Sharing the Gospel in Thai Schools

For almost a year now I've been teaching English at a private Bi-Lingual school in Thailand. It's been a rough job. Normally, I wake up at 4:30 in the morning for my two hour commute, followed by a full day of teaching, only to commute 2 hours back home for a few hours of rest before I go to sleep and wake to do it all over again. Quite honestly if I'd had the choice I would have changed jobs. But since my wife and I are planning to make our way to the states soon, I knew I needed to push through this season in order to provide for my family and save money for our journey home. Other jobs opened up, but didn't pay as much and for some reason I felt the lead to stay there despite how hard it seemed. It never really seemed to pay off until something amazing happened just this week that opened my eyes.

I walked into one of my grade 9 classes with my lesson prepared. In this new unit of the student's books we we're talking about occupations. So I started off talking a little bit about how I used to do under the table maintenance when I was eleven years old. The kids started letting out comments like “Ohhh Teacher! Under the table!” The reactions were quite humorous. They proceeded by asking me is I was a “bad kid” when I was young. So I opened up a little and told them how I used to get into trouble when I was a kid. I told them a few stories about how I got into trouble and how I would always get sent out of class. I avoided going too much into detail because it would take forever and usually in Thai culture the teachers don't open up to their kids. Much to my surprise, all my students were finally listening to me. All of them at the same time!

Eventually the kids started asking me more specific and more intense questions. Going from “did you ever fight anyone” to “did you ever smoke or drink”. When these questions came out, I became more hesitant to open up to the kids. As I mentioned before, it isn't very much like Thai culture for a teacher to open up to their students and I knew this. Thai people are very closed when it comes to sharing about their past and their faults. But in the back of my mind, I felt God pushing me to open up to the kids. So I went on answering all of their questions... and truthfully. They found out about my past experiences and addictions through their questions. I went on giving my D.A.R.E. speech letting them know how I could relate to them at one time and knew what they were experiencing. I too, was once 15 and knew what sort of curiosity and pressure sparks the mind of a teenager. The room was dead silent as I continued with my stories telling them about the times I'd been shot at and how many friends I have lost due to drugs, alcohol, gangs, and violence. The next question lead to the climax of the discussion.

“Teacher, how did you change your life?” I starting searching for an answer in the back of my head. This was Thailand, a Bhuddist nation, and I was a teacher in the school system. I could only expect negative outcomes should I choose to tell them the real answer and have someone find out. But as I was searching my mind for an answer, outside of my own freewill (so it seemed), my mouth opened and only one word came out. Jesus. “What?” one of my students questioned me. My eyes got big for even I had realized what I just said and what could happen. But a boldness filled my heart and God pushed me to continue telling them the truth that I wanted to tell them. “Jesus changed my life, when I became a Christian and gave my life to him”, I continued. One of my students told me she knew that I thought Jesus changed my life, but she thought I changed my life myself. So from that point I went on explaining how all my addictions were gone the day I gave my life to Jesus. There was no more struggle. Things I was entangled in were gone and it was something I couldn't have done on my own. I couldn't explain how my life changed because it wasn't me. I didn't do it. I told them how God can break addictions and perform miracles. Another student shot the question, "how do you know Jesus is real?" I began giving testimonies of how I've prayed for people and seen them healed before my eyes. One story that particularly caught their attention was the testimony of a man I prayed for who broke his ankle playing basketball. I prayed for him right after it happened and the man was healed before my eyes.

Not knowing what was going through the kid's minds I asked them what they were thinking. They told me they thought it was good that my life had been changed. A student asked me why I taught at the school. I told them "I want to change the life of students". Some kids chuckled and said "Teacher, very drama (very dramatic)! Like a movie..." We all laughed about it as it did seem sort of cliche to say. But I told them how serious I was in saying it and continued by letting them know if they every wanted to ask me questions 1 on 1 or ever needed help or wanted someone to talk to that I was there. After class, one of my students came up to me and said "Teacher Chris... you're like.. like... my idol". My heart melted and all I could do was smile and say thank you. 

I walked away knowing God had done something in their hearts. Even since then one kid came to me saying thank you for being open and there for him. We talked a bit afterwards. Now I think about it and wonder. What if that one day was the only reason God chose to make me fight through the season at my job? Like I said, I really DIDN'T enjoy what I was doing. My wife and I struggled many nights contemplating whether or not working that job was worth what it was doing to my spirit. I felt like giving up because I literally couldn't take anymore. But after that day, I started seeing the impact that I had and it made everything finally seem like it had a purpose. If the only purpose was that one day, would it be worth it? My answer is yes. God has his reasons for putting us in the places he does. We might not always see what the purpose is, but he has them. Take heart in the midst of your circumstances. God sees you and knows where you are. He is always up to something, and wont give you more than you can handle.