As I left Africa I knew that a lot of changes were ahead. After 4 months on the same team we were getting a brand new team this month. The guys were off to do a month “manistry� which left the women completely on their own. I haven’t been on or been paired with a coed team since I was in Nepal so I wasn’t worried about that aspect of it. They also gave the current team leaders a break and asked some new people to step up and lead for the month. I was one of those that were asked and so I stepped in to lead a team of 6 amazing women.
Team leading had been spoken over me by a few close friends at the beginning of the Race, and I prayed about it then, having peace that if it was something the Lord was calling me to do the opportunity would present itself. I excitedly and a little nervously accepted and then waited to find out who was on our team.
Kelsey, Natalie, Ashley, Katlyn, Me, Katie
My team at the beach on Easter!
We were also going to a completely new continent with a new culture. I was so pumped! New team. New position. New country. New culture. New ministry. Sweet! Let’s go, Jesus!
Thailand…
I’m not gonna lie, it’s been like the Promised Land after 3 months in Africa. 2 contacts that speak fluent English, running hot water, a refrigerator, a Western toilet that flushes, a CLEAN house all to ourselves, the fastest Internet I’ve had in 8 months and even a coffee pot were waiting for us in this majestic land. I’m convinced I would never tire of looking at the scenery: Rubber trees, palm and banana trees, bright flowers, mountains, monkeys and elephants make up a bit of what you see when drive down the roads in Phang Nga.
We started out in Bangkok at the YWAM base and received an orientation into Thai culture and our ministries. Then our men went north to Chang Mai and us women spread out over Thailand to light up this country with the love of Jesus! Several of our teams worked with ministries that fight sex trafficking so they hit the bars to minister to the women there.
My team went down to Phang Nga and partnered with Eagles Rest Foundation. It is a ministry run by a missionary family. They run a retreat center that ministers to the poorest of the poor burned out Asian pastors and their families. Check out their website for more details of how they got started and their dreams for the future.
We did manual labor like painting and cleaning and other outdoor chores as well as helping organize the office and help with some grant research. We also kick-started an English camp to help some children further their conversational English, went on some home visits and even made puppets and pop-up books for a Christian nursery school. In the midst of all of this our contacts took us all over sight-seeing. We ran around Phang Nga and headed down to Phuket as well. I really felt like this month was a good gift from Jesus to me. It went by all too quickly!
