jim larson's thoughts

Two daughters

Last night I had dinner with two of my adult daughters.

One just finished college with an education degree.  The other only finished 7th grade, but has been working towards her G.E.D..

One is happily married.  The other is single with two children, and has had many relationships.

One looked healthy and bright.  The other, just coming out of a bad addiction relapse, looked gaunt and beaten, with even a tint of jaundice.

One grew up in our home, nurtured and provided for.  The other grew up with alcoholic parents including a father who would beat and kick her, at least until she left home at age 13. 

One will find a good job when she goes back to the U.S.  The other can barely hold a job. 

Our daughter Anna is visiting from the U.S. for three weeks.  Besides hanging out with us and being a refreshing encouragement, she is helping with the ministry and brushing up on her Thai.  She and her husband Ben plan to return in two years to work with us full time.  The most exciting thing she is working on is a plan to involve her church in a long-term partnership with us in Thailand.  We'll also be putting together some new videos.   You can read more about it here .

The other, whom I will call June, is not literally my daughter.  But we call her 'Daughter' and she calls us 'Mom' and 'Dad'.  June joined The Well 3 years ago, was anything but a model student, then last year spent a few months in a recovery program.  She recently tried working at factories but as we had feared, couldn't handle the 72-hour work week and other conditions.  Her relapse occurred one year after her previous relapse, which itself was triggered by a rape.  Relapse often happens at the one-year point in time.  We're hoping she will agree to come back to The Well.

I have often thought how different things might be had we been able to care for June since she was a small child.  She could have grown up nurtured and provided for, and given her strong intelligence might have an advanced degree by now.  She has been a follower of Jesus for 3 years and seen a lot of healing, but we've seen that lives as broken as hers seldom heal quickly. 

There are those who prefer to invest in caring for children over caring for broken adults.  "It's far better to get them before they are messed up," they say.  Of course they are right.  But as much as Jesus loves the little children, He loves broken adult children just as much.  And I find that investing years into their recovery can be just as delightful as investing years into a child.  Because somehow when I love people who in many ways can be so frustrating and outwardly unlovable, the cross means more.  Paul's point that Jesus died for us when we were His enemies rings loud and clear.  I find myself pondering the deep, deep love of Jesus--vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.

My two beautiful daughters sat across the table from me.  I beamed at them proudly.

Leaders in training

Last week we sent Gai, Miaw and their daughter Chompu to the northern province of Payao, where Gai and Miaw have enrolled in the Payao Bible College.  Gai and Miaw's desire is to complete degree program that includes four years of study and a year internship, then serve in ministry, possibly with our own Servantworks team. 

It was just 3 years ago last January that we met Miaw, then a timid 17 year-old, in front of a bar in one of Bangkok's red-light areas.  I still shudder to think where she might be if that meeting had never occurred.  Gai as well has had his own struggles with addictions.  Both however are extremely bright and talented, and we expect will someday be leaders of many.  Meanwhile we pray for their adjustment to a rigorous study program.  

Payao students work to support themselves, including growing rice in the colleges own field, so Gai and Miaw's overall cost for tuition, room and board is only about $200 per month.  We already have a sponsor for Chompu, but if you would like to be a part of assisting Gai and Miaw take this exciting step towards helping to transform Thailand, please contact us .

Not time yet

We all wonder what it must be like to die.  I caught a bit of a taste yesterday.

I took Gai and Miaw, a young couple in our program, along with Bpop and Bpon, two single guys who have been spending with us, to do a small roofing project at Miaw's grandmother's house in the Lopburi province.  We were mainly going to replace a lean-to tin roof in front of the house, but the main roof, made from used bituminous tiles, also had some unplugged holes. 

Bpop and Bpon were building framing for the lean-to, so I got the caulk gun out to patch the holes in the main roof.

"Can I walk on that?" I asked Bpop.

"How much to you weigh?"  

"About 65 kilograms."  Ok, that was a bit light.  I actually hang right at about 67kg, or 147lbs.

"Yeah it will hold."

"Ok."  So up I went.

