Meet my little friend, Peace.
During our first week in Thailand, we did a three day English camp at a church where we played games, taught some basic English words (colors, the rooms of a house and household objects), taught Bible songs and stories through skits, made crafts, and sang funny songs. It was their last week of summer vacation before school started back up (their academic year is different).
I met a girl whose name tag said Peace.
Peace had a quiet, undemanding way about her. She offered her presence but didn’t force herself on you like some of the other kids did. That’s what made me take notice of her: her constant presence that never begged for attention.
I left her that Friday not thinking I’d see her again.
The rest of our time in Thailand was spent visiting schools and holding 1-3 day English camps. Our last week of ministry, we spent 3 days at a school where probably half of the kids that had gone to that first English (secretly VBS) camp were students!
It filled our hearts SO much walking into the room where 1/3 of the kids knew us and were SO excited to see us again, jumping up and down with exclamations and big smiles on their faces!
I saw Peace in the crowd and when she saw me, the first thing she did was reach out her arms to me and cross her chest like she was giving me a hug from a distance. It was the most precious thing and her smile melted me into a puddle.
This time her name tag said Peet.
She clung to me the whole day.
My maternal instincts kicked in whenever she was near me. We played Four Corners and as she was running towards me (since I was one of the corners), one of the bigger kids almost knocked her over and I got her out of the way and held her to make sure she was safe. She stayed with me the entire game when the purpose of the game is to move from one corner to the next so as not to get out. I didn’t mind one bit.
It was very overwhelming for me to be rushed by kids that grabbed onto me, wouldn’t let go, and demanded my attention. I’m only one person and a child doesn’t understand that. They just want someone to love them and make them feel special, especially white American girls that visit their school and play games and sing songs with them! Its hard when there’s so many of them (30-60) and so few of us (6) and not enough time to connect with every single one. Even if we had time, there’s also a huge language barrier. We can’t communicate the things we want to say to them.
But sometimes you find that one you just connect with, and no communication is needed.
I will never forget the time spent with her and the motherly love that God gave me to love her with. She made me think a lot about earthly adoption and heavenly adoption. We love feeling chosen and being in someone’s presence because we love feeling loved.
We are chosen by our Heavenly Father and because of that, being in His presence will satisfy every longing to feel loved because His love is perfect and He has created us to only be truly and completely satisfied with himself. Something I’m still personally learning as of right now.
I hope I loved you well, Peace, because my love for you can only come from our Father in heaven. It will be my joyful duty to cover you in prayer so that one day you may know your Papa too and we’ll have the promise of seeing each other again!
