Purple homesick Christmas Trees

The holidays are here! In Thailand it’s a bit weird to see Christmas decorations and advertising for Toffee nut latte’s outside of starbucks when it’s 90 degrees outside and there’s sweat rolling down my back. But thankfully the weather took a turn this weekend and dropped to so cold that I was freezing while riding my motorbike even though I was wearing a sweatshirt and two layers underneath! I happily hummed jingle bells as I rode away and the cold weather inspired me to go buy a miniature Christmas tree for my apartment. I decorated it with purple tinsel and a couple ornaments. It now sits in the corner and glows warmly at night and reminds me of seasons past with my family, and comforts me and makes me homesick at the same time.

Last week when my boss invited me to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, it made me SO happy. Because, although I LOVE being here in Thailand, and have many close friends, and people I love, it’s still a little hard around the holidays to be away from family.

Are there people in your community, or on the fringe of your community who may be alone over the holidays? Maybe a student who couldn’t go home? Or an older person who lives alone? Or an international friend who’s never celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas? This is a great chance to BE a community and invite people into your home, or if you yourself are lacking a place to be, gather those around you who may be in the same situation, and be community and family for each other. Have a great Thanksgiving and share it with someone.

"Chilie Eye"

Today was an awesome day spent with great friends in Modesto California. I'm staying with Mary, who just spent 6 months in Thailand working with Compasio in Mae Sot. I really missed her so I drove 5 hours up to see her and some of our friends. We hung out with Aaron (P.Mee), Chris, and Jimmy today, who make up YWAM modesto and have a really cool relational ministry with the poor. They have all been out to Thailand and worked with Compasio and met our kids, so it's really cool to be on the other side and see what they do here in the states.

It's really quite similar, and based out of simply loving and building relationships with those that are overlooked, ignored, or are "hard" to love. They are on a first name basis with the crazy guy on the corner holding up the signs ranting all day. They are serenaded by a lady with a beautiful voice who sings for change. They ask the homeless guy on the corner, how's you're back feeling? Have you talked to your mother lately? How's she doing? They hang out on fridays on the corner of 9th street, one of the hardest places in town, just at the edge of a trailer park and a crumbling hotel that is rented out on a daily or monthly basis. People with names and faces live in really hard conditions and may have come to the end of hope and are strung out on drugs, or selling their bodies to make a buck, but now they are becoming familiar with the faces of my friends who visit regularly and get to know their names and stories and call them "friend". And it's really a beautiful thing to see community being formed, and that they are really treated as our brothers and sisters, not just as "the homeless guy", "the druggie", "the prostitute".

After hanging out all morning with our vagrant friends we headed to the famed line up of Modesto Taco Trucks for an awesome lunch with cold cokes in glass bottles shipped up from Mexico and tacos and burritos. I was enjoying eating big ol' hot peppers with my carne asada burrito, and think unthinkingly rubbed my eye and it started burning! Arley, one of the homeless guys who's become a good friend to the ywam guys, started calling me Miss Chilie Eye, from that point on. It was really cool to be given a nickname by him and when we dropped him off at the lot where he's built a little innovative shack out of tarp and some scraps, he said "Real nice to meet ya Miss Chilie Eye." And I felt exactly the same way. :)

baby tears, haircuts and monkey love

Today I was at the baby house, and Chat (the house dad) was giving the little boys hair cuts. Min Min sat still and was so great. Noan Wai, also endured it pretty well. And then it was lil' 2 year old Nai Nai's turn. He sat in the chair and instantly started crying and reached out for me. This was the first time he's ever reached for me, and I guess his fear of the buzzing clippers was greater than his fear of farang (white people) (Remember he's lived in a prison his whole life, and hasn't ever seen the outside world). I sat and held him while he got his haircut and he clung to me and cried like his heart was breaking, his face pressed up against mine, with his tears running down my own cheek. By the end of the haircut we were both covered in hair and tears. I'm sad he cried, but loved holding him.

It reminded me of when I lived in the village and we had a pet monkey, Ling Ling, oh I miss her! She knew I was her friend and ally when others shooed her away. (I am not really a pet person, but when it came to this monkey, I was in love). So she would come up and cling to me, the only problem was, the dirt and fleas, so we decided to give Ling Ling a bath. She was terrified of water and clung to me tightly at the sight of it. So we decided the only way to give her a bath, was to give me one too. So we began pouring buckets of water over her, and all down me, and soaping her up with shampoo. I swear she was going to break my skin she was clutching me so tightly. But I think, that was the moment I bonded with her so tightly.

