Trek

 

A five day trek to find a designated village for prayer walking ended up being our most adventurous and exciting week of the race. 

 

Before heading out we were oriented about how to get to the village, given the optional transportation modes and given the names of the stops along the way. Details about bus times, cost, and food in the village were unknown. We were told the name of the final destination and the rest was pretty much up to us to figure out. So we packed our day pack with snacks and our tents and headed off. 

 

Can I just say beforehand that God worked out this week perfectly…

(and be prepared, it’s a long read)

 

Tuesday.

The journey began with a two hour bus ride, some of us sitting on stools in the aisle. First stop was a home stay where we were to spend the night to break up the journey. It was a popular tourist spot to stop and have coffee and organic peanuts and get a tour of the coffee farm. We chatted with some of the tourists who stopped by and joined along on the coffee tour. Learned about a new fruit: egg fruit! Asked our host there about transportation to our next stop and he arranged for a friend to come pick us up at 6:00am. Yay, we had a ride to the next stop! (or else we were going to have to sit beside the road all morning and hope we catch a bus…) Enjoyed the night in the thatched building on stilts, which was a God thing that no one else was staying there as there was only three mattresses, six sleeping spots. 

 

Wednesday.

Woke up at 5:15 and were ready by 6:00… but the driver didn’t show up until 7:30. On our way to our next stop, our host who had come along because he spoke English and he said no one else did, decided to stop for a coffee break and let us see the waterfall that was there. Then on our way again. We were so grateful to have our host along because at our next stop, he asked around and found a driver to take us to our final destination. Last leg of the journey… At 11:00 we were on our songtao (a pick-up truck with benches in the back) and crossed the river on a ferry. Up mountains, across streams, over rickety bridges, around sharp corners, past a huge fire, and through construction, yes, the whole road was under construction, but at one point we had to wait as four excavators were digging up the road and had to put the dirt back for us to be able to continue driving! Throughout the whole ride, we were passing through several villages and stopped to pick up and drop off people. Finally around 3:15, being the only passengers left, we made it to our final destination! How exciting to reach the anticipated village! Oh to stretch our legs and look at ourselves. Did I mention that Laos has red dirt, and that the red dirt in the form of dust was over every inch of us, a nice fine layer of it! We were excited to find out that the guesthouse had showers – and towels and shampoo – a plus! (Much better than a baby wipe shower would’ve been.) We walked through the village to check it out. EVERYONE stared. Not many white people come up here. We found a small market, little shops and little fruit stands, gas stations in the old fashioned containers, a school and the lake behind the village. Stopped to eat at a restaurant (no menu, so whatever they said we said yes to). And then we split into pairs to walk around and pray for this village. Some of the things we prayed for, or words that we received were: that the Holy Spirit would prepare hearts so that the seed would fall on good soil, for His lordship over this place because Jesus already purchased this people with His blood and He has the rights to them, revival, new creation, children, parents, government and we prayed against fear. The song “You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust” also came to mind. Before bed we had a time of prayer and worship together.

 

Thursday.

Woke up at 7:00 to the village noises of people, roosters and motorcycles. Went back to the restaurant for a breakfast of pho, the Lao traditional soup and sticky rice. Got our packs, checked out and headed out. The people watched and waved. Walking out of the village, we saw that the lake was bigger than we thought. It was so beautiful, fresh and quiet out! Passed by some buffalo and more villages. There was a trail on the right that we took because during last night’s prayer, one of the girl’s received the word “turn right on a path, they’re ready”. It was like hiking through the woods back at home on a fall day. We were praying for whatever lay at the end. The end was like stumbling upon a new world, “like The Hunger Games” one of the girl’s said. It was a burnt down field. So we turned around and resumed down the main road. Eventually we came to a fork in the road with signs (which were unreadable to us), and we took the right. Passed through a creek and walked by coffee plants up a steep hill. At the very top we could see in the distance, the lake and the glint of sun shining off of tin roofs from the village we had walked from. On the other side of the hill was a tiny village where we stopped to rest at a little shop owned by a precious old grandmother with a toothless smile. The villagers stared at us, uncertain. There were no smiles and greetings. Another traveller passing by, a Vietnamese lady with her little boy, broke the tension as we tried to converse with her using the phrases at the back of the Lonely Planet Guidebook. We learned what the name of that village was and how far it was to the next village. We shared our snacks with them and sang some worship music and prayed over this village as Melody played the guitar. The kids looked so sad and hungry. Little 5 year olds were carrying their 1 year old siblings. There was no joy or hope. They needed the presence of God and that’s what we came to bring! 

