In Nepal I prayed a big prayer. I prayed for God to give me something to fight for. I have no idea why I prayed that… I just had this feeling that I wanted something to fight for, but I didn’t know what or who.
When my team got to Thailand month 7 we had no idea what our ministry would look like. We found out we were working with refugees who had fled Vietnam because of religious persecution. Honestly, as I began hearing the stories from these families and how the husbands had been arrested and beaten and their homes had been destroyed, I was angry. These people were beaten and arrested because they believe in Jesus. Something that really upset me was how these families are treated in this new country that they have fled to. They are seen as outsiders and outcasts. They live in a part of town where people would not dare go. They can’t get jobs or go to public parks. They don’t belong and people make sure they know that. My question is who decides who belongs? Jesus spent more of His time with those that didn’t belong than anyone else.
I cannot look at Matthew 5:10 the same way again… “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”
The persecution that our host Mr. Hoa and his family and other Vietnamese families experienced doesn’t go unnoticed to God. I know that God will bless them because they stood up for him and fought for him.
This month we lived a community center where a man named Mr. Hoa and his family also live. The community center is the only place that these families are welcomed and they can be completely at home.
This is our host family… (from right to left) Achon (18), Mrs. Pan, a family friend, Salu (16), Mai (4), Samsung (13), Mr. Hoa, and Nha (7). This is such a beautiful family. I am so thankful for them and the way they loved us this month. We gave them fruit as a thank you our last night and the next thing we know they invited us upstairs to eat the fruit together. As we sat down together this last night Mr. Hoa told us more about those still being persecuted in Vietnam and how he was meeting with refugee NGOs to try to help those people in any way he could. This man is fighting for people to be free to love Jesus.
Most afternoons we would come in and this is what Mai and Achon’s afternoon napping looked like.
The first week of us being in Thailand Mai would not talk to us or let us play with her. Mardie finally broke her and from there she let us love her.
One night our team thought we were teaching an English class, but it turned out it was Mai’s birthday so we had sang worship songs and ate fruit and had a cake fight. At one point we looked up and all the adults were gone, it was just us and all the kids… we got put at the kids table. This the bike Mai got for her 4th birthday.
95% of the time sassy Mai had a scowl on her face and sweet Nha was smiling. In the afternoon I would google translate or just play charades and I would invite the girls to walk to the store to get a Coke and snack.
These two little girls have my heart. This was definitely one of my hardest goodbyes this year. Oh man do I miss these girls everyday. I pray one day that I get to see them again.
Our daily ministry was teaching preschool to all the younger kids in the families. Thankfully we had an elementary teacher on our team that helped set everything up. Thank you Debbie.
We split the children into 3 age groups. Then we had different rotations. Two people taught dancing and played games, three people taught phonics and the alphabet, and Taylor and I did crafts. This is the day we made watermelons. Pinterest was a lifesaver this month. After rotations they have free play then they go downstairs and eat lunch. It’s the messiest, cutest thing you have ever seen.
This little nugg was always passed around during free play. She is a chunk and so chill. It’s just good for my soul to get baby cuddles and I am so thankful for this babe this month. P.S. Her older sister is in the preschool, she just comes along with mom.
Our last day of preschool we decided to buy water balloons and fill up buckets of water and see what would happen. It was one of the most fun things we did all month. The kids loved it! It reminded me of field days in elementary school.
These kids are wild and our first day with them was scary, and we had no idea what we were doing; but by the end we celebrated the small victories like… not having kids run out of our classrooms crying in the middle of class and having them actually clean up when we ask, and eventually getting sweet hugs.
Along with daily preschool we also had Saturday school with the teenagers, which are the older siblings of the preschool kids.
30 or so kids would squeeze into a small, hot room with their notebooks and pencils and be so eager to learn English. These classes were taught mainly by other volunteers that had been in Thailand for longer, so we just sat and assisted.
