Let's Talk Thailand

I can’t believe how the time has flown since my return from Thailand. As you can imagine, it's been a busy couple of months (hence why it's taken me forever to get anything written up on here...) ! It feels like just yesterday we were fundraising, making plans, packing supplies, and stuffing as much information about this foreign country into our heads as possible. But now… it’s all over. We made it there and back with bags full of Thai goodies, heads full of memories and hearts full of encouragement and faith.

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beginning…

As the New Year dawned this past January, this trip was one of the big highlights that I was looking forward to for the year 2015. It was also one of my biggest prayer concerns and one of the most daunting responsibilities I have embarked on.

Planning progressed and as departure day loomed closer, though I was feeling prepared for the trip itself, I found myself insecure about my role on this particular trip. I have never been on overseas missions before and to be in a leadership role over these students was intimidating. I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know what I should be ready for. I didn’t have any idea what God was going to bring our way and I didn’t really know what it was going to look like for me to serve. But the day before we left, God send encouragement and clarity to me from a fellow youth worker who I have looked up to for years. She helped me to clarify my purpose and excited me about my role as both a discipler and a (almost mom-like) comforter on this trip. Being the only female leader, I had the joy of connecting and encouraging the 9 young ladies on the trip and WOW did I end up learning a lot! About myself, about leadership, and about Jesus and His church.

One of my big jobs as a leader was organizing a huge garage sale and silent auction event to raise funds for the trip. We collected donations of used items from friends, family, and other church members and completely packed our gym facility with an incredible array of used “treasures”. Hours and hours of phone calls, pick-ups, organizing, pricing, more organizing, and then selling the items, was totally worth it. I loved every exhausting second of it! We were able to raise over $5000 to put towards the team funding and we had a great time working together to pull it off!

Speaking of funding, I was blown away by the generosity of my family and friends. God's provision through their giving had me in tears as I realized the support group God has built around me. I am blessed with so many loving people who have influenced and encouraged me throughout my life and this trip was such an amazing reminder of that! 

Of course there is not space here to go into all the details that a trip like this really needs in order to be understood (well, there is space, but you probably don't want to sit here for hours reading it...) but I will share some of the biggest highlights and most impactful moments for me.

Week One: Bangkok

During our first week, we served in Bangkok, mostly at the Ruth Center with an amazing little lady named Noi (whose name literally means ‘little’). She works in the slums of Bangkok, serving the elderly who otherwise have no one in the world who cares for them. The biggest part of her ministry is simply visiting, talking, and being a steadfast friend to these men and women who live most of their days in solitude. She shares the glorious news of Christ with them, brings them rice, connects them to each other in community, and organizes construction projects on their homes to improve their living conditions. We had the joyous opportunity to take part in each of these activities. Each day we would make rice deliveries and visit with the grandmas and grandpas. Through the help of a translator we got to hear their stories, pray for their needs and praise God for their faithful witness in the midst of their poverty.

I think one of the most impacting things for me was to see my brothers and sisters in Christ living and worshipping God on the other side of the world. To see the CHURCH in another country, growing, expanding and furthering God’s kingdom was huge for me. They look so different. They speak so different. And yet to hear them sing praises to our God, the SAME God, was amazing; a little taste of heaven. I was convicted about my own stereotyped view of Christianity – stereotypes I didn’t even know I had! And I found myself praising God for His faithfulness across cultures, generations, and countries. I was overflowing with joy in the salvation of these elderly Thai people, for their stories of His grace as He sought out each one of them – men and women who had lived their whole lives serving a false god, with no hope, deserted by their families, but not forgotten by their Saviour.

Another special part of our ministry in Bangkok was the kindergarten we got to visit each day. We ran a short kids program with the kids, aged 2-5. We sang songs, read them Bible stories, played games and made crafts. But more than that, we got to see little kids from the slum communities smile. We got to make them laugh and they got to steal our hearts. It’s amazing the love God gives you for little children. Jesus had a heart for kids and as Christians, I think we should too. They are precious gifts, so full of life and yet so vulnerable to their situations. As I held little Thai girls and boys in my arms, children with whom I couldn’t communicate beyond a hug and a smile, I prayed with all my heart. Their life in the slums is so uncertain and yet they can have the strongest foundation in Christ. How I pray they will reach out to Him and accept His truth in the coming years of their lives!

