Back in Thailand, our team was given a list of seven
different contacts in Ghana, and asked to pray about where we wanted to go
next. At some point I would like to
share the story of how it happened, but by a move of God, we decided on a
ministry called Jesus Shalom House Ministries.
Rev. Martha, our contact for the month, runs a ministry
mainly to women, and holds a nightly worship service. This month we have had the opportunity to
visit these worship gatherings every night, share a song or two, someone from
either our team or Team Increase gives a sermon, and then we pray for various
people in the congregation.
Matthew and Rev. Martha at the fishing port
At the end of our first worship meeting, a man came up to me
to ask for prayer. What was he going to
ask me to pray for? A job? His finances? No, he wanted wisdom and knowledge. The next man had a similar prayer request, "I want to do the will of God."
One night we were asked to attend an all night prayer
meeting that lasted from 10pm-4:30am. It
was a wild night of dancing, praying, singing, worshiping, shouting, shooting
guns, etc. Tim, the leader of Team
Increase, spoke on foot washing and then our teams washed the feet of all 40 or
so of the people in attendance.
Yes that's right, 10:000pm to 4:00am ALLNIGHT
I was asked to
prepare a sermon for the night and at around 2:30am, I was finally asked to
come up and speak. As I made my way to the front I was given a musical
introduction that lasted a good 2 minutes. The main texts for my sermon were Romans 1:16-17 and Psalm 63:3, but I
also quoted a few others as the Spirit led (including Matt. 8:20, Mark 6:4,
Luke 4:24, John 15:18-20, Matt. 24:9-10, Matt. 6:19-20, Mark 8:34-37, Luke
14:33, Phil. 4:11, Romans 5:6-11, etc.).I might have talked about money a little bit, as the "come to Jesus and
He will make you rich, healthy, and popular" message seems to be pretty
prevalent around here. That would be a
great message if it weren't for those things that Jesus said and did. He said things like, "if anyone would be my
disciple, he must renounce all that he has," or, "you will be hated by all for
my name's sake." Jesus was homeless,
hated, and well, I don't know if He was ever sick, the Scriptures never say; He
was just crucified.
I learned that I use my hands a lot when I preach.
Other things we have done with Rev. Martha include visiting
orphanages, praying for people at local hospitals, going to the port to
evangelize and pray for people, and one day we went to a national prayer
meeting (the President of Ghana even made an appearance). There was something foreign about seeing the
leadership of Ghana stand up and affirm the teachings of Jesus Christ without
fear.
Kelsey Sage, praying for a woman we met at the port.
In Texas we have the Christian Chicken, Chic-fil-a.
The National Prayer Gathering, Accra square. Can you spot the president? Neither could I.
Weston Belkot, one of my adorable squad leaders, spent the
last month hanging out with myself and Team Jubilee. He made this little "a day in the life of..."
video to give you an idea of what a typical day was like for us in Kantharalak,
Thailand. He did an excellent job on this video but every day was so unique you
would have needed like 15 of these to really get a good feel for the month. Big thanks to Mr. Weston for doing this
though.
At some point in the last three days, our squad left
Bangkok.
After 3 and a half weeks in Kantharalak, Thailand my team had to say
our goodbyes. This time I was especially
fond of our ministry contact and the location. Being on the World Race means
that I get to fall in love with people, places, and ministries for a month and
then say goodbye eleven times a year.
Saying goodbye to one of the children's ministries we visited.
Because my team and one other were the only two teams who
spent this past month in Thailand, we were among the first to arrive at the
YWAM base back in Bangkok after our 7 hour bus ride from Kantharalak. While waiting for the rest of the squad to
get back from Cambodia and Vietnam I seized the opportunity to raid a local
Seven Eleven, repack, and shave my beard (possibly for the last time ever) before
I slipped into bed.
Getting up before the rest of the guys at around 7am and
knowing that our truck wouldn't take us to the Bangkok International Airport
until 7pm, I took myself on a little adventure. I had previously decided that I would use this time to go swimming with
the sharks, but altered my plan a bit when I realized you have to pay nearly
$60 to swim with sharks in Thailand. Instead I toured the aquarium and paid $5
to take a small, glass-bottom boat around the shark tank while I threw small
sea life over the edge of the boat and watched as massive creatures of all
varieties swarmed the boat. "Hello Shark," I said as one swam directly beneath
my boat.
