Hello everyone!!!! First of all I wanted to apologize for not blogging in a timely fashion. 🙁 I am not very good with computers and there was a problem with mine, but I am now in the blogging game. I had arrived in Thailand a couple of days later than my squad due to an awesome family occassion! I met my squad in Phuket and it was greeat to see everyone!!! They are such an incredible crew and I am so blessed to even know them, let alone spend an entire year with them!
The first couple of days were set aside for worship, getting settled, and for team building exercises. We had super fulfilling worship sessions!! The Fredricks, our squad parents, got to know us and poured into us. The are awesome folks!!! We stayed at SHE (Self Empowerment and Help) Ministries. God is totally using them to change Thailand!! They minister to those in phuket that do not know the love of Christ. Their prescence is causing an earthquake of love throughout Phuket.
I didn’t really realize how far away from home i was until the second day. Then it struck me… I”M IN THAILAND!!!!!! YYYYEEEEEAAAAA!!!! WE had to do a scavenger hunt throughout the village we were staying in put together by our awesome logistics guys. The whole point of the scavenger hunt was to communicte with the locals and really realize how much of a language barrier there i. I am starting to pick up some of the language like : su wadtee krop, which means hello and kup ie krop which means thank you. Of course i cannot spell them because i cant write in Thai. That will come at the end of the month hahaha just kidding. The scavenger hunt was a blast!!
The next day, thankfully a couple of my squad mates accompanied me to the beach! It was beautiful and the water was perfect. I was definitely in my element there! Later that day some of the teams left Phuket to Bangkok on a beast 12 hour bus ride…Yes it was brutal hahaha. Then at the Bangkok bus station all the teams parted ways to really start the ministering adventure!!!! My team, Absolute Abandon, embarked on a 7 hour (brutal) bus ride to Buriram, our ministry site. It is located in the northeast of Thailand where it is much cooler and more indiginous. Our specific ministry is with the Tree of Life Orphanage. The man who runs it is this Godly man named Roger Walker and his wife Pong. Their work is almost unexplainable in words it is just so amazzing what they are doing. The kids that they have taken in are just so loving and awesome. I was very nervous before because i wasnt sure how i would be around kids. God was definitely challenging me this first month. I love kids, but in earlier outreach experiences i had frozen up around kids and i did not want it to happen again. These kids though were so loving and playful that my previous experience had no foot hold. God totally took care of it and within 5 minutes of being here i was cjasing them around and they me!!! They are just so cute and awesome!!! i love them all!!! I cannot wait to see wha this month has in store for me. God is totally working in Buriram and it is most excellent!!!
Tommorow we will be attending the church that Roger and his family go to and not only attending our team will be leading worship!!! AHHHHH!!! hahaha And yes ladies and gentlemen, i will be jamming on the ukulele so it will be interesting!! Wish us luck in that and your prayers are definitely being heard!!! Thank you so much for your support in this endeavour!!! God is going to turn me into a man and bring to who he created me to be. I look at where i was just 9 months ago and what a terrible state i was in. Then the Lord lifted me up and rescued me and redeemed my soul and now i am spreading his love through the nations. It is by his grace that im alive today!!!
Well, there you have it, my first blog! Once gain i apologize for not gettingthe blog up faster. There will much more to come! please continue to walk with me through this incredible journey!!! I love all of you and will post another soon and figure out how to post pics too! thank you again for your support and please keep praying for our whole squad and most importantly for God to bless these nations with his love and grace.
GOD IS GREAT!!!
Love,
Trey
