Hey everyone!
First off I would like to apologize for not being consistent in posting blogs, especially since being here in Thailand. However, because I haven’t really posted since being here, you guys get a full Thailand recap in this one, so get ready.
Let’s start out with our day to day ministry. As I said before, we’re working at this English learning center called A Mane, which is run by our host P. Benz (it’s a polite thing in Thailand to call people P. __ if they’re older than you). Anyways, so far we’ve had 4 different themes for teaching. The first one was about the Christmas story and Jesus’s birth. That was cool because we literally got to teach all these kids about Jesus, and I’m not sure if any of them are saved. Next up, we had camping, and we got to show them how to set up and take down a tent. All the kids loved helping build the tents. The next one was first aid, and they got to practice wrapping each other in gauze and putting bandaids on each other. With that one, we also had a fun activity where two teams would compete to see who could wrap a leader in the most gauze and make them into a mummy. That was so much fun. The last one was the 5 elements, and they mainly played a version of rock paper scissors, but with the elements instead. Apart from the specific activities and vocab practice, we love to just play games with them. They love 4 corners, so we play that one a lot, and then there are other ones like telephone, the egg game, and poison dart frog (which is just for the little kids).
So that’s our main ministry, and then the other thing we do most often is ATL (As The Lord Leads), which is basically a chance for us to go out and evangelize. We take a partner and just walk around the streets to find people to talk to. The first couple times I didn’t weren’t super successful, but the last two were really good. The first one I did with my friend Alia, and we bought candy canes to pass out to people and to share the gospel to them through the candy canes (J for Jesus, red for the blood He spilt for us, and white because He makes us pure when we accept Him). I got to share the gospel with 2 different people this way, and it was such an incredible feeling. I don’t think I’ve ever randomly shared the gospel to someone like that before. The next day I went out with my friend Sofia, and we passed out sticky notes that had encouraging notes from the Bible on them that we wrote in Thai. I gave one to this lady that said “you are perfectly and beautifully made by God. Jesus loves you so much!”, and she had the biggest smile on her face after she read that. It made me wonder why I don’t do this stuff more often. Even though no one accepted the Lord, I left being so encouraged knowing that I was able to plant those seeds.
The last thing for ministry has been the few events that we’ve done. We did that Christmas one at the church where we shared the Christmas story with everybody and then we decorated these paper Christmas trees with Bible verses and other small drawings. The next two we did were at the school. The first one was a women’s event about worth, and we passed out flyers on the streets and also invited the older students. It wasn’t a huge turn out, but it was still good. We shared a passage from the Bible, some testimonies, and then did an activity where we drew what worth means to us. The second one was a big turn out, and it was a fun night with games for any students who wanted to come hang out with us. We sang some worship songs, played an ice breaker, charades, and then just talked in small groups. It was actually a really sweet time of getting to know these kids that we’ve been teaching for the past few weeks.
So far, we’ve gone to 3 different churches. The first one was in Thai, but there was a translator. The worship during that service was amazing, and I think I added all of those songs to my worship playlist. They were kind of small, but they were like a family. They even had lunch afterwards and we got to sit with them and talk to them all. We met some other missionaries who were from South Africa and had moved there. The second church was an international church, and the whole thing was English. I’m pretty sure it was a church that missionaries went to, because there were people from everywhere, and there were 2 big services. I swear going to this church was healing for my soul in a way. It was such a breath of fresh air and a relief to be in a service where I can sing along in worship and learn something from the teaching. I really miss going to church and being fed in that way. We got to go to that church 2 weeks in a row. This past Sunday, we went to a very small Thai church that was barely translated, but that’s ok, because I got to read along with the passage, and P. Benz’s daughter was translating the best she could for us. Even though I didn’t know what they were singing during worship, I could just feel their love and worship for God. It was pretty cool actually. They were eleven smaller than that first church, but once again they really showed the church as a family, and we got to also eat lunch with them and talk to them. So far, I’ve enjoyed the churches here in Thailand.
My study on the names of God was shorter than I had hoped it would be, but I still got a lot of great names. Here they are: The Lord of Peace- Yahweh Shalom, The Lord our Shepherd- Yahweh Rohi, The Lord our Sanctifier- Yahweh M’Kaddesh, Lord God Almighty- El Shaddai, The Most High God- El Elyon, Lord, Master- Adonai, Lord, Jehova- Yahweh, The Lord my Banner, Jehovah Nissi, The Lord Who Heals- Jehovah Rapha, The Lord is There- Jehovah Shammah, The Lord our Righteousness- Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Everlasting God- El Olam, Jealous- Quanna, The Lord will Provide- Jehovah Jireh, The Lord of Hosts- Jehovah Sabaoth
It was really cool to go through these and be able to recognize and thank God for all the different parts of who He is and how I’ve seen Him appear in those ways in my life.
Please be praying for me and my squad as we prepare to end our time here in Thailand. Also, Christmas might be hard for some of us this year because we are apart from our families, so if you could be praying for that as well. Specifically for my team, a lot of them have been struggling to find joy recently, and I would really appreciate it if you would join us in praying to find joy in the Lord and all that He does for us. Thank you guys so much!
I’m still not fully funded, and I am asking that you all would help me raise the rest of my money. I still need a little over $1,000, so please consider donating and share what I’m doing with your friends and family. Here’s my link. Thank you!
~Gabi
Ps- check my instagram or Facebook for more pictures! ig- gabifish23 fb- Gabi Fischer
