One Blessed Sunday

The last school year (our school year runs from May to March) was a tiring time for me, but I feel that ministry-wise it was one of the most rewarding years we've had on the field. Although I still have times of culture stress I'm happy to be past that two year period of times of culture shock where I couldn't seem to live here AND have the right kind of attitude at the same time. During those times Rusty did a great job of reminding me why I was feeling so out of control, and that seemed to help put me back on the right track. I tried to do the same for him, but when you're going through it you might think as I did that everyone else around you is wrong and you're the only one who is right. Haha! Who was I kidding? It was much better to admit what I was going through rather than denying and fighting it.

You might be wondering why I'm talking about culture shock and culture stress in this post, and one reason is that things that happened Sunday really brought to mind some changes that I've been noticing that have been happening in my life. When we first came to serve here, I felt like everything and everyone was trying to invade my space. First there was the idea of having a househelper come in two days a week to help with cleaning. I didn't like that, but Rusty said we should so I could have more time for studying the language, teaching English, ministering in the villages, and working at Antioch Church. Then we eventually went to someone coming to live with us and clean house. Talk about having my space invaded! Then we moved on to starting a neighborhood ESL class in the house. Then I started having friends come over so we could cook together in my kitchen. The list went on and on (or so it seemed) with each step pushing me further and further out of my comfort zone until we get up to the present time.

Now we have one of our ESL students who loves to come and spend the night with Pawn. She is the sweetest 10 year old Buddhist girl, and she loves to come to our house and go to church with us. She even goes to church when she doesn't come to spend the night here. I went downstairs early this Sunday morning and heard Gam (the 10-year-old girl) practicing worship songs and working on her memory verses for Sunday school. She has a very tender heart, and her parents have not done anything to oppose this other than putting a Buddhist amulet around her neck to protect her. Gam loves coming and learning about Jesus, and she's inviting her friends too. It's those God-things that give us the encouragement--getting pushed out of your comfort zone is worth it.

All of the experiences we've been through help us to minister to others we come in contact with also. We received a phone call a couple of months ago--which in and of itself is amazing since our phone has not worked consistently for about a year now--from a lady who just moved back to Thailand after living in England for 20 years. She put off coming to church until this week. I really believe there were no accidents in her being there on this Sunday. Rusty was able to spend a couple of hours talking with her after everything was finished. She's been having a hard time adjusting back to life in Thailand. She had asked me earlier if I had had a hard time adjusting to Thailand and if I liked it. I told her it was a shock to me at first, but once I spent some time learning about the culture I really began to enjoy it. Please pray for her. She has only been back in the country for three months, and she has a lot to adjust to. But praise God that He put us into contact with her. She says that she has repented of her sins and trusted in Christ already, and we look forward to continuing to be a safe sounding board for her as she struggles to adjust to her new life here. Hopefully we can use our experiences here to be understanding but also to lead her in the right direction and encourage her to continually trust God that His plans for her are for her good.