The Sum of All Parts
By Jessica L. Weaver

 “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God is active in everyone and everything. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, HCSB.

My team of ten adults was briefed at a meeting several months prior to leaving for Khao Lak, Thailand, on how to behave and follow their customs.

Don’t speak loudly. Don’t touch children on the head—it’s sacred. Don’t show the bottoms of your feet to anyone. If you drop money, don’t step on it to keep it from blowing away—you’d step on the king’s face. Revere the king. Be gentle and kind, for the Thai are a quiet people. Don’t make any promises to a Thai, because you don’t know if you will be able to keep them.

As we stepped into the first home we worked on, the home of a mother of four, I tried mentally to go through the list. I was already keeping an eye on boisterous Jimmy*, the longtime pastor of a rural church in West Tennessee. What Shakespeare said about Hermia fit this man to a tee—“and though [he] be but little, [he] is fierce.” A voice you could hear across the building echoed from his mouth; so much for being quiet and gentle like the Thai.

Our first three days in Thailand were spent in this house of Sao, with her four children scattered around the home, wanting to help in their own ways. Their form of help seemed mostly to get wood stain on the newly pink walls, and my patience wore thin. Jimmy, however, urged the children along and let them continue to destroy the house. Many of the hours I spent staining the stairs and upper railing in the house, Jimmy spent wandering around the home, talking with Sao and playing with the children. Has he done anything since we’ve been here? I silently mused, fuming at how my arm hurt from holding the paintbrush. Doesn’t he know we came here to work?

Sao’s house had been wrecked by the Asian tsunami in December 2004, like almost all of the homes and businesses in the area. Sixteen months after the disaster, when our small team came, there was still much work to be done, although most of it was painting and “finishing up” rather than the difficult construction we had expected. Still, the 100-degree weather wore on us all and I found myself more and more angry at Jimmy’s lack of participation as the days at Sao’s wore on.

Two incidents caused my blood to really boil. One day I was working and came inside to find Jimmy playing “tae kwon do” with one of the young, female Thai volunteers. This game ended with him kicking her lightly on the head. Talk about ignoring the local customs! Showing the bottom of his foot and kicking the most sacred part of her body had to be the utmost insult to a Thai! The volunteer took it lightly, however, and I hoped she didn’t assume all Americans were as insensitive as this one. Just hours later, Sao and I were talking and she asked me if I would stay in her home if I ever came back to Thailand. Struggling with an answer, I tried to make it clear that IF I ever came back to that particular village, I would come and pay her a visit. Afterwards, Jimmy reprimanded me for making a promise I couldn’t keep. HE said something to ME! After days of speaking so loudly we could hear him down the street, of kicking someone in the head, of ignoring everything we’d been taught! I shook my head in amazement.

On our last day at Sao’s, we bustled around cleaning and finishing the paint on the outside of the house. It was a complete masterpiece of Pepto-Bismol pink, inside and out. A rusty-red stripe completed the inside walls—the painted stripe substituting for a baseboard. We washed paintbrushes in the baby’s bathtub outside (next to Sao’s washing machine and an assortment of child-sized bikes).

As I cleaned and scraped chips off the tile floor, I saw Jimmy once again hovering around Sao, neglecting the duties we’d been assigned. On a second look, though, I saw the Bible in his hands. In simple terms, he was explaining to Sao about Jesus, asking her questions about her Buddhist faith, patiently listening to her explanation of multiple gods. With the help of the young Thai he’d kicked in the head, he prayed with Sao. Although he did not lead her to salvation in Christ, speaking with her opened numerous doors for the workers stationed in Khao Lak. I felt the heat of shame rise to my cheeks. While we were working on Sao’s earthly dwelling, Jimmy had been building the relationship that could secure her an eternal home. His natural gifts as an evangelist led him to this path; his age prevented him from doing some of the hard labor that the rest of us could easily take on.

I ate a slice of humble pie as we prayed in a circle outside of Sao’s home, her smallest boy nestled on her chest. All work is important in the Kingdom, whether our natural abilities are for manual work or for personal evangelism. I saw a glimpse of what Paul was talking about when he said we are all parts of one body. Our group’s shared body was exhausted and hot, but worked in completeness. We had not only showed God’s love to this Buddhist woman by giving her a new pink abode but also by letting her hear a bit of the Gospel.

*name changed.

Pray that:

Volunteers will be culturally sensitive to the peoples they come to serve in the Pacific Rim.

Volunteers will show great love through their service, and will have great boldness in explaining why they are doing good works among the people.

Sao and her family will come to personal, saving faith in the LORD, Jesus Christ.