushed it.   The water line is along the block wall.  Today, TG said she thinks the line should be put under ground.   It definitely should, but it is often done this way in Asia to save money.   There has been no rain recently, so the ground soaked up the water and there was no obvious puddling for us to notice it.  She shut the water off and went and bought more piping and connections and repaired the damage herself.  She also got containers and filled them up for each bathroom to have surplus for water outages.   The more expensive homes have large, galvanized water tanks in their yards to store water, but they are also unsightly and probably very expensive.

Ron saw a snake as he watered the garden a few days ago.   It quickly hid behind the shed.   The next day, TG killed a snake, but it was a different kind and smaller.    She said she might be afraid of a big snake, but the small ones do not bother her.   Today, she was watering the garden and killed a big centipede as large as your hand.   After all of these critters have started appearing, looking for water, I think it is time to go home! 

The heat is another reason to leave.   For more than two months, it has been over 100 every afternoon. The nightly low is about 80 but it is 90 when we go to sleep and by noon each day it is about 99 degrees.   I am so thankful Ron added a small air conditioner in the housemother's room and a larger unit upstairs for the girls.    I don't know how anyone can sleep with the room at 90 degrees.   The fans just push the hot air around.   The air conditioners are making it comfortable to about 80 degrees.   The kitchen is at least 100 degrees when I prepare lunch each day.   We have a table in the living room where we bring our plates to eat lunch.   Ron and I snack on leftovers for dinner, so I only cook one meal a day.   Ron prepares breakfast.   The bathrooms are also shut off and feel like a sauna when we take showers.

Ron bought a new computer for me so we can leave my old, and very cheap laptop here for the girls to learn to type and use a computer.   I struggle with new electronics. I like my ruts where I am not challenged to learn new and more modern ways to do things.   I could not find the blog, but Ron got it pinned for me.  Just another challenge for me to figure out on a new laptop.       

We have stressed that in this order, the girls must be taught 1) the Bible, 2) English, 3) computer skills and 4) complete a public high school education.     If we could succeed in all four ways with each girl, they will have a stable, good future and, hopefully, if they are receptive, a home in heaven.   These are our goals as we say we are saving lives and souls.

We road with TG to about five villages within about a 30-mile distance of the safe house today.   Each village has a village leader (a voted resident that accepts the position to get to know the residents and be available to help them with their needs).  This person is paid a small salary by the government.  TG met with each village leader and explained what we are doing to help very poor girls who are not able to go to school.   She left a packet of information about our safe houses in all other Asia cities.  We hope they will call TG when they review their families and find girls who might want SAS's support.

Thank you for following the progress of our work for the past six months.    I will post an update as soon as I can after we return home.   God bless you all!

 

Visits to safehouses last week

A week ago, we went to Vientiane, Laos and spent several days and nights with Phet and the girls who live with her and go to school.   The first day we arrived, we had Phet stop to buy the girls an ice cream cake.   With 100+ degrees, we know they enjoyed it.

Our room was on the 3rd floor but we left our heavy bag with clothing on the lst floor and one of the girls took my small make-up bag to our room.  It was very hot for the entire week, but we did have a small air conditioner in our room.   We slept well.     

This is Phet, our wonderful housemother (beautiful and sweet) in this locaton:    

Phet got us tickets before we arrived so we could take a train to Luang Prabang one day.     

In Luang Prabang, all the way down small alleyways, old houses have been turned into guest house hotels.    The houses are beautiful with original wood doors and floors.  In our room, an old picture of a family hung on the wall.   I think it was the family who owned and lived in this house as much as 100 years ago.    It is awesome to think of what life would have been like there at that time.    Our room had a balcony the entire width of the house overlooking the alley.    They grow many beautiful plants and there are flowering trees and potted plants everywhere along the sidewalks.

We were close to my favorite restaurant JoMa's which is much like Panera Bread, having a dessert cabinet displaying wonderful desserts.   They have wonderful salads, sandwiches, wraps, breakfast, all kinds of delicious drinks, including smoothies.    The green tea smoothie is absolutely delicious.   We had breakfast there two mornings and lunch there two days.   

