I'm going to give an overview on the impact the outreach has had on me as a person, and tie in the impact of the dedication of the outreach to Tom Scott as well.
Dedicating it to him helped me to remember to hold every bit of life on outreach in perspective. Life is fragile: it is a special gift and needs to be recognized as a blessing from God. Every life is valued by God. Toms life was certainly valued, as his family's lives are valued today. I believe Tom's generosity lived on as a legacy, though. And his legacy can be seen in many ways.
If you know someone who is depressed or has been deeply hurt, I encourage you to reach out to that person. I encountered several, even hundreds of people while on outreach that had terrible family backgrounds and many of them had little hope. Gods desire is to see His miraculous love reflecting in us to the people who have been hurt.
Often it was hard for me to get over myself: I dont feel good, or my team member is being difficult, or I miss American food. One of the greatest take-aways from this outreach was seeing the contrast of God working through my struggles as opposed to me giving into my struggles.
Philippians 3:13-16 was a key verse that often popped up during the whole DTS experience. Forget the past and press on toward the goal that Christ has set. The goal for everyone has something in common: to serve.
It even comes down to this: when you are sleeping on wood with only a little cushion, and you wake up to an upset stomach in the night due to unclean food, and you cannot fall back asleep, but all you want is sleep...you ask God: 'is there a reason why I am up? Do you have something You want me to pray for?' I had to make war with my own flesh and remember why I am in that village at all. Why am I facing bad food at all, why am I sacrificing a good bed? If I sacrifice good food and a good bed and go to the villages to serve, but have no love or compassion for those who hurt worse than I when I wake up in the night, I am nothing. Nothing. Hm, wow. I may have lack of sleep and a little stomach pain, but the people that God woke me up to pray for have abusive families, unloving gods, little hope, little food, and even bad teeth. What is my mind on?! God forbid, it is still on myself.
Monday, June 6, 2011
A peek through my little Sony
The shirt you will see me wearing in these pictures is something I made before leaving.
It says "The tom Scott Project."
A good portion of the group that we met up in a village for the weekend. Some of the older kids (teenagers) cried that night as we prayed over them and their family situations. It was supposed to end at 8 pm, but we finished closer to midnight. God was working ;)
I walked in to teach English one day, and found this girl writing Tom's name in Thai! It really made my day
Easter. We hid eggs and had the whole school go on an Easter egg hunt! Then we taught them the more important part to Easter: Jesus rising from the grave :)
A smaller English class in a Phitsanulok neighborhood. Building relationships with the locals for our missionary hosts is a priority.
A new YWAM base gets treated to our talented Korean art skills. DTS classes will be held here one day! We also slept in this room. I spent quite a few sick days in it too haha
Probably one of the cutest pieces of God's artwork: this girl.
At the 'Burmese school under the bridge.' Puppets were like hollywood stars to these kids haha. They tell the Bible stories so well... ;)
My friend Helen taught the kids to draw a crown representing their place as princes and princesses in God's kingdom. Can I get an Amen!
Thailand looks like this:
'River shacks'
typical market
typical dinner
view hanging off the top of the taxi
monks have their own section in the bus station
woman out front of her home next to the Burmese school
several tatts on a man can mean that he is seriously into evil spirits
dried fishes and squid
Bugs. They eat them by the bag. Im not that cool, though. I just ate one small white grub.
Church we served at. Performed skit, 'Chains,' and one of our students, Bek, taught them hip hop. Be stunned by the sight of those mountains by the way. Drop your jaw.
Rubber tree farms scatter the south. Makes...rubber :)
These next pictures are out of order. Do you ever wish you had time to do something, such as create a new blog site that works better? Dont let this throw you off, but the building underneath is one of the first living arrangements that I had. One night I leaned against the wall and found a spider as large as a tarantula not too far from my shoulder. Anything can crawl or slither through the cracks.
Squatty potty and bucket shower. This was my bathroom for the first month. To shower, pick up the small bucket in the large bucket and dump it on yourself.
