Mid November my team arrived at our ministry site in Thailand. We arrived at the Abba House. The Abba House is a home for girls and boys that were victims of sex trafficking or were at risk victims of sex trafficking. Currently at the Abba House there are around 25 girls from the age 7 to 22. A lot of our ministry at the Abba House was relational ministry. This meant building friendships with the girls and just loving them.
Every week night, except Wednesday bible study, we would teach the girls English. The girls were broken up into different English classes based off of their age. My teammate Chris and I got to teach the oldest girls. In our class was Noot who is 17, Dada who’s also 17, Bee who’s 18, Sofia who’s 15 and Earn who’s 14. Teaching these girls was an immense privilege and was always my favorite part of the day. These girls have so much joy and are incredibly kind. They were the best students I could have ever asked for.
Also at the Abba House we had a lot of outreach opportunities. Every Saturday night we had the opportunity to give a broadcast over a Thai radio station. I was able to give a message the first Saturday that we were there. I gave a message on God’s Love.
Every Wednesday we went to the local university and taught English to some students there. My teammate Jake, my squad leader Laura and I taught English to the Thai students that didn’t know much English and it was so much fun. The day after thanksgiving we threw a huge thanksgiving party at the Abba House and we invited all the college students. This was a really cool experience being able to hang out with the students and getting to share our traditions. Although they weren’t the biggest fans of the food because it wasn’t spicy.
Another outreach opportunity we had is we went to a men’s prison. At the prison my teammate Brenton and my squad mate Luke went into the prison to speak at a discipleship program. While they were speaking in the prison the rest of us passed out bibles to the family members outside the prison waiting to get in to see their family. This was a really cool opportunity to encourage the men inside the prison and reach the family members outside.
Another outreach we did is we went to a hill tribe village. At the village we played games with the kids, sang some songs, preformed a skit and my teammate Harper gave a message about the Good Samaritan. After all this we had a thirty minute English lesson. There was the same number of kids at the village as there was racers which was really cool so we got to teach the kids one on one. I got to teach a really sweet fifteen year old girls named Sunny.
Initially when we arrived at the Abba House the plan was to stay there for two months so we would leave the beginning of January. A few days ago our squad leader told us that there was an unexpected change in our ministry plans and that we would be leaving the Abba house and going to a new ministry. This was hard to hear and the goodbye was incredibly hard to say. I left the Abba House with tears in my eyes grieving the loss of the friendships and love that I had found there.
Leaving the ministry is was very emotional. I felt sad that I had to say goodbye to the ministry and to the girls that had become as close as family. I also felt anxious about the new ministry. I felt anxious that I didn’t know anything about what it was going to look like. While I was feeling anxious and sad I went to the verse Psalms 112:7-8
He is not afraid of bad news, his heart is firm trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady he will not be afraid.
This verse instantly calmed me. It made me remember that God always has a plan and is always working for our good. God has a plan with taking us away from the Abba House. He has a plan for the girls back at the Abba House and a plan for my team. And His plans are good! I place my trust firmly in God. I trust that He is still with the girls at the Abba House and I trust that He is working for their good. I trust that He has big good plans for my team in the new ministry and I do not need to be afraid. Ultimately it was really hard and sad saying goodbye to the Abba House, but I trust God.
For the rest of December my team will be living in downtown Chiang Mai helping set up the new AIM base. I am excited for this opportunity and to see what’s God’s plan is for my team this month.
