Wow. Where to begin. I'll try to give a brief summary of each location we've been in since I last updated.
After Chiang Mai we spent about five days in Pai, which is a small town further up into the hills. It seems to exist almost solely for the purpose of offering backpackers cheap accommodation, food, trinkets and all variety of trekking, rafting, elephant riding and other such adventures. We found it a surprisingly frustrating place for ministry. We were able to meet people here and there but didn't develop relationships as deeply as we had in Chiang Mai. Our favourite memory from Pai was riding elephants bareback and splashing around with them in the river.
After Pai we spent two loooong days of travel down to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Our main reason for doing this was to renew our visas for Thailand. (We started with 30 days and now we have another fifteen after reentering.) I got some food poisoning on our overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and was outrageously sick for most of the night. I wasn't able to eat anything the next day but God gave me strength to get through the rest of our traveling and border crossing. It actually turned out to be a really good day for ministry. Early in the morning we met Mark, a middle aged American guy who got laid off and is traveling for the first time, who was headed in the same direction and asked if he could stick with us for the day. Of course we happily agreed and I was very glad to be able to help him through a lot of his first time experiences with international travel. I'm really kicking myself now for not exchanging contact info with him. He continued traveling on to Vietnam but I'm praying that we will somehow be able to meet again or that he will bump into other believers who will be able to continue pointing him in the right direction. But I digress, we also met two Canadian girls that we crossed the border with and then we were able to spend some time with them over the next few days. Malori was able to go quite deeply into spiritual matters with them. Pray that her words will have impact and that the Holy Spirit will continue working in their lives and drawing them to Jesus. Anyway, so we spent three nights in Siem Reap and got a chance to tour Angkor Wat. My favourite part, by far, was our last night there, which also happened to be the half-way point of outreach. We splurged on a slightly less cheap but still dirt cheap meal, bought banana pancakes for kids we met on the streets and took communion together. By placing the cross squarely in the center of our outreach I wanted to give an opportunity for confession and laying things down from the first half of outreach and have a time of "picking things up" and claiming the power of Christ's resurrection over the second half of outreach. It was a really powerful time and drew us together in even greater unity than we have experienced already. We were all feeling a bit of heaviness after all the traveling and missing several times of worship and intercession but after that evening we all had so much fresh excitement and vision for the next part of outreach that it almost feels like starting all over again! I thank God every day for this amazing team (better than that, this amazing FAMILY) that He has brought around me. They all have such pure hearts and it's a real privilege to serve our Loving Father together.
After Siem Reap we had another crazy two days of travel to get down to the Island of Ko Samui. We were all pretty sick on the 4 1/2 hour ferry ride but we sure are glad to finally be down on the beaches! Last night we spent the evening thanking God for all His goodness to us and committing this next portion of our time to Him. Today we are taking a much needed Sabbath day and already it has been so refreshing to spend some extra time focused on our personal relationship with God and resting in Him. Later today I'm also hoping to get caught up on budgeting, outreach reports and planning for the next few weeks. Pray that I have wisdom to prioritize my time well. Already we have had good opportunities to meet fellow travelers and I had a great time chatting with Stan, from the Netherlands, yesterday. He's 25, just finished med school, started traveling alone for the first time a few days ago, is eager to make friends and I believe I see a real longing in his eyes for true purpose in life. Pray that I get more chances to share Jesus with him.
I realized two things today. (Well, a lot more than that but two that I'll mention right now.) One is that almost all of the good witnessing opportunities that I have had are either with people traveling for the first time (who are often scared, helpless and open to just about anything) or single, middle aged guys who are hardened after a lifestyle of traveling and searching for meaning. I have a real soft spot for both. Another thing that I realized is that I really want to focus on talking more about JESUS... not just about "faith" or "christianity" or even "my own spiritual journey". Those things are all fine and good but they've never done diddly squat to redeem a man's soul. Jesus is the one that I'm madly in love with and He's eager to make Himself known to every tribe, tongue and nation. Pray that I would actually put this into practice and not just acknowledge that it's a good idea.
Let me challenge you in this as well. Do you have anything to praise Jesus about today? Even the tiniest little thing? If so, go tell someone else about it. Seriously, you'll never regret it. Let me know how it goes.
