My first month on the World Race has been such a blur and a blessing. It all started with 24 hours spent on a plane from Dallas to Qatar, then Qatar to Bangkok.
Upon arrival in Bangkok we went to the local night market to become accustomed to the food and the culture, as well as how to order in Thai. The next day consisted of learning about Thai culture and the do’s and don’ts. For example, the bottom of the foot is considered “dirty” to the Thai people, and it is very rude to show the bottom of your feet to someone. Also, the head is the holiest part of the body to the Thai people, and it is even more rude to touch someone’s head or place your arm over their head.
We left for our Ministry Site the third day, a city called Chaiyaphum located in the middle of Thailand (about a 4 hour drive from Bangkok). I must say, the place we are staying is not what I expected at all. The area in which we are staying is very crowded and most of the houses are small and open, with no walls blocking people out. Almost all of the houses are one level and made of concrete, with metal sheets for roofs. We are staying with a family of 8, and living in their guest house. Our hosts are Raem and Nan, and they have 4 adopted children (Yud, 17, Tip, 12, Paul, 7, and Naomi, 6) and 2 children of their own (Asia, 4, and Nation, 2). Nan cooks for us almost every night, and his food is absolutely delicious. It varies from authentic Thai dishes like Panang or Cashew Chicken to NFC (Nan’s Fried Chicken, the best fried chicken on this planet).
Ministry really does vary with our group. Most days we head to the local school later in the afternoon and help the boys soccer team that Nan coaches. We scrimmage with them and build relationships with the kids that play. In the mornings our work varies from helping construct Raem’s mother’s new house to going to the family rice farm and planting rice or building a bathroom for their family.
For about half of the day we have free time, which can mean a lot of different things. It can mean sitting on your phone listening to music or watching movies. It can mean going into the music room and playing guitar (or ukulele for me) or worshipping as a group. It can mean having bible study as a group, or gathering in one of the bedrooms and playing huge games of Maow or Dutch Blitz. We have a lot of options when it comes to free time! But what I’ve noticed our team doing most is spending time with the family and loving on them, or exploring the community around us. For our team, it was hard because it felt like because we weren’t “doing” much, we were wasting time. But I began to realize that we were making more of an impact than we thought. The way we love on the children and the family helps reflect the love of Christ, and I love to see the children’s faces light up whenever they see us.
Our team has had some cool trips so far on our off days. Every Wednesday and Sunday there is a huge Night Market that happens a half a mile away from our house. There is a bunch of cool food and drink to try and taste, as well as cool clothes to buy. About every couple of days we take the 45 minute drive to Chaiyaphum city, and eat lunch at the Thai version of Walmart or Target (called Tesco-Lotus and Big C). It is here that we spend most of our money; buying either snacks or toiletries or nicer clothes. One of our team members also bought a guitar last night! The Thai economy is much different than the U.S. economy, and everything here is so much cheaper than in America! For example, snacks and drinks are around 10-15 Baht or 25-30 U.S. cents. When not in Chaiyaphum, our team likes to explore the surrounding area with Raem and Nan. Our first week here we went to a gorgeous waterfall and got to swim around in the river further downstream. While sliding down the rocky part of the river, I tore a gaping hole in my shorts. What bad luck! Our team also took the family to a Zoo, and we saw lots of cool animals. We saw 2 very angry white tigers that growled and pounced at us a few times. We also saw the largest freshwater fish ever, and got to feed them! There was a pool that our team and the family got to swim in and go down the waterslides. All in all, our team has a lot of fun, especially with the family.
God has been showing me a lot on this trip. At the start of this trip I was feeling distant from God, and had problems connecting with him and feeling his presence. I have a hard time opening up to groups of people about my problems, so I essentially kept everything to myself and only told these thing to Randall, our team leader and my best bro. But one day, after I had a really tough time with a devotional I am doing about Sin, I opened up to my team and told them all of the insecurities I felt about me and my place on this team. Once brought to the light, these things had no power over me, and praise the Lord I am slowly getting back to my old, goofy self. I have also been feeling the Lord’s presence more and more every day we stay here. From the family we stay with to my teammates and the beauty of the nature here, God is evident and He is breaking through the darkness over Thailand.
Lately our team has been very busy! Last week the local school had a sports tournament as a celebration before the kids had their fall break from school. Our jobs were to referee for soccer and other sports, but most of us ended up hanging out with the kids from the school, and we all had so much fun. I refereed probably six or seven games of soccer over the course of the four days of the tournament, and got to play in a game with a bunch of adults on the last day. Currently this week we have been going to a school a half hour away to help referee another sports tournament. So far we have been doing Futsal and Volleyball and helping Raem’s sister sell her merchandise. I have been playing games of Futsal with some of the kids from the other schools as pick up games, and I must say that it is so much fun! Futsal here is essentially a smaller version of soccer on rubber mats with small square goals and a more padded soccer ball. The game is very intense and requires a lot of ball coordination and dribbling ability. On Thursday our squad is going to play a game of Volleyball against some of the teachers at the school.
Looking back, my first month in Thailand has been amazing! Even though there have been a couple of bumps in the road, I have loved every second spent in this gorgeous country. I honesty wish I could stay here forever, and dread leaving this country and this family. Living here has taught me so much about life and how the rest of the world lives. I look forward to the next 8 months of this trip, and hope to continue the work I am doing here after the World Race.
