We flew into Bangkok a few weeks ago, unaware of how awesome this month was going to be. I stepped off the plane and instantly fell in love: The hot, humid air was refreshing after a month in the cold of Harbin! After a night sleeping at the local YWAM base, my team split ways with the rest of our squad to go to a little town called Mae Sot. We arrived at 5AM and were picked up by our contact Ray Ward of Outpour Movement. He showed us around town a little bit, and then took us to the border between Thailand and Burma (Myanmar)!
Mae Sot is interesting. Unlike the rest of the country (which is around 90% Buddhist), it has a decent sized muslim population there. Also, because of the civil war (or genocide) in Burma, there are a lot of refugees that came over to Thailand. This area, and most of the western border of Thailand, seem to have a different flavor to it: the atmosphere is a beautiful mix of Thai and Burmese culture.
(Up on the mountains in Mae la Noi)
As you could probably guess, our ministry dealt with a lot of refugees. We spent our mornings making friends with refugees and Thais at a local muslim tea shop and trying to create opportunities to share the Gospel with them. During the day we could be doing anything from building farms and gardens to playing with Burmese kids to working at the restaurant "Famous Ray's". Famous Ray's is a restaurant created by Outpour Movement that hires Burmese refugees as employees. A lot of refugees are not treated fairly in the work place, so Outpour just wanted to create a work atmosphere that would benefit the employees as well as bring in a little extra money for Outpour Movement. They also have awesome burgers, probably the best burgers in southeast Asia!
Outpour is doing awesome things! Everyone there is extremely invested into building and creating relationships and more importantly, spreading the Word of God. Just this past year, Burma has opened up its borders and gotten rid of all the checkpoints, so now foreigners can go wherever they want in the country! Ray has a passion for Burma, which he has now passed on to my team and I, and he is looking into how he can help this country rebuild after a brutal 50+ year war. We are all excited to see how God will use Outpour to change Burma and bring the people there to Christ!
(We got to go into Burma for a day and to a leper village)
After two weeks in Mae Sot, we headed up north to another village that Outpour works with: Mae la Noi. Mae la Noi is a bunch of rice fields, surrounded by mountains, in the middle of nowhere in Thailand. And I loved it! Outpour has a girl's home near there where we hung out a few times. We also had the opportunity to go "downriver" to a very rural village and see how Thai people used to live. Our time in Mae la Noi was short, but amazing. After about a week there, we left to go to Chiang Mai (a big tourist city) to meet up with the rest of our squad and prepare to leave for Cambodia!
Thailand is beautiful, but the people there are even more beautiful. God is definitely doing big things all over Thailand, and there are extremely passionate people leading the charge for change in a land that is in desperate need of a savior. Our Savior. The Savior. But doesn't everyone need more of Him? I know I do. Please say a prayer for Thailand! And thanks for reading!
