I woke up this morning, took my 3rd shower in the past 24hrs, ate museli and soy milk, caught a songtao (red truck taxi) across town, met up with Jasmine and Nok, went to the Watrorot market, weaved my way through the dried fish and grub stands, through the flower shops, through the piled up traffick of tuktuks and motorcycles, down a little ally-way into a bead shop to make our first purchase of pearls. This week we broke ground on a new ministry for women coming out of the bars. Today we drove away with 1360 fresh water pearls that have the potential to change the face of Thailand forever.
I remember Africa. I remember the sickness. I remember begging the Lord to send me home.
…And I remember His whisper: "No Daughter. Not yet. There is still much Kingdom to brought, and Thailand is waiting for you."
In the midst of sickness, nothing in me wanted to say, "yes Lord." I chose to stay even though I didn't want to, and now sitting here in WongenKafe, Chiang Mai, Thailand, I know why and I am thanking Jesus for relentlessly asking me to stay. Now I know why: This is my Promised Land. This is why I came.
This month we have been working In Wongen Kafe, which is one of 3 ministries under LightHouse in Action http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/–a YWAM ministry in Northern Thailand.
At Wongen we follow the saying: Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words! Here we build relationships, we share life with Thai students and we invest in their hearts. In a week, I work about 12 hours in the kafe, waitressing and talking with Thai students and I also work about 9 hrs teaching english classes. On Monday nights we have family meetings with the staff and students who live in the rooms on the 3rd and 4th floor; on Wednesday nights we have a games night and on Friday night we host open mic night, both for the community. All of this throughout the week is in hopes that we can engage in a life changing conversation and further the kingdom.
The first week here, I was working in the Kafe telling Emmie (this tiny-Thai lady who runs everything with passion and is a wellspring of knowledge) my love for painting, making jewelry and the long term vision I have for The Art of Redemption. There is a little shelf here featuring Nok's handmade jewelry and journals and I commented on how nice they were and how I make them as well. I told her that I was recently introduced to Jasmine, who heads up the aftercare ministry for women coming out of the bars, and that I was going to meet with her to give her some ideas to help the ladies start up their own businesses. Emmie's jaw dropped and was like : "really? We have been looking for someone who knows how to do that! That's great!" And she walked away. About 20 minutes later, she comes to me with an invitation: "come here for 3 years and I will teach you how to run a coffee shop and you can work with the women coming out of the bars and teach them how to paint, make jewelry, journals and sew." I chuckled and she said, "I'm serious. Neuk (the cook) just prayed about it in the back. We want you to come, but you must pray hard about it and ask the Lord." My stomach filled with nervous butterflies…but not the scary kind; more like the kind you get when you are about to have your first kiss: sweet, expectant, and happy what you've longed for is about to happen. I was standing there receiving an invitation that I've been waiting for my whole life. And I heard the Father's voice saying, "This is the inheritance I was talking about. This is your Promised Land."
This past week I have been "breaking ground" on my Promised Land. I have joined Jasmine and Nok in starting up the jewelry making business and have witnessed God provide in miraculous ways in such a short amount of time. Already the Lord has supplied a buyer in Ireland, who is going to provide money for materials and then pay Nok for each piece she makes. We started by sitting with Nok, explaining the good news and inviting her to be the hands and feet. Then we went out to markets looking for bead shops and pricing pearls and various gemstones. God totally answered a whispered prayer and a shop owner offered to give us 50% off of all the precious stones at Grade A quality! And today we bought the pearls to make the first two necklaces to ship to Ireland and have them featured in a selling fair of sorts, where people will place orders and Nok will begin making more and more. This weekend I will help Nok make the two, very large, show-piece pearl necklaces and ship them to Ireland. Honestly, I wish I could stay here and finish the next two months of this race building this ministry, but right now I am so thankful to at least help break ground.
(Nok checking out the beads and getting excited for her new business!)
(the bead supplier we found that will give us the discount)
So, as each day has gone by, I have fallen more and more in love not just with the colors, sounds, tastes, and smells…but with the Thai People and with the beautiful and creative ways God is redeeming His people. When we sit and pray for this country, I am filled with tears and I think of the words I have sung out in worship many times…"break our heart for what breaks Yours!" My heart is breaking for these people wrapped up in ancient religion based on works and karma. My heart is breaking for these people who's sexuality is being strongly attacked by the enemy. My heart is breaking for these people who think in order to be respected and loved, you must say the right things, do the right things, wear the right clothes…be quiet…stay in line…give the answers that are expected…don't cry in public…don't laugh too loud in public…and accept the outcome of your karma. You get what you deserve.
I do not believe I will come in and change these people and I do not intend to make following Jesus out to look Western all over the world, but I do intend to love these people where they are at and I do believe the Holy Spirit can come like a rushing wind, blowing new life into their lungs.
Right now I am praying for my timeline. Do I come back in 6 months after the race? A year? Two years? I don't know but God does and I am trusting Him for whenever that is. I will have to raise approx. $2000 in monthly support, making that $24,000 a year to serve as a long-term missionary. So please pray about partnering with me long-term in the near future. The hope, is that this will be my partnering ministry in the Art of Redemption http://www.theartofredemption.wordpress.com, where 20% of the profit from the Craft and Coffee House I want to open in Vancouver, will go to this aftercare program to creatively redeem women, men and children from the darkest of places. So for 3 years I will learn to run a coffee shop, while pouring in to my relationship with Thailand, that I expect to go on for many, many, years.
It's a big dream! But it's not just my dream…it's God's dream too and His power can take me to the ends of the earth…and even further. This is Thailand. This is my Promised Land.