I asked the seven-year old in line next to me if he thought of himself as an adventurer.
Back at YWAM before leaving Thailand, I challenged myself
not to sleep until we got to our Hotel in Ghana. I fell asleep in the truck on
the way to the airport.
Waking up at BKK a little after 8pm, we people watched until
boarding our plane at 12:45am. I just want you to know that there should be
laws on what women should and should not wear, ever.
On the 11 (or so) hour flight to Bangkok, I had the
opportunity to sit next to squad mate Amy Davidson. What an enjoyable experience that turned out
to be. She slept most of the flight, minus the meals and movie we enjoyed
together. I also found out her two
pet-peeves, of which, only one I recall at the moment.
We touched down in Kenya, where I fell asleep while reading
Leviticus, before we boarded our plane headed to Ghana. We arrived in Accra, Ghana sometime around
noon, where we were greeted by our contact, who crammed us into a bus, and took
us to a hotel nearby (1 hour drive that felt like 6).
We stayed two nights just outside of Accra, and today we
leave for "ministry."
Long story short: We are in Africa!
Here are some bonus shots to congratulate you the faithful reader, that needs to leave a comment below, and subscribe for blog updates over to the left:
"I saw a Nemo at the aquarium," I told a teammate.
Every time I see a jelly-fish I think of Will Smith.
I so regret not swimming with the sharks, but it gives me one more thing to look forward to for the next time I come to Thailand.
A view from the bottom of the boat.
I think there are only 3 paved roads in all of Ghana. This one was not.
I am working on my fiery preacher voice. "and God-uh said-uh"
This little guy stood next to me almost the entire two-hour plus service.
Four nights a week, since arriving in Kantharalak, Janna,
Jordan, and I taught a class of very small children how to speak English. When class began three weeks ago, none of the
students could speak any English. All of the children now know the following:
Run, Walk, March, Nod, Skip, Jump, Shake, Sit,
Stand, Clap
January, February, March, April, May, June,
July, August, September, October, November, December
Hello, how are you?
I am fine, thank you.
What is your name?
My name is...
My nickname is... (because the Thai names are
crazy long)
When is your birthday?
My birthday is in...
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
Good Bye.
Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Good
Night
Numbers 1-12, 15, 30, and 45
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink,
Brown, White, Black
·
Janna, Jordan, and I with our English class.
All of the students on our last night.
Matthew and Weston also taught an English class, but they
taught the older kids. They taught their students words like: Intangible,
Democracy, Existentialism, Hypostatic Union,* etc... I am way jealous.
Some of our students with the Thai-English bibles we gave them.
Either way it has been quite the learning experience, as I
have learned quite a bit about finding joy in things that I would typically not
enjoy (i.e. teaching children) because they allow us a chance to proclaim the
Gospel and build up the local church. The
last night of class we invited all the students to come back for a
presentation, where we did a skit, gave testimonies, and did our best to
proclaim the Gospel. I was glad to be
done with English, but I really wish I had more opportunities to pour into the
children and talk to their parents about Christ.
Matthew and Weston's English class.
Our last night of class we were given flowers, scarfs, potpuri, key chains, and candy by the students and parents.
*As Weston was proof-reading this blog post he informed me
that he didn't actually know what Hypostatic Union meant; therefore, there
might possibly be a small chance that I might have exaggerated a little bit,
maybe.
The pastor and his wife showed up with several hundred bibles from The Gideon's International. We would be handing out bibles, but we weren't quite sure where. It didn't really matter, because I would gladly give a Bible to anyone that would take it and possibly read it. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), it is through the word of God that men are born again (1 Peter 1:22-25, James 1:19-25), and it is through the Scriptures that we can come to an assurance that we truly know Christ (1 John 5:13); so yeah, I am way down with giving people the words of life.
Our intention is to hand the Bibles to soldiers at a local military base, and as we pull right up to the gate we are stopped and flagged over to the right. A couple soldiers, holding completely oversized machine guns, begin walking towards us. "Doesn't look like we will be giving the bibles out here today," I think to myself before I see the pastor's wife jump out of the cab, bibles in hand, and begin handing them to all the soldiers on guard. They won't allow us in, but they direct us down the road.
Not sure why we put away the camera when they came over.
We then pulled in to what appeared to be another military base. Turns out it is actually a military run camp for children. They call them boy scouts and girl scouts, but it is nothing like what you see back in the States.