After English lesson the students all went downstairs and prepared lunch for themselves. It is crazy to watch 11-17 year olds cook a full meal by themselves. See Mama it is possible for Camden to cook his own food. 😉
These teenagers play a significant role in their families they are the translators for their parents, they watch after their little siblings, and they go to school. I am so thankful for have gotten to spend time with them and give them a little extra love this month.
In the evenings we would split the older students into groups and tutor them… Most of our time tutoring ended in playing a game or 2 of Hangman.
Every other day we would have home visits and get to spend time with the parent’s of the students that we taught. In this family we taught the older boys in the evening and the younger girls in preschool in the mornings. It was so cool to walk into homes and connect who was related.
These families lived in apartment style housing and they each had a floor of the building. Most families this size or bigger slept in one or two bedrooms and had a kitchen.
Refugees in Thailand are actually illegal so most of the families that we worked with and lived with are in the process of seeking asylum right now… After they get asylum they can get refugee status and begin looking into moving to other places where refugees have more rights. However, for them to actually move elsewhere could take them years. Refugee laws are not recognized, but Child laws are so the children can still go to school. It is crazy because most of these Vietnamese teenagers speak Thai, Chinese, Hmong, and they are learning English.
One of our last nights with this beautiful community was awesome. All the men cooked for us and one man bought us oranges and one bought us drinks. We sat around with our team of 8 girls and about 15 men and our host family. After eating they wanted us to sing songs so we got out a guitar and sang hymns, some in English and some in Hmong.
This month was really different for me. I got to see what it was like to be on an all girls team for the first time on the race. Here are my sisters that I spent the month with… (L to R) Front: Julia, Mardie, Jocelyn, & Debbie. Back: Me, Lupita, Taylor, and Gabrielle. We were the only team in Bangkok, Thailand so we spent a lot of time with just the 8 of us. Our favorite passed time was walking down the street to get Pad Thai and walking a few blocks down to the supermarket called Big C. Big C had A/C so some days we would just walk up and down the aisles to stay in the cool.
At the end of the month our whole squad drove down to Phuket, Thailand for our month 7 debrief. Going into this debrief I prayed for a few things, but 2 in particular were a bed and A/C and I got both… Wow, did God come through.
This debrief was so refreshing. I got to dress up and spend time with these 3 lovelies and it was good.
I also got to spend Easter morning on the beach worshipping and watching the sunrise with my family. He has risen indeed!
We had a free day during debrief and our whole squad spent the day on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We got to go snorkeling and swim and just play in the ocean.
While exploring the beaches and islands we spent most of the day on a boat doing to different places… You know I love a good boat ride. We got to see the sunset over the ocean and it was beautiful. Also our beautiful squad leaders Megan and Cabe came out for debrief and oh man was it good to see them.
What I have learned this month:
-The word chosen had 2 meanings to me: 1. Reminder.. I am chosen by God. He chooses me every time. I am worthy of being chosen by others.
2. Commitment.. I am choosing God and his ways. I am choosing to chase after him no matter what that entails. I don’t want to just chase him though. I want to walk in step with Him because that’s when real intimacy happens.
-This was my first month as a team leader and almost every day I told myself…I have nothing to prove. I am a leader, but I don’t always have to lead. I have that gift whether I use it or not.
-This month God began revealing my purpose. I don’t know exactly what this looks like yet, but I feel drawn to refugees in some capacity. In Kenya a teammate asked me what my dream job was and I responded by saying that I wanted to work at a refugee placement office in the States to help refugees get acclimated to the U.S. I have never thought of doing that before and I have no idea where that answer came from. In Kenya God broke my heart for the refugees in Syria and He knew I would work with refugees in the months to come. He has been preparing me for this long before the race, but it is beautiful to connect and see him preparing me for more. He is preparing me to help people see that they belong to something bigger than themselves or where they come from. Honestly, in a way we are all refugees because this place we live in is not our home.
Something I have learned in the last year is it’s not about the places you go or what you do… it’s about the people you chose to be with and love. People are more important than all the other stuff. We forget that too often.
We’re doing the thing!
Much love, Carson
