Filled with JOY
18 May 2011 2 Comments
Remember the church in the slums by our neighborhood and the Thai woman Gkanika I told you about? Well, the past several weeks I’ve been going on Saturday mornings to help her with the children who come to the church. She has on average 10 kids each time.
The first time I went, it was ok. The second time, I felt more of a burden than a blessing. This is a common feeling for first term missionaries. We go wanting to teach and serve and wind up seeing that we must be willing to be, well…humiliated. Our language skills are still growing. But if we are willing to be laughed at, stared at, and pointed at…we can be used by God. Of that I am certain. They call me “Ajaan” which means teacher, but I still have to rely on their help. Being a native English speaker does provide a tangible valuable tool for these people, I thank God for that. If they can learn to speak English, it radically changes their employment opportunities. So, here we are, together bound by mutual desires. I desire to share the Gospel in Thai to them, they desire to learn to speak like me (and I desire to speak like them, isn’ that funny!).
Anyway…this past Saturday was different………
I prayed more before going.
I worked on translating the material more (it is a CEF brochure about the Lord and people in crisis), she had asked that I teach English for an hour. So off I went.
When I got there, a Japanese missionary was there (Ajaan Cheep) and he was playing the guitar with 9 kids around him in a circle. I met him once before, he is awesome. I sat down in the circle and started trying to sing with them too. We were worshipping the Lord, the kids doing hand movements to the songs. After a few minutes, Ajaan Cheep turns to me and says (much to my surprise) …”Ajaan Paula, do you have a Bible lesson to share with us today?” Well………..sure. How could I ever say no to that? I say a silent prayer and ask the Lord for His desire. “Matthew 6, about the Lord knowing our needs, He knows the birds needs and provides for them, much more for us”…ok, go with that…
So I start in Thai explaining this passage. I explain that we all have stress. I ask the kids what kinds of stress they have? They respond with: fears about family members who have gone to the country, fears about failing in school, fears about family conflict, fears about the work they have to do in their homes, money fears, etc. Then I tell them that when I first came to Thailand, I was really struck by how many birds I saw. They are everywhere! The we read the Matthew passage, 6:24- end of chapter. I explain that the Lord knows our stress, our needs, our worries…but when we see the birds we can remember what Jesus is saying…He knows and he cares for us- like He does the birds- He loves us even more than the birds. The I prayed for us in Thai and we sang a few more songs. I am thinking…”Wow, Thank You Lord for getting me through that!”
When we were done, something else new happened. A big thunderstorm had come upon us. I could not leave on my bike. One of the kids asked if we could play a game. Ajaan Cheep turned to me and asked (are you ready for this?)…”Ajaan Paula, do you have a game for us?” Well………..sure. Again, I prayed to the Lord. I grabbed a toy nearby and explained a game where…………….thanking God for such on-the-spot provision. The kids opened up and laughed, danced and sang. It was so joyful!!! The rain and thunder poured upon us and we laughed and loved each other more and more. It was a breakthrough as far as I can tell!
For weeks they had been quiet and shy, now they were playing and having fun, taking pictures and singing solos, holding my hands and wanting me to pick them up. I was overwhelmed with joy!
Riding my bike home, in a tropical rain storm…I could not help but think…
THIS IS THE LIFE.
Thank you Lord.
No doubt the Lord made us and we are His, in His right hand are pleasures forevermore, nothing satisfies our souls like His presence. I hold on to these moments. At the end, Ghanika asked me if we could have monthly gathering at our house, bring all the kids from the slums who would come. My hearts swelled. Please pray with me as we work to get the details ironed out. I am praying for this community. Please join us in prayer for many more children and older kids to come out, join us, and ultimately hear of Jesus and be saved. Hallelujah!
One Word…RESCUE
07 May 2011 6 Comments
Living here is intense.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the overtly demonic daily experience of life in Thailand. Last week the news reported on a Buddhist nun who was offering karma adjustments. Women could have their bad karma “adjusted” if they allowed a young man to touch them sexually. A few months ago, there were thousands of aborted fetuses found in the Buddhist temples in Bangkok. The “Thailand’s Got Talent” (like American Idol) favorite contestant is a woman who is actually a man and sings in both high and low voices. The crowds love her (him). Those are just a few recent examples.
We want to help the Thai Christians cast the vision for the church to step into this darkness and bring healing to the people. However, it is a deep darkness and it will take city and village pastors working together in the power of the Spirit to change things. One thing is for sure…the people living in darkness need rescue.
Bobby and I were recently told of a Thai village ritual. This is heart breaking. When a every young girl in the village has her first menstrual period, she is locked in a hut for a week and any man in the village can come and have sex with her. For an entire week. Every girl, first menstrual period. Desperate for rescue.
The night after we were told of this ritual, I had a dream.
I dreamed I lived in that village and I knew the young girl was being dragged to the hut that night. I waited. I watched and hid. When the men shut her inside and walked away, I quietly slipped inside. There she was; shaking, crying, terrified. I whispered to her comfort and hugged her. I told her we had to act quickly. I told her to go to my house and hide.
I was staying in her place.
She listened to me. She looked up at me- confused, conflicted…yet she agreed. She left and headed in the direction of my house. So I sat and prayed. I waited. In a few hours I heard footsteps. The first man was coming to the hut. I knew in his heart was darkness. Total darkness. His intentions were clear…rape of a young girl.
