Team work!

My team has been blessed with many wonderful volunteers. The people who come to work with the trafficked girls are very gifted! They have trained the girls in everything from sewing lessons and jewelry making to computer skills. In fact just this week we had a professionally trained opera singer who come to help our worship leaders. They received free voice lessons! That's awesome, maybe I should have signed up for lessons too!

In all honesty, sometimes I do feel a little out of my league! Then I remember we are all valuable members of a team that God has formed. He has called us to establish His Kingdom in the Kingdom of Thailand... one woman at a time! My significance and my joy flow from knowing that truth.

Jing! Jing!

Some of the beautiful jewelry made at NightLight
http://nightlightinternational.com

My team members minister to trafficked women in many ways. Prayer, counseling, deliverance, discipleship, education/training, jewelry making and outreach are just a few. It is a holistic approach, which addresses healing the spirit, the physical body and the mind through God's power and love. To say this is “intense work” seems like an understatement.

In addition, I've been asked to help for a while as an administrate assistant to Annie, the Founder of NighLight . Although it never occurred that I would be helping in this way, my prayer is to do my best.

As a rule, Annie's door is always open to those needing assistance. That means any of us who work in the office, may be asked to join her for a prayer or deliverance session at any time! I love that. There is so much more for me to learn about intercession, spiritual warfare and human trafficking. I consider it a great honor to serve along side all these gifted people. No doubt there is much for me to learn, Jing! Jing! Thankfully, everyone on staff is very encouraging and patient.

Although I’ve only been here for a short time, it is clear that every aspect of this ministry is committed and submitted to God. I can’t imagine it any other way, as EVERY DAY we are faced with new challenges and victories!

This ministry is growing quickly. Annie is frequently sought after for personal tours, TV interviews, articles and to speak at events. I share these things with you in hopes that you will continue your prayers not only for me, but for Annie, the international staff and the many beautiful young women this ministry impacts.

“Jing! Jing!” Thai phrase meaning:

• Really! Really!
• No kidding!
• That is true!

Manja Manja!

I meet a lot of people when traveling. They seem surprised to hear I'm from the USA. They usually think I'm traveling from an Arab country or that I’m Italian.


Do I look Italian or Arab?


Right now I’m feeling more like an Italian who is going through “cooking” withdrawals!

I love to cook, but since arriving to Thailand, I haven’t cooked anything- at all! Besides having no time to cook, there isn’t really any place to prepare or sit and enjoy a nice meal.

My modest flat (one room with a bed, nightstand and free standing closet) is on the fifth floor and our “sort-of-a-kitchen” is on the second floor. The good news is we have a kitchen. YEA! Kitchens are somewhat rare. The bad news is our kitchen is nothing like the ones back in American.

I did however notice that we have a few “critters” that seem quite pleased with our kitchen facilities. Have you ever seen a Madagascar cockroach? They need their own zip code! They are gigantic!

Currently, we are doing our best to evict all of them. LEAVE and NEVER return in JESUS name! Gosh... listen to me, I think I've been sitting in on too many deliverance sessions this week!

Time to take a break. Anybody know where you can find a good Pizza around here?

Happy Anniversary to ME!

Today is my one month anniversary in Bangkok. I can’t believe I’m going to publicly admit this, but today I actually ate lunch in a MacDonald’s restaurant. After four hours of language class, the idea of wandering around deciding on which peculiar food item to buy from the street vendors just wasn’t appealing. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It would be simple, no thinking involved...and besides it would be the first “American-ish” food eaten since my arrival.

It’s been about 35 minutes since my tasty, mini indulgence. Now I’m remembering why I don’t usually eat at these places. After weeks of vegetables, rice, fruit and water…my diet coke, fries and cheese burger are sitting like a heavy blob in my stomach! No problem, I’m sure a few trips up and down our five flights of stairs will take care of that!

No room for insecurities!

I am a foreigner here in Thailand, and every day I'm reminded of that fact. I'm different. My native culture is different and there are always plenty of opportunities to make comparisons to the life that was left behind. As a foreign missionary, this of course would be very unwise and unhealthy!

