What if you grew up in a home where you had never heard the gospel?
Not only the gospel but you had never heard that God created the world, that He created you and that the God who created you loved you?
Can you imagine? I can't!
BUT
What if one day you came to school and they had an English camp along with Vacation Bible School and for the very first time you got to hear about God.
The True God. The God that loves you and gave His Son for you.
How life changing would that be?
Last week there were 114 kids who got to hear the gospel and many of them for the 1st time.
Last week Dave and I got to go with a group here to a town called Samroiyod to help with the VBS / English Camp. It is about 4 hours from Bangkok and was a lovely and quaint beach town.
Their is a local church that hosted the two day event.
The theme of the VBS was 'Digging for God's Word'. The day started with a group meeting where we would teach them English songs and then there was a short skit. After that we had English class for 1 1/2 hours. Then we all met together again for a Bible story followed by a store where they could buy snacks with fake money we gave them for behavior, participation, etc.
Hosting an event like this for a school really helps them out. They are able to report that English classes were held and it helps the schools ranking. I don't know exactly all the details of how it works but I do know that us being there was a help for them and will hopefully be a work that God can use to grow the church in that area.
Dave and I can't speak Thai, other than hello and a few other words, and the kids didn't know a lot of English either but that is ok! I've mentioned before that a smile goes a long way and that is true with kids too. I also learned that I don't have to speak Thai to color with kids, to give them a high five or to sell them fun items from a little store we set up. Kindness is a language understood by many and it goes a long ways.
Here are some pictures from the two days we were at the school. If you have any more questions about what we did there feel free to ask.
These four were such a blessing! They are some of the kids who have gotten saved in the area who attend the church and they are the church musicians! They have been taught the ukelele and they play so well. It was such an encouragement to see them serving God at a young age. They also were the actors for the skits.
A snack the school provided us with. Isn't it pretty? It's green mangoes with salt / sugar / hot spices to dip it in.
Please pray for these kids. Pray that God will grow the seeds that were planted and for those who will do follow up work with them.
Later this week I'll be sharing some more pictures from the beach and town where we stayed.
Happy Monday Friends!
I'm really glad you guys were able to be a part of this. What a cool opportunity to spend quality time with these kids and speak truth.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we were able to be a part of it too! It was something I had never been a part of before and it was really neat to see God work all the details out.
ReplyDeleteHi Madeline! I'm glad the post was an encouragement to you. I'm really thankful God allowed us to go and be a part of this ministry.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun experience! I'm so glad you got to help out and just see God working in Thailand. :) It makes me want to hop on a plane and come see it firsthand (including those ukulele players!)!
ReplyDeleteI also loooooove that you managed to communicate and just hang out with the kids and love on them despite the language barrier. Smiles really do go a long way!
You can definitely come visit if you want to =)
ReplyDeleteI'm really thankful we got the opportunity to see what God is doing there. The church is a newer church and it is exciting to see a new church plant happen.
I would love to! I'm not sure if it's realistic, but you never know, right? :)
ReplyDeleteI just love the pictures- they are SO captivating! I can't imagine growing up in a place where I never heard the Gospel. And if there's anything I've learned from time overseas it's exactly what you mentioned- a smile and kindness can bridge all sorts of language and cultural borders. I'll be praying that the seeds that were planted continue to grow in those kids' hearts!
ReplyDeleteComing to Asia does seem unrealistic but you never know! I never in my life had any desire or thought to come to Asia and here I am.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine never hearing the gospel either. It kind of blows my mind and I also realize how fortunate and blessed we really are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for praying for those kids! I'm sure God will grow the seeds that were planted. It will be neat to see if those kids start attending church.
So true, so true! :)
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