Our daughter and the tsunami

[Silver72]

I don't know what our daughter will do next, she is an adventurous young woman. She left her job and volunteered to go to Phuket, Thailand and assist with relief efforts. She and a friend are paying their on way and arrived in Phuket yesterday. They had updated their passports, contacted the State Dept. and taken the necessary shots before leaving.

We put her in contact with a relative of a friend that has lived in Thailand for the past three years. He has taken it upon himself to volunteer relieve help to the area and is experienced somewhat in these things.

We have received emails from our daughter upon her arrival in Bangkok and again when they got to Phuket. The information she sends is hard to believe. I think her sense of smell will take a long while to recover when she comes home.

Please wish her well in her latest adventure.

[gagirl]

Will keep her in my prayers. I am sure that those that need her there appreciate the sacrifice she is makeing. I am sure you are very proud of her.

[lead]

She's in my prayers too. The generousity and compassion of our people is what makes America great. The media may not notice, but the people there will.

[Marlin]

Prayers offered for both in this endeavour.

[Eagle Guns]

You should be very Proud of her,Please give her my Thanks.

[SouthernMoss]

She's obviously a wonderful, compassionate woman, and I know you are proud of her.

[fishermanben]

Wow, be proud. I wish I had the sense of initiative that she is displaying. She sounds like an amazing girl. She isn't by chance living in Central Illinois is she?

Ben

[rosierita]

prayer said from here.

[Silver72]

Originally Posted by fishermanben

Wow, be proud. I wish I had the sense of initiative that she is displaying. She sounds like an amazing girl. She isn't by chance living in Central Illinois is she?

Ben

Nope, she lives in Salt Lake City. Mom and I go up once a year and the three of us do the things we don't see here in Texas, i.e. Yellowstone, Cody, The Arches, Cayonlands, etc.

[pickenup]

Prayers and best wishes going out from here.

[punchie]

Prayers offered

[Carl S]

Outstanding; you should be very proud of her. She is on our prayer list.

[Silver72]

Well, our baby daughter is trying to get back to God's country but is having slight problems.


"I am stuck in bangkok. What a mess... Delta doesn't have a ticket office at the airport - imagine that. If i am exchanging an existing ticket i have to go to their office downtown. so I left Phucket todaywhere i have been for the last couple of weeks and arrived at my hotel. They said i had to hurry to the delta office because traffice was so bad that i might not make it on time. Without traffic it would be a easy 20 minute drive. with traffic, a good hour. I had to exchange my ticket before 5pm when they closed. I rushed from the hotel, leaving my luggage with the bell captain and got a cab to the office in time. Unfortunately I left the paper ticket in the luggage at the hotel, not even thinking about this until she asked me for it. I'm not sure why they cant issue another ticket without the original and just cancel the first one, but they wouldn't do anything to help me and I rushed back to the hotel to get the paper ticket - the 20 minute skyway ride took 45 minutes. By this time the delta office was closed. They don't open until tomorrow at 9am. One reason i choose to leave today was that there were no flights available on the 3rd-4th at the time.

I am staying at the Regency Park hotel tonight. I got a really cheap fair through one of the volunteers at the center who knows someone there - but i don't know who or how to reach him. They are booked for tomorrow. Not sure what to do... I won't be able to talk with delta until after 9am tomorrow. I am in a internet cafe across the street from the hotel. I now have friends in Bangkok - people i have met at the volunteer center so I plan on seeing if i can reach them today. some friends are still at the center in Phuket, I think i have information for 2 people the should currently be in Bangkok.

I'll enjoy Bangkok while i'm here. I'm a little frustrated with it. I really struggled with leaving, and if it wasn't for Zephyr, i would for sure stay. I son't want to where out my welcome at the taylors. Kenny has been staying in the house for about 8 days. he said he's keep zephyr as long as I needed and i know he would without a problem.

i'm off to dinner at a market near by. I eat there when John aand i first got to town and it was delicious.

I'll keep you informaed. i guess I can catch up with my email journals if nothing else. The internet cafe i am in is directly across the street for the hotel.

Love me"

[inplanotx]

She is a very wonderful woman, Silver. You should be quite proud. I hope she is able to connect on her flight and get home without much more trouble. She is in my prayers.

[SouthernMoss]

Thanks for the update, Silver. This will make quite a story to tell her grandchildren one day!

[Silver72]

She is now trying to book on Korean Air, hope she has luck. Here is the last message we received on the work she was doing.

"I think we upset the army by winning the tug-of-war competition yesterday. We had agreed to a re-match for the end of the work day today, but the rope mysteriously disappeared, and it was not the confident Westerners that hid it! It is all good!

