How am I already in the middle of month 5 of the race?? It feels like just yesterday I was saying all of my goodbyes back home! A week and a half of being here and I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m sitting in Thailand right now! It’s hard to think this is our last month in Asia. It’s been SO incredibly easy falling in love with this continent, the people, the different cultures, the foods, the random transportation methods…EVERYTHING! It will honestly feel weird not being the only white people around and surrounded by Asian people after this month.
So, we took about a 6 hour bus ride to the Cambodia/ Thailand border. Once we were there, we then had to carry all of our gear through customs, immigrations, and walked across the border in the blistering heat. That was interesting. I could barely move the next morning I was so sore. Once we finished that process, we then had smaller vans take us another few hours to the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in Bangkok where we stayed for 2 nights and had orientation and training. We then headed to Rayong which was about a 3 hour drive. When we arrived at the guesthouse we’re living at, we were warmly welcomed by the cutest little Thai man, named Pastor TJ who is our host for this month. He is SUCH a man of God and has a huge passion for prayer! We also then realized that we were literally in the middle of the jungle away from most civilization. (TJ had a wild elephant show up in his back yard at the church right down the road from us the other night…that will give you an idea of where we’re living) The weather here in Thailand is close to how Cambodia was. It’s not quite as hot but still very humid. Their rainy season usually begins at the end of May but it seems to have come early this year because it’s rained every day since we’ve been here! It’s been extremely nice and is keeping it more bearable and a little cooler for us!
We live with 3 other people. A, now, 13 year old (we got to celebrate him and his birthday Sunday!!) named Manat. Because of family issues, TJ has now taken Manat in and cares for him. Manat has the biggest servant’s heart. He truly radiates the love of Christ. That will be one of the hardest goodbyes I will have to make on this race! I think we’re all feeling that way. Manat goes to ministry with us everyday, on days we don’t have ministry, he sits around with us outside (he doesn’t know too much English so there’s not too much talking), he plays games with us, helps us cook, in the morning times, when some of us are doing our quiet times, Manat will be sitting somewhere with his bible out doing his quiet time. He is PRECIOUS. I always wanted a little brother so now I can say I have one in Thailand! There is another older man that lives here as well named Tain (probably not spelling that correctly). He looks after Manat here and is such a sweet man. He’s a believer and a member of the church. Then there’s another man named Yar. We don’t know too much about him but we know that he’s a believer! Once we arrived on Saturday, we got to just spend the rest of the day relaxing and getting settled in.
Most of our time here so far has been spent in the bed of a pick up truck driving for hours at a time to places for ministry. It has truly made for some wonderful conversations and time spent together as our new team is diving in to knowing each other better!
One of our first days of ministry, we got to go to a juvenile detention center about 2 and a half hours away. There was about 35-40 boys, ranging in ages from as young as 11 to 18 being the oldest. They were all in there for drug related reasons. In the past few years, I’ve gained this new passion for prison ministry and one of my hopes for ministry one month on the race would be getting to do it so even though this wasn’t exactly prison ministry, it was close to it so I thoroughly enjoyed it! We sang some worship songs, shared a few testimonies, and then pastor TJ shared a message. It was all in Thai so I honestly couldn’t tell you what all was being said but at the end of it, TJ asked the boys a question, nobody raised their hands, so he had them close their eyes and asked again and this time 6 boys raised their hands. He then had them all come sit at the front and then asked us to come sit behind them and pray over them. We still had no idea what was happening until finally we asked and he told us that these boys had just accepted Christ!!! Holy Cow! He also had all the other boys split up in smaller circles that we then got to walk around and pray over! It was AWESOMEEEEE!! TJ also spent some time speaking with the boys more in depth about discipleship while still being at the center and also how to maintain a relationship with Jesus. We are also working on getting them bibles!
Another day for ministry, we drove a couple of hours to visit a woman who was a new believer so we went to encourage her and her family and got to pray over their business and their house.
On another day for ministry, we made a few house visits. The first house we went to was the house of a church member and his wife. They own a shrimp farm so we got to walk around and pray over the land. His brother and nephew were also there helping him out. They were not believers but, by the time we left, they had also accepted Christ and were given New Testament bibles!!
We then went to another family’s house where they so graciously served us sodas and fruit. The mom/wife of the family had such an incredible story of how God completely saved her from almost being killed when a wild elephant stepped on her stomach/ chest and literally crushed her! A group of elephants were casually strolling through their back yard when one of the elephants got agitated. It was trying to get to their daughter so she selflessly pushed her daughter and son out of the way and took the risk of dying to make sure they were ok! She’s completely healed from it though and is doing great!
On Friday, there was a church 3 provinces over (about 2 and a half hours away) that asked TJ if his church would partner up with them and fast breakfast and lunch. So, we of course, wanted to join in and be in prayer for this church. We drove over there and had the opportunity to spend all afternoon in prayer and worship with them, broke the fast with communion, and then shared a meal together! It was so good to just be able to praise our Father for everything he has done for us with fellow believers, despite the language barriers! We got to break up in small groups and pray for each other, we prayed for our nation and all the nations, we got to pray for healing over people with illnesses, we prayed for the lost and broken. At some point, we prayed healing over an elderly woman in the church who struggled with knee pains and cataracts. After praying over her a few times, she had no more pain in her knees and she was able to see more clearly!
Yesterday at church, a girl from Laos that we met at the family’s house of the woman who got crushed by the elephant, came to church with that family and decided she wanted to accept Christ so we got to pray over her and rejoice over everything the Lord is doing!
Guys we literally have only been here a week and 3 days and we’ve already seen 9 salvations and a healing! We are so mind blown right now at how God is changing the hearts and lives of the Thai people! Please be in prayer for us during our remaining time in Thailand and that God continues doing wild things here even after we leave! Pray for boldness and endurance for the current believers in this country and that God just spreads like a wild fire in this nation!
Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement!!! I still truly appreciate you and am so thankful for you all to be a part of this incredible journey!
-Leah