I tread lightly, trying to stay on the seams, and patched some holes.  No problems.  I asked Miaw to help spot holes from below.  She tapped on a spot towards the back of the house.  I found the spot, and just as I bent down to apply some silicone, gravity had its way, and the brittle tile caved in.  About seven tenths of a second later, the time it takes to fall about 8 feet, I was lying on my side on the linoleum/concrete floor below.

The next 5 seconds or so, or maybe 10, I don't know, were a few of the weirdest I've experienced.  Sort of surreal, outside of reality.  In a fright situation like that, the neurons fire like crazy, and you really can't think.  But then you do think, really fast.  I suppose it's what people mean when they say "My life flashed before my eyes."  That really didn't happen--I just lay there not moving while my brain frantically tried to assess the damage and figure out what to do next.  I felt like the wind was knocked out of me, so I moaned, panic-like, trying to breathe.  I wondered if I had broken bones.  I wondered if I would be able to get up--ever again.  I wondered what everyone must be thinking.

I discovered that I could breathe, and a little later tried to move.  There was some pain, but not intolerable.  Sitting up slowly, I looked up at the roof, and said, "I see I've made a new hole."

As it turned out, it wasn't so bad.  I landed pretty flat on my side, so the impact was distributed along the length of my body.  The main sore point is the around the illium, that big plate on both sides of the pelvis.  Ribs and neck are also sore.  My mouth apparently caught a piece of roofing on the way down, so I now have 2 small stitches closing up a small hole in my lip.  Had I been on a higher part of the roof, or over something else like the glass cabinet used for storing dishes, well, can you say "disastrous"?  I can walk, but slowly.  I think I'll stay home tomorrow.

Sam, 11, had just finished reading Circles of Seven, a Christian fantasy book in which the main characters must take risks and sacrifice themselves for their mission.  Seeing me hobble around the house, he remarked to Judy, in all seriousness, "I am afraid this ministry is going to kill my father."  Poor guy.

The ER bill came to about $8.45.  Oh, and the hole I made was easily fixed with some spare tiles that were lying around.

No hitter

Sorry about this one--doing what a parent has to do.  Anna graduated with an education degree a week ago Sunday, finishing with a perfect 4.0.  I teased her all they way through about getting a no-hitter.  Like any no-hitter in baseball there were close calls.

Recent highlights

Ok, It's been a long time again.  I find that sometimes I just need time off--too often I find myself writing a blog entry late at night.  Here are some recent highlights:

Went back to Buriram for a day with Stephen and Sandi Freed of International Teams .  Center 4 has a new loom, and the hardworking women there are cranking out silk and cotton fabric for handbags.  The $200 investment should increase their production efficiency two or three times over their old homemade equipment.

Pear, our wayward 14 year-old, has called a few times.  Her father died in a motorbike accident earlier this week, so she has come back for the funeral.  We saw her briefly--she obviously felt awkward, but clearly had not learned her lesson, thinking she can just live a free life as an adult.  Tonight she called, saying that she wants to come back and be in school.  However it may be too late, and in Thailand you can't start school mid-year.

We're really quite full and can't afford any more students, but when they arrive battered and bruised, we just can't turn them away.  Nong arrived a couple of weeks ago with a black eye, brought by one of our current students.  Last Monday we went to pick up Si, a 17 year-old mother with facial bruises and wounds on her neck, along with her 6-month old boy.  We've known her from her home village for a couple of years.  She dropped out of school, come to work in Bangkok, where she got pregnant.  After she was three months pregnant she found out the father already had a wife.  When the baby was born, she went to live with his family, along with the first wife.  However the father would drink and beat her.  Si is an orphan, said she's been sad all her life, but always did well in school and would like to be a doctor.

A not so sad case is Wan, 30, who was homeless and jobless, trying to figure out what to do next.   At the request of one of our students who used to do drugs with her boyfriend, we invited her to just spend a few days to sort things out.  Wan spent 6 years in California from age 9 to 15 and speaks nearly perfect American English.  There she had gone to a Catholic church some but did not understand much.  When she began to learn about Jesus with us she lit up.  Just today she told me how much she enjoys reading the Bible we gave her.  

