Our first month in Asia has been absolutely incredible. I love the culture here.
I really
miss Africa, but the Thai people have made me fall in love with this
part of the world all over again. This month we were assigned to a
church up north in Thailand. We worked with a WONDERFUL pastor in his
house church all month. I think this month has for sure been my most
fun yet. Our pastor is an incredible man and he filled our days with
tons of great ministry and lots of laughs.
To begin the month, we arrived on the Thai New Year. Now, I don’t know
if you’ve ever been in Thailand during the New Year, but if you have
then you certainly would not have survived it dry. For the New Year
people drive around and proceed to throw water on each other for three
days! It is hilarious and SO much fun. We are already thinking up ways
to bring this hilarious adventure to the US.
The
first assignment our team had was to run an English camp. We were told
that the students did not know any English, so our first day was filled
with teaching “Hello” and “How are you?”. It actually turns out that
the students spoke very good English and were ready for an advanced
challenge. Even though the camp was only three days, we all bonded
really quickly. I was amazed at how hard the students worked and how
much they actually wanted to learn. They were incredible, and I am
really proud of th
em. God really blessed me with the students of that camp. We were
only there three days, but I could really see the impact that we had on
the students. Even though it was only a short time.
The next
day our Pastor took us to visit some of the villages up in Northern
Thailand. In these villages, many people have yet to hear the
incredible news about Jesus and it was wonderful to be able to pray and
share God’s love with them. In some of my missions classes in College,
we studied people groups exactly like these in Thailand. I felt like I
was living out part of my childhood dreams of going into a village and
sharing God with people who had never heard it before. I really loved
working with the hill tribe people.
We also
got to have many adventures this month. I learned that “ministry” is
just as much spending time with the people, as it is holding Bible
studies and preaching. Our pastor planned lots of fun stuff for us,
including swimming in the river with our clothes on, exercise classes
with the locals, dancing at a Buddhist monk’s acceptance ceremony,
giving gifts to many people in the community, and even playing soccer
with the locals. That’s right, I played soccer…me who hates to
exercise and hates to run even more…I played soccer, and you know what?
I actually enjoyed it! (Mostly because my team won and I made an
assist on a corner kick. I still don’t exactly know what that means,
but I did it!) My favorite part of the month, though, was getting to
know our wonderful pastor and his amazing family. We also had an
incredible translator, Nat, who I am obsessed with. She is a college
student and an amazing Christian girl. She has a passion for the Lord
and is simply perfect.
All in all, Thailand was the perfect beginning to our 3-month Asian
adventure. We are leaving tomorrow for Vietnam, so I don’t think I
will be able to blog much before June. I bought my plan ticket home
today and will officially be back in Atlanta on July 1st!!
I cannot wait to see all my wonderful friends and family! I am so
excited to share with you in person all of the amazing things that God
has done this year!
I have also included a video of my Thai students doing a skit about Jesus in English. Enjoy!
