The Journey Continues Outside of Thai borders July 22, 2009

Many of us returned back to the US borders but for some, the mission trip continued on. Jenny and Mom left for Laos after our Thailand mission trip.  Steven tagged along for a week but  would later on leave for Burma to be there for a month. The following posts are email updates from the two of them.

 

 

JULY 1st:

 

Hello everyone,
 
        We just wanted to let you know that we are in Laos right now. Passing the border was a complicated ordeal, but we got through even though many dollars were leeched out of us. The country in general is very underdeveloped, and we got a chance to visit all of Jenny’s relatives in the countryside. The houses were dilapidated and open to the air, though for some reason there seems to be more flies than mosquitos here. Also, instead of stray dogs on the streets, there are goats, herds of them! The weather here is cooler and less humid than Bangkok going down to about 70 degrees fahrenheit at night. We are now at the shopping place (don’t compare it to Siam Paragon) at the Internet Cafe. Most of you have heard that Steven’s grandmother on his Dad’s side suffered a stroke just two days ago, so he is cutting his trip short to Laos and then heading to Burma in two days. Please pray for Steven’s grandma for healing and for Steven to be able to convey the Gospel message well in Burmese to al his relatives. The pastor from Burma also invited Steven to give a testimony and a message to his church. Steven isn’t ready to preach. Steven is also hoping to meet up with Dr. Anupong from Udon Thani on the 4th who if you remember leads the Christians in Udon. (This is Steven typing and I don’t know why I am writing in third person). Ok, here’s Jenny.
 
       HELLO! From land of the Lao! It is quite interesting here. I have met family members that I have never met and I still don’t know how they are related to me half the time. Okay, maybe most of the time… Hmmm, Laos is not as bad as Steven described. I did see a huge spider but this was towards the boonies of Laos. Still have yet to discover the capital and see everything Lonely Planet tells me to. My mom has been evangelizing and sharing all her testimonies to all her family members and friends that we have come across. Most of them have never even heard the Gospel EVER so she is going at it non-stop. Even waking up I heard it….and Steven is helping a lot by praying in Lao… haha Lao tongues. JK…
 I am speaking to people in Lao and I can actually do that without feeling stupid like TRYING to speak Thai. Waaaaahahahhh, yay.
 
I have the leftover crafts/gifts from the children’s center from Pattanakarn and will be dispersing such things to the kids here and explaining what it is… and WHO Jesus is. Okayy!!
HMMHMM,
Thank you for reading
 
To Pastor Tyson: Jenny and I ate khaopiek (the rolled Lao noodles and goodies) just now. It was super delicious. Next time Jenny’s mom makes it, she’ll invite you.
 
Peace and Love in Christ,
 
Steven & Jenny

 

 

 

Steven with puppy at Jenny's home

Jenny trying her hand at weaving

Steven with Dr. Anupong and P'Suthonaa at Ban Chiang World Heritage Site

Steven with the Christians in Udon Thani

Steven with Dr. Anupong at Ban Chiang

flickr link July 20, 2009

a few photos

Revival Service

Hello there!

This is Rachel M and, no, I’m not in Thailand anymore. We all have just been so busy returning and all : ) that we haven’t had a chance to talk about the most crazzzzy experience of all during our mission trip–revival service!

So, lets backtrack to Saturday, the first revival service. We had had a very, very full day starting off with a visit to the HIV rehab center and the opening of the gospel hut (we got to do the skit twice and share the gospel with a bunch of parents who, we were certain, had never heard it. So cool. : D ). Anyway, by the time we arrived at the hotel (so pretty), we were rather tired but excited for what could occur that night kept us going. It would be the first time to perform the new skit and expectations were high. What would God do???

