While in Sophia, Bulgaria preparing to change continents once again I was informed of what my month ahead was going to look like. I found out that instead of serving with my team (Chayil) I would be serving with a different group of women. I also found out that I would be working in a coffee shop, and teaching english. I know it sounds more like a job than "ministry," but it was where I was needed.
So I went to live in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is a huge city in the North of Thailand. The ministry I worked under was called Lighthouse in Action, and they had three branches of their ministry. I worked at Wongen kafe (that isn't a misspelling), which is named because the spiritual battle for this generation is already won. We fight from victory not for it. Wongen kafe is a place for women who have been brought out of the bars, or people who have had a hard life and it gives them a safe place to live. The people that live at the Wongen dormitory are also given employment in the coffee shop. The cafe is located directly across from Chaing Mai University, so it was a place where the students could hang out, study, and even learn English from farongs (foreigners, specifically white people.)
Well this was what my ministry looked like for the month. I was a little nervous because I haven't ever worked in a coffee shop or really any food industry, and I definitely wasn't qualified to teach English to college students. So I started working at the cafe and I loved it, the work was fun but even more importantly the women I worked with were incredible. It took them a little bit of time to warm up to me but once they did we were able to get really close. We goofed around, they told me about their lives, I told them about my life, and we even talked about God. Throughout the month I grew very close to the girls at Won gen, and I love each one of them dearly. They are beautiful women of God who have been through some rough stuff but still stay so positive. They really showed me that there is no issue too big for God to handle and that I just needed to trust him.
The other part of my ministry was teaching English, which like I said I'm not sure I was qualified for. So on my first day my student walked in, he was a thin guy who seemed extremely shy. His name was Joke, he was 23 years old and he was getting his Masters in Applied Physics. At this point I'm super intimidated, because I am a college drop out and I'm supposed to teach English to a physicist. I couldn't even remember the last time I took an English class, and I've never taught in my life. Luckily, Joke wanted to learn conversational English, which if you know me than you know I'm great at talking. What a relief it was to know I didn't have to teach the fundamentals of the English language. Also lucky for me Joke spoke very good English and so it was easy to understand and communicate with him.
I'm not going to lie our first meeting was awkward because I had no idea what I was doing. However, by the second tutoring session he started opening up to me about his life and with each session we got closer. We became friends and so we just hung out and talked about our lives, our beliefs (he is Buddhist,) our families, and our plans for our lives. It was awesome getting to know him and have him be so open with me. He treated me like a friend instead of a teacher or someone who was just going to leave. He put the effort into our relationship and it made me want to put in the same effort. It also inspired me to pour that kind of effort into all my relationships, because no matter the time or circumstance, we have the ability to effect every person's life we come in contact with. Anyways overall Thailand was a good month and I built so ma any great relationships, not only in ministry but with the girls on my squad I was serving with.
