Thailand is an amazing country filled with breath taking beauty and heart breaking evil. When I first arrived in Bangkok my dream was to be placed in bar ministry where my goal would be to build relationships with the bar girls in Chiang Mai or Phuket and hopefully persuade them to leave the sex industry. Instead of bar ministry I was placed in village ministry. Village life is; well, wonderful. This past month my new team and I have taught English, built rice houses and walls, played soccer with a bunch of kids, and participated in church services.
Teaching English was quite the challenge because I was simply given an age group and a classroom, asked if I spoke Thai (do I look like I speak Thai), and wished good luck. No translator and no time to plan beforehand I was dropped into a room full of fourteen year olds. Once the terror subsided it really turned out to be quite a bit of fun. I taught them how to pronounce their T’s and H’s and was surprised at the end of a week just how much they had learned. Most importantly we were able to share about Jesus to a school full of Children, while the lifeless statue of Buddha stood in the background.
Throughout January I was privileged to work and live at the YWAM Chaiyaphun. After we finished teaching English we began to work on construction projects at the base. As a farm girl who loved her former construction job, I was overjoyed to be building things with my hands again. We finished the brick wall around the compound as well as the walls and floor of the rice house. A couple times after construction was the opportunity to play soccer, sometimes serving Jesus involves a little play.
All in all except for a couple of rocky patches it was a great month in Thailand.
