Sawad dee khup! Sa bai dee! Hello! We are doing well! We have made it safely to Thailand, and after learning all about our national partners & their organization, we are ready to take on the rest of the summer! Side note: Thai food is even better than everyone told us it would be!
While our team had originally planned to work on a demonstration farm with migrant workers this summer, we recently found out that God had other plans! As a Type A personality, it can be difficult when God tries to teach me and my team how to be flexible and fluid. Instead, our team will be working primarily with the Red Lahu people over the next three weeks. These people live in a remote part of rural northern Thailand. As such, they are animists, though they do hold some Buddhist beliefs as well. While we are in their village, we will be working on three community projects: building toilets, constructing fruit/vegetable gardens, and teaching young children basic English. Ultimately, though, we are there to build relationships with the goal of sharing Gospel truth with these people and connect them to the small (but growing) church in the village.
Please Pray for:
While our team had originally planned to work on a demonstration farm with migrant workers this summer, we recently found out that God had other plans! As a Type A personality, it can be difficult when God tries to teach me and my team how to be flexible and fluid. Instead, our team will be working primarily with the Red Lahu people over the next three weeks. These people live in a remote part of rural northern Thailand. As such, they are animists, though they do hold some Buddhist beliefs as well. While we are in their village, we will be working on three community projects: building toilets, constructing fruit/vegetable gardens, and teaching young children basic English. Ultimately, though, we are there to build relationships with the goal of sharing Gospel truth with these people and connect them to the small (but growing) church in the village.
Please Pray for:
- A person of peace in this village. Our team just recently started working here, so it may be tough getting the villagers warmed up to us.
- The Lahu people.
- Positive team communication. Pray that Josh and I would learn to communicate well with each other. Remember: we only met 2 weeks ago, and now we spend 22+ hours a day together! So there is a learning curve there, but I know God is going to do great things through us!
- Team flexibility. Our expectations for this summer (even the ones from 3 weeks ago!) are very different from our present reality. Pray that we would learn to trust God's plans and timing and be able to thrive in our present circumstances.