Here in Thailand Buddhist temples are quite a sight to see. They are often big and white with gold spires, red roofs and elaborate decorations covering them. About a week ago, I visited Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, a temple high up on Doi Suthep mountain, 15 km from the city of Chiang Mai. As I watched the people giving money, bowing down to idols, ringing bells, laying down roses and reciting prayers, I couldn’t help but think to myself that religion is weird. Why do we do these silly things?
Since that day I find myself questioning whether or not the things I "do for God" look just like any other religion to someone on the outside of Christianity looking in. I am ashamed to admit they could be easily mistaken for exactly that. How is what I do any different from them? For example, last night as I was walking to dinner with a friend, I passed by a man sitting on the ground. His outstretched leg had a raw wound open and bleeding. He was holding a small child on his lap in one arm and shaking a plastic can in the other. I saw one girl stop to drop a few coins in his cup while the rest of us stepped over and around him. I know what Jesus would have done had he come across this same man and I know what he asks me to do when he crosses my path with his hurting people, yet I kept walking. After all, I don't speak Thai! My remedy for most bodily ailments is taking 2 advil and dealing with it, how could I help? I have no supplies on me. I have no idea where a hospital is. I told my friend I'd eat dinner with him! I don't want to have to withdrawal more money out of the ATM because it costs $5 each time and I have just enough for my meals until we leave. Blah, blah, blah, excuse after excuse jumped to the front of my mind reasoning away the leading of the Holy Spirit. And I do this so often!
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25: 35,36,40
My life should be radically different for the sake of Jesus' name and what He has done for me. If I'm not whole heartedly committed and if my actions don't mimic the words coming out of my mouth and vice versa, I am the same as the people I see here in Thailand bowing down to their brazen images and honoring things made by man.
Lifeless.
Deceived.
Foolish.
Lost.
God forgive me and help me to love your people!
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:22 - 27
A relationship with Jesus is hard. It's not something you can do half heartedly or on the side.
"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his lifefor my sake will find it.'" Matthew 16:24-25
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:14
I like to imagine what would have happened if I had stopped dead in my tracks, fallen to that man's side and embraced him. If I had grabbed someone to translate and told him not to worry, God had sent me and I was going to take him to the hospital. What would have happened if I had stayed with him until morning, payed his hospital bill and found somewhere for him and his boy to stay.
I know what it would have meant to me, if I were in his shoes. And I would have wanted to know more about this God who sent them. Can you imagine? So much glory could be brought to Jesus' name, if only I would be willing to give Him everything I have.
Before I say anything about our ministry in Thailand, I have GOT to tell you about Songkran!
Where to begin?? Okay, apparently April is the worst time to visit Thailand seeing as it is the hottest month of the year unless..... you make it here for SONGKRAN - the celebration of Thai New Year (not to be confused with Loy Krathong - the Thai Lantern Festival - which I had really wanted to see but its in November)!!
Anyway, here in Chiang Mai, Songkran lasts 3 full days. Roads close, food vendors line the streets, stages are put together, performers are brough in, trucks are loaded with barrels of water and water guns are filled for the biggest, bestest, longest WATER FIGHT I have ever seen!
At first the idea of walking around wet did not appeal to me - the heat was bad enough to deal with...little did I know how much I would come to love this holiday! Day two, Melissa, Bethany, Natasha and I decided to find out what all the fuss was about downtown. I didn't know what to expect at this point but I wanted to be ready so Melissa and I purchased our 90 baht ($3.00) "heavy duty" water guns. Ten minutes later, having only shot the people on my team, I was gun-less due to a minor malfunction...the water barrel broke off!! I was pretty disappointed and tried to negotiate a new gun for free but the lady wasn't going for it.
So the four of us begin walking down the street toward the center of town, unaware of what we were about to walk into. Restaurant owners literally stand outside their places of business with barrels of water throwing buckets of it on anyone who passes by: young, old, songtow (the public transportation here), moped - no exceptions! It is both hilarious and extremely dangerous. I almost slipped many times throughout the day!
