Well, praise God I made it through a relatively uneventful weekend. After the last month or so, I am relieved that things seem to be returning a bit more to normal. Friday morning I met with the men from the accident and the Thai insurance agent for the last time and fully settled everything from the accident. This was our third meeting, and a lot of time and hassle (and money) have been spent to get everything taken care of. Thailand has this "Thai culture" thing that if you are in an accident with someone, it is culturally expected that you give the party in the accident a "gift" as a way of apologizing and taking care of them. If two Thai's are in an accident, this is a relatively small amount of money. However, if a foreigner is in an accident with a Thai, the amount that you are expected to give jumps significantly. I had to pay 10,000 Baht to each of the two Thai guys who were in the accident (about $650) for this "gift." It is slightly frustrating, but what are you going to do? Otherwise they talk about taking you to court, and that could drag on for an indefinite amount of time, meaning I would have to stay in Thailand until the whole thing was resolved. So I shut my mouth and decided to be "culturally correct" and just pay the "gift". I'm just happy it is resolved now and I don't have to mess with it anymore.
Saturday involved a fun day of avoiding the rain by staying indoors all day. Dan took me to a music store that has piano practice rooms and I got to play the piano with him for an hour and just have some good time of worship. Then we went to another shopping area to walk around and enjoy some ITALIAN food for dinner. So incredibly yummy...
Sunday, Dan and I had to go on another visa run, because they've just recently changed the rule that a border run only gets you 15 days extra in your passport and not 30 days like it used to. So we got picked up for the 4 hour drive to the Myanmar border at 6:45 Sunday morning! Then when you get to the border you stand in a line, get your passport stamped to exit, hop in a 20 minute boat ride across to Myanmar, stand in a line to get your passport stamped that you've entered Myanmar, jump back in the boat for 20 minutes back to Thailand, and stand in another line to get your passport stamped that you can stay in Thailand for another 15 days before riding 4 hours in the bus back to Phuket again! The whole process is very silly, but I couldn't have asked for a better person to do it with. :) Dan has gotta be one of the most fun people ever, so I never mind any time I have to spend with him.
My favorite thing Dan and I did over the weekend was our Sunday night dinner. Almost every night, we walk down to this small "hut" restaurant that makes some fabulous cheap Thai food about 5-10 minutes from the SHE center. Along the way, there are always Thai people out on their front steps or just talking and hanging out in the streets, and we've been able to make friends with some of them. One lady we've met is named Joy and she speaks very good English. She invited us to come eat dinner with her one night, so we went and sat on her front porch Sunday with her and her neighbors and enjoyed a fabulous time of food and fellowship. I was a bit nervous about what we were going to have to eat, and was not relieved when I saw them bringing this WHOLE CATFISH they'd roasted on a stick over to us. But it was surprisingly very good with the sticky rice and spicy Papaya salad. And I think I would have eaten almost anything just to get that time with our new friends. I love people. I love talking with them, laughing with them, and just sharing life with them. I was pretty well beaming when we walked away, because I just really feel like this is what Jesus would have us to do with our time. I'm so grateful that Dan is passionate about loving people as well, cause it is just so much fun doing stuff like that with him. I think I'm gonna have to keep him. ;)
Monday night Dan and I took two girls who are currently helping out at SHE for their first night of outreach to the bars in Patong. It had been nearly 3 weeks since I had been down there, and I think was a much needed break to refresh me for that type of ministry. We didn't stay for too long, but were able to talk to a few girls in a couple of bars, and give the new girls a taste of what the nightlife is like in Patong. It is such a dark place in need of revival. I desire so much for it to happen. Phuket is such a beautiful place, and I would love for it to be known for its beauty more than its commercial sex industry. All in all, though, it was a good time, and I'm happy to be back involved in this work after my forced sabbatical because of the accident and the flu I got right after. God is good. :)
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