After being home from our honeymoon trip for only 9 days, I
returned to Thailand with five others from a sister church on a Missions
Trip. The beginning of the trip we
stayed in Lat Krabang, outside of Bangkok city near the airport. We visited Christ Church Bangkok which was established
in 1864 with permission of the King as a place where all could worship. The beautiful church sits in the middle of
the financial district on land that was provided by the government. We learned about the ministry of the church
and that less than 1% of the Thai population is Christian. We spent one evening at Cornerstone Student
Centre teaching two conversational English classes with college students from the
Institute of Technology (KMIT). The
Centre is one of the ministries of Christ Church Bangkok.
Mid-week we traveled two hours southeast of Bangkok to Ban
Chang, where we would spend the remainder of our trip. Our first night there, we participated in a
Bible Study at the Bethlehem House Orphanage.
This night an 11-year old boy told a story how the week previously he
had been chosen as class leader on the day they were to worship and present
gifts to the monks. While he was honored
to be chosen, he did not want to do it because of his Christian beliefs. He prayed about it and with the help of another
student he told the teacher and was allowed to step down as leader that
day. What a testimony of faith when he
is one of the very few students in the school who are Christians.
On Thursday and Friday, we went to the local public school
to conduct an English Camp for the middle and high school students. Prior to the trip I had helped to prepare the
curriculum for the 150 kids we were to teach each day. Upon arriving to the school we learned that
there was miscommunication and we were teaching 150 students every 50
minutes! We quickly changed out plans to
accommodate and over the course of the two days taught over 2,000
children. While we taught outside,
without AC and were on our feet for 8 hours each day, this was one of the
highlights of the trip. The kids were so
excited to be there and after each class we felt like superstars as all the
kids tried to get their photos with the different members of our team. Both evenings after teaching all day, we
participated in bible studies that concluded with large meals prepared by the
church members. On the second night, the
message taught by our one team member was about forgiveness. We felt God had put us in the right place
that evening as one gentleman told a story about his current need to forgive
someone who had done a great wrong to him.
On Saturday we spent the whole day at the Orphanage teaching/practicing
English and playing games with the nine children who live there. On Sunday after Sunday School and Church,
there was “Sports Day” hosted for 5 local churches. This was a fun filled afternoon with games
for all ages and again a huge meal provided by the church members. The orphans were also there which gave us another
day to spend with them.
As with the other mission trips I have been on, I feel that
I have come home feeling so blessed by the community that I went to help be a witness
to. The hospitality of the Thai people
is top notch and even when they don’t have much, they give their best to
you. While Buddhism is engrained in Thailand’s
culture, it was amazing to see God’s work in the hearts of the Christians we
met.
On the way home, our team was stranded an extra day in Tokyo
as Typhoon Guchol went through Okinawa. After
two long days of travel (and 26 days total in Asian countries) I told Jake that
the Kraft box Mac & Cheese was the best thing I had eaten in a long time! I enjoy eating rice (just not several times a
day, every day), so I’ve officially given it up for a while!
Until next time,
Natasha and Jake
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