A team of 10 people from Globe recently went on a trip to Thailand. They went to put on a kids’ camp for some missionary partners serving in South East Asia, whilst the parents attended a training conference. This is a short account of their trip.

Three flights, 25 hours and 9,028 miles later, the first Globies to arrive in Thailand staggered out of the airport and into the hot and humid air of Chiang Mai. We’d made it. We headed straight into the city, where we would stay for several nights, starting to get accustomed to the new time zone, food, climate and culture. These first few days turned out to be very precious and incredibly joyful for us as a team, as well as being very informative. We explored markets and temples and even learnt how to cook some Thai food.

However, these idyllic city-seeing days were not to last forever, and we soon headed up into the mountains, to the resort where the conference was happening. We scouted out the bungalows where we were going to be doing most of the kids’ work, unpacked our supplies, inflated a paddling pool and tried our best to risk assess some of the alarmingly wobbly playground structures. We were ready to begin.

Every day, we as the Globe team, met at 7:10am (much to the shock of some team members) to read a section of Psalm 18 and to pray with one another before the day began. The conference itself also started each day with a wonderful time of worship all together. Once that was finished, we took the 18 children over to the bungalows and settled in for a big, exciting and long day of activities. Mornings were full of songs and exploring our Bible passage for that day, alongside many, many fun games. We were amazed by the engagement and enthusiasm of the kids, some of whom seemed to remember whole passages and lessons verbatim, despite being a tenth of our ages. Afternoons lent themselves to more ambitious activities, a few times we took the kids off site to cafes (smiling apologetically at the people who had come in for a “peaceful and quiet drink” and had instead been bombarded by a “barrage of noisy children”), ventured into the hotel’s swimming pool and even visited the local Elephant Café (yes, it is exactly what you think it is – a café except there are also elephants).

Outside of teaching hours, we were also able to have time getting to know the missionaries and their stories. We were so inspired by their perseverance in the face of challenges, their love for God, and also God’s faithfulness in providing for them in all aspects of their lives. Both in our conversations and in our reading of Psalm 18, God’s faithfulness and His glory were themes that we returned to again and again.

We really did rely heavily on God’s faithfulness. Working with the children each day was so joyful, but it was also exhausting. Often at the end of the day we felt rather like we had given all we could give. But we were truly so blessed to have a team of loving, considerate and compassionate people who were quick to build each other up in times where we felt depleted. In those times when the tank felt truly empty it was reliance on God and His provision of strength and energy that meant we were able to press on to the finish. All in all, this trip was an experience that I am sure none of us will forget, and it is our prayer that God will continue to use in our futures – wherever that may be.