It is nice to see the same faces of the monk, villagers and army as we show up each day and work side by side. We share food and laughs even though the language barrier continues. The "women's work" has been complete now for a couple of days and we have been granted the honor to participate in the man's work. This is not only the chopping, raking, fire burning, wheel burrow moving, etc. but also the hands-on gift of working on the temple and sacred temple articles and tasks.

Once the temple is in good condition and the monk is set up, the community will start rebuilding. They are so focused around the safety of the Budda and the peace and healing that Budda provides, that it is the most important thing we can do for this community right now. It has been an honor working on this project. Normally woman are not allowed to do the work we are doing - touching the budda (we have washed and polished nearly 300 now, besides the big budda that stands about 15 feet high).

Women NEVER touch the monks' robes, but we have been washing what seems like hundreds of them (the entire basement under the temple was full of mad and debrie). After a couple of days of hauling the mess out from under the temple, it all had to be cleaned. These are very sacred tasks and the monk is making acceptions during this time of trajedy. We are all seen as the same - not just brothers and sisters - but humans with good hearts and the best of intentions. It is interesting to see some of the locals react to this decision of the monk. They know how forbidden it is an it has taken much reassurance for them to accept it. But once accepted, they are grateful and inspired that we take such care in handling their sacred belongings. Consider yourself a huge contribution to this project. Know that you are just as much apart of these final touches on the budda as I. For if it wasn't for you, I might not be here and acting on your behalf as well as my own.

Tomorrow we will be finishing the cleaning of the big budda. The budda sits on a platform that is surrounded by a pool that is under ground. It is a good 6-7 foot deep and proably runs 20x20 foot. We are currently sanding every inch of the budda and it's pool. In order to prepare it to paint al the old grime has to come off. We could do a half-ass job and be done with it, but that is not what we were here for and not our style. After the budda is clean we will re patch areas that are damaged with concrete, let it dry, sand it a bit, then start to prime and paint.

WE continue to receive food that I can't identify and continue to enjoy it. Throughout the days the locals, men and women will bring us plates of food to eat, sliced vegetables, fruit, rice, fried chicken, etc. I will miss the fresh pineapple and coconuts. A local will often bring the whole fruit and then carve it and slice it, or crack the cocnut big enough for a straw and we pass it around.

The mama dog has moved her puppies to a new location. The land looked like a war zone before we got there with rubbish and debrie everywhere. Very chaotic. Now it looks like a different kind of war zone. WE have burned all we can burn and I am not surprised mama moved her pups. there is not shelter immediately by the temple anymore. The international humane society gave me dog food and medication for her to help deworm her and caure mange and whatever else she has. This will get past down to the pups in her milk. She is so thin that she is not lactating as much as she should to feed that many pups. A second dose of meds will be given in two weeks. Since she skitish and I can't touch her, she can not receive shots directly. I had to squirt it on some meat in the hopes she would eat it.


That is it for now. More to come...

[Silver72]

I hope I'm not running this into the ground, but we, Mom and I, are releived that our daughter is home safely. Here is the text from message sent from her home.

She felt your prayers!

"It is 3:52AM and I can’t sleep. I arrived back in Salt Lake City last night. Jet lag has it’s good side and down side. Down side – I’m not sleeping while the rest of this country is, good side – I am able to write you an email to let you know I am finally home.

I left Korea and flew into Los Angeles. I decided to take an extended layover in LA and visit a dear friend of mine. It just so happens that about 45 minutes away from where I was staying, a new Thailand friend lives who had returned to the states a couple of weeks before I did. We had worked together for three days on the construction site mixing cement and hauling wood. He was born in Thailand and moved to the states when he was 6 years old. He is a wonderful man and a kindred spirit. I am lucky to have met him. Woody had the honor of being the translator between the village men and the volunteers, and was able to share parts of the culture with us that we would not have understood nor appreciated if it weren’t for him.

We were able to meet for brunch while I was in LA and catch up on what had been going on since he left and share our experiences. How cool is that?! I am sitting in a restaurant in LA, CA having brunch with someone I met at a volunteer center during tsunami relief half way around the world! That is about as crazy as running into Aom in Bangkok in a random market. Which is as off the wall as how I got to Thailand in the first place… I don’t think I told you this story…

When I was traveling alone in Europe last year, I was on a train in Switzerland. I heard someone speaking English – which I hadn’t heard English for quite some time – so I asked if I could sit with this English speaking man for a while and ask a few questions. His name is John. We toured Switzerland together for a couple of days and have remained in contact via emails every few weeks since then. The Saturday before I left for Thailand, I got an email from John that he had sent to friends and family announcing his decision to go assist in the tsunami relief effort and that if any one wanted to join him, pack light. I got this email on a Saturday afternoon, purchased my ticket to Thailand that evening, and left for Thailand 4 days later. We met up in San Francisco and flew the rest of the trip together. John left Thailand a week or so before I did, so coming home was on my own. If I hadn’t met John 9 months ago on a train, I certainly wouldn’t have found myself in Thailand! What a crazy world we live in!

