This morning, Nicole and I went with our friend Bay and a few adults from New Zealand to a leper colony here in Chiang Mai. I really didn't know what to expect since I had never encountered someone with leprosy before. I had only heard of people with leprosy through reading some of Mother Theresa's stories and from the Bible where Jesus heals them. I suppose I had thought that we would just walk through rows of beds with these people laying there, some missing limbs, maybe talk to one or two and then leave.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
The people there were so full of joy. Despite the fact that one was blind, others were missing fingers or toes, others couldn't straighten their fingers all the way, one had a prosthetic leg and another was missing the entire lower half of his body, they all smiled, laughed and some asked how they could pray for us. It was like they didn't care that they had this disease and just enjoyed us. When they found out that Nicole and I were from America they told us that they had prayed for America that morning. Their attitude towards life and towards God was one that many do not have, and they have leprosy. One of the women in the first room we went in to wanted to pray for all of us. Now in Thailand they have the central, main Thai language, but they also have a high language which is when talking to the king of Thailand, arguably the most respected and loved man on the earth. When this woman prayed, she prayed in the high language, because she was praying to her King, Jesus.
Leaving there, I was encouraged by their faith and their love of Christ and their unconditional love of others. Next time I think that I have it bad or something doesn't go the way that I planned it and start to get mad or upset, I'll remember the lepers.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
What a week!
Let me explain and unpack a little of what I've been up to the past week of my life...
Monday-went to the elephant camp, snake farm and tiger kingdom for a fun day. Later in the evening we played Settlers (a great board game that you should definitely play if you haven't ever) with Sinn, Ann and Levi and Autumn, a missionary couple who attend Chiang Mai Baptist.
Tuesday-went on campus to help two freshman english majors with an assignment. They needed to do an interview in english so Nicole, Anna and I went to help them. After the interview we went into one of the many food areas on campus to get some fruit and they saw a group of their friends who were German majors, but still spoke a bit of english, and they invited us all to sit down with them. After introductions and some basic conversation, we discovered that they enjoyed Harry Potter, which we were planning to see later in the week. We invited them to come with, said our goodbyes, since they had class, and headed out (more on this later in the week). Later in the evening we headed to a village about an hour from home with Jason and Leslie, another missionary couple who attend Chiang Mai Baptist. They go to this village every Tuesday and minister specifically to middle school/high school age kids. They warned us that there may only be two or three who show up since there had just been a Buddhist holiday the previous weekend that many were involved in. However, as we got there and the time got closer to starting, eleven students came. At first they were a bit curious about the new farangs who were there for their Tuesday meeting, but as the evening went on they came to love us. Since the idea of this "God" who we can pray to and have relationship with and give thanks to is a new concept to the students, Leslie began the meeting with having each person say a good thing that happened to them the previous week and explained that those are things that we can be thankful to God for. After that, Sinn was able to teach the group five Thai worship songs, something they hadn't done before. For the final part of the meeting, Ann shared her testimony and in response the students wanted to hear each of our testimonies. Once the meeting was over, the students just wanted to be with us and talk with us. When it came time to leave though, it was a hard goodbye.
Wednesday-had a relax day
Thursday-Anna, Sinn and I went to a temple for what is called "Monk Chat." This varies from temple to temple, but its generally a time for the monks who are learning english to practice with farangs. We approached a table outside where three younger monks were sitting and Sinn asked if we could sit down with them to which they responded yes. We later found out that two were my age and one was twenty-three and all had been monks for at least seven years. After a bit of conversation I asked if they could tell me a little about Buddhism. I was truly interested in just learning a bit about what they believed and why they had given their lives to follow it and not just trying to start a debate. Unfortunately they confessed that their english wasn't good enough to explain what they had only been taught in Thai or in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist scriptures. We continued to talk for a bit longer until they had to go to class so we said our farewells and were on our way.
Friday-started out the day by meeting the group of five students who we had met on Tuesday at the mall, first for lunch and then to see the new Harry Potter movie. They were very excited both to be with us and to see the movie, as were we. Over the afternoon, Anna and I mentioned to them that were were going to be playing and singing in the band for the church we were a part of on Sunday evening at a coffee shop across from their campus and invited them to come. They said maybe and some thought they might have had other stuff going on but would try to make it. Once the movie was over, some of them had class so Sinn drove them back to campus and after dropping them off he invited them as well to The Light on Sunday evening and they gave the same response. Friday evening I went with Pao, Win, Levi, Bay, P'A and a few other guys from The Light as well as many others from Chiang Mai to play soccer. The group that played with was a group organized by Pao as a ministry. After warming up and stretching, all the guys circled up for prayer before beginning, something that isn't seen much anywhere especially Thailand. As the game went on, Levi and I were discussing how amazingly chill and easy-going Thai people are in general and how that is even shown on the soccer field. After the two hours of playing, I dragged my sweat-soaked self to the middle of the field again for another prayer, thanking God for the evening.