I walked to the door- I realize I am wearing a white tunic and I am barefooted. ?.
I am not afraid. The Rescuer has a plan and He is mighty. I know I belong to Him and He will work a mighty work somehow. This is how rescue happens. It is messy and someone has to be willing to step into a role of almost…sacrifice.
The man enters the hut. He does not see me yet. He turns and locks the door behind him. I recognize him. He is a man I know from the village. He turns and looks at me, our eyes connect. He quickly steps back, a look of shock and fear, anger and confusion sweeps over his face. I am silent and I point to the corner of the room.
Something is there. Something now very bright. Something that draws him over.
He walks toward it and begins sobbing, he falls to his knees and weeps. Somehow I know it is Jesus there, he sees Jesus there. For the first time he sees Him and he knows what is wrong here. Everything is wrong here.
This goes on for hours. Many men from the village come to the hut and have this encounter. Falling on their knees, feeling the weight of their sin, seeing such beauty in the face of Jesus, awakened from the darkness.
By dawn, the hut is a church. Sounds of worship come from it and people come to find out what has happened. It has begun, rescue has come to the village.
I woke up really moved by the dream. I thank God for such beautiful and powerful images. And I realized in a strange way, that is how each of us came to God. We were like those men, walking in total darkness. We were not interested in God, in the light, we were dead in our darkness. He stepped out as a sacrifice. He pointed us to God, He opened our eyes to see, He reached out to us and it changed everything.
Please pray for us and for the people in Bangkok. It is a challenging thing to live with such things everywhere, but it is a task worthy of the calling. We need your prayers.
Thanks for reading,
-paula
A new place to serve…
01 May 2011 1 Comment
Remember when we told you about the slum community near our new neighborhood and the woman there? Here is a picture of her. We met with her last week to find out more about her and her burden for the community. It was inspiring to see her faith, hear her stories of God’s provision and faithfulness, and to hear how we might help.
She is maybe one inch taller than Grace! She is precious! So full of joy, so full of the Lord and His love. A few days later, Grace and I went to help her with a little Saturday morning children’s activity. We played games and then even taught English for a little while. I didn’t take pictures because it was our first time there. We will be going weekly, so I will have pictures soon. There were 10-12 Thai kids there. It was fun!
Please pray for her, “Gha-nee-kha” and the community. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to fall on the community and to open the eyes of the people, pray that they come to know the one true living God, Jesus.
Having fun and answering kids questions from America!
01 May 2011 2 Comments
A few months ago, Hank made this video for a church whose youth had a few questions. The church is in Delaware, it is Bobby’s brother’s family’s church. We had fun making the video and wanted to share it with you as well!
We moved across town
01 May 2011 Leave a Comment
Well, we want to let you guys know that we have moved across town to a different area of Bangkok. To a different neighborhood.
When we first got to Thailand, we moved into a neighborhood we thought would be a good match for our family. Over time, we found it was challenging for our kids especially. They had no opportunities to be with friends, no place to ride a bike or get outside and play. After a year-and-a-half, that wears on you. So, our leadership helped us to see that we needed to move. But it was not a simple task. Here is where I have to be careful with what I say. Our landlord didn’t want us to move (understatement). Threats came into play. We found ourselves facing new challenges and having to try to understand Thai culture from a new angle. How can a relationship that was one day so good, turn so rough overnight? Rough being a tremendous understatement. So, after it was all completed, looking back I see how the Lord protected us, allowed us to taste stress that grew us, and also prepared a new place for us that meets our needs significantly better. But it was a hard road for a few weeks. No kidding, it was a “get the women and children out first” kind of situation. But here we are now, in our new place and much happier. We learned a lot about conflict in a foreign country, conflict in a face-saving culture, evaluating threats as real or not real, and how we each deal with extreme stress. Some of what we saw in ourselves, we didn’t like. We’re still learning.
Thank you for praying for us.
If you want more details on the situation, email us and we can tell you more privately.
We will put some video up soon of the new place.
On a different note…
We are very excited about the ministry opportunities here in our new place. There is a slum community just beside our neighborhood, teaming with life. We met a woman there who is a believer and has a tremendous burden for the community. This past week we rode our bikes to her (that was so cool!) and met to talk about how we might help her. Saturday morning, Grace and I went to help her do a children’s time and even taught English to the kids. There were 10-12 kids there that she has been working with. It was fun and very encouraging.
God is so good to open doors for us to walk through…doors that open to people who need Him.
sometimes on the mission field…you just get sick
01 May 2011 Leave a Comment
I think it is really something to consider…WATER.
Before God opened our hearts to unreached people, we didn’t know much about how little of the world has clean water. Now we live in a place that does not have it. If you drink the water here by accident, you will be very sick, very soon. We drink water that has been filtered, cleaned and processed. But we shower in unfiltered water and that potentially opens the door for problems. It recently did for me and I spent a few days in the hospital. I am much better now. Thank you for your prayers.
According to the World Health Organization:
- 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.
- The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
I did have some visitors though! This is Bonkkot and Panida!
So, back to water.
This experience has made me think about a different kind of water….living water.
The people here don’t have access to clean water and very, very few have ever heard of the living water.
Would you please continue to pray with us
that the Gospel will flow forth into the hearts and lives of the people in Bangkok?
They need the life giving, hope sustaining living water – Jesus.
Children’s Ministry Video
01 May 2011 Leave a Comment
