Finally in Thailand! :)

So...it has been a looong time since we last posted an update. A few things have changed since the last one, one of which is our itinerary. It turns out that we will be going to Cambodia as well due to visa issues - 3 weeks before we left we realized that you only get a one month visa when entering Thailand by plane, which means that we will have to leave the country after 1 month, stay somewhere for a couple of weeks and fly back in to Thailand in order to get another 30 day visa. Thus, we decided to go to Cambodia, so we talked to some people, got some contacts and will be heading there in just a couple of weeks.

Our first week in Thailand was great! We stayed in Bangkok for 4 days and met with some missionary friends of ours from India (Josiah and his wife, for those of you who know them) who were on vacation in Thailand.


While in Bangkok Steve got to talking with a Swiss tourist about Jesus, which was really cool. We haven't seen him since that night, but we have been praying that the Lord continues to speak to him and sends someone else to help him find Jesus. We were also able to visit the Youth With A Mission Bangkok base and we tagged along with them to a Night Light 'info session'. Night Light is fantastic organization - their purpose is to help prostitutes and trafficked individuals who want to get out of the trade, but their main mission is to help these people find their true worth andpurpose in Jesus. They provide employment for women who have left the trade and pay them well. The women make all kinds of jewelry, purses and shirts, which are sold on their website (www.nightlightinternational.com).

After our visit at Night Light my eyes were opened to the reality of sex slaves, prostitutes and gender confusion in southeast Asia. Here is a bit of what I wrote in our journal after our visit:

I must say, I was pretty shocked to hear what the Night Light host had to say about prostitution and trafficking in Thailand. I knew it happened, but I never realized how prevalent and accepted it is. Most girls are very young (under 18), and about 80% of Thai men go to prostitutes, not to mention the thousands of tourists that come to Thailand for that purpose. I was burning with anger and resentment towards those men; in fact, I found it hard to even have any kind of respect for most men. How can anyone even think they have the right to take away the innocence and childhood of a little child? That is sickening. And how can anyone think of anyone else as their inferior, treating them like something that can easily be recycled? Not to mention that most of these tourists have spouses whose hearts and trust they take for granted. In my opinion these people don't deserve anything but a million gallons of their own medicine.But...that is not the way Christ thinks. If I judge those people I consider, from my human point of view, worthless, then I should be judged the same way because I was no different than they are. Until Christ saved me from my wretchedness I was no different, so who am I to judge if He does not? Who am I to point the finger if He did not point the finger at me? No, that is not the way of Christ.I think my eyes are just now starting to open and my mind is just beginning to understand the hopelessness of the world apart from Jesus. Everything is corrupt and evil without Him. No one is good and nothing is good without Him. The difference is astounding. And despite all this evil, God so loved the world! How? How does He love us who are so wretched? I cannot understand. Nevertheless, Jesus said "I did not come into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through me"! How incredible! There I was sitting in my own selfish bubble, surrounded by my own standards of how things should and shouldn't be, but by doing that I was saying, "God, my ways are far above Yours, and my wisdom is so much greater than Yours." How foolish of me. If Jesus LOVED, and came to die for and rescue sinners, then who am I, a mere sinner myself, to judge another who is just like me? It is foolish to judge and condemn one who is in the same boat (and we all are!), but it is wise to turn to Jesus and say, "God, I CANNOT find it in me to love these people. Jesus, YOU love them through me." Only, only and ONLY the Holy Spirit and change the heart of any human being. I think the greatest miracle is when God gives someone the ability to love like He does. It is such a hard thing to do, and I often feel like have to be the one doing it, so I subconsciously push Jesus out of my way and try to show His love without Him. No, it doesn't make any sense to do that but that is my battle. Paul says, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ through me," so why do I keep trying to live without Him? I feel like I have to be the one orchestrating and things always go wrong when I do. When I am in control I am stressed and frustrated, but when I hand my life over to Jesus and He is in control, I have joy and I am at peace. What an incredible God! A God of love and peace, a God who is also my loving Father. And not only mine, but He could be the world's loving Father - if only they would let Him.Well then, I guess that is what I am here for. God brought me here to show me how to love like He loves. I know it will be quite the battle for me to let go of my ways and cling to God's, but in Christ I have incomparable hope and I know that He will have the victory in this area of my life. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. How can I be a missionary if I do not love the world like God so loved the world?"And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims 'I know God,' but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did." -- 1 John 2:3-6 (NLT)
And how did Jesus live? He said, "Love your enemies. If you love only those who love you, what credit is there?" But while we were still His enemies Christ died and rose again to set us free! Then truly I am a liar if I claim to love God and only love those whom I deem 'worthy' of my love. If all are worth the life of Jesus, who is God, then I must love all. And if only God can change the world for the better, then I must decrease and He must increase so that He may be seen by those around me. How, then will anyone be able to deny His power if they see His hands and fee at work?

This is what God is working on in my life at the moment and I am very excited (and a tad nervous) to see Him change my heart and show me how to love like He does.

Today (in less than one hour) we will be heading to Pattaya, a city of about 70,000 located southeast of Bangkok. Pattaya is the 'Sin City' of Thailand and we have been told to expect to see many sad things. While there we will stay with the YWAM Pattaya base and see what they are doing as well as help them with their slum ministry in any way we can. We will be in Pattaya for about 5 or 6 days, and then we will head north to the OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) conference for 5 days, and then we will be off to Cambodia! Please pray that our travel is smooth and that the Lord will continue to open our eyes to the opportunities He has laid out for us. We are very excited to see what He will do over the next few weeks!
Oh, and one more prayer request: please be praying that we stay healthy. I got some kind of food poisoning (or something) a few days ago so hopefully that will not happen again! Steve has been doing well so far, he (thankfully!) hasn't been sick at all.

I will post some pictures here when we get a chance, but until then you can find lots of pictures that I have already posted on Facebook.

Until next time...