Instead, I have determined to smile at the obvious differences and enjoy them. For example... if there are ants in my the cream and sugar containers in the morning, no problem, that just means I'll be having ants stirred into my coffee or tea all day! I've also begun to understand that my shoes are a nice place for geckos to sleep and my mouth is being trained (in language class) to make sounds that I was taught NEVER to make at the dinner table!

I've chosen not to be jealous that the Lady Boys in my neighborhood are MORE ATTRACTIVE than I EVER was or EVER will be.... even on my BEST day! I've also chosen not to be intimidated by the fact that many of my team mates are in their twenties, and have Degrees in everything from Theology to International Business!

Productivity has become a vague memory. It appears that many Thai people prefer to "work on it tomorrow". I've noticed that everything but the tuk tuks and taxis move at a more leisurely pace. It's unusual to see anyone scurrying down the sidewalk in a hurry to get to their destination. Unlike me, the petite Thai women are able to maneuver around in their high fashion, three inch heels with ease, successfully dodging motorcycles, potholes, crumbling curbs and the cluttered, uneven sidewalks of Bangkok- NEVER once missing their footing. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

I on the other hand, appear like an awkward giant. Although not wearing heels, I've managed to tumble into yet another crevice in the road. I do my best to quickly scooping myself up off the hard concrete in front of a local street vendor. I brush myself off. No problem, no injury was suffered, only a scuffed ego. It's just another normal day for me in my new home.

As I said earlier, there is no room for vain insecurities or inferiority complexes on the Mission Field.

Valentines Day

On Valentines Day (Sunday morning) a few of us went out on an adventure. The goal? We wanted to locate the Hope of Bangkok, which is the largest church in the Kingdom of Thailand. The Hope of Bangkok was originally founded by Dr. Kriengsak. As of 2005, this group of Believers had grown to approx. 6,000 members and had planted more than 100 hundred churches. That is significant, as Thailand only has approx. 60,000 Christians in the whole nation!

Their growth has been evidenced by manifested gifts of the Holy Spirit, healings, words of knowledge and miracles. This move of God’s Spirit has created openness among the Thai population. Because of this, they have been open to hearing the word of God preached clearly and powerfully, which has resulted in an acceleration of smaller cell groups and a thrust towards friendship evangelism. They are seeing that God is real and more powerful than their many spirit guardians, spells and curses!

CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS: The church meets in a massive Hotel conference room. This cell group was approx. 2,300 strong. The service lasted three hours! We were greeted with enthusiasm and quickly chauffeured around to meet people, including one of the pastors. We had pictures taken, register as visitors, given a gift and shown to our seating area. After being seated, those who did not have a Bible were offered one which could be used during the worship service.

The gathering was mostly Asian, so we were seated in a location with headsets for English translation. A church member stayed with us through out the whole process. During the congregational “meet and greet” at least 40 people came to us, showering us with candies, flowers and welcome cards. Thai culture has a very strong emphasis on honor, which can be overwhelming if you’re trying to remain incognito!

We arrived to the church about 9:30am and left about 12:30. The music was upbeat. They were joyful and the people freely expressed themselves during worship by waving their hands and clapping. Some knelt in prayer by their seats and others danced up front by the stage area. The Pastoral Team was up on the stage (to one side of the worship band) and fully engaged as well! Prayer, a video and some fun community activities (games that involved people getting up and interacting with others) were next. I had never seen this done in a church setting before, but it made perfect sense.

The entire congregation really enjoyed this fun, social interaction and there was a lot of laughing and casual conversations. An hour of preaching was followed by more music prayer, communion and a call to commitment and repentance. MANY people came to the front for prayer. The Pastor (who was still on the stage/podium area) got down on his knees when it came time to pray.

These light fixtures remind me of Thai fishing baskets.
Jesus said, that we are to be fishers of men!

Comic Relief becomes Evangelism!

