June 26, 2012
Entering into Thailand comes with a myriad of colors, food, smells, and a sense of complete unfamiliarity. We landed, with two other teams in tow, on Thursday and dove straight into orientation. Orientation was filled with experiences that are sure to help us on this journey into the next few weeks. We all experienced some intense emotions such as frustration or anger, over the things we were doing. But it will be turned for good because those experiences helped us learn what to expect once we turned to our host countries and families.
Something that stuck out to me, more than the others, was something said by a local woman as she stood up to teach after a particularly powerful set of worship songs. “We shouldn’t selfishly hold onto salvation. We need to love others and share this gift.” This struck accord with me as we prepared to enter into our ministry sites. What does it “look like to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God” as Micah 6:8 says? The next few weeks will be a powerful reminder for all of us as we choose intentionally to step incarnationaly into our separate countries.
The day came when each team left to their separate country (we stayed) and had the opportunity to really dive deeply with our specific team. There are about fifteen students from all different parts of the United States in the Bangkok team, each of which is on their own journey into what God is calling them into for the summer. A moment of worship this morning really helped bring us into a position of reverence for this summer. Each of us are preparing to enter our ministry sites and host families this afternoon, along with the monsoon of rain. We are excited, willing, and ready for the next five weeks to come.
by Laurel
