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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Promised Land - Bustling with Activity

Just like the title suggests - the Promised Land Project here in Thailand is bustling with activity. Take a look at how God is using the Sound of Hope to fuel this activity!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Reunions, Driver License, and Digging Wells

It's been a good week! And since we are about to start a new one here in Thailand I thought I'd bring you the highlights from the last several days.

Reunions

Loved hearing from my World Race family!
Me and several of my former World Race squadmates from 2008 had a get together online Thursday. You gotta love skype! Not everybody from our team could be there, BUT it was great hear, and see many of my favorite people who I consider family. It's a real trip seeing all the marriages, and now BABIES that are on the way!

Driver License

That's right folks - I'm legitimate! I got a real deal Thai government document - a driver's license!

Believe it or not, it wasn't too much of a pain to get. All I had to do was run by immigration, show them my condo lease to prove I had a residence here. Then I took the document I got from those guys and went over to the Thai DMV with my passport, Michigan DL and a certificate from a health clinic stating that I'm healthy to operate a vehicle. Yes, you have to get a physical in this country to get a license.

Anyway, once they had my info, I took an eye-sight and reaction test, then paid my money, got my photo taken and that was it. The whole process took less than 3 hours. For anyone who has been overseas, you know that is a miracle:)

Digging Wells

Work is continuing on the Promised Land project thanks to another large donation ($3000). This money will be used to dig and equip two wells on the property. We got a team of four World Race guys that showed up this week just in time to start working on it! Look for a video update soon.

Have a great week, and thanks for checking in!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

4 Weeks

It's hard to believe Ericka and I have been in Thailand for exactly FOUR weeks! It's sad really, because I LOVE this country, the people, our friends here, and the ministry so much. I hate that time is going by this fast.

We've done TONS, and LOTS of things have happened since we got here - such as:
  • Introduced Ericka to one of my most favorite countries on the planet! 
  • Spent a few days in Bangkok.
  • Met my grandfather's double-first cousin in Pattaya, Sam Waller.
  • Put together a video of Ericka's reaction after seeing first-hand the "red light" district.
  • Moved up to Chiang Mai and reunited with our great friends. (The Wards, Mark Stratmann, our wonderful Thai connections - Pastor Panya, Rapee, Weelapong and his family)
  • Searched for two days SOLID for a place to live.
  • Spent a couple days at the Promised Land getting TONS of video footage and interviews.
  • Moved into our new place.
  • Put together a Promised Land Update Video.
  • Flew to Pattaya to pick-up a car from my cousin Sam.
  • Drove the 10-hour drive back to Chiang Mai - CRAZY!
  • Shot, produced and edited a support video for a friend here in Thailand. It's really good you should watch it HERE.
  • Thanks to my cousin Sam - the Sound of Hope has been able to direct $2,670 for the construction of a fence around the Promised Land project. PLUS, an additional $1,670 will be used to lay a concrete foundation/flooring and add a tin roof to the boy's dorm in our refugee camp children's home. That's more than $4,300 directly into the hands of our indigenous partners who are using the money to benefit children in this area! HOW COOL?!
And there's more:)
  • We started our weekly Thai lessons - yes, I can speak Thai, well kinda.
  • Played with MASSIVE tigers.
  • AND now I'm in the process of getting a Thai driver's license.
Wow. That's a lot! And we still got so much more we want to do, and need to do.

Can't wait to see what the next ten weeks bring!

Here's just a few of my favorite pics so far!
This picture was taken right after seeing Pastor Panya and Rapee for the first time in more than 2 years!

This is Ericka's Valentine's Day surprise - a trip to Tiger Kingdom

This thing is MASSIVE!

Our sweet little Thai Condo

Hanging with cousin Sam - I LOVE this picture:)





Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Promised Land Project

I'm VERY excited to tell you about one of the projects we are working to support here in Thailand - The Promised Land.

The Promised Land project all started with the dream of a Thai-Karen couple, Panya and his wife Rapee. Located near the border of Burma, The Promised Land Children's Home will be a place where children are rescued from desperate situations such as poverty, abandonment, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, or being forced to fight as child soldiers.

Approximately 7 acres of land has been purchased, which will allow The Promised Land to become much more than just a children’s home. The Promised Land will be a safe environment where children will be given love, stability, shelter, mentoring and an education. At The Promised Land, marginalized children will have a safe place to learn real life skills such as farming, fishing, raising livestock and other agricultural training. The agricultural products that will be developed will allow The Promise Land to become self-sustaining once the buildings are built and children are settled in.

This model of holistic care and self sustainability will EMPOWER the children as they grow older. It will give them the skills they need to provide for themselves and their families AND the opportunities they need to become leaders in their country!

This project is overseen by our partners in Thailand - which are the Thai-Karen couple Panya & Rapee, and an American couple, Ray & Candace Ward who have served in Thailand for 10 years.

An overall estimated 3,000,000 Thai Baht (approximately $100,000 USD) will be needed to see this project fully become a reality. Any amount you can donate will help bring HOPE and OPPORTUNITY to orphans and vulnerable children from Burma and Thailand for generations to come!


Promised Land Project (Thailand Trip Update) from Rusty Jackson on Vimeo.

To DONATE to this project click HERE

Also, we are happy to report that since getting to Thailand we have been able to raise 80,000 Baht (about $2,600) specifically for this project. This money is being used to build a much needed fence around the property.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Settling into Thai Living

The past week and a half has been jacked packed with apartment hunting, unpacking, work and travel.

I tell you, trying to find a place to live in an unfamiliar city, half way across the world in a culture where you don't speak the language is EXHAUSTING:) But after two FULL days of looking at places - and we must've seen about 15 of 'em - we finally found a home! Have a look.
Then a day after we found this place we headed out to the mountains to spend a couple days working at the Promised Land (it's one of the two orphan/at-risk children projects we support here). I got a bunch of video and in the next few days Ericka and I will be posting a short video update about this project.
Our happy reunion with Pastor Ban Ya and his wife Rapee out on the Promised Land.


And finally yesterday, we flew back down to Pattaya to pick-up a car from my cousin Sam. He's letting us use one of his vehicles while we are in country. It's a little Honda City - and as Sam says - it goes like a bullet:) We'll drive back to Chiang Mai (the length of Thailand) on Monday. Can't wait for our Thai road trip - should be interesting:)