I have no doubt that God is super purposeful in His placement and timing of things. I know that He placed Thailand at almost the very end of the Race so that I would have something to look forward to and keep working towards. There hasn’t really been a time on the Race that I have wanted to give up and go home or anything, but there definitely have been very hard moments where going on seems very difficult and there have been other times when good ole complacency kicks in. Yes, complacency happens on the field as well, shocking, I know. But this is life. What started out as extremely new and unknown, became normal, everyday life. So, having something on the Race to look forward to has helped in such moments.
I have some good missionary friends that have lived and worked in Thailand for years and so I’ve heard stories and seen pictures and tasted some of the food for a long time now and have dreamed of getting to come. Thailand was one of the main reasons I chose this route. And I’m here! It’s crazy to think about it. Now, I’m not in the placement that I actually really wanted, I’m in the very south of Thailand, barely over the border of Malaysia, where as I was hoping for Ching Mai…but hey, one thing I’ve learned in my life is that beggars can’t be choosers. Thailand is still Thailand and I am still so excited to finally be here! My thoughts are, I can always come back and go to the places I wanted to go to another time, right? And as it turns out, I’m really glad that we are where we are. The people we have met are so cool.
So, this month in Thailand has been super chill and restful. We came to help a lady with her English tutoring classes but because of the timing of when we were placed here, most of the kids are studying for exams right now and not in normal school. That means that there wasn’t very much for us to do. But our Host was planning a “survival” English camp that she wanted us to help her plan and work at for three days. We actually just got done with it and it was a blast! I loved getting to spend so much time with Thai kids and teenagers, they are amazing and so much fun and so respectful. We set up different stations and role played scenarios where the students would need to know some beginner English, such as telling time, going to the doctor, directions, shopping, cooking and fast food (my station…I just can’t get away from it haha). We taught them the vocabulary for these stations and then had them act things out. And of course we also had our fare share of fun songs, games, and lots of craziness to go along with the camp. We were split into teams and we each had about 12-13 students with us ranging from five to nineteen year olds. I gotta brag here for a small second, my team, the yellow team, won the overall points for the whole camp and got first place! I was so proud of them ( even though they announced the winning color in Thai, so I was a little delayed at whooping and hollering along with the rest of them haha) 😀
Part of our prize was that we got a free dinner at KFC. As I’m sitting there, surrounded by Thai teenagers going ninety to nothing all around me, with only a sentence now and then being interpreted for me, I just felt like I was in my element. Even though I didn’t speak the same language as they did, teenagers are still teenagers and it doesn’t take too much knowledge to be able to figure out the different subjects they would be talking about. I loved it. It was one of my favorite moments of the whole month.
I’d like to give a small shout out to our amazing host this month. She has served us so very well. She is a single lady in her 30’s and the only Christian in her family. She’s pretty alone here but she keeps a positive attitude. She has gone out of her way to spoil us and is constantly stopping to pick up random snacks and treats for us to try. She has been such a blessing and I hope that we have been able to be as much of one to her.
So, that’s been Thailand so far…will I come back? You better believe it, if God allows. I’m not going to lie, it’s a dark place with a lot of spiritual warfare going on. But it’s also a place where Christ is being lifted high and I believe that more and more Thai people will come to know the Lord in the years to come and experience the love and freedom that come with Him. And I want to get to be a small part of that.
