Here is a photo blog of our month!
Welcome to Wongen Kafe. This has been our home for the month of November. One of our primary tasks for this month has been to help out around the coffee shop. We have become experts at taking orders and wiping down tables. On a deeper level, we have used our time in the coffee shop to talk to the students that come in during the course of the day. Our goal is to make Wongen a place that the students want to come. Here, the permanent staff of Wongen will take the seeds we plant and continue to pursue the students to bring them to Christ.
Every day, members of our team go to Chiang Mai University to meet with students during lunch. Our job is to build relationships with the students in hopes of getting them to visit Wongen Coffee shop. The end goal is to get them into the coffee shop where the permanent staff can continue building the relationship and ultimately bring the student to Christ.
Every Friday night, our teams put on an “Open Mic Night.” This event is attended by Thai students, local missionaries, and people from the community. We have had the most fun singing and dancing with the people. Also, Open Mic Night has given us the opportunity to sing praise and worship songs to the Buddhist students. It has been great to see them having fun and joining in to songs like “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin
We also tutor students several times a week. We realized that we did not take any photos of us tutoring. However, we spent several hours a week teaching english. For the most part, the students wanted to practice speaking. We spent a lot of time talking and correcting their mistakes. We honestly had some difficulty because the Thai students had a hard time understanding our southern accents.
On Sunday for chuch, we attended a local Thai/English church. I LOVED it because you didn't have to wear shoes. They did half the service in English and half in Thai. It was great to see people from the other side of the world worshipping like we do back home. It really brings home that we all serve the same God no matter what we look like or how we speak.
As a part of our ministry, we spent one night in the bars of Chiagmai. This was a sobering experience. We intend to do a full blog on this night. However, we had a difficult time watching the girls (and boys) interact with the foreigners knowing what was really going on. The bar girls (and boys) had a hollow, blank stare in their eyes and you could feel their misery. They smiled and laughed on the outside, but it was clear that all happiness was fake. We did our part to brighten their day, but the reality is that we went home…they did not.
On November 18-19, we helped conduct an “English Camp” in the mountains of Thailand. We played games, had a campfire and made smores. It was the first time any of the Thai students had ever eaten smores. They loved them! Virtually all of the students were Buddhist and we spent the weekend showing them the joy, life and light that comes from following Christ. I believe with all of my heart that each one of them are on the cusp of giving their life to Christ.
As another part of our ministry, we spent several days in a village about 4 hours outside of Chiangmai. This is a village where many of the children are trafficked. Another one of our teams spent the month in this village and did wonderful things spreading the gospel. It was so encouraging to talk to the villagers who are beginning to understand the love of Christ. While we were there, the rice harvest began. The villagers needed all the help they could get, so our team became rice farmers. It was an experience unlike any other. I will never eat rice the same way again knowing how much hard work goes into every single grain. The villagers were thankful for our help and I felt it showed them that we actually cared about them and their livelihood.
While in the village, we helped put on a full church service for the people. About 10 villagers came out to listen to a message on salvation. Nobody gave their life to Christ at the service, but it was so encouraging to have 10 Buddhist desire to come hear the good news.
All in all, we have loved our time in Thailand and pray that God uses our work for His glory. Thank you all and we will be praying for you. Ultimately, all we can say about Thailand is…."I'm Lovin It."
