January Update

The month of January was absolutely packed full! My team started the month with three weeks of class on the history of Southeast Asia and Cross Cultural Communication. It was really good to learn more of the history of this region so that I can better understand why Thai culture is the way that it is. The communications class was also super helpful for me to understand the differences in communication styles between my western culture and Thai culture. Even more than that, the class helped me see the importance of evaluating both cultures according to scripture and that I need to be careful to simply spread the gospel, rather than spreading my American worldview.

After our classes finished, we were finally able to start our official ministries! Last Tuesday I had my first day at Home of the Swallow (HOS). Like I've said in past posts, HOS is a ministry that works with single mothers and their young kids. They help the moms develop skills to support themselves and they also have a nursery that provides affordable childcare for other families nearby. I'll be working at HOS 25 hours a week for the remainder of my internship.

My first few days of ministry went really well! The kids at HOS are split into two groups: 1-2 year olds and 3-4 year olds. I'll be spending most of my time with the younger kids. The job itself is pretty simple- play with the kids, change diapers, help clean, etc. but it's a lot more challenging because of the language barrier. Although my Thai is continually getting better, I'm still very limited with what I know how to say. For example, on my second day I saw one of the little boys spit on another kid. I was able to say "Don't do that!" in Thai but when he continued to spit, there was nothing else I could do or say to make him stop. He knows no English and I know just a little Thai. Like I said, it's challenging! I think that will be the hardest part of ministry for me. Almost everything at HOS is completely in Thai. It's pretty exhausting to try to translate everything and it's also very humbling to have these tiny kids speak better than me. However, even though it will be difficult, I'm thankful that there's so little English at HOS because it will force me to speak more Thai and my language skills are going to improve drastically. I've only worked three days so far and already I'm picking up several new words.

Beyond just improving my Thai, I'm so excited to see what will happen this next year as I work at HOS. My coworkers and the moms who live there seem so wonderful and I can't wait to get to know them better! And the kids are absolutely adorable and so sweet! Some of them are kind of afraid of me because I'm a foreigner, but I'm excited for the day when I become a familiar face and they feel comfortable with me. Challenges and all, I think I'm really going to enjoy my ministry.

One thing that's been hard this last month is team life. When you live in a house with seven girls, there's bound to be conflict and misunderstanding. I always knew these issues would come at some point, but even if you expect it, it's never fun to deal with. Every member of my team has made mistakes where we've offended each other and many of us have been hurt in the process. A lot of this hurt has come to the surface in the past few weeks. It's kind of a mess.

In the midst of all this, my team has been studying the book of James together. Due to the conflict, I've found myself praying a lot lately for wisdom on how I should act towards my team so I was really encouraged to read James 1:5 which says that God gives wisdom liberally to those who ask for it. As I continued reading, I came across verse 3:16-17 It says. "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." (NKJV) This verse was an immediate answer to my prayers for wisdom but it was also pretty convicting. I realized that I haven't always been treating my teammates with the wisdom described in this verse. Instead I've been prideful, stubborn, and easily angered. Yikes! I don't want to be that way!

As I've been praying for my team and reflecting on this verse, God has been teaching me a lot. He's showing me how to live a life of humility, love, and wisdom even when it's hard. He's teaching me how to honor and respect the people around me, even when I'm annoyed with them. I still mess up sometimes (a lot actually) but I'm slowly learning to live out this wisdom from above.

Things are starting to get better for my team but we still have a long way to go. If you'd like to join with me in praying for unity in my team, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for all of your support and prayers!

พระเจ้าอวยพร (God bless you!)

~Emily