The Lord has taught me a lot in Thailand!

Some time has passed since my team and I wearily crossed the Cambodia-Thailand border, and our experience in Chiang Mai has been a true blessing. Working with FTO (Free The Oppressed) brought forth some valuable life lessons through training, serving, and collectively studying God’s Word with the amazing men who are a part of the organization.

Some of the work we were given proved to be tedious, and I found myself at times internally grumbling about it. Then I thought about Philippians, when it says to do all things without grumbling or disputing. So I asked the Lord how I can look at things differently. Later, I decided to read Colossians, and the third chapter was very helpful. It simply says to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Now I say to myself, “I am doing this for the Lord and in his name.” This reminds me of the significance of what I am doing and brings me joy.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity my team had to be given medical and navigational training. For navigation, we were given multiple sets of coordinates on a map, and had to use a compass and protractor to plot the points and find them. This was physically demanding, as we were traversing through mountain and jungle, and there was time limit. The medical training was perhaps even more tiresome, and I loved it as well. We were taught how to apply a tourniquet and stop bleeding as well as improvise a tourniquet. With that knowledge, we were split into pairs; switching off being the “wounded” person. We would be given a way to carry a wounded person who was either conscious or unconscious. Then we would have to run to our partner, apply a tourniquet to one of their legs or arms, and carry them back. It was pretty intense, especially when they added “snipers” and if you got hit from their air-soft gun, you had to give yourself medical treatment and keep going. The Lord did not refrain from answering my prayer of having more physical trials!

Bible studies with the young and older men were very insightful and refreshing. We mainly studied the first chapter of Romans, and the older men had interesting perspectives they shared. I also learned a lot from random conversations with men who seemed to have gone through it all. The more I learn and study, the more eager I am to keep going and continue in spiritual and mental growth. In my own studies, I read Psalm 119 9:16, and it is now a habit of mine to read it every day. I find it highly beneficial to form habits like reading scripture everyday for encouragement.