Yesterday I wrote a long blog with several pictures and then found that only part of it, a small part, got posted. My mistake, I’m sure, so I’ll be more careful today.
So far, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. We live in a busy area, very crowded with tiny restaurants and other small stores lining the streets. Since we are located next to an ENORMOUS university–I don’t yet know how many students there are–which is really several campuses strung together, there are naturally students everywhere also and their favorite mode of transportation is motorbikes which line the streets. Mostly, we just walk in the streets because the sidewalks are crowded with “stuff” from the stores and restaurants spilling out onto them. There is a large, open air food court close by and we have sampled from the array of street food on offer. I will send some photos of that when I have a collection.
Everyone we have met has been so friendly and helpful but most have very little English. I find, once again, that people can generally get basic information across even when they don’t share the same language. I went to the 7 Eleven (yes, there are many here!) yesterday to try to find a card reader for my new camera. Two employees immediately came to help me when they saw me looking at each one they had. when it turned out they didn’t have one that would work for me, the young clerk led me out of the store and a couple of blocks away to a store that could help me. I couldn’t believe that. So nice.
Fr. Lee and others with the church have also been more than helpful. Serene, another temporary missionary (although she is about a third of the way through a year’s mission) from Singapore, has been so good to us. She lives two doors down the hall. She took us to a major shopping center on Saturday and we picked up a few things for our new digs. A shower curtain with a tension rod was one purchase as our tiny bathroom has a European-style shower–a shower head in the corner of the room which means everything in the whole room gets wet when you shower.
TUESDAY, MARCH 7,2017
I am having technological difficulties and cannot currently send any photos so hope to resolve that somehow today. It is frustrating because I have so many pictures I wanted to share. But, I’m posting anyway and will catch up with the pictures as soon as I can.
Yesterday was our first day to teach. For the first session, four students showed up. We observed Serene teaching and also participated. I really enjoyed the students who are eager to learn, friendly, and respectful. Afterwards the students hung around to talk for a long while and play board games. They seem to enjoy that a lot. They went out to get some dinner, brought it back, and we all ate together.
The Cornerstone Student Center where we teach is just across the street from us and there is a little “living room” there which is used as a second classroom when needed. We can use it to hang out in when we want so we don’t have to just sit in desk chairs in our room. It also has a washer which I will put to use soon. There are no dryers so I will bring everything back here to dry on our balcony.
Hopefully, I will have some photos the next time I post.
We have arrived! It was an incredibly long trip, made longer by the inevitable flight delays of all three flights. The longest was in Beijing where we waited, standing, about two hours. We were pretty tired by then after our 13 hour flight in cramped seating. From door to door, our travel time was approximately 36 hours. After arriving in Bangkok, it took to get through immigration, finding our baggage after we were given the wrong carousel number, and customs. Fr. Lee had been waiting for 3 hours when we finally appeared–at about 5 a.m. Because it has taken a while to get our computer up and running, my first post is much later than I expected and it is now Sunday afternoon.
Since we flew over the top of the world to get to China, I thought you might like to see a photo of what it looks like near the North Pole. We never did see that little barber pole with the snow on top but I’m sure it is there somewhere. We were about 7 miles up so perhaps that explains it.
Sa Wat Dee/Ka (Hello!) You can recognize that it is I, Bonnie, writing this because Chuck would have said “Sa Wat Dee/Krop– Ka is used after each sentence by women and Krop is used by men. That’s your first Thai lesson.
The time is winding down and it is now just 4 days until we will be leaving for Thailand. We are pretty much packed up and ready to go with just a few things left on our “to do” list. We’re very excited.
Here is a photo of us with our Thai language and culture teacher, Nina, at our final lesson. We are so happy to have met Nina; she is an excellent and patient teacher.
Sa Wat Dee/Ka (Goodbye–same as hello. Isn’t that easy?
“We’re not sinners, we’re Twichells,” Henry said this morning at breakfast while we read our devotions. Trying to parse our true identity as sinners and saints with a toddler who wholeheartedly embraces literalism is quite a task first thing in the morning. As our family has journeyed toward serving fully with Agape Year we are learning to live more fully into who we are as God’s children, His beloved. Our earnest prayer for Agape Year is that its participants will allow this true name, Beloved, to resound in his or her soul with gladness.
As His beloved, we are trusting our Father for our provision. Upon guidance from SAMS, Nate will be leaving Trader Joe’s on March 5 to engage fully with partner and program development for Agape Year. This is a step of faith for us. We are both terrified and exhilarated. This step makes aware of how little our faith is at times, but are confident of how faithful God is.
We are in need of:
prayer! Tons of peace and wisdom as we seek to bring Agape Year to reality.