" I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations."
"He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God."
"Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!"
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Last Night...
Last night's ministry in the red light turned out much differently than expected. The other YWAM team that we were going to meet up with ended up taking the night off so we went out much earlier in the evening (around 8) and came back earlier as well (done by 11). The red light district turned out to be much smaller than I expected, really just about a 200m stretch of bars a couple roads. I was glad to find out that it wasn't as "intense" as I had previously thought. There weren't half naked women running around or anything like that. Part of that may have been that it was still early in the evening. Regardless, we were very careful and deliberate about where we walked, where we looked and we didn't go into any bars. We spent most of the time prayer walking up and down the streets, singing some praise songs and stopping occasionally as the Holy Spirit gave prompting. We were happy to bump into George again, one of the guys that the students met when they took the cooking course, and give him a rapid fire presentation of the gospel from several different angles. It was rather hilarious actually, all four or us cornering him on the street and taking turns telling him how awesome Jesus is. He was very receptive though, is going to do some research on things we talked about (he's theophostic and considers himself a thinker) and we hope to bump into him again.
I won't take the time to describe every minor interaction but one of my favourites was when we were walking along and passed an elderly woman selling red roses. Instantly I felt like we should give them out to some of the prostitutes (the girls that is, it certainly wouldn't be appropriate for me to do so). At the same moment Malori stopped and felt an urge to stop and talk to one of the girls that was being berated by another girl for not being able to "seal the deal" with one of the guys that had been checking her out. She went in and gave her a rose and a Thai gospel tract (I had been able to pick up a bunch earlier in the day, Praise God) and spoke with her for a few minutes while the rest of us prayed outside. She seemed very touched and later on as we were walking by the same bar we could see her showing off her rose to everyone with a huge smile on her face.
I've gotta get going but there were a few other encouraging stories like that and we all felt very much like we were right where God wanted us to be and really gaining more of His heart for the people. It was a true privilege to be able to walk those streets and labour in prayer that Jesus would be revealed as the one who came to "seek and to save those who are lost".
Tonight we will be meeting with a YWAM team from Berlin just after supper and then partnering with them to go out together.
Thank you for your prayers and support! We feel the prayer covering very strongly and it makes a huge difference. You are a blessing and a vital part of this outreach.
God bless Thailand!
I won't take the time to describe every minor interaction but one of my favourites was when we were walking along and passed an elderly woman selling red roses. Instantly I felt like we should give them out to some of the prostitutes (the girls that is, it certainly wouldn't be appropriate for me to do so). At the same moment Malori stopped and felt an urge to stop and talk to one of the girls that was being berated by another girl for not being able to "seal the deal" with one of the guys that had been checking her out. She went in and gave her a rose and a Thai gospel tract (I had been able to pick up a bunch earlier in the day, Praise God) and spoke with her for a few minutes while the rest of us prayed outside. She seemed very touched and later on as we were walking by the same bar we could see her showing off her rose to everyone with a huge smile on her face.
I've gotta get going but there were a few other encouraging stories like that and we all felt very much like we were right where God wanted us to be and really gaining more of His heart for the people. It was a true privilege to be able to walk those streets and labour in prayer that Jesus would be revealed as the one who came to "seek and to save those who are lost".
Tonight we will be meeting with a YWAM team from Berlin just after supper and then partnering with them to go out together.
Thank you for your prayers and support! We feel the prayer covering very strongly and it makes a huge difference. You are a blessing and a vital part of this outreach.
God bless Thailand!
The gates of Hell shall not prevail against us...