Saturday-went to CMB in the morning to help set up for church the next day. A group from an orphanage who comes to church every Sunday, also comes on Saturdays to help set up as well. After sweeping and mopping the floors and setting up chairs, we all paused for a couple games of Uno before heading off. Saturday evening we headed to a worship held at a church in the middle of Chiang Mai. While the evening, which lasted about three hours, was going on I looked around the room of two or three hundred people, young and old, dancing and crying out to God in a language that I am only a bit familiar with and was just simply reminded that although we can't understand each other for the most part, we still worship the same God.
Sunday-headed to CMB in the morning for church. After church, the youth group asked if I would teach them a worship song in english (last year I taught them "Your Love Never Fails"). As the group of about twenty faithful students circled up in their youth group led by four God-loving college students, I taught them the song "Mighty to Save." After church, I headed home with basically enough time to take a quick shower (yes I actually am taking those daily here) and head over to WonGen Cafe to start setting up for The Light. As the clock ticked closer to starting time, the students who we had met on Tuesday and had seen Harry Potter with on Friday came walking in the door..and brought friends! Since I was playing in the band and had to run through the songs and get some of the sound equipment ready, Nicole, Anna and others from The Light did a great job at helping them feel welcome. For some of them it was their first time attending any sort of church before. For The Light, both Anna and Nicole shared their powerful testimonies and explained where they had been and what brought them to today. After they were done, people grouped up and prayed for one another.
Monday-started the day out early and started driving for Doi Inthanon, the tallest mountain in Thailand. After the trip to the top and back down again, we headed back and only had a little time to change out of my soaked clothes (from a gigantic waterfall), before heading out for dinner and to meet up with the group of students from the university. It was Anna's last night here and she had wanted to send up a few paper lanterns (which you can find more info about here->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_lantern) so we all walked to the rugby field on campus and let off a few lanterns, said our goodbyes to the group and parted ways for the night.
While I wish there was a good way to end this post, I can't think of anything. but I suppose that's because I'm not done in Thailand yet...
Monday-went to the elephant camp, snake farm and tiger kingdom for a fun day. Later in the evening we played Settlers (a great board game that you should definitely play if you haven't ever) with Sinn, Ann and Levi and Autumn, a missionary couple who attend Chiang Mai Baptist.
Tuesday-went on campus to help two freshman english majors with an assignment. They needed to do an interview in english so Nicole, Anna and I went to help them. After the interview we went into one of the many food areas on campus to get some fruit and they saw a group of their friends who were German majors, but still spoke a bit of english, and they invited us all to sit down with them. After introductions and some basic conversation, we discovered that they enjoyed Harry Potter, which we were planning to see later in the week. We invited them to come with, said our goodbyes, since they had class, and headed out (more on this later in the week). Later in the evening we headed to a village about an hour from home with Jason and Leslie, another missionary couple who attend Chiang Mai Baptist. They go to this village every Tuesday and minister specifically to middle school/high school age kids. They warned us that there may only be two or three who show up since there had just been a Buddhist holiday the previous weekend that many were involved in. However, as we got there and the time got closer to starting, eleven students came. At first they were a bit curious about the new farangs who were there for their Tuesday meeting, but as the evening went on they came to love us. Since the idea of this "God" who we can pray to and have relationship with and give thanks to is a new concept to the students, Leslie began the meeting with having each person say a good thing that happened to them the previous week and explained that those are things that we can be thankful to God for. After that, Sinn was able to teach the group five Thai worship songs, something they hadn't done before. For the final part of the meeting, Ann shared her testimony and in response the students wanted to hear each of our testimonies. Once the meeting was over, the students just wanted to be with us and talk with us. When it came time to leave though, it was a hard goodbye.
Wednesday-had a relax day
Thursday-Anna, Sinn and I went to a temple for what is called "Monk Chat." This varies from temple to temple, but its generally a time for the monks who are learning english to practice with farangs. We approached a table outside where three younger monks were sitting and Sinn asked if we could sit down with them to which they responded yes. We later found out that two were my age and one was twenty-three and all had been monks for at least seven years. After a bit of conversation I asked if they could tell me a little about Buddhism. I was truly interested in just learning a bit about what they believed and why they had given their lives to follow it and not just trying to start a debate. Unfortunately they confessed that their english wasn't good enough to explain what they had only been taught in Thai or in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist scriptures. We continued to talk for a bit longer until they had to go to class so we said our farewells and were on our way.
