jim larson's thoughts

The next battle

28-Aug-07 10:19

A while back I wrote in this post and this one about "Mae", a skinny 13 year-old we found working at a bar who joined The Well after a good bit of persuasion.  Now we're still fighting a second, bigger battle--the one for her heart. 

A couple of weeks ago we sent a team to visit Mae's village in Buriram.  She had not been back for 3 years.  Her 36 year-old father lives in a tiny rundown shack and drinks constantly.  The morning the team left he asked our worker for money to buy another bottle of rice whiskey.  We haven't met Mae's mother yet--she left her husband with Mae, and has been working near Bangkok as a maid.  She promised to come visit the end of this month, but for the last Mae has been unable to reach her.

Of course children react to such turmoil in different ways.  Pear, another 13 year-old that I wrote about recently who has been essentially discarded by her mom, is a charming affection sponge.  Mae on the other hand  stiffens when Judy tries to hug her.  When I tell her I love her, which I do often with our students, she reacts blankly. 

Mae says she wants to be a doctor in order to make a lot of money to provide for her mom and dad, who obviously haven't provided for her.  No wonder we found her in a bar--this little girl never really got to be one.  

There's no other way to the heart of one such as this other than lots of prayer and patience, just being unrelentless in our love.  We tell our students that there is nothing that they can do to make us quit on them, and we mean it. It's just the same as what God does to win and keep our hearts, and of course it's God who is after Mae's heart much more than we are.  I do believe He will get it.  We've seen a couple of soft spots--Mae loves to sing, so guitar lessons are on their way.  At the beach I watched her dig into a jellyfish to see how many tiny starfish it had eaten.  One basic biology or picture book on nature coming up.  We'll keep you posted.

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Snake in the bedroom

18-Aug-07 20:12

No, this is not a sinister metaphor.  It actually happened last month when Matt and Abram were visiting from the U.S. but I never got around to posting it.  Marquita discovered this little baby in her and Jaimie's bedroom.  Abram was the hero that killed it with a shoe, because we were too chicken to catch it first and then find out later if it was dangerous or not.  As it turned out it was a tree snake common in Bangkok that does have a bit of venom but is basically harmless to humans.  The girls thankfully were more excited than scared.  

Just a couple days earlier, our coworkers Mike and Kay Killar had found a 10ft. python in front of their house.  Ooh, 2 snakes in a week--some sort of symbolic spiritual attack?  No, just life in Thailand.

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First day of school 2007

18-Aug-07 09:25

August 15, 2007

 

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Pear's new bunny

18-Aug-07 09:13
Pear was very depressed so we kept her overnight for a couple of nights to keep an eye on her. When she saw Marquita's stuffed animals she wanted them all, and Marquita was kind enough to give away one of her most cherished companions, a pink bunny.  For the next two days Pear carried it with her everywhere.  This photo was so touching I had to post it, but have made it small to protect Pear's identity (actually "Pear" is a pseudonym, as are most of the names I use in these stories). 
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Being Jesus

18-Aug-07 08:58

My wife Judy wrote this:

As Jim and I were praying for “June”, she begin to cry and her tears fell on my feet.  “Wow, this happened to Jesus“, I thought.  “I get to do something Jesus did.”  It was precious. 

A few months ago June had cried on my chest for a long time while I prayed with her.  The next day one of our co-workers showed us a picture she kept in her Bible of Jesus holding a crying woman on his chest.  June looked at me and said, "That's you, Mom, you are like Jesus."  I then remembered that being like Jesus isn't just about being perfect or having his character, but it's about doing stuff He does.  It is so simple but at that time it really hit me between the eyes.

There is nothing better than doing what Jesus did, and the stuff He still does through us.  I am so inadequate working at The Well.  I can't understand policemen, social workers, co-workers and nurses.  I can't say things I need to say in order to properly take care of people who NEED proper care.  I get impatient, I stress, forget important details and I can never find my READING glasses.

But I had teardrops falling on my feet. 

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Junky Car Club

14-Aug-07 15:03

 

I absolutely love this.  I was asking Amy Brown for some youth ministry resources, since The Well has now found itself in that line of work, and she sent me to virb.com , where I discovered their Junky Car Club and got really excited.   If it weren't before 5am, I'd even say ecstatic. We have lived for 3 years without owning a car.  For most of the past year we drove Leith and Carol Fujii's 30 year-old Fiat, one of the uglier cars ever made, and would proudly park it next to Benz's and Beamers at our kids' international school.  The Fujii's came back but offered to turn the title over to us.  However after getting stuck twice in the middle of nowhere with a dying alternator, I decided we do need something that we can trust to drive out of town for outreach visits, so are looking to buy something not older than about 10 years.  So while we may not qualify for their Elite Lemon Membership, I think we can go for the next level down.  Or is is up?

