Coming back to ministry for the second and third weeks in Chiang Dao, I was learning how to be content in my work and where I was placed more each day. The boys started off strong with digging, and we made so much progress over the next couple of days. However, some of these days included heavy rain and therefore mud, making our job very difficult. Our days being plagued by various kinds of drawbacks such as this made it frustrating to keep on with the same old mundane work as usual. At the same time, I was hitting a spiritual wall of feeling the Lord’s presence and hearing His voice – not a great combo when stepping into new and hard things. It was a struggle to find contentment and joy that week, as well as to continue to devote my time and attention to the Lord when it didn’t feel rewarded.
shoes after digging in the rain
The next week we started off with digging again, which by now had started to become even more normal; just part pf my daily routine, nothing that should set me off. However, when I just started to find contentment in digging, we were placed at a different ministry spot suddenly – the Cassava Fields. When I think of the cassava fields, I think of three words: blood, sweat, and tears. Okay, maybe the tears part is a little bit dramatic, but that’s how it really did feel. Additionally, it wasn’t just me who felt this way, rest assured – many others on my team were having a rough time working the fields. Although it might sound like a simple and easy job of just pulling weeds, it was one of the hardest things I have had to do. Rows upon rows of trees with an opening just big enough for one person to walk through each row in between the trees. Each open row, however, was only clear of trees – instead, it was filled with weeds, thorns, and critters. We would walk through these rows slowly, bending over to chop down weeds and thorns along the way. It was tedious, hurt everyone’s back, and was just plain exhausting. I also have never sweat more in my life, as you can see from this picture below.
my sweat-through clothes
Although it was hard, I am grateful to have had this experience. If that doesn’t make any sense, then let me tell you a story:
After two days in the cassava fields, it was finally our free day for the week, and I decided to come down to the city with a couple of the guys from my team to rest. We had a great time exploring the city, visiting coffee shops and restaurants, seeing the girls who we had been split up from, and staying at a nice hostel together. I got the rest I needed, and was fueled up for my last week of ministry. Upon my arrival back in Chiang Dao, I step into our home there at the orphanage and immediately see our host. I asked her what she had been up to while we were gone, and she said she was just working the fields. “all day?” I asked, to which she replied, “yes,” with the biggest, most friendly, warming, and grateful smile I’ve ever seen. Then, when I had already started to question everything I know, she said, “I will go to make you lunch now :),” again with a smiley face just like that.
I had learned from this moment to be grateful for where I have been placed and what I have to do, because there is always someone else doing more, working harder, in a lower valley than I’ve ever been in, yet they are content. I now think back to this moment when I think of reasons I have to be grateful.
That’s all folks!
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