Monday mornings seem to be
the “woe is me” part of my week. This Monday’s morning was no exception. Self
absorbed and over-analyzing the sermon I preached the day before, I was
regretting the position I had put myself in that committed me to go teach
English at an elementary school at 8:45. I’ve been teaching there for about a
week and generally I have fun, but this morning I just wasn’t looking forward
to it. It’s tough teaching English in Thailand, sometimes you’re not sure how
much you’re helping.
So I come in to the class and
the Thai teachers are so happy to see me that I feel convicted for not wanting
to be there. They give me the teachers guide to the day’s lesson and I see the
title at the top of the page: “Living Things”. So I start teaching:
(me) “Book?”
(students)
“Non-living thing!”
(me) “Good!
Bird?”
(students)
“Living thing!”
Round and round we went, they
were understanding and I was warming up! So I start looking around the room and
pointing at different things.
(me) “Pencil?”
(students) “Non-Living thing!”
(me) “Good! Flower?”
(students) “Living thing!”
Then I came across something
in the corner of the class that made me pause. It was a shrine, an altar. It
was a table, and on the table were four Buddhist statues, three smaller black
ones and one big gold one. In front of the idols was a candle and burning
incense. Part me said “don’t go there, just teach them English” but another part
of me said “point at it!” I was genuinely curious as to what their answer would
be. So I decided to go for it, I pointed at the idol. Then the class in unison,
just as if I’d pointed at a person or a bird, said “Living thing!”
My heart sank. I wanted so
bad to teach them this statue’s eyes don’t see, that it’s ears don’t hear, that
its mouth doesn’t speak! But it was not the time, I held back. Then just as I
was about to move on, I heard a small voice from the furthest corner of the
room.
“May mi chi wit”
Which in Thai means “no
life”. I was amazed! I took a closer look and it was a little boy, I walked
over to him, he looked nervous, maybe he thought he said something wrong. I
bent down next to him; I said “Aray kap?” which means, “What did you say?” He
said it again, this time a little quieter than before, as if he didn’t want the
others to hear, “May mi chi wit”. I cupped my hand to his ear, I leaned in and
whispered, “Tuk” which means, “correct”. We exchanged a look of agreement, and
capped it off with a high five. The LORD has big plans for this kid.