Working on building stairs up to the village church. There were 18 steps total.
I carved Tom's name in the bottom of the steps. His memory is forever in the Karen village in the mountains of Thailand.
We got re-baptized as a group!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
D-breeef
Debrief has been taking place the past few days. It consists of sleeping in marshmallow white fluffy beds, swimming in the pool, climbing out to the lighthouse, taking showers with WARM water, and eating hamburgers. But behold, it is when missinaries have time off that the best battles are won:
One morning five of us went to Phuket early in the morning to take our leader, Ellen, to the airport. Our plan was to visit one of our schools that we ministered at while we were still working. We didnt tell the school we were coming. We just figured we would stop by on their recess hour and see the kids for a few minutes. But we were late and missed recess.
We decided to stop by the principles office and see if there was anything we could do to bless the school. Can we help with anything, we asked. "do you want the younger kids, or the older kids?" whaaaaat! "older kids I guess." ok, you have them for two hours. Thanks so much!
Well, its not normal in Amercica for sure, but me and my other young friends led about 30 kids in their classroom that day.
We could feel the spiritual tension and the enemy and his anger, because the kids were not cooperative. It was almost a nightmare for the first hour and a half. But at the very end, they quieted down to hear my teammate tell her testimony. The kids speak a southern dialect of Thai, and the only one in our group that spoke Thai speaks the northern dialect. He did his best to translate, but it seemed pointless. Then all of a sudden he began to translate perfectly, and all the kids became silent! Afterward he said that four years ago he had this dream: 'that I was here in this very room... translating for these kids in their dialect!' Before we left, we prayed over them and their principle.
What a day off, hu? Take that, satan. Praise be to God.
One morning five of us went to Phuket early in the morning to take our leader, Ellen, to the airport. Our plan was to visit one of our schools that we ministered at while we were still working. We didnt tell the school we were coming. We just figured we would stop by on their recess hour and see the kids for a few minutes. But we were late and missed recess.
We decided to stop by the principles office and see if there was anything we could do to bless the school. Can we help with anything, we asked. "do you want the younger kids, or the older kids?" whaaaaat! "older kids I guess." ok, you have them for two hours. Thanks so much!
Well, its not normal in Amercica for sure, but me and my other young friends led about 30 kids in their classroom that day.
We could feel the spiritual tension and the enemy and his anger, because the kids were not cooperative. It was almost a nightmare for the first hour and a half. But at the very end, they quieted down to hear my teammate tell her testimony. The kids speak a southern dialect of Thai, and the only one in our group that spoke Thai speaks the northern dialect. He did his best to translate, but it seemed pointless. Then all of a sudden he began to translate perfectly, and all the kids became silent! Afterward he said that four years ago he had this dream: 'that I was here in this very room... translating for these kids in their dialect!' Before we left, we prayed over them and their principle.
What a day off, hu? Take that, satan. Praise be to God.
Jellyfish and the pineapple
So we met the Burmese children from the school at the beach, just to play with them and make them feel special. They were so cute in their little swimwear, most of them were too big and would begin to slip down their little waists. The first thing I heard when i got to the beach was my teammate Chelsea telling me that the many little blue jellyfish that are in the water will not sting you, so dont worry. I was glad for that. Then my leader Sean told me the same thing. So I was pretty sure they didnt sting by then. So I slung a couple of tiny children onto my back and went out into the water. Aer playing with them for about 30 minutes, I felt my stomach catch on fire. I passed on the clinging kids to my other teammate and went to the shore. I found a couple of jellyfish in my suit, on my stomach. After peeling them off, my friend Frank went and got a pineapple and said to try putting that on the stings, the acid may help almost as much as peeing on it. So I put pineapple down my suit. Then the Burmese kids came and gave me leaves that were supposed to help. So Iwent home with leaves and pineapple in my suit.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
20 Years old, 20 things
Its almost time for this white girl to return to her country. ThisSunday night we head to a resort for debrief week. Thats where we tell outreach stories, wrap up in prayer, run into foreigners on vacation, and focus on endulging in the beauty of Thailand and the blessing of different culture before the departure. I actually got to go with the main leader and our interpreter, Gift, to help choose the resort. So I know its going to be great.
