Five Azusa Pacific University students spent three weeks this summer on a Global Engagement trip in Thailand. Students worked in children and prayer ministries to serve impoverished community members.
One member of the team, Hannah Hawley ’24, who graduated in May with a BA in International Relations, decided to go because of a friend who went on a Global Engagement trip to Thailand two years prior and had been so moved by the experience that she decided to become a lead for this year’s trip. “My friend explained how God moved in her life in Thailand and how excited she was to go back,” Hawley said. “I was inspired and felt that I needed to take another step to allow myself to become closer to God.”
The first half of the trip focused on prayer ministry in the capital, Bangkok. Students did prayer walks in low income residential areas. “We prayed over the people for safety from God,” Hawley said. “We also prayed that the community members would each have miraculous encounters with the Lord.” The Thailand trip is considered a high context trip which means it is one of the more mentally and spiritually challenging trips due to its heavy subject matter. Students also served in prayer ministry through bar outreach. “We walked through the red light district and prayed for women working in the bars,” Hawley said. “We were also able to sit down and talk with these women through another ministry group that we worked with.”
Hawley shared that the bar outreach was the most emotionally challenging part of the trip. “My heart was continually breaking for the women we talked to,” she said. Most of them come from poor villages and have children under five years old with no means to provide for them. Many also take care of their elderly family members. The children live in their mothers’ home towns while the women move to Bangkok for work and send money back home. Hearing about how the women don’t want to do this kind of work but have little education and can’t get jobs anywhere is extremely sad,” Hawley said. “My heart broke after the first night. It makes me feel disheartened for these women who are exploited this way.”
After 10 days, APU students left Bangkok to go serve in children’s ministry in Southern Thailand. The village they visited had been destroyed by a tsunami in 2004 and has been slow to rebuild. “Homes were wiped out and families were torn apart,” Hawley said. “The standard of living is much lower there than in other parts of the country, so families have rebuilt the houses themselves. We did house visits in the area to connect with the families. We invited them to explain everything that was going on in their lives about their struggles from food shortages to housing and financial problems. After listening to their stories, we would pray for them.”
During the second half of the trip, students partnered with an English school and Bible study foundation that works with children in the devastated area. The foundation raises money for the families to renovate their homes and provide children with supplies such as school uniforms, bedding, and food. Through this children’s ministry, Hawley met a young boy who came from an impoverished background with a single mother and stepfather. “He was only 11,” she said. “He was small and skinny with welts and bruises on his legs from bug bites he constantly scratched since he lived in a tent. I got closer to him throughout the trip. He expressed to some of the adults in charge that he trusted me and wanted me to walk him home, which is a big deal since so many of the kids try not to form attachments with people who only visit for a short period of time.”
One day of the trip was dedicated to taking the children to play at the beach. “The little boy didn’t want to go swimming because of a cut on his knee and his uncomfortability being in the water,” she said. “We sat on the beach eating mangos and playing soccer instead. Eventually he wanted to try going in the water. He couldn’t swim, so I picked him up over the waves every time they hit the shore and we made a game out of it.” This was one of Hawley’s favorite memories from the trip.
While the Christian population in Thailand is small, Hawley expressed that they are extremely faithful. “Even the kids know the importance of their faith,” she said. “A 10-year-old girl told me that she prays for her grandparents, siblings, and herself every day. She was a little girl with a fraction of the material things that I have. She didn’t even have a bed, but she still gets on her knees and prays every day. This is something I want to implement into my own life. I would also love to see others emphasize the importance of daily prayer and devotion in their lives.”
Hawley’s time in Thailand had a profound impact on her faith. “I got baptized last summer. I’m somewhat new to being a Christian and saying that I walk with God and believe in Jesus,” she said. “Going into this past school year, I was so happy because I know that God is good and He’s done so many great things in my life, but my faith had never been tested. I’ve never been in a place where I wondered where God is or how He’s serving others. I signed up for the Thailand trip because I wanted to be challenged. How can I say I’m a Christian if I can’t stand on my values in places of hardship like I do when I’m at home?” Hawley asked herself the challenging questions about her faith and was able to validate her beliefs through her service on the trip.
“Walking with Jesus was the right decision for me,” Hawley said. “Rather than being discouraged, I know that I can continue to pray for the people in Thailand. I can constantly pray for them, talk about them, and can even send money to the English foundation or the ministry serving the women working the streets.”
Since graduating, Hawley has also learned what service means to her and how she wants it to be a part of her life post APU and the Thailand trip. “I’ve always had a servant heart. I like to help others and it’s part of who I am,” she said. “Coming into adulthood identifying as a Christian, especially after graduating, I’ve realized it’s different to serve as a student and as an adult in the world.” During the post trip debrief, students were asked to summarize the trip in one word. Hawley’s word was service. “I asked myself how I could use my love for service everyday. Thailand helped establish my next steps. I want to be a servant of God and help others.”