A couple hours later (we didn't realize how far away it was) we arrive in the center of it all and I begin to realize just how big of a deal this holiday is to the Thai people! So many people were there and ALL ages! It was so exciting to be apart of it! Who would have guessed you could shoot a complete stranger in the face with a water gun and they would genuinly smile back at you??
Something else you should be ready for is having white paste wiped on your face at random times throughout the day. I still have absolutely no idea what this means but should you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai, Thailand during Songkran - don't be alarmed!
I am realizing there is too much that happens to write about in one blog, so I guess you'll just have to come to experience it for yourself!
It is time for you to meet my new team, Love in Reality!
Left to right: Evan Bates, me, Melissa Crilly, Bethany Waddell, Natasha Grass, and Christopher Beaudoin
For those of you who don't know, here on the world race there is a position known as squad leader. Squad leaders basically run the show out here on the field. They are the first to find out all the good stuff like where we will be in each country as well as the ministries we will be involved in. They spend a lot of time in prayer and visiting the various teams throughout the month making sure things are running smoothly and evaluating each one's growth. For the first three months, each squad is lead by 3 alumni world racers until they decide 3 new leaders from within our squad have some idea of what is going on and are capable of taking their place.
By the time Nicaragua rolled around, I was both looking forward to and dreading the possibility of team changes. I knew my team and they knew me so the idea of starting over again wasn't thrilling. I guess it was a good thing they were asking God's opinion and not mine! He knows what He is doing. For example, he put me on this new team to whom I love dearly and look forward to spending possibly the next seven months with!
One thing I have been learning this month is that Satan will try to use fear to keep us from so many blessings that God wants to give us in life.
My favorite thing in Nicaragua has been playing soccer with these guys in the afternoons. I was pretty nervous the first time I joined in for several reasons: one, these guys have been playing soccer since they were old enough to walk, while I had only played one year in high school; two, I was the only girl; three, I don't understand a lot Spanish; and four, it was very likely I would do something foolish - like pass the ball to the wrong team or miss the ball completely! (thankfully, only one of those things happened) It sounds silly but those fears could have easily held me back from playing soccer that day and I would have missed out on such a fun experience and a chance to grow God's Kingdom. Not only did I feel full of joy after playing a simple game of soccer but from that day on the guys considered me a friend. Another cool part - after the game, most of the guys came over to tell me that I was a good defensive player!
Things like this will happen when you step out in faith. I challenge you to face a fear you have and see how God shows up.
If you are scared of this, start out small. He wants to show us His power in big and small things.
I have let fear rule my life for too long! Fear of man, fear of failure, etc. What fears are holding you back?
A verse that has encouraged me in this is 2 Timothy 1:7 "For the Spirit that God gave us is not of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind."
Elvis, Melissa, Kevin Lester and I Carlos and Peggy Jonathan and I
Helloooo from Jinotepe, Nicaragua!! For the next 2 weeks we will be working with a ministry called Nueva Vida (New Life). Bonnie or "Momma B" has the lovely task of taking care of us during our stay here :0) Interesting fact about Bonnie: she is from Lancaster, PA! What are the odds that I would meet someone here that I grew up 2 hours from? God is funny like that sometimes.
Bonnie's ministry is similar to that of Tony's in Honduras with Zion's Gate. One difference being, the boys she cares for grew up in several orphanages before their lives intersected a couple years ago. At that time, Bonnie was not yet living in Nicaragua but traveling back and forth between here and the United States until finally she felt God gave her the go ahead to move here permanently. Bonnie couldn't be happier.
