A Day at Grace

Fun fact for you folks back home: did you know that last weekend, Thailand was the hottest country in the world? We've been told temperatures have come down a bit, but the high today was still 103!

We spent our whole day at Grace International School, a school whose vision is to provide quality and affordable education to missionary families. Chiang Mai is currently the largest missionary hub in the world and the school's 500+ K-12 students represent missionaries in 60+ countries, involved in everything from Bible translation to evangelism to medical missions to anti-trafficking.

We started with a tour of the school and a presentation from an administrator. His speech was powerful as he framed missions work for us, giving us advice and encouragement, reminding us who and why we serve, and calling us to a lifetime of passionate service for Christ.

After that, we helped the facilities crew go through old sports equipment, inventory their current equipment, and clean the gymnasium. Then we received a fabulous Thai lunch in the cafeteria, where the Valor students began interacting with the Grace students. During the afternoon, they got to shadow their classes, learn to play Footsol, attend a soccer game with them, and even swim. Then, both groups went for another yummy meal at a local restaurant and to another Night Bazaar. The Grace students took our students to find the best food and helped them shop and barter, getting them what they call the "Thai price" (or a better deal because they can speak Thai!) By the end of the night, the two groups had become fast friends.

The exchange was beautiful to watch. Our students got to hear from students whose lives have been vastly different from their own. They got to hear what it's like to grow up as missionary kids, about the experience of not having a permanent home, and some wild adventures that they and their families had gone through. They got to learn first-hand about Thai culture and share their own American culture. Most importantly, our students got to interact with students who are sold out for Christ and passionately involved in discipleship and evangelism.

And the kids really appreciated their experience, too. As Ben said during our nightly debrief: "I'm thankful that we met kids that were so open. It really helped us bond." And Sophia agreed: "It's cool we get to hang out with kids our own age. A lot of times on mission trips, it's mostly little kids. I like learning from people who are high schoolers like me!"

We're still a little jet lagged, so it's off to bed for us. Tomorrow, we head up to the village for some work projects! We won't have wifi, so don't expect to hear from us for several days. We'll post a big update as soon as we can!

Thanks for your prayers.