Thai life

Hey everyone! Week 1 in Thailand has come to a wrap and it has been so good. I’ve experienced culture shock for the first time, seen a Thai girl come to know Christ as their Lord and savior, been a guest on a radio show,  gone for a very wet but beautiful run through (/near) the rice fields, ridden strictly in the back of a pickup truck to go anywhere, eaten crickets, fed a homeless man, been to several markets, led VBS (vacation Bible school) for Burmese refugee children, and prayed for a jewelry crafter. It has had its ups and downs but I’ve come away so thankful for the past week and excited for the next two. 

Much of our time here has been traveling to our final destination in Ratchaburi, orientation, and then settling in/getting used to jet lag. We have only had 2 official days of ministry, but even in our off days/time we have seen God moving. One of the most exciting things I have seen so far is one Thai girl, who befriended another girl in my squad, come to know Christ within 24 hours of knowing us. She met my squad in the mall, asked to hang out with us, and then once we shared the gospel with her, she had no hesitation to accepting it. She was brought to tears hearing what Jesus had done for her (and the rest of us). It rocked my world that she had never even heard his name (when they asked her if she knew who Jesus was she said no and asked for a picture of him!) Coming from America, I forget sometimes that there are people who aren’t Christians – not because they’ve heard about it and have rejected it, but because they simply haven’t even had the opportunity to KNOW about it. I am so excited that we get to be the feet that share the good news talked about in Romans 10 (verses 14-18). God is so good to let us be His vessels for reaching the nations. 

Today my team talked about things we felt we had been doing well and things we thought we could do better in. One thing I shared as constructive feedback was that we could do a better job of having intentional conversations with the Thai people we interacted with on the daily (rather than just during our ministry time). So tonight we went to a market and I was hopeful the Holy Spirit would point someone out for me to talk to. As I was shopping around, I ended up spending most of my time at this one jewelry stand that caught my attention. I spent a lot of time there because I couldn’t make up my mind but I decided to strike up a conversation with the man who ran the stand. I found out his name was Duh, he made all of the jewelry he was selling and had a wife that he was very proud of. I felt a little tug at my heart to continue talking to him and potentially sharing Jesus with him, but I knew we had to meet back at a location soon and didn’t want to make the other girls late. So I ignored the tug. I voiced that I would like to buy him some ice cream, but that fell through. We ended up being able to circle back around to his table though because we had more time so we did. My friend Savannah suggested praying for him instead, which I got SUPER nervous about, but she was so encouraging so I asked God for help and then approached him. I asked if I could pray for him before we left and he accepted it. We had some conversation after but his English was fairly limited to market English instead of spiritual English. We told him that God created and hand crafted him, just like he did with his jewelry that he was so proud of, and that Jesus loves him and wants to be his friend. He kept repeating “Buddha,” but kept saying that he knows Jesus loves him. It made me heartbroken that this sweet little old man who seemed so happy in life didn’t understand the full picture – that Jesus wasn’t just a good guy, he was the Son of God and wants to be a friend and savior. Although that was the end of the conversation, it was a seed that was planted in his heart. We left him with a picture of a cross that said “Jesus loves you”. I am excited for more opportunities like this in the upcoming weeks.

If you are reading this, please pray with me for Duh’s health, business, family, and most importantly a change of heart towards Jesus. Please also pray for more opportunities to step out and meet peoples’ physical and spiritual needs.