Mae, one of our 14 year-olds, is enrolled in school and will begin on May 15.  She bought her school uniforms last week and brought them to show.  We'd like to see Mae be the first in her family to finish high school.
 
A young couple in our program has been wanting to to head to northern Thailand to Bible school this month, but they have been struggling with their relationship.  We've spent a lot of counseling time with them, but are still not sure what is going to happen.

Another student that has lived in our home for several months ran away.  We knew she had a drug problem and was at high risk.  She sent a text message to Khio, another of our workers, saying that she couldn't be a good person anymore.  We are told now that she is dealing drugs.  Jaimie's cell phone turned up missing soon after she left.

When you think you've heard everything, you haven't.  One of our former students has been enrolled in a Bible school, but not working.  She admitted last week that she has been “freelancing”--selling herself at night at times to make ends meet.  

From time to time we hear from wayward students.  One who has been with us a couple of occasions, leaving both times because of addictions, has been in contact again and is considering having another go.  Another who left on unpleasant terms called last Sunday, and we met up with her last Monday.  She beamed broadly, her eyes moist.  She is doing well, working at her step-family's bakery.

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sallipod
Posts: 18

n
Reply #18 on : Fri January 29, 2010, 01:48:08

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<a href=http://www.google.com> http://www.google.com </a>

John
Posts: 18

Bangkok Prostition on the Rise
Reply #17 on : Tue January 20, 2009, 20:39:34

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As a foreign teacher in Thailand I came here to help children to improve their education in a developing nation but of late I have become increasingly concerned at the massive increase in prostitution especially in the tourist areas of Bangkok. It has clearly been here a long time but recently I have been totally stunned to see the massive increase in the number of girls stretching themselves in desperation to get money by any means possible. I have witnessed thousands upon thousands of women in these areas, especially Nana and the Sukhumvit around the Arab quarter, desperate to survive.
Forget the nonsense about stereotypical crack whore - oh no, these are Tesco girls, salon workers, beauticians, florists, fat girls, older women, short women, tattooed girls, ladyboys; every walk of life, desperate for money for a multitude of reasons. But nearly always the same basic reason - desperate for money and usually not themselves but their family. The price that many young girls pay, especially from Isan, is extremely high; attempting to live out the dream of coming to Bangkok to earn money for a desperate family is just all too familiar. The credit crisis really hits home here at the bottom of the pile-so many poor suffer for gross negligence of governments and big business. The human suffering at the other end has to be seen to be believed.
I find it incredible just to see bars filled to overflowing with women of all ages and less farangs than ever, as many tourists have cancelled flights (although the numbers of Arabs and other non-Anglo Saxon groups seems to be stable). Definitely less money from tourism, even if sex-industry based, increases the need for money for others as many poor lose whatever income they had and inflation continues. The money flow slows and causes a knock on effect for so many others. The result is a deep psychological impact on women.
I reject their claims of "oh it's just a job, or just don't think about it too much". Especially in highly conservative Thai society, these girls must suffer greatly. Yes it MUST be shameful to them when others find out, whilst they attempt to keep everything a secret to everyone else. If you push these girls to speak truthfully, then all the emotion comes out -none of them really want to do this work, they just hope they will get enough to overcome whatever problem they have. But the real problem appears for the long term effects especially in standards of their mental health and social status. Once they get used to the cash for “big” money (big by their standards, real cheap by farang standards) they get locked into a cycle.
Now the answer; well there is no quick fix! A police crack down is definitely not the answer and is open to all forms of corruption in any developing nation. No it has to be a combination of cultural change and governmental initiatives. The reality is until the Thai government manages to stabilize its long term political instability, improves rights and standards for low class workers, increases their leadership to look for visionaries not just bureaucrats, and then looks at improved fiscal policies with long term job improvement schemes; the poor, most of all will suffer. Combined with no real welfare system, it’s fairly obvious where especially desperate women will end up. I therefore applaud the actions of outreach workers who at least aim to assist in the interim and I can only wish them the best as my heart is heavy when I see Thailand going backwards in this area and hope the suffering of these women will truly one day be less.

