God moments

There are some other God moments I feel compelled to mention...

In April 2005 I remember one day when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and tired. I had met so many great people and the Thai people were so welcoming but cultural and language differences bring certain restrictions to relationship building. This wasn't a bad thing and I was learning a lot - but I just didn't feel at any moment like I could just really relax and chat away with someone like I would with my friends at home. And I guess I was prepared for that. On one particular day I just felt needed to pray that I would meet a friend - who I had something I common with and who I could just effortlessly get along with. That day I was lucky enough to be given use of a mo-ped, so I set of for a drive to try to get rid of the bad mood I was in and I took the opportunity to go for an explore. Unfortunately it was difficult to actually stop the bike because I couldn't ever seem to start it again. So oftentimes I was stranded by the bike waiting for someone to come and start it for me. Having been on the main road for about 15 minutes I took a random turning off to the right probably subconsciously attracted to the big sign on the road which said "BEACH" with an arrow pointing that way.

The road that I took opened my eyes once more to the devastation caused by the Tsunami. It was another village totally destroyed. There were heaps of rubble everywhere and people working hard to clear it.

Anyway coming out of the same road I looked and saw a couple of people standing at the side of the road and this girl was standing there smiling at me. I wouldn't usually be brave enough to stop and talk to people, but then I wouldn't normally be brave enough to walk 7 times around in circles past the same people, praying... so something was changing in me.

Anyway... I digress, I stopped and said hello. The girl, to my delight, was English and her name was Jo and we were both the same age... Now if that's not having something in common with someone I don't know what is. Just after 5 minutes of meeting we exchanged numbers and we kept in touch from there on.

Somehow I kind've knew that it wasn't just a one off meeting but that this was the start of a friendship. And that somehow our paths would cross again. I found out that day that she was working on construction of a training centre called Step Ahead, and would later be teaching English there. Now, I had tried a bit of teaching in the camp... and I had already decided that despite my TESOL qualification from the UK, it wasn't for me afterall. I was far to scared and lacking confidence. I just couldn't handle it. So I nodded enthusiastically, mentally crossing that job possibility off my list.

Somehow it kept coming back on to my mental list.

I needed to get a better eraser !

When Step Ahead opened last May (2005) I remember meeting with Jo. It was a lovely centre. It looked really smart inside and the showers... well, what a treat they were! I wasn't going to work there but I was definitely happy to visit at weekends :o) ... I thought. I was happy to pass on some TESOL teaching tips - but when I saw the number of people signed up for classes I remember thinking... "wow I'm glad it's not going to be me teaching those classes" ...'Though she was looking for extra staff.

I kept striking that thought off my list.

Teach English there?... No way.

(Meeting Jo was such an answer to prayer though and we really clicked straight away. It was a real breath of fresh air to meet up and just chill out. I have to say that I hold her totally responsible for the fact that I'm sitting here, in Step Ahead, a year later, blogging when I should be planning my lesson for teaching English tomorrow!)

Anyway... my visits at that time were brief. I was tired, bitten badly and grubby a lot of the time but I like being at the camp. Often I would be prayer walking knowing that we were totally out of babycare stuff and slowly tourists were becoming fewer. But every time things got desperate I would be praying and I'd get an urgent feeling I needed to return to the tent, or I'd just go back for a drink or a rest just in time for someone to turn up with a great big donation of baby care goods or someone looking to give money to help babies. It was always just the right time to explain the work and ministry of Phantasanja to the people. God always provided.

Another time I remember getting a bit fed up walking on my own and I prayed one day for some walking companions. On the day I prayed I remember a stray dog with no fur walking 5 laps of the camp with me. No matter where I went he followed me... it wasn't quite what I had in mind. The next day huge trenches were being dug to catch the rain because huge puddles in the camp were getting bigger. The rainy season was well underway and showers were turning to downpours for longer and heavier intervals. One one particular day I couldn't get round the back of the camp because a huge trench had been built and there was no way to get across. So I took a detour. There was another smaller camp area across the road so I decided to walk and pray round there for a day. I bumped into some of the mothers from the centre. Then suddenly I saw a man I knew - Missionary from Ban Nam Khem village called David. He had just been talking about me to a team of volunteers. He had heard from someone else that I had been praying. I had met him and his family just once but he had been so touched by it that he had told others. That da it was a total God send. I had been praying for people to walk with. He had been talking to the team, and they wanted to join me. So I met the team, talked to them and took them with me to spend a day visiting homes, praying for the sick and prayer walking the camp.

Everyday when I walked I felt really self-conscious each time I walked past the tent where the Buddhist monks lived. They had set up a bit of a temporary Wat there. I really didn't want them to think I was arrogantly parading my religion past their patch everyday in order to try to insult pass any form or judgment on them. I just prayed that I would somehow have an opportunity to share my faith with them and that they would see the heart of God and Christ's humility in my heart. On one day it was particularly on my mind. That morning as I was walking I saw a friend and stopped to talk to him just near to the monks tent. It was about 11:30. As I was talking to my friend the head monk called over and invited us in to eat lunch with them. They eat twice a day in the morning and 11:30. After 12 mid-day they fast until the following morning. My friend declined the offer as he was busy, so I just began to shuffle on the spot and prepare to carry on walking. But as I went to go he called me over and asked me to join them anyway. He invited me to sit with some of the ladies and to eat with them.

Most of the loal people give their best food to the monks each day to earn a blessing or credit so it was a tasty lunch. As I sat I listened to the monk talking and politely answered his questions. After we ate he told me he thinks I must have been a Thai in my last life because I was so polite. And then he went on to say that he thought I had a good and gentle heart and asked me why I was here. I felt so astonished. I was walking past them everyday reading my bible yet he had perceived me to be polite when I was so concerned that I was being rude.

I listened to him talk a bit about his beliefs and he asked me if I believed the same. I replied that I was a Christian and that my beliefs were different from his. So he asked me to return the next day. As I had listened to Him, he wanted to listen to what I believed. It was amazing how the opportunity arised and that I was able to share with them. I ended up giving him a bible and I'd copied out a lot of verses into Thai which I felt backed up the explanation of my faith that I had given him. I even heard that they had a DVD of the Passion of the Christ!

Anyway - those were some interesting times. God was amazing me everyday.