For the time that I am in Thailand, I decided to not get a SIM card because the Lord has been showing me to have dependency on Him and not anything else in this world and the first thing that I would run to would have been my phone. So I don’t want to have that temptation of the accessibility. So it’s not a phone fast, but it’s just using less of my phone. I will connect to WiFi on the weekends and when we go to coffee shops and whatnot. So that is why the blog posts are coming out so late 😅
Staying at the Fountain of Hope house, my team, team YADA is staying with team Israel and we are doing ministry together. My team was so excited to hear that we were going to be doing ministry and living together. With team Israel being so far from us in Cambodia, we weren’t able to see them at all. So now that we have this opportunity to get to know each other and grow closer together in stronger relationships has really been amazing to experience. I have never had a Christian community like I have here and I praise and thank God every single day for this. The boys are so honoring and loving to us and I have never had that type of honoring love before and I’ve never had brothers either and I can definitely say that I love the guys on our team like brothers, truly. These boys have helped me understand the meaning of having brothers in Christ.
For the entirety of last week, we were all teaching at schools. There was 8 of us that went to primary school and 8 of us that went to kindergarten, which is where I went. 4 guys and 4 girls at each school. Then from the 8 that went to kindergarten, there was 4 that went to a different school that was also just kindergartners. The class that I was in was kids 2-3 years old and we had a teacher with us but not everyone else had a teacher so my partner, Ethan and I, got lucky. It was such a fun experience to be able to experience what it was like to minister in a cross cultural setting. The kids didn’t understand a word I was saying about 80% of the time but I do know that those kids knew that they were loved and cared for just like Christ does. I’ve learned that even though you do learn about a culture as you are in it, there still should be cultural norms that are covered that would be seen as offensive to where you are. Just understanding what is culturally and socially acceptable makes a huge difference in how you approach any situation.
Our ministry after the school is helping out Juanita and Aaron and their 11 kids around the house. It’s mostly consisted of manual labor, as in digging holes for fence posts and an even bigger hole for a septic system. It has been such a delight to help out with anything that is needed to be done. We also help teach their kids conversational skills in improving their English, which they have enjoyed and it’s been a delight seeing them enjoy it and improve on something that they’re passionate about learning.
For the rest of our time in Thailand, we are going to be doing manual labor on the property and whatever else they need help with for the rest of this week. Then for this weekend, we are going to a village 3 hours away, which also happens to be the village that the kids who are adopted are from. In the village, we are going to be doing a Christmas special for the weekend. This village is so remote that it actually has its own language! That’s pretty cool. So that’s going to be fun. And then we are going to work again for the week after that and then we leave on the 22nd for Bangkok for debrief and we are there for the rest of the month and then we go to South Africa in January!
Before I came on the race, I was at Cedarville University for 2 years. I didn’t have an exact idea of what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do something that did 3 things:
- Make a difference
- Help people
- Follow Gods plan for me
I was so excited about going to college at first. But nothing about it came easy to me at all, it felt like it was so much harder for me than it was for others. I was also in ROTC because I’ve always wanted to do something with the military, but I was not able to meet the entrance standards. I took the first semester of my sophomore year online because of medical concerns so I could be closer to home, but that still proved itself to be very difficult for me. After missing all of my friends at Cedarville and wanting to do better in my classes, I decided to go back my second semester. After wanting to do so much better in school and trying harder than I ever have before to study, I didn’t meet the requirements that I needed to come off of academic probation. I was absolutely devastated. It felt like my heart broke. I tried SO hard to do the absolute best that I could and it still wasn’t enough and I didn’t understand how. So I decided to do this Gap Year Mission Trip opportunity that presented itself to me as basically the perfect time to apply and do it. So after a long application process for me, I ended up applying and getting accepted for this gap year program. Once I got accepted and committed, I had never been more excited about any decision I have made in my life before. I knew that the true and genuine happiness and joy that I felt from this opportunity was 100% the plan that God has for me. I am happier serving God on the field than I ever was when I was in college. The question remains, “am I still going to go back to school?” My answer? I hope I do, but right now, I just know what I’m doing for the next 5 months. Is it likely that I will finish my degree? Yes, yes it is. But right now, this is where God has me and I will go wherever he guides and wills me to be.
Although I know that I am happy to be here, it’s not always easy. There’s times when you don’t want to do this. There is days where you don’t want to go out and do the ministry. It sounds bad and feels weird to say but that’s just how it is. But I know that there isn’t anything I would rather be doing than being out on the field. I thank God every single day when I wake up for this opportunity to serve Him in any way that I have presented in front of me. I want to be nothing but a vessel for Him.
Please continue to pray for me and my team as we go out and serve God in the many different forms of ministry that we are taking part of. If you have any questions that you feel I left unanswered, please feel free to ask and I would love to answer! I would love to provide clarity on anything that doesn’t make sense. 😊
Hey! I also am going to be posting a vlog on YouTube! So if you would like to follow along with those, here is the link! (Sorry I didn’t post for Cambodia, but I posted my recap on there as well!)
