The start was rough. It was rough for three reasons.
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My passport didn’t come in on time so I wasn’t able to go to launch and I got to Thailand a few days late
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Because my passport came in late I flew to Thailand ALONE and it was EXTREMELY lonnnnnnnnggggggggggg and kinda scary
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I’m not a big fan of being the treasurer of my team
On the bright side, I was reminded of three things.
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God has perfect timing
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God is my Comforter and Protector, therefore, there’s nothing to worry about
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God uses our weaknesses to strengthen us
This past week has been pretty incredible! God has blessed me with a wonderful, loving, and big host family in Chaiyaphum (pronounced like shy-ya-pum) who have lots of kids. The husbands name is Nan, the wife’s name is Raem and they have five kids – Paul, Yuda, Tip, Asia, Nation and Naomi and they are all a bundle of joy to live with. It’s been great to experience the daily life of a Thai family. So far it consists of a lot of rain, trying new foods (including hot peppers), smiles, and morning errands in the back of a truck around town.
(It’s only fun and games until you see a dark cloud above you and it begins to storm and you’re soaking wet and cold. First day was fun but now I realized I enjoy staying dry)
It’s the rainy season in Chaiyaphum so it rains everyday almost all day, which is relaxing but it holds my team and I back from doing soccer ministry and teaching English in school. But don’t get me wrong, the rain has benefits too. Because of the rain we’ve got the chance to experience planting rice at a farm and doing construction work on Raem’s parents home next door to us.
(we are in bare feet, in the mud and in the pouring rain planting rice. It was quite fun and something I’ve always wanted to try, I enjoyed this a lot)
(This is a picture of us evening out the floor with hammers and other handy construction tools that I don’t know the proper name of so we can begin to tile the room)
Now that you’ve seen a sneak peak of Raem’s parents home you’re probably wondering what my new home looks like..Am I right? So here it is!
(The blue roof is where my team stays and there’s four different rooms. One for the boys, one for the girls, one for our translators (who are only with us until Sept 20th) and the other room is a storage)
(This is what you would see when you looked into the blue roof house)
FUN FACT: In Thailand, you take off your shoes before entering a house, your room and even stores on the side of the street. Feet are seen as the lowest part of your body and can be very offensive if you point the bottom of your foot at another person. So you always have the bottom of your feet flat on the floor or in criss cross applesauce if you’re sitting on the floor.
(This is apart of what the orange roof house looks like. What you see in this image is the living room. Under this roof is also Raem and Nan’s bedroom, a music room, and the kitchen)
(And here’s the kitchen/dining room. The place where we stuff our faces, have lots of conversation and laughs. If you turned left, that is the music room. It’s where most of our free time is spent, there’s a piano, a drum set and a guitar in there)
This past week in Bangkok and Chaiyaphum have been so wonderful and I really do love it here. Everyone has such warm hearts and big smiles, the food here is absolutely delicious, the coffee is fantastic and God has been so present each day. His Light shines through my team and through this family. I’ve been blessed with this new world race lifestyle and my cup overflows. One thing I was really worried about when I was called to sign up for this is that I thought I would feel really out of place but it turns out, it’s the complete opposite. The Thai culture brings me a lot of comfort and this is probably because I’m Vietnamese, the cultures are very similar.
Just wanted to give you all a quick visual update on what God has been doing in my life. I am safe and I am happy and I am so grateful for all of your prayers, love and generosity. Thank you for this opportunity of being able to serve those in Thailand, it’s been so good. I love that I get to share this journey with you all.
Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
