In this outreach update, I wanted to write about what has changed in my own life since going over seas and then what has happened in coming back to America. So, this post will be devoted to that. I have other posts coming out in the next few weeks after this one focused on what my other ministries are, where my focus is, and what I am going to spend my summer and time on.

But first, there is a healthy debrief to go over with any type of change. weather in your job, the place you live, or the people you are around. I want to learn everything I can from the time I had in Thailand and I with what I have learned, I can now share from personal experience!

What happened on outreach?

A short explanation is this: my team and I flew from Spokane at 8:00am on the 29th of December to Bangkok, Thailand at 11:45 am the 30th of December. We stayed in Bangkok until the 3rd of January where we met up with some stragglers for ministry to start.

The first ministry we joined was called the Ruth Center. Where we were working on a farm that they plan on making into an elderly facility for those who cannot support themselves; physically or financially. We helped clean up, break up, and layer the rows. We specifically worked on the rows, but a few of us had different jobs.

The jobs David and I were given were on laying manure and dirt on the rows that needed more. Since we had that job, it meant we were able to use different tools or vehicles to finish said jobs. I got to drive a tractor and David used the 3 Wheel motorcycle. I was surprised to be able to use a tractor on my outreach…

After 2 and a half weeks of work on the farm the team was headed back to Bangkok, to finish work with the ruth center.

1 ton of rice was donated to the slums in Bangkok

Once we got into Bangkok we were directed to the center in the southern district of Bangkok. This is where P.Noi did her ministry for the last 14 years. The places she would go to were just a few of the slums of Thailand. We showed up and started to pack bags of rice for handing out to those in the slums. This was the biggest part of outreach for me.
We had the whole day set apart to handing rice out and we did. We shared the gospel and I started to develop a true meaning of poverty. We went from slum to slum, and the faces of the people there were excited, probably because of P.Noi.

Once ministering with the ruth center came to a conclusion, our team was headed to Surat Thani for the second part of our outreach- there we would be joining with a YWAMer and ministries trying to start to make a change in the city of Surat Thani. Instead of doing ministry with farm work, we were doing a different type of work. Our focus would be on building friendships.

We met the Thais and grew in our love for them!

Here is the place we spent time evangelizing and becoming friends with random Thais. It was exactly the way I do evangelism in America- So I thrived! We joined with a lot more ministries too! We joined a few pastors and church planters that have spent over 10 years dedicated to Surat Thani alone. We joined a ministry called the Felix Family Village, focused on orphans who don’t have a home. We played football(European) with them and was able to minister to each one of them.

Finally, we had an evangelism conference- led by us YWAMers. It was amazing and we got to push all of the Thais to start sharing the gospel with those around us. It was a great conclusion to our outreach to Thailand.

I almost forgot one of the craziest things that happened while in Thailand. We went to an island called Koh Pha Ngan- this island is just off the border of Thailand into the gulf of Thailand.
We were able to minister with the natives who were Christian and support them by doing evangelism and handing out tracts. God loves those people a lot! We were graced to be able to help, because the island had a different identity than the rest of Thailand. It was filled with westerners and foreigners- so we were able to speak to them and do some evangelism like at home.

Back home after outreach!

Once we finished here, we got together with our other outreach team that was headed to the North. I am not sure anyone has written anything about their experience, but if so, I will find it and put the link here. We met in Bangkok where we spent the next two days cooling off from work and doing worship.

We left Bangkok, Thailand at 8:00 am on 3rd of March and arrived in the Spokane airport at 2:30 pm on the 3rd of March. Quite literally the longest Thursday of my life.
We got to spend a major amount of time readjusting to life in the states and that is where the trip ended.

Thanks for reading! I am thinking of making a blog answering more questions about the trip – but, I would love to hear what you all think about it – should I say more, or leave it here? Let me know in a comment.

I also will be posting more often, hopefully once a month. To find my next post click here.

Thanks! Sincerely
Elijah B. Davis