As a member of GSV, we have committed to paying special focus to the 4 tenets of simplicity, community, spirituality, and social justice. For the domestic volunteers, they commit to building community with the 3 or more people whom they live with for the next year. They achieve this by having a “community night” and a “spirituality night” every week, basically doing intentional communal activities. We have agreed to these as well, partly in solidarity with our fellow volunteers, but to add some extra intentionality to our lives.

While we were at orientation, there were times when we felt the information being covered was less relevant. We are, after all a married couple who will be living in a community of 2! We are not likely to go through the normal phases of group building, and we have been part of this community for many years now. Our wonderful program director, Kimberley, has continued to encourage us to use this year as a special opportunity to reflect on our community/family practices and adjust or create anew for our future.

As I reflect on our last few years, our first few as a married couple, there is obvious room for improvement and a need to focus on our community. Complicating the fact that we both love to stay very busy with working very different schedules had caused our communication and community to suffer. As ships passing in the night, we often just had to blow our horns to prevent a catastrophic collision – lots of logistics, limited connections. Of course the difficulty of preparing for this journey while meeting the everyday needs of normal life might influence my memory toward the negative.

Getting on a plane and waking up in a new community 30+ hours later comes with it a lot of thoughts and emotions. We are so appreciative to have such a wonderful community at home, which so generously supported us, in every way possible, as we embarked on this dream. Financially, our support network has been so generous that they had us speak about some of the methods we used for fundraising to share tips with the other volunteers. But here we are in Thailand, and we have left you all behind and now we have to start over, for now. Luckily we are entering an established community.

In these early days it is hard to feel that I am serving anyone. I have seen nothing but smiles, appreciation, resilience, and patience from the people as they welcome us, try to help us learn Thai, and attempt to use what little English they know to communicate with us. We have proven we cannot cut, quill, or glue in the Hands of Hope. They do these repetitive tasks for about 6 hours a day, and my hands hurt after about 30 minutes.

What I do feel from these people is love and appreciation for us coming here. They honor the sacrifice we (and you) have made in us coming such a great distance. Many struggle with poverty, chronic health problems, and were once ostracized from whatever community they had, but they are clearly appreciative of the relative security and tight-knit community they are a part of now.

Although our skills are relevant and useful, I have little doubt that we will be influenced more greatly by them than them us. I hope that we fahrongs (foreigners) can help find ways to create small, sustainable changes that improve their lives. Perhaps we can teach them to share simple massage or stretches to reduce repetitive use injuries, or teach body mechanics in patient care that will prevent back injuries at the care center. It is clearly too early to understand if and how we can best be of service, but hopefully we can be generous in spirit while we wrestle transition and can awaken with the strength to just love each day.