First this is a quick call for prayer. We spent this afternoon hanging out with Emmi at the Lighthouse ministry here in Chiang Mai. She shared her testimony with us, which you can read on their website, and gave us some good information on how we can partner with them in their ministry to Thai students and in the red light district. Late tonight (starting at around 10 pm) we will be partnering with a YWAM Berlin team that has been here for about a month. We will worship and pray with them and then the four of us will stay together and prayer walk through the streets. The girls will remain open to opportunities to speak with the Thai prostitutes and Luca and I will remain open to speaking with the Western men who come to use the "services" that they provide. Our main focus on this first night though will be to prayer walk through the streets and be interceding for the long term work that is going on here. This is not the sort of area or ministry to enter into ligthheartedly or unaware of the dangers so I am asking for an increase in specific prayer as we go out tonight. Pray that God would give me wisdom and great spiritual discernment, particularly in knowing how to protect the students from any attack, be it spiritual or physical, that may come against them. Pray also that I would know how to prepare our team appropriately and how to debrief afterwards. For each of us, but Luca and me especially, please pray for a guard over our eyes and over our minds as we enter into an area dedicated to sexual immorality and seek to be "in the world but not of the world". Pray that we would take every thought captive to Christ. Pray that we would be a light and a blessing and that God would give us His genuine love for each individual person, both for the "workers" and for the "tourists".
Please check out the information on the Lighthouse ministry. They are doing a great work here and they desperately need our prayers and support. It was such a blessing this afternoon to hear some stories and testimonies of people who have come to know Christ through this ministry.
Just a quick update on a few other things: Yesterday was one of my favourite days so far. I felt very blessed to have all of my desires met and prayers answered for the day. Luca, Malori and Becky had a great time at the cooking course and were able to share testimonies with several people there. Pray for seeds to be watered, particularly in Pam, from Canada... I think, who is deeply involved in yoga and holistic healing. Pray that she finds true SPIRITUAL healing in Jesus Christ. I was able to have about a three hour conversation with my friend Johann, from Belgium. We lay back in comfy chairs at the rooftop bar and he smoked half a pack of cigarettes while we enjoyed good conversation on just about every topic under the sun. Mainly we talked about spiritual matters and I was able to lay out the gospel quite boldly and shared a lot of scripture with him. Long story short, he is still quite happy in his casual Buddhism and isn't really seeking answers to the deeper questions in life. I am praying hard that he will have a vision of Jesus Christ during one of his times of meditation. Please join me in praying for him. I hope that some of the things that I said to him stick with him and that the Holy Spirit will do His good work in bringing him to conviction of sin and a realization of the riches of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I'd better go. Thanks for praying! God bless!
Please check out the information on the Lighthouse ministry. They are doing a great work here and they desperately need our prayers and support. It was such a blessing this afternoon to hear some stories and testimonies of people who have come to know Christ through this ministry.
Just a quick update on a few other things: Yesterday was one of my favourite days so far. I felt very blessed to have all of my desires met and prayers answered for the day. Luca, Malori and Becky had a great time at the cooking course and were able to share testimonies with several people there. Pray for seeds to be watered, particularly in Pam, from Canada... I think, who is deeply involved in yoga and holistic healing. Pray that she finds true SPIRITUAL healing in Jesus Christ. I was able to have about a three hour conversation with my friend Johann, from Belgium. We lay back in comfy chairs at the rooftop bar and he smoked half a pack of cigarettes while we enjoyed good conversation on just about every topic under the sun. Mainly we talked about spiritual matters and I was able to lay out the gospel quite boldly and shared a lot of scripture with him. Long story short, he is still quite happy in his casual Buddhism and isn't really seeking answers to the deeper questions in life. I am praying hard that he will have a vision of Jesus Christ during one of his times of meditation. Please join me in praying for him. I hope that some of the things that I said to him stick with him and that the Holy Spirit will do His good work in bringing him to conviction of sin and a realization of the riches of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I'd better go. Thanks for praying! God bless!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Times of Refreshing
"You've NEVER been drunk?" Johann asked again, his jaw dropping in disbelief. His reaction was quite typical to many conversations that we had on New Year's Eve. Our prayers to stick out from the ordinary were definitely answered. It was an incredible night where we all had a great time and were able to about our faith in Jesus with several people. The conversation didn't necessarily get spiritual with every person that we met but the free BBQ on the rooftop bar was a great place for meeting people in our hostel and making connections that we can build on through the rest of our stay here.
