I have been in Thailand this month.
Comining onto the race, people would ask which country I was most excited about visiting. I would shock most people by saying Thailand (not Austrailia). I couldn't quite tell you WHY Thailand had this huge appeal to me, but it did.
We started the month on New Years Eve. My friends and I got the experience of a lifetime seeing the floating lanterns to bring in the New Year and we actually got to send one off ourselves.
I'll be honest, when I first heard about our ministry in the rice fields, I was less than thrilled. Especially when I saw that the same organization had a coffeehouse ministry too. But early in the month the girls from my team and Team Mates took the three hour ride to Mae Ai, Thailand.
When we arrived, I was shocked. It wasn't in the middle of nowhere like I imagined, we were in a little village community! It reminded me of quaint country living. The houses were pretty nice, the people were warm and welcoming, and the stars at night burst out of the sky.
The next day was time for the rice fields. Our team was all decked out in sun hats, high boots, and ready for slopping through the mud.
Each afternoon, we spent some time with the kids in the village. Most of them are between the ages of 10 and 13 so there was a lot of running around, volleyball, basketball, UNO, and other random games. One of my favorite moments during this time was when our translator, Pe, told me that Bifern (the girl that lives at the house I stayed with) wanted to hear a story from my life. I was estatic! He told me that I could share "before and after" so I got to tell her a little bit about my testimony. Another boy was listening too and I learned that they do know who Jesus is and they knew that He died to save us. That seemed to open the door just a little bit and after that, we were able to put on little skits from the Bible stories. That got them questioning more and asking deeper questions!!
Our time was short, but rich. I got a lot of farming practice in by clearing land with hoes, fertalizing bean fields, and playing in the mud. I also cherish the time spent with the kids in the afternoons.
We did such a variety of ministry this month in the short 2 weeks we were in Mae Ai. One day, we helped peel garlic with the ladies, we were in the rice fields slopping mud to prepare the fields, we cleared land several days with the father from one of the houses, we bagged pig poop, we fertalized bean fields (with the pig poop), we went to the school to play/teach English to the young children, and we ministered to the kids in the village each afternoon.
I'm excited to be back in the city and I hope to get to see what the other teams have been doing. I'd love to go to the bars and see them with different eyes. I'd love to hang out in the coffee shop and build relationships over a vanilla americano. I'd love to sit down with students from the University and help them perfect their English. I don't know what the next few days are going to look like, but I'm asking the Lord to direct my steps and lead me to divine appointments.
In other news:
I'M FULLY FUNDED!
Thank you to everyone of my supporters who have contributed in one way or another this past year. I am blown away by the generocity of so many friends and family members. I cannot wait to see each of you personally in a few months and share even more about what God is doing through my life.
With that being said:
My teamates, Jen and Josh, still need donations to be able to stay on the race. We are praying that God will provide and we hope you will join us. If you feel led to help support them financially, you can click on the link on their names and that will bring you to their blog.
Thank you all and love you all!
<3
Tiffany
ps: I tried adding more pictures, but they wouldn't take. 🙁
