Hello to all! Thailand has been a great month so far. Our "Manistry" month has been this month and has been a month where all of the squad's guys come together to serve alongside each other while the women do a separate ministry themselves. So after 5 months of being outnumbered on P Squad it has been nice to have some "man" time.
Our ministry this month has consisted of brush clearing, building demolition, burning, leveling groundwork, and building construction. We have been in two villages thus far this month and have been helping two sister ministry's that are centered here in Chaing Mai, Thailand. One is called Lighthouse in Action and focuses in Chaing Mai evangelizing the outcasts in the city such as those who have been sex trafficked and the city prostitutes. The girls of P Squad have been working with Lighthouse in Action daily. While us guys have been helping an organization called X-Life that is focused on outlying villages around Chaing Mai. The work that we guys have done has centered around helping expand these ministries and helping them become more self sufficient in their food needs. One thing I have noticed repeatedly in the countries I have traveled to, these overseas Christian ministries put emphasis on basic logistical needs such as food. Simply going to the grocery store is always an option, but not always the best or most affordable.
I felt like I was in hot Texas again this week. It was sultry, hot, with ants everywhere, and I got to run a mean weed eater to cut down all thats in this picture.
We have helped in that by cleaning up an overgrown pond that was full of brush and prepping it so that its old water can pumped out and the bottom prepared to hold large quantities of fish. I am not an expert in aquaculture, but us men were successful in clearing out the brush of this pond and getting it ready to pump the water out, which we were going to do halfway through our week in the first village, but our brand new water pump with a brand new engine was leaking oil in 3 places and we did not posses the tools to fix the leaks so we had to rain check that endeavor. From the likes of it, the pump looked to be chinese made…
In our second village so far, us 11 men have been split up to where we are working in two places at once. Some of us including myself have been helping construct a guest/dorm house for a lady that has hosted missionary groups in the past, while the other half of us guys have been working in the rice fields that help to sustain and feed the X-Life organization. It has been fun helping build this guest house, because to start off with we had to tear down this old barn looking structure, and then begin to level the ground so we could make the brick walls of the building. Once we began laying the brick, my job was to mix the mortar and carry the mortar to the different brick layers. Overall, the construction of the building is coming along much quicker than I anticipated. At the end of the month I hope to have another blog update for the rest of Thailand.
Just as an update. I still need $1,275 so that I can stay on this missions trip for the full 11 months and not come home early. Total thus far I have raised $14,225 of the $15,500 needed to be fully funded. If you have not yet donated and would like to support me so that I can continue serving in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Moldova, and Romania please click on this direct link below so that so you can contribute. Every small amount helps, even $15.00, the price of one movie ticket and Coke will get me that much closer to staying on this mission.
Brother in Christ,
Matthew
Mixing mortar for three brick layers was a constant chore.
Glasses check. Buff check. Beard check. My teammates began calling me Duck Dynasty after this day. Saying I looked exactly like the character Jase off the tv show.
