Choosing In || Thailand
I have arrived in Thailand safe and sound! Thank you for your prayers.
Here is the house I will be living in with my five other teammates.
Also, here is the lovely bathroom.
Here is where I take my showers every morning..
Pretty awesome, right?
And then some of the other teams on my squad have air conditioned apartments with workout rooms, beds, and beaches.
This is one of their views
So at first, I was pretty upset. I had a bad attitude. I had the "why me?" perspective. I sent a few emails…and complained about it.
But then I stopped myself and said, "Why am I really on this trip?".. "What has God really called me to?
To live in my comfort zone? NO. I am called to live completely out of my comfort zone..in things that I am not completely in love with.
I am called to wake up every day and die to myself and my worldly desires. I am called to live in Thailand..Not mentally at home..Not in the future. Just to live day by day and moment by moment.
God has put me here for a very specific reason.
I am called to CHOOSE IN. To choose to be present in this place and to invest in every part of it. To invest in the kids that I encounter and to love on them. It is one of the biggest lessons I have learned on this trip. Choosing in is key because once you do it..you fall in love. Choose the hard things because that is where you experience God at one of the deepest levels. You become one with the tragedy of the cross. You experience growth. You put down yourself and pick up the cross. You embrace what it means to be courageous. Blessings will overflow. You bring something to that table that others can't…you bring CHANGE.
My ministry is to go around to 17 different schools…and to teach English.
Thailand is 98% buddhist.
So there is a catch..at every school we go to we can share the gospel for 30 minutes.
I get to open the ears of so many kids..to share of the love, grace, and hope that I am given every single day.
I have taught one week at my first school…It has been a challenge to get around the language barrier considering we do not have a translator. But I have already got to pray with a few different boys and girls! ..I am having faith that God is going to move past the language barrier and change lives!
Here is one of my classes!…
Here is a little video of my class and I doing declarations..I had them stand up on their chairs and speak truth over themsevles. Got to love a little empowerment! These kids deserve to be believed in and to believe in themselves.
God bless.
Best,
Andrea
Andrea,
You never cease to encourage me! When I saw the picture of the house first, I was like, wow, I’ll be you’re excited to have actual walls, roof, windows & doors, and then….oh boy.
You have grown so much and even though I don’t know you that well, I am always excited when I get your posts from your blog.
Continued being a light for him. Many prayers on your behalf!
Love,
Mrs. Siders
This place has turned out to be quite a blessing…but yes, the bathrooms are quite a treat ha. Thank you so much for you support and prayers!!! Much love
Andrea,
To be honest I haven’t kept up with the blogs. I signed up to show I supported you, but today I had a lot of time on my hands so I decided to read everything. It is incredible to see what God is doing in your life! I have been praying for you and will continue praying for you! Just by reading these blogs, I can picture what it is like to be where you are. I will be the first to admit I don’t think I have what it takes to be doing what you are doing, so I wanted to say how proud I am of you! This is an unbelievable experience and opportunity and I am so happy for you! So many things you have written about are some things I struggle with. And I thought I had it hard, ha! It never ceases to amaze me how self-centered I am. I will continue working on trusting God and God alone. I know He will take care of me! May He continue to give you strength.
Love,
Brett
Dear Andrea,
WOW! You are trusting the Lord that YOU were placed in these schools for a specific reason. GOD IS GOOD! ALWAYS!
You are in our prayers!
Love,
Mom
Andrea!!!! This is so awesome and encouraging. I miss you and love you lots! Way to get those kids up and doing some declarations… haha so awesome.
Yo Yo,
I love to see how you are falling deeply in love with Jesus and His mission. It’s quite the adventure. Worthington Christian needs your example…so thank you my friend:)
Oh my word…. cute video. Great idea. Glad to see you are doing so much for the Lord in such a sad country.
Random question…. how’s that toilet working out for you in your shower room…. squatting does not sound possible for someone that has used an American toilet for their whole life. DiSaStEr!
Andrea, thanks for your honesty and vulnerability. There’s a pride and an admiration in the process it took you come to a point of self-actualization. To be honest, this is one of those great lessons this trip teaches you. We can never fully explain this circumstances to you all; it has to be lived. I know that this mindset is a choice and for that I thank you. Keep up the honesty, keep up the passion, and continue to lean into the Lord as to what He is speaking. We are proud of you and your team.
love how you are choosing in. so proud of you for continuing to go after whatever the lord puts in front of you. it’s so good. also, i am completely, utterly, absolutely obsessed with you doing declarations with those kiddos. ahhhhhhhh. so fun. my favorite is “i can speak english!”
love you, friend!