Not sure whether this is orientation or indoctrination.
We get out of the truck, and begin handing bibles to all of the uniformed teachers, who greet us kindly, and thank us. We converse in broken Thai, Khmer, and English. Another uniformed gentleman directs us to where the children are, seated in rows, and awaiting orders. We hand out boxes and boxes of Bibles, and are taken to the next group of children, where we hand out more Bibles until we run out.
Boxes and boxes of Bibles.
The instructor doesn't even seem to notice me here.
A few days later, we would receive another shipment of nearly double the Bibles, and head back to the same camp, where a new group of kids are just arriving for camp. We watch the orientation speeches and the reading of the rules. The kids then pick up their bags and have to run through the mouth of a massive tiger head billboard thing and through a low ceilinged tunnel full of tires. We were waiting on the other side, to hand Bibles to the few hundred campers as they ran past. About fifteen minutes later buses full of new campers pull up and we do the whole thing again.
A new group of campers.
Running away, Bibles in hand.
Before leaving we hand out more Bibles to the staff, and are asked for a picture in front of the tiger's mouth. We might have handed out over a thousand Bibles. I think to myself, and maybe even say aloud, "I think I could probably do this every day for the rest of my life."
Rarrrrr...
As we pull away we think about how crazy it is that we were allowed to do what we just did. "If they knew what Jesus taught, they wouldn't be so eager to have us handing their children Bibles." One of the camp leaders told us that he has been reading the Bible we gave him, and that it brings him peace.
This guy has to have been the tallest Thai person there is.
Everyone, look at the white people and laugh so they will think we are talking about them!
Although, we weren't able to preach the Gospel to these children, we trust in the sufficiency of God's word, and are trusting in Him to do a great work.
Welcome to camp, let me get you a bible.
I had to take a turn running through the tiger's mouth.
Our second day of ministry we were taken into a massive
Buddhist compound to pray over the place that God would move in the hearts of
the men and women there and Draw them to Himself. I try the door to the entrance of one of the
buildings and go inside. We find some very unusual pictures depicting the
destruction of the World inside the temple. Michael Jackson is actually
depicted as burning in hell and well, the U.S. doesn't fare too well
either. This doesn't exactly remind me
of the Buddhism I was taught about in school. This temple, I find out, is actually a replica of a temple nearby that
is currently being warred over by Thailand and Cambodia. Aum and I pose for a
picture with the welcoming party. I pray
for big things for this place.
Pi Aum and I doing the Wai. Believe it or not, she is almost 5ft tall when she stands on her toes.
A replica of the temple that is being warred over. There was a Hot Wheels Ferrari parked out front.
The sign says, "Could you please bring me one of those Cream Custard Buns from 7-11? Oh, and maybe some Icy Hot?"
Prayer Walking the Aisles
We are then taken to a local store and asked to prayer walk
around it. Strange, but actually pretty cool. I've never thought to prayer walk
the local Wal-Mart. Matthew and I pose for a picture. I pray for big things.
Apparently this store follows Buddhist teachings.
Wearing our prayer masks.
Janna, my Salty
Friend.
The Pastor and his wife, Pi Teap, take us to the giant
temple thing that is in the center of the city. They ask us to walk around it
seven times praying. I pray big
things. As Matthew and I walk away the
building completely collapses into a pile of debris, and neither of us look
back. Janna however, looked back and was instantly turned into a pillar of
salt. I think, "I don't think that this
is what Jesus meant when He told her she was the Salt of the Earth."
We are currently working with an attorney on the movie rights on this one.
Yes, I'm sorry.
Okay, maybe the last bit was a bit imaginative.
I Think it's Time to
Plant a New Tree?
We are taken to a Chinese temple where they worship a tree,
a dead tree mind you. We pray. I catch Pi Aum taking a picture of herself with
her camera's timer feature. "That's a good idea," I think. I pray big things.
If I were going to worship a tree, I think I would pick one I could climb.
Pi Teap, prayer walking at the Chinese temple.
A Temple I Am Not
Allowed to Enter
We are taken to yet another Buddhist temple. This temple I
am not allowed to enter. It also is a part of a new compound being built. I
pray big things. You will not recognize this country when my generation has run
its course.
