Thailand – they call it “The land of smiles”.
It’s a beautiful welcoming culture full of gorgeous mountains, adorable elephants and delicious food, but behind the smiles are broken people. Thailand is a “save face” culture, and thus no matter the circumstance, good or bad, they smile. They say “thank-you” with a smile, and they say “Please leave” also with a smile (There may be a story behind this of how I was escorted out of a coffee shop….) The more I thought about this concealment of emotion, the more it made me think how much value I place on authenticity and honesty.
Authenticity is my driving force, and my deepest desire is to always be honest with myself, God and others. However, because I’m a broken human, I admit that doesn’t always happen, and even on my best days I mess up and try to cover up my raw emotions for the sake of “keeping the peace”. I’m learning though 🙂
So honestly, these last months have been hard, but have shaped me in incredible ways.
My month 10 in Thailand was an unusual one, but one of the best. I have always struggled with how my passions and talents fit into Kingdom work. When someone mentions “missions” typically it involves children, construction and/or evangelism. So, I’ve never thought of long-term missions as something for me because I don’t see myself in any of those categories.
However, this month I was introduced to BAM – Business as Missions. This is where passion meets Kingdom and we can use the things God has gifted us with to intentionally serve and grow the Kingdom of God. So, a group of us got to together and put our marketing, design, business and analytics skills together to analyze a hostel and cafe to determine its worth for a potential buyer.
This is Kingdom-minded people helping Kingdom-minded businesses. Part of our job, was to visit many local coffee shops to see our competition and give an analysis not only based on numbers but also based on experience.
During these times we laughed, cried, challenged each other and asked big questions of ourselves and of God, all while compiling TripAdvisor reviews and social media assessments of each cafe to see where ours had the potential to grow most.
I learned so much about business, marketing, sustainability, coffee, cafes and hostels and am excited as I look to the future now that I’m in month 11. I can’t believe it.
I have been praying for God to show me where He wants me best to serve Him. With this past month of ministry under my belt He has opened my eyes to a whole other area of service that thinks outside the box of traditional missions… and that gets me super excited.
So… here’s to the future, and the two weeks I have left on the field!
I’m challenging myself to dream big, pray bold, be honest and always remember the One who has it all under control.
