Week 2: Holy Spirit Week & Ministry

Hey everyone! :)

I only have 9 days left in Bangkok, before I leave for the Philippines. What an overwhelming thought. God has been flooding my mind and my heart with knowledge of Him and His people, that suddenly I'm panicking realizing I better get to work on applying this!

Last week was themed "Holy Spirit" week. We took classes on Biblical Understanding, Characteristics of God, Spiritual Warfare, and lots more. We have two classes per day, three hours each. One of my favourite things about our day is when we get to go to the seminary cafeteria and have lunch with the Thai students. :) It is so much fun! I've really enjoyed trying to fight the language barrier and get to know these future Thai leaders. One of the female students at our table was named "Ay", so I tried to explain to the students that in Canada, that is what we commonly say at the end of our sentences. (Thai people say "kah" if they are female, and "kop" if they are male.) One of the male students nodded like he understood and said: "Like... Hello, EH?" It's the best.

This week was really huge for me because we had two heartbreaking ministry opportunities. On Thursday, we spent our morning doing prison ministry. We arrived at the facility and registered as visitors, then walked to a market to get food packages for the prisoners we were visiting. We were all assigned specific people to visit. Mine was "J" from the Congo. When it was finally time to go inside, we had to lock all our belongings up and go through security. I expected the visitors area to be like in a movie, where you sit in a booth behind glass with a little phone. Instead, you walk into a big room with two fences from wall to wall. In between the two fences is about 3 feet of space, and they release all the prisoners on the other side. The people detained here usually there because they haven't gained refugee status, overstayed their visas or have other document issues. There are entire families that have been there together for years. What an absolutely heartbreaking place. People line up on both sides of the fence and shout across to each other. I started talking to a PRECIOUS thirteen year old girl from Vietnam who had been stuck there for two years. One of my teachers called to me and said she had found J. I followed her over and there she was. She instantly called my name and I welled up in tears. J and I talked for the entire visit. She has the most amazing faith of anyone I have ever met. She said things like "This place is awful. They don't treat us well, and when I first got here, the smell was so bad I couldn't eat or sleep. But God's Word says to be thankful in all circumstances, so I am thankful to be here today!" or "When I get out of this place, I am going to use my prisoner ID number as my password for EVERYTHING!" She is furthering God's kingdom within that prison. I said almost nothing the whole time, just silent prayers for her. She ministered to ME. When the siren went off signalling our departure, we ended with tears, promises to write each other and "love you sister" shouted over the fence.

Our other opportunity we had to minister was at Nightlight, a ministry to women who have been in the sex industry. On Friday night they run a cell group, so we prepared a song, ice breaker, and testimonies to share with them. Nightlight was one of the places I was interested in interning in SEA, so I was so excited to see what it was like. We arrived and sang some worship songs (which is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard by the way- Thai women praising the Lord), ran an icebreaker, and I got to share my testimony. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time. The women there were so affectionate and fun. Afterwards, we asked them to share prayer requests. One woman asked for prayer for her thumb, because it was locked and she couldn't bend it. They all gathered in the middle and we prayed around them. A few of us were praying for her and I watched her break into tears. My teacher, Sandra, asked "Is it healed?" And she just nodded and began to move it around like crazy. What an incredible thing to witness! God is SO close to the broken hearted. I was moved beyond belief.

The Lord is doing great things every single day here. I am in my second last week, "Personal Week", where we are learning lots about ourselves and our giftings. Thank you all for your prayers and INCREDIBLE encouragement you send. 

Love from Thailand!
Kelly