I have officially arrived in Selaphum, Thailand, also known as my new home for the next three months. I cannot express to you all how excited I am to be here. Our bus ride ended up being almost 12 hours instead of 8 like we thought. I can say that being here and knowing that I don’t have to travel any more for a little while is super comforting.
The night we arrived we met Mom and Papa. Papa is the pastor of the church we are staying at and Mom is his wife. We are staying at Tic’s home, Moms daughter, which is a separate building from the church. Mom’s family lives here with us, not in the same building, but on the same base. There is a rice field behind where we live and also a pin with pigs in it. I have taken it upon myself that I will eventually name all of the pigs. So far I have named one, Martha. Their pin is right next to Tic’s home and we hear them every morning oinking. Beside our base is a soccer field where the children from the leper colony come and play with us every afternoon.
I thought that being here I would be overwhelmed. Preparing for the race and leading up to my departure date, I can’t even describe how overwhelmed I felt. I probably just wasn’t prepared for all of the goodbyes. Whatever it was though, God has placed such a peace over my heart and I am so grateful for that. I think it is the fact that the waiting period is over. I am finally here.
Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”
I was talking with one of my squad leaders; Liz, yesterday and we were talking about the fact that we are always waiting for answers. For example, when she decided to become a squad leader, she came to training camp not knowing who she was going to squad lead with or where she would be going this next year. She had to wait. We related this to God and how we are always waiting for answers. You can wait for 20 seconds for an answer from Him or 2 weeks. The process is technically the same. It’s the “are you willing to wait?” question that grabs at us.
As of right now I am waiting to officially start my ministry. Within these moments the Lord is teaching me to wait and sit in Him in the word. So far I have started in Genesis and am reading through that. God is too good. He is teaching me to read the bible more as a book about Him, rather than a book full of inspirational quotes that I try and relate myself to. I can’t describe how I already feel Him here.
I get to start teaching English tomorrow in the schools and not knowing but a couple words in Thai, I am learning to put all of my trust in Him. I can’t wait to update you all about how it goes!
Lots of love.
Han
ps. I got a dread.
pps. I ate an octopus tentacle.