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The road to innocence

13-Aug-07 08:38 Pear said today she thought she might be pregnant since she has been feeling dizzy and achy for a couple of weeks.  That is a pretty heavy thought for a 13 year-old.  Even if she is pregnant, it's too early for those symptoms.  I asked her how she would feel if it were true.  “I don't know,” was all she could come up with.

This weekend we visited the homes of 3 of our teen girls in the Buriram and Surin provinces, as well as Prang's home, or our “Buriram outpost”.  Saturday night we stayed at 16 year-old Noon's house, met her mom, a number of aunts and one uncle.  Men are often scarce in these rural villages, often working out of town, or sometimes dead or in jail.  One aunt began telling us about her daughter who is working bars in Bangkok.  Noon had mentioned her to us as the cousin who invited her to come work bars with her, but we haven't had a chance to meet her.  The cousin's mom reported, in tears, that her daughter is with a guy who beats her regularly.  We promised to try to meet her as soon as possible.

Of course no girl grows up dreaming to lose her virginity the way Pear just did, or to marry a man who will beat her up.  On the other hand, no little boy starts out thinking he's going to do that sort of thing to a woman.  It happens over time as an evil world opens a wound and injects its venom.  And the story of Eden is repeated again and again.  The sin that seems like such a good idea at first turns it's ugly face and haunts with shame.  Another one experiences what it's like to be cast out of the garden.

Pear's dad went to prison 4 years ago--she hasn't said why and we're not sure she knows.  Her mom found a new guy, who Pear says touched her inappropriately and made her feel unsafe at home.  She says that's when she quit school and started staying away as much as possible.  It was only a matter of time before the unthinkable happened.  Pear's mother told Judy she was tired of her and had lost hope for her.  The family of the seventeen year-old who violated Pear agreed to pay her family about $47 to settle the case.

We left Noon's house late morning and went to a reservoir that offered a place to swim.  With a steep bank paved with rocks it was hardly swimmer friendly.  The girls, including Pear, rented some inner tubes and splashed around just a few feet from the bank, laughing and shrieking.  Seeing Pear playing like that I saw a child again, one who wanted her innocence back.  By God's grace, Pear will find innocence again through the power of the cross, and who knows, maybe her dad, who has another year left on his sentence, will come to Jesus and one day give his virgin daughter away to a loving man who will treat her the way a child of God deserves. Comments (4)

Hello Officer Kitty

13-Aug-07 08:29

Thailand police have made international headlines with a plan to punish errant officers by forcing them to wear a Hello Kitty armband.

Here's the New York Times story .

I'm trying to picture a Chicago Police officer wearing one of those for spending too much time at Dunkin Donuts. 

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Another innocence lost

09-Aug-07 07:33 When you look into the eyes of a young girl who has just been raped, it's like someone just slammed their fist into your chest.  Your heart aches, you feel shocked and angry.  You want to cry.

Pear is an affection-starved childlike 13 with a gregarious personality.  Her figure is not yet fully developed, and her curly hair usually hangs unkempt.  Pear won our hearts the first day she showed up at The Well with one of our other teen students who had invited her.

She had quit school during sixth grade, and before she arrived had been working at a karaoke bar, making a bit of money to sit and talk with older men.  Pear's mom claims that she was uncontrollable, but we have observed no particular behavior disorder other than the normal result of lack of parental attention.  

Last night Gai, our new housemom at what is now essentially our teen home, called at about 9:30 to say that Pear had not returned home.  Gai and other students spent the next 3 hours or so hunting for her, because someone reported that she had gone with one or more guys.

Pear returned early in the morning in tears.  They had locked her up and taken advantage for hours.  The main perpetrator, whom she knew, told her to come back on Saturday and bring a friend.

She stayed upstairs for a long time, consoled by Gai and Nute, a student intern.   Later she came down and asked to talk to me.  We sat down with Nute in the office, and Pear simply leaned over, formed her hands into a wai, whimpered, “Dad, I'm sorry,” and put her head on my knee.  

Today Judy and Nute took her to the hospital and police station.  It's a gang situation so could get messy.  I saw them eating at the police station, and Pear was already cheering up, showing me the bandage on her arm where blood had been drawn to get some extra sympathy. 

We need to move the teen center to a remote neighborhood that is not so accessible to trouble--even within days if funds are available.  We are also working on starting outreach to working-class young guys.  They come by the thousands from the countryside into the city with no education, skills or direction, and often end up in addicted lifestyles.  

Before going to the police station, I picked up Nute's tiny 3 year-old daughter for her at school.  She doesn't know me well so was a bit frightened but trusting.  I picked her up and she put her head on my shoulder, obviously too tired to worry.  Carrying her down a narrow street from the school to the main road, holding her close almost like a body guard fending off cars passing inches away, I pondered on what the world does to such little ones. 
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In the beginning . . .

03-Aug-07 21:33

I was explaining to Sam, 10, how one key in memorization is finding ways to connect new concepts with old, using humor, mnemonics etc. 

Quickly grasping the idea, he pondered out loud, "So everything started with one thought.  I wonder what that was."

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