And here we are, congratulations, you have made it to part 3 of this journey.
When we got back from the swimming pool, we as a team decided we needed to have dinner at home together. We needed a re group. I had mentioned how great team time was throughout the week, but the past two days, people have gotten short with each other and made comments about people and situations that were not uplifting or glorifying to God. So, we had dinner and met about creating a skit, and had feedback. In this time we addressed our frustrations and also spoke life to them. We put things in perspective and realized we needed to bring it all back to God. It was very good and we were able to put our complacencies and wrong doings in the past so we can move forward with a new mindset.
After dinner, we went to the pavilion. We were told we were going to have worship and have a bonfire! We were all so excited and re energized. But when we arrived, the pavilion was lined with chairs, nicely color coordinated buckets with matching rags, and each bucket was filled with water and rose petals. And as I saw this, I saw all the girls line up. This littles lined up in a choir fashion and one played guitar. While the one began to play, the girls began to sing worship songs in English, including the one Tremble by Bethel that we had taught to them! I looked and had Nisa, one of the girls that got baptized earlier that day, and she took me to a chair, and began praying over my feet. In return I also began to pray for her. Her life and her love. I looked around and this ceremony had begun… the girls were washing our feet. Just as Jesus had done.
Here I was, I had had a rough few days, just wrestling God. Now, I don’t want you to misunderstand. I became complacent. For those two days. The days prior were great playing with the girls. Before I was sick. It’s funny how how when your body is physically down, it’s easy to let your spirit and mind get low too. I’ve learned each and every day is a choice. There were times in March where I made the wrong choice, but I learned and moved forward. It’s a daily decision we have to make. I don’t want you to think I sat around for two months begging God to take me home because that’s not the case at all. I truly have loved it here and every moment with the girls is pure bliss. Anyways, this week especially was more difficult to find joy than others. I was worried and anxious for my sick teammates. I missed them. They were the two I had talked to the most and them missing forced me to communicate more with my other teammates which in turn was good for me to do. I didn’t feel good. We had new people and new ideas and beliefs thrown into the mix and a new schedule all in a day and I wasn’t prepared.
So I’m sitting there, and Nisa is washing my feet with rose petals. In the Bible when it speaks of this, all preachers talk about the culture and how in that time it was the dirtiest part of their body and that’s the significance.. Jesus the King of Kings washing the grossest part of the body. But I need you to understand something. In this instance, this wasnt your typical lesson in service. No. In Thai culture, one has to be very careful of their feet. People walk barefoot everywhere. They really are dirty and gross and dry, and cracked, and all these things you can imagine. My feet are also gross and not clean. I walk barefoot everywhere too. In Thailand, if you point your foot at someone, or cross your legs and the bottom of your foot shows, it’s offensive! It’s not just in Bible times that this held deep meaning and contradicted the culture. I had an orphan Thai girl, wash my feet. I’m not going to lie, it was actually easier for me to serve her and wash her feet than it was for her to wash mine. Sitting there and allowing someone to serve you is one of the most humbling experiences. I honestly, I thought I could write about this to share but I can’t even find the words to describe this. All I can say is , I saw Jesus. I did. I saw the hands of Jesus wash my feet and I saw a smiling face while doing it. This is love on a whole new level. In this, I was so overwhelmed with love and peace. I was sick and had a rough week, I made wrong decisions yet God still shared His grace with me and I saw this girl, Nisa accept Christ, get baptized, and wash the feet of a foreigner all in one day.
And believe it or not, this is not the end. Part 4 is just around the corner. If you have actually read and made it this far, I encourage you to finish strong and continue reading. There will be a video of all this posted to my Facebook.
– B
