Welcome to our second update in the #UBCinthailand blog.
Today was a blast and a half for the team. After a devotion in Colossians and a culturally inclusive breakfast spread, we loaded up in the songthaews and with iconoclast strides headed to the mountains.
Our destination was the sticky waterfalls, and a fedora-clad new friend of ours (Orvil) was able to accompany us. Sticky waterfalls are named as such because the rock formations are mostly porous limestone. This means that we were able to “swim upstream” and climb up all four tiers of the waterfall.
After a refreshing morning in God’s creation, the team was rejuvenated for a typical afternoon of shop visits. At this point in the trip we have begun to form relationships with some of the shopkeepers. Today, we were able to return to familiar shops and continue ongoing conversations and relationships in hopes of engaging in spiritual conversations. Our work here in Thailand is very relational and slow. This is not a culture that is necessarily eager and equipped to readily receive the gospel, it requires a lot of leg work, that we are honored to engage in.
As we function mainly as extensions of our ministry partners’ work, after shop visits we take time as a team to debrief and fill out summary sheets on our visits. This way, our ministry partners can review the information that we have gathered and use it to strategically follow up with specific shopkeepers.
Yesterday we had the opportunity to attend a church service in English as well as in Hindi. We all found it very exciting to get to worship amidst so many different cultures.
As we eat dinner tonight at a Japanese hot pot restaurant, we eagerly anticipate the opportunity to continue in this ministry partnership for the remainder of our trip. Please pray that we would be humble and faithful in following the Spirit’s prompting here and that we would continue to care for and encourage one another.
Peace and blessings y’all
Joy and Dilan