“I send you on an ATL and this is what you come back with?” Our team leader, Larisa laughed as we held up Sebastian and Evie.
When Stephie, Ali, and I saw a box full of brightly colored, fuzzy creatures, we couldn’t help but buy one. We originally only bought Evie, a blue chick. But after I suggested we buy a friend for her, we pulled out another 20 baht (about 75 cents) and picked up a cute little pink guy, Sebastian. I explained that Evie could very well die without a friend since chickens live in community. I had no idea that this would become an important lesson for the month…
I’ll be honest, Thailand was a rough month. We were the first team to work with a new contact and it just seemed like they didn’t know what we were capable of. As a result, we had a lot of down time. Normally that would be okay, but as a WR first we wanted to make a good impression. Our team struggled with feelings of not living up to our contacts’ expectations.
To make matters worse, I wasn’t spending enough time with God. My marriage seemed out of whack and one of our teammates was having a difficult time adjusting to the new team. We just didn’t seem to be connecting well with the Thais we were working alongside either. Things just seemed off.
You wouldn’t think there should be any reason for these feelings of discontent. Though we were living in tents, we had a pool and wifi. Our cook, Yupin, was amazing and our contacts spoiled us rotten. Tutu brought us iced coffee approximately 3 times a week and Mike and his wife, Debbie treated us to a pizza dinner for the May birthdays on our team. Debbie even surprised us with a homemade cake!! (You know you’re on the World Race when…) 
Tutu’s son even treated our whole team to a movie and lunch!
So basically, we had great contacts, great food, good living quarters, internet, a pool, and lots of rest but we still weren’t happy.
On one of our days off I decided to spend the day with one of the teenage girls from the orphanage. Lulu is not allowed to go to school because of a severe learning disability. Since going to school is one of the requirements to live at Asia’s Hope, she busies herself with working at the orphanage. Lulu is a shy, funny girl who loves people. She enjoys cooking and frequently found cleaning and helping Yupin around the orphanage.
But today she was mine. Lulu and I did laundry, went for a walk, and took a nap together. All day long I prayed that God would show His love to her through me. I knew that happened at the end of the day when she told me I couldn’t go home to America. She would point to me and say “Me stay Thai. Lulu. No home,” and shake her head. (She gets her ‘me’ and ‘you’ mixed up.)
As I was reflecting on the day, I realized why it was such a fantastic day for me… Communion. Just as Evie needed community to survive, we need communion to thrive. On this particular day I was in communion with God (as I was praying for my friend) and with Lulu. We were created to live in communion with God and our fellow man.
What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
1 John 1:3-4
True joy doesn’t come from things. It comes from the Lord and His people. Even if everything is right in our life, if we aren’t living in communion with God and His people it is all for not. There is no joy to be found beside Him.
Whatever your situation in life, I want to encourage to you to look to the true source of joy. In John 14:16 Jesus said that he would ask the Father to send a helper that would stay with us forever. As many of us know, this helper is the Holy Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. If you find it hard to feel joyful, I encourage you to get into the Word and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Think of it this way: an apple tree will not produce an orange, or a pear a peach. Each of these fruits come from its own special source/tree. The same goes for the fruit of the Spirit. Galations 5:22 lists the fruits of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If you find yourself lacking in any of these fruits go straight to the source to be filled again. As I have learned, you won’t find these fruits on any other tree.
Be blessed!
