I’ve been in Thailand for three days now and I have absolutely no complaints – God has been blessing us so much already. We arrived to Chiang Mai yesterday morning after a 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok. Now I know some of you followed along or heard horror stories of our bus ride in India and let me say this was the nicest bus I’ve ever been on. We each had a TV and the chairs laid back and had a massager in them!
I could have cried. Heather and I watched the second Lord of the Rings movie and just totally vegged out and relaxed. It was so so amazing. But that’s not even the best part! We arrive to our “pre” ministry location called the Hospitality House, just outside Chiang Mai and it’s this gorgeous two story home with a full kitchen, laundry, hot showers and we all have our own bed!!!! I’m about to sob right now thinking how lucky we are! So our “house mom” Sheila welcomes inside with open arms and let’s us know that for the next 3 days we just get to totally rest. There’s a big screen TV for us to watch movies, we can nap all day, we can go on an adventure, just basically that this home is ours for the next few days to totally re-charge and prepare for our month of ministry.
WHAT!?
So, needless to say, it’s been amazing!
This morning we had a Thai orientation with Len, a hilarious South African who quickly became a mentor and father figure to us all. He was cracking us up with some of his stories. He’s been to 51 countries and ran a backpacking ministry with his son, Jonah for 10 years. (backpacking ministry? Hey, God.. it’s me.. Can we make that happen in my life please?!) He went over cultural rules of Thailand and just joked around with us all morning. He was telling us about how to share the gospel in Thailand and picked up his phone saying, “The best way to spread the gospel is to have one of these.” Well we think, Oh a phone? And then he presses a button and it’s a taser! Haha I almost spilled my hot coffee all over myself I jumped so fast! He’s laughing at his joke, like obviously we aren’t going to tase people. He also said the capital of Djibouti was Shaki Shaki… “shakey, shakey your booty” Haaa he got me with that one.
Okay, all jokes aside.. Len has some stories! I could sit with his every day for the rest of the month and I don’t think that I would, first of all, ever get sick of his stories, but ever even get close to hearing them all. He told us something that really stuck with me, don’t look at the circumstance, look for the opportunity.
So often I look at my circumstances. My computer is broken, there’s no hot water, I’m late, I’m too early.. I focus so hard on inconveniences that I miss moments that may be divinely planned. Len told us a story of a time he was traveling through the desert with Jonah and they were trying to get to the next town over. They hitched a ride from a man and jumped in the bed of his truck. As they were going through the desert road about an hour into the journey, the man stopped and said, “My farm is that way (right), the next town is that way (left). You must walk that way and another car should pick you up.” Len’s laughing like, it’s the middle of the desert! But they reluctantly agree and start trekking through the desert to get to the next town. He tells us hours pass and there’s no town in sight, they have no water and they literally feel like they are going to die. It’s around 5pm and Len is pushing his son on saying, “Just over this ridge and I’m sure there will be a town.” Their lips are cracking, they have almost no energy left. When they crest the hill, there’s nothing. For miles and miles they see absolutely nothing. So Len prays, “Father, you told me to call out to you in my day of trouble and you will deliver me!” As soon as he finishes his prayer a car drives past and picks them up! It’s three Muslim men and Len decides to share the gospel with them even though he’s totally exhausted. When they get to the town, the man who was sitting in the back with them comes around the side of the car in tears, telling Len that he had been praying for 6 months to God that travelers would come and speak Truth to his brothers (the men in the front) and that they would know the love of Jesus.
Len reminded us that God is always with us. He encouraged us to always look past our circumstance and face the opportunity in front of us. God knows where we are. We don’t have to get all freaked out by our circumstance, or get stuck in a rut. God knows our “rut” and He cares! He’s here for us, in every moment. All we have to do it trust in Him and look to how we can better serve Him and look to Him in the moments that may seem troubling on the surface.
Len shared one more story before our orientation ended and it just totally blew me away. He was traveling with Jonah through Saudi Arabia, into Jordan and then to Israel wanting to spread the gospel. Well during this time people were being beheaded and killed for being missionaries and it was really dangerous. Len didn’t have any clue this was going on and felt that God had called him and his son to go there. So they are crossing over the Red Sea and are entering Aden in Yemen by ship when soldiers board the ship and arrest Len and his son. They are being interrogated for days and days and he said it was really intense and scary. He had a phone and got one of the sailors to get him a SIM card so he could contact people. When he finally got through to some organizations back home, everyone started messaging him things like, “Get out of there! Two women were just beheaded for sharing the Gospel. You need to escape! If they find any signs you’re a missionary they will chop off your arms.” Seriously. So Len is actually afraid for him and his sons life. Hidden in the car they shipped over were thousands of Gospel tracts translated in Arabic. All the men had to do was search the car a little and it would be over. Len tried to get Jonah to run away while he created a diversion, knowing that his life was over anyway, but his son refused to leave him. They ended up being transported to another town during this interrogation period and while in the car, Len decided to share the Gospel with the two soldiers driving him and Jonah. His son was saying, “Dad, please don’t do this. It’s too risky.” But Len knew the Holy Spirit was telling him to do it. So he started sharing about Jesus.
Long story short, these two soldiers helped get deportation cards and paperwork for Len and Jonah and get them to an airport to escape! The whole time they literally had guns at their back knowing that if they made one false move they would be shot down. The process took so long, that the soldier had to escort them to the airline runway and they had to re-open the plane and let them on because they were that close to missing it. Len said he had never been so scared!
But God taught him something even in that circumstance. Len said that story did not end in victory. He cried on the flight all the way back feeling like a total failure. God told him, “Len, I was with you that whole time. You stopped putting your eyes on me and you started listening to fear and the world around you. You could not hear me through your own fears.”
Len encouraged us to not focus on our fears of the future. To always be emboldened by God’s call for our lives and to focus our hearts and our minds on Truth. I just got really really encouraged today by Len and all of his insane stories. Honestly, I’ve been really scared at some points on the race. I’ve been really unsure of myself and I’ve focused way too much on my circumstances. I feel so ready to stop focusing on myself and focus on the call of God. I want to look for opportunities now and know that wherever I am, so is God. All I have to do is pray to God, “How do you want to use me in this? How can I better serve you?”
We haven’t even started our ministry in Thailand yet, but I can already feel God working in and around us, preparing the way for us to seek His face in all of our circumstances, and creating opportunities for us to share His goodness!
Sorry this was such a spastic post, I’m just super super excited right now and encouraged by all of these stories I just heard! I couldn’t wait to write about them! I am so excited for this month and I’m so excited to share with you the opportunities God blesses us all with!
