Howdy y’all we are officially settled into Thailand and well in the swing of things with our new ministry! I wanted to write a quick blog to update you all on what we are up to while we are here and tell you a bit about the ministries that we are partnered with!
Our ministry week starts on Tuesday and on Tuesday and Wednesday we serve with the same ministry doing a handful of things. The organization is an orphanage that specializes in taking in children as infants and raising them to be able to communicate in english in hopes that they can be adopted any where around the globe. They house boys and girls ages 0-10. Most recently a few kids have been adopted to Europe and they have sent kids to many other places as well. In addition to helping the kids the organization has been certified to operate as a sort of work release program for women who have been forced into the drug trafficking and trade and subsequently arrested. Because they are non violent crimes and often forced against their will to participate some are given the option to serve their sentence at the orphanage and serve alongside the staff while also gaining hirable skills as Au Pairs. Once their sentence is complete they have options to go to Europe the US and other places to work and make a living for themselves. Our days here start with doing some manual labor, right now we are painting. Most of the equipment is made of metal and due to the heavy rains they are prone to rusting if they do not stay coated in paint. So at the moment we are scrapping and painting the playground equipment to keep it in good shape as long as possible. Once we have completed painting for the day we head inside to teach the kids History/Geography and English/Reading. We are responsible for making the lesson plan as well as having activities afterwards to teach them their lessons. Once that is complete we spend the last bit of our day playing outside with them and just getting to know them better and show them the love Christ has for them!
Then on Thursday’s we work directly with our host organization who has a coffee shop and also a counseling/therapy wing as well. They specialize in removing women from domestic/sexual abuse situations and getting them to safe environments. Once they are out of direct harm they then are given counseling and support to get back on their feet and be self sustainable. One such way they do this is by teaching classes and offering them jobs as baristas in the coffee shops they own and operate around the city. This once again provides the women with hirable life skills so that when they are ready they can be hired into the work force and make a living for themselves. So on Thursday’s we are working on writing curriculum and classes for further educating these women. Not everyone wants to become a barista and in hope of helping more people they are working on expanding their education sector to include more hirable job skills. We are making lessons for things such as budgeting, time management, application and interviewing skills, customer service and work place ethics. It is cool knowing that the work we are doing now will be implemented for years to come and hopefully be taught to dozens of students who can put their new found skills to work and become self sustainable.
On Friday’s we have a miscellaneous day to do all sorts of odd jobs that are needed to be done around the coffee shops as well as the homes where the women and their children stay at while they are recovering from their previously poor living situation. Last week we were scraping and repainting the exterior of one of their homes. This will change from week to week and I am excited to see what projects we are given moving forward. It is cool to see the joy our hosts have when we complete these projects and how often the biggest relief to long term missionaries comes when we are able to complete tasks they are simply to busy to get to. They all want to steward God’s material provisions well but often times there is simply to much for them to manage on their own.
Saturday’s we head to a different orphanage where we spend time with the kids doing all sorts of activities. We play games, sing songs and teach Bible lessons to the kids. Once again we are there just to make them feel loved and seen and hopefully to teach them a bit about Jesus as well. This organization has children from ages 3-17 and they heavily focused on teaching the children about their identity in Christ and how that renew their minds and set them free from the poor circumstances they may have come from. All of the children in this country are so happy kind and loving it is truly a blast to see them every week and to get to play and spend time with them.
With that being said my one prayer request would be for total healing of my right ankle which I rolled while being a dinosaur/amusement park ride. The kids love to play and are full of energy and it is tough to tell them I can’t give them piggy back rides or throw them up on my shoudlers. I am hopeful and earnestly praying that my health will be restored so I can go back to being the human jungle gym I am intended to be.
I hope you all are doing well, time is flying by. We are less than 3 months away from coming home and although leaving the field will be bitter sweet I am anxious to be home and see you all soon! Until then God Bless you and I look forward to seeing you soon!
