For His Purpose | Sharing Christ in Thailand

Pi Dome famous Thai singer on first day here!

The last few days I’ve had the chance to experience a small taste of Thailand – literally and figuratively. Five days is not near enough, but it’s a start.

The food? Love it. They would give the Iowa State Fair a run for its money on the number of things you can buy on a stick.

The traffic? Crazy. Never would I ever want to drive here.

The funny? Yes, we did just see girls with plastic fruit attached to their headbands. Yes, that man did just sell ice cream off his boat as we sat on ours. Yes, that girl does have a stuffed animal for a phone cover. And yes, they do use Harry Potter style brooms to sweep like it’s going out of style.

The best part? The believers and people here. In a land of stanch Buddhists, you often give up family and culture to follow Christ. Isaiah chapter 46 about people making and bowing down to gods of gold is not so Old Testament when you’re surrounded by it. To know that people worship idols still today is one thing. But to be surrounded by it is a completely different and sobering reality.

Spent a morning on public transport with one believer from my friend Kristen’s church here and learned her story. She had heard people try to tell her about Jesus before but ignored and dismissed them until she saw the love of God in and between Christians. Now she struggles not wanting to move home where there is no church, no community and no support for her choice to follow Jesus.

Met a new, 18-year-old believer on Sunday at church. On Tuesday she told her mom she was a Christian and in turn, was told she was no longer her daughter. The girl was supposed to leave on a dream trip for Taiwan to study Chinese for two months, but her mom said she couldn’t go anymore if she still claimed to be a Christian. She refused to take back her faith in Christ, though, and as we prayed for her that night and heard from her sister who also went through the same thing with their parents, I was absolutely lost for words, humbled by their courage and grateful for the incredible community and support I’ve received at home.  Pretty quickly, Mark 10:29-31 takes on a whole new meaning.

And these are just two short-versions of many stories like that. I didn’t hear them all, but those I did humbled, convicted and challenged me.

God is not absent in Thailand. His Church is here. It’s small, but I can assure you it’s mighty. And yet there are many that come to know the Lord and then fall from their faith because of the pressures all around them. So please pray for Thailand, and please pray specifically for strength and courage and perseverance for the Church in the midst of persecution, weariness and hard hard soil.

This past week I got to celebrate my first Songkran Festival here.  Songkran is a celebration of the Thai New Year.  Tranditionally Songkran is a time for people to bless the Elders (parents, respected elders, monks…etc.) in their life by pouring water over their hands.  We got to do this at Church on Sunday and I found it to be an extremely beautiful way of saying thank you and showing respect for the people in your life.

Now the holiday has turned into a nation wide water fight.  Everyone WILL get wet!!!  This year we decided to stay in Bangkok (which was really nice because traffic was almost nonexistent….an EXTREMELY RARE treat)!  On Friday like almost all the other Farangs (foreigners) we went to Khao San Road.  This means there were lots of people and lots of water!!  I really enjoyed getting soaked because it’s about 107 degrees here now.  I however did not like this powder stuff that people will come up and put on your face………I kind of felt like this guy!!

Later that night we went to this park where everyone was flying kites.

Picture this at night with a fewer people.

On Saturday we had a water fight at Lonnie’s house and a BBQ.

Here’s the group…..ready for action!

Later that day we also got to take a trip down the Chao Phray River, saw the Golden Mountain Temple, had a huge foam party, and heard my first Thai concert!!!!

Beautiful bridge on the River

Yes this happened to me!

I can definitely say this was an extremely fun holiday and a great way to spend some of the hottest days of the year!!! Who’s coming next year???

Heeeelllllppp!!!! My walls are super white and boring!!  I need some decorating help!  I bought this white canvas (it’s pretty small) to paint but I am not creative at all.  How should I paint it?  I really like waterfalls, fountains, bridges, and music.  I don’t need to stick with these things….I just like them.  What should I do????

