Anything but “Normal”
Its 9:00pm New Years Eve and thirteen of us guys are piled into a small pickup truck. Myself and a fellow teammate hanging off the back side of a truck as we travel down a rural road here in Thailand. Warm clean air blows upon my face as I gaze upon the outline of an amazing rolling hill landscape around me as hundreds of thousands of glistening stars light up the sky above me. Peace fills me as the weariness of the Philippines fades with each song of melody I hear from the bird passing above. As I breathe it in, smelling the refreshing air.
“Man”istry month (all the men from our squad are together) has begun and its been so refreshing to be rural Thailand away from the city. We are partnered with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) this month in outskirts of Kanchanburi, Thailand. Its a beautiful location and I have the privilege of sleeping under the stars each night in my tent. The view from where I sleep is breathtaking….if only a picture could do it justice.
The food??….authentic Thai each and every day…hope you like hot and spicy…I have grown to love it. It feels like a big camping trip except we have a personal chef with us….what an amazing life…this is anything but “normal.”
Ministry this month has been full of work but also a tone of fun. We are located about ¼ mile from a school that is personally supported by the princess of Thailand and she is scheduled to come for a visit on the 13thof January (we are thinking we will have a chance to see her before we leave). We have been helping prepare the school before her visit by build fences, painting, cleaning, and whatever else they need. Although it may not sound like ministry doing things like this is a witness to the people here as 95% of them are Buddhist. They see us serving in the name of Christ and through that we are able to introduce Christ to them. Lately we have been working in the tapioca fields and to help them harvest it. Machetes, scorpions, sweat, snakes, blood and shirtless days…. ahhh what a way to do manistry.
Sometimes its easy to forget how blessed I am. Many times this month I have been having moments where I look around and realize where I am and it hits me…the is anything but “normal”. I have been extremely honored to be this race for the past 5 months doing the work of Christ. I know that many people have help and supported me along this journey and for that I am beyond grateful. God has continued to work in my heart and form me into a greater man and servant of Christ. Having these past few week with the men on my squad and seeing the growth in each of us has helped me see Gods amazing work in our lives and the lives of those people around us.
Update on support needed by February 1: $3,530
Thank you!!
Serving Him,
Billy
Group pic
The men working the field
