I JUST WANT TO SAY AN AMAZING THANK-YOU BEYOND MY WORDS. TO ALL OF YOU THAT PRAYED ME THROUGH THE LAST 6 MONTHS AND SUPPORTED ME THROUGH ALL OF THIS. I HONESTLY COULD NOT HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS WITH OUT ALL THE PRAYERS AND ENCOURAGEMENT YOU ALL WHERE TO ME.
SO THANK YOU AND MY GOD BLESS YOU ALL DEEPLY :)
The past 3 months have been crazy.
We started off late.. we missed our plane from Oahu to Japan, due to a storm. So we got to spend one more night all together at the base and some of us girls made a christmas party.
It turned out to be one if the best nights ever.
We then got a flight out the next day to Oahu and then stayed a night at the base there and then the next day got on a flight to Japan..
We spend over 30 some ours traveling and by the time we got to Thailand we were so tired and exhausted. We got into Bangkok around 2 in the morning.. We all had to be up by 7 the next morning ready to go.
We spend the next week in Thailand working with local ministries. We went on temple tours in Bangkok and did a lot of praying.
We then left and went to Korat. Where we met Nella, who would worked with the whole time in Thailand. She had three ladies with her that came out of the bars through ways of the Tamar center. They gave their lives completely over to the Lord. It was so neat to get to talk with them and see what a change the Lord brought to them with his healing hands.
Korat is a Provence about 3 hours away from Bangkok. So we spent the next 2 weeks going into two different villages working in schools, visiting with the families, and reaching out to the local people in the villages
Then we went down to Pattya, the place of prostitution, for Christmas. Then after that we went to one more village up in the North east of Thailand, Kong Kaen.
After that we headed for Myanmar. Which was one of my most favorite parts of our outreach.
It was AN EXTREMELY CLOSED COUNTRY. We had to always watch what we said. To give you a background on that country. Back in Sept. they had riots due to monk rising up and calling the government out on how they treat the people in the country.
Myanmar was once one of the riches countries but due to the harsh ways of the government. It is now one of the poorest. We couldn't interact a lot with the locals because of all the restrictions that are on that country. We got to help with English classes with this organization there, which was christian. So we got to just pray for the students and people. But they wouldn't always know it.
We spent most of our time in prayer when we were there which was neat for me.
Because for one i love to pray and two, the Lord really showed me that even though my freedoms were all taken away in that country i could still pray because he has set me free even when others come down on us.
While we were there Two or Three bombs went off close to places where we were. We got to stay in hotels there, because the country is so poor that we couldn't stay with any of the people there, and its against the law.
I saw one night on the CNN news that a bomb went off in Myanmar and i about freaked. I told my leader who then had us all just pray..
It was hard to fight the spirit of fear there because it was always all around you.
But the Lord protected us so much and the last day we were there we got to go to a orphanage that was all christian and these kids grow up knowing the Lord and knowing that they have a purpose in a country where they don't know why they are living. It was so neat to see. The organization that planted the orphanage is base out of Minneapolis which was neat :)
We then flew back to Bangkok after being in Myanmar for 16 days.
We then started our last leg of our trip in Pattya Thailand, and got to spend over 3 weeks working in all the bars and at the Tamar Center. We got to spend a lot of time in prayer for the women and passing out tracks. We would help teach English Mon. Wed. Fri and after English we would go to the bars and pass out information about the Tamar Center so that the ladies might come and get help.
As we were winding down our time there, we got to take a night out and each of us on my team got to buy a girl who we would get to take out to dinner and share with.
I got to take this sweet girl out, her name was KUNG and the Lord told me to start telling her about my testimony and who Jesus is to me.
She was so interested and once i told her everything i could think of to say. I stopped and she looked at our translator and asked if I would tell her more "about this Jesus"
I was so excited that the lord was moving and i got to witness it first hand. At that moment the Lord softly showed me it was nothing i did or will ever do. Its all him that can make these ladies who have such a hard heart. Feel love from him.
