The first week of ministry here in Thailand painted a very clear picture as to what ministry over the next two months was going to look like – constant. And the longer we stay, the more need we find. My team was assigned to teach English at a school called Fangchanupathum in Fang, a smaller province of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Teaching is truly such a blessing, but man is it tiring. I was lesson planning, grading and tutoring in my free time by the end of the first week. My heart is fully and truly with my students, and their open minds and such willingness to learn from a strange foreign girl that is the same age as them is just so, so cool.
However, teaching 8 senior classes of 20 – 40 students each has not been an easy job. In those big classes on days when the kids just don’t want to listen often leads me to feeling unqualified. I mean, I’m not an actual teacher, I don’t have a perfect and fair grading rubric, I can’t always keep that row of boys in the back of the classroom focused and engaged, I talk too fast for them to keep up a lot of the time, and my patience runs thinner than it should by the end of the week. Overwhelmed is the best emotion to explain how I felt about teaching by the end of my second week at school.
The idea of constant ministry proved true this past week as we got our December schedule. We have been asked to put on a one-day English camp, do a Christmas skit in front of the entire school (1400 kids) on Christmas Day, prepare a song and dance for the 6 pm – 12 am karaoke Christmas party (yep, you read that right) to perform in front of the staff, and show the faculty our Christmas traditions. And now, after attending a beautiful church, we will be helping and leading events there this next weekend. Everywhere we go we find more things to do, more people to love on and share the gospel with, and people to disciple. The crazy amount of doors God continues to open up for myself and my team to spread His kingdom and do His will is overwhelming.
The heaviness and urgency I am feeling now about all of these incredible opportunities truly hit me this week after spending a lot of time in the word. I have been studying Isaiah since arriving in Thailand, and in this book of the Bible, you really come to understand how mighty and powerful God is: “Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon His sturdy warriors; under His pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame. The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume His thorns and His briers. The splendor of His forests and fertile fields, it will be completely destroyed, as a sick person wastes away. And the remaining forests will be so few that a child could write them down.” – Isaiah 10:16-19. Terror, anguish, fire, and disease are spoken of by the Lord throughout this book.
Towards the end of this week, I was sitting across from one of my squadmates while he was studying Ephesians and I felt like I needed a little bit of the New Testament in my head again, so I started reading through it with him. This verse stuck out to me, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” – Ephesians 1:18-19.
Glorious inheritance. Wow. Our God has the power and the authority to do everything that was written in Isaiah. He could easily decide to start over and just wipe us all out, but He doesn’t. He has chosen us to be heirs of His glorious, extravagant kingdom. He blesses us with the gift of eternal life if we choose to point our eyes and heart to Him during our time on Earth. This is what’s at stake here. This is why I can’t take any class, conversation, or relationship for granted, because if I don’t give my absolute all and pour into the people who’s paths cross mine, I am robbing them of this gift, of the glorious inheritance that we don’t deserve but is still promised to us by God.
All of this work is overwhelming because God’s love for us and promises to us are overwhelming. What an honor it is to be the one to tell people of this good news.
Fundraising Update –
As you can see from the fundraising bar above, I am fully funded!!! $14,951 seemed like such a scary number at first, but I was blown away by everyone’s generosity and support. I am truly so, so grateful for y’all, because without funds for food, lodging, and transportation, I couldn’t be here living out such an incredible life Jesus has called me to. December 21st is the deadline for everyone on my squad to have the $14,951 needed to be here and while I have hit that goal, two of my teammates have not! If you look on the left of the screen, you will see a column titled “Meet My Team”. Please consider heading over to Clare and Laura’s blogs and donating to help them reach the goal so they can continue serving alongside me. I have had the privilege to see them grow over the past (almost) 4 months and their pursuit of Jesus becomes more and more fierce each day. Thank you again for all of your continued support! Sending my love to everyone back home!!
