Hello from Chiang Mai, Thailand!!!
I am so glad to be able to tell you that we are just one day away from being finished with our squad training and launch teachings and will be getting oriented into our ministry work here in Chiang Mai tomorrow!
We are a little unique as a fusion squad in that we have had both our training camp and launch teachings combined into one marathon stretch here in Thailand. Usually every other World Race Team has their week of training in the States two months before leaving, then go through their launch training just days before leaving for their first country. Since we were not all together as a team until we arrived in Thailand, we have had everything combined here.
First Squad picture in the San Francisco airport! We are still missing four people here, but we have our awesome Squad Leaders; Daniel Williams, Diane LaCour and See Eun Kim who traveled with us from San Francisco and will be with us for the next five months.
Breakfast with one of our Korean squad mates, Hakyoung Lee; a teaching by one of our lovely Squad Coaches, Kim Dilbeck.
We had the beginnings of our training here in Chiang Mai, then went outside of the city to a private property for the bulk of our training week. David and Karen Eubank, who operate Free Burma Rangers, were incredibly gracious and gave us full use of their property for almost an entire week. We had teachings on their porch, camped in their mango groves, and went swimming in their lake. Such an amazing family and completely devoted to serving the Lord through their humanitarian work in Burma.
Please check out their website for more information about what is going on in Burma, and ways you can help: http://www.freeburmarangers.org
The Racer’s Prayer and group lunch on the Embank porch
Free Burma Rangers gifted us all with free T-shirts!! This is us, the first ever World Race Fusion Squad!
We came back to the city with most of our training done, and our squad split up into the smaller teams that we will be in for this next year. We will travel as a squad from country to country, but within countries will most likely split up in our teams for different ministries.
This is my precious team below, Kintsugi 38:14!!
Beautiful Hakyoung Lee, Aly Badinger, Me (!), Aubrey Cherry, Joy Schneider and Kylene Wilson!!
We chose the name Kintsugi (kEn-suki) 38:14 for our team. Kintsugi is a Japanese art form of mending broken pottery with fine golden lacquer, with the philosophy that the breaks and cracks in an object are part of something’s history and not something to be hidden. A piece of pottery mended by Kintsugi is more beautiful after than it was before. Such a powerful reminder that when we surrender our brokenness to God he will always mend us, and we will be more breathtaking after He is finished with us than we were before because we are a reflection of His healing love and light.
38:14 comes from the same chapter and verse in Job: “It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.” I like the AMP translation better in this situation; ” It is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed: and things stand out like a many colored garment.”
We are marked with the seal of God’s love and redemption as His children and our flaws do stand out like a many colored garment, but it is this perfect imperfection that makes us more beautiful and puts us in a place where God can use us to minister most effectively to the pain and brokenness of the world around us.
Next time I will have ministry stories for you!!
Jessie M
