For the past three weeks since my team and I arrived in Thailand, I keep starting blogs, but end up not feeling inspired to write much at all.
As I write this, it is 10 at night in Thailand, and my team and I are half way through our 4 hour drive back from today’s ministry which was in a small village in Northeast Thailand. We are in the back of a truck, which they call a taxi… So this is the perfect time to attempt a blog!
My team and I live in Korat, Thailand, at the Tamar Center which happens to be an adorable coffee shop! 100% of the proceeds from the coffee shop to go girls/women who decide to leave prostitution to start new lives. This money is enough to support and get them on their feet while they get their lives in place!
For the next 2 months or so, my team and I will be doing a few different things with the Tamar Center: for the month of December we will be organizing and putting on Christmas parties for kids in surrounding villages who don’t yet know the true meaning of Christmas. My team and I put on a skit of the birth of baby Jesus; and I am Mary, its pretty funny… Because I’m a horrible actress, but we have a lot of fun! We also prepare games, songs and dances for the parties.
Another thing we will be doing is building relationships with the women who work on the streets. This Saturday (tomorrow) we are going to the streets and offering to “buy” prostitutes for 2 hours in order to have them come to a Christmas party where we will have food, games, presents for them, and hopefully be able to share the love of Jesus with them! I am nervous as well as stoked to see what God will do that night — I know it’s going to be amazing!!!
After the holiday season is over, we will be doing some more English camps in schools and surrounding villages. With the wide majority of people here being Buddhist, teaching English is a wonderful way to build friendships which will hopefully lead to opportunities to share Jesus’ love with both students and teachers!
Thailand is so much different than Guatemala (obviously), but the change is fun and refreshing. I am definitely already being challenged more here than I was in Guatemala, or at least in different ways than I was. The language barrier is really difficult, but we have a fabulous translator named TookTik who goes everywhere with us. The food is a challenge for me, but I also have loved trying lots of new things!! Korat does not have many tourists at all, so locals are very interested in us being here!
Our team is alone for the first time on the Race and it has been wonderful to see how much closer we have grown, even in just the past few weeks! I am truly so thankful for each of the women on my team! Each of us is so different, but are learning what it really means to rely on one another.
I can’t wait to see what God does here in Korat! He is SO good, faithful, and loving. I am thrilled to share that with others, here in Thailand!
Happy Holidays!!!
XXX
