Same Same, but Different
A little over two years ago, I stepped onto Thai soil for the first time. I was traveling with a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) discipleship training school team. We first went to Chiang Rai for one month to clean and paint a café. We also taught English and did a church VBS. Then, in Chiang Mai, we stayed at Zion hostel and café. We did bar ministry, prayer walking, and university student ministry. It was an amazing two months in which I grew in my relationship with the Lord, learned to serve and live in community, and was able to see the impact of obedience to God.
Then, we made a “border run” into Burma (Myanmar). The four of us with U.S. passports quickly discovered that our visas were expiring that very day. We were told that if we did not get an extension the next morning, we would be deported from Thailand and never allowed re-entry. Well, our good Lord apparently wanted me to come back to Thailand. Here I am, on the World Race, in Mae Sot, Thailand. He brought me here to do a very different type of ministry (hence, “same same but different”).
Here in Mae Sot, we live within fifteen minutes of the border between Burma and Thailand. Fighting occurs on the other side. Sometimes, people here can hear the gunshots. Burma is a country in the midst of civil war and genocide. The Burmese military captures young boys and forces them into fighting…on the frontlines. Outpour Movement, the ministry we are serving with this month, provides jobs for the boys and girls who live on the streets, the refugees who are at risk for exploitation and abuse. They do this by employing the youth at the bike shop (which we live above) and the burger restaurant next door. However, they are expanding. They are starting this new program called “Seeds”. The inspiration from seeds comes from a Mexican proverb: “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”
The Seeds program will provide various creative and vocational classes for the local youth, so that they will be able to enter different fields of work in the future and thrive. The staff at Outpour Movement also, more importantly, seeks to disciple the youth, their heart is that lives would be transformed from the inside out. Our team has painted chairs for the new restaurant location, taught English to Karen and Chin girls and boys in two different children’s homes, and assisted in their new fundraising campaign event about to occur this September. One of my teammates (she is a nurse) even provided health check-ups for some of the children at one of the children’s homes. This month has been beautiful. The young women and men we meet are eager to learn, they worship God with joyful hearts, and they have bright futures ahead of them. My heart breaks for the suffering they’ve endured. Some of them are orphans. Others have most of their families living in refugee camps-they had to leave brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers behind. It is a privilege to be able to serve these precious brothers and sisters of mine. Their smiles and hugs bless me more than they may ever know. I know I will not forget them, but I rest also in the reality that our God sees them, cares for them, and provides for them. The Bible is very clear about caring for the sojourner (refugees fall into this category). We often hear about the church needing to care for the widow and orphan. That is very true. However, don’t forget about the sojourner. He and she could be on the other side of the world in a refugee camp in northern Thailand. He or she could also be in the apartment complex down the street from your home. He are she could be in the seat next to you in your high school or college classroom. I’ve seen the Lord work in amazing ways because His disciples were willing to die to themselves, look around, and serve the “least of these”. Remember, that we are also sojourners in a land that is not our own…we were made for a different world. He’s coming for us and He will take us home.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