Okay, I don’t know where to start but, when we arrived we had an awesome reunion with everyone from last year–Ps. Noom and Ps. Anne, Justin’s cousins, P’ Chim, P’ Boy, Mook, and a score of others we had served with and who had showed us around last year. Yet, this was a new year and, of course, this year was gonna be waay different from last. Already, it seemed to me that the place was more packed than the previous revival service. Unfortunately, hunger was knawing as we had yet to eat dinner for today and we moved to the designated staff area (yes, we felt special to be considered staff. Lol.)

Post continued: Grand Opening @ Gospel Hut July 8, 2009

Chachengsao Gospel Hut Grand Opening

We arrived to the site with Paul and P’Mai’s brother bearing gifts for the community and crafts for the children. We greeted Ps. Da and Ps. Fon with lots of hugs once arriving and got ready to welcome the community to a new center that has been built for them — for the children to come and do their homework as well as families to come and enjoy the hut. We performed a puppet show as well as the Everything Skit (we decided to perform the adult version rather than the children’s version seeing that many of the buddhist parents of the recently saved children had come). Pastor Da cut the ribbon for the official opening of the Gospel Hut and food was served out for everyone. Afterwards, we did crafts with the children. They were all really cute and kept asking  Jenny and I how to spell out their thai names in English. It was kind of funny because we realized that we really had to think about how to spell out their names carefully because it was likely that that was how they would spell out their names for a very long time; meaning, even though the name might sound like “Nieuewwww” or something, that’s probably not how we should spell it out to them 😛 Crafts-time was very valuable as we got to know each one so much more better. We had so much fun with the kids and wished we had more time with them.

 L: the children greeting us at our arrival

 

R: Puppet Show, arrival of Raccoon and Rabbit. P’Mai’s brother translating

 

 

L: Getting ready to perform Everything Skit

R: Ps. Da cutting the ribbon for the grand opening of the Gospel Hut 

 

 

 

 L: members from Streams of Blessing handing out lunch for everyone

R: Crafts with the adorable kids. They had a lot of fun!

 

L: Pastor Da, Nina, Rachel, Jenny and the kids

R: Steven, Eric, Jenny and kids being silly 🙂

 

 

Amidst all the hubbub, you can see two beaming faces of the owners of the land that the Gospel Hut was planted on. I had heard a bit of the husband’s story and sought him out to tell him “It’s a happy day” with a smile. While doing the puppet show and the skit, his smiling face glowed and struck out from the crowd as he sat among the children and as he greeted the parents.

The couple are around their 30s, and became Christians 5 years back. The husband is a teacher, and many of the children from the community come by for homework help or to just be around the couple (As we were talking, one of the young boys wandered over to say hi and when he left, the husband told me that that boy came to their house every day after school because his father was an alcoholic and would beat his mother). Over time, the couple shared their hearts to the children about Jesus and many of the children became saved. They are very, very young in faith but God sent this couple to continue to grow them I believe.

About 10 years back, while he was still in his studies in a university in Bangkok (A well-known one, I just can’t remember the name at the moment), he got into a terrible car accident. It left him paralyzed on the left side; he can’t really use his left arm and walks with a slight limp. Because of the accident, he wasn’t able to finish his schooling. His family had to take care of him, and later on his wife too when she became very ill. The two became much of a burden over the years because of it and his family became disgruntled and bitter.  When they became Christian, that was the last straw. They were kicked out of the house and shunned from the family. To this day, his brothers and sisters still refuse to talk to him. I was surprised to hear, when he told me, that his family’s house was right next door! This is because the whole time the team has been shoveling and planting in the area, right next to the gospel hut is a large idol. We kept praying that it would fall down as Christ’s power and sovereignity fell over the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, God is a good God. As I saw his face light up with such smile, I was overcome by His grace and the words “How Great Is Our God” kept coming to mind. His wife was miraculously healed by God and now the church has come together and built this beautiful gospel hut that will help him to minister to the community. Before he had nothing, disabled, kicked out of his house and disowned by his family. But now God is using him for His kingdom. I wish everyone could’ve seen the joy on that man’s face; it really was a reflection of how good our God is.