In Thailand I live in a small one room apartment.  Here is a video to show you what it looks like.  Like all good Thai’s we also have a balcony so you can hang dry your clothes outside.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6xKMsDTtU4

One Month in Thailand:

After one month of living in Bangkok (Krungthep-Thai name), I have easily come to the realization that I am not in Missouri anymore.  Some simple differences:

Missouri:

• I drive a blue dodge neon everywhere. It takes about 15 minutes to get anywhere.
• I speak English.
• I make food at home most of which contain some sort of sandwich.
• I use the work EEK when I see something I’m scared of.

Bangkok:

• I make sure to wash my feet everyday because I wear sandals all the time.  We take our shoes off when we enter a house.
• I no longer wave at people.  I wai instead–demonstrated by Ronald McDonald on my facebook page.
• I use public transportation.  I take a bus and a skytrain to school and back everyday. It takes about 1.5 hours.
• I never cook.  I eat at roadside street vendors. I eat lots of rice!
• I use the word EEK when I want more of something. Example: When seeing a snake if you say EEK.  Instead of being frightened you might just end up getting handed several more snakes!!

Needless to say, I am really enjoying my new life here in Thailand.  I am learning a lot about the Thai people and about the God who created them and is at work in them.  In looking at a Thai Christian you can see the kind servant heart of God.  You can see a God who will take the time for you know matter the situation or circumstance.  The Thai Christians have got above and beyond to help us feel comfortable with our new life.  They take us to get whatever we need and make sure to help us understand how everything works.  They are definitely my favorite thing about Thailand.

I have also almost completed one month of language school which means I can now talk about colors, numbers, common greetings, order food, ask about peoples families, where they are going, what they are doing, and much more!!  I may not always understand the answers to the question, but it’s amazing how much I have learned in one month!!

Kat and Dang took Walker, Jen, and I to a neat restaurant where you cook the food on little grills the put in front of you. The sides hold water to cook vegetables in.

China town market.

Khanom=dessert or snack in Thai. These Khanoms tasted like the smell of a flower.

China Town

The flower market. It was huge!!China Town

China Town

 

 

Here is a video of the lovely commissioning service First Baptist Church of Jefferson City, Missouri held for me.

I spent this last at the Billy Graham Training Center (the Cove) at a Spiritual Retreat with my teammates and some other member of the United World Mission staff.  The retreat was a good time to regroup from leaving my family (on February 5) and center back on God’s goodness and grace as I prepare to leave.  Below are some pictures of the Chapel at the Cove.

The Chapel at the Cove: front entrance

Inside the Chapel: the acoustics and piano were great!!

Billy Graham’s pulpit that he often traveled with.

Side view of the Chapel

On our family girl-day trip to the St. Louis Art Museum to see Monet’s famous painting “Water Lillies,”  I enter expecting to see a painting worth the $10 cost of the ticket.  Room one is full of facts about Monet of which I read about two lines. Room two finds me watching a couple minutes of a silent movie.  Room three, I walk in and look right. I see swirling, nonsense lines. Curious I back up. The more I back up the more beautiful it becomes! A single water lily and flower swirl around the canvas! Two more pictures hang in the room equally beautiful from far away. $10 satisfied I leave. Room four…wait…there’s a room four?  People are everywhere. I look up and suddenly that feeling like you are witnessing something so huge and magnificent overtakes me. I can’t pull my eyes away! THIS is Monet’s “Water Lillies!”  People chatter all around me about swirls, circles, and significant life moments. All I can do is sit down and stare….

This has been my 2011. If you know me in the slightest you know two things about me.

1. I think about everything and can never stop thinking.

2. I am an achiever. I am always striving to be the best person that I can possibly be.

Well these are normally very great things, but God decided to take 2011 to show me that there is so much more to life than striving.  There is something else in life. It’s called “Delight.”

“Delight” is according to Webster “a high degree of gratification, joy, extreme satisfaction.”

“Delight” according to God is all of these which are found in a thing called “Grace.”

I don’t have to strive; God has already won. I don’t have to be the best; I’m forgiven. I don’t have to know how every layer of a painting is put together; God knows.

I’m choosing to walk WITH God in 2012. We’re going to enjoy each other and I am going to “Delight.”

Hello everyone!!!