Friday-started out the day by meeting the group of five students who we had met on Tuesday at the mall, first for lunch and then to see the new Harry Potter movie. They were very excited both to be with us and to see the movie, as were we. Over the afternoon, Anna and I mentioned to them that were were going to be playing and singing in the band for the church we were a part of on Sunday evening at a coffee shop across from their campus and invited them to come. They said maybe and some thought they might have had other stuff going on but would try to make it. Once the movie was over, some of them had class so Sinn drove them back to campus and after dropping them off he invited them as well to The Light on Sunday evening and they gave the same response. Friday evening I went with Pao, Win, Levi, Bay, P'A and a few other guys from The Light as well as many others from Chiang Mai to play soccer. The group that played with was a group organized by Pao as a ministry. After warming up and stretching, all the guys circled up for prayer before beginning, something that isn't seen much anywhere especially Thailand. As the game went on, Levi and I were discussing how amazingly chill and easy-going Thai people are in general and how that is even shown on the soccer field. After the two hours of playing, I dragged my sweat-soaked self to the middle of the field again for another prayer, thanking God for the evening.
Saturday-went to CMB in the morning to help set up for church the next day. A group from an orphanage who comes to church every Sunday, also comes on Saturdays to help set up as well. After sweeping and mopping the floors and setting up chairs, we all paused for a couple games of Uno before heading off. Saturday evening we headed to a worship held at a church in the middle of Chiang Mai. While the evening, which lasted about three hours, was going on I looked around the room of two or three hundred people, young and old, dancing and crying out to God in a language that I am only a bit familiar with and was just simply reminded that although we can't understand each other for the most part, we still worship the same God.
Sunday-headed to CMB in the morning for church. After church, the youth group asked if I would teach them a worship song in english (last year I taught them "Your Love Never Fails"). As the group of about twenty faithful students circled up in their youth group led by four God-loving college students, I taught them the song "Mighty to Save." After church, I headed home with basically enough time to take a quick shower (yes I actually am taking those daily here) and head over to WonGen Cafe to start setting up for The Light. As the clock ticked closer to starting time, the students who we had met on Tuesday and had seen Harry Potter with on Friday came walking in the door..and brought friends! Since I was playing in the band and had to run through the songs and get some of the sound equipment ready, Nicole, Anna and others from The Light did a great job at helping them feel welcome. For some of them it was their first time attending any sort of church before. For The Light, both Anna and Nicole shared their powerful testimonies and explained where they had been and what brought them to today. After they were done, people grouped up and prayed for one another.
Monday-started the day out early and started driving for Doi Inthanon, the tallest mountain in Thailand. After the trip to the top and back down again, we headed back and only had a little time to change out of my soaked clothes (from a gigantic waterfall), before heading out for dinner and to meet up with the group of students from the university. It was Anna's last night here and she had wanted to send up a few paper lanterns (which you can find more info about here->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_lantern) so we all walked to the rugby field on campus and let off a few lanterns, said our goodbyes to the group and parted ways for the night.
While I wish there was a good way to end this post, I can't think of anything. but I suppose that's because I'm not done in Thailand yet...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
What God is doing and a Challenge
So before heading off to Thailand, I may have promised that I would blog more this time in Thailand. Well, here I am nearly two weeks (oops) after my last blog, which I wrote the day we landed, finally writing again. I honestly have started multiple blogs between then and now, but either ended up not liking them, or left them to be finished later but then not liking what I wrote when I came back. I hope to be better at this for the duration of my time here.
Life has been so great here! We are so blessed to be loved and accepted by these wonderful folks. While I would love to share each individual happening with you, I just want to share just a little bit of what God is and has been doing here in Chiang Mai and a little of what God has been teaching me while here.
Within the first few days here, I learned that the former statistic that stated that less than one-percent of Thai called themselves Christian has now been raised to one-percent. While that tells that there is still much growth left to be had here, it states that there is Spiritual growth going on within the borders of this country that has been in darkness for so long. The ministry that Sinn and Ann started just over the past year, called The Light, now draws between thirty to one hundred people on a weekly basis. I personally believe that The Light as it is today is just a small beginning of something huge that will happen in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai Baptist (the church that my dad and Ann’s dad started year ago) is also drawing new faces each week. Some come from college, some come from the orphanage and others come from the streets. Last night we traveled with a missionary couple from Chiang Mai Baptist to a village that they have been ministering to over the past year. There were ten students ranging from age eleven to seventeen. When we got there, we talked with them, worshiped together, then they wanted to hear each of our testimonies and we said our goodbyes and left. It was just so cool to see the church in a totally different setting.
