Ministry in Thailand began and ended with a machete in hand. It isn’t exactly what I was pictured when I thought about my World Race experience (especially since I’ve been working at an orphanage and a school), but I’m not mad about it. Here’s what I’ve been up to…
Part One: The Groundskeeper
During our first month here, my team and I worked at an orphanage about an hour outside of the city. We arrived ready to play with kids, maybe teach a little English, and just love on those who needed it. However, we got there and discovered that instead of doing orphan ministry (as one would expect), we would be doing manual labor with Bud, the groundskeeper, during the week and just see the kids on Saturdays. Most of the girls on my team were disappointed but eventually came to realize that it merely took perspective and a change of mentality to find the purpose of the work we were doing. It was difficult to realize in the moment, but we still affected the girls and boys living there. We also decided that having such expectations on the race would lead to disappointment, and for future reference, choosing in to what God was calling us to do instead of what we wanted would be more beneficial (a novel idea, I know). With that in mind, our first month of ministry began.
I had known my ministry host for about half an hour before he handed me a machete and told me to start cutting down the dead leaves on banana trees. This is pretty much how ministry went for the rest of our time there. Bud told us to do something like weed the pineapple and dragon fruit plants, trim trees in the orchard, mix and pour a couple slabs of concrete (that one was particularly difficult), cut down a grove of palm trees with a machete saw and then proceed to use the tops of said trees to mulch the gardens. It was the most physically taxing month of my life, and I loved every minute of it.
Being able to focus on one task for a couple of hours afforded me time to start being intentional and getting to know my teammates on a deeper level. It allowed me to sit and talk to God as I took care of His creation. It gave me the opportunity to sit in His presence and rest in Him. It was so difficult but so peaceful. I found contentment in my Creator, working in the mountains of Thailand.
We stayed at the orphanage for about three weeks before we had to say our goodbyes. Our last day was incredibly hard knowing that we wouldn’t be back. We had all grown to love our ministry and absolutely adored our host, Bud. He was one of the most generous and hardworking men I had ever met. He had been taking care of the property for seven of his seventy-seven years and his passion for the kids was so evident. He poured into us and set an incredible example as a diligent and obedient disciple. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our race.
Part Two: The Caretaker
Month two of ministry began with a bit of confusion. We were told that we would be working with a non-profit Christian literature company, but at the last minute, it was changed to a ministry we knew nothing about. So again, our expectations got the best of us as we had prepared for a more mentally challenging month rather than the physical one we had previously. After some misadventures with our songthaew (taxi), we arrived at an old run-down property strewn with a variety of dilapidated buildings. We learned that during our time there, we would be renovating said buildings and cleaning up the property. Our host told us that in January, it would open as a school that would provide affordable Christian educations, particularly for missionary kids. She also said that once it was up and running, it would be a safe haven for children with hits on them. Often times when a child is rescued from traff!cking, the pimps will then try to have them killed, which takes away their chance at a normal life. That was a hard reality to swallow, but in the end acted as a motivational tool, inspiring us to work harder, even when we weren’t feeling it.
The particular project given to my team was painting a house that stood on the property. It would belong to the school’s caretaker, Paoh (Pa-ow), and his family because under Thai law someone must live on a school’s campus. We worked on it for the entirety of the month, cleaning and painting both the interior and exterior. For the first two weeks, we worked inside, sanding, priming, and then painting everything from the walls to the doorframes to the small, decorative grates in front of the windows. We then began the same process outside. It was long, monotonous, and sometimes painstaking work, but my team’s unity and intentionality grew exponentially, as we had nothing else to do except talk with one another.
Some days, we were asked to perform odd jobs around the property and those were always my favorite. On those days we had the opportunity to work with the locals and get to know our ministry host more. One day we threw nail-ridden wood, bricks, and rubbish out of the third story window of the school as the guys working there tore it off the walls and ceilings. Another time we rolled tires that were bigger than we were, and filled with mud, water, and cement to the other side of the property. As hard and fun as these days were, our last day at ministry was the best.
We began by finishing up and cleaning Paoh’s house, but as that didn’t take all day we moved on to the fun stuff. Our host started a bonfire (in 90-degree weather) and asked us to burn the limbs and trash littered around his home, and so we did until the heat and smoke became unbearable. Then we moved on to the cement wall that had to be knocked down. They gave us sledgehammers and told us to go at it, and so we did… maybe a little too eagerly. And finally, during our last hour there, Paoh came up to me and handed me a machete to cut the weeds down around the daycare. In that moment it all came full circle, and the fact that we were leaving this incredible country in a few short days hit me for the first time. I realized that I had come to love living here. I had come to love the people. I had come to love their culture. I had come to see Jesus in them and see Him work through them. I realized I had no desire to leave… But I also realized that we were called to come, and so we did. But we are called to leave, and so we will.
Fundraising Update:
I still need $4,176 to reach my next and FINAL goal of a whopping $15,800! I am blown away by everyone’s generosity and so incredibly thankful for the support. As my deadline is about three months away, I would ask you to consider partnering with me both prayerfully and financially. Thank you so much for reading!