On new year's day we had a full day of prayer and fasting for the nation of Thailand. Over breakfast time we went to a nearby temple and prayed that God would lift the veil of that is over the eyes of those enslaved to Buddhism and that Jesus Christ would be revealed as the "substance" of which all this searching for meaning is but a shadow. For the mystery of God has been revealed and in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. During the rest of the morning we had a Bible study together and then personal devotional time. Over lunchtime we went to a nearby government building and prayed about the current political instability in Thailand. I won't get into the details here but it's quite interesting and I would recommend reading up on it. During the afternoon we took some time to seek God for personal direction and vision for the new year. Over suppertime we prayed about the issue of human trafficking, sex slavery and prostitution. Again, I won't get into the gory details right now but please check out StopTheTraffik For more information. We finished off the evening by having communion together and reminding ourselves again that "He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God".
Praise God as well that on that morning Becky was able to give a Bible to Mike, one of the Americans that we've been hanging out with here, just before he left to go to Laos for awhile.
We took today, Jan 02, as our Sabbath day. The best part of the day, by far, was joining the Chiang Mai Community Church for their evening service. It is an international church that has services in English. Many of the regular members are involved in ministry here in some way. It was absolutely GLORIOUS to be able to worship with them and be united with them in communion. I talked to a few people afterwards and was greatly encouraged and got some good information about where to get Bibles and tracts in Thai.
Tomorrow Malori, Luca and Becky are spending most of the day in a Thai cooking class. There will be about six or seven other westerners in the class spending the whole day together, cooking and eating and hanging out. It sounded like a great opportunity so we are going for it. Pray that they meet the right people and have boldness to share Jesus with them. They are together all day so they really have nowhere to escape to if they don't want to hear, right? I will be spending the day doing a variety of different things. I'll probably spend most of it here at the hostel. Pray that I get an opportunity to speak more with Johann, a middle-aged Belgium guy who is "slowing down a bit" and getting into a "different kind of traveling" that involves trying out various forms of meditation and so on. I talked to him for about an hour on new year's eve and I would love to give him my last booklet from Micheal Graham (Jedi Micheal, that I met last year in India). Besides that I will be praying about direction for our team over the next week or two and possibly visiting the Thai Bible Society to get some literature.
That's a brief summary of what we're up to right now. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Long live the KING!
On new year's day we had a full day of prayer and fasting for the nation of Thailand. Over breakfast time we went to a nearby temple and prayed that God would lift the veil of that is over the eyes of those enslaved to Buddhism and that Jesus Christ would be revealed as the "substance" of which all this searching for meaning is but a shadow. For the mystery of God has been revealed and in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. During the rest of the morning we had a Bible study together and then personal devotional time. Over lunchtime we went to a nearby government building and prayed about the current political instability in Thailand. I won't get into the details here but it's quite interesting and I would recommend reading up on it. During the afternoon we took some time to seek God for personal direction and vision for the new year. Over suppertime we prayed about the issue of human trafficking, sex slavery and prostitution. Again, I won't get into the gory details right now but please check out StopTheTraffik For more information. We finished off the evening by having communion together and reminding ourselves again that "He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God".
Praise God as well that on that morning Becky was able to give a Bible to Mike, one of the Americans that we've been hanging out with here, just before he left to go to Laos for awhile.
We took today, Jan 02, as our Sabbath day. The best part of the day, by far, was joining the Chiang Mai Community Church for their evening service. It is an international church that has services in English. Many of the regular members are involved in ministry here in some way. It was absolutely GLORIOUS to be able to worship with them and be united with them in communion. I talked to a few people afterwards and was greatly encouraged and got some good information about where to get Bibles and tracts in Thai.
Tomorrow Malori, Luca and Becky are spending most of the day in a Thai cooking class. There will be about six or seven other westerners in the class spending the whole day together, cooking and eating and hanging out. It sounded like a great opportunity so we are going for it. Pray that they meet the right people and have boldness to share Jesus with them. They are together all day so they really have nowhere to escape to if they don't want to hear, right? I will be spending the day doing a variety of different things. I'll probably spend most of it here at the hostel. Pray that I get an opportunity to speak more with Johann, a middle-aged Belgium guy who is "slowing down a bit" and getting into a "different kind of traveling" that involves trying out various forms of meditation and so on. I talked to him for about an hour on new year's eve and I would love to give him my last booklet from Micheal Graham (Jedi Micheal, that I met last year in India). Besides that I will be praying about direction for our team over the next week or two and possibly visiting the Thai Bible Society to get some literature.
