Hello,
This is a not-so-brief update about the flood that's still consuming central Thailand. Thanks all for your emails and prayers. And one of you even made a special donation for the flood victims-- thank you. We are also aware of the difficulty those of you in the east coast faced with the sudden snowstorm, and pray that electricity has been restored for all of you by now.
Sarah wrote in Korean (below), and included the "flood 2011" attached photo of a smiling mother and son who had evacuated underneath an expressway; it made us think of what we usually complain about. I posted some photos on Facebook already, but I'm attaching another one of my family and Newsong people helping make sandbags at the airport. It's been a true joy for me to see my young children eagerly help out in ways they can.
We were scared. We had made plans to evacuate to Chonburi Province 2 weeks ago; I was supposed to teach there last week anyway. Many of our friends did evacuate and are still not ready to return. But when we saw some of our friends in Newsong Bangkok Church busying themselves by helping out at the airport, food centers, and other evacuation centers, even making and delivering food supplies by row boat, we had a family meeting and decided to join in the fun! And it has been much more enjoyable to focus on helping others than in being mired by our own fears. I swapped my teaching schedule with another professor and will be teaching at Chonburi next week instead.
Our tap water smells a little funny as I type, as the inland-freshwater-slow-motion-tsunami is creeping our way. Our friends and pastors who live only a few miles away are now 1 meter under water. Overall, water is receding; but that simply means the immense water from the north is flowing into the center of Bangkok; so while those in rural north are now faring better (eg, down to 1 meter from 2 meters!), those inside Bangkok just a few minutes north of us are now themselves flooded. We are still a little concerned about our safety, and the grocery stores (even expensive ones) are still empty of basic supplies. We no longer want to use the filter for drinking water because of the questionable safety of our tap water, and it's difficult to find bottled water. Time to let our kids drink some soda!
It's been encouraging to see many people volunteer for making and packing food, even lining up to donate blood. At the main airport alone, about 10,000 volunteers come everyday to make 100,000 sandbags. But the weakest link is in the access to the flood victims that have not evacuated. Some of the packaged food gets spoiled before reaching the flood victims. Boats are required to reach them, but they're few in number and expensive.
Newsong Bangkok Church has decided to postpone the execution of our vision for decentralizing a few months while we deal with the great flood. Global Hope, a non-governmental organization, has donated $10,000 for GP Thai missionaries to use for relief work in Thailand. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and strength to help our neighbors, and let me know if you want to make a special donation for the flood victims.
Thank you,
Paul
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