This week has been one of the toughest yet sweetest of times.
On Monday and Tuesday, my team and I did ministry in the area around our home. Ashlyn, Maddie, Katie, Abigail, and I pieced together all the little prophesied images and went out to find where God was calling us to preach the Gospel in the market.
We saw the images: bike, old woman in fruit stand, orange shirt and khaki pants, wind chime, and fruit. We walked up to her and realized this was exactly where God led us at that exact moment. We met the woman at the fruit stand in front of us and we now call her Grandma T. She has the most radiant smile and she builds relationships with all of her customers. We used our short time on Monday to tell her about the gospel and that Jesus loves her. We gave her a flower to show her the beauty. Each morning we Go to her stand and buy fruit from her. We continue to show her the love of God and build a strong relationship with her. While she doesn’t speak English, we are able to communicate through the universal language of love. Each day, she is so gracious and generous and gives us a different free fruit. She loves to give us these weird smalls fruit balls (we call them alien eggs).
The first day of organized ministry was on Wednesday. Wednesday was a day where we served John and Gillian by completing tasks that they don’t typically have time to fix. Me and two of my team members (Michael and Joe) built a ball deflector net behind the soccer goal in order to stop the balls from destroying the neighbors fence. It’s these little tasks that keep this ministry alive and agile for long term success. When the kids arrived later that day, they all pointed to the net and were excited to be able to kick the ball as hard as they want.
The Place of Grace is truly the home of Jesus. John and Gillian have the biggest servant hearts and are living as disciples of Jesus. They have such amazing plans for the long term mission of the Place of Grace. Currently, they have club nights each day of the week where children from the slum communities come to play, receive a meal, and learn about Jesus. They have discipleship groups for those interested in learning more about the Gospel 3 times a week. On Friday, John and Gillian have a food bank in the morning where coupons are given to members of the community who have babies/young children, disabilities or extreme difficulty feeding their family. They are given basic necessities and food that will feed their families for 3 meals a day for 3 days. In the afternoon, we split into teams to prepare an English lesson. My team was Maddie, Nicole, and Mariah and we were paired with the group of the youngest children. They were 5-11 years old. They really pulled at my heart strings. I instantly connected with this little girl who I will call “B.” B has the cutest laugh and the sweetest little personality. She was super artistic and loved to jump around. All of her front teeth were rotting from poor nutrition. She was so thin. She loved to give Hugs and hold my hand while we played English games. We taught all the kids about family… how to say “mom”, “dad“, “brother”, “sister” and ”you.” They all drew pictures of their families. We also played 4 corners where each corner was a different family member. Each kid was So full of joy and love. They got to enjoy the universal language of play. No matter what language they speak- everyone knows how to play. Once the lessons were over, Mariah, Madison and I got the opportunity to ride in the van with John to drop all the children off at their homes in the 5 slum communities. This van ride was extremely tough for me. Seeing the sewage water running down the streets and into the homes, trash piled high all over the streets, and open houses with no beds or fans almost made me break down. The children we had just spent the past hour loving on and getting to know were living in these conditions. They had little food or water to live off of. For some, the only food they had for the day was at A Place of Grace. B’s home was flooded with some sewage and was barely holding together. When we returned to A Place of Grace, we played basketball and soccer with the boys. (I, K, T, and F) They are such an awesome group of kids who have so much joy. Michael and I taught T how to shoot a basketball correctly. I got to juggle a soccer ball with K and F. It was amazing to be able to love on these kids and make them feel special, to show them that they have hope and that god loves them.
John and Gillian have incredible relationships with the children and families in the slum communities (there are 5 communities in the area we are working). John said it took him 2 years to earn respect in the communities and to be trusted with the children.
The Lord is SO good. He is so faithful. He is powerful. He is love. He brings hope to the hopeless. I am so excited to continue to grow in my relationship with him over the next 2 weeks.
At a Place of Grace, we are not allowed to take pictures of any of the children due to the Protection of their identity. In the slum communities in Thailand, young children are often sold or kidnapped into the sex trade. In order to avoid this exploitation, we will not be posting any photos of them. john and gillian are true warriors for Christ and treat these kids like their own sons and daughters. They are wonderful and loving and I am so excited to continue to work with them over the next 2 weeks.
