hiii friends!!
so UPDATE! We have changed ministries due to some logistical reasons. We were working at the Agape orphanage, as you hopefully remember, and now we are working at a foster home. It was kind of a weird transition, but our team has definitely made the best of it. We are very thankful for our time at Agape and now very excited for what the Lord is going to do at our new ministry. We are working at a foster home that brings in children from the government orphanages that are sick and don’t have much hope in having a sustained health where they are. The foster home is run by a sweet couple from the states, good ole Arkansas to be exact, and they currently are housing about 15 of the sweetest kids. Our job is to hang out and play with the children all day and then teach them, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I am certainly not much of a teacher, so the the Lord is definitely trying to grow me somehow in this area. Also, God has been really cool in allowing my team to kind of have a look at all kinds of different ministries. Besides switching ministries, now we have two half days at the foster home, on Mondays and Wednesday’s. So on those days we do ATL in the afternoon. ATL stands for “ask the Lord” and it gives us a chance to connect with God and ask where and who He would like us to minister to that day. My team is pumped. Today was our first day of ATL. For me this looked like staying back and praying over our squad and what the next 8 1/2 months look like for them and their growth. This was hard for me because I don’t like being separated from my team, but I’m so glad I did because the Lord showed me how ministry relies on Him and not me.
With all this change between ministries, schedules, and rooms even, my team has been blessed with more down time. The other day we got to use some of this time to go with the guys team to the temple and chat with the monks. This is a really cool experience. I love listening to what the monks have to say and what they believe. They are so smart and have a lot of insight on how they view the world. Also, they are a lot different than what I expected. One of the monks I talked to on one of our first days of being in Chaing Mai was very humorously sarcastic, enjoys British rap, and, like me, struggles with laziness. The monk I talked to the other day is very smart and, unlike me, enjoys lots of reading and used to play soccer. He taught me about how important it is to live in the present and gave me a look into what life as a monk looks like, along with that we got to also share what we believe with him and have an interesting discussion about our religions.
Our down time has also allowed me to reflect on the Lord and what He has been teaching me since I’ve been in Thailand. He has taught me a lot so I am just going to share the biggest things for now. First, he has made me realize that I try to model my walk with Him after the people around me. I always feel like the way I worship has to looks like theirs or its not giving him enough praise, my time with Him has to look like theirs or I’m not diving deep enough, being as intentional, or going to learn as much, and I feel like the way I love others has to look like the way they do or else its not going to be appreciated or they aren’t going to think I’m nice, etc. NONE of this is true. God has made me the way I am for a reason and He has given me my own way of doing things for a reason. Now anything outside of that isn’t genuine. However, I’m still growing in this and trying to figure out what this looks like for me.
He has also taught me more about loving others and how he has called us to love everyone. We don’t get a pass on loving someone just because we don’t click with them. This can be hard. People can be hard to love, but I think thats what makes it so beautiful. And love doesn’t just mean tolerating them or loving them from afar. It means choosing to serve them and appreciate them even when you don’t want to.
So, yeah. That’s life right now. Some things have become new normals so I may forget to add them in. If you have any questions about the WorldRace, ministry, Thailand, what I’m learning, I would LOVE to answer them.
lots of love,
KenniGrace
