A little about Thailand!
This country was the first country we traveled to on our missionary journey to share the love and the gospel of Jesus Christ to a total of 6 countries. This is the country I’m the most fond of so far. I’m writing this post in Ethiopia (the 4th country out of the 6) so I may be pleasantly surprised by having another country be more precious to me. But the reason for it being my fondest so far isn’t the beautifully warm weather and cool starry nights. It wasn’t the lush green jungles full of fruit and palm trees and beautiful bamboo. It wasn’t seeing Chiang Dao mountain covered in mist in the morning but it was the family we stayed with and ministered to.
We stayed with a wife and husband who had 10 adopted kids and had 2 kids of their own. The adopted children all came from very hard family situations. One child in particular had a heartbreaking story where their father, who was a drug addict, cut his own finger off and gave it to the child, telling him to cook it. This family has been able to take them in and raise them in a christian home and love them like a father and mother should love their kids. These kids are being transformed by the love of Christ through these parents. We were also given the opportunity to pour out Christ’s love on the kids as well.
We did this through worshiping with the kids and teaching them worship songs. Playing soccer with the boys (who would play everyday after school). Giving sermons geared towards the kids and forgiveness and making Jesus the lord of your life. We would also play card games with the kids which I think was their favorite thing to do. We also got to teach the kids at home English and Bible stories and biblical values. We had a lot of other ministry opportunities. We got to go to the elementary school the husband worked at and help teach English! We did this by making them do physical actions and saying the word we were trying to teach them. An example would be saying violin and doing a body motion that resembled playing a violin.
We also taught at a kindergarten school which I loved! The little ones were so full of joy and energy! We taught them Sunday school songs and dances along with English. But outside of teaching we actually did a lot of farming. The family rented plots of land and planted cassava (which is actually what Boba is made from). We would cut them at the root, bundle them and pile them to be taken away. This was hard work under a hot sun but it was so much fun. It was filled with laughs, sweat and worship music! We farm mostly with the husband but sometimes with the kids as well. I remember this one time after farming, before we went home. All of us and the kids got into a snowball fight of sorts with these funny little seeds that grew on the cassava plant. It is something I will cherish and never forget.
This is what made my time in Thailand so memorable and full of joy! I wish to one day go back and see the kids and our hosts again. To join in ministry with them again. I will always look back fondly on my time in Thailand.
Blessings,
Michael Drago
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