I can understand why people think that outreach just passes them by, things are going ridiculously fast and I'm not sure what "making the most of your outreach" looks like, but I'm giving it a personal spin. I think it is supposed to look different for everyone and from what I can see, our team has been doing a pretty good job of "digging deep" and I would say that I am the majority who is doing their best to take it all in. God is making Himself present in new ways every time that I find myself giving it my all and the more that I depend on Him and ask Him for help, I find that my joy is exponentially more obvious and contagious as when I decide to work out of myself. Though it is a matter of depending on God, I find that everyday and in every situation I need to choose it. God and I are partners in living out the works He has for me and these people, not a dictatorship.
Tuesday was our last day at SHE and it was really sad having to say goodbye to all of the girls that we had made friends with Monday evening. I was able to talk to all of the girls that I am the closest with and even invite a few to SHE with broken communication but obvious concern and love. I even gave a few of the girls silly bands and it looked so funny with their high heels and little dresses, but I loved that it seemed like such a restoration of innocence. That night we were also ablet to have a few of our worship leaders (YWAM Denver and Auckland) play at a bar on Soi Sea Dragon! It was amazing to hear worship music in the midst of all of the club beats playing and people ten feet over taking shots and treating each other as objects. The owner of the bar said that he doesn't know what it is about the people who come to play worship, but the whole place has a peace over it so he has continued to invite them back. God is showing up all over the place! It was so enouraging to be there and just being so aware that this is still Gods territory and He has already defeated the enemy! There is absolutely no evil that can outshine the goodness of our God and that was so awesome to say the least. Every night that we were down there, we obviously had to depend on the Holy Spirit for directions and promptings, but the almost physical tangibilty of His presence made that night more joyful than any other even though we had to say goodbye. The realiztion that this is probably my only chance to ever meet these people set in once again and I was able to come to the point where fear of man took a back seat to the work that God had for me and I didn't care if people thought I was crazy or bold. I was so confident that God would not have me go out and make His name be tainted, so as long as I felt the prompting of God, I went for it! Sometimes it was more bold than others, but either way the personal edification of obedience was enough to make the possible insecurity worth it. God is so faithful! At times I am so worried about me that I forget that and then the next day I don't even understand how I could forget that. So God is doing a lot of work in me still and I love it.
The next day we went up to one of the highest mountains overlooking Phuket, where "Big Buddha" is. This is a 45 meter high idol that almost the whole city can see. It was crazy to go up there and see elephants and other huge trees on the drive, but these things looked like specks compared to the marble god watching the city, forest and ocean. The view was beautiful but hard to see because whatever we were able to see from this high point, could also see at least the head, and empty eyes, of Buddha. We were able to go and pray over the place and remind the ground and peices of marble that our God is, and I think I already wrote about this so i'm going to move on.
We didn't have much time after that, cleaning, eating and packing to do much so we said goodbye to Mark, Sharon their family, YWAM Auckland team and the girls at SHE and headed out to the far north of Thailand. Farewell super sucks, but I was excited to sleep for a solid 12 hours on the bus to Bangkok, so it made it a little easier. So yes, we spent 12 hours on a bus that was quite cramped and small, where I got very little sleep, but we made it to Bangkok in one piece and I was able to get close with some team members that I had not yet spent a ton of time with. Odd to think that since we are all together 24/7 practically, but it is easy to distance yourself from some and cling to others if you choose to - so all that said I enjoyed getting closer to my friends even though I was dead tired for the day. We had about 8 hours in Bangkok and then back onto a bus up to Chang Kham, about 10 hours, in the nicest bus I have ever been in my life! The snacks were coming faster than I could eat them and we got a dinner, tons of leg room, pillows and practically down comforters and the ride/sleep was sweet. We arrived to Chang Kham and then to our next ministry location at 5:30 am-ish where there were 95 girls awake and cleaning the area that we were coming into. This location is a home where girls can come if their parents don't have enough money to support them and sen them to school and such. Most of these girls if not here, would have ended up in the sex industry either now as a child, or when they were the age of 18. This pastor and his wife take as many girls as they are able to take at a time and offer them a place to live, learn and most of all hear about Jesus their saviour. It is an amazing establishment and the small portion of their testimony that I have heard inspires me to be an ambassador of God only. So the girls wake up at 5:00 am to do bible study, then cleaning and preparing breakfast. After that they head to school and come back to play, prepare dinner and do chores and I'm not sure how the schedule works in between dinner and 8:00 pm, but at 8 they have an hour and a half time slot to study, all of them. I have never seen a group of kids who are so well behaved and willing to do whatever it is that they are asked/assigned, I want to take them all home with me! I don't think one kid I know could last a day being so well held together as these young ladies are. So we were warned that this would be the case, but we hit the ground running as soon as we got here on Thursday. We went into the house of the head pastor where we had the most amazing breakfast I think I have ever seen. The spread was phenomenal and after cornflakes and cream every morning our team felt as though we were in heaven! The crazy thing is, is that this wasn't just a welcome day awesome meal time experience, every meal has been one of the best things I've ever tasted! Friday we even got a mennonite style breakfast with a Thai twist to it! There is a very large chance that I will be gaining weight at this location. As soon as we finished breakfast we headed to our first school where we got to try out our dramas, skits and dances and see if any of us are made to be english teachers. Let me tell you, teaching english to kindergarten students is most definitely not my gift. The dramas went alright, but I honestly busted hard core at attempting to teach these 5 year olds anything but head, shoulders, knees and toes. My team mates and I came out with a light heart, but the realization our presence was about all that we could offer in that classroom. That the teacher struggled a lot with english only made the time a little harder, but the cool thing was that we were able to play games with the kids with absolutely no problem. It's awesome to see how fun is so cross cultural and at the primary and early seconardy school age, we all enjoy much of the same things. So games went well and we got to bring a little more joy to the country of Thailand that day which was totally worth feeling like a fool trying to teach english.
