I love Thailand.
I love being able to experience how people of this culture live on a day to day basis. We drive on a dirt road full of massive pot holes for a solid half hour to get to our village. I’m surprised at how much I really enjoy the village life. It makes me think about how I can change my lifestyle when I return. It is such a simple life. The families that live in this village are refugees from Burma. They wake up at 5:30 in the morning for chores, worship and breakfast. There is a school in our village where these children get their education. A few days a week, our team goes into the school to teach English and help out with Science, Geography and Math. I have been teaching 1st grade English and I am having so much fun! At first, it was challenging trying to figure out how to teach without any materials. First grade was the only grade level without an actual curriculum and the teacher wanted me to only work on numbers 0-20. So that’s what we did this week. I taught numbers 0-20 in a million different ways. I was able to get creative and come up with several fun games and activities. This week has been such a wonderful reminder that I love teaching! Plus I have 5 first graders in my class, which is a dream!
Every night, we teach bible stories , sing songs, worship in Burmese and English, and play lots of silly games. Watching them worship is the coolest thing. Every night I watch them with a huge smile on my face as they worship as loud as they can to sing praises to the Lord. We have been teaching them “Our God is an Awesome God” and “Every Move I Make”. I really enjoy sharing bible stories this month because I have been able to interact with them and ask questions to make sure they understand. We have been practicing our drama skills by acting out bible stories and involving the kids as well. We have such a fun time with these kids. You can tell that these kids have a hunger for the Word and want to have a relationship with Jesus. This village truly is special and the Holy Spirit is all over the place! After church, we hang out with all of the children. This may mean doing homework, watching cartoons on their one little television while they have electricity, singing and dancing, or just sitting and talking. On Friday’s they get to watch movies, so yesterday we watched The Little Mermaid. Getting my Disney fix and singing along was the best! It is so relaxing and I feel so at home!
