God continues to amaze me in that His ways are always good, and I can’t help but see His goodness in everything I do & see and everyone I encounter with. As I eluded to in my last post, since coming back, I want to be intentional with my time & the relationships I have with the people. Regardless that I am here a short amount of time, I can still make a change and they can impact my life greatly. About a week & a half ago, on October 6, I had a very memorable day. I remember thinking to myself that morning, “today is a good day to have a good day.” A simple statement changed the trajectory of that day.. Almost on a daily basis, there are two Thai women who work in the new women’s center Outpour will be launching soon, and they make some of the products they will be selling (laptop bags, pencil bags, duffel bags). As I was working on projects at Outpour, and found myself in between something to do, I asked Paw Wah, one of the two women I mentioned, what she was working on, and she invited me over to her sewing machine where we then worked together for a couple hours and she showed me how to make a laptop bag. We talked about little things & laughed together. Later on I joined her and a couple others of the Outpour staff for lunch. That was such a special time for me. That day was a reminder of what God can do with a simple “yes” in my spirit. I made a conscious and intentional effort to try to connect with people here, and I already started to see the fruit of that. That’s just one short story of my experiences here. Beyond that, we have continued making trips to the Thai/Burmese border. One of our visits, on October 8, consisted of coloring & playing frisbee with kids in the same village we had previously went to, and visiting & speaking with a monks in their home. Ministry always looks different, but it’s often times so simple and that’s what I appreciate about it. The next time we went to the border, on October 10, part of our team made the bike ride to the border and rather than venturing off to the village, we stayed along the path that spans No Man’s Land, and had a time of prayer. We prayed over No Man’s Land, Burma, Thailand, its government, and the hearts of its people. We know that our words have the power of life & death in them and we wanted to take an opportunity together to declare God’s promises over these nations and their people. On Sunday, October 9, after attending church at the Refuge Home, we made a stop at a Buddhist Temple on the way back to the team house. Our intention was to walk around & pray for the temple and the people who visit it, while also observing the temple itself. With the information that we were told on what it means to be Buddhist, the religion itself essentially operates with no sense of eternal hope. They worship idols that eventually crumble. Nevertheless, it gave me appreciation, perspective, and understanding of my faith. A couple times a week, a couple of my teammates and I ride out to the Refuge Home to teach English for a couple hours. This has been a huge highlight for me during our time here, so i’ll be writing all about it in its own post. With Outpour specifically, it has been incredible for our team to have a part in their new project launching soon. Unfortunately, I can’t say much information about it because it hasn’t officially launched yet. But just know, starting next month, something special is starting here with the potential and likelihood to change the atmosphere of this community. These are just a few highlights and short stories of my time here. Some moments, like teaching at the Refuge Home, going all the way into Myanmar (Burma) just yesterday, and witnessing one of my teammates get baptized today, i’ll be sharing all about soon. We’ll be in Mae Sot for another ten or so days. I know I say it somewhat often, but I can’t wait to see and be a part of what the Lord will do here!
