Thailand 2017: Village Outreach

The village outreach was one of my favorite things that our team did in Thailand. About our fifth day there, we left on a Sunday morning for that particular Karen (pronounced ka-rin) village, which was about 2.5 hours away. Of the 100 or so houses in the village, only 4 were Christian. Besides our team, the ZMS students went with us, as did several of the missionaries. Along the way, we stopped at one of the ever-prevalent 7-Elevens. When we arrived, I was a bit surprised that it was not as "village-y" as I had expected, and some of the others felt the same. While there we stayed in a school - one classroom for the guys to sleep in and one for the girls. Another room we used as our meeting room and eating room.

Our team, the students, and the ZMS students
PC: I'm not sure!

The room where we discussed, planned, and ate

That afternoon we split into groups for home visits in the village: I went with Tammy, Jackie, and three ZMS students. Many of the first homes we visited didn't invite us to go in (as many of the others' did) - then again, a lot of the people we spoke with were either outside or under their homes (they were often built up off the ground, as you can see in the pictures below).

Going into the village

Heading into the village (a team other than mine)
PC: ZOE

There were some guys in a wooded area who invited us to see an open "house"/building that the king had built when he visited the village. They promised him that they would take care of it and the area around it for the village. We didn't go in but did stand on the steps of it, and it started to pour.

The building in the woods

At the next house that we stopped at, the woman invited us in, immediately turned on a fan for us, and offered us cold water to drink. We invited her to the outreach that evening (and like everyone else, said she would come if it didn't rain), but she wouldn't let us pray for her.

Because we ran out of goody bags so quickly and we had hit many homes, we ended up returning early. On the way back, it stopped raining and the sun shone fiercely, making it very hot. Another group returned shortly after us, so we sat and talked and got to know the ZMS students more.

When all the groups returned, we talked about the home visits. The most incredible thing that anyone shared was that the one person they spoke with had heard of Christianity but had never heard of Jesus. After we finished there, we prayed over the outreach. It was thundering and lightening loudly over the nearby mountains, and we weren't sure if anyone would come or not.

Then, the time came for the outreach. We heard all of this later on, but the pastor of a church in a nearby village said that they had tried to do outreaches in this village before, but no one came, and they threw rocks at them. We had 95 people attend our outreach, and one man made a decision for Christ before it even started! The ZMS students did an amazing job, especially with their dramas! Our team just sang our song. Oh yes, and they did a human trafficking awareness presentation before the rest of the outreach.

During the evening outreach
PC: ZOE

At one point during the outreach, one of the ZMS students came over to me with a little girl in tow. She said the little girl came and got her to translate because she wanted to meet me and be friends. She was so precious! Her name was pronounced "nuun" (not quite a flat "nun" but not a long "noon" either) but I don't know how to spell it, so we'll call her Nun. She was 10 years old. All evening long she'd look over at me and smile. Through the ZMS student, we had a mini conversation about school, siblings, etc. At the end of the program when she left she said "goodbye Megan!" She was darling.

Then we all headed to bed. Someone had put up mosquito nets for us and our room looked like a crazy maze! There were 3 people under every net, and we slept in a sleeping bag on cement flooring (which was fine except for sleeping on my side, so I woke up with a bit of a bruise on each of my hip bones). I slept on and off and eventually just woke up at about 4:44.

Our room before mosquito nets

At the shcool

Our room after mosquito nets

When everyone was awake, we cleaned everything up and had devotions and worship. Then the kids began to arrive at school. Nun found me right away, and I recognized her as well. The first thing she did was present me with a little yarn bracelet that she probably made herself. What a sweetheart! In response, we handed out the gospel bead bracelets that Kristen and Emma had brought along. All of the kids stood and did their national anthem and some other morning routines before they filed into our program just for them.

Some of the girls with their new bracelets

Me and my new friend, Nun
PC: thanks to Sherri for taking our picture!

Throughout our time with them we did everything our team had planned (the ZMS students also did some things): our songs, our drama, our mini English lesson, and our craft. They seemed to really enjoy everything. The ZMS students did small groups with them where they explained the gospel and prayed with them. It was such a precious time to watch. At the end we gave out goody bags and two of the teachers briefly spoke and thanked us - the one said that if we ever want to come back, we are welcome in that school.