Its unbelievable what my eyes have seen in the past three weeks. I have to stop and make sure I’m not dreaming quite frequently.
Lets kick things off by recapping our first week we spent at the juvenile prison. Going in, I was extremely nervous and had no idea what to expect. My emotions could best be summed up in a mix of nervousness, fear, and excitement. I was told to prepare a message about 20 minutes long and that our translator would translate as we went along. I was super blessed to get the opportunity to preach the Gospel to over 50 young men ages 18-22 years old! After that, we got to spend the day just hanging out, talking, playing games, and laughing. At the end of the day we also got to pray for them which was radical. However, the next day changed my life forever. We went to the girls juvenile prison and were standing in front of around 50-60 young women who were all seeking a second chance. It didn’t take long to see the broken in their hearts and realize that they had all experienced so much pain in their lives. We played some music, performed a skit, and gave a simple message all about how God is the God of Second Chances. Actually, now that I think about it God, is the God of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and however many chances it takes until you choose to give your life. After the message , my teammate Hannah asked if anyone wanted to be prayed over and receive that second chance. About 6 girls raised their hands and we all ran over and prayed with them and then got a little chance to hang out with them after. As I stood, watching these girls hands raise, the feeling in my heart was unlike anything I had felt before. Pure joy, at watching daughters of God, realise how much they are worth and how loved they are.
The past three days have also been by far some of the coolest days of my life. We left the city where we had been staying and drove for 2 hours straight into the mountains. We were completely isolated from civilisation in a Karen Tribal village. The village was high in the mountains, right on the border of Burma. After a meeting one day with some of the elders of the village Parker, Diego and I went on a hike through the mountains and without a doubt saw some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The Karen people are extremely nice, genuine and loving people. To see the way that they lived was heartbreaking but also very inspiring. These people really don’t have much at all, but they have pure joy and a strong community of believers surrounding them. We got the opportunity to play some music at a few of the church services and that was really awesome. The Karen’s have their own language, and live in houses mostly made out of bamboo. Living with them felt like living with an ancient tribe you might see in National Geographic! It was incredible. God taught me so much about Life out there and his heart. Its so evident that every ear, no matter how isolated or uncivilized, will hear the Gospel and Know that God is the creator of the universe! Stay Tuned for more of what God is doing here in Thailand! And thank you so much for reading, praying, and supporting, you all mean more to me then you will ever know!