That's a brief summary of what we're up to right now. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Long live the KING!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year!
A lot has happened since I last updated. We had a great Christmas in Bangkok. We got to spend some time with one of the other YWAM Oxford backpacker teams that was also in Bangkok at the time. We had a gift exchange and shared communion together. It's a lot different than what most of us are used to and for most of the students it was the first time being away from home for Christmas so there was definitely a little bit of homesickness going on but it was very good, in it's own way.
We spent two nights in Kanchanaburi and spent a day at the Erawan National Park. That was definitely my favourite activity that we've done so far. The seven teired waterfall was absolutely gorgeous. It was like a jungle trek to a tropical paradise that included a waterpark. It was great! The bus ride to and from Erawan was an especially good time for meeting other travelers and sharing the gospel. Another little treat that I got that day was getting to talk to a South African girl who is teaching English in Bangkok (one of four English teachers we met that day). Having lived in South Africa for three years it is always a joy to hear the accent again and I am reminded of how much I love that country and the people.
A couple nights ago we took a sleeper bus north to Chiang Mai, which arrived at 4 am. We have been absolutely loving it here so far and it has already become the place that we have had the most fruitful ministry. Tonight our hostel is having a free barbeque on the rooftop bar and supposedly there will be fireworks going for much of the night so we are praying that this will be a great opportunity for reflecting with people about the last year, talking about hopes and dreams for the year ahead and hopefully sharing a bit about what life is all about. (Jesus.)
Tomorrow, Jan 1, we are going to have a day of prayer and fasting for the nation of Thailand. We will meet at regular meal times and focus on three main prayer points: Religious (Thailand is 95% Buddhist and the rest is a mix of Hindu and Muslim), political (all of Thailand is united in their love for the King but he is in failing health and it may only be a matter of time before the clash between the red shirts and the yellow shirts comes to a bloody climax) and social (human trafficking and sex slavery have become rampant in Thailand due to a mix of poverty, greed, lust and lack of education and work opportunities for the lowest classes of society). It would be awesome if some of you would be willing to join with us in praying for these issues on the same day. Even a few quick prayers here and there would be greatly appreciated. God loves Thailand and He is eager to move on behalf of this nation.
Thanks for your prayers and support!
We spent two nights in Kanchanaburi and spent a day at the Erawan National Park. That was definitely my favourite activity that we've done so far. The seven teired waterfall was absolutely gorgeous. It was like a jungle trek to a tropical paradise that included a waterpark. It was great! The bus ride to and from Erawan was an especially good time for meeting other travelers and sharing the gospel. Another little treat that I got that day was getting to talk to a South African girl who is teaching English in Bangkok (one of four English teachers we met that day). Having lived in South Africa for three years it is always a joy to hear the accent again and I am reminded of how much I love that country and the people.
A couple nights ago we took a sleeper bus north to Chiang Mai, which arrived at 4 am. We have been absolutely loving it here so far and it has already become the place that we have had the most fruitful ministry. Tonight our hostel is having a free barbeque on the rooftop bar and supposedly there will be fireworks going for much of the night so we are praying that this will be a great opportunity for reflecting with people about the last year, talking about hopes and dreams for the year ahead and hopefully sharing a bit about what life is all about. (Jesus.)
Tomorrow, Jan 1, we are going to have a day of prayer and fasting for the nation of Thailand. We will meet at regular meal times and focus on three main prayer points: Religious (Thailand is 95% Buddhist and the rest is a mix of Hindu and Muslim), political (all of Thailand is united in their love for the King but he is in failing health and it may only be a matter of time before the clash between the red shirts and the yellow shirts comes to a bloody climax) and social (human trafficking and sex slavery have become rampant in Thailand due to a mix of poverty, greed, lust and lack of education and work opportunities for the lowest classes of society). It would be awesome if some of you would be willing to join with us in praying for these issues on the same day. Even a few quick prayers here and there would be greatly appreciated. God loves Thailand and He is eager to move on behalf of this nation.
