For month 8, Z squad did what was called “Manistry Month”, which is where they put all the men on one big team and then divided the ladies up on new teams for the month as well. My manistry month team was named ‘Team LOGOS.’ LOGOS is the Greek word for ‘word,’ used in John 1:1 to describe specifically THE word- the living word which is Jesus Christ our savior. Our team wanted to focus on our love for the word and to make Bible study a priority.
We were in a town just outside Phuket, called Thachatchai near the Sarasin Bridge. We lived at and worked with a church there doing projects like painting the church, weed whacking in the neighborhood, helping our contact with English classes, sharing a testimony each Sunday, and helping with the services for children.
Our contacts were a couple named Dana and Cindy. They have been working in Thailand for nearly 8 years, but at this point were working on their own. They had seen other missionaries or groups come and go, and were expecting a younger couple to be there soon, however they had pretty much been doing ministry all on their own. Both of them had also experienced getting Dengue Fever quite severely and were still feeling some of the after-effects.
They were a great blessing to us and we were able to encourage and get to know them very well, in addition to getting to see what long-term missionary life is like.
Although the month was not quite what we were expecting, we were able to learn a lot and grow as a team. We also took the opportunity to use our off day to visit one of the world’s largest red light districts in Phuket. We spent the evening praying and watching the transition from day to night. It was an intense, but really powerful experience. Once the evening got started we split our team into two groups of three and one group would stay at the hotel doing prayer and worship, while the other group went out to prayer walk in the streets and potentially start up conversations. We were all able to seek the Lord and see His heart for these people. We saw God’s love for the women and girls caught up in the lifestyle, but also for the men looking to fill voids in their lives, the street vendors who work there just to take advantage of the busy crowds, and the tourists who have no idea what they are contributing to. It was a powerful day for all of us, but especially for my teammate Danielle. You should check out her blogs on it entitled “False Paradise” here: http://daniellewieber.theworldrace.org/
as always, thank you for your prayers and support. Right now we are in Nepal finishing up final debrief and preparing to head home. I will update with more blogs soon, so stay posted for some news on my life after the race!
