Hey everyone!! On Tuesday the 18th my team and I started our first day of ministry. When I first heard of ministry I didn’t know what to think because it can involve a whole wide range of things. I knew it could vary from manual labor, teaching kids, playing with kids, painting houses or cooking meals. Out of all the different choices my team was told that we would be working in an orphanage with manual labor briefly stated next to it…
…So when Tuesday rolled around my team and I were very excited to get on the road and get our ministry started. Everyday we will be traveling about an hour out of the city of Chiang Mai to the out skirts of town. Once we arrived at the orphanage I was in awe at how beautiful it was. Everything was a bright lime green and when the sun shines on it it just looks magical. There are cute small palm trees and bright flowers spread all over the property. Bud is our ministry leader there and he does a spectacular job with the help of others to keep the property in great shape.
So after the small tour was done Bud immediately jumped into a list of things that would be done that day and so on during the week. Now i’ll admit I was caught off guard. My team and I had expectations that we were going to be playing, serving and loving with the kids, but little did we know we would actually be serving the kids a different way. For the 5 hours that we were there we cleaned up pineapple plants, dragon fruit and sickled dead banana leaves. Once the weeds were all picked around the plants we then would spread the dead leaves around the plants to protect it but also as a substitute for mulch. It wasn’t a hard task to take on but with it being rainy season in Thailand, it poured on us for the first couple hours and then was extremely humid and hot for the last couple of hours.
It was a lot of work and the next day I woke up feeling a little sore from all the bending and pulling of weeds but it made me feel good. It made my body physically feel refreshed but it also made my heart feel the same. Even though it wasn’t what we expected we learned very quickly that the unexpected can be even better than what we expected. We had served the kids by keeping their fruit fresher and healthier. It was going to be serving them in the long run and that felt really good. Luckily on Saturdays me and my team will have the chance to meet and grow relationships with the kids there, but for now we work, sweat and take on new challenges that will push us towards the best versions of our self.
With Love,
Tatyana
