Get Organized

After living in Thailand a while, I’ve become used to the level of organization not quite being what I am used to in North America.

But there are exceptions.

And a great exception to this was the recent English Camp we put on at the Muang Yai school across the street from where we live.

This was the first major outreach event we have put on in our community.  We wanted it to go well, but there were a lot of uncertainties going into it.  A big unknown was that our organization had never done anything at this school before, so we did not know what to expect from the teachers and staff.

Another unknown for us was the team from Northview MB Church SOLA (young adults)—lots of new faces in that group and we had no idea going into this what level of participation to expect.
But all expectations were exceeded.

So many thanks to all those who helped pull this off.

Seksan (เสกสรร) and the teachers and staff at Muang Yai school.



Our first contact was with the principal of the school, Udom Buddi (นายอุดม บุดดี).  But since it was English teaching, he handed most of the organizational part over to Seksan.  But everyone performed admirably.  The teachers and students were there early.  We had lists of names of students which helped us to organize the teams.  The classrooms were ready to go.  Great job, teachers.

Northview MB Church-SOLA.



It was a hot day, even by our standards, but these young people from Canada poured out their hearts (and sweat) for the young people at Muang Yai school.  They even took all the pictures so we missionaries could be free to concentrate on the things that we needed to do.

Christina Davis



Christina has a lot of experience putting on English Camps in this area.  So she was a great help with ideas for the teaching stations and she also had lots of teaching materials to use.  She even took a lot of time out of her already busy schedule to help.

Ingrid



Every team needs someone who is good at remembering all those little things that need to get done to make something happen.  And while Ingrid and Lie did a great job at organizing and teaching the crafts, most of what she did happened before hand.

Me



I had the easy job.  I got to use my computer skills to organize schedules and produce materials in a nice color-coded fashion to try to help all the volunteers be in the right place at the right time.  And the icing on the cake was that I got to do the story telling—a simplified account of creation in English.

All in all, it seemed like it went well.  The kids were having fun, and people got to know who we are.  Already we see the difference in how the kids in the neighborhood react to our presence.  A few of the young children seemed to have adopted Ingrid as a grandma as well.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. Romans 12:6a (NLT)

Thanks to Jon Stevens for the pictures 

Gratitude

Today in Kids Club, we told the story of the ten lepers who Jesus healed.

¹¹ It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance ¹³ but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

¹⁴ Taking a good look at them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." 

They went, and while still on their way, became clean.  ¹⁵One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God.  ¹⁶ He kneeled at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine?  ¹⁸Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?"  ¹⁹Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."  Luke 17:11-19 (MSG)


In telling this story, we were able to teach the children many new words, but the most important one was not actually in the text.

Gratitude.

ความกตัญญู


In this story, Jesus essentially commends the one out of the ten lepers who shows gratitude.

So after telling the story, we gave the children the opportunity to show gratitude.

Mother's day in Thailand coincides with the Queen's birthday in August.  But in many places around the world, tomorrow is Mother's Day.  So we had the children make Mother's Day cards with a note of thanks for their mothers.  Since we're teaching English, we had them use English as much as possible, but for some it was easier to use their native Thai.  We just wanted to make sure that the mothers felt appreciated for what they pour into the lives of their children.

We gave them ideas as to the types of things they could thank their moms for.  Some came up with their own ideas.  Some used all of our suggestions.  Some struggled to write anything.  One of my favorites: "Thank you for loving me."




Thank you to all of the mothers out there who work hard at loving your children.  We appreciate your hard work.