Thailand Missions (2018) "First Full Day!"
Earlier in the day, we were able to visit Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep which is one of Northern Thailand’s most sacred Buddhist temples. The temple was beautifully decorated and many of the shrines and alters were covered in gold. Another thing that amazed me was how deeply ingrained Buddhism was within the Thai culture. The temple is located at the top of a mountain so it does take a lot of energy (and a bit of thigh muscle) to make it to the entrance of the temple. I was also impressed to see an elderly woman who was in a wheelchair walked up many flights of stairs with the help of some family members to go into the temple despite the light rain and many tourists who could have bumped into her. With everything we saw, we learned about the importance of understanding another person’s religion especially when it is so integrated into their culture so that we can better connect with them.
Later on in the day, we visited the Centre where many of the university students come to practice their English as well as hangout and play board games. A few of us were able to sit in and experience their English and cooking classes. We were all pleasantly surprised not just at how fun and conversational these classes were but at how strong the students had with each other. The students were also very nice in welcoming us as well as letting us play with them despite us losing so many games to them!
Some prayer requests we have for the following days is:
1. for the events that we have coming up. Starting tomorrow we will be teaching a few cooking lessons as well as leading a few worship nights. A few of us will also have the opportunity to share a short testimony about how God has been teaching us or moving in us so please pray for open hearts and ears to hear
2. for the teachers that work at the Centre. I was able to hear many of the testimonies in how God has called these teachers to missions and we were encouraged by their obedience and full dependence on God. Even in reflecting on our day at the Centre, we can’t even imagine how these faithful servants can pour so much love and compassion into their students without feeling tired or burnt out so please pray for renewed strength and energy from our almighty God!
Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support! We definitely cannot do this without you and we are always encouraged by your faithfulness to pray and even read our blogposts! We have definitely already seen some answered prayers in our health and safety from traveling and mosquito bites!!
In Christ,
Matthew Tsang
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