After school, we took a tuk tuk to Chansouk's house and visited with them and the girls.    

Chansouk, his wife and baby girl are such a delightful family.   

After a short visit, we went back to our guest room and later met them and one of their students at another restaurant in the night market area.    We had delicious food and a wonderful visit together.    

The student that came with them speaks almost perfect English.    She is now working at a restaurant as as waitress and taking an English class, preparing herself to either go to Bangkok to a Bible school or to Singapore to attend Four Seas Bible School.  She is very smart and happy.     

The next day, Ron stayed in the room all morning to catch up his email, but Phet and I ventured out to sightsee in the city.    We went to the King's palace.  Many centuries ago, Luang Prabang was the capital city of Laos but it changed to Vientiane in more recent years.   Buddhism is strong is this city and many beautiful temples are open for tourists.  I tried to read up about the history of this city, but it is very complicated as it has been under several different country's rule and changed kings and leaders for centuries.    We were not allowed to take pictures of the palace and we had to rent the typical Lao skirt to wrap around us for proper dress to go through the palace.   Pure gold was in display all through the building in display cases of swords, vessels, clothing and many types of articles used during these periods of time by the royal families.

We walked through one Buddhist temple and along the shopping displays on the sidewalks.   The day was very hot.   A pure coconut shake was well worth waiting for as a girl made them just for us.

Later that evening, we went back to Chansouk's house and spent about two more hours with the girls.

It was so good to meet all of them and learn a little about their lives.   Most of the girls are from the Mekong River villages.   Boats go up and down the river all day and it is the only transportation to their homes.

Here are the type of villages they come from....

No electricity, running water or toilets, etc.

The girls are not unhappy to live in houses that you would consider unsuitable because it is far better than what they had at home.   In the safe house they have friends, they can go to school and have no worries about having enough to eat.  It is a good life and they are very pleased and appreciative of their sponsors' support.     

We took the train back to Vientiane and as soon as we arrived and headed to Phet's home, we were treated to a late lunch at a very good restaurant close to Phet's house.   Seems as if we are always eating but restaurants are just a good place to get everyone quiet long enough to look at the camera.

I've posted pictures of Kham before.   She is the girl who was born blind and had surgery about four years ago.    She is being trained by Phet's sister to shampoo, cut and blow dry women's hair and cut men's hair.   She gave me the best shampoo I've ever had, massaging my head and neck.   I showed her a picture of a short bob haircut and she trimmed my hair before styling it with the dryer.  

I did not know how to pay her and didn't want to make a show of it in front of the other girls.   I asked Phet to give her a proper amount of money for me.  Phet told me later she gave her 60,000 kips, but she would normally get about 20,000 kips.    60,000 kips is about $3.50 U.S. and 20,000 is about $1.16.   I don't know how anyone can live on the wages their receive.    I hope she will be able to set up her own shop in Luang Prabang and be successful in the future. 

We visited two other safehouses in Vientiane on our last day in Laos, but girls were at school.   We met with the house parents and discussed the work they do.   We did see the girls in January when we visited with our friends who came from Houston, Texas.

Ron waiting at immigration, getting ready to return to Udon Thani...

This week, we have worked to get the yard and the house in Udon Thani ready to show to potential girls and their relatives.    A vanload came today and the three girls said they were excited to come live here.  Two are 14 and in the lst grade.   The third girl is 16 and in the 6th grade.   Unfortunately, the girls have not been able to go to school because of severe poverty.    

TG took pictures today so I will post them later after she sends them to me.    

These girls will come May 1st and have two weeks to buy school uniforms, book bags and school supplies before the new term begins May 15th.    They will register as new students in the school about 3 or 4 blocks from the safe house.   It is a very short 10-minute walk to school each day.   The girls know each other so it will not be as big an adjustment as it would if they were strangers to each other.  It is a good start to have a few girls as they can share with other potential girls how nice it is to live here.  We hope we can find enough poor girls to fill the house eventually.   

We have a little over two weeks to spend with TG answering her questions and preparing to return to the U.S.

Thank you so much for following our journeys in Asia.