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Hope In Heaven

Friends!! Sawadeekah (hello)!!!!

    After 42 hours of traveling, we have FINALLY made it to Thailand! We stayed for one night in Bangkok, & are now at our host home for the month in Ratchaburi.
 I can’t tell you what day it is or what time it is, but what i can tell you, is that God is on the move.
 
May 31 was when our team arrived to Gainesville, GA for training camp. From the moment we all stepped foot into the AIM building, God’s goodness has been so evident & so abundant. He carefully handpicked each person on this team & for that, i am so grateful. Each of these girls push me closer to Jesus, encourage me, love me, and even better, they show me a different side of Jesus’ heart every day (literally the are the best, i could write an entire post on them). Training camp was just the beginning for me of seeing God at work.
 
 
 
Our first day in Thailand was spent in Bangkok (see pic above), learning about the people & the Thai customs. After one day there, we traveled to Ratchaburi, where we would be for the rest of the month. When we arrived, Noiy & Bronwyn (our hosts) welcomed us in with open arms. We went over our schedule & discussed each day, excited to start loving on the people of Ratchaburi and sharing the best news we’ve ever gotten with them! 
 
Yesterday, we were able to take part in an ongoing ministry here called Rice Seeds.
Currently, there is a war happening in Burma and many families have left & come to Thailand in hopes of finding safety & a better life for their family. They come from poor Karen villages on the border of Myanmar, & they now live in the Burmese migrant community in Ratchaburi. What this means is that the children don’t have citizenship in Burma, and they don’t have citizenship in Thailand – aka, they have no citizenship anywhere. Most of the kids of these families are taken out of school at 12 years old to start working on construction sites to help provide for their family. Knowing all this, Rice Seeds has created a sponsorship program that seeks to help these underprivileged children realize their full potential, by raising sponsors to keep them in school for as long as possible. 
 
Every Friday, Rice Seeds does a children’s church for the Burmese kids. Yesterday, we were able to lead it! About 15 kids came & we got to feed them cake, play games, & share the love of Jesus with them. As they were all coming up to the building, i saw the cutest little girl ever on a moto with her brothers and sisters. As she got off the moto, she started running right towards me, so fast her shoes LITERALLY fell off as she ran. Y’all, my heart was bursting!! Her name is Bow & she’s 2 years old (see pic below). We played with blocks, made silly faces at each other, & laughed at pictures in books. She was so sweet and so full of joy. As i was playing with her, i couldn’t help but think about her future. She’s growing up in an environment that determines her future for her – you can be a cement-maker, a brick-layer, a vendor on the street, but nothing more. To want to be a doctor, a teacher, or even own a business isn’t something that’s possible. She’s growing up in an atmosphere where having dreams is pointless. Along with that, she’s growing up in a place where she “doesn’t belong.” She’s not a citizen of Burma and she’s not a citizen of Thailand, so who is she? Where is her citizenship? 
 
 
“For our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 
                                               Philippians 3:20
 
Although Bow, her family, & all the other Rice Seeds children don’t have citizenship here on this earth, they can have something far better: citizenship in heaven. While they may not feel like a part of something here on this earth, or included, or like they have somewhere to call home, Jesus is constantly loving them & reminding them of where they belong & that with Him is where they can call home. 
 
While Bow has that hope for the future, it doesn’t mean that she has to be hopeless about the present. 
 



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