Thailand; overall, has probably been my second favorite month, right behind good ‘ol ‘Nam. It is the last leg of Asia and we started it with new teams, having our raised-up squad leaders be trained, and preparing for saying goodbye to our alumni squad leaders. It has been a huge month for transition, as will next month. The torches will officially be passed from Tammy, Lo, and Amanda to Jacob, Michelle, and the Frias’ (Eric and Krystal) and we will BE IN EUROPE! So crazy, time is flying!
First week in Thailand:
I got to play basketball with some of the locals and my host, Bob (so fun!)
We went to Bob’s church and started meeting/developing relationships with some of the members
My team went to Bob’s wife’s school for 3 mornings and taught English, which involved a lot of silly dancing videos that we led and the students followed us!
Had 2 “off” days in which we rested, visited coffee shops, and found a street “pad thai” lady (pad thai is delicious)
We also were able to do an outreach with our hosts’ church. They are trying to plant a church, boys dorm, and girls’ dorm in a village. Half of us taught English/led a Bible study with adults and half of us taught English/did a Bible lesson with the kids.
I know I look super crazy, but my face is just super animated when I teach haha
This little girl was so precious and would not leave my side during Bible sudy or lunch!
My team is pretty great 🙂
The last thing we did for week 1 was “bar ministry”
Second week in Thailand:
Went to Bob’s church again, sang 2 songs “Pharoh, Pharoh,” and “Come to the Altar.”
Were taken to “Nam Song,” where we did different kinds of ministry each day
*Monday 5/15/17: We were taken out to lunch by the pastor, a member of his church Sarah and her daughter Ester, watched it downpour for 2 hours, went to the Pastor’s sister’s shop and had ice cream, and visited a place where a church is in the process of being built. We prayed for more money and supplies could come in so that it can be finished being built!
Left: Mikayala, AG (AnnaGrace), Kaiti, Right: Ester, Saraya, Me, Katie
Leizl, Pastor, Sarah, and Ester
Ester and I at the church currently being built
Getting ready to pray for the church
Ester and I again
*Tuesday 5/16/17: Today we went to a school to help teach English, sing songs, teach Bible stories, do a craft and hand out goodies from ‘Operation Christmas Child,’ boxes! We worked with a missionary named Mark from New Zealand at the school! Mikayla and I teamed up in 6th grade and Leizl and Pastor translated for us! We then went out to dinner!
Talking with the principal before teaching!
Sarah opened up the little window in the back of the pick-up and started taking pictures of us through it haha (AG, Mikayla, Me)
*Wednesday 5/17/17: It was Mikayla’s 23rd birthday, yay! We got to hike up to a prayer mountain, visit some of the pastor’s family, and see some of the land that the churches all divided up to grow plants for profit for the church! We then had an awesome meal out for Mikayla’s birthday!
On top of the prayer mountain!
After climbing back down the mountain!
Mikayla’s bday dinner!
*Thursday 5/18/17: This was one of my favorite days of the Race so far. We woke up to find the church flooded. We tried our best to clean it up; however, since the water was seeping through the floor we couldn’t do much. We did house visits for members of the local churches. We prayed for these beautiful people for healings, strength in their relationships with the Lord, and some to even accept Jesus as their Savior! We witnessed a partial healing and 2 people accept Jesus into their hearts! We has lunch and then prayed over one of the local churches. For dinner, we went back to the Pastor’s sister’s shop for Bible Study! It was an amazing day!
Since it had been raining so much, they covered the bed of the pick up for us!
This man was hit by a car 12 years ago while mowing the lawn. He fully recovered until about 6 months ago when his body started shutting down! He was not able to walk/get anywhere himself anymore. His wonderful wife moves him from his bed to his chair and has to push his feet/legs in order for him to move. He accepted Jesus into his heart 3 months ago. We prayed for him and had him try to walk. He was able to move his legs/take a few steps while being held up! It was beautiful and I teared up watching it!
In the middle is “mom,” on the end is her son and daughter-in-law. Mom is a beautiful servant of Jesus who oversees the church that is being built’s land. It was her husband’s dream to see the church finished, but unfortuantely he died before the church was finished. Praise, the church had money and supplies come in while we were there and it will be finished in June! Another praise is that the son and daughter-in-law accepted Jesus into their lives while we were there. The son has wanted to, but had been reluctant since his wife and her family were Buddist. Again, I teared up, it was so cool to see them pray to Jesus for the first time!
I felt God leading me to pray and give her encouragement, so I did with the help of a translator!
At Pastor’s sister’s shop eating dinner before the Bible Study!
*Friday 5/19/17: It was our last day in Nam Song. We woke up to a lot of rain. We were supposed to go to a village school and teach for a few hours, but ended up only teaching for like 45 minutes since the school was very flooded! After school, we visited 2 more church member’s houses and then were taken out to a very nice lunch at a fish farm type of place. They were also super nice and ordered me fried rice since I don’t do fish! We then were driven home to Nong Khai. It was the best week of the Race to date!
Teaching!
And Again!
Praying for a man who had just recently gotten out of the hospitial and for his wife. They were the kindest, most on-fire people for Jesus you will ever meet! God gave me a word to tell them after we visited with them and the wife said that what I told her was what she was worried about. God is so cool!
Praying for our brothers and sisters after lunch!
Nam Song will always have a special place in our hearts!