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It’s October, and i’ve been away from home for over a month now. For most of our team it feels as though we have been here much longer than we have, and other times we feel as though it couldn’t have possibly been a month already. It’s a little bittersweet to be missing the entire fall season back in the states. But on the bright side our leader is Canadian, so we get two Thanksgivings. Coming back to Mae Sot last week was hard for me, because I didn’t appreciate the reason we had to come back, but I have seen the goodness of God & His provision play out in front of my very eyes in the last week or so. We came back to the same house we were initially at, partnered back up with Outpour Movement, and started on new & old projects. Since coming back wasn’t necessarily planned, there was a World Race team that came while we were away. I will say it’s been interesting to have around twenty people in the same house with three restrooms, four bedrooms, and one wifi router. We’ve also gone back to restaurants & coffee shops that we frequented and have found some new ones. Part of being back means we get to pour into and be filled up by the people we interact with and invest more time with them, than if we would have stayed in Mae La Noi. That doesn’t only include the American staff & volunteers who have devoted their time here, but also the Thai & Burmese men and women who work and serve alongside Outpour. It has been fun just to get to know them in a small way and get to know their culture during the time that we are here. My favorite day by far since being back this last week was visiting the Thai/Burmese border. Mae Sot is a border town which is why we have been able to interact and meet both Thai and Burmese people. We have now had two opportunities to visit separate parts of the border… Our first visit was the day before we left Mae Sot the first time on Tuesday, September 20. We loaded up in a couple trucks and took a short drive toward the border. Once we pulled off a main road into a parking area, we walked across the street, and in an obscured view I could see a gap of land and a river in between - the border of Thailand and Burma. Once we went down a steep flight of stairs, we boarded a thin, slightly unstable, and wobbly boat. We boarded slowly and evenly sitting across from one another making sure that the boat didn’t tip over. We rode across this river with a distance of about fifty-sixty feet. After we unloaded the boat, we walked up a steep flight of stairs, and sat on the ground where we prayed over this nation and were led in some worship songs by Ray, the founder of Outpour. We sat there for about an hour & a half taking in our surroundings, praying, & worshipping over this nation. It was definitely a very special time, but, most of us left with an overwhelming heaviness in our hearts. for what this country has endured. “Your will be done in Burma as it is in Heaven.” Our intention of going there was to pray over the country of Burma (now known as Myanmar). There has been a lot of oppression & civil tension in Burma over the past many decades, and there has only recently (in the last three years or so) been a cease-fire that has mostly been respected. Partly due to the cease-fire and partly because of the government, the country itself had been previoulsy closed to all foreigners. Burma has been a country that people have fled from, and some of the people who still live there don’t live in the most ideal conditions. Please pray circles around this country, its people, & their government officials. The staff at Outpour have huge hearts to see restoration here, and it has been amazing to have a small part in it. Our second visit to the border was a few days ago on Friday, September 30. This time we rode our bikes through Mae Sot & along the main highway to a different part of the border. At this part of the border, there is a piece of land known as “No Man’s Land” which hasn’t been claimed by either Burma or Thailand. Around three-hundred people of all ages live in this stretch of land that is covered in trash & would be considered inhospitable living conditions by many. Since there isn’t necessarily rules or laws here, people go here to escape the law, and there is a continuing problem of drugs and trafficking here. We walked along the outside of No Man’s Land on a paved sidewalk to have a glimpse of what it looks like. After a few minutes, we encountered a Burmese woman who was holding her young son. Our leaders got to talking with her & hearing a bit of her story. She soon invited all thirteen of us to her home - which i’ll mention a little later. From there we went off the sidewalk onto a roughly defined path through, at times, thick brush. The woman we met welcomed us into the village she lives in, and that our leaders had not previously known of. We were brought into the Village Temple where we talked with the leader of the village for a short while. It was very endearing to be welcomed in the way that we were. From there we were led by two men of the Thai military around the outskirts of this village. At times I felt as though I was walking through a dense forest. We would walk out of thick brush with mud on our feet but with smiles on our faces. We saw & witnessed the means in which people live, and I was reminded of how I felt while visiting Haiti for the first time. All the people we encountered were so kind and welcoming. When we made our way back to the start of our walk, we saw the same woman again & we went to her home. Her home had a mud ground surrounded by walls made of wood, but they had everything they needed. We heard more about her family, and how her husband had previously been shot in the leg and is recovering with reoccurring pain from that injury, she has slightly impaired vision, and their son is very young, so we prayed for them. Afterwards, we were given a Thai vegetable (that we’re still not quite sure what it is) as a parting gift. I found that time so special, and I really appreciated how that woman was willing to seek out connection with us - which eventually led to us meeting her family, being welcomed into their home, and praying for them. My heart was so happy that day. It was another reminder of why we were brought back to Mae Sot. I feel as though I am living the life that I have only ever dreamt of. from our first visit to the border The pictures we were able to take in the village were limited, and since we were told we would be coming back to the same area at a later time, I decided to only take the group pictures at the beginning of the day, and our Burmese friend, John, took the other pictures.
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This is a blog about the ups & downs of early
adulthood, God's goodness & faithfulness, & life in other countries. “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
Habakkuk 1:5 NIV Archives
June 2017
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