Chris, Sarah-jo, and I arrived in Mae Sai after a five and a thirteen hour bus ride. We decided to leave the students for a few days and go ahead of them. It was 7am and we didn't even know where to say. We had a taxi driver take us to a guest house and hoped and prayed for God to bless us. He drove straight up to the border checkpoint and then took the last road on the left down into the market area which was a small China town. Literally in the middle of a crammed market area we were dropped off at the guest house. As we climbed the four floors with our luggage all I could think about was getting sleep, and after 18.5 hours on a bus with no sleep I was very motivated to climb those stairs.
We entered the room and were immediately blown away by the view of the mountains of Burma. With just a tiny river separating us from the closed nation of Burma a.k.a Myanmar, we were as close as you can get with a birds eye view. I went straight to bed and woke up after having a pretty crazy dream about being bitten by snakes. Chris also had some crazy dreams and we realized that our location was a huge spiritual stronghold and we needed to cover each other with prayer and create an environment in our room that was soaked in Gods presence. After staying in locations that were covered in prayer for the past two months we realized it was our turn especially if we wanted to have any joy or peace in this place of Spiritual chaos.
The rest of our team will join us on Friday and we will then go across the border to Burma so we can get visas for our last couple weeks in Thailand. We will do our best to soak this place in prayer and get perspective for the rest of our time in Thailand. It's overwhelming coming to places like this where there seems to be no glimmer of hope or sign of progress but, sitting in Gods presence and remembering who it is that we serve brings more hope than I could ever create.
"The number of Burmese women and girls travelling to Thailand through Mae Sai to enter the sex industry is increasing. 60% of them are under 18 years of age." (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Influx of Burmese sex workers via Mae Sai on the rise," Bangkok Post, 2 June 1997)
"20,000-30,000 Burmese women are in prostitution in Thailand." (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”
Psalm 91:14-16
My prayer is that the people of Burma will know God and cry out to him.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Straining toward whats ahead
Our time in Cambodia has ended and our work in Thailand has just began. Leaving Battambang was a very sad time. We had a great time of ministry there and many friendships were formed. We were able to plant many seeds and see authentic interest in a relationship with Jesus. It's almost too easy to see God moving there. You get a real sense of how much God loves people and is seeking a people that are desperate for Him.
There were at least 20 of our friends at the house the morning we left Battambang. We were able to stay at a pastors house the whole time where we were cooked delicious khmer dishes and soups. They really treated us like family and dealt with our loud Western culture for 7 weeks. I started to feel at home sharing a bedroom with my co-leader Chris Little, making coffee every morning at 4:30am and enjoying the presence of God in our room covered with pink tile all over the walls. It was a huge 3 story house that was mainly built to house all of the YWAM teams that were there serving. We would have our prayer and worship times on the empty open roof space where we would have all the loud city noises including the metal workshop that was next door.
Getting into Thailand was like leaving a spiritual warzone. Phisically and spiritually I could feel the diffence of the atmosphere of the two countries. It's almost a relief to be in Thailand right now but the biggest challenge is to keep focus and have perspective that outreach is not over in any way. This is a mentally challenging time because most of us want to start talking about Christmas and home.
We are working at a local church in Kantharalak, Thailand. Teaching english, sharing testimonies, doing dramas, and giving out bibles. It is amazing getting to go into the schools and talk about Jesus and his love to hundreds of young Thai kids. After our time here we will go up to Mai Sia which is the very north of Thailand and Serve in a wedding!
Well my prayer this next month is Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Alot has happened so far but my eyes need to stay on the prize!
There were at least 20 of our friends at the house the morning we left Battambang. We were able to stay at a pastors house the whole time where we were cooked delicious khmer dishes and soups. They really treated us like family and dealt with our loud Western culture for 7 weeks. I started to feel at home sharing a bedroom with my co-leader Chris Little, making coffee every morning at 4:30am and enjoying the presence of God in our room covered with pink tile all over the walls. It was a huge 3 story house that was mainly built to house all of the YWAM teams that were there serving. We would have our prayer and worship times on the empty open roof space where we would have all the loud city noises including the metal workshop that was next door.
Getting into Thailand was like leaving a spiritual warzone. Phisically and spiritually I could feel the diffence of the atmosphere of the two countries. It's almost a relief to be in Thailand right now but the biggest challenge is to keep focus and have perspective that outreach is not over in any way. This is a mentally challenging time because most of us want to start talking about Christmas and home.
We are working at a local church in Kantharalak, Thailand. Teaching english, sharing testimonies, doing dramas, and giving out bibles. It is amazing getting to go into the schools and talk about Jesus and his love to hundreds of young Thai kids. After our time here we will go up to Mai Sia which is the very north of Thailand and Serve in a wedding!
Well my prayer this next month is Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Alot has happened so far but my eyes need to stay on the prize!
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