When we got back to our location we were able to meet the girls at the home and they greeted us as we were leaving our dinner house standing all in rows of 9 or so holding beautiful red roses. As we each introduced ourselves they greeted us back with a bow and Sawadee kah and were attentive through all 23 names, ages and home name. They all came up to give us roses and I got 7! I have never had 7 roses in my whole entire life!!! I felt like the most special person on the planet and after they did a sign language dance for us that was beautiful and shouldn't be possible to be memorized by 8 year olds. This culture is one of perfection and intricacy, they proved this over and over throughout the time we have been here already. I honestly don't know how to describe the way that they looked and sounded besides completely angelic - to the point where I am going to choose Kai a wife here ha ha, [Just kidding Mom, he's got 20 more years or so]. In the midst of the beauty if their unison, God was putting on my heart just how valuable each and every one of them is and how they are such a part of His perfect plan. We were told earlier that sometimes girls have to go home early to help their families and other times just when they are completely school, but in both cases they have seen their entire village choose Christ becuase of the testimony of the girl who went home. Entire villages! At 8-18 years old I don't think I would even talk to all of the people in my village, never mind trying to get them to turn from a god they are comfortable with to the one that I have found to be true, but these girls are! This made me so inspired to just listen to God's plan like this man had so that I could change the world for Him! 95 + girls at a time for the last 18 years, heaven has been exponentially increase by this family stepping out in obedience to God's call to care for children. The citizens that we so often ignore or degrade with terms like "when they are ready" or "when their generation rises up", it has risen! If we could all have the faith and love like they do, we could be brining whole communities to truth also. After this intense moment with God, He also gave me the dawning that at least some of these girls if not here, would be getting their bodies sold and raped at that very moment. Bangkok is second to only Atlanta for sex trafficking the ENTIRE WORLD and they are near the top for child sex trafficking. If they weren't already being abused as a child by the time that they were old enough to choose, obligation would send them down to the area I had just been in to make enough money to send back home to their families. God's pursuit on their lives is so obvious and incredible! I had about the most intense 3 adn a half minutes, or one song of my life - but passion was stirring in my and I once again gave my whole life up to God to do as He chooses with it. So I fell in love with them instantly which is saying a lot since I don't have a natural ability to appreciate children - God is working once again. Though they were all amazing, there was one girl that caught my eye/heart right away and she really resembled someone that had been part of my life in the past. I wasn't sure if that was why she was on my heart or if God was putting her there, so I prayed that I would be able to get to know her more in the short 10 days we were here. Each of us were able to be with a group of girls, that is already made as a team to meet for bible studies, prayer and accountability from what I understand, and be sort of week "leaders". Well they definitely take care of each other so they are leading us. My prayer partner and I got a group of girls ages 8-18 and all extrememly beautiful and fun! That girl who was immediately on my heart is in it! God is speaking to me already - YAY! We spent half an hour briefly getting to know each other and playing games and it felt like it was 10 mintues. I just wanted to be able to spend more time with these girls and love them.
The next day looked similar and one of us each day is sharing our testimony at 5:30 - I actually volunteered for next friday! So I pray that God blesses me with energy and words to say because i don't have a ton of faith in myself at this point.
I'm going to write about the whole experience in the next blog though so there is a more complete view of what is going on at Home of Blessing and the schools that we will be going to. Thank you, I love you and am excited to share the sweet stuff in person with you :)
http://www.jesusfreaksmovie.com/
Keep praying for our team please! Complacency would be a good thing to pray against if possible - thanks
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