This morning I woke up at 3am in a panic, covered in sweat, my mind racing.
“What time is it? I need to pack. Why am I sweating? Today is the field trip and I’m in charge of these children. I don’t even speak Thai. I hope I don’t get car sick…I hope no one gets hurt…”
I got up and splashed my face with cold water and prayed until I fell back asleep. Three hours later I got up and got dressed, threw some bread in the toaster, and ran downstairs and across traffic just in time to catch the sung thaew.
As I stood on the side of the road, I realized that my anxieties had all but vanished and I was nothing but eager for the day ahead. After a precautionary caffeine fix, I greeted my kiddos with full energy, assuring their parents they were in good hands, expectant for the Lord to do something really cool today!
Once we got in our morning stretches and jumping jacks, we took our bathroom breaks and group photos in a surprisingly organized fashion, and boarded the bus. At the front of this double decker disco bus, surrounded by about 35 Thai children singing, “Rice Rice Baby,” I was over come with joy!
We spent the day leading our kids from one activity to the next, learning about how rice is planted, how it grows, and how it is harvested. We got to grind it into flour, sift it through machines, and mash it by stepping on a levy. We even got to row a boat through the pond singing, “row row row your boat, gently through the reeds…” and splashing teacher (me) with our paddles.
After taking an unconventional tractor ride, balancing ourselves on bamboo as we walked over the pond, and taking turns sitting on the water buffalo, it was time for the main event!
One by one, we trudged through the rice field, thigh deep (shoulder deep for some kids) in mud, each child planting their own stalk of rice. With dozens of little hands gripping me for stability, I did my best not to fall down myself as I guided each child out of the slippery mud.
Having pulled about 100 kids out of the muddy waters at the hose down station, I was ushered to the community baths. “Go wash…nung, song, sam, see, ha,” I was instructed. The kids were to begin with tub one and work their way through all five, getting cleaner as they went.
I was pulled into tub number four by a group of boys that decided I was not clean enough to remain dry. The youngest boy, not with my group, told me he was from China and wanted to know if I was an American teacher. When I said yes, he responded in perfect English, “Well teacher, you have mud all over your face.”
When I told him I was going to go underwater to rinse off my “war paint,” he refused. “No! No! Please, I will help you,” he insisted as he began to wash my face for me. “Teacher, it’s a lot of mud, but don’t worry, I will get it all!”
His little hands gently scrubbed my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, and my ears. When the mud was gone he smiled up at me, “Now you are clean?”
For the next hour, I sat in tub number four and washed the faces of children I got to see almost everyday and children I have never met before, all of whom I will probably never see again.
I walked away from this day imagining how the disciples must have felt having their feet washed by Jesus…even more so how Mary might have felt when she washed Jesus’ feet. The love I felt from this little boy led me to sit in a filthy bath with dozens of children for the simple joy of washing them clean. Those whom I came to serve had washed me and in so doing, made me feel loved. So too shall I wash and show love to all of His children!
Can you even imagine how Jesus feels every time He gets to wash away our filth!? He got down and dirty with us for the sole purpose of cleansing us! This is how He called me to serve His children on this day in Pathum Thani, Thailand, and everyday in His kingdom!
