Its been a while since my last blog, but the journey and everything I have been able to experience has been amazing. I want to thank all my supporters for this opportunity.
I spent the last month in a village called……. Mai ai, Thailand……… with my new team and one other team. The village was a lot better than what I expected in my head. I had imagined myself living in a hut somewhere with no electricity or running water. But I was suprised to find myself with my own bed with a toilet and running cold water. That was a great suprise. Each team was split up into twos….and we were split up among the houses in the village. So I lived with Zach, my new team leader, and our house was kind of like base camp for meetings and dinner at night. It was a nice house (by Thai standards) and the food was really good. I did eat some pretty crazy things while living there. I ate frog one day…..it was good and a little chewy,….but not bad. We ate ants and ants eggs one day which was a little weird…..ha. They actually didn't taste like anything and were pretty good when mixed in with some sticky rice and some soup. Over all….every meal was great and our "house mom" made sure we had plenty to eat. They would ask 50 times if you "want more" ….and she would not stop asking until you said " I'm gonna be sick if I eat another bite"…..ha.
The ministry was a good experience while being there. We started out thinking our ministry would be towards human trafficking and the sex trade,….but it ended up being different since we were in a remote rural village, We were actually in the "recruiting fields" for the whole sex trafficking operation. Recruiters come to this village to try and entice familys to allow thier daughters to go live in "the big city" . We started out in my "house dads" farm pulling weeds. It was really hot during the day…….but not too difficult of work. It was really wild and I could not believe I was working in a rice field in the middle of rural Thailand every day!!…..it was wild. Some other days we would go work in a nearby fruit farm and do similar work "hoeing" weeds and clearing the land. That was a little more challenging and we would take shifts of 30 minutes which made the itme go by really fast. I loved Thialand a lot more than Central America……and I think it is because Thailand is new and interesting to me. The entire village was a Buddhist community, and I really enjoyed watching them and how they worship their idols. It is a little weird, but I was respectful, and they did the same for us. We had the opportunity to go the temple and see the monks in action, and it was a great experience. The temple was cool and a beautiful building and had a lot of interesting statues inside I enjoyed. The Thai people are very dedidcated to their religion and have enormous faith. I loved the time that I was in Thailand…..I had an enormous time.
I am currently in SIem Reap, Cambodia, awaiting my next ministry assignment in Cambodia. We have been here for 4 days and have been undergoing debriefings, interviews, team excercises, training, and a little sight-seeing. Saturday we were able to visit Angkor Wat……..an incredible part of history. I will know my exact location for ministry in Cambodia in May soon……then on to Malaysia in June.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
Carter
