Language Barriers.

July 14, 2007 P.M.
SawadeeKop! Which means, “Hello” in Thai. I’m not good at it but I know it! J

Students are really amazing. This morning, we left for Grace International School after getting up at 5 A.M. eating breakfast and having a devotion. We managed to leave at 6:45. They did it all! I did it too but I also couldn’t sleep. The facelessness of injustice had faces today. We went to Grace and began the sports camp with 250 children between the ages of 9-13. It was amazing to see how the entire camp functioned and how our Wichita students interacted with the Thai children. They loved on them. They wanted to know them. They wanted to know their names. They had a blast with the students.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the day (and I won’t spend long on this because of other crazy good things) is the lack of knowledge that I have for language. I desperately wanted to communicate with the students but found that the only information that I could gather was their name, age, and whether they liked “futbol”, not American. J It was frustrating but also was good because it forced me to use other means of communication, the communication of love. Smiles, friendly touches, joking, these types of gestures were amazing for the kids to experience.

The camp was divided into 8 groups of kids and leaders, representing a color for each group. My group (And Collin’s) is the Orange Group. So for a lack of a better cheer, we shouted ORANGE three times, put our hands above our heads and said “OOOOOO”! The kids loved it. It was a lot of fun. This was just one of the ways that we found we could communicate with the children that were with us. To see their faces light up at being part of a team was incredibly satisfying.

Surprisingly, badmittin, which I don’t usually enjoy, was a blast. The kids loved it too. We didn’t really play an organized game, rather we smacked the birdie around and laughed incredibly hard. To say that I wasn’t touched by these kids would be untrue.

God what did you teach me today? Each day, he has taught me different things. He has taught me about my pride. He has taught me that I respond to him because of who he is, and that to respond, I must find out who he is. Today, he reissued the pride statement. Repeatedly, God has asked me point blank whether I am taking pride in myself or in him…Repeatedly, I must respond with “myself.” When I walked into a room of 200 something kids and was asked to simply hang out with them, I said, “I can do this.” When I said that, I realized a pang of pride. I can’t do it. Not without you almighty God! Not without your strength and your power and your majesty. This isn’t about me. It is about your kingdom and those that can be a part of that kingdom. It is about the love that you have given to me and offer so many more.

Almighty God, continue to challenge my selfishness. Allow me to be a man that is after your heart. That your name and your renown would be the desire of my heart and that I would say that your faithfulness stretches to the sky in good times and bad. Allow me to be open, moldable, and pliable to what you say, what you ask. Do immeasurably more than all that I can ask or imagine, according to your purposes!

Amazing day…Lack of knowledge for me on languages…Very tired…Resting in Christ…Ready to do this again tomorrow!!!! I’m PUMPED!!!!!