When you hear the term 1% what do you think of? In the United States we typically think of Donald Trump, Bill Gates or countless others who make more money than I could ever dream of. But here in the Thailand, that’s not what the 1% is.
Thailand is a country where roughly 94% of the population are Buddhist, 5% are Islamic and less than 1% are Christian. That’s right, if you say you’re in the 1% here, that means you’re a Christian.
This month my team SheBrews and I are working in Kohn Kean, Thailand alongside the local YWAM group. This month ministry has looked a little different than most of us are used to. There are many reasons for this, 1 being that there is a language barrier here, that’s been a little more intense than in the past, but also because this is a country that is less than 1% Christian.
Our very first full day here, we spent the afternoon taking a tour of a museum about the history of the area we’re staying in and then we went to visit the largest temple in the area. As we climbed the nine stories to the top, besides thinking what the hell am I doing, it’s too hot to climb all these stairs I was also thinking about…well a lot of things, but mostly how I wondered what God thought of all the people that come here to worship, and then as we reached the top, I realized he loves them, they’re his children too. God loves us all. We hit the top floor and after a few minutes SheBrews decided to stand on the top floor of the temple and pray, pray for the people of Kohn Kean, and for the people of Thailand. I’m sure it probably looked a little to those there visiting the temple to see these Six White People and our entourage of Thai Counterparts Praying to God for the city and country while standing on the top of this Buddhist temple. But for me all I saw was us showing people that we weren’t here to back down just because we were in the minority here, that we were gonna worship and celebrate our God no matter where we were, and that we want him to be spread all over the country. It was an amazing way to start our ministry here in Thailand.
Above: The Temple we walked up to Pray From
Ministry has also looked a lot like us doing prayer walks around University Campuses, sitting in on YWAM Campus Ministry’s, hanging out at a local orphanage (where we will be living our last week and a half here), to helping the local YWAM DTS student fundraise at a local night market, to handing out tracts in the local night markets, to dancing in the street at a local market to walking down the road in the slums praying for people and so much more. We’ve come to the conclusion that there is no limit to what our ministry is gonna look like this month. In fact, later this week we’re supposed to do prison ministry. God put our team here for a reason, and it has been such a blessing.
This month also marked the month for new teams. I’ve been blessed to have a team of 6 amazing women of god (including myself) to spend the next few months with. This month has been a testament to how quickly we formed and melded together. We’re a team that’s not afraid to step out into new ministry opportunities, to have the hard feedback sessions, to be there for each other when we need it. God has truly blessed us all.
So as we go out and continue our ministry, as I look at all the ministry opportunities we’ve had and those that are still in front of us, I can’t help but smile. Smile at how we get to share the word of God, the love of God to the people of Thailand. Slowly by slowly that 1% is going to become 2% then 5% then 10% and someday it will be 94%…but until that day, I’ll keep praying for the people of Thailand, I’ll keep smiling at them, walking up to them and saying God Bless You (in Thai, but I have no clue how to spell that). I get to keep acting like a fool in the middle of the street dancing to worship music, and singing songs about God to them, and I’m excited to do it.
“…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:10-11 (NIV)
This month marked something else…
I’M FULLY FUNDED…
thank you all for donating and your support.