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Alive and Thriving
Right now I am sitting cross legged in a free internet cafe, wearing the ubiquitous Thai fisherman pants, sweating profusely, waiting patiently for the banana pancake vendors to come out for the late night crowd and enjoying being in a room where half of the people have dreadlocks halfway down to the floor. Everyone on the team has been adjusting to Thai culture quite nicely. Well, technically what they've been adjusting to is backpacker/hippie/budget travel culture that just happens to be thriving in Thailand right now but, as they say in Bangkok, "same same". Luca may even be getting a little bit too comfortable as evidenced by the fact that the two of us decided to hazard the infamous 10 baht tuk tuk ride the other day in an attempt to find a cheaper market for buying Thai (tourist) clothing. The ride really should have cost 50-100 baht but the idea is that you can ride almost for free if you are willing to stop in at a few of the driver's friend's shops and pretend to be interested in their merchandise for a few minutes. This leads to good connections for the driver and sometimes even gas coupons or a small commission. When taken with a good attitude and a little bit of street sense it can be quite a colourful adventure but I definitely wouldn't reccommend it for most. The whole team took quite well to getting lost in Chinatown the other day, even after walking for hours in stifling heat wearing flip-flops that were falling apart. Taking the Phrao Chaya Express (a big water bus) back to our area of town was an added bonus. I was having such a good time that I may or may not have even frolicked down the street for a bit. We try to eat as cheap as we can so we tend to wander out into the sidestreets and head for slightly more authentic Thai food. Fruit salad and banana pancakes are still a staple but we've all tried some pad thai, various curries, mama noodle and of course lots of fried rice and stir fry dishes. Everyone has been in good health so far and the meals have been sitting just fine. (Although, at one point Luca was "dying... almost" while eating a particularly spicy red curry. You know it's hot when it makes his nose bleed.)
We are getting a little bit more into the swing of the backpacker ministry, although we are far from satisfied. We have had opportunities with different people each day and have met people at our hostel, on the street or at various tourist attractions. Mostly we have been meeting people at our hostel and then inviting them to join us in checking out the city. Sharing meals with people is always my favourite way to be able to take the conversation to a deeper level and we have been able to do that a few times over the last few days as well. I won't try and list over everyone's names right now but I'll highlight two real quick:
Jenny is from the States and currently living in Berlin, studying photography. She is in Thailand for three weeks and has about two left. We spent most of the day with her yesterday (she didn't mind getting lost in Chinatown too much either) and she left for Chiang Mai today. She is "not religious" but we were able to share a little bit about our faith with her and I'm praying that we might see or her again or that one of the other Thailand teams will bump into her and be able to continue planting seeds.
Roberto is from Spain and is nearing the end of his eight month travels, which he mostly spent learning English in Australia. We spent several hours with him today, checking out the Grand Palace together. He grew up going to Catholic school but it was "not for him"... understandably. He definitely seemed open to further discussion on spiritual matters and he will be in Bangkok for the next few days so I am praying that we will be able to meet up with him again as well.
Having traveled solo before, I how lonely it can get at times and how much it means when other travelers are friendly and take an interest in you. This is an incredible opportunity for us to reach people who may be more hardened to the gospel in their home environment. Pray that we will have open ears and eyes in the Spirit to be able to see those who are lonely, beaten down and oppressed. It is for such ones that Christ died and they are the ones that He has sent us out to call to His wedding feast.
Thank you for all your prayers and support! God bless, and merry Christmas!
We are getting a little bit more into the swing of the backpacker ministry, although we are far from satisfied. We have had opportunities with different people each day and have met people at our hostel, on the street or at various tourist attractions. Mostly we have been meeting people at our hostel and then inviting them to join us in checking out the city. Sharing meals with people is always my favourite way to be able to take the conversation to a deeper level and we have been able to do that a few times over the last few days as well. I won't try and list over everyone's names right now but I'll highlight two real quick:
Jenny is from the States and currently living in Berlin, studying photography. She is in Thailand for three weeks and has about two left. We spent most of the day with her yesterday (she didn't mind getting lost in Chinatown too much either) and she left for Chiang Mai today. She is "not religious" but we were able to share a little bit about our faith with her and I'm praying that we might see or her again or that one of the other Thailand teams will bump into her and be able to continue planting seeds.