I know why. The people here love her to death! Yesterday was her birthday and some friends of hers, who live in the barrios (neighborhood), threw her a party. The night began with a word from God by the man of the house which turned into us singing several worship songs acapella until the cake was brought out! The 7 World Racer's eyes bulged at the sight of such a delicacy, haha. The best part of the night though was testimony time. Several people spoke about how much Bonnie has meant to them. Her "adopted" son, Carlos (19), translated for us. You could hear the pride in his voice and sense his respect and affection for her by the way he embraced her. Watching the scene filled me with anticipation for what is to come during our stay here. I can't wait to tell you all the amazing things God does through Bonnie, through us, and through this ministry!
Two other boys live at Nueva Vida with us: Elvis (26) and Jonathan (19).
Please be praying for rest - some of the girls on my team haven't been able to sleep through the night and wake up feeling exhausted. Pray for my heart to be softened - I find myself holding back from pouring my heart into these boys because our time here is so short. Pray for finances - 4 out of the 7 girls on my team have not reached their $11,000 April 1st deadline. If you'd like to help them out let me know by email asvancamp@gmail.com or facebook!
E-squad arrived safely in Honduras, praise the Lord!
The ministry we are working with this month is called Zion's Gate. Zion's Gate was founded and is run by a man named Tony. Tony is in his 40s. He moved here to Honduras 5 years ago after he discovered his passion for working with street kids. God has already done amazing things for Tony and his wife, Nedia's ministry. For example, many people were vying for what we call "the property." A 20 acre stretch of land on the outskirts of the capital city, Tegucigalpa. Once the couple who own the property heard Tony and Nedia's vision for the land their hearts were softened. Even though many others were willing to pay more rent money for this particular piece of property the couple lowered the rate and gave it to Tony and Nedia! [I posted some pictures on facebook for you to see because they wouldn't upload on this site...sorry for those of you who don't have facebook!]
The past couple of days we have been getting to know the kids who are currently living with Tony and his wife as well as cleaning/fixing up with property and buildings. Yesterday 4 girls and myself spent about 4 hours cleaning his kitchen and today we will work on the upstairs of the house. Others were digging a ditch for the water pipes, hauling stones, chopping weeds, chipping paint, etc. Eventually, Tony wants the 20 acres turned into a park for everyone in Tegucigalpa to enjoy. There are about a dozen street kids who wander on and off right now. Their names are Herman, Ariele, Carlos, Fernando, Mario, Luis, Christopher, and Rino. Most of these boys eat 3 meals a day with Tony and some of them even spend the night at his house. The work he is doing in these boys lives is inspiring! I am so excited to spend an entire month with him and his "family!"
Tomorrow morning all of E squad will be traveling by bus to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for month 2 of the world race.
I don't know if you heard this but Honduras has recently been named the most dangerous country in the world. Please keep us in your prayers!
There is something about working with middleschool/highschoolers that I just love. We've gotten to lead youth groups two different times and both have turned out to be pretty amazing experiences. We performed a human video that we created to the song "Times" by Tenth Avenue North. We wanted it to address issues that we were dealing with when we were their age.
I portrayed a girl struggling with self worth, Peggy, an abused girl, Anjali, depression/suicide, and Leah, peer pressure. Andrea played Satan, whispering lies into us and giving us labels that brought death to our spirits when we believed them. Dura played Jesus (since we are an all girls team) who redeemed us and gave us a new name in Him...kind of hard to explain. Hopefully, I will be able to get a copy of the video and post it on here for you to see!
Afterward, Andrea shared some of her testimony. Then, my favorite part of the night! The 7 of us gathered on the front stage and sang the song "How He Loves" (there is a really good version of this song by David Crowder Band I recommend you check it out!)
He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me (2x)
And He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us oh
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking
And Heaven meets Earth like an unforseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way
He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us oh
El nos ama
Oh Dios nos ama
Oh El nos ama
Quan grand de amor
Afterward, the teens come up front for prayer and we just spend the next few minutes praying over as many of them as we can. I love speaking truth into their lives...that they are children of the Most High God; that they are loved; that they are beautiful in His sight; that they are strong and bold and courageous, etc.
I know they can't catch a lot of what I'm saying but some gets through and I trust God is working and taking care of the rest. :0)
