The final days have arrived…for my DTS Outreach in Thailand that is! I only have about 5 days left with my team from the YWAM base in Montana before they head back to the states. Notice I said “they”, not “we”. I will explain that later, but first a little recap of what our team has done for the past month here in Thailand…
So after our time in Chiang Rai, our team took a 3-hour bus ride to the city of Chiang Mai. This city was a lot larger that Chiang Rai, and from the moment we arrived we knew that tourism was a huge deal there. Everywhere we looked was “farrang’s” (that’s what foreigners are called in Thai…you get used to it). Besides that, the city was really busy and you could tell that the area were at was a college area. We stayed at a Christian coffee shop whose ministry focus was the university students and the red light district in town. Our team stayed in the rooms above the shop for 4 weeks, and during that time we worked with a local church called TLC. This church also served as an English center, offering courses to the nearby university students at a low price, and guess who would be teaching the courses! You guessed right, our team or native English speakers. For the 4 weeks we were in Chiang Mai, our team worked alongside TLC English Center to provide the courses to the students. Between all the classes offered, we had about 50 students attend the classes. The focus of the ministry was to build relationships with out students by meeting their need to learn English, and than in getting to know our students, have the chance to share our lives with them and show them who Jesus was and is in our own life. Our team hosted an event called “Quest”, and we invited all of our students to come and hear how “God know our future plans…”. After that fun event, we had a number of students ask to know more about Christ, and also some that felt they were ready to accept and follow Christ as Lord! That was so refreshing to see, our team was ecstatic to see more of God’s children come back to Him!
Also during our 4 weeks there, some of our team had the opportunity to go to the red light district and minister to the men and women there as well. That team was able to spend time with the people there and just love them and show them that God looks at them as beautiful people. Our time in Chiang Mai was great and our team was able to be a part of a ministry that most of us had never taken part in, and God really grew our team together and made us stronger and more focused on what He had planned for us in Thailand.
From here, we traveled 12 hours to a city below Bangkok called Ratchaburi. Here is where we have been for the past week working with the local YWAM base. As our last week in Thailand, we were wondering what kind of things we would be doing, and we found out that this week we would be focusing more on mercy ministry! Our team was able to work with the local Burmese Refugee community, some things we did were: played with the kids…a lot and built a library for the kids there! It turned out really well, and the community loved it. We also worked with the local prison and put on a program for them. Lastly, our team worked with some local schools and churches to do various programs and actually lead a whole service at one church. Our time here in Ratchaburi has been short but busy. We have been able to see the different ministries that are being worked with here, and it has been amazing to take part in all of them.
For our last few days here in Thailand, our team will be heading off to a local island for debriefing our passed two months as a whole team. I am super excited to be able to see a beach again, and experience the warmest waters in the world! At the end of the week, most of our team will be heading back to the states. One girl on our team is going to India from here for the next 3 months to work with various ministries on her own, another girl is going straight to Australia to meet up with some family, and as for me…I am going to be staying here in Thailand for the next 2 months!
As some of you may know, God has given me a heart to teach to bible to others that haven’t had the chance to know it, or don’t understand it. To do this, I want to know God’s word and the truth He has given us. I recently got accepted into a 9-month bible program called a School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in Taiwan. In this school, I will read and study through the whole bible 5 times, learning the history and context of each book. I can’t wait to spend that time peeling the layers, and getting to know more of what God has to say to me through His word.
To do this school, I need to raise $3000 for the tuition and housing, and I also need to raise enough for food and toiletry items, so to take care of all of that, I am trying to raise a total of $550 each month for the 9 month journey. I am still in need of both financial and prayer support, so if you would be interested in either, please let me know and I will put you on my personal email list. From there I can give you all the information needed to donate financially and also keep you updated with my current prayer requests as my journey unfolds.
I will continue to update this as much as possible, but if you would like my personal email it is kyle.r.faris@gmail.com. I will be sending out prayer letters so you all can keep following me as things arrive in my ministry.
Thank you all for following me this far, God has been stretching me more than I could have ever imagined and I cant wait for Him to show me more of His character, and how He wants me to serve Him and His kingdom with my life.
-Kyle
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