I’m sorry, did you say orphanage??
Ok, just making sure that is what I heard.
In fact it wasn’t just once that I heard this.
I heard it many, many times.
Back in Israel as individuals we prayed into our Thailand ministries. Normal
teams would be split up, and your team for the month would be those who god had
called to the thing. I was one that was called to the children.
At the end of February, while in Jinga, we
found out who our teams would be. Some were great in number like the ‘Man’istry
team and the women going to work with the prostitutes down in Phucket. My team
was four girls. I was excited, but didn’t know what to expect. As the month of
March went on, I learned my team went from four to five. I also learned I would
be the lucky one to lead these amazing women. I was nervous, excited, and ready
to see what the Lord was going to do.
In the past few weeks, God has wrecked me, but
in such amazing ways. My heart is not the same as it was even a month ago, and
I couldn’t wait to pour into my girls, and into the kids we would soon be
living with. I had given up the desire to work in Phucket with the rest,
knowing that for now, my prayers were enough. I was called to these kids. These
kids who needed love and encouragement, and most of all, God.
So as the vans pulled up to YWAM Bangkok, we
all prepared to leave. Well, that is everyone else piled into vans and we
piled into a pickup- our packs, a driver, our translator, her husband and us.
So to say we piled in is nothing short of the truth. We were ready to take on
the five-hour trip and make sure intimacy was no issue as we had our sticky
thighs and arms on one another. At least we were in Asia where there was air
right??
Mid way through our ride, we stopped for
lunch. I began to ask our translator about ministry. (I never ended up getting
my info on what we would in fact be doing, or where we were living, or
anything.) She began to tell us we would be living with her and her husband, at
their home on the YWAM Chaiyaphum base. Okay, we can do that no problem. Then I
asked about the actual ministry we would be doing. Building a wall. Prayer
walking. Painting. English camp. Hmmm… Now I am confused. Did we get in the
right vehicle?
A few more hours into the ride and we were
there. Down a dirt rode we saw a wooden sign reading ‘ YWAM Chaiyaphum Welcome.’
So, this is it. A bright orange building and a few bamboo structures. I knew I
had a feeling we were in the bush this month.
windows or doors, a few mattresses on the ground, and a few fans. During the
day it averages about 110 degrees, and at night if we are lucky it gets down to
85. I have sweat more in the last week than I think I have in the last five
years, no joke. We have decided to take advantage of the heat and make a detox
of it. We have lots of fruit for breakfast and lunch and dinner consist of
veggies and rice. We drink extreme amounts of water, as in our first day we
went through 22 liters! There are 5 of us. We travel 30-40 minutes in the back
of a borrowed pickup to go into town, where the nearest ATM and grocery store
are. This week is Water Week, which begins on the Thai New Year and lasts three
days. Their goal, soak anyone. In a car, a motor bike, on foot. They have
hoses, buckets, squirt guns, you name it. And we have been grateful! It makes
you feel much cooler driving down the road soaking wet.
So far ministry has been labor. We built a
saala yesterday, which is a bamboo structure with a roof and sitting floor. We
are also planning on painting the inside of the building, and drawing on it the
images of creation found in Genesis. Tomorrow we will be serving water at a
funeral service, where we will wear long sleeves, pants, and it will be noon. A
truck of bricks came yesterday which will be for the wall we will be doing next
week. Everyday about 4 pm a group of local kids come play for an hour, so that
is the kid fill for my team.
Needless to say, things are nothing of what we
expected. Then again, AIM does tell us to leave expectations behind anyway,
right?
So in case you want to learn how things
translate, let me enlighten you…
Children’s Home, where you will be helping with minor projects in the community
You will be in Nong Bua Baan working on
construction , with people who have never heard of this children’s home…
Good thing we are here for Him, and not
ourselves….
