Thailand. The land of smiles. The land of beautiful countryside, delectable cuisine, and some of the most hospitable people I’ve met thus far. (And that says a lot for an American from the south). It’s safe to say that I’ve absolutely loved our first week here and I am expecting the same for the rest!
This month our team is based in Chaiyaphum, Thailand, which is located in the center of the country. We’re partnering with a ministry family through YWAM, Youth With A Mission, to spearhead English camps at local schools. We held our first camp yesterday for 150 high schoolers, ages 13-18, which was quite the experience. The moment we pulled in to the school, my gut threw a nasty churn. In an instant all of the crazy emotions of high school flooded back. The rejection, the search for identity, the desire to be known and heard, stumbling through pride in success and humility in failure, and wanting to be accepted but searching in all the wrong places. I hadn’t expected to feel all of that again, but it was a great reminder of who we would be interacting with that day.
[Our lovely, smiling Thai students]
Most of the morning we taught English by various means – speaking, writing, reading, etc. There were times when the lessons clicked, but sometimes they just fell apart. At one point my teammate, Sherbs, just succumbed to learning Thai. What the heck? Teachers should learn from their students too. In another session we asked for students to name vegetables. One student exclaimed “Pomato!” So of course he was corrected – “it’s either tomato or potato, not pomato.” Come to find out later that a pomato is a real thing – tomato plant on top and potato roots on the bottom. Dang, these American teachers were getting schooled.
By lunchtime I was becoming exhausted. Many of the students weren’t paying attention anymore, most seemed to care little about English and I’m pretty sure some were making fun of us in Thai. We continued on with our afternoon program, which was a Christian program including skits, a Bible story, dances and testimony. I was slated to give a portion of my testimony, which I hadn’t given much thought until right before. But in the short bit of time I used to prepare, I remembered the old feelings and struggles of high school that had washed over me this morning. I decided to share about the things I wish I had believed in high school – the true power of the Lord, His victory over my darkness, and the freedom that only came in His name. As I shared I realized that was the first time the entire student body had been quiet since we began our program. As I scanned the group I caught faces that read “me too,” “i want that” and “i want to know more.” It’s crazy how body language can effectively nullify the ever-present verbal communication barrier. It was then that I had realized that English had been our way in to these student’s lives, but it was never meant to be the main purpose. We were there to love, to empathize, to be vulnerable, and to plant seeds.
[Thais love pictures & peace signs]
[One of the students found me on Facebook and sent this picture of us with the caption “Dubs <3” melts my heart!]
One of the great things about doing this journey in a really close community of believers is that they share what you sleep talk about. The other morning my teammate, Lindsay (aka Sherbs), shared what I had said in my sleep about Thailand – “This culture is incredible. My prayer is that they would buy into this experience.” My conscious brain couldn’t have said it any better. This is my prayer for these people and for Thailand – that our experience on the Race would collide with theirs and that they would simply buy in.
-LDubs
