Week 3

This is my part of the team newsletter that I, once again, had a little too much fun writing.

It will be shortened and formatted (and grammar checked) in the actual release.

Week 3

Where to begin?

December 22-29

The week of the 22nd, after riding elephants, got busy incredibly fast. Following a WILD Thai church christmas party Sunday night where the merrymaking was off the charts and everyone in attendance got gifts raffle-style, Monday morning we jumped into english teaching at the school where we do soccer ministry. Our students were aged 12-16? We had our hands full in our classes due to how many of them there were, but at lunch we enjoyed playing volleyball with them and, after performing the nativity skit in the afternoon and Ethan sharing the gospel, labeled the day a success.

Tuesday dawned and none of us had the slightest idea of what awaited us in the building next door at the same school. We were informed that we’d be teaching 7-9ish year olds, but when we got there and met with a wall of energy, it was clear we were in for a day to remember.

As per usual, we divided the students into 4 different groups. Pairs of us taught the 4 different sides of English: Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening, and the groups rotated every class period. Our first minor issue was the employed teachers… After we started the first class, we saw neither hide nor hair of them for most of the rest of the day. The three morning classes went okay, although there was occasional civil unrest among the student body. Lunch was where the storm came. As we foreigners, or “farangs” are a novelty in Chaiyaphum, and with no teachers to keep the peace, we were mobbed. Eventually, we needed to have a team meeting. Our group was huddled in a ground floor room with wide open french doors. The heaving mass of pupils was slowly taking the doorway less and less seriously as a boundary, and someone needed to make a sacrifice. One of our team members selflessly pushed their way through the crowd and bolted, causing an immediate shift of focus and ensuing chase. This lasted some 15 minutes, ended once in the team member being treed, restarted, and eventually came to a close when the exhausted team member, after leading some 60 students all around the building, could take no more and made a successful attempt on the room where the rest were meeting. The french doors were closed, the team meeting wrapped up, and the afternoon class commenced.

I’m not too sure about the others’ experience, but JT and I had to stop our number-learning-with-inflatable-dice game as fistfights started breaking out after the first 3 or 4 rounds.

We also were able to perform the nativity for this student body, and Ashlin shared the gospel.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent running an english camp at a high school an hour away, this was a fantastic experience. The kids were very well behaved and super engaged, some of us had the luxury of whiteboards, and we got to come back for their whole school Christmas/New year’s celebration on Friday. This, between skits and a rock performance by the students, presented us with the opportunity to do the nativity followed by JT sharing the gospel in front of 800 students plus staff. Future teams may only go to that school for English teaching when at YWAM Chaiyaphum, Lord willing.

Saturday was a soccer tournament organized by Nan in the morning and the YWAM Chaiyaphum Christmas party in the evening. This almost felt like the closing episode of a TV show as we entered the last week of our time up country, as we had people we’d gotten to know from various churches, soccer, and the community all celebrating together. We performed the nativity skit for the 5th and final time of the week, and Momma Sarah (as we all call her now) shared the gospel. On Sunday, Ashlin played in a large tournament with the YWAM Chaiyaphum girl’s team, and they won both games!