This is following up on a series I just started. To read part 1 first, click here.
This is the one where you’re just expecting something different. For me, I’m always looking for caramel. It’s my favorite, so I want caramel. Period. I can deal with whatever but there’s something about knowing you just bit into the piece that you wanted. Sweet success.
But sometimes, you bite into the strawberry cream one. It’s okay. You like chocolate and strawberry. It isn’t the caramel you were expecting and at first you’re disappointed, until you realized how much you wanted strawberry but you didn’t even know it.
I know it’s kind of ridiculous that I’m talking so much about chocolate, but there truly is a point and this is a simple illustration.
So, the Unexpected but Satisfying Piece
Here are my personal examples when I have a day (piece) like this . . .
1. The mystery man on the motorbike with the saddle bags drives up our street and stops at our house. And even though we’ve never seen what lies beneath the helmet, it’s a mystery that we’re okay with because we know he’s a little angel sent to bring us little pieces of hope and love. He either drops these pieces in the little pink rusted metal thing we call a mailbox OR, he actually gets off the bike, opens the side pouch, pulls out a big box, rings our doorbell and hands us the clipboard. He wants our autograph because we got a PACKAGE!!! Seriously, when this happens, squeals can be heard through out the neighborhood. Mail is precious to us. However, when it’s only a bill or something in Thai that we can barely even read, we’re not so amused. Yet, our heart always skips a beat when we see a man drive by with a jacket that says “Thailand Post.” We don’t expect mr. mailman to bring us something, but when he does, it’s the best!!!
2. They walk up to me. Brother and sister side by side. One is my 4th grade student and the other is my 5th grade student. School just let out and the kids made their normal trip to the noodle shop on our school property to buy their daily treats. They hand me a bag with a warm toasted jelly sandwich. I am thinking they want me to hold it for them, or deliver it to someone. I ask “what’s this for?” They both smile, look at each other and say in unison “for you” and run off to play soccer. Me? I mean, I know it’s just a treat, but to me it was more than that. It was something that my kids consciously did. They took out the coins out of their little 5th grade and 4th grade purses or wallets and handed the lady their money knowing that it wasn’t going towards what they were going to be enjoying. They sacrificed to do something nice for someone else. These are the kids that I pour my time into preparing lessons for. The kids that I pray for. The kids that warm my heart. And with a simple gesture, they showed me unexpected love.
3. When we’re in a situation and I’m tempted to zone out because I have no idea what is being said. But before I am totally zoned out, I catch it. A word. And then another word. I miss a couple but then I get the next one. I piece together the words like a puzzle and I actually understand (somewhat) clearly what is being said around me in Thai! Learning the language hasn’t been easy. So, it’s the little victories that encourage me to keep on pressing on with this crazy 5 tonal language. I don’t expect to always understand Thai, but the more I understand it, the more special it is to me.
4. Or there’s a day like today. When I wake up with a migraine. I am tempted to stay home. I know I shouldn’t but all I want to do is rest my head on my pillow and close my eyes. But we go to school. It’s the normal routine (see my previous post about being thankful for the routine by clicking here). We have a volunteer here from
We drive off the main road that I know and start going down the small windy roads that I am unfamiliar with. I know this is the city I live in, but these are faces and places I’ve never seen before. Our missionary guide talks with passion and gives us stories about the people in the communities as we drive by their “houses.” We’re really in
We’re in the rice fields. We’re on dirt roads. The missionary decides we’re going to visit a friend of his. A lady that goes to their church. He wants to stop by and pray for her. So we go further down the small road. We pass a government school and I look at the children differently since I’ve heard the missionaries stories and statistics and I realize that many of these children could be infected with HIV. Many of these children have been on the verge of being sold into the sex trade. I mean I know these things, I’ve heard the facts before. That's why I'm here - knowing how broken this community is. But when I’ve gone to the government schools and worked with the kids, I just see Thai children with smiles on their faces in their uniforms – they all just look like kids. It's easy not to see beyond the smiles and the uniforms. There is so much more beyond that we don't see. So when we go into the neighborhoods of where most of them live, it becomes more real. More tangible. A lot of these kids have seen and dealt with things in their lives that most adults I know haven’t ever had to see or deal with.
We drive another dirt road. We dodge the dogs, the cats, the chickens, the massive rooster. And we’re here. The man comes up to the side of the van to peer in the windows with his hands in a position to wai (to greet someone in Thai). We get out of the car and step around the chickens and say hello to this man with dirt coated under his fingernails and one pantleg hiked up to mid calf while the other one unevenly hangs at his ankle. His teeth are rotted and missing. The man is kind but as he tries to speak the English he knows, I catch the scent of strong liquor as he speaks. The missionary says he’s amazed this man is still alive. This man has been to church and knows this missionary very well. But this man battles with alcoholism. The missionary visited him in the hospital when he was just there waiting to die. But he didn’t die. He was standing in front of us. With a kind smile that reached to his eyes.
We meet his older sister who is in her 50s but looked to be in her 70’s. Her teeth match her brother's. She looks frail but looks can be deceiving. She’s a hard worker. You can tell she’s worked in the fields most of her life. The missionary jokes around with both brother and sister and asks about how they are. He tells them that we’re here to pray with them. So, we all stand on their porch with the dogs, cats and chickens winding around our legs and we bow our heads to ask the Father to protect these two precious people. To reveal himself to them in fresh and new ways. To deliver this man from the hold that alcohol has claimed on his life. We spend a few more minutes with them, say our kind good byes, give our smiles. Say “God Bless You.” And leave.
As we drive away, we hear the story of the lady’s granddaughter. The missionaries found her head so infested with lice, they had to shave it. She was infected with HIV/AIDS and her parents were dead. She was at huge risk of being abused either by family or by being sucked into prostitution. Instead, she was loved on. Not just her, but her whole family. She was provided for. They all were. And God’s working on an amazing testimony in her life. God’s doing a lot. There’s a lot left to be done. So many people unreached. So many people’s hearts untouched by the love of a savior.
Today, I just expected to survive with a headache. I was unsure whether I’d even go on the tour depending on how I was feeling. But I went. I went with a feeling of obligation. And after 2 hours of driving around the back streets of Hang Dong, I left. I left with a broken heart. A broken heart for the people in the community. But I also left with more passion. Passion that sometimes goes missing by getting caught up in the mundane. A passion that I was glad to have renewed. I wasn’t expecting that today. But it was exactly what I needed. I woke up wanting caramel but go to bed being thankful for strawberry.
In May, our 1st Grade Thai teacher got married and we had the 