A few nights ago I was invited to a surprise birthday party for a friend of my team mates. I was told we were to dress up as "old people" as a tease. She was turning 30. YOUNG in my eyes, but perhaps OLD in the eyes of my new team mates! Well, anyone who knows me, knows this sounds like fun! So I dressed like as a crazy,

flamboyant "older than me" woman!

The Bible says laughter is good medicine! Although the Thai woman in this picture with me was a perfect stranger, she wanted to be involved in our fun. So we took her picture and visited with her while we waited at the train station!

Most professional business people make it point to dress very well and behave properly. As you can imagine, it is very unusual for Thai people to see a foreigner willing to be silly in public... especially in the down town area!

Try not to be jealous of such beauty!

My 2oish year old team mates dress the part!

What I didn't know about the surprize party........we would remain dressed in these ridiculous looking outfits (slippers and all!) as we made our way from one end of Bangkok to the other! We walked through our neighborhood to the train station, then walked another twenty minutes through the streets of Bangkok to the party!

Yes, we were quite a spectacle! You should have seen the people on the train in their business attire, wondering what to make of us! We laughed a lot and even made a new friend along the way. She works down town and invited me to visit her at her corporate office. She even offered to help with my language. We'll see. Next week I will meet her for coffee. Now that is a fun and crazy way to establish relationships! God is so creative.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is upon us, and that means the local Spirit Houses in my neighborhood are getting extra attention. More decorations and foods are places at these shrines to keep the local spirits, ghosts, content. The local people believe if the spirits are happy, they won't bother them! The only ones that appear happier are the pigeons, who are enjoying the unexpected feast of fresh fruit and every other food!

Psalms 135:13

Your name, O Lord, endures forever;

your fame, O Lord, is known to every generation.

For the Lord will give justice to his people

and have compassion on his servants.

The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold,

shaped by human hands.

They have mouths but cannot speak,

and eyes but cannot see.

They have ears but cannot hear,

and noses but cannot smell.

And those who make idols are just like them,

as are all who trust in them.

A Nice Break-

I am taking a mini break at a wonderfully charming
coffee bar/handcrafted teak furniture store/bakery- tucked away in down town Bangkok. I'm listening to Chinese stringed instruments playing in the background while sipping my first cup of coffee since I arrived in Thailand!

Not an average Night!

Hard to see, but I consider these lips stick marks on my cheek to be a precious treasure! Received them as a token of appreciation from a women we minister to in the Red Light district. Some of the women are trafficked into Thailand by European countries. They are significantly different than the Thai or Issan women who are trafficked here. The Thai women are usually more approachable. Many of the European women appear to be more calloused, harder to connect with. That is understandable as their have been very rough! As a rule the Eupopeans are more isolated and heavily "supervised" if in a public setting. Tonight we gain access to a few of them through our simple Valentine Day outreach.

Night Bars seem to come in four flavors- for lack of other descriptive words. They progress from street front, to inside, to second floor, to third floor. Each level gets progressively more bizarre/corrupt/twisted? Sometimes the upper floors are referred to as the place to see "freak shows", for reasons I will not elaborate on! My team of four women delivered Valentines Day treats to second and third floor bars.

There is something a little surreal about being mobbed by a swarm of lady boys (young men who appear to be lovely young women) dressed in high heels, lacy bras and tiny panties anxious to receive one of our Valentines Day treats!
Our arrival created such a stir that the "stage show" came to almost a complete stop as the lady boys were jumping down off stage to see us, give us hugs and an occasional kisses on the cheek. It all about relationships around here, and this small act of kindness won us a good amount of favor in the bars and in our neighborhood.

I love that God has placed us right in the middle of all this activity.(All these establishments are in my neighborhood- my home is surrounded on all sidesby this activity) Last night one of the lady boys took me to the top seating to introduce me to more of his/her? friends. As the lady boy read the note inside the bag of chocolates, he/she held up the note and said with a questioning tone, God loves me? Really, me? Is this true? Then the lady boy hugged me and shouted across the room, "God loves ME!" Not exactly your average night at a "freak show" bar! Praise God!

May we continue to be compelled to step out of our comfort zones as we extend the love of Jesus to all.