Back in Bangkok, we tried to make arrangements to head out
to our ministry location in a place called Kantharalak, near the Thai-Cambodia
border. We are going to stay at the
church. No, the YWAM base. No, the church. I go to the mall. They have pizza in a cone. I eat two. We leave for
Kantharalak.
Another, Short Bus
Ride Again
We meet our translator-for-the-month. Her name is
Khakanamporn Akkharanitikun. Aum, as we
call her, was born in Burma and was sent to live with an aunt in Thailand as a
child. Aum, Weston Belkot, and Team Jubilee, load a bus for the 5 or so hour
bus ride to Kantharalak. Apparently, to be staying at the church.
Aum, our translator, and team Jubilee. Wondering what we are doing on the side of the road?
A Warm Welcome
Our bus drops us off at the sign that says, "Kantharalak,"
on the side of the road. There is a
highway police station just off the road, where we sit awaiting our contact.
Kantharalak Church
The ministry we are working with this month is a church
called "Kantharalak" church. I really
haven't been able to have much conversation with the Pastor, Sompong, but he
wears really cool sunglasses.
Eating lunch with Pastor Sompong and his wife, Pi Teap.
Pampered
Our first night we go to dinner at a local restaurant, where
I eat some Pad-Sey-Ooh for just a dollar. We then go grocery shopping for the weeks food at the local
"Tesco-Lotus." Think Asian Wal-Mart. This store is like heaven for a World
Racer, Air-Conditioning, clean floors, a Dunkin Donuts, and lots of crazy cool
foods you don't see back home. Special
thanks to Jordan for making sure I got to eat a donut or two.
Sabbath Day Slumber
Our first day in Kantharalak we are allowed to rest from our
travels as well as check out the town. Kantharalak is a small town, built around a big Buddhist temple in the
center of the city, and has a crazy night-market that comes through every year
at this time.
A Great Time with The
Village People. Sorry, I Couldn't Resist.
Our first day of ministry we are taken to a nearby village
where we set up a P.A. and are asked to sing a few songs, share a few
testimonies, and pray for the villagers. Before long our meeting was moved to a
bigger location in front of a, presumably Buddhist, man's house, by invitation
even. I shared my testimony and used it
as an opportunity to talk to the villagers about God and the Gospel, and less about myself. We
prayed for everyone. It was a great time; I would compare it to say, maybe
bungee jumping, although I haven't tried it... yet.
Sharing my testimony, and the Gospel through a translator.
These girls followed us out of the village.
Village Transportation.
Our Transportation. There have been moments where 7 Thai people
would squeeze into the cab while the six of us stretched out in the back.
Getting Learned
One of our ministries this month is teaching English to a
group of students every night for an hour. I am thankful that it is only an
hour although God is definitely teaching me a lot through it.
Teaching English to some of the younger children.
Playing a game in English class. I am amazed by some of the younger kids learning English.
Crazy Hospitality at
the Store (and Laundromat)
We visit a believing woman who just moved back to Thailand
from Germany. She runs a small store out
of her house, and showed us a crazy good deal of hospitality, giving us snacks,
and drinks, and even stuff to take back with us, lots. I also put my laundry in a washing machine
across the street. When I came back from English class she had placed my
clothes in a basket and had them waiting for me. We prayed for her. I feel for
her. Her husband stayed in Germany.
We arrived in Bangkok just in time to grab a bite of that
delectable Thai food I had been missing at the open-air market, repack
including the stuff we had left in Bangkok, and go to bed, in order to get up
for our 7am bus to Hua Hin, a beach town where we would be having our Squad
Debrief.
A Short Bus Ride
5 hours later we arrive at our hotel in Hua Hin. By far the
nicest place we have stayed on the World Race. I wonder, how much did my supporters pay for my week here? Probably
about $50 including my meals, transportation, etc.
Chill Time with God,
and the L-Squad
Air-conditioning! I didn't want to leave my room... but I did,
rarely. Debrief was a great chance for
me to catch up on sleep, get well physically (as I got sick the day of our
arrival), spend time alone (a rarity on the race) with God reading Scripture,
praying, etc., and enjoy the presence of the entire squad. Oh, and cut a chunk of Matthew's nappy hair. It looks great now, all short and stuff.
Some People Wear
Superman Pajamas. Superman Wears Mike
Paschall Pajamas.
