I have officially survived one week in Thailand and one week with squatty potties and bucket showers! I feel like a real Thai, eating, sleeping, and living every day life with the natives. And surviving the food, oh the food…. Rice is life here. Every meal… every day. Rice with spicy sauce, rice with sweet sauce, rice with soy sauce, fried rice, egg and rice, rice with fruit, rice with meat (which is most of the time a mystery meat). I have managed to eat a cricket, coagulated pig blood, pig liver, and a chicken uterus in this short time frame. Oh, and I cant forget about the worms in our water here. Those are my favorite! In our spare time, we ride and kiss elephants, throw three year olds birthday parties, worship in a language I don’t understand at all, laugh about the mouse that likes to wake us up in the middle of the night, comb out our friends lice, and eat insects and ice cream from the local market! But anyways, this country is so captivating and rich in culture. The people are kind and loving and open and I know God is doing big things here.
Elephant adventures
Yoel’s third birthday party. We got him a watch and cake balls and he was content!
The kids are stealing my heart one by one. Everyday I look forward to seeing their smiling faces running towards me yelling, “Teacher! Teacher!” I thrive off of their dirty, sweaty, little hands grabbing my arms and legs and tugging me in all directions. I will never forget the herd that surrounded me, the “farong” (white person), the first day at the school and the herd that chased us all the way down the street after school because they didn’t want us to leave yet. My new favorite phrase is, “Teacher, selfie?” We are like local celebrities here. It’s crazy.
Majority of the children and teachers at the school are Buddhist. And when I say majority, I mean there are probably less that 10 Christians in a school of over 1,000 kids. It amazes me that here, you can walk in a school with a cross around your neck and it’s not normal. In America, it is so accepted and almost a norm in most areas. When you tell a child you are a Christian their jaws drop a little and they look very confused. When you talk about God, they think about Buddha. It blows my mind. I always knew that other religions were common all around the world, but there is something heartbreaking about seeing thousands of children on their knees worshiping a statue because it is all they have ever known. We are not encouraged to preach the gospel while we are teaching, which is understandable because we are there to help them learn English and not to change their lives. But, at the same time, that is the problem, because we do want to change their lives. I want so badly for them to feel the love and unexplainable peace of Jesus. My favorite part of teaching is slipping in a “God loves you” even though some of them have no idea what I am saying because of the language barrier. I may not be able to transform these kid’s minds through a class or bringing them to church with me, but I can overflow a classroom with prayer, love, and hope and trust that God will work in their hearts. I pray that even if I cannot teach them the gospel directly, that they can at least see Christ shine through me and want the freedom that I have received through Him. I know God is working through us here in ways that we cannot even see. I ask you to join in prayer with me for all of the students and teachers and the people here in SiKhoraphum, Thailand as well.
God is transforming my heart here in Thailand. He is showing me how to triumph over my fears. He is telling me everyday that His plan is better than mine, and that if I just trust Him, then there is nothing to fear. Originally, I had this blog titled “Love and Fear” because I thought I would write about how scared I was to be so far away from home and how homesickness is already hitting me. But the past few days, God has given me a change of heart and mind. I feel hopeful. I feel His peace when I look into these kid’s eyes and I feel Him making me brave. He is turning my bitterness into selflessness and my pride into humbleness. He is teaching me to trust him more and more everyday. “Faithful you have been and faithful you will be.”
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18
Love you and miss you all.
-EJ
