Location: Kanchanaburi Farm, Thailand
Time: 5:31 pm
Genre: Informative Blog
Time to answers some question that some might be wondering in a conversation format.
Hey Rye, what has your ministry looked like thus far?
I am so glad you asked. My team and I arrived to our ministry site about 5 days ago. We are blessed to be placed in a beautiful farm valley in the Kanchanaburi district surrounded by cloud covered mountains. Yes, we are in the jungle. My team often jokes that this place cannot be real due to his breathtaking beauty.
The first three days our ministry host was in Australia at a conference. So we worked on the family farm with locals in the area. This included harvesting ten of thousands of bananas, cutting grass and trees with a scythe, and bagging numerous pounds of fertilizer (old sheep waste). The Thai locals worked hard and fast. We tried to work hard and fast. You know when you see a 5’5 125 pound local put two bushels of bananas on his back each having roughly 200 bananas on it-it is time to step up your game. The smiles and laugher of these men will be a memory I will not soon forget.
Hmm..Tell me more?
Okay, sure. Our ministry host arrived last night and talked with great passion about the ministry in the province of Kanchanaburi, the countries of Thailand and Burma, and the Thai people that she has been apart of for 12 years. She went on saying how much growth they saw in the church the first two years of ministry but since has been rather stagnant. She went on stating that they preach the gospel to these people, share their testimonies, give them bibles yet haven’t seen much change. They clean their bibles but don not read them. This is a country where only 1% of the populations identifies as a Christian.
Today we went to neighboring schools and made contact with them. It appears we will be teaching English courses at these schools a couple times a week while we here. The days and months to come are not set in stone in terms of specifics on what we will be doing. Yet I assure you, serving God and His people will be at the heart of it all.
So whats communication and where you live like?
(Holding eye contact). The closest access to Wi-Fi is 30 minutes away by vehicle. Living on a farm. Sleeping on a mattress surrounded by mosquito nets. Showering? I don’t shower back in the states. Shower sometimes works if not bucket showers. (look away for a moment, then back to meeting eyes). The food is incredible. My ministry hosts mother prepares lunch and dinner. She used to own her own Thai restaurant. Meh, the pronunciation of what we call her, knows her way around that kitchen.
What has been God putting on your mind and heart?
Genesis 12 marks a turning point in God’s plan of redemption. After that until now God’s plan is not scattered individuals but a race, a nation. God’s ultimate intentions were to bring every man, every race into a relationship with Him.
God desires, wants, is jealous for us. He wants every tribe, every nation, every person. From Jesus’s broad invitation in Matthew 11:28 to Peter recounting his experiencing to the new believers of God even wanting the Gentiles in Acts 11:18. From the beginning in Genesis 12:3 to the end in Revelation 5:8 it remains consistent. God wants his people.
In this Christ deserves and receives the unrelenting praise of heaven, because with his blood He purchased people for God.
(Looking at watch. Not due to rudeness, yet prior arrangements).
Hey, great talking to you but Meh just called us in for supper. Thanks for listening. Prayer is headed your way.
