Updates: We’re in Thailand!!

For those who don’t know, Thailand is our last stop on this 11 month journey. Of course that brings up a lot of bittersweet feelings that I will probably end up hashing out later, but for now, I just wanted to post up some quick updates on my team, ministry and life in Thailand. First off we had our squad’s parent vision trip (pvt) the first week we got here. This was an opportunity for our parents to come out to the field and experience a bit of what our life has looked like in this time. Both of my parents were fortunately able to make it and pvt turned out to be a really sweet time of strengthening relationships and letting the Lord lead us all into new territory both emotionally and spiritually. Something that was unique to my situation was that we got to reconnect with our Thai foreign exchange student that had lived with us back when I was in highschool. She is a newly baptized believer, so it was really sweet to spend that time catching up and encouraging her along her walk with Christ in a country where she really doesn’t have much Christian community. While we were there, she also shared with us that she first accepted Christ back at our house in the barn 7 years ago. It was amazing to receive this confirmation from the Lord that nothing we do for His name returns void. It was a blessing that we got to see the fruit of that ministry to her heart in that year she got to spend with us.

After pvt, my team separated from the squad and went to live in a more rural area that was closer to the local villages and hill tribes. Our assignment here has been to partner with a human trafficking prevention organization called Remember Nhu. Nhu was 12 years old when her grandmother first sold her into sex trafficking to earn money to aleve their destitute situation. She was abused for three days and then returned to her grandmother traumatized and in pain. Nhu continued to be sold from time to time until she finally convinced her grandmother to allow her to attend beauty school as a means to provide a different source of income. Once she was finally able to make it on her own and escape the abusive cycle, she shared her story at a conference for missionaries in Cambodia. After hearing her story, one of the missionaries felt God placed “remember Nhu” on his heart. For years he went back to Cambodia searching for her and finally after 6 years, his pursuits were successful. After forming a father-daughter-like familial bond, they founded an organization with the aim to prevent children from ever having to experience what Nhu had gone through. The organization is now in multiple continents all across the world. Here in Thailand, they have scouts that search the local villages for children who are in high risk situations. Once found, the organization will then intervene before a trafficker has the chance. The children are placed in homes with other children their age where they can go to school, learn about Jesus and take on responsibilities that teach them to grow into mature and responsible adults. They only live at these homes during the school year and then go back to live with their families the rest of the time. The organization has means of continuing to monitor their situation and set them up with opportunities that will provide for a good future. 

My team has two main roles in our time here. In the morning, we spend roughly 4 hours on manual labor for the organization. This includes landscaping, fencing, concrete work, painting, organizing and baking. Really anything that can help improve the conditions of the grounds and lighten the load for the staff. During this time, we work with an 82 yr-old man named Bud who has worked with the ministry for the past 14 years. This man has stories for days and many crazy testimonies speaking to God’s faithfulness in his life. After our morning work, we have team ministry for a few hours and then we head back to eat dinner and play with the kids after school. They LOVE playing anything related to soccer as well as volleyball, uno and puzzles! There are 4 individual houses on the property, so we spend time at one house per day. This allows us the opportunity to build relationships and hopefully set a good model of love and care for these kids. Weekends have a bit more of an ATL feel to them, but last Saturday we had the opportunity to go to a nearby hill tribe and spread the gospel to these kids who were primarily Buddhist. It was a really impactful experience to know that we got to be there sharing hope when only a few short years ago, many kids were being trafficked in that same village. 

That concludes a short summary of what ministry has looked like for us as of late. Thailand was technically supposed to be an all-squad country, but our team was the one that had to split. This has been hard because it feels like we are missing out on our last chance to connect with this community. That being said, I couldn’t be happier with the opportunity we have to work in prevention since human trafficking is an area I am particularly passionate about. For now, we are content in our placing and trying to take in these last few months of ministry. I’m sure more specific updates and stories are to come soon!

Much Love- Tris