Love Like Jesus Loves
Hello everyone, I just want to give an update on where I am and the ministry I am currently doing. Right now I am located in the province of Ubon Ratchathani. Ubon is in North Eastern Thailand that borders Laos. I am with a new group of men and women on a team called The Maple Leafs surrounded by a people called the Isaan. We have been sent to Thailand rather than Malaysia because our ministry contacts in Malaysia said they couldn’t take us in for three months. God changed the original plan which is always better than our own. We are deep in the “sticks” with no close access to the city. We don’t have wifi, American toilets, or food that we are used too, but what we do have is worth more than any of those things. What we have… is the Love of God. God has truly blessed my team and I with our host contacts, (Noom and Karis) who genuinely want God’s presence known to the Isaan people. They have two children, Eliyah and Solomon ages four and eleven months old, so it’s awesome to get to take care of them and be a part of a family. Our ministry is more than meets the eye. Our main ministry is spending time with children doing sports ministry. This consists of playing soccer, volleyball, badminton, and many other games. Our real ministry though has nothing to do with sports but everything to do with love. Sports gives us the opportunity to spend time with them, encourage them and let them know that they are valuable for WHO they are not WHAT they are. In the province of Ubon, children rarely see love. The parents do not spend time with them and to the parents their children are seen as assets and a retirement plan. By this I mean that when their parents had them they prayed to their ancestors for a boy and a girl. Why? Well in a perfect world the boy would grow up, leave the village to go to the city to work, make money and send most of the money they made back to the parents. The girl will stay behind in the village and take care of her parents as they get old. It’s not to terrible right? –The son sends home money and the daughter takes care of them… what’s wrong with that? The problem is when the parents don’t have a boy and a girl but two boys or two girls. I bet you’re thinking “what could be so bad, the two boys will just go and work and the two girls will get married and their husbands will take care of the parents.” That may be true in some situations but sadly, this isn’t the case. The Thai people want a son and a daughter. So when they have two sons what do they do? In many cases they raise their second born like a lady. Their nickname is “ladyboy”. They give the boys a girl name, put makeup on them and even give them estrogen hormones to give them more feminine emotions and qualities. They do not play with the other boys but are surrounded by girls where they learn to walk, talk and act like a girl. “Real” boys in Thailand play soccer and girls play volleyball. We can immediately know who the “lady boys” are. The “lady boys” are rejected by the other boys in their community. With being told as an infant that you were supposed to be a girl your mind has been twisted, manipulated and altered to where that young boy truly thinks that this is his fate. It’s heart breaking to see these young men giggle like girls, put on makeup and when I look into their eyes see how lost and confused they must be. So what happens to the two girls you might be asking and how can it get any worse than the fate of the second son? The province of Ubon Ratchetoni has the highest percentage of girls being sent to places like Bangkok and other cities for sex trafficking. Thailand is known by many foreigners as the “Land of Pleasure” at a place called the “Red Light District”. Once the girl’s father has sent them to the city they begin prostitution as early as the age of thirteen years old so that their parents no longer have to work and he can have that new pickup he always wanted. To me it was disgusting, repulsive and made me want to hurt the people who were twisting the minds of young boys, making them doubt their sexuality and it made my heart break for the girls here. Since I have been here two different fathers have offered to sell their daughters to me. It made me sick to my stomach to where I actually thought I might puke. So how does a human being do this? How can someone try to transform their son into something they are not or actually encourage their daughter to become a prostitute so that they can have new things? The answer is THE LACK OF JESUS. My original thought process was to break the parents neck take the children in and raise them right. God punched me in the heart and said “Cole the parents are just as lost, just as confused and just as damaged as their children are.” The people here in Thailand are wrapped up in sin, the devil has a stronghold on this land. There are statues and idols of “gods” everywhere. The people of Ubon live in fear of many things. They are terrified of evil spirits coming into their villages and taking over their bodies. Recently we had Buddhist monks come into our village where they sang and chanted for two days straight. I ask my contact Noom why they are here. He told me that they believe that if they don’t come here and pray to their ancestors every year, their ancestors will become angry and many people in the village will die. The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy. He has filled the people of Thailand with fear, filled their thoughts and mind with twisted ideals and values. Destroying lives of Children and many people are spending their lives with no hope. Roughly 68 million people in Thailand are living life with never knowing what it’s like to be loved and never experiencing the love of God. Although it seems our work is small I believe in a God that created all, knows the number of hairs on my head and not only loves me but loves EVERYONE on this planet unconditionally. I believe seeds are being planted. I believe this new generation will start a revival in Thailand. I will not lose hope for these people. Satan has already lost. It’s my mission, my teams mission and YOUR mission to bring the Kingdom of God to this Earth. You might be saying how can one person make a difference? You’re right. Alone you can’t do anything. But you are not alone, the power of Christ dwells inside of you. Stop putting limitations on God. The God you know is NOT all of God. The God you know is only a minute part of who God is and what He has revealed to you so far. Your biggest concern should be not wanting to become comfortable with who you think God is. When you put Him in a box you are limiting the Limitless. It’s time we stop depending on ourselves and depend on God. There are so many opportunities stateside or overseas to show someone the love of God. Please be in prayer for the World we live in. There are so many people who have never felt the love of God. If you have ever truly felt the love of God you know the loneliness, pain and confusion you experienced in this world before you came to know Christ. As long as we are alive in this world we will face trials and tribulations. There will always be humans that let you down and always an excuse not to go to church or love someone who doesn’t deserve to be loved. Extend grace to those who don’t deserve it, just as Jesus extended mercy and grace on us. It’s a gift we can never earn or deserve. Love like Jesus loves.