One of the great parts of debrief is that we have team
meetings with our coaches and squad leaders. This meant Team Jubilee sitting down at a conference table with Mike and
Patti Paschall, our squad coaches, Jory, Weston, Katie, our new squad leaders,
and Andi and Sean, our old squad leaders. They then proceeded to ask us
questions about how our team is doing and things we need to work on. I am convinced that this will prove itself
rather beneficial for our team.
Hey, Hey, Can You
Turn Around? I am trying to get a picture.
Because we were in a beach town I figured I needed to at
least visit the beach once. Within 5
minutes of arriving I witnessed an overweight, old, white dude wearing a
thong. I took a picture. He looked back
at me sort of angrily. The water was great though. Very clear.
The Most Beautiful Beach I Have Ever Been To...
...but, Not Exactly The Best View in the World!
This is the second of a three part series, part three to follow.
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If you have any questions, feel free to leave them as a comment below.
Back before leaving Cambodia we were given a list of about
30 possible ministry contacts to spend our next month working with. These contacts were from Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Thailand, and we were asked to pray about which country and which ministry
God would have us work with next after a debrief in Thailand.
An ATL That is a
Little Less "Thug"
We began to ask the Lord (ATL as we call it around here)
where He would have us spend our next month. After a few days of prayer and looking over all the contact descriptions,
I felt a strong desire to return back to Thailand. Now, I would just ask God to do the same for
the rest of my team mates.
"Choosing" Our Place
As a team, we prayed and discussed. Thailand it would be; God had put the same
country on at least two other of my teammate's hearts. We also made a decision about which ministry
we would work with, and which one we would keep as a backup if that one didn't
work out. Our first one didn't work
out. Apparently, a team had beaten us to
it. Our backup didn't work out either,
at first...
Movies I Would Rather
Not Have Seen
We boarded a bus out of Phnom Penh, headed back to
Bangkok. I think we spent around 14hrs.
in a bus. The bus came complete with a
dvd player and several screens, not to my advantage. The features for the ride included: "Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider," "Year One," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," and "Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider II." I would have
much preferred silence, conversation, reading, listening to my ipod, or really
just anything. However, I did enjoy "Rambo First Blood: Part II" as we pulled in
to Bangkok. I kind of like to think of myself as a kind of "Rambo" type, minus the rocket launcher, not the muscles.
This is the first of a three part series. For Part 2 Click Below.
I am not called to be a 9 to 5 missionary. My ministry doesn't begin when I enter a new
village and it doesn't end when I leave. I am a Christian 24/7, there are no breaks from what Christ has called
me to. Every day my prayer should be for
divine appointments, opportunities to proclaim Christ and encourage anyone I
come in contact with, even on my "off" days.
Since I left Texas on October 5th, I have taken
for granted that I was on the race and that I would have eleven months to get
to know and pour into my squad mates. I
believed a lie. Christ has not promised
me that I won't be handed a plane ticket home in the morning, much less that I
would even wake up tomorrow; and last night He called me out on it as I tried
to cope with the recent news that a squad mate would be leaving this morning.
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such
a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"- yet you do not know
what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are just a vapor that appears
for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead
you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows
the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
You know, I am not certain about tomorrow or what it may bring,
but today I want to live to the fullest. I don't want to wait "til tomorrow" to love my
teammates and I don't want to wait until we "start at our next ministry
location" to look for opportunities to proclaim Christ. I don't want to waste a
second in loving my God, and showing that love to the people around me.
Please, feel free to add your e-mail address to the space provided on the left to receive blog updates.
The pastor and his wife showed up with several hundred bibles from The Gideon's International. We would be handing out bibles, but we weren't quite sure where. It didn't really matter, because I would gladly give a Bible to anyone that would take it and possibly read it. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), it is through the word of God that men are born again (1 Peter 1:22-25, James 1:19-25), and it is through the Scriptures that we can come to an assurance that we truly know Christ (1 John 5:13); so yeah, I am way down with giving people the words of life.
backup if that one didn't
work out. Our first one didn't work
out. Apparently, a team had beaten us to
it. Our backup didn't work out either,
at first...
I am not called to be a 9 to 5 missionary. My ministry doesn't begin when I enter a new
village and it doesn't end when I leave. I am a Christian 24/7, there are no breaks from what Christ has called
me to. Every day my prayer should be for
divine appointments, opportunities to proclaim Christ and encourage anyone I
come in contact with, even on my "off" days.