Jeremy
Posts: 18

Project Rescue
Reply #16 on : Mon May 26, 2008, 08:33:14

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Ever heard of Project Rescue? I just heard about it from a friend who went to college with the founders' daughter. Seems very similar to what servantworks is doing!

http://www.projectrescue.com/frontpage.php

Earn
Posts: 18

the latest postcard
Reply #15 on : Tue April 01, 2008, 13:12:41

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I'm Thai and support The well a ministry of servant works through my pray, money. I am really appreciated what you are doing for those who have no opportunity in their live and live in the darkness. I am still support your ministries. But one of my concern and it is bothering me a lot is the latest postcard which I just received couple weeks ago. I truely understand what happen in Thailand about women and teenager. Of course they are disrespect to their body, mind, soul and God by exchange it through sex for money. Can you use another word instead of Thailand's sex workers. It's sound harsh and it is hurtful. I understand that you want to wake people up through this postcard but I think there is some way else to do it.
One more thing, in the picture I see young innocent teen. I don't know who they are. They can be one of them who exchange their body with money or may not. But if it is, they already have a poor live and why you make it worse by put their picture openly!! What going to happen when they grow up? We are adult suppose to protect them, aren't we?

Jan
Posts: 18

Concerns
Reply #14 on : Sun March 30, 2008, 13:18:43

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Hi

My name is Jan. I'd like to thank God and you all( The Well ministry) for a wonderful work for Thai woman and children who are from dysfunctional families. I've been supporting The Well for the past 2 years, and also had a chance to visit The Well in Bangkok twice.

However, I have a concern. I have received 2 postcards of the Well Ministry. I came to my mails couple weeks ago. The first time I saw the card, I did not feel anything much. But the second time I received the same post card, there is the thought that came to my mind. I saw the picture of a mother with her two beautiful daughters. They are beautiful children. Then I read the card...Thailand sex workers! I know the intention of this postcard is good. However, I think the language is too strong. Although, it is the truth for most cases. I am concerned about these children in the picture. Unfortunately, the children have to suffer from parents' poor choices and decisions. They've already been damaged and wounded. We should try to protect them. I don't think the language is appropriate, especially when there is a picture of children on it. If they can read and understand English, I can't imagine how much damage it can do to them emotinally and psychologically.

Blessings,
Jan

alan
Posts: 18

God of this city...
Reply #13 on : Wed March 12, 2008, 11:32:09

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hey buddy,
have you heard the new song, "God of this city"?

see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk&feature=related

for u-tube version of tomlin singing it...the band Bluetree from Ireland was actually in Pattaya not too long ago, and they somehow were invited to perform in a brothel...while they were doing a 2 hr. worship set, they said God gave them this song. it is POWERful!

miss ya dude,
alan

edwin
Posts: 18

awsome comiing
Reply #12 on : Tue March 04, 2008, 20:26:18

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im with ya Jessica!
i really wanna be involved! i hate being lazy!!!

jessica
Posts: 18

hopefully coming
Reply #11 on : Tue March 04, 2008, 00:46:56

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My name is Jessica Wood my sister and I are in contact with servantworks about coming to bangkok this summer. Thanks for all your hard work and the genuine way you approach people... I lay awake at night thinking about this stuff....i really think God wakes me up so I will pay attention to his prompting for me to do something or say something for those trapped in the sex trade...i want to help and not just so that I can sleep easy..but because there is no other option..and becuase i deeply loves Christ and believe he sets people free....anyways just wanted to show encouragement and introduce myself

Edwin
Posts: 18

Re: jim larson's thoughts
Reply #10 on : Sun January 13, 2008, 13:54:02

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for "Win"

you are more than right..... those that follow Christ's really lay themselves low for other people... that is LOVE!

*hugs*

win
Posts: 18

=
Reply #9 on : Tue January 01, 2008, 03:40:30

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i'm da random...n i'm a thai gurl,,n i saw ur friends or sumone who knows u post bout wt u did in thailand..it's gd mannn...


i donno wt to say bt i never heard bout whites do stuff for helping ppl who isn't white b4


most of them jt drop sum shit here destroy enviorment...


anyway keep it