Hey all!
It’s month 7, and I am in Thailand! This month, my team and I are stationed in Bangkok. We are living in what is basically a community center. The people who live in this area are mostly Hmong refugees from Vietnam, and one refugee family from South Sudan. Many fled their countries because of religious persecution. These are the people we will be serving this month. Mondays through Thursdays, we are helping with the preschool that takes place here, visiting the families in their homes, and teaching English for teens. On Saturdays, we are helping with Saturday School for kids ages 11-19. There were over 30 kids here this past Saturday! A British volunteer named Rebecca taught an English lesson, in which we assisted by playing Memory in small groups and helping the students with a worksheet. The kids are so smart and eager to learn! After the English lesson, several of them trooped down to the kitchen area, where a German volunteer led them in cooking lunch. They chopped up fruit, cooked eggs, made rice, and prepared a delicious soup that tasted like fall!
Something that the Lord keeps bringing to my mind is the difference between what ministry is vs. what ministry looks like. This month, as in some of our previous months, ministry looks like teaching English, and playing with kids, and spending time with families. But why? Why do we do these things? The answer is simple – to share the love of God with the people we meet. Our main purpose is not to create fluent English speakers or build buildings or even to preach a good sermon. Our main purpose is to build up people and to make them feel like what they are: dearly loved creations of a God who wants to have a relationship with them. And that can look a hundred different ways.
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Sidenote: This month is Manistry Month, which means the 7 men on our squad are together on one team. This means that our teams have shuffled around a bit. This month, I’m serving alongside Carson Shock, Julia Still, Gabrielle LaGross, Lupita Hernandez, Taylor Brantley, and Mardie Shanahan, as well as Jocelyn Medina from my regular team. It’s been great living and working with these girls, and I’m excited to get to know them all better this month!
Prayer Requests: Please pray for healing for Julia’s back. You can read more about this challenge on her blog, juliastill.theworldrace.org.
Please also pray for us all to be able to sleep well at night in this ridiculous heat!