The first Sunday at Chiang Mai Baptist, we sang the song “Blessed Be.” Now this is a song that I have sang numerous times but this time while singing a line that has never really caught my attention before, did. The line goes, “every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise.” Sometimes when we think of blessings, we think of maybe special, specific things that have happened to us, but after thinking about this I am just reminded that everything is a blessing from God meant to be used for his praise and glory.
May the message and praise of Christ be seen in our actions and heard in our words today and every day.
Life has been so great here! We are so blessed to be loved and accepted by these wonderful folks. While I would love to share each individual happening with you, I just want to share just a little bit of what God is and has been doing here in Chiang Mai and a little of what God has been teaching me while here.
Within the first few days here, I learned that the former statistic that stated that less than one-percent of Thai called themselves Christian has now been raised to one-percent. While that tells that there is still much growth left to be had here, it states that there is Spiritual growth going on within the borders of this country that has been in darkness for so long. The ministry that Sinn and Ann started just over the past year, called The Light, now draws between thirty to one hundred people on a weekly basis. I personally believe that The Light as it is today is just a small beginning of something huge that will happen in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai Baptist (the church that my dad and Ann’s dad started year ago) is also drawing new faces each week. Some come from college, some come from the orphanage and others come from the streets. Last night we traveled with a missionary couple from Chiang Mai Baptist to a village that they have been ministering to over the past year. There were ten students ranging from age eleven to seventeen. When we got there, we talked with them, worshiped together, then they wanted to hear each of our testimonies and we said our goodbyes and left. It was just so cool to see the church in a totally different setting.
The first Sunday at Chiang Mai Baptist, we sang the song “Blessed Be.” Now this is a song that I have sang numerous times but this time while singing a line that has never really caught my attention before, did. The line goes, “every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise.” Sometimes when we think of blessings, we think of maybe special, specific things that have happened to us, but after thinking about this I am just reminded that everything is a blessing from God meant to be used for his praise and glory.
May the message and praise of Christ be seen in our actions and heard in our words today and every day.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Finally!
Finally here! After months of waiting to return (so pretty much since the day I left last summer) and a very very long plane ride, I’m finally back in Chiang Mai. The sounds coming through my windows of interesting creatures and hearing people speak a language I can’t fully understand are sounds that remind me that I’m actually here. I woke up this morning around 6:30am due to the nasty thing called jet lag (oh jet lag, how terrible you are). As I lay awake for the past few hours, I think ahead to the upcoming twenty-seven days and cannot help but wonder what they hold…
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Returning to my Love
Nearly a year has passed since I returned from Thailand and I find myself today, sitting on the floor of my bedroom, going on my 21st hour of being awake, just hours from boarding a plane to head across the ocean and return to the country I love. My decision to stay up all night in hopes that I sleep better on the long plane ride across the sea will hopefully prove itself a good one, but only time will tell that. My extra hours of life today provided me with good times with and goodbye's to many friends, being able to watch the sunrise and time in prayer for the upcoming month. This time, the experience will be a bit different, as I have others with this time. Longtime friend Nicole Ryan and I are taking off at 8:55 this morning (Wednesday) and will be in Thailand until August 4. Former co-worker and present friend Anna Rios will be joining us in July 14 and will be staying until the 26th. Since my return last year, Sinn (my host last summer) has begun a ministry called "The Light" which meets in Wongen Cafe (a YWAM based cafe) right across the street from Chiang Mai University. Everything that I have heard of "The Light" just adds to the knowledge that Christ is very at work in Thailand. For this trip, we hope simply to come alongside Sinn, Ann and all the others who are a part of "The Light" and Chiang Mai Baptist Church and help get those who have not discovered the radical, amazing and unwavering love of Christ, find it.
In the following days and weeks I hope to visit you all in blog world to share thoughts, feelings, random happenings or whatever else may be on my mind. Keep us in your prayers and always feel free to email me with prayer requests of your own. Until next time..cheers.
In the following days and weeks I hope to visit you all in blog world to share thoughts, feelings, random happenings or whatever else may be on my mind. Keep us in your prayers and always feel free to email me with prayer requests of your own. Until next time..cheers.
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