Dear Thailand,
When I hear about you I hear about the beautiful beaches, the sex trafficking, and the elephants. I did get to spend a day with the elephants, PRAISE. I did spent one night doing bar ministry where I saw the sex industry thriving more than beer sales in Oktoberfest. But I did not get to see your beaches – I swam in the gulf of Thailand while in Cambodia, so I know that the water really is as pretty as pictured. But I am content not having gone to the beaches, because I saw an amazing side of Thailand that is rarely shown. I saw “mountains” attempting to reach into the sky, I trekked through the jungle looking for a “special tree” which was really just a flower bush, but….. translation is hard.
We saw a church on fire for the Lord. House visits have been hard throughout the Race, we have run into a lot of people believing in the power of the white people, not the power of the Holy Spirit. The villages we visited was so different. The people we met were genuinely in LOVE with the Lord, and knew He is a good good Father. They were craving his miracles, and as a result we saw a man’s use of his leg restored, and we saw two people accept Jesus. We wept with the villagers, we celebrated with them, and we saw the Holy Spirit active and alive in this place.
I also learned that being a teacher is hard. Classroom management is not in my skill set, but the kiddos were so energetic, loving, and accepting of the foreigners who came to teach English (even if the parents tell their kids the white people will eat them if they don’t eat their vegetables or other mischievous behaviors). I am thankful to have had my teacher partner, Amanda, who also had no idea what to do in the classroom. We took everything we have ever learned while on the world race and played lots of games, sang lots of songs, and made a lot of worksheets for the kids!
So Thailand, this was my last month on the continent of Asia (for now), and you were a delightful place to end on. The people were welcoming, we had a wide range of villages in Northern Thailand, to the busy city of Bangkok. I got the chance to hop across the boarder to Laos, PRAISE, and I met people with faith larger than mine.
Thank you, Thailand
-M
