Okay! Month two! I already had one month of the World Race under my belt being in Indonesia. You would think I have everything figured out about the Race and life, right? Wrong! I have only been on the World Race one more month than Leonardo DiCaprio has Oscars (2 to 1)…For those who didn’t see Facebook or the internet as a whole for that matter almost explode, yes Leo got his first Oscar.
Now this is not to say I didn’t learn anything from this month. It was more of me throwing in some humor before I dive into the nitty gritty of what God allowed me to experience. I had an UNBELIEVABLE time in Thailand & Burma because I began implementing things I had learned from the previous month. In addition, my teammates & I were able to work, partner & become family with an amazing organization in the Outpour Movement!
“Outpour Movement exists to transform, disciple, employ, and empower the children and young adults of oppressed people groups who transcend the Thai and Burma border.” – Outpour
A few of the ways they implement this mission is through a bike shop and restaurant. They currently run these two operations with the amazing people who work for Outpour and the young people who they hire from the opposed people groups. Outpour is currently expanding their bike shop & restaurant and that is where God placed our team for ministry this month.
They are building a brand new bike shop right next to the restaurant and changing the old bike shop into Outpour living/housing arrangements. The new bike shop’s structure had already been built, but had yet to be sanded. Our teams spent multiple days using bricks with sand paper to sand floors, beams, and walls to get the structure smooth enough for it to be lacquered later on. As soon as the floors had been sanded and architecturally painted we then lacquered the floor to seal it off.
The ministry project in regards to team housing was similar in some ways. The furniture that was going to be used for team housing needed to be sanded, painted and lacquered as well. For the remaining weeks we worked on the chairs, benches, and tables that needed these tasks completed. We would spend multiple days on sanding the furniture making sure it was safe enough to paint them. The team and I would then paint the chairs with multiple coats. Lastly, we would seal the furniture with lacquer to hold its finish.
Additional projects we completed for team housing included painting the entire second floor living room. In addition, the team and I also scrubbed/cleaned the three floors & staircases of the building.
This month spent in Maesot, Thailand was honestly a simple, humble, and very happy month for me. I say this because ministry looks different from month to month even from team to team within the squad.
Some may look at it as small tedious work, but I see it as much more. I see Jesus in the floors being sanded. I see the Kingdom moving in every brushstroke of paint going on a wall or on any single piece of furniture. I see God and the Holy Spirit both figuratively and literally “sealing” cement and wood together for the finished project.
The Lord used our team to minster along side Outpour because although we were only there for a few weeks, they are always going to be in Maesot spreading the good news. God called us to be there to strengthen their already strong mission. For our team, our way of supporting them was through construction work and continually loving on them for treating us with so much respect, care, and compassion.
Our construction work projects used to build up and strengthen their organization, will later turn into walls being torn down for the Holy Spirit to spread to the nations in Thailand, Burma, the Far East and the world as a whole.
Words can’t express how blessed we were by Outpour and the people who are associated with them. Thank you for all you did for us and continue to do for God and His Kingdom!
Enjoy the pics!
