If I’m being honest, and I try to always be honest, Thailand was a slow month. Our ministry didn’t have the clearest of definitions. We were pretty far outside of town. There just wasn’t a whole lot for our team to do. Throughout the month I felt confused. And as I detailed in the previous blog, I chose to do what I could to make the most of it. At the time though, it felt like such a huge deal. It made the month feel far less enjoyable. And yet…
Hindsight really does put things in perspective. I remember arriving with the whole squad getting ready for travel to Cambodia and thinking I had a really nice month, definitely not what I thought I’d feel about it. It took a while to pick up, but it was genuinely great. Maybe things to do were scarce. But it enabled me to seek out my new teammates and develop new relationships in a way that would have never been possible should our schedule have been packed. I finally got to know Ali, someone I had never actually talked to until we were out on the same team. I discovered that Larisa and I enjoy many of the same obscure BBC tv shows, Jane Austen, intellectual talks, and worship leading. I was overjoyed to find someone with similar interests.
In our last week and half of ministry alone, our team got some amazing opportunities. We were able to go to a village for a weekend. We put on a kids program and did two church services that Sunday in two separate villages. It was pretty amazing. And since Asia’s Hope has several homes scattered throughout the area, we were also able to visit one of their more remote homes. It was a picturesque setting and all we did was join their worship and share a testimony. Cody and Stephanie shared about how God asked them to sell everything to come on the Race, even their engagement ring. Their testimony is crazy powerful, so you should definitely check out their blog. I remember that evening particularly well. We sat in the back of the simple church and watched the kids worship. Some of the young girls were wearing the traditional dress of their hill tribe. The sun set over the fields and hills outside. And with all the windows and doors open, we had the perfect view. A stray dog would wander in and out throughout the service. It was a moment of pure peace. Peace with where we were at and what we were doing. Also, for a few Saturdays, I was able to teach keyboard to five girls. It was a blast. Never mind that they didn’t speak English very well and you’re trying to communicate abstract musical terms… I just made do. It worked! Whether I taught scales or chords or the difference between a major or minor chord. I can still hear them “maJUH” “miNUH”. It was precious in so many ways.
It was important for me to realize that what I was feeling for most of the month, the confusion and stress, wasn’t the final outcome. God has the final say. It was the small things in the month that made it special. And now when I look back, I don’t see difficulties, I see blessings in such small ways.
I’ll also leave you with a video Stephie put together our month, it’s pretty awesome.
