Last Week in Thailand!

WOW! Did you read that title? I seriously cannot believe the end of July is here, and I am saying goodbye to this beautiful country that I have called home for almost two months! I am writing this with less than 12 hours left in Thailand, which is such a surreal thing to have said. The last few weeks have been the epitome of bittersweet. I have said so many tearful goodbyes, but also have been more excited than ever to come back to America and be surrounded by my community at home.

I was initially wrestling with the fact that I had an extra few days here alone, without the other girl interns, and was reminded by a close friend that God did that for a reason. Even if I don’t know what the reason was, He saw fit for me to be here just a little bit after everyone else. The best thing I can do is lean in and try to embrace His timing and treasure these days. And wow, how sweet these past two days have been. They have allowed me to slow down and say goodbye to some places and people, while also giving space to start processing this experience in its entirity. I know that processing will be an ongoing experience for the next coming months, but there is something extra special being able to start that processing while still in it. Anyway…

Memories from this week!

This week the long term workers on our site had their country wide “field forum” where they met with all the other Alliance missionaries for a conference out of town. Because they were gone, we had an early “final” dinner to honor Emma and Ella before they flew out on Wednesday. We were able to laugh and share memories, but also encourage each other and speak into some of the things God has been teaching us through them. It was such a sweet time of reflection, even if that also involved a lot of tears.

We’ve discovered that our week days tend to be pretty empty schedule wise, since most of the Thais we have relationships with are at work, so we have been able to fit in some fun tourist/cultural engagement activities during that time. We were able to visit the Grand Palace, which includes both the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Palace itself, as well as many other smaller buildings used for different types of ceremonies. This was the first temple I was able to actually walk inside, and it was such a surreal experience, seeing probably 60 people kneeling before the golden buddha in the center. While a good chunk of these were likely tourists just paying respects, we also saw many people fervently praying. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside, but if you do a quick Google search you can find some to help you visualize it. Liberty and I talked afterwards about the experience, and we both noted that the air inside the temple smelled and felt different, and heavier in a way. It was definitely a surreal experience that I still don’t think I have fully processed yet.

Buisness Visits

After Emma and Ella left, Liberty and I were able to go to one of the slum neighborhoods in Bangkok, Khlong Toei. The community contains a lot of ports on the main river that flows through Bangkok, so when trade began to grow in the mid-twentieth century, the Thai government offered incentives if people moved into this area to work at the ports. The population grew rapidly, now reaching over 100,000 people but the living conditions have stayed underdeveloped. It is known as a hand-to-mouth area, where people are making barely enough to survive and meet basic needs, and frequent flooding, gang activity and drug use continue to pose threats to the resident’s wellbeing. It was eye-opening to see a completely different side to the city that has appeared so developed and prosperous to us.

On the way back we also stopped at Second Chance Bangkok, which is another social enterprise in the Khlong Toei neighborhood. The lower level operates as a second hand/thrift store, which was fun to shop around in, but there were so many pieces of clothing there that it was a little overwhelming. As we were looking around, one of the employees walked in and offered to take us upstairs to see the other aspect of the shop- the upcylcing center. They explained that as they opened the store, they had so many pieces of clothing being donated that sometimes the piles of clothes would get to the ceiling. Sadly, many of these clothes are originally from the US, but sent to Thailand as a result of fast fashion and overconsumption. They wanted to come up with a better way of handling the excess clothes, so they decided to start using the unsold clothes as scrap fabric to make beautiful purses, banners, stuffed animals, backpacks, ornaments, you name it. Not only do they have premade products that you can purchase online from their website, but they explained that they do a lot of custom work, and have now started doing partnerships with other businesses. While we were there, the project they were working on was taking old school uniforms and transforming them into pencil pouches with the school logo, that the school will buy back and sell to their students.

I was overall so thankful for both of these business visits and the opportunity to witness in person some of the social enterprise models that I have been learning about for the past three years! It made me so excited and stirred up a lot of passion and enthusiasm for this kind of work.

Some other miscellaneous memories from this week!

Send Offs!

Praises!

• Sharing my testimony went well! I’m not sure if it resonated with anyone there, but I felt confident that I shared the aspects I was supposed to, and I am leaving the rest to the Spirit.

• Safe travels for Ella, Emma, and Liberty. They have all made it home safely and have started the long process of readjusting to US culture and overcoming jetlag.

• The gift of seeing our community rally around us! On our last Sunday we saw so many people who don’t usually come to church there to say goodbye to us, which was such a sweet reminder that the friendships we have built here are real, and not just surface level.

  • Going off of that thought, even though Liberty’s goodbye was at 4am, we saw so many Thai people come and want to say goodbye. We have all felt so undeserving of that kind of support and friendship.

• I got dinner with F and Y on my last night here, and was able to pay for everyone. They were super appreciative, but I explained to them that it wasn’t really me paying for it, it was all of my friends and family back home that wanted to love and bless Thai people through me. After telling them that, they wanted me to pass along that they said “thank you so much!!”

Prayers!

• I fly out the evening of the 24th (morning for you guys) and get home around 5pm EST on the 25th. I would love and appreciate prayers over my travels back, and for a positive attitude, because as of right now I am not looking forward to the plane ride.

• Pray that F and Y continue to be curious, go to church, and get further invested in the community there. I am praying so much that our absence will not distance them from the church, but instead that it would further draw them in!

• Pray for Toucheng, the last intern, who will be in Bangkok for the next 9 months. He now has the heavy task of continuing to build all the relationships that the 4 of us started, but now there is only 1 of him. Pray for strength, encouragement and community to surround him.

• Pray for my processing and readjustment to life back in New York. I have started to process some of the things I have witnessed and experienced here, but a lot of the changes I feel internally I am struggling to put language to, so prayers for peace and wisdom as I unpack all the elements of this experience.

Signing off from Thailand for the last time, filled with so much gratitude and appreciation,

Kaitlyn