Let all that you do be done in Love

This week we were taking a couple of our kids to visit their mother in prison. While we were there one of the guards asked why we had custody of the children. We explained that we have a safe house for children in high risk situations where they are homeless, in danger of being trafficked, or abused. They said, Oh! Can you help us too? There are five babies living in the prison with their mothers and they need a safe home. Wow! How do you answer with anything but Yes! Of course we will! We don't have a house yet, or the staff, but we know that this is a need, we were asked to help, and we must respond! So we have agreed to take in 5 more babies by the end of the month! Please pray that we can find a house to rent and loving and safe caregivers to take care of these children, and sponsors for the babies, and SOON! God loves to answer our prayers. :) I can't wait to tell you how He answers.

Today after our Compasio meeting, in Mae Sot Thailand, we were talking about how ultimately we exist, as people and as a group, to have a heart of love and compassion. We are called to love God and we are called to love people. Those are our two highest aims in life, everything else is just icing on the cake. Working with the poor is definitely not just a job. None of us are in it for the benefits. But each of us are greatly blessed and feel a deep reward when we are able to walk alongside someone who is discarded and overlooked, and look into their eyes and see them as a friend and fellow human. We are not any better than them, we come to serve the dregs of society as Jesus did. It's kind of mind blowing and local people are confused. Like they might warn us, watch out there's a beggar kid following you, and we would turn around and say, yeah, they're with us. And hold their hand proudly as we walk through the market to buy them some lunch. People
stare. It's just not "normal". But are we called to be normal? Is that why we were created? I think God has called us to a radical life of sacrifice and love.


When faced with a hard situation. Let's risk on the side of love. And pray for our Prison Babies!
Love,
-Rachel Snodderly

Garbage School shoes

Feb. 13, 2009
Seventy migrant children walked home from school wearing new shoes today. Last week, one of our teams donated money for shoes for the children that go to the “garbage school” (it’s right in front of the garbage dump in Mae Sot). And we got to have the fun of shopping for shoes and then delivering the presents! The children lined up by class level to try on shoes, found a pair that fit, and then happily compared their gleaming white shoes with each other.

All of the children are migrant kids from Burma . They affectionately call their school “The Garbage School.” Three of the children we sponsor are enrolled here. Every day the children pack themselves into a bamboo classroom with only thin dividers between the three levels, and the babies in the nursery sleep curled up side by side in a small room off to the side. Today the teachers woke up the toddlers to come try on their shoes, and they stumbled over bleary eyed, shirts falling off one shoulder, hair all a mess and they found a gift waiting for them that made them smile. It was kind of like being woken up on Christmas morning to open your stocking. It’s amazing what $1 flip flops can do. Now the children can walk to school down the pot-hole filled roads, with shoes on their feet and a smile on their face.

Walking with Labor pains

We have a new member of our Compasio family! This tiny little guy, who has yet to be named, was born to one of the migrant families we have begun to help. We are so excited to welcome him to the world, and praise God that he made it. His mother was very sick during her pregnancy and has a long history with illness. We have been praying for her throughout the pregnancy. The doctors were not sure if she was strong enough to have the baby, but she proved how strong she was by walking five miles to the clinic when she was in labor! (She didn’t have a cell phone or vehicle).We visited them at home today and are going to buy groceries for them tomorrow. This very family, whom we love, could still use a monthly sponsor to send their three small boys to school, and provide rice and medicine for their needs. Please contact us (rachel@compasio.org) if you want to serve and love them in this way.

A ring from a beggar girl

Feb 13, 2009
I’ve run into a ton of street kids this week and had several touching experiences. I bought water and noodles for one of the sweet little girls, Salima, 10 yrs, and she pulled out a ring (the kind you get in a gumball machine) and placed it on my finger. I said, no, no, you keep it! But she insisted, and I was touched by her act of friendship and love. These guys are our little buddies, and everywhere we drive around town we always see little kids jumping up and down alongside the road waving at us. I love it.

