This post is completely devoted to the awesomeness of Thai young people. We have had, and will continue to have, tons of opportunities to work with youth. It’s great because all seven of us are heavily involved in student ministry back in Canada. Our free time is often spent just chilln with the youth. They like to come to our home and learn English, look at pictures, and just hang out. Some speak English very well so it’s been great building relationships beyond surface level. We are actually getting to know these youth. Jody even got the dirt on who likes who. Thai teens have just as much drama as Canadians. Well...maybe not AS much... (shout out to Eastview Youth! Haha, so... who does everyone like?) One youth in particular who likes to chill with us is Doh. If you remember from a previous post, he’s the one Aaron and I had a sleepover with. He joined us last night in the market as we shopped for supplies for egg sandwiches (thanks mom! We even found bacon!) He doesn’t speak English at all, but is now trying to learn. We point at everything and learn the Thai and English words for it. He even spent all day at school researching questions to ask me in English for that night when he knew he’d see me. He even wrote answers down to those questions in case I asked the same questions back. Acksanna (or “Anna” as she’s known here) kept describing this as “precious”. Haha. Doh is 17 years old, and has such tremendous leadership potential that he’s already tapping into. He is a leader among his peers. I had the chance to sit down with him on Sunday and hear his testimony. He has been a believer for 4 months and he’s already telling others about God. His family is Buddhist and his parents do not approve of him being a Christian. However, we are already seeing some cool connections with his parents through Dave and Louise. Doh wants to come to Canada when he’s done school to study the bible. He also wants to see snow. Ha! I showed him the video of us youth leaders dragging behind trucks in the snow... that was a good and bad idea all at once. Now he’s obsessed. Ha! He brings his younger brother, Naughti, to youth with him now and we are continually seeing him break out of his shell. Doh has such an influence over his friends and family. He and many other youth are now showing up to many of our outreach opportunities, just to help out or hang out. I love it because they aren’t kids. We are building genuine friendships in this community. I know already that this will be a difficult goodbye in a few weeks. I like that we are in one spot the entire month, and not rotating all over. It gives you the opportunity to really invest in the lives of the people you meet.
Thai youth rock – and my brain is already spinning with ideas on how to connect this group with Eastview’s youth. It doesn’t help that Kristin is here shooting media too, because we keep looking at each other, spitting out two words of an idea, and the other is already finishing the sentence and nodding. For those of you who know Kristin, imagine the intense no smile nod of approval. Haha
*** check out new photos of our photo booth with the youth ***
La gone,
Team Thailand
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