Before coming to Thailand, one of the things I was most excited for was to see the beautiful temples.
One of our first days here, we got the chance to walk to a temple and I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking about how beautiful it was. It was gold and red and had so many intricate designs. There were hundreds of buddhas on the stage and people bowing to them. I remember leaving the temple and having an uneasy feeling, but I didn’t think much if it.
A few days after that, my team got on a bus to go a few hours away to where our ministry is. As we were driving, there were so many temples, statues of buddha, spirit houses, and other things on the side of the road. We arrived at our ministry and here there is a spirit house and buddha statues all over because we teach at a buddhist school.
That night we went to a street market and we visited another temple. Again, people were on their knees bowing to buddha.
When I got back to where we’re staying that night, it hit me how much the buddhist culture was affecting me. I realized that the uneasy feeling after visiting the first temple was because my heart was so sad being surrounded by this culture.
I’ve known growing up that there are people who don’t believe in Jesus and that they instead believe in different things. It has always made me sad growing up, but its actually broken my heart coming here and seeing it first hand. Constantly being surrounded by these things has made it so much more real to me that this world is so broken.
I’m already friends with many people here whether that be teachers or students and let me tell you, they are some of the kindest people I’ve ever had the chance to meet. It breaks my heart because while a few of them are Christians, most of them don’t know the kind of life they are missing out on. I’m surrounded by people who are living their lives so devoted and invested in the false things of this world that the enemy has gotten them to believe.
Because I just teach English here at the school, it’s easy to feel defeated and feel like I’m not making a difference at all.
But today one of my teammates, Alley, reminded me that the pressure is not on us. Yes, we may feel defeated but the Lord has the power to do anything and we never know what our presence here can be turned into with the power of the Lord. It was so encouraging to hear that reminder!
Through all of this, the Lord has definitely grown and taught me so much.
Being around this culture has caused me to examine how urgent I make the gospel to people I know or come in contact with here and at home who don’t follow the Lord with everything they have or don’t even follow him at all. Am I doing everything I can in my everyday life to be an example for the gospel and to build the kingdom?
These experiences have made it so real to me how broken this world is and the grip that Satan has on people. It’s becoming more and more real to me every single day how we literally cannot do anything without the Lord in our life. He is our hope, our redeemer, and our peace. He is everything.
I’ve realized how much freedom there is when you are a child of God. He could’ve done so many other things, but he sacrificed literally everything because he wanted me and he wanted you. He gave that to me and you freely and that blows my mind. That is the God I serve and man, what an honor it is to serve him and his people.
Through my heart being broken for the people that live their lives serving idols, the Lord has given me such a heart for them. I want to love them and I want the light of Christ to shine through me so that they can see even just a glimpse of him. I want nothing more than for them to know how loved they are by the creator of everything.
It’s also made me so thankful for the home I grew up in and the place I grew up in. I’m thankful that my parents have taken me to church my whole entire life and taught me the truth and the hope of Jesus.
I believe that the Lord wants to set the people here free from the things of this world. He is the one and only person that saves and he came for everybody. I see Jesus doing big things in Thailand in the future, and I cannot wait for them to come to pass.
I ask for your prayers. Things are very spiritually heavy here and I can definitely feel it in my spirit. I’ve hit the part of the race where I’m just ready to be home. The truth is that its so tough being halfway across the world from your family, church, and friends. Honestly I want nothing more than to be home. This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m reminding myself to be thankful for the journey and the hardships along the way and to remember the reason why I’m here.
I love you all a whole lot,
Bethany
