Hey guys! Wow, 3 months flew by and so much has happened. Despite the busyness, I’m glad that I got to still study Thai! With my 10-day trip to Bangkok from the end of Feb to early March, I also got to put my Thai to good use. I had another short mission trip to Bangkok from 4th – 6th April. I’ll talk about those trips in this blog post too!
Consistency is key
Work has been getting busy and so has serving in various ministries. While there is a lot of joy and peace, I cannot deny that I have less time to practice Thai as a result of other commitments. I want to be more courageous and wise to turn things down if it doesn’t bring me closer to God or isn’t aligned with my goals and purpose (which I know God has called me to). With that being said, it’s been an amazing journey the past 3 months and I’m committed to continuing to study and learn Thai🙌
My 10-day work & solo “mission trip”
The first 3 days of this trip were for work, which was quite hectic. However, I give God all the glory for how the meetings went and for how He sustained me. I’m also so thankful that I got to know my colleagues better through the trip!
After the work trip portion, I spent the next 7-ish days on a short-term mission trip. I wasn’t supposed to be alone for this mission trip but this ended up being the case due to some unforeseeable circumstances. I could have enjoyed my time in Bangkok but I had already prepared Singapore snacks and some Gospel outreach materials – so I went ahead with preparing for outreach on that Tuesday.
While I was in Bangkok on 1st March, the mission trip started long before in Singapore when I prepared mini zines to give out to Thai students. My Thai wasn’t good enough at that point to share the Gospel verbally, so I designed it and added it to the blessing packs that I gave out to encourage students during their exam season.
In the nights leading up to outreach, I packed snacks for the students. Due to complications regarding accommodations, I ended up having to book a hostel which ended up being one of the highlights of my trip. It may not be the safest, but I really loved how cozy the hostel was and I’m glad I found an affordable place to stay for future trips too!
Outreach day was an amazing time of tuning into The Holy Spirit’s prompting. I also got to practice my Thai with the students who were so sweet. I was able to ask for their name in Thai and explain that I packed Singaporean snacks for them to encourage them during their exam season. I was also able to get their Instagram to follow-up~
My next Short Mission Trip
I was really glad to not be alone this time. I could ramble on and on about how amazing this trip was but I think I’ll just highlight 2 instances.
1. We booked a Grab to head to Chatuchak to do a prayer walk around that area. Our Grab driver’s name happened to be “David” – the name of the man after God’s heart in the Bible. It’s a beautiful name, and I felt compelled to let him know. Because my Thai isn’t good enough yet, I just wrote him a note on my friend’s post-it. But thank God for her boldness to try to strike conversation with him. I continued the convo with whatever little Thai I knew. We talked about Songkran, work, and other little things. At the end of the trip, we passed him the note, some water, and snacks.
2. We prayed for a beggar on the street near our hostel, I asked in Thai if we could pray for her and she asked “Jesus?” (in Thai) and we excitedly replied yes! And the picture that you see on the left (or above if on mobile) was actually taken by a stranger!! The guy who took the picture ran after us across the road and asked us if we were Christian. Turns out the guy who took the picture is from Indonesia and his parents are missionaries. At that moment, we were so encouraged by a fellow brother in Christ. God is so good!!!
Thai
Let’s dive into how my languages improved this month. Thanks to the increased exposure to Thai in February and March, I found my Thai steadily improving. I haven’t had as much time in the mornings to study or run through my Thai flashcards in Anki, but I think I’m at a stage where I need to actually practice conversing with Thai people to improve. Because of this, I’m considering using Preply or some other platform to practice speaking with a Native Thai.
Thai Basic 1-2 Lessons
Due to my trips and Bible classes on weekends, I missed quite a few lessons in February and March – but I’m definitely hoping to resume with Intermediate Level 2 once they open up classes for that! In the meantime, I was thinking about exploring 1-to-1 lessons on Preply or italki. I have yet to try it out, but I’m planning to do so in May~
“คิดถึง” Thai Book
I’ve been reading this book sporadically over the past few weeks. During my “solo trip” in Bangkok, I had purchased quite a few Thai books in hopes to read and learn more vocabulary. My plans haven’t been going so great due to busyness with work — but I’m hoping to be more intentional to immerse myself in Thai more.
Even though I haven’t had much time to read and study Thai, I think one major thing to celebrate is the fact that I can actually read and write Thai fairly comfortably now. There are some words that I still get confused by, but for the most part – I’m much better with my Thai reading and writing compared to the start of the year.
However, despite my reading and writing improving – my speaking hasn’t improved much. I’m a little concerned about it because speaking is the most important part when it comes to doing missions 55543.
Thai Bible in YouVersion
I had purchased a Thai Bible but it’s not that easy to carry around – so I’m so thankful that the YouVersion app has a Thai Bible version as well! I’d love to start memorising Thai Bible verses, starting with John 3:16.
Digital Flashcards using AnkiApp
I haven’t been reviewing my flashcards as often in the recent weeks unfortunately. I’ve been more focused on learning how to share The Gospel in Thai! I’m hoping to have that memorised (not just
If you want to see what words I’ve learned and will be studying over the next few months, join my Thai Bridgies Study Group in Anki! For more information, check out my resources page.
Thai Notebook
I was still writing and studying with my notebook quite a lot in February and the earlier part of March – but it slowly dwindled as I got busier with work. However, I still use the notebook when I want to practice writing and memorising words, verses, or phrases.
Vietnamese
Even though Thai is my main focus now, I’m still adamant about wanting to learn Vietnamese. Why am I so adamant about still learning Vietnamese (and maybe Hindi and Malay) even though I’m focusing on Thai?
Because I’m stubborn (jks). Because I believe I’ll be going to Vietnam fairly frequently as well. And I’d really love to visit India someday – so I think having some Hindi knowledge will be very helpful. Malay will be useful in Singapore~
Anyway, I haven’t been able to spend much time on Vietnamese these past 2 months – but I’ve been consistently learning Vietnamese on Duolingo!
Things to celebrate (Vietnamese)
- Memorising words using AnkiApp.
- Used Duolingo to learn Viet (at 6100+ XP).
- Listening to more Viet songs.
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