- The golden glow that radiates off of the rippling water of a pond when the sun is setting over it.
- The letters G & W
- Elderly people
- The color blue and name Miranda
- Images of fishing docks and boats
- Greenery, fields, lily pads and lotus flowers in a body of water
- The statement, “go to the root of the problem”
- A man named Paul and a white pit bull
- Holding kids and hanging with their families
These were a few of the words and images we received after doing a listening prayer once we found out we were embarking on a month of ATL in Thailand
Other teams were setting off to the bus station to reach their new ministry sights and calling their future hosts, but we, team Jubilee, sat and prayed. For in our set up sheet under the ministry and location section it read, ATL.
ATL being short for, Ask The Lord.
No guidance. No hints. No structure or agenda. Simply the utter reliance that God has something and someone out there in need of help that we personally don’t know of on paper.
So there we sat.
In complete vulnerability and dependence on His follow-through with our steps of faith and calls for help.
We needed to be out of our hostel by the next morning because it was to expensive yet none of the listening prayers we heard hinted towards any specific town. Fighting off every urge to figure out or discover our next steps with my own abilities we decided to just let it be and have a night of joy and laughter together by walking through the night market.
To some it may seem as an act of naiveness, “How could you lay the problem aside and go on with your fun when it’s not figured out?” but to us it was our act of trusting that when we were needed to take action, God would make it evident for us. He did this through the hearts of our teammates the following morning. We all agreed we needed to move and during our walking out in reliance our path will become cleared.
Come 1pm we are sitting in the bus station heading to Bangkok.
No hostel booked. No clue what the area is we will be dropped of at is like. No contacts.
Upon arrival we bombarded a coffee shop to research the area. Bee and I went roaming through the streets to check out a hostel seen from the bus ride in. Little did we know that in that short amount of time God would literally prove Himself and our purpose in that city.
Rachel sent an email to a director of an organization in eastern Thailand, named Jim that works with rescuing women in human trafficking the day prior. During the time she was online at the coffee shop he responded back saying how the contact for that location is now in Bangkok and so is he.
“Where are y’all located?” He said
“Funny story, we actually just arrived in Bangkok.”?“Do you have a place to stay? Where are you?”
“No we don’t and we are near ‘xx’ street now”
“That is very close to where we are and I know a place you can stay if you don’t mind staying with a local Thai family.”
Seriously… How is this possible? Timing and circumstances were so perfect nothing stopped us from jumping at the opportunity.
We met the family and leader of the organization that evening. Wonderful and amazing family, with gentle hearts and a love for hosting.
?Fast forward to the following days and working with the organization. Narimon is the name and some of you may have heard of it from the fair trade jewelry that they sell online. The women making the jewelry are affected by sex trafficking and personal trauma that the organization takes in and provides counseling and programs for along with the job.
We literally get to see the forefront of those wonderful businesses that provide fair jobs and holistic rehabilitation for people around the world. Not to mention also get to take part in it!
Rachel’s heart is for the broken, abused, trafficked women. Tiffany has a knack for art and building a peaceful environment through that. Bee and Jay are amazing photographers. Kody won’t ever turn down a science project and if there’s a way to help someone heal mentally or physically, I’m in.
So what happens not two days in? Rachel takes the forefront of working with the organizer and plugging in just about everywhere. Tiffany is leading art classes that bring all the women together smiling and laughing. Bee and Jay are photographing new merchandise for the website, I can’t even start to explain the contraption Kody is working with (wire, copper, water, salt, electricity) to somehow erode copper plates into fun new pendants and I am leading yoga classes!
Could we be any better alined for an organization haha. But wait, there is even more.
We discover more about the culture and where so much of the problem comes from regarding trafficking and abuse. A small village 5 hours east of Bangkok called Isan is known for being a big supplier for places like Pattaya and streets in Bangkok. Come to find out there is a branch to the organization in that village and its leader is willing to drive us out there after her visit to Bangkok to witness the area for ourselves. Why not!
Sooner than you know it we are pilled in a truck driving to Isan. We instantly get there and notice the beautiful silence we haven’t heard in so long. Jay and I go hang with an older crowd of ladies sitting and chatting under a thatch roofed hut and others start to plug in with the kids. Within hours the whistle is blown and a major soccer game of all ages and heights starts.
Our days in Isan were simple and very basic. Walking, eating, singing with the kids, going swimming in the near by lake, talking with the ladies out front and getting our faces pelted with baby powder during a farewell game we played.
Now I sit, maybe 10 days after our bus to Bangkok amazed at how present and Faithful God has been to us. By simply letting go of expectations, plans, the comfort of agenda’s and structure (lot easier done than said I know) He has provided so much while revealing so much of His character to us.
Oh yeah, and those listening prayers. They weren’t just dust in the wind, they turned out to be prophecies of what God had in store for us while stepping out in Faith:
- The image of the sun glowing over water, lily pads and lotus flowers, fields, ponds and were all seen the first night we were in Isan
- The letters G & W we see being Go West for Bangkok was west of Pattaya where we first were
- Our hopes to discover and get to the root of the problem were granted when we went to Isan
- Elderly: The lovely ladies under the thatch hut in Isan
- The color Blue: The wife of our host family’s favorite color is blue
Other fun and mind blowing occurrences:
- The name of the lady who drove us to and hosted us in Isan was named Jub (pronounced Joob) and our team name is Jubilee
- Ten minutes prior to us talking to the organizer about staying with the local Thai family he knew, the mom of that family approached him sadly with a letter stating how she was struggling and in need of money so she can continue to send her kids to school. Now with our staying at her house this month not only will we be covering her two sons school tuitions but hopefully more for semesters to come if they continue to raise the cost.
- I was hoping to find someone to gift my skateboard to before leaving to Africa. The second night here I’m out in the streets teaching her sons how to skate. They and their friends are now hooked and obviously the ones I’m to give it to.
- The founder of the organization we are helping here in Bangkok was college roommates with Seth Barnes, the founder of Adventures in Missions.
- It’s still just the first half of the month 😉
Stay tuned for more.