Financial support! We’re in need of $3000 of monthly support to continue to be sustainable as full time directors of Agape Year.
Participants! We’ll be in the D.C. area mid March and South Carolina early April with the hopes of recruiting both participants and supporting churches. We’d love to meet up with you or appreciate any connections you think would be helpful!
Join us in this prayer from Walter Brueggemann as we trust our true identity:
You are the God who makes extravagant promises. We relish your great promises of fidelity and presence and solidarity, and we exude in them. Only to find out, always too late, that your promise always comes in the midst of a hard, deep call to obedience. You are the God who calls people like us, and the long list of mothers and fathers before us, who trusted the promise enough to keep the call. So we give thanks that you are a calling God, who calls always to dangerous new places. We pray enough of your grace and mercy among us that we may be among those who believe your promise enough to respond to your call. We pray in the one who embodied your promise and enacted your call, even Jesus. Amen.
As I am heading to Peru tomorrow I covet prayer covering while I am away.
The purpose of this trip is to lead a retreat for the teachers at San Mateo School as we prepare them to share leadership this coming June when we do another Bible School. A team of four from Grace Anglican Church, Fleming Island, FL, will join me on Saturday. I shall also take that team down to Arequipa to explore mission opportunities.
As I arrive in Peru I will be joining Susan Park who is hosting a varied and diverse group of partners and friends of Peru. Bishop Dan Martins of Springfield, IL and his assistant Fr. Mark Evans are there on a one-week visit so as to renew their Peruvian partnership. Shortly arriving is a team from the Diocese of Worcester, England and their bishop – The Rt. Rev John Inge who is giving a teaching series at the Cathedral, will join them later. Towards the end of the month a group from the Diocese of South Carolina is coming to explore missionary opportunities. Also joining us will be a representative of the Diocese of Gibraltar.
I am excited. After a hiatus of a year we are beginning to see a new series of partner in mission relationships emerging. It is for this that I have worked over the whole of last year and more. The changes in the diocese of Peru since Bishop Godfrey has left have been many. In this time the Diocese, under the leadership of Bishop Jorge Aguilar, has completed a detailed evaluation of the state of the Diocese. They have allied themselves very strongly with the Province of South America. They have abandoned any idea of becoming a separate province of the Anglican Communion, which was proposed about two years ago. They have established goals for clergy and lay people, which put spiritual formation, evangelism and discipleship as Anglican Christians at the forefront. They have planned a series of teaching occasions over the course of the next year.
Lima will be very different from Vermont. Today we are being blanketed by snow. Tomorrow night I shall be in hot and muggy Lima. This is one of the hottest summers on record for them. This is made worse by severe water shortages caused by damaging rains that have blocked the water systems.
Please pray for safe travels, good and useful conversations and a renewal of partnership relations.
Partner with SAMS this World Mission Sunday. Discover the different ways you can celebrate mission and raise awareness in your own community.
World Mission Sunday is a day for churches to come together to reflect on the importance of global mission and how they can get involved as a congregation. It is tradition in the Episcopal and Anglican Church to celebrate around Epiphany, which is February 27th this year. As an Anglican Global Mission Partner, SAMS-USA seeks to raise awareness of the importance of global missions and the support of missionaries. In Acts 1:8 Jesus calls us to participate in world-wide mission, “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.” Here are five ways you and your church or diocese can participate in World Mission Sunday this year:
Hold a dedicated service: Celebrate and raise awareness as a church by using this Litany for World Mission. Here are some resources for you to use.
Educate: Invite a missionary to speak during or after church, and educate your congregation about what is happening overseas. Want to learn more about missions, Five Talentshas listed their favorite mission books here.
Be stewards of mission: Mission does not just have to be overseas. Encourage your congregation to participate in mission right where they live. Organize a mission day by serving a ministry that your church has a heart for.
Take up a special offering: On the day you celebrate World Mission Sunday, consider collecting a special gift for the missionaries or ministries you support.
Pray: Pray for how God is calling your congregation to participate in global mission. Pray for the missionaries in your church. Pray for those who are discerning the call as a missionary.
We encourage you to be a witness of mission this year. Observe World Mission Sunday right where you are by sharing testimony, prayer, stewardship, and education about missions in your church.
If you are interested in receiving printed material to promote missions in congregation, contact the SAMS-USA office today at 724-266-0669.
Prayerfully consider partnering with SAMS this year for World Mission Sunday by giving to the Great Commission Fund through this Virtual Care Package that will raise up, support, and send missionaries in the name of Jesus Christ:
$100 provides a retreat for a missionary
$50 equips 5 missionaries with a day of cross-cultural training
$25 provides a home staff member with a one-day staff retreat
