It’s hard to believe it is already over a month since I left Thailand, and I think I am still processing it. Thailand was a hard month for me, I felt I was struggling with everything- homesickness, insecurities, comparisons, bronchitis, and physical weakness, not to mention the fact I had to go to the dentist to get two chipped teeth repaired. But, when I look back on this month, I realize this is a month that the Lord was really stretching me and growing me. At the end of the month, my team was telling me how much I had grown, and at first I had a hard time believing this, until I realized that it is through the struggle that God is stretching and growing me.
As our ministry for the month, my team was ministering in the temples- daily we would go to the temple to chat with the monks and build relationships with them. We had many great conversations with them, learning about Buddhism and their culture, and many time it opened up a conversation about Jesus and Christianity. Not every day was easy. Sometimes it was hard to have a conversation, sometimes it felt like just a lot of small talk, and most days felt like we just weren’t making a difference. But that is when we need to remember, we will not always get to harvest, sometimes we are only planting the seed.
In addition to monk chat, every other day we walked about 15 minutes to the slums to spend time playing and loving the kids. Playing soccer, making friendship bracelets, and singing “If You’re happy and you know it” may not seem like we’re doing a lot of good; but, seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids every day when we came made it all worthwhile. And although our team struggled with the unstructured setting of this, and sometimes feeling useless, it was a good opportunity for us to press into something that was hard for us and remember that anything we do is useless without love.
A highlight for our team in Thailand was the time we harvested a cornfield BY HAND!! Our team and another team loaded up on the back of trucks (like a bunch of localsJ) and drove 2 hours into the mountains to small village. We took 2 days to harvest and husk a 2 ½ (approximately) acre field. We were a dirty, hot mess after that, but we had a lot of fun doing it!!
I also got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in Thailand, and yes, we did have pumpkin pie!! It was impossible to find turkey and stuffing, but we managed to enjoy a delish meal in spite of not having the traditional meal. Our team all went out and found some food from the street to add to our Thanksgiving buffet, so we had a delicious spread of: fried chicken, rice, stir fried veggies, and whole wheat bread (whole wheat is pretty much impossible to find)!! It was a wonderful meal, and we celebrated by eating our pumpkin pie on the roof overlooking Chiangmai and giving the Lord praise for what we are thankful for!
Another night I went with the girls that were involved in the bar ministry. Walking into one of the many lit up bars on the street was an eye- opening experience for me. Meeting these brave women, who face this job every day because they feel like they have no choice, like this is the only way to provide for their family. The emptiness when you stare deep into their eyes is heartbreaking. And yet, what can we do but love them for the people they are and accept them and pray for them- they are God’s precious daughters, He MADE them!
So that is why this blog is called “Processing Thailand”. I know it has taken a long time to post, but seriously… it took time to process what happened in Thailand and every moment since.
