For the past week and a half I have been working in Zion cafe with 7 Thai ladies, plus our ministry contact, Emmi. It has been an experience that I will remember for a lifetime. I have had the opportunity to serve these ladies who I have come to love dearly, to serve my squad-mates when they come into the cafe for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and the plethora of travelers that come through the cafe during the day. God has been keeping me on my toes with the interactions I have had with all these groups of people.
One afternoon in the cafe, there was some down time between the dinner and lunch rush and the ladies were sitting around chatting, in Thai of course. The youngest of the bunch was massaging the legs of an older woman sitting next to her, and I thought that was such a beautiful sight that reminded me of how highly valued respect of elders is in their culture. Then another woman, who is often in the back of the kitchen but I can always hear her laugh throughout the day, came and sat beside me. Now, we had never exchanged many words because I know little Thai and while they are better at English than I am at Thai, a lot is lost in our translations, but she looked tired and I just felt like I should offer her a leg massage too. Honestly, I didn't think she would let me, but I thought they would giggle that the crazy American girl offered: so I did. She did indeed look surprised but then proceeded to put her leg right on top of my knees! So there I was, sitting in a kitchen, massaging a woman's leg that I could not say anything more than 'hello' and 'thank you' to. If you asked me a month ago what I would be doing in Thailand, I would never have guessed God would put me a cafe with 7 beautiful Thai women, but I could not be more thankful. Now of course, the leg massage brought out a lot of laughs from all the women, but that's really what I aim to do everyday- bring a little more joy and love into their lives. Even though she was laughing at me, I would like to think she understood the respect I have for her and all her hard work.
Obviously, I love my squad-mates, which means getting to serve them their meals, cheesecakes, and smoothies has been a huge blessing. I am not the most graceful person to walk the Earth. In my dad's words, most of the time when I am around either someone else is getting injured or something is being broken. To say I was a little nervous about trying to balance people's food and drinks on a tray would be fair. But thankfully, the majority of customers at the cafe are my fellow racers! So I could bumble through orders and be awkward with the tray, and all I received was grace and encouragement. It was awesome, and helped me gain the confidence to handle the 'real' customers that come into the cafe.
Now our 'real' customers have been fascinating. I met some guys from Barcelona (awesome because I studied in Spain last summer so I got to gush about how much I loved it there to them!), girls from Germany, and a couple from India who gave me their contact info for when we are there in a few months. One of my favorite customers was a family that came in who was visiting Chiang Mai for a week. I approached their table with their food and casually chatted with them. The next time I came up to their table with more food, they asked if I was a Christian. Well that caught me completely off-guard, but I said yes, and asked how they knew. They told me they could just tell by my smile and the cafe sign. They are Christians as well. I was so astonished, but so in love with how God makes himself known to others without anything but his light and presence. So powerful and awesome. They made my night.
More soon! Thanks so much for all the support and encouragement I've been getting from your comments. I love hearing from you and can't wait to share what other crazy awesome things God provides for me in Thailand 🙂
