My last several updates have been pretty heavy, and I’ve told you a lot about what the Lord has been doing in my life. In light of this holiday season, I thought I’d welcome you into a little bit of the everyday craziness of these past two months. Thailand has been quite an adventure, and me and my team have shared so much joy and laughter.
Sometimes you show up to Thailand, and your first night at your ministry host you find that your bathroom drain is infested with hundreds of cockroaches… Sometimes you go to battle for hours with your housemates killing hundreds of cockroaches… Sometimes you pray over the drain every time you have to take a shower. (This actually ended up being more fun than it sounds! It was a nightmare at first, however.)
Sometimes you get told to be ready for church at 8:00AM, and it turns into a church service, a community lunch, a hike in our Sunday best up the side of a mountain through the fields of a small village, an adventure to a beautiful waterfall, and riding home at 6:00PM with a sweet family and a container of homemade brownies.
Sometimes you start teaching an English class at a government school, and from the back of the room one of your 12th grade boys asks what a “Noah” is, and you get to read the entire story of Noah from the Bible, translated by their Thai teacher (who was then very interested herself in this whole big boat, lots of animals idea).
Sometimes you have to go grocery shopping for 6 people for the week without a car. Which means when you walk out of the store you hop in the back of a yellow pickup truck and you add three white girls, thirteen bags of groceries, and thirty two rolls of toilet paper (which a woman kindly took out of my hands and held on her lap the entire ride), to the five bags of rice the size of 6 year old children, and the eight elderly Thai people that already occupy the truck…and if you’re lucky, a monk might join you.
Sometimes you walk into class expecting to teach your students how to make hotel reservations in English, and instead they decide it’s the perfect time for a Christmas concert, and you spend an hour “singing” (if you can even call it that), and teaching them English Christmas carols.
Sometimes you show up at a math teacher’s house for dinner, and you eat 3 enormous fish, 4 bowls of fish soup, 7 plates of grilled pork, a forth of a huge jackfruit, and enough sticky rice to kill a person. Oh, and then they’ll hand you a microphone and several hours of karaoke will take place.
Sometimes your friends on the other side of Thailand call you up and say you’re heading to the beach with their pastor and his sweet family. And sometimes that turns into hopping on a private boat, conquering fears, and jumping in the ocean and snorkeling with the fish.
Sometimes you show up to your ministry host and they hand you the keys to your first house, and you live with 5 of your best friends for 2 months and have the time of your life serving the Lord!
It’s been a good run, Team Quinoa . . . Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
