I find that I have to remind myself several times a day that yes, this is in fact my life. I’m not sure when it became normal to see an elephant walking down the street past the restaurant where I am eating (then proceeding to jungle book march/chase it down the road) but somehow it has. I already know it is going to be so weird to be back in the States and not walking through random markets smelling raw meat and trying to decide if that article of clothing is used or not, and I know I am going to miss it so much. It will also be weird when there are once again more cars than motorbikes, and I no longer have to take random forms of public transportation that usually consist of some contraption attached to either the side or back of a motorbike. All of these things are so normal to me now and I love that this is currently my life.
Its a rare day in english class that we don’t share the gospel within our small groups of students. I love that. I love our ministry and it is going to be so hard to leave these students at the end of this month. So many of them have become Christians through this English class ministry, and we find that the majority of the ones that are buddhist cannot tell us why they are buddhist. All they can tell us is that they are buddhist because their parents and grandparents are buddhist. Because of this, they are so open and have so many questions about Christianity. We received one of the best Christmas presents ever this year when one of the girls excepted Christ on Christmas eve. We prayed over her and she could not stop smiling. We were all emotional as we told her all the angels in heaven were rejoicing over her right then. There are so many of them on the verge of loving Jesus with their whole hearts, and we are really praying it happens tomorrow at church. It definitely has not been a “normal” American Christmas, but it has been one that I will never forget.
Last saturday we planned a volleyball outing with our students and they took us to a sand volleyball court. We had so much fun interacting with them outside of english class. We have gotten to build good relationships this month and it’s going to be so hard to leave them in three days.
this is Jasmine, our new sister in Christ. She will have a new name very soon!
