Since being in Thailand I have been stretched in so many directions. I have had to face forty two hours of traveling on a plane, twelve hours on a bus, bucket showers, “squatty potties”, sleepless nights, weird bugs, sickness and so much more!
My squad and I arrived last Friday and that makes it a little over one week that we have spent in Thailand. I am overwhelmed with all this change but God has given me a lot to be thankful for. I am slowly learning to let go of all I know as comfortable and to let God do His work in my life.
As a rundown of what has happened in the last week, we spent two days in Bangkok and then on Sunday, September 13th, my team and I took a twelve hour bus ride to Selaphum, the place I now call home. My first week and a half in Thailand has felt more like one month. The second day in Selaphum I got a head cold and I woke up with the feeling of doom. I felt my body aching and I was congested. I just wanted to go home. I was tired, surrounded by a completely new environment with a language that seemed impossible to decipher and everything in my life felt “new”. Throughout the day I was able to get rest and take some medicine, helping me to feel better and realize how thankful I need to be for good health.
Despite the sickness, I have felt so much love from our host family because of their outgoing hospitality and love for all they encounter. Our host “papa” is Pastor Phu Thai and he is a great man. His wife, “mom” is such a sweet woman; she cooks three meals a day for us. The food is amazing! Her smile and laughter is beautiful and she is truly a blessing for our team. Amongst her and her husband, we live with their daughter Tik and their son Tuk and both of their families. They speak little English but the language barrier isn’t much of a problem because we have a translator here with us and her name is Gail. Gail has become a part of our team and we would literally be lost without her.
We have a small house (which is basically a room with mats on the floor for beds) provided for us and it is very clean. There are also pigs in a pen right outside our door and amongst us are chickens and roosters that crow each morning. We have a bathroom that is a stall with a hose for a bucket shower and the toilet is a “squatty potty”; if you’re curious about what that is, the name says it all. The church is on the same property and it is beautiful! The cool story behind it is that it took twenty nine years to get approved before being built just last year. There were a lot of problems with the government allowing the building to be called a ‘church’ but God provided and the Church is standing today. Please be praying for curtains and air conditioning for this building as those are two things that are needed.
Our ministry ranges in tasks but has been slow this week as we are just getting used to it all. On Tuesdays we are working either in the rice field, garden, fishing, visiting the leper colony, playing with kids or completing any other random chore that “mom” needs help with. Wednesday through Saturday two teammates of mine, Hannah and Vicky teach from 1:30-5:30 with me; we have a class of second graders, a class of third graders, a group of kindergarteners and a tutoring session with three girls in fifth grade. Every day after school we have a group of ten kids or so that come to play at the church with us. The first day they visited, we played soccer with some of them and I couldn’t stop smiling. They brought so much joy to my day and I loved every minute of playing with them. I look forward to their visits every day now. Sundays are our rest day and Monday is our adventure day. This past weekend we rode elephants!
Through all the change and adjustments I have needed to make, I have encountered difficult thoughts at times when I question my real purpose for being in this place. I ask myself, “what can I even do for these people?”, “how am I going to change?”. Sometimes this is overwhelming to think about but I have been praying that I will be encouraged to overcome such doubt. Over the last few days I have been reflecting on these verses that have reminded of my purpose on not just this mission’s trip but this Earth. Matthew 28:19 states;
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
and Colossians 2:2-4 states;
“ My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
Reflecting on such reading forces me to realize that we aren’t here on this Earth to just be comfortable in our everyday lives but to step outside what we know in order to experience the greater power of our faith. Our faith is surely tested in times like these and through this experience I expect that I will be able to share with others how the Lord has helped me to rely on Him for everything in my life. As I have chosen to participate in the World Race, I am choosing to trust the Lord. I am choosing to trust Him through the discomfort. I am choosing to trust Him through the unknown. I am choosing to surrender my life to the one who has given me everything in order to be shown my identity in His call for my life.
Thailand has been a great blessing so far and it’s hard to believe I have only been here just short of two weeks. I have so much more to experience and to look forward to and as I continue to embark on this journey. I will continue to pray that the Lord will use me in ways that I can’t imagine and I ask that you pray for my teammates and I as well.
Lots of Love and God Bless!
P.S I am still NOT fully funded and I ask that you will pray that the Lord will provide the remaining $700 I have left to raise! This amount must be reached by October 31st.
