During the month of Thailand we had the opportunity to teach English to children in a Karen village on the Burma-Thailand border. In my journal I wrote my first impressions were that “it’s dusty and hot. There is a lack of privacy, bathrooms, and showers, but God is so good. I choose to have joy. I choose to have peace. I choose to give thanks and give God’s love.”
Whenever there were physical hardships in the month, God overshadowed them by giving us so much more love and grace through the villagers and children. Our days were spent not in a set time of 8 to 5 ministry, but every moment we tried our best to be the hands and feet (and hair) of Jesus to the children, and they in turn with us.
Hands.
Serving the children and being served by the children became a part of daily life. They always had a heart to serve whether it was through helping us carry our things or cooking dinner for us. Living in tough conditions and without parents, many of them also served one another whenever possible. Their sense of living in complete community at such a young age pushed me to serve them and my own team as best as I could.
Feet.
By day one my feet were covered in dirt and my sandals were so caked in mud I couldn’t move the straps to put them on. Through this God showed me how beautiful it is to just go to an unknown place to share his Good News. It is difficult to take the initial first step and to continue to move forward despite hardships. But if we didn’t go, we would have never experienced serving these children. The weeks of dirty feet were worth the relationships we made.
Hair.
I’m sure you were wondering about this one.
If you know me, you know I have curly hair. You may or may not also know I don’t usually comb it because it turns into one big tangle. By week two the girls in the village decided they wanted to braid our hair. With a comb that I prayed had no lice, they tore through my hair and braided it into a very complicated zig zag:
Ok, so I admit I’m being a bit dramatic. But there was a point when my hair was being pulled in every direction that I wondered if little girls ever asked to braid Jesus’ hair. Whether or not this happened, I have a feeling he would have said yes.
And that’s exactly what we tried to do in the village. Say yes to joy, say yes to peace, and say yes to showing God’s love anyway we could.
