It has been a great first week and weekend in Thailand. We have spent the last week training and debriefing with leadership and our contact, Emmi. Included in this training were our squad mentor, squad logistic fellow, and our great coaches. They were here waiting on us when we arrived and will be coming out to meet us every couple of months to debrief. These lovely folks left us Saturday evening to head back to Georgia and to continue making it possible for us to be on the field.
First travel day, our squad leader Vanessa's birthday, 3 years running World Race Style (Pic with all the men on the squad)
Team Hollar-julah on scavenger hunt around Chiang Mia
Friday and Saturday we had quite a bit of free time and team time. This was time to get out to explore Chiang Mai, check out local markets, eat lots of local food, and have sweet time with Jesus. Saturday pm we had worship in the cafe, which is located below where we are living; this included my squad, a passport team with AIM, and anyone who desired to join us. It was a wonderful time of worship and praying for one another. After worship, we had an evening of squad "kum ba yah" over introducing each team with creative ways to describe the team. This allowed for a great time to get to know one another better.
Sunday was our first free-day; the girls from my squad went to Tiger Kingdom. We had a taxi pick us up and spent the afternoon with the Big Tigers. It was so awesome to be able to pet and lay with tigers that could destroy me with the snap of a finger. We all got back to the café about 6pm and headed to the Sunday night market that is in the park. This particular market is the busiest on the weekends and there are so many people there; we were shoulder to shoulder. There is tons of food vendors, all kinds of merchandise from clothing to wallets, and the 2nd most delicious waffles I have ever had in my life. Second only to Belgium Liege waffles, there were 8 assorted flavors, and you could top them with all kinds of syrups. So dinner included the waffle, sushi, and homemade popsicles.
Spooning with a tiger:)
Monday we started ministry!! My team will be working in the slums with the children on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Monday-Saturday nights we will be going into the markets and streets to minister to the kids there. We went into the slums Monday afternoon for the first time and had 5 kids come out to play with us. Ranging from 1.5 to 8 years old, this was very eye opening and hard to see the living conditions there. We are praying over these kids and the slums, spending the 2 weeks loving on them. Monday night we went into the market to prayer walk and see the kids that were there. As a squad, we all went out into teams of up to 4 and prayed over our individual ministries. I was with 2 teammates and we were able to see about 15 kids we could minister to this month. We approached the kids by offering them candy and greeting them with hello. Friday of ministry was so great and needing to get in there and see how the Lord guides us. Spending the rest of the week with our individual ministries and loving life in Chiang Mia!
First day of ministry with a few of the kids we meet in the slums
Prayers:
- Continual adjustment to Thai culture
- Personal growth and time in the Lord
- My heart for these Thai children and people
- Soaking in every moment for the next 2 weeks we are here
- Being led by the spirit
- Climate adjustment/World Race lifestyle
- Lighthouse in Action ministry (Ministry we are working with this month)
- Emmi (Our contact)
