So since being in Thailand, things have been pretty amazing. Ministry has looked different from last month; we don’t have an organized daily schedule and the things we do are quite different. In Cambodia we would go to children’s ministry in the mornings and then in the afternoons always teach our specific English classes. Sometimes we would do prayer walks in temples but it was the same week to week. Here in Thailand, we do something different everyday. We teach English, but when we do, we do it at one school for two days then go to another school the next time we teach. We never have a specific class or specific kids. Every night we have soccer ministry but this is actual coaching soccer, not like before playing an actual game. Outside of this, mainly what we have been doing has been…..wait for it….. working in the rice fields!
It was our third day and our hosts Raem and Nan come up to us and say, “today, we will be going in the rice fields.” We had no idea what to expect, but assumed it just meant a little bit of manual labor. They gave us some bright pink long sleeve shirts and told us to wear long pants. They give us knee high nylon socks, some gloves, and we think maybe we should bring some hats. We asked if we should wear sneakers and they said “no, you don’t wear shoes in the rice field.” Uh oh… what does this entail? We suit up, get in the back of the pick up truck, and make our way to the rice fields. Seven minutes later we arrive to a huge field, full of what we unknowingly at the time, of rice. We walk over to a shack and there’s Gramps (Raems father) in his wood house, surrounded by rice fields. We go to the rice field and step in. To our surprise, we just stepped into water up to our hips.
The bottom was squishy and muddy and slimy and full of fish and many different bugs I could not even begin to explain to you what they are. It kinda felt like the bottom of a lake with rotting leaves but slimier and more dangerous wildlife. We were not expecting this, but without hesitation we truck through the fields and pick up bundles of rice to transport up to dry and be harvested. We mastered filling 5000 bundles of rice into one bucket by meticulously stacking them. At one point we stuffed so much rice into a bucket it sank but it’s really okay the rice survived.
During our harvesting, Katie brought up the great point of how humbled she was by our adventure in the fields. Nan while harvesting would stop to pick up single strands of rice (maybe containing 7 grains). They save every last grain of rice, and it made us realize how wasteful we are. Whether it be water, or food, or paper, or just time, we take advantage of it all unknowingly, but they even stop to pick up a grain of rice. It gave us a greater picture of the world, and how much detail the Lord created, and how much we should value it rather than easily look past it.
Another revelation in the rice fields was our ministry. So at first we were slightly discouraged that for 7 days all we were doing was harvesting rice. We didn’t get to minister to anyone and we were harvesting for Raems parents who were already Christians. We felt like our time was being wasted. However, on Sunday at service, Gramps went up to the front of the room and spoke about how we were a blessing to him and an answered prayer. Harvesting comes right after rain season in November, exactly when we got here. Gramps had been praying for help in the fields and had been asking for a team to come. We were a blessing to him. We were an answered prayer. He said we were an answered prayer. We were able to help him with his needed work, take a weight of his shoulders. Bring him joy, peace, and rejuvenation; bring him help. Our ministry might not have been evangelizing door to door, but it was answering the prayer of one of God’s children.
Sometimes God doesn’t call us to directly grow the kingdom, but rather to help our brothers and sisters in need. We grow the kingdom by helping each other. The service on that Sunday was about how as Christians, we must work as a unit. Alone, we are all poor. We don’t have much to give, but when we combine what we have, we are all rich. Together we are rich in the kingdom of God. He will multiply what we have, and by becoming a unit, we are able to reach out and do more, together. Why try to accomplish something alone when we can count on the help of others and our great Lord.
By helping in the rice fields, we were an answered prayer. We accomplished what the Lord needed us to do, even if it seemed useless at the time. He has a greater plan than we will ever know, and so he calls us to ruthlessly follow him without doubt and questions. Ruthlessly follow him as much as he is ruthlessly pursuing us.
The rice fields were a pretty interesting experience. It was tough manual labor in the hot son and we stood out like sore thumbs by our bright pink shirts and 6 girls and the fact we were white. Yeah try to tell me they didn’t laugh at us multiple times. Even though it was exhausting, it was great. We would play music and dance in the water or just laugh at each other when we fell in or stepped on a catfish or when we broke out with rice rash. It sounds miserable, but I felt true joy while accomplishing our harvesting. I was doing what the Lord had called me to do. Ask me a year ago what I think I’d be doing now and I would never think that I would be in Thailand harvesting rice, ever, but here I am. I am following his lead, doing what he asks, answering the prayers of his children.
