Thailand is just a beautiful country filled with beautiful people that love to make foreigners feel welcomed and at home. A few days ago was honestly one of the best days for me on the race because of the love of two old women.
My team and I went to a beautiful public park with our ministry contact to eat lunch out on these tables that float in the middle of the lake (it was legit!). Before we ate though a couple of us decided to go on a run throughout the park. While running and listening to music by So Long Forgotten I was getting kind of tired running around in a circle, and right then I saw a little dirt trail. So, I ran off onto this overgrown trail and then took this old dirt road that hooked right. After running for about 10 minutes I came across some BEAUTIFUL rice fields with people working in them. As I ran by they were all waving to me and yelling, “Hello! How are you? What is your name?” I just smiled and waved back.
I then came across two old women sitting in the middle of my road escaping the intensity of the sun as they ate lunch underneath the shade of a gorgeous tree. As I ran by I did the wai and said “swaty chrap” which means hello in Thai (not sure about spelling, sorry). They smiled and laughed and waied back at me. As I reached the end of the trail I just stood in amazement at the beauty of God’s creation. The endless green rice fields covered in diligent workers with the biggest blue sky providing cloud coverage from the sun every few seconds. It was so peaceful and comforting, I don’t know how to explain it, I felt at home.
As I turned around and started running back I saw the same two old women underneath the tree eating. As I approached them I saw them wave at me to come over and sit with them. As I got closer they held out a food dish asking me to eat with them!
How awesome is that! Two random old women saw that I was hungry and thirsty so they decided to give me some of their water and food expecting nothing in return! I felt so at home and loved by two complete strangers who couldn’t speak any English at all, all they did was comfort me with what little they had. And let me tell you, it was hilarious eating with them underneath this tree by the rice fields. They handed me some of the craziest and weirdest food that ended up tasting delicious. I think they told me one of the things I ate was buffalo testicles or something like that…I don’t want to know.
We all laughed as they tried to teach me Thai and then as I tried to teach them English we started crying from laughing so hard. As I was getting ready to leave I asked if I could pray for them real quick by making the universal prayer hand gesture. They looked at me, smiled, and vigorously nodded yes. I just prayed for blessings, love, His presence, and understanding. When I was done they both grabbed my hand and looked at me in the eyes and said with thick Thai accents, “Thank you.” As I ran away all I could think was, “That was so much fun!” All I could do was laugh.
I guess I don’t really know if they were Christian or Buddhist, but I would have to say without a doubt they were Buddhist because like the old saying goes, “To be Thai is to be Buddhist.” Yeah, I do believe the only way is through Christ, and I will die for this belief. However, I also believe the only way to convey this belief is through love. I didn’t see two Buddhist women, I saw two children of God with whom I got to love on, laugh with, cry with, and fellowship with. I am the fragrance of Christ and His presence was and will remain there (2 Corinthians 2:14-17). I was truly blessed by those two old women, and I will never forget their names; Pan and Pin.
