Hi everyone. I know, I know I have been slacking hard on blogging. Sometimes it’s tough to figure out what to write about no matter how much you enjoy writing. I guess I’ll start with what’s up right now. Right now my squad went on a hike this morning. I would of loved to go but just wasnt feeling to hot this morning. Malaysia street food. Delicious but not kind if ya know what I mean. I’m in Penang Maylasia, got here a couple days ago. Think we plan on sticking around for a while and see what happens. I’m guessing you want to know a little bit about our time in Thailand right? I mean you are reading my blogs and all.
To be honest Asia has been meh at times and wow that’s crazy awesome I cant believe that just happened at times too. Funny, that’s basically how life is no matter where you are. I like to be transparent, real,raw, and honest when I write so hang with me as I lay it all down for ya. Thailand was challenging. Challenging in the sense of dealing with old struggles,to team dynamics on a regular basis, to feeling like you should be doing more, to dealing with complacency, to battling spiritual warfare as well as trying to grow spiritually at the same time. All while trying to grow into your leadership role and trying to lead a group on individuals and getting us to a point where we put aside our personal pride and self righteousness for the good of the team and the ultimate goal. The goal of doing what we are here to do and that’s tell people about Jesus and help as many people as we can along the way. And let’s talk about those bus rides. Man oh man did we do some traveling. 45 hours in one week and that was just one week yall. They say you get use to the bus rides. I dont know about that. All I know is that I’m getting use to taking sleeping pills when I’m on one. I know that much.
Now I dont want yall to think Thailand was a mess and just awful. Im gonna get to all the amazing things here in a minute. I just want yall to see that it’s hard out here sometimes. Sharing Jesus in foreign countries with people you met 2 months ago and are around 24/7 is hard at times. Especially when you add in your own personal struggles along with it. Buuut you know what is great?? That when times are hard and I am struggling I know I just need to refocus on Jesus and give it all to him. This world is hard and mean and honestly we dont stand a chance without Jesus. Hang on.. Praise Pauce!! Sometimes you just need to stop and thank him ya know?! God is just so good.
This month I can definitely tell I am on a different level with God and that is an exciting feeling. The way we communicate is just different. Now that may seem weird to some of yall. What do you mean the way yall communicate? Like did you hear and audible voice from the heavens?? No but God does speak to all of us and wants to. I’ve said that In previous blogs. He speaks to us all in different ways. I also feel that I have taken steps and grown a lot as the leader of my team as well as getting clearer visions on what the ultimate goal is and why I was created. More on that at a later date. We are all designed for something amazing and have a calling on our lives. God wants to give it to us too but we have to work in accordance to his will. Pay attention to the visions that keep coming back to you. I talk a lot about the Love of God and how much he loves us and that brings me to our time in the Hmong villages in Chiang khong .
Our time spent with the Hmong people can be summed up with one word in my opinion and that’s Love. These people love so deeply regardless of circumstances it’s incredible and inspiring. They live up on mountains in little villages. They are very poor and dont have much. One thing they do have is a lot of kids. Kids everywhere. They dont lack in the baby making area that’s for sure. So we stayed with a great couple who has been missionaries there for a while. Mr Jay and Mrs. Heidi. So so blessed to have met them. They housed us, fed us so much food. Bomb food too! I bet we all gained weight. Amazing people.There was another missonary couple out there named Mr. Tom and Mrs. Sue that we spent a lot of time with as well. They were such nice people and had such a dedication to sharing Jesus with these people. We got to play with kids in the villages which is very uncommon for the kids. Adults dont really play with the kids. We taught or tried to teach some English. We went to 3 different churches on Sunday. Pastor Jay asked me to share a word at one of them. That was very challenging because of the need for translating obviously but it was an awesome experience. The other members on my team at one point throughout the week shared their testimony. We went to a Hmong wedding ate pig guts, fried pig, boiled pig, and some super hot salsa. That was so good. I named a baby. Yes, you read that right I named a Hmong baby. That was pretty wild. We were asked to come back for dinner one day and as we are sitting at the table Pastor Jay tells our team that they want us to give their little girl an American name. The name that came to my name was Ruth so I mentioned it. They knew the story of Ruth from the bible and were all about it. So before ya know it I had just named a baby for life. It was a really cool experience. Then pastor Jay messed with me and said I was the child’s Godfather now. I definitely believed him for a minute.
The entire time we were there that week they loved us and treated us so well. Made me think that if these families who have far less than I have can demonstrate this type of love on a level like this why can’t I. We take so much for granted back in the states. These families dont know where their next meal may come from yet they are making sure we eat enough and feeding us first and loving us like we are family. That’s something to strive for. I will definitely remember my time up there and hope to go back and see how God is moving in that place at a later date. Plus I gotta go see baby ruth.
The rest of Thailand consisted of playing with elephants and hanging with tigers. We did a prayer walk in the redlight district of Bangkok, That was pretty heavy. Lot of nasty evil stuff going on in there for sure. We prayed over homeless people in chaing mai. That was on my heart one night just walking around so couldn’t really ignore that one. We also got a couple days at the beach in Phuket. Something so wonderful about walking on a beach at night. I just love it. All in all it was a challenging but good month. Looking forward to what Maylasia has. Talk soon.
AS ALWAYS THANKS FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT. IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT ME ALL PRAYERS AND ALL LOVED ARE APPRECIATED AND ALL DONATUOMS TO THE MISSION FUND ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. LOVE YALL.
