As I sit in the open-air laundry mat/coffee shop that is next to our hostel, I am reflecting over the past ten days of my life. These past ten days have been filled with more emotion than I have probably ever encountered in such a short period of time. They have been permeated with hopefulness, heartbreak, excitement, and restoration. In just this short amount of time I have moved away from my family, left the country for the first time, lost multiple friends, and gained so many more. I have been the most dirty and tired I have ever been, yet I have never been so utterly free and happy. This is truly a new beginning for me.
While I could go on and on about the time leading up to now and how it has impacted me, I want to use this blog to share about something I experienced today. Today was my second day of ministry since arriving in Thailand. My team, as of right now, has ministry at a place called Agape Home. Agape Home is a house for children living with HIV/AIDS. Despite only being there for two days so far, I can easily say that my heart has been touched by the workers there as well as the children.
Today after lunch, all of the workers gathered with us in a room to worship for an hour before getting back to work. The majority of the staff are Thai, and while some can speak a small amount of English, the language barrier is definitely noticeable. Nevertheless, that did not stop them from wanting to worship and communicate with us. I watched in awe while a man played his guitar and sang songs in Thai as the workers and my team sat on the floor and as (with the help of a translator) people shared their testimonies together.
While at first glance it may have seemed normal or even routine, I found it to be one of the most pure and beautiful moments I may have ever witnessed. The people in that room were from completely different places and backgrounds, ranging from the US to the Netherlands to Canada to Thailand. We spoke different languages. We were as young as 18 to as old as 74. But we all had one thing in common, and that was a love and yearning to get closer to God. That one similarity was all it took to unite every single soul in that room and create something beautiful.
What touched me the most about this moment was absolute sincerity and simplicity of these people. They didn’t wait until Sunday morning to give time to worship. They didn’t need comfortable pews or fancy lights. They didn’t need to dress up in their nicest clothes. They didn’t need air conditioning. They didn’t need a plethora of instruments and microphones. They were sitting on the floor with no shoes on and in their work clothes on a hot, humid, Tuesday afternoon after lunch. Praising their Lord and savior with nothing but their voices and an acoustic guitar. At this point it didn’t matter one bit that I couldn’t understand what the man was saying. I worshipped alongside these people and felt the Holy Spirit’s presence more than almost ever before. Love brought us all together and made us like one.
