hellllllo!!!! For a week I have been waking up in Thailand, enjoying my time with Jesus and admiring His sunrise. Thailand is absolutely beautiful and the people are so full of joy. This entire week I have been in awe of the community that we are based in. It’s a cute, safe, middle class community. There is new construction, no one is begging on the sidewalks, and everyone seems well fed. Somehow as I was thanking Jesus for allowing me to enjoy this town, I started feeling guilty and doubting that this was not God’s plan for a mission trip. I mean the AC was working so hard last night had to cover my cold toes with a blanket, surely this can’t be right?? I haven’t been hungry- if anything I have been waaaaaay too full. I just genuinely started feeling guilty about being so content with the living conditions.
As soon as my mind was almost done filling itself with lies- Jesus reminded me that His freedom was created for ALL people. ALL people which includes all classes, races, ages, and genders. His love is meant to be shared with the middle class 18 year old trendy girl at the mall. It’s meant to be shared with the 4 year old orphan without a home. It’s meant to be shared with the 55 year old wealthy, successful fashion designer. He reminded me that although someone has everything necessary to survive in the flesh doesn’t mean they still aren’t empty spiritually.
with a little help from dictionary.com here are the literal definitions of mission trip:
Mission: an important duty or task that is assigned
&
Trip: the act of going to a place and returning
It can be easy to associate the phrase “mission trip” with this stereotypical idea of going to a third world country and staying in an area overcome with poverty. While you are there you love on the orphans, feed the hungry, help the sick, and teach them sustainable living practices. While the Lord commands ALL of these things, and it is necessary in order to completely follow His instruction, He also sets a GREAT (intensity considerably about the average/normal) COMMISSION (an authoritative order) in to place for our lives.
a little more help from dictionary.com:
Great: intensity considerably above the average/normal
&
Commission: an authoritative order
His intensely above average authoritative order for us as Christians is ”…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”
Matthew 28:19-20
In Thailand approximately 1% of the population are Christians. Which means only 1% of 68.9 MILLION people know Jesus. 8.6% of the Thai people are living below the poverty line. They have a physical need and they also have a spiritual need. Although the other 91.4% of these people may not have a physical need, every single one of them have a hunger to be satisfied spiritually.
We were able to walk around and pray for the town of Ratchaburi. I was able to go into the temple and see broken Buddhist women laying their troubles before the statues, longing to be comforted. My heart broke knowing that the comfort they have been seeking generation is the comfort that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Without Him it is impossible to ever fully be satisfied. Jesus taught me that although the mission field might look a little different sometimes than what we as society have pin pointed it as, HE has an ultimate plan for our time in Thailand. Although we WILL be serving the underprivlage children/the needy/the imprisioned, He showed me that even on our “off” days when we aren’t necessarily ”serving” there are still opportunities to share His gift of love and freedom. To all people.
EXAMPLE A:
Kuk Kik!!!! My girl!!!! She radiates pure joy. I am going to shorten the story a tad but follow the link at the end to go read the full details on Jordan’s blog !!!!
At training camp, we listened to a message about finding one person. The mission field is so large that sometimes it can be overwhelming to focus on every single person. Finding one person and loving them, leading them, and discipling them can plant the seed for many many many people along that one’s life. As we were in the fancy Thailand mall buying groceries, Jordan was praying for the opportunity to share the gospel with just one. while looking at pens, a cute trendy 18 year old girl, Kuk Kik shows up and tells her that although those pens are cute they in fact are not the best lol. Jordan thanks her and the convo ended. Jo was discouraged and felt guilty for not sharing the reason why she was here and started praying for another chance and an open door to lead into the gospel. And what do ya know here comes Kuk Kik walking back to ASK WHY THEY WERE IN THAILAND?! Of course they wound up being able to share about Jesus through the language barrier and then got some of her info, with the intent of staying in contact. They parted ways and then found me. I showed them the fruit I bought and they told me they just shared Jesus with an 18 year old girl. Boy did that cute fruit become a lot less important. As we were talking we decided to go find the rest of the group and as we spotted them, GUESS WHO WAS SITTING AT THE TABLE. Kuk Kik!!!! She found our host, Noiy, and started asking him questions about the “powerful man in the sky” lol. Noiy invited her to join us the next day on a scavenger hunt prayer walk in the city of Ratchaburi. The next day she met up with Mikayla and I and we got to explore the town and take lots of silly pics. We met up with Jo and Hannah and continued our day of having fun and just loving on her. She helped us communicate with the Thai people and even asked them if it was okay for her friends to pray for them. She helped us tell them how much we love them and Thailand. As we were having so much fun we lost track of time and wound up being late to our meeting spot at the coffee shop, but hey it was so worth it. When we got there we continued to fellowship and goof around- belly laughing every two minutes because Thai people are SO funny. Towards the end, Noiy asked for a few of the team members to share what Jesus looks like in their life and he helped translate. He then went on to tell her what Jesus looked like in his life (he was a Buddhist and got saved in college). He asked her if she wanted to know Jesus like we do and she said YES. Right there before our eyes she excepted Jesus as her Lord and savior FOREVER!!!! How GREAT is our God!!!!!! He planted used Jordan to plant a little seed, He allowed all of us to help water it, and in less than 24 hours, HE produced the GROWTH. We celebrated with her and told her that heaven was rejoicing too!!! Her smile and tears were incredible. Kuk Kik said her heart was filled with warmth and she could feel Him sitting with her while she made her decision. Wow our God is so awesome and wild and sweet. I can’t wait to continue to help her learn and grow over the next month and to watch the impact her life will have on others for many many many years to come.
He has been teaching me so much- but the biggest lesson was through Kuk Kik.
The mission field is not limited to only sharing Jesus with those who need physical needs fulfilled as well. I mean Kuk Kik has all that she needed physically. We didn’t have to give her anything physically. All she needed was to hear about Jesus.
It’s so important for us as Christians to remember:
you can be spiritually hungry/thirsty without being physically hungry/thirsty
you need a savior, even if you aren’t in danger
you need a Heavenly Father even if you have an earthy father
you can be spiritually deprived without being physically deprived
Thank you, Jesus for your kindness. Thank you for assigning us a task having a plan to fulfill it. Thank you for allowing us the joy to plant and water Your seed. Please continue to give us more and more of Your heart every day. All of the glory Yours, Jesus. Your ways are so wonderful and wild. and WE LOVE YOU!!!! amen
thank yall for sticking with me to the end of this long blog 🙂 Jesus has been so so good to us and I just couldn’t find a way to make it short!!!!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. Here is the link to finish reading about Kuk Kik, our new sister in Christ!!
Jordan’s blog post : http://passport.adventures.org/post/you-need-this-one
