As I am typing these words, I am sitting at this hostel in Cambodia. Month five in Thailand has gone by quick with some really big moments of the Race (possibly life). I struggle to blog for a while because the “ministry lifestyle” has truly became my lifestyle. When I had a good story, my first reaction is no longer to blog about it. It is spontaneous to connect with people, pray with them, testify about Jesus, and even worshiping out loud in public. Anyway, here are few highlights of this month.
The Chinese story continues
We arrived at Patong, Phuket as our first stop in Thailand. It is a touristy town with beautiful beaches and nature, but what you don’t see during the day is the amount of sex trafficking problems throughout the city. Massage places, bars, strip clubs, sex shows, and more similar places that offer sex and other related services. Surely my team wanted to do something about it. We did prayer walks and talked to the men and women inside the red light district, but God had a different idea for our ministry- our hostel. The hostel owned by Chinese and 95% of guests are Chinese who actually are from China. We met three Christians and they told us what is like being followers in China. They shared their testimonies and we shared our stories on the Race. We encouraged them for staying firm in faith despite all the difficulties and they encouraged us by how thirsty they were with the gospel. It was cool as I got to be the interpreter between them and my team. One night as we finished praying, we chose the song “Amazing Grace” to sing and I pull up in both languages. After singing it the first time, they said “Can we sing it again? We have never heard this before.” Crazy right? I certainly do take all of the resource I have for granted sometimes. (The government of China controls everything on the internet so their resources is very limited compare to us.) We spent a week at the hostel to hang out and love on them. At the last night we had a worship session and invited all the other guests to join. Amazing indeed. Few of us shine as lights in such dark place, boldly and freely share our faith.
One of the Chinese we met told me that his pastor sent him in Thailand to look for a place for a conference in August. I told him that I had a vision in the beginning of this year that there will be a conference happening in Thailand. We were shocked as we are excited to see what God will do in Phuket.
National Park
After leaving Phuket, we first stopped at Khao Sok national park as we made our way up to Bangkok. We spent a day to do the possibly most difficult hike I have ever done. It was raining most of the day and the trails (I wouldn’t really call them trails honestly) were slippery despite the fact you could easily fall down the hill if you didn’t pay attention. It was steep almost the whole way and we were attacked by hundreds of leeches and our legs were all bleeding. It was very physical challenging but we got to see the beautiful waterfall and…….it was a great team bonding time for sure. We spent 3 days there before determined our next location. As we were leaving the hostel, a lady stopped and offer us transportation package for our next destination. We were about to walk away but a baby rat (Yes! A baby rat) fell from the rooftop! It caught our attention and we ended up spending time with the lady. She gave us a VIP card which allowed us to stay in a hostel three nights for free! Plus she gave us a good discount for the transportation! We took a taxi, a minibus, a bus and a ferry to our next stop, there’s no way we would figured the whole way on our own! Again, God provides!
The Island
The next stop we arrived at an island called Koh Penang. We lived in a big hostel and made a lot of friends but one of them stood out significantly. His name is Lasslo. I met him as I asked for a bicycle rental and he is the gift shop owner. He is a Hungarian who lived in Belgium and moved to Thailand six months ago. He said he is tired of the work life and wanted more than just money, so he came to live on an island where he can slow down and enjoy life more. Somehow we started talking about beer (It is hard not to if you mention Belgium), and he really missed home sometimes and this one specific beer reminds him of home. I asked if he would drink a beer with me if I could find it and he replied a big yes with doubt on his face. I honestly didn’t even know why I suggested it but I understand extremely well from personal experience that a food/drink can bring so much comfort while one misses home. I went on for a 30 minutes walk, found a super market and guess what!? I found the Belgium beer! In Thailand! It was amazing to see the look on his face when I brought back the beers. We spent hours just talking about life and everything else. Right there I realize the person in front of me isn’t a ministry, he is a real person simply wanting to be loved and listened to……just like the rest of us.
Team Change and Debrief
In the beginning of the month we had a team change. It is still us three men but with three different ladies. It was a little sad to leave the old team but it is also great to get to know other squadmates deeper. At the end of the month we had debrief in Pattaya, our squad and R squad joined together one night for worship and street ministry. I am truly thankful me and Sierra got to spend some time together and even went inside red light district to give out flowers to the female workers, talk to them and pray for the homeless people. Last time we did ministry was praying for a lady on the sidewalk and it was meaningful to have those few hours opportunity to experience the Race together.
There is a huge story I would need more time to write (or vlog) and I really hope today you will let God speak to you and you can write your story with Him. Thank you for reading.