I’ve also had a chance to use my creative side this month. I have been busy getting things together for our new office building we’ve started renting. I’m trying to creatively use the limited resources we have to make a comfortable environment to serve and work in (with lots of pictures of the kids on the walls of course!).

Feb. 2, 2009
I'm so blessed to be back in Mae Sot. I have had awesome times with the street kids and safehouse kids this week! I am adjusting back to being in Thailand and trying to remember how to drive the Land Rover, and stay on the left side of the road. Tomorrow the other staff and I are taking the safehouse kids to where they call "The beautiful place" a reservoir/dam area where we go for picnics. Tonight we just played in a field chasing each other around til the sun set. I loved seeing and remembering how carefree childhood can be, and was so SO happy to see these kids enjoying it. I've loved every minute with them.
Please be praying for one more staff member for the safehouse (because one of their live-in caregivers is getting married next week) we need someone with a loving heart and a LOT of patience. :) And please pray for my re-adjustment and for friendships here and a sense of community.
Love,
Rachel

Jan 20th, 2009

I can't wait to get back to these little cuties in Thailand. These little girls are two of the eight children that live in our safehouse along the Burma border. They used to live on the streets and beg for money but now their lives are transformed and they are in a safe place and being loved and cared for. I'm used to seeing them every day and spending at least a few hours coloring or playing with them. When I heard my friend was smothered with hugs when he came to see the kids I was very jealous, but in a little over a week I'll be ambushed with hugs too. :)

I've been back in the states for the past month and go back to Thailand on the 19th. It's been a wonderful time at home and catching up with friends, but it will be hard to leave (as it always is) but will be great to be back for another term.

Jesus was a refugee

Dec. 20, 2009
Merry Christmas!
I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. I've found myself back in Pasadena for the holidays with my friends and family but am also really missing the street kids out in Thailand. I wonder if they are warm, if their stomachs are full, if they are safe.
Tonight I'm reminded of a child who was born without a home, in a dirty room, surrounded by animal feces. He was born a refugee, destined to wander from town to town. I wonder how often he went hungry, didn’t have a roof, or became exhausted and just laid his head on a rock and cried. He deeply identifies with us in our hurt and weaknesses and this gives me hope. It's incredible to me that Jesus, God of the universe, understood what it was like to be like you and me. This same child also became someone who brought hope to the world. I’m glad that he knows and cares for each life, and these children are precious to him. I’m glad to know my friends that work with Compasio will be looking out for these kids and feeding them every day.

Hoping your Christmas is filled with moments of hope and joy.

Rachel

Kissed by a prostitute

So I've been really really bad about posting on here, and it's about freaking time I guess. So I'm going to post all of the updates I've sent out via email over the past few months to catch you all up.

Pattaya Praise
Nov. 15, 2008

God is taking over Pattaya City!!!
I have just returned to Mae Sot after a couple weeks of being down in Pattaya (where I worked last year with Randy and Edie Nelson). I attended Pattaya Praise and helped to take a couple teams around the city to different events. It was a completely awesome experience to worship God with amazing worship bands in bars, in front of malls, in school auditoriums (with the city Mayor attending and being prayed for), They even let us hand out bibles in a public school assembly and play concerts there for the kids. And even in a huge venue called Tiffany's (a transvestite show that attracts many to the city). We crowned Jesus king over Pattaya in that place and even got to pray for the owner's wife. It is a very significant place in the city as one of the original places that started bringing sex tourists.


Kissed by a prostitute:
It was amazing to see God being worshipped and praised in the places in the pockets of darkness that exist all around the city. We got to pray with students, bar girls and owners, and recovering prostitutes. I ran into a lady that I'd seen in the bars last year and got a chance to pray with her. Her name is Pen. I hugged her and said God loves you very much (in thai) and she beamed a smile at me and kissed me on the cheek. It was so sweet. I think she just felt loved there that night (a pure love unlike what she's used to receiving from crude men), and I think something touched her soul. There were other ladies there that listened to the concert and testimonies but hung back from being prayed for. One had very sad haunted eyes and she was wearing black. I didn't catch her name, but please pray for her and all the women like her.

A glimpse into the city:
We went on a prayer journey and prayed at the gate of the city, and at key places, and on the mountaintop overlooking the city. There were teams of thai dancers that performed, some breakdancing teens too.