Thailand Tales - Alycia Boon

The Thailand Mission team are back and have some great stories to tell. We asked Alycia Boon to share some of her experiences from the trip.

Some Favourite Things

I have a few favourite moments whilst on the trip. One night when we were at the hostel in Omkoi we had spent at least half an hour receiving hugs from each student. We all had to write our names down for each child and take photos. The children at Omkoi made me feel special as I have never received so many hugs in such little time.

Inspired

I loved the fact that whilst in the Tee Ke Kee village the Karen people were happy and content with what they had in life. If they needed something they would have to make it. I found that inspiring as we live in a world where we have so many things that these village people wouldn't even have seen. We rely on so many things whilst the Karen people have such little things to live by with.

Challenged

One of the things that I found was challenging was the limited amount of road rules. When we arrived at Chaing Mai we spent another 3 hours in a small bus (boys went in one bus and the girls in another) to Omkoi. Throughout this trip there was multiple times I thought we would have a head on collision as the driver would overtake at least 2-3 cars each time when coming to a blind corner whilst going through a mountain range.

The other thing that challenged me was seeing the amount of Karen people being baptised. At one stage we all stopped along the way to the village to a small river to watch at least 5 people being baptised. In the Tee Ke Kee village the church only allows those who have been baptised in the church whilst there is communion, those who haven't been baptised would have to wait outside until communion is over. I was one of the many people who had to wait outside. That night has really challenged me and has made me consider the importance of baptism in my life.

Not Alone

I found God helped me in many ways such as being patient at times, being confident in talking to the Karen/Thai people and interacting with them. He helped me to guide other team members at times whilst in Singapore and help out where needed around the hostel and village.

Day to Day Living

The sleeping arrangements varied upon each day of the trip. It started from sleeping on hard mattresses (on the floor), then sleeping bags with mosquito nets over each one of us (village & hostel) to our home stays (the group was spilt up into pairs, Ashley and I stayed at Boat's Auntie's). By the end of the trip we were blessed with a 4 star motel in Singapore which of course was the complete opposite to what I had been used to for the past 2 weeks.

The food was amazing in Thailand although I'm not so sure about the chicken feet dish! Every meal was served with rice so after a couple of days it was become a little hard to want to keep eating rice...although strangely enough I miss it now I'm home.

Lessons

I learned so much about the culture in Thailand and getting to know a few Karen/Thai people. One of the reasons why I went on this trip was to experience a third world country and embrace the culture. I have always wanted to go help out in an orphanage so being able to have the opportunity to go with a group of friends to help out where needed within the village and hostel has given me the confidence I needed before heading to an orphanage. I would like to do further mission work down the track and definitely go back to Thailand. I think my spiritual gift is being able to help converse and interact with those who do not speak English. I found that language was no barrier.

This is just one person's story out of a team of 15. Why not catch up with some of the team in person and ask them about to tell their stories.

The Thailand Team:

Alycia Boon, Ashley McMillan, Taylor Knight, Suzette Fox, Rachel Turner, Natalie Hall, Michael Pfeffer, Andrew Peterson, Matthew Fox, Lachlan Turner, Daniel Yates, Rachael Pfeffer, Gavin Turner and Phillip Fox.