Roberto is from Spain and is nearing the end of his eight month travels, which he mostly spent learning English in Australia. We spent several hours with him today, checking out the Grand Palace together. He grew up going to Catholic school but it was "not for him"... understandably. He definitely seemed open to further discussion on spiritual matters and he will be in Bangkok for the next few days so I am praying that we will be able to meet up with him again as well.
Having traveled solo before, I how lonely it can get at times and how much it means when other travelers are friendly and take an interest in you. This is an incredible opportunity for us to reach people who may be more hardened to the gospel in their home environment. Pray that we will have open ears and eyes in the Spirit to be able to see those who are lonely, beaten down and oppressed. It is for such ones that Christ died and they are the ones that He has sent us out to call to His wedding feast.
Thank you for all your prayers and support! God bless, and merry Christmas!
Monday, December 20, 2010
And so it begins...
We arrived safely in Bangkok on schedule and managed to get to our hostel by about 2:00 am local time. Thank God for good flights and a few mini miracles along the way. (Qantas airlines actually booked us a free flight back to New Zealand for Jan 10 just so that we would have proof of leaving Thailand within our 30 day visa restriction. It was quite unusual. We ended up not needing it at the border but it was a very nice gesture on their behalf and we can easily cancel the flight now that we are in the country.)
We all slept well and have had a great first day in Thailand. We definitely felt the spiritual heaviness when we arrived and some of the team were feeling particularly burdened. We started the day with some great fruit salad with yoghurt (only 30 baht!) and then went to a nearby park (the same one we spent Christmas in last year on our layover) and spent some time in worship. That was definitely the turning point in the day and it only got better from there (for me anyway).
We split into pairs and started exploring the city a bit and keeping open ears and eyes for whoever God would bring along our path. Malori and I were technically looking for a good hostel to spend Christmas in but we kept getting "distracted" by a whole bunch of great witnessing opportunities. I'm running out of time so I'll keep it short.
Pray for Guiton, from Sweden. He is heading home today after four months of travel in Southeast Asia. We had lunch with him and talked for about two hours. He was very touched when I prayed for him and asked for God's blessing on his return home. We exchanged email and he might be able to get us some contacts in Chiang Mai.
Pray for Maria, from Spain. We bumped into her a few times and she was practically begging us to stay in the same hostel as her. We didn't get as much time to talk with her but we exchanged email with her as well and plan to get together with her for a meal as soon as possible.
Pray for more open doors. Pray for good health and safety. Pray for spiritual protection and discernment. Pray that we would be united as a team and totally focused on obeying God no matter what the circumstances.
That's that for now. As we see signs all over Thailand saying... LONG LIVE THE KING!
We all slept well and have had a great first day in Thailand. We definitely felt the spiritual heaviness when we arrived and some of the team were feeling particularly burdened. We started the day with some great fruit salad with yoghurt (only 30 baht!) and then went to a nearby park (the same one we spent Christmas in last year on our layover) and spent some time in worship. That was definitely the turning point in the day and it only got better from there (for me anyway).
We split into pairs and started exploring the city a bit and keeping open ears and eyes for whoever God would bring along our path. Malori and I were technically looking for a good hostel to spend Christmas in but we kept getting "distracted" by a whole bunch of great witnessing opportunities. I'm running out of time so I'll keep it short.
Pray for Guiton, from Sweden. He is heading home today after four months of travel in Southeast Asia. We had lunch with him and talked for about two hours. He was very touched when I prayed for him and asked for God's blessing on his return home. We exchanged email and he might be able to get us some contacts in Chiang Mai.
Pray for Maria, from Spain. We bumped into her a few times and she was practically begging us to stay in the same hostel as her. We didn't get as much time to talk with her but we exchanged email with her as well and plan to get together with her for a meal as soon as possible.
Pray for more open doors. Pray for good health and safety. Pray for spiritual protection and discernment. Pray that we would be united as a team and totally focused on obeying God no matter what the circumstances.
That's that for now. As we see signs all over Thailand saying... LONG LIVE THE KING!
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