Riding an elephant, bamboo rafting, an incredible meal with Deep Roots, the festival of lights, and then walking street (incredible night market) is without a doubt in my all time top three Thanksgivings! Since my team was heading off to a village, we decided to celebrate a little early. Boy, oh boy was I glad we did!! For a while now, I have wanted to ride an elephant…I mean who wouldn’t want to?! Let me just tell you it was one amazing hour long trec through a jungle. Kelsie and myself were on our own elephant, while the rest of the ladies were on four other ones. Now, I will say that at certain times I felt like I was riding a roller coaster. You know the part when you are going up a steep hill? Well, this is exactly what it felt like when the elephant would climb up a steep hill. In fact, it was just as exhilarating when we went down a hill. This was, hands down, the perfect day to transition us into our next ministry location…
So for the past 9 days, I have been living in Northern Thailand in a village called Mae Aye with a ministry called Door2Door. It is here where we bring the love of Jesus from our doorsteps to the doorsteps of those who do not know Him; hence, Door2Door. Pretty cool right?! The village that we went to was about 3 1/2 hours from Chaing Mai. As I was riding with Emmi, our ministry contact, she began to pour out more of her dreams for this ministry. It was incredible and I could feel the Holy Spirit moving.
The particular village that we lived in had zero follwers of Jesus, her father included in that batch. Here is a little back story…Emmi and her father have had a rocky relationship from the time she was 3, when her father killed her mother, until about 5 years ago. For years, all Emmi could muster up were feelings of bitterness, resentment, and anger towards her father for taking her mother away. Then one day, Emmi began to see her dad through God’s eyes. The Lord said, “Emmi, he is only a ONLY A MAN.” This is how God saw him, a broken, desolate man in need of Christ’s love. God did not see the crime he committed, He saw a mere man. A child that He created. Powerful.
Emmi’s father and stepmother
For years, Emmi found it awkward to interact with her dad. Then about five years ago, God opened a door. Her father’s parents passed away and left acres of ricefields to his 8 children. Problem was that no names were given. So Emmi’s father came to her and asked her to purchase some of the field. Now Emmi is a missionary immersed in ministry, so she knew the funds would not come from her. She told her father that she could not buy it, but she would see what her God could do. A few months later, God provided 5 acres of rice field in Emmi’s name for her to have her father harvest. A miracle before her father’s own eyes. Another seed planted for God to continue to harvest little by little. Just the other day, Emmi was stressing out about rent for WonGen Kafe with her father. (Remember, she is over 3 different ministries that have costs.) Her dad, not a believer yet, said, “Emmi, why don’t you just buy WonGen Kafe. If your God can buy a rice field, then why can’t He buy a Kafe?” This blew Emmi out of the water because her dad’s faith in God providing was stronger than her’s at the moment. Encouraging.
The people of Thailand are crowd followers in general; thus, if just one person in this village comes to know the Lord then the rest will follow. Sure at fist they would just follow because it is the cool thing to do, but then the real relationship would kick in. Until then, Door2Door is bringing the church to their doorstep. From three different homes to rice fields full of people, the Lord is working. Most of all, He choose to use us! The FIRST World Race team ever to pave the way in Mae Aye, for the CHURCH to keep coming!
