Our new team, Jubilee, stepped off the bus in Bangkok with no plans and no place to stay. It was late in the afternoon and we knew that darkness was going to fall soon. I was nervous, and I could sense the rest of my team was a little nervous too. We had no where to go with a tight budget and we were in a foreign city. So my team and I did the only thing we could do in that moment, we prayed. And let me tell ya, God provided!
So backstory: this month, my team and I are doing “Ask The Lord”, which is a whole month dedicated to listening and following where God wants us to go. Normally we have a ministry host we are set up with and paired with the whole month, but month we have no host and no city. We could go anywhere in Thailand.
The day before we arrived in Bangkok, my team and I did some listening prayer and we asked God where he wanted us to go. We had just finished our whole squad debrief in Pattaya. We asked God to speak to us and show us where he wanted us to go. A lot of us got visions of water, trees, mountains, and villages. I also got the words “go to the root of the problem (the problem being sex trafficking, which is huge in Thailand). So as we did some research, I even reached out to my 2nd grade teacher who I knew was a missionary in Thailand. I asked her if she knew any ministries in Thailand that were in line with our listening prayer. She gave me the name of a couple ministries, one of which was called “The Well”.
I looked online and saw that “The Well” had a program called “Breakthrough” which was located in the rural providence of Isan, in Eastern Thailand.
“Perfect!” I thought, “It goes with our listening prayers!”
So I emailed them. I asked if they had any opportunities for 6 missionaries. And that was that, I didn’t really think much else about it.
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The next morning, my team and I woke up with a restlessness in our hearts. My teammate Jay had gotten the words “Go West” from God and we all knew God wanted us to move that day. So we looked west on the map and saw Bangkok. We started researching churches we could stay at for free because our budget was tight, but every place replied saying they couldn’t accommodate us. We kept trying to find places but nothing was working out. But God was really pressing all of us to leave Pattaya. So we came to the conclusion to go to Bangkok and then see where the Lord would lead us from there.
That same morning, I got an email back from a man named Jim who works at The Well. He said that the lady who runs “Breakthrough” was on her way to Bangkok and would be there for a couple days.
“Darn” I thought. “We will just have to wait a couple days before we can travel to Isan. Maybe ‘Breakthrough’ isn’t the right place.”
However, I did think it was a bit of a coincidence that the coordinator of Breakthrough was going to Bangkok the same day we were. So I messaged back:
“We are headed to Bangkok today too! Maybe we could meet up with her and just talk about the ministry.”
And that was it. I didn’t think much of that email. I thought maybe we would get a cool conversation out of it, but that we would have to pursue other ministries or places.
A couple minutes after I sent that email, my team and I left for the bus station. We got our tickets and boarded the bus to Bangkok, still with no clue where we were going to stay that night.
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So that’s where the story picks up. We prayed as we got off the bus, and no one heard any words in particular. That’s when Jay asked if we could go get some wifi and coffee at the cafe across the street. It sounded like a good idea to all of us, so we headed over.
We got on wifi and everyone went into research mode. A couple people left to check out the prices of some nearby hostels. However, every place we looked at was wayyy over our budget. We were starting to get worried since the sun would set in about an hour. We were beginning to debate sleeping in a park.
I checked my phone and saw that Jim emailed me back. He asked where we were in Bangkok and how long we were staying. I told him we were near the bus station looking for hostels and not sure how long we were going to stay. Then he sent that glorious email:
“Would you like to stay with a Thai family?”
My whole team and I responded with a resounding “YES!”. So Jim and I exchanged more info, found each other on Facebook (to make sure we were both legit), and then he gave us directions to meet up with the Thai family!
When we arrived at the meeting spot, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I met Jim and Thao, the mother of the family, all my fears and worries were cast aside. They were both genuine and kind people. We followed Thao to her house and met her entire family. They were all so nice! She took us to eat dinner, helped us set up our sleeping space, and we played Uno and worshipped with the whole family. My team and I were at peace and so joyful with how much God had provided for us. He didn’t just answer our prayers to find a place to stay, He went above and beyond and gave us a family. But guess what, it only gets better from here!
The next morning we met up with Jim. He talked to us about his ministry “The Well” and about Thai culture. We were all intrigued, this guy is super passionate about bringing Jesus to the lost people of Bangkok. And then, as he was talking, we realized there were a bunch of crazy coincidences. One of which was that Jim went to college with and was a roommate with Seth Barnes (founder of World Race) which is crazy that a man we met in Thailand knew Seth.
On top of that, Jim told us a bit about Thao and her family. Apparently, Thao and her husband Bpop had been struggling to pay for their children’s schooling. They had a payment deadline coming up and did not have the money. Thao came to Jim crying and upset and handed him a letter asking for financial support. Jim said that no more than 15 minutes later, he got my email saying we were in Bangkok looking for a place to stay and were willing to pay. With us paying to stay at her house for a week, even in our budget, her payment would be completely covered.
WOAH! I was blown away. Not only was Thao a huge blessing and an answer to our prayers but we were also an answer to hers.
In the first two weeks of being in Thailand, it has been amazing to see how God has shown up. When He has asked us to do something and we step out in faith, he has blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. God wants to bless His children, all we have to do is trust.
Also, we did end up going to Isan through another crazy coincidence. That story will be in my next blog 🙂