She ended up coming to the center and she quit the bar and wanted to work at the Tamar center
which was just amazing to me..
The statistic's are that with in a year or two of the women coming to Pattya and working in a bar they will either have AIDS or be addicted to drugs or alcohol.
We left Pattya with a week left of outreach and the Lord opened up a door for us to go 12 hours down south and work with a pastor who went down there and started a church in the mist of a couple of villages and a town.
So we went and it was so neat to be able to work with that church for that week. We got to work in a coffee house they started and got to do programs for the kids. The people in this area seemed really interested in the Lord and what we had to say.
The last day we were there the Lord gave me an opportunity i was just asking for the whole time.
THAT I WOULD GET TO PREACH A SERMON
what do you know the last day of our outreach the lord allowed me to do such.
We ended our outreach there. Then we returned to Bangkok for the last couple days until we went back to Maui.
God has just been amazing since i have been home. I sometimes have to sit back and just sit in my room in awe when i read his word or pray. That i get the privilege to serve such an amazing God who is always there for me and will never leave me or forsake me. The God who has plans for me that exceed my wildest imagination.
I got to speak at my church the first Sunday I got back which was good. But the more and more time I am home the Lord shows me more and more of how we here in America don't give our lives over to him completely and how sad he is that we just don't trust him.
He has challenged me to read through the whole old testament while I'm home this spring and summer and i started and he had me start in Exodus and just all the things and previsions the Lord brought upon Israel as he brought them out of Egypt and into the promise land. I get hit over the head time and time again when i read this because he never left them.
They didn't fully trust in him. They would freak out when they didn't have enough water of food, and the Lord ALWAYS met them right were they were at and never left them.
HE WAS THEIR CLOUD MY DAY AND THEIR FIRE BY NIGHT.
I have that very same God living in me today and why don't i give him enough credit through out the day or when i face challenges that are out of my hands why do i get worried. He will lead me on and take care of it all because that is who he is.. HE IS GOD.
I could honestly go on and on about all the things the Lord has been reveling to me and showing me since I've been home.. but it would take days and days
My prayer is that as he takes me through things and the next phases in my life that i can just be a testament of WHO HE REALLY IS AND HIS FAITH FULLNESS AND HIS GUIDANCE. ALL THAT HE IS TO US.
I ask that you would just continue to lift this next phase up to the LORD with me.
He has called me to go back to Maui this fall to do the SBFM (School of Biblical Foundations in Missions)
I am so excited he is taking me back to Maui for one, for two that I get to spend even more time with him and just chasing after him relentlessly.
Take care and God Bless,
now that i am home i will be updating this a lot more.
2 comments:
This is totally neat! I came over from Kim at "Seasons of my Heart"...I am passing you on to my niece---who is working hard for the Lord herself--this was a very encouraging post!
God bless you!
I just recently found your mom's blog and by way of hers I found yours. My daughter really likes reading it too. She is 17 and very involved in an organization like your YWAM. It is called Surfin the Nations. They are kind of small scale but popular here in Hawaii. We are on Oahu but my daughter goes out to the big island and Maui a lot to be involved with people over there. There may be a possibility you will run into her. You remind me so much of her. She is going to be 18 and went on a mission to Bali for a month last year. There they were able to stay with people Surfin the Nations knows since the Bali mission has ran 10 years. On June 23 she will leave for East Timor then meet with Surfin the nations in Bali in July. Anyway she really looks up to girls like you who are active in church and missions. I was so glad to show her your blog. She is on a retreat with our church until Saturday. Apparently churches from all the islands are participating and she will be back Saturday night so I will show her your update. This sounded like an awesome mission but hard in a lot of ways. You all have made such a difference I am sure in many people's lives. Keep up the good work. Great blog. It shows you are an amazing young woman who lives the type of life Jesus would want. I pray there are many more young people out there like you.
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