To say that my team and I are seeing God working in Thailand is quite the understatement.
This month my team and I are working in the Unsung Heroes Campaign, while simultaneously doing Ask the Lord. This basically means (the short version of it, anyway) that we have no ministry contacts and we are just praying and seeing where God leads us. We are on a mission to find Unsung Heroes in Bangkok; the people who are doing great work for the Kingdom and need to get their stories out so others know and can help them or encourage them.
Even before we arrived in Bangkok, we had potential ministry contacts that were being lined up for us. We had squadmates, friends and family members all giving us the name of organizations to contact.
After spending a night at the YWAM Bangkok base, the head of the base gave us the name of a lady in Bangkok that could help us. Within 24 hours, the sweetest lady I have met, Champoo, told us she had a place for us to stay and the opportunity to get involved with her church’s ministries.
She forewarned us that the accommodations would just be an apartment and that she might try and go buy more mattresses for us since there weren’t enough. We told her we were prepared. We’re Racers. We can fit as many people possible in the smallest space possible.
At 10 a.m. the next morning, Champoo arrives with a neighborhood girl and one of her church elders. We load into the giant van with all of our packs and begin the hour-long trek across the southern limits of Bangkok. We learned more about Champoo, their church and the culture in the hour-long drive than we had in the week that we spent on the island of Koh Chang previously.
We stopped at the church to meet people and talk to the pastor and were treated to lunch in a delicious Thai family-owned place, which, we were told, was close to the apartment, and then we finally headed to the apartment that the church owned that we had heard so much about.
Little did we know, our low expectations would soon be blown out of the water.
We pulled up to a strip of bright yellow painted rooms and were told that they were ours. We were handed the keys and upon turning the doorknob, we opened into a room, fully furnished with a wardrobe, more outlets than you can even count, a make-up vanity, a private bathroom with flushing toilet and shower head with very high water pressure, and a California king-sized mattress still in the protective plastic coating.
The inside of the yellow room still lingered of faint paint smells and the red painted floor with mosaic tiles is still slightly sticky to the touch. We were the first people to reside in this gorgeous block of rooms. And, even better yet, we only had to put two people in each room.
The first night, my new teammate, Mary, and I were able to sleep so comfortably on our mattress that I wasn’t even sure she was in the same bed as me anymore. I thought for sure that she had left in the middle of the night because I didn’t even touch her all night!
On our first day with Champoo, we rested a little in our new apartments before heading “into” town (two blocks away) to attend the singing and English classes that their church, First Presbyterian Church of Bangkok, hosted in the outreach building they also owned.
After spending thirty minutes asking a 6-year-old girl all the simple English questions I could think of and listening to her answers as she tried to ask me questions in return and after 112 (our new team name, I’ll explain in my next blog what it means)drew the worst map of American known to man, we headed a few blocks in the other direction, back to the church.
The yellow (yes, every building this church owns is yellow with white trim and accents) church building is situated at the end of a long alley road. Once you get to the end of the road and see the church, you also see the vast river just beyond the property- the [river name]. To the right of the church is the Bangkok Bridge and downtown. To the left of the church is the Bangkok Noi district and a giant Ferris wheel- which I want to ride before I leave! When we arrived back at the church at 6:30, it was dark and the lights from the city reflected into the river. The Ferris wheel was illuminated, flashing and dancing in patterns and colors. The ferry trudging down the river was lighted from top to bottom and music was coming from its speakers.
We attended the prayer service at the church and were asked to sing. We opted for a three-verse rendition of Amazing Grace. Afterwards, we were overwhelmed with the hospitality of the church members. They all welcomed us and tried their very hardest to communicate with us, even if the English they knew was very limited.
We left for our apartment feeling very loved and blessed.
The next morning we woke up and returned to the church for their normal services. We arrived early to help them prepare the meal for after church. The first half an hour, however, instead of serving the church members, we were served by the church members. They brought us water and coffee, ushered us to sit down, turned on all the fans to keep the heat and humidity away and did anything else they could to make us feel welcome.
Eventually, we were given our job: peeling and cutting a local fruit. After an entire bushel was peeled and cut, Champoo returned and said, “Oh. You cut them like that…” Turns out we cut them in chunks, when they are traditionally cut in slivers. Whoops. They all found the way the Americans cut it very comical and snickered every time they saw the bowl of chunked fruit. Good thing we have learned not to be sensitive about our work!
After a conservative church service and another rendition of 112’s Amazing Grace, we headed out to the church office/banquet area, where the glass doors were slid open, revealing the river and the cool breeze. The meal of spiced cooked pumpkin, bitter-fruit soup, rice and sautéed spicy vegetables was never-ending. Then our chunked fruit was brought out for another round of ridiculing giggles. Hah It was presented next to another delicious grape-like fruit and the food at our table was never running low.
We had the opportunity to meet and talk with a 92-year-old woman who was the principal at the first school in Bangkok and has been to the States. She is a beautiful woman with an even more beautiful soul. Her and her friend, another former principal and current elder at the church, bought us chocolate ice cream when the ice cream tuk-tuk came into the parking lot.
After all was said and done and all the church members finally left, we washed all the dishes and headed back home.
A nap was necessary at this point, naturally! Eventually and groggily, we headed to the internet café to check our emails. Almost all of the organizations we reached out to have responded and expressed interest in our involvement and meeting with us to determine the next step!
We have been redirected to the same two ministries multiple times and are thinking God wants us to get involved there! Hah A woman, Celeste, is bending over backwards- which is ironic because she threw out her back- to get us cheap accommodations in the heart of downtown and more people to contact.
Her organization brought tears to my eyes when I watched their supporter update video (unfortunately, it’s private otherwise I would link to it here). She works with ladyboys and is trying to get them off the streets and out of bars to teach them they are valuable, especially in God’s eyes. They work at her coffee shop and bakery, making money and learning life skills, and have the opportunity to go to school and paint. She sells their artwork in gallery shows and in the coffee shop to remind them that they are creative and their work holds value. The pieces are purchased for about 300 baht ($10), which is more than they would make selling themselves on the street.
We meet with Celeste tomorrow (for those of you in the States, I am referring to Tuesday hah) to see where God is bringing us together and to listen to her story and vision. Please be praying for God to reveal how we can listen to her story and maybe even get our hands in on her ministry.
So far, we’ve interacted directly with Champoo and Celeste.
They are doing beautiful work for the Kingdom.
They are Unsung Heroes in Bangkok.
They are Jesus to this city.
Like I mentioned, we have numerous people we are in touch with and trying to get in touch with, so I covet your prayers for guidance for the 112. We need the knowledge, without a shadow of a doubt, of whom we are supposed to be involved with and to what extent. We desire to fill our database with the names of people doing God’s work in the city of Bangkok.
Be prepared for lots of updates this month, as we are seeing God move big time here in Bangkok and I cannot wait to tell you about all the things we are going to experience and the things we already are experiencing!