Bangkok Temple Tour

Our final full day in Bangkok, we toured several Buddhist temples and spent the day taking in Thai culture and life in downtown. We spent time praying for the city, the people, and the country of Thailand. I found myself feeling a growing sense of shame as I wandered through the massive and extravagant temples and their extensive, beautiful grounds. These people spend so much time, money, and devotion on their beliefs. They are so dedicated and hopeful but it’s all a lie. And yet I, who know the Truth, I who have a relationship with the Creator God and Saviour of the world, am sometimes so flippant with my faith. I am faint of heart and selfish with my time and money.

I thought of our materialistic culture, our pursuit of wealth, power and fame and I realized we are no different than these Buddhist believers – our idol just isn’t in the shape of a golden Buddha.

Week Two – Chiang Rai

After our week in Bangkok, we left the smothering heat and flew up North to Chiang Rai. Our first taste of Northern Thailand was an hour-long elephant ride through the beautiful hill country of the North where the smog was mostly gone and the temperature much more bearable. The thrill of riding the elephants had everyone in great spirits! 

In the North we served at the Changed Life Center. This center is a place for pastors to come and receive training, encouragement, and safety while they study. It is located right beside the Mekong River where you can look across and see the country of Laos. Many pastors come from Laos where Christians are heavily persecuted. In Thailand they receive biblical training before they head back into their country to continue to reach their people with the Gospel. Other pastors from the hill tribe villages in Northern Thailand also visit the Changed Life Center and are given the opportunity to grow and learn more about the Bible and Christian faith. With the tools and equipping they receive they go back to their villages and congregations energized and ready to teach.

One of my very favourite parts of the trip was travelling with these pastors to their villages and seeing their local ministries in action. I loved hearing their heart (through a translator) for their people, seeing their ministries, the churches they built with their own hands and the dreams they have for the future. Again, seeing the church, the body of Christ, function and flourish on the other side of the world, was eye-opening for me and the whole team.

I was also convicted by the hard-work these pastors do. Not only do they preach the Gospel to often hostile ears, they have to provide their own living through farming, sometimes even providing for others in their community through their work. They build their own homes and churches, and make time to study and disciple others! They make me feel so lazy in comparison. It’s hard not to compare and feel such discouragement and depression at our own lack of strength and hard work. God has given us each different paths, in different countries, yet we’re all part of His church and serve His purpose in a different way.

Staying at the Changed Life Center gave us the opportunity to hear from several of the pastors of Laos and the tribal groups in the area. Their testimonies and conviction was encouraging and inspiring. God really spoke to me through these pastors, teaching me things that I never expected Him to teach while I was on a missions trip.

It reminded me that God’s goal is continually to sanctify us, to grow us to be more like Him in all ways, wherever we are. His faithfulness is real and true, His wisdom is beyond me, and His care and intentions are deeply personal.

And I saw that truth reflected in the work He was doing in the students as well. I truly did feel that God was working in us maybe even more than the people we were serving. And it wasn’t just to give us a more missional heart or to teach us to love and preach to all the world – it was basic things like “love one another” and “be a servant of all”, it was the reality of the hope of our own salvation and praise for His grace and mercy and love in our own lives.

Why is it that God sends us OUT in order to teach us much of the same things we can “learn” without leaving a pew at church? Maybe because in the going, our faith has works – our faith has hands and feet, not merely ears and minds. Our whole body is invested in the journey of sanctification as we sweat and hug kids and are sleep deprived and taste different food and hammer nails and paint murals and smell incense and walk through villages and carry rice and sit in the dust with the elderly. And of course we don’t need to leave North America to do these things or to learn or to be sanctified in Christ… but God said go into all the world and make disciples… I always thought it was for the salvation those who would be disciples; I didn’t really realize it was part of the outworking of my own salvation as well.

And here I will close, because I have to close somewhere. There is so much more to tell and more to ponder. I know that this experience has given more depth to my faith and my understanding of God and the body of Christ. I’m so thankful for the blessing of this opportunity to grow, for the opening of my eyes, and the conviction in my heart. To God be the glory, honour and praise!

Thanks for reading!