Paper Towels as Toilet Paper

I am SO sorry for how long it’s taken me to post this update…we’re nearing the end of the month and I haven’t even told you what I’m up to in Thailand! (p.s. the title is true…)

So here you go:

 🙂

There’s a park in the middle of town; a beautiful park that has a nice little cement walkway around the entire thing. I had no idea the park WAS a park until we were told that it was – it was so overgrown I thought it was just a patch of land. Our manual labor includes cleaning it up (trash, weeds, stray coconuts, branches, etc). No machetes this month though! We’ve upgraded to a riding lawn-mower and some awesome weed-eaters, metal rakes that WORK…tools that make results happen pretty quickly (with limited blister-build up, thank the Lord!).

It’s amazing how God is using the work we do in the mornings to reach the community – they’re kind to us, seemed to have accepted us, and are extremely gracious people. They also know that we are with Dana and Cindy (our contacts here) and so while we can barely communicate with these Thai people, I still believe that God is speaking to them for us – even if it is only through their observations of us.

We help Cindy with teaching kids English as a second language at a few different schools – the kids are a blast! We do fun little activities and help grade their workbooks. More on the ESL stuff HERE.

We are also part of a local church, have shared our testimonies on Sundays, are part of a kids club that meets on Saturday afternoons and are also present for a Wednesday evening bible study. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to lead the group in some worship before we dive into the lesson (I’ve also started to learn a Thai song!). The people who attend this church warm my heart; they are willing to learn, respectfully listen, and love us transparently.

We’ve also been able to share our testimonies on a radio program…the FIRST time that I’ve ever been…broadcasted…? If that’s the right word to use! Anyway, sharing my testimony on the radio was quite an experience – mainly because I really have no idea what God did with it. Maybe it was for one person, somewhere in Phuket, and it pushed them one step closer to Jesus than they were before they switched on the radio. Maybe there was one sentence that encouraged someone somewhere. I won’t know, but that’s ok with me 🙂

We had the opportunity to go to Bangla Road to pass out dvds and tracts to women stuck in prostitution there as well as the men being chained in fabricated love. More on that, HERE.

This has been a good month so far. It’s the first place we’ve been where it is OUTRAGEOUSLY hot…one of the men on my team, Paul, told me the other day, “I think the animals around here are dying because of the heat,” and I think he’s right. Everywhere we go we can smell dead rotting animals – far from pleasant! But…besides the smell and the heat, it’s a really beautiful place.