I have no doubt in my mind that I will cross paths with my new friends again. In a place like this, there are open invitations to meet up to travel together, or have a place to stay when you come to their country – or even within our own country. So many places left in the USA to see and the same invitations stands when passing through. Young, old, wealthy, not so wealthy, male, female, we all have a love for adventure, stepping outside the box, open hearts and open homes. There is a sacredness and respect that is shared throughout the travelers, especially this group. We become each other’s tour guides and translators. I am excited to see where my next adventure leads me.

I know I will be processing more of my experiences as time goes on. I know there is so much that didn’t get written down either for lack of time, the mental energy to do so, or not feeling it was appropriate to share at the time. This is another good reason for jet lag – I will be able to make the time.

Thanks to each of you for welcoming me into your daily emails an allowing me to share this incredible journey with you. I have felt your presence through out my experience and am moved by the amount of support I have received. Through many of you finding value in my experiences, you have shared my emails with your friends, family and co- workers. In doing so, you have invited them into their own personal journey of experiencing this amazing piece of history in a way they would have never experienced it. It has become personal.

I have received many, many emails, donations for the mission and Thailand communities I am personally touching, well wishes, and prayers from those close to me as well as people I have never met before. Your emails and prayers have carried me sometimes when my heart was heavy and grieving, and my body shaking from what I saw and experience. As I have been working and sweating, know that your hands are as much a part of my experience as mine are. You have been with me every step of the way. You may never know the power of your presence and prayers. If not for you, my experience would have been totally different. I hope I have given you the closest experience I could give you to being there.

To each of you, those I know, and those I hope to meet one day, thank you for believing in my mission and me to touch, heal, honor and assist. Together, we are rebuilding what Mother Nature took away. Not just the physical elements of rebuilding what was destroyed, but also giving joy, warmth, compassion, and love to those who are stricken by grief, children as well as the adults. Our time there was brief, but I know it will have a lifetime of effects. I gratefully have been blessed with the opportunity to experience human kind in an unfathomable way. I am honored to have been graced with so many Thai and non-Thai people, survivors, volunteers and you.

To those of you that physically worked beside me that left Thailand before I did or are still there, thank you for showing up in my life and touching me with your hearts and spirits. I truly know we have encountered each other at the perfect time. Even though my purpose in going to Thailand was to serve, I feel like I am the one who has been served. My heart and my mind have been touched in ways I will not forget.

If you are reading this email you will know the power of the human heart. You have seen it, felt it and given it. Some use their hands, some use their expertise, some use their talents, some contribute with prayer, energy work, words of encouragement and sharing of knowledge with others. Still, we are all the same – even the victims, both the ones who died and the ones who survived the tsunami, are the same as the ones who have given in their own way to help, comfort and heal. We all have the same capacity to love, give, grieve, hurt and be hurt. An in a matter of moments, it could all disappear. If the earthquake had hit a 9.0 on the Richter scale at a different location on the earth, they might be the ones coming to assist us in our time of despair.

Thank you again for listening as I ramble my way through my thoughts and emotions, experiences and events. I hope that I have been able to give you even a glimpse of what life was like during this extraordinary adventure. Thank you for walking beside me and holding my hand. You have truly been a gift to me.

I will be sending pictures to you so you can see what I have been doing and what I have been referring to as soon as I can. I get to balance recovering from my experience with being back in this place in time where I must concentrate on my own search for my livelihood. The world is a different place now. My purpose and the way I show up in the world will be affected, I’m sure. I was fortunate enough to lose my job at a time when the world seemed to have so much more going on that deserved focus and attention. I am grateful for my experience. Thank you again for your prayer and support during this spiritual journey and historic event. It will not be forgotten.

Take care. God bless.
Love,
Christine"

[SouthernMoss]

Thanks for sharing Christine's email with us. She's obviously an extraordinary person.

[Marlin]

Marvelous person, Silver. Thanks for letting us get a peek!

[inplanotx]

Silver, that is one extraordinary lady you have there. You should be very proud of her.

[358 winchester]

Silver you and your wife should be very proud of your daughter you brought her up the right way and it shows. Please pass on my "Thank you for show the world how Americans care"
Ron

[Silver72]

Now all she has to do is find employment.