Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Outreach in Tak, Thailand







Out in the boonies in Tak, Thailand, there are huge bugs, tarantulas, lots of fresh fruit, green land everywhere, vast mountains, banana trees, palm trees, lots of rain, but nestled about 40 miles from Tak, is a relatively small Lisu tribe community. These are the precious people group our team of ten students, two leaders, and one translator have been ministering to the past two weeks. We have been staying with the family of the local Christian pastor in this lovely community. Nine of us girls share a small, but cozy room where we all lay side by side on the floor catching some much needed Zzzz’s each night.

Our days are mostly spent teaching English at a poorer school up the road a bit from the pastor’s home. It has been a fun and interesting experience teaching English. We all divided into teams of four persons to teach various grades. My team had all the young kids, which was fun for me. We had the 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes keeping their attention was difficult, but we mixed it up a bit by teaching them silly, but useful songs like “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”. Many of our students are kids from the orphanage, which we are also working with. It is great to be able to make good relationships with the kids, and all of these kids have stolen our hearts. If we could, we would each take home two or three of them. J

Yesterday, we spent our morning hanging out with these beautiful Thai orphans. We walked, and skipped, and ran with them down the road to a little store and bought them all ice cream, then preceded in some fun and competitive games of ‘Duck, duck, goose,’ and ‘Simon says.’ The kids loved it, but it was a hot days, so I think we wore them out. When we got back to the orphanage, many of the kids collapsed at the dining table. It was a great day for us all, and we will have a similar day with them once again before we leave Tak.

It is definitely the simple life here. People just enjoying each other’s company, playing games of soccer and badminton, working in their gardens, and cooking delicious Thai food for their families. I have very much enjoyed our time here, however, I have come to realize I do enjoy the crazy, city life much more, but it has been great to be out in God’s beautiful creation with beautiful Thai people. We have been able to see and experience many breath-taking things such as: hiking up waterfalls, fishing in beautiful lakes, catching crazy bugs, seeing big, beautiful butterflies, holding the hands of many of many Thai children, praying for individuals and seeing our prayers answered. God has been so good to us in this trip, and it’s not over yet!!!! We have one week left here in Tak, before returning to Bangkok. Check back for my next update!

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