 

It was the middle of the afternoon and setting up our tents anywhere here was not going to happen, as well as walking to the next village which was 10km away with a crazy up and down road according to their hand gestures. So we thanked the lady for allowing us to sit and rest in her shop and waved our goodbyes. Our walk back ended up being so much faster than we thought. We checked into the same guesthouse and rested. Sitting in our room all cleaned up after showering, snacking on our trail mix and speaking to each other in English, I almost forgot that we were in Laos and staying in a village where they had never heard about Jesus, not even His name or any Bible story. This was the first time some of these people were ever getting prayed over!!! What a humbling privilege it was for us that God would chose us to come and partake in His work among these unreached people!

 

Talking with each other, the conversation between Melody and I started out with me spilling out my thoughts. I told her that in times like these, when we were comfortable inside and there’s a world outside that needs to know Jesus, that I question myself with “Did I do enough?” I feel like I didn’t do enough and I should keep going. I know that even though I’m inside my room I’m still praying, but I question myself with, “should we be outside and continue to prayer walk?” “Should we try and make friends or go out and give them more chances to stare at us?” Yes I felt unsettled about it, but Melody comforted me by saying that thoughts like that are from the enemy. He likes to make us doubt and question ourselves, just like he questioned Eve in the garden of Eden. He wants us to think that what we do is never enough or that what we did doesn’t matter. But God has asked a certain amount from each one of us. Doing what He’s asked of us is all that’s required, just like Jesus came to this earth to do what the Father asked Him to do. He left this earth with many people still sick, hurt, poor and unsaved, but the Father was pleased with Him because He finished the work that was asked of Him. I was grateful for some encouragement like that. 

 

Friday.

Woke up at 7:00. Around 8:00 we tried to communicate with the receptionist and the guards that we were looking for a ride to get us back to the previous town. A songtao drove by and we pointed to it and one of the guards hopped on his motorbike and chased it down for us, bringing it back to have it pick us up. We had our ride! The ride back was just as adventurous and dusty as it was coming, only it was an hour longer, totalling five hours! We had made a quick, but very smart purchase of face masks before we left – they were very much needed! We all enjoy our space, especially when travelling, but there was one point where we had 18 people in the back! We were making stops here and there at villages along the way and people got on and off. At the first stops we made, I honestly was hoping no one else would come on and that we could enjoy our ride down with more room. But as more people climbed in, God reminded me that I could be praying for these people. So one by one as they climbed in, I was given the opportunity to pray for each of them. 

 

At 2:00pm we made it to the town! Found a hostel and showered immediately. Wandered around looking for food to eat, 3:00 is a strange time to eat either lunch or supper so we had to wait on our food for a while. Rested and went to bed.

 

Saturday.

Woke up at 6:15. Went to a little shop nearby to try and communicate with the lady that we were looking for a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station. She called someone. We waited. Eventually a truck pulled up and a man who knew some English fairly well understood what we were asking and drove us to the bus station. At the bus station we found out that our songtao days were not yet quite over as a songtao was our bus to take us back to our home. It was a 3.5hr ride with stops along the way. The air grew warm and hot as we neared the city. Welcome to the dustbowl again and thank-you Jesus for a safe journey! 

 

Isaiah 52:7, 12

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,who proclaims peace, who bring glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation….For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” 

 

Thank-you for taking the time to read this and follow along on my adventures!

All the glory to God.

-Britteny

 

Our first homestay.

 

Coffee beans.