Before I wrap up this blog, I want to sum up what God has taught me, how I have grown, and the impact I think God has had on Thailand through me and the rest of the team. This will be the last post most likely, so it will come later.
But this post I want to tell you of some of the wacky things that make this culture not America.
1. They drive on the left side of the road. Im still not used to it
2. They eat rice like we drink soda (at least most Americans drink too much soda)
3. Everything is cheap. I can get a jug of tea for 20 baht or 70ish cents, chicken dinner (with rice) for 50 baht or a little over a dollar.
4. They use kilometers, not miles
5. You can ride on or in the back of vehicles, dangling off.
6. Foreigners are rare in most parts so everyone looks at you with awe. Kind of amazing
7. Toilet paper is not normal. They use bum guns. Water squirter.
8. They dont shake hands, they 'way'. Hands go into a position like you are praying
9. They dont cut the heads or feet of of chickens or fish before selling
10. You take of your shoes before entering most buildings. Schools, churches, shops, etc.
11. Dont show a thai the bottom of your feet
12. Their 'Costco' is called 'Makro' and their 'walmart' is called Big C.
13. Their New Year is in March, not January.
14. Cheese is uber expensive. Im going to down some cheese when I get back, this Italian can only go so long without
15. Icecream sandwiches are actually sandwiches. Like, they use real bread to sandwich the icecream
16. There are idols in every yard
17. The number of Christians in the south is like .5%
18. they are open to christianity
19. If you want the experience of a lifetime...
20. Come to Thailand and share Jesus with some amazing people who need the love
Been spending some amazing time with kids at the school lately, and sharing with them all we've got. Im suprised I havnt kidnapped my favorite kid yet. She is a pumpkin. Yesterday we were all convicted that our day of rest was for ourselves and not for the Lord. God says to take a day of rest, but if we use it to go to the market or to the beach, we end up to tired for when ministry begins again. And so we took another day off, this time, using properly. Many of the attacks going thorugh our team and the miscommunication has dwindled greatly. We are now ready for...war ;)
One more thing...the boys placed a huge toad in a take-out box in front of our door the other night. What the heck? Who thinks of something like that? However I laughed forever!
Good night America. good morning for you. I miss you
Before I wrap up this blog, I want to sum up what God has taught me, how I have grown, and the impact I think God has had on Thailand through me and the rest of the team. This will be the last post most likely, so it will come later.
But this post I want to tell you of some of the wacky things that make this culture not America.
1. They drive on the left side of the road. Im still not used to it
2. They eat rice like we drink soda (at least most Americans drink too much soda)
3. Everything is cheap. I can get a jug of tea for 20 baht or 70ish cents, chicken dinner (with rice) for 50 baht or a little over a dollar.
4. They use kilometers, not miles
5. You can ride on or in the back of vehicles, dangling off.
6. Foreigners are rare in most parts so everyone looks at you with awe. Kind of amazing
7. Toilet paper is not normal. They use bum guns. Water squirter.
8. They dont shake hands, they 'way'. Hands go into a position like you are praying
9. They dont cut the heads or feet of of chickens or fish before selling
10. You take of your shoes before entering most buildings. Schools, churches, shops, etc.
11. Dont show a thai the bottom of your feet
12. Their 'Costco' is called 'Makro' and their 'walmart' is called Big C.
13. Their New Year is in March, not January.
14. Cheese is uber expensive. Im going to down some cheese when I get back, this Italian can only go so long without
15. Icecream sandwiches are actually sandwiches. Like, they use real bread to sandwich the icecream
16. There are idols in every yard
17. The number of Christians in the south is like .5%
18. they are open to christianity
19. If you want the experience of a lifetime...
20. Come to Thailand and share Jesus with some amazing people who need the love
Been spending some amazing time with kids at the school lately, and sharing with them all we've got. Im suprised I havnt kidnapped my favorite kid yet. She is a pumpkin. Yesterday we were all convicted that our day of rest was for ourselves and not for the Lord. God says to take a day of rest, but if we use it to go to the market or to the beach, we end up to tired for when ministry begins again. And so we took another day off, this time, using properly. Many of the attacks going thorugh our team and the miscommunication has dwindled greatly. We are now ready for...war ;)
One more thing...the boys placed a huge toad in a take-out box in front of our door the other night. What the heck? Who thinks of something like that? However I laughed forever!
Good night America. good morning for you. I miss you
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Awesome Column
Well, you wont believe it, but I have been busy! And of all the things that have happened, I am trying to think of what wouldbenefit you most to hear. I am doing well, though the weight of fighting a spiritual battle everyday can be heavy. Shoutout to my mom and dad, for I miss their corny joy they display and the American food they cook.
I have today off. The entire team, besides two others and me, went out for the day. I had laundry, journal time and Jesus time, and blogging to do.
Before I continue, Im going to type out a prayer for the Scott family: Father, Lord, this family has experienced a most difficult rough patch in their life. Though it has been some time, maybe 6 months, I know there still lies a daily struggle to fill the gap that has gone missing in their family due to Tom's passing. Hold their hearts, give them strength. Show them your heart and how it aches for those who hurt. You are a God of love, You are love. You can break through anything, even this confusion of 'why did this have to happen.' i have seen the work you have been doing here in Thailand through me and my team. It is humbling to know that without you, we could offer them nothing. But through us you have brought so many hope. Because Tom paved the way financially for me, I have been able to come alongside of many, especially teenage girls that are hurting from broken families. Show the Scotts that this is an impact that Tom has had. He has impacted Thailand. he has impacted children, girls, guys, and their families. Barriers have been torn down that have held these people away from the freedom You offer. Bless the Scotts, give them the same hope that has come to the people I have worked with. Be a friend to Toms mother, a brother to Toms brother, a Father to Tom's children. Thank you for how you have used Tom for Your kingdom. Amen.
Two days ago, we went to a buddhist school and taught English, music, and art to the students from age 12 to 17. At the end, my team performed a dance that one of the students created out of a quiet time she had with God back at the school in Tampa. Its called Chains. We perform that dance often, but this particular time, over half the group of students received Christ. It probably added up to 20 kids. Our host at this location was excited and plans to bring other YWAM teams to the school to be these kids leaders and helpers.
At the last location, we stayed in a nice neighborhood to my suprise. It is a future YWAM base that needed painting, so some of my teammates painted really cool scenes on the walls and made it look like the coolest place to be on the whole street. The ministry that we were involved in consisted of teaching English to the neighborhood kids, and ministering to breakdancers and skateboarders. The first night we visited the dancers, I was talking with two of them and they asked 'you do dance sarla?' I said no, except for maybe a little hip hop. And I meant little. Next thing I know they pushed me into the middle of the dance floor, and I will leave it at that. That happened twice, but thankfully the second time I was able to do a move I had just learned. That satisfied them enough.
The Thai way to go is BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, we were told time and time again. P. Taa, our host, now has crazy amazing relatinships with most the neighborhood kids and even deeper
relationships with the boarders and dancers. Two break dancers receieved Christ after our dance 'Chains' was performed. Praise God! More to come, says P.Taa. And he has just started a
Bible Study in his house on saturday mornings for these students that he has built
relationships with. By the way, this city is Phitsanulok, one of the most spiritually dark
cities in all of Thailand. Almost everyone is Buddhist and there are idols in every yard. Very supersticious people.
Among all the things that have happened, I have to say that this next story amazes me the most. It begins in Hawaii on one of my days of while I was hