This is a continuation of my ongoing series that highlights one person from each month’s ministry. For the rest of the series, click here.
Share The Love Foundation Staff & Brunette Blend (photo by Prince)
Our time in Thailand was spent partnering with the staff of Share The Love Foundation. There is no way that I could pick just one of the eight main people who we worked with and got to know during our month. I’m highlighting them all (even those who were not officially staff) because they all truly deserve it.
Erin Erin was our main contact. He is originally from Hawaii (and left Thailand to move back to Hawaii during our month there). It wasn’t long before our team affectionately referred to him as “Dad!!!” Erin organized a welcome night for us upon our arrival so we could get to know the staff and the staff could get to know us, complete with games and snacks. Erin got more “dad” points every time that he made a point to let us stop for ice cream (a very frequent occurrence). He racked up a ton of “dad” points the day that he took us to an ice cream buffet. Yes, you read that correctly, an ice cream buffet. Erin also thought that it was very funny to talk to us using sarcasm. Apparently, understanding sarcasm is a skill that needs to be kept up. Our time in countries where sarcasm was not used us made sarcasm a forgotten skill and thus an open door for countless jokes. Erin dedicated a few years of his life to serving the people of Thailand. It is very clear that Thailand was made better because of his selfless obedience and love.
Peter Peter is originally from Switzerland. Peter is a very quiet man; a man with an amazing work ethic and the heart of a servant. He is a talented musician and his homemade spaghetti sauce is delicious. Peter prefers to stay behind the scenes when it comes to ministry, but it is through these ministries that his heart is clearly seen. He works as the groundskeeper and general “go-to-guy-for-fixing-things” for Share The Love Foundation’s land. He also drove us to place after place. Once you get to know Peter, his sense of humor comes out. His love for the Lord is deep and his heart is true.
Yui Yui is the pastor of Phang Nga Church. It is through Phang Nga Church that Share The Love Foundation was created. She loves to laugh and she loves to enjoy life. Her heart is to share the Gospel wherever she goes, in whatever she does. Her sense of humor brings the joy of the Lord to many. Yui is also a talented musician. Yui meets people where they are so that she can relate to them in order to share her faith.
Yoi Yoi is in charge of the children’s ministries of Phang Nga church, as well as Share The Love Foundation. Her heart makes her the perfect fit for this position. She is gentle, fun-loving, relateable, and a good listener. Yoi also has a heart for reaching the many Muslims in Phang Nga for Christ. One of her favorite ways to do this is to go to a local community center and make relationships through working out.
Jaime Jaime is the worship leader of Phang Nga church. She loves to sing, play guitar, and dance. She studied in America for a few years. Jaime loves life and understands that ministry is as simple as living life, fully and with boldness. I don’t think that any day with Jaime could be boring. She loves adventures and lives her life as an adventure.
Shannon One of the first things that I learned about Shannon was that she is a morning person. I am not a morning person. Almost every day, Shannon enjoyed seeing me shuffle to the kitchen to make breakfast, barely awake. It became a running joke with us. It was a small thing, but it showed me a lot about Shannon. She’s very observant and she cares for people deeply. She loves to build relationships with people. She loves to find joy in the everyday moments of life.
Cianna Cianna is an intern with the Share The Love foundation, which means that she does basically everything. She is part of the worship team, is amazing when working with little kids, loves life, and does all of her responsibilities with great joy and great discipline. Life flows from her. She is very creative and is a professional at making elaborate snowflakes and fancy gift wrapping bows.
Bume Bume worked most of the time in Share The Love Foundation’s cafe. She was one of the adults who attended the English class that we helped with. Bume took great delight and great joy in every small moment of life. She loved celebrating with hugs and a huge smile. Love radiates out of her in all that she does.
Prince Prince is not a staff member, simply because he is only about eight or nine years old. He is Bume’s son. He loved to ride his bike, sit in our hammocks, take photos, and run around. He became everyone’s little brother for the month. 🙂
Grandmom Grandmom was not a staff member, but she was still part of our Thai family. Grandmom is Yui’s mom, and she lives on the Share The Love Foundation compound with the staff. We could barely communicate with Grandmom because of a language barrier, but love needs no language barrier. Whether it was letting us use her washer when we all six of us had to do laundry on the same day, making dessert for us, or just tagging along to some of our events to support us, Grandmom truly became a grandmom to Brunette Blend. She loved us unconditionally as only a grandmom could.
Olivia Olivia was only with us for a couple of days, but we still were able to get to know her. Olivia reminded me of two of my friends from back home, especially in her appearance. Olivia was very sweet and very kind. I wish that we had the opportunity to know her better!
I truly enjoyed working with all of these people because they made ministry their life, and their life, ministry. They invested in us as people, not just as a volunteer team from the World Race. We were able to encourage them as they encouraged us. We became a family during our month together, and family is one of the greatest gifts of all.
