HELLO EVERBODY!
I am more than HALFWAY done with the race. That’s crazy stuff. It feels like just yesterday I was eating my last chipotle burrito bowl before shipping off to Swaziland, and now here I am, sitting in an office in Thailand at my wonderful home, but before I talk about that, I want to reflect back on some of the amazing things I have seen and done so far on the race.
- Saw God physically heal people
- Killed a chicken and ate it for my birthday
- Saw all of the big 5 in Kruger national Park
- Became friends with tons of amazing Swazis
- Learned how much I can really benefit from consistently reading the Bible
- Shared the Gospel with the coolest German ever (Shoutout Suat if you’re reading this!)
- Saw the true joy that comes from passionately following Jesus
- Saw how worship can remedy the majority of issues
- Ate Pig Brain
- Found out what it looks like to have real sisters in Christ
- Traveled for like 5000+ hours
- Learned what it means to live out ministry outside of assigned ministry times
- Found out what real patience is
- Learned that I absolutely love to cook
- Saw how God can move in amazing ways despite the circumstances I’m in
And so much more! I am extremely grateful for everything the Lord has done in my life and in the lives of all my teammates and squadmates over the last 5 months. It has definitely not all been easy, but it has been so good. God has grown me so much and I have learned how to actively pursue him on a level that I have never known before.
Now to talk about right now. The huge group of guys with me – psych! there’s 5 of us – are currently living in a small town in Thailand called Roi Et for the seven weeks we are here. All of the girls are 12 hours north in Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao while we’re here. We’re living with an awesome missionary couple who’s been living in Southeast Asia for around 30 years. They’re ministry revolves around fish ponds and farming, along with being leaders of the church and many other things. We spend most days out in the fields or ponds doing things like making compost piles, shoveling dirt, laying down lime to make the soil less acidic, painting buildings, separating male and female Tilapia, and much more. I think that this has been my favorite ministry yet on the race. Don’t get me wrong, Swaziland and Myanmar were amazing, but something about doing manual labor all day every day out in the sun is just so satisfying. I really think it makes everything in life better. I’m always in a better mood, my sleep has been INCREDIBLE, and it motivates me to be more disciplined in other areas of my life. I’m extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to come here and spend these few weeks getting my hands dirty.
There’s one other missionary couple who lives in Roi Et, and we had the opportunity to spend a couple days with them last week. They are volunteer teachers and youth group leaders at a huge Buddhist boarding school on the other side of town. We were able to teach English to elementary and high school kids, along with tutoring 6th graders, and let me tell you, 6th graders in Thailand are exactly like 6th graders in the states, so you can imagine how it went for me to be in charge of 10 crazy kids. We also got to go to the youth group they have at their house every week, where around 50 kids show up to play games and worship Jesus – keep in mind that this is at a Buddhist school! These kids have seen the joy that comes from Jesus and have chosen to follow him instead of doing what the rest of society tells them. It was really encouraging to me and helped remind me to never lose sight of how amazing the God I serve is.
That’s all I have. Here’s to four more months of learning and serving! Praise Jesus!
Thanks for reading!
