God continues to amaze me and teach me every single day that I am here. Sometimes He teaches me through His word, sometimes through the Holy Spirit, and sometimes through other people. I never once thought that He would teach me through a Thai woman in the back of a tuk tuk.
Today my ministry team and I were supposed to have two dates with different girls in Patong. Unfortunately both dates fell through due to different circumstances. To say the least, my group was pretty bummed that the dates didn’t work out. We decided to call it a day and head home. Typically to get home we would walk to the end of Bangla to catch a public bus. It was later in the day and we weren’t that sure that a bus would actually come. While sitting hopefully for a bus to come, a random man yelled at us that he would take us in a tuk tuk for a reasonable price. What was weird is that he knew exactly where to take us before we had even told him. Being a little sketched out, we reluctantly got in the tuk tuk because it was our only way home.
After about 5 minutes in the tuk tuk the driver pulled over to pick up a Thai woman. She hopped in the back with us and we all exchanged names. Nang* is 47 and works at a hotel in Patong. She opened up her heart to us and told us all about her life. She was an orphan growing up and did not have very much. She shared with us that she would sit and cry because she was alone in life. When she was 38 she had a daughter whom she named the Thai word for sugar because her daughter turned Nangs bitter life sweet. She continued to tell us about how she used to work for a service organization that would go to the slums in Laos. She shared with us how important it is to help people and have a kind heart. Every day she does small things for the people in Phuket in order to live by example for her daughter. She said that some people think that she is wrong, but Nang knows that her small acts of service matter. She teaches her daughter that money can’t buy happiness. What makes your heart happy is helping others that are less fortunate. She told us that she is small with not a lot of money so she can only help people here but that we need to fly and help people all around the world. I’m telling you, this woman is amazing. We proceeded to tell her all about the ministry we are staying with and how they are looking for new employees. We exchanged numbers and information so that she can come look at SHE. We finally arrived home and bid her goodbye.
I don’t think this woman will ever understand the impact she had on me today. I hope that she continues to teach her daughter how to serve so that one day her daughter can do the same. Keep this beautiful soul in your prayers; if she doesn’t already know the Lord, He is seriously fighting for her.
