How do you summarize your DTS experience in one or even two stories? What changed me were the high times, the low times, and all the times in between. The high times were when things were easy and I was able to have fun and enjoy myself; the low times were when I learned the most about myself and I stood with the Lord; all the places in between are where the stories are.
I saw people get saved. I helped orphan kids see that people loved and cared for them. As we ministered I saw many people – businessmen, church attendees, students – find peace. One night, the Lord allowed me to step in and save a man from killing himself. All this was part of a long journey, and God showed me so much! The truth that was poured into me over the past five months, from guest speakers and staff, will be with me the rest of my life. I can never thank the Father, or the people who took the time to make this happen, enough.
There is one story that stands out to me. We were ministering at a church in Southern Thailand. An orphan boy attached himself to me. He was sitting next to me before the service started. One of the girls from the team came and sat on the other side of him. I looked down at him and he smiled real big. He looked at me, then the girl, and back to me.
He said, “My new mom and dad!”
My heart sank…what could I say? I looked into his big brown smiling eyes and asked myself “how can you become so attached to a child that’s not even yours?”
I told the other student what he had said.
I turned to the boy and said, “We’re not married”.
He promptly responded, “Well, you should be!”
So he knew that we couldn’t adopt him. But he still called me “paw”, which is father in Thai. He fell asleep in the arms of his “mom” that night as we were praying for people. I then carried him to the truck that would be taking him home. I felt a very deep pain watching him go. Then God said to me, “Now you have a small understanding of what I did for you”.
God taught me so much in one moment, from one little orphan boy. More than I could try to teach myself in a year.
Written by Richard, PA DTS 2011 Student