2019 Thailand Missions - Dreams Do Come True!
Speaking of devotions, Nikki was able to lead us in devotions this past Saturday and reminded us of God's deliverance and sovereignty. He lifts up the needy and His deeds are loving (Psalm 107:33-43). Following devotions, Lillian brought us to the church where Darren would preach and Whitney would give her testimony on Sunday. It was interesting to see a church "without walls" and filled with students who go there to learn English and Chinese. Afterwards, we went to JianHua (similar to a high school here in the U.S.) to eat lunch at the canteen and get familiar with the campus before teaching classes. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the "teachers' table" as Darren persistently told us to eat our vegetables. Since we had a little over half an hour until class, Lillian decided to take us to a bridge to enjoy a nice view of Chiang Rai's beautiful nature while feeding fish!
It was finally time to teach our very first English class and be real teachers! It felt like a dream come true for me especially because my 2nd dream job after a nurse is a teacher! Our team was split into group 1 (Darren, Nikki, and I) and group 2 (Alisa, Whitney, and Jonny). We went to our designated classrooms and were scheduled to teach for 1.5 hours. We had both classes work on their verbal introduction skills by asking and answering simple questions such as "What is your name? My name is _____. What is your favorite food? My favorite food is ____. What do you like to do in your free time? In my free time, I like to _____." Then, our class played a simplified version of scrabble to help the students with spelling in a fun interactive way! We then ended our class with the Cha Cha Slide. The other class played another version of telephone charades and also did the Cha Cha Slide! Overall, our classes went rather smoothly and we were able to observe how we could improve for the upcoming Monday classes.
From what I observed, the school culture in Thailand was pretty different from the school culture here in America. In Thailand, they are required to stand and greet the teacher and are only allowed to sit down when the teacher says so. One of the students spilled her drink and went to get a broom and mop to clean, but stopped with a confused look on her face as Darren helped her clean up. Many of the students were polite (there were of course a few rowdy ones) and greeted us even as we walked through the halls of the school. It was an exhausting 1.5 hours, but it was rewarding to pour God's love on these students through our teaching.
Lastly, we visited the Golden Triangle, an area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. It was amazing to see three nations meet at one spot. It made me think what Heaven would look like as every nation worships and praises God together as one family.
Prayer requests:
Recovery: Pray that we would recover from jet lag and be able to have the energy to accomplish various things such as preparing for camp, waking up on time for Sunday School, work, etc. Also, pray that Whitney would recover from her sickness!
Debrief: Pray that we wouldn't forget our work in Thailand and especially how we have seen God work in Thailand. Pray that we may tell the people around us of what happened in Thailand.
Darren: Pray for Darren's safety as he travels alone in Hong Kong.
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