New years are for new beginnings and I sure didn’t wait long to get started. On January 2nd, I packed up my car and my friend Liz and I headed out for a week long adventure across country. Destination: Georgia. Purpose: start working with Adventures in Missions in preparation to move to Thailand!
Liz and I tried to take photos with as many state signs as possible and here are some of my favorites 🙂
True to the sign (“Drive Friendly- The Texan Way), a nice man in a big truck backed up on the highway to make sure we weren’t having car trouble!
New Orleans was one of my favorite stops. There is so much history and culture there!
Finally arriving at the Alabama-Georgia border at about 10pm. Georgia had been on our minds all week…We had to put the brights on to get this shot, but we were determined to check the Georgia sign off our list.
Our journey to Georgia was definitely fun filled, though exhausting. I think we averaged about 8 hours of driving every day and Liz was kind enough to split it with me. We were able to stay with some family members and friends on the way, and reconnecting was a highlight.
After dropping Liz off at the airport on Monday, January 9th, I headed straight to the AIM office for orientation. Car packed full, I rolled into the parking lot without even stopping at my new apartment first. When I arrived things were a bit crazy because there was a big event going on onsite. To make a long story short, there had been several big changes within the organization since I signed on as well, so my project was under new headship. A few teammates dropped out of the project and our entire vision and ministry contact were up for reconsideration.
Suddenly I felt like my entire world was crashing down around me! I had just driven across country with all my stuff and now the ministry I had anticipated was looking totally different. The first week was definitely tough on me. I spent a lot of time in prayer and I was comforted with the fact that I knew God had brought me here for a reason. I didn’t understand why everything was happening the way it was, but the more I gave it to God, the more peace I felt.
Week two, the third teammate arrived and as the three of us began working together and meeting with leadership, God really showed up. We are starting from scratch in a lot of ways. We had originally envisioned building a safe house for Burmese Refugee children and starting some sustainable developments to support the ministry. Now we are looking at being more involved in relational ministries and partnering with existing programs in Thailand. We are totally open to however God is going to work and use us. At the same time, we are not certain of the specific details quite yet.
This we do know. We are all in and we are going to Thailand. We are going to serve the Burmese and Thai people in whichever way He shows us.
We have already started learning Thai and getting involved with local outreaches to Burmese Refugee communities.
I am actually really excited throughout this process because my passion is more for relational ministry. I am less business-minded and our new vision lies closer with my gifts and abilities.
(The Thailand Initiative team- doing the “wai”, equivalent to a Thai handshake)
Please pray for direction for our team as we begin planning this ministry from square one. We are looking for a ministry contact that will fit with our passions and strengths, while being sensitive to where the Spirit leads. Please also pray for God to lead more teammates to the Thailand Initiative in the next few months.
I can’t wait to update you more on everything that is going on over here as it comes. Things are starting to move pretty fast! I will be sending out a monthly newsletter and if you don’t think i have your address, but would like to receive one, please email me at [email protected] 🙂
With Love,
Aimee D’Hondt
