Wednesdays have become a bit of a special night for me. Every Wednesday Caleb plays soccer with a bunch of men in our city. While I love spending every minute with him, I have always found this alone time very sweet. I grab the equivalent of $2 USD and my kindle then take myself to one of my favorite restaurants {if a dozen street vendors collected under a tin roof on a concrete slab counts as a restaurant}. I spend just under $1.30 USD on my meal, read, sit and people watch.
It is almost impossible to forget that we live in Thailand. Bugs no longer bother me, cold showers make me thankful we have water at all, I carry toilet paper with me everywhere, driving our bike in the pouring rain is a daily occurrence, and I am now FREEZING when it gets below 85. But there is something so sweet about the hour I spend sitting in my plastic chair eating my Thai soup. My heart is so filled with thanks during my time alone that I find myself sitting, staring, and smiling like some kind of looney tune. Just soaking it in. My heart is overflowing with gratitude and tears form in my eyes. The Lord is so faithful. And the reward is so grand when we just choose to listen and say yes to His calls.
While there are days I am itching for Western comforts, this is home. These people are my neighbors. And I love them more than I could have ever imagined. The Lord is teaching me about a new type of love in Thailand. A love I had never experienced. My heart aches for my new friends- my family away from family. I don’t know if I could love my students more if they were my own. {Caleb has heard me say I would adopt every single one of my little nuggets if I could at least a dozen times}.
So thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for being part of my community. The Lord has been so obvious in so much of this adventure. I pray that you too find the strength to be still, listen, and say a big hearty YES to the adventure God is inviting you on. Trust me, it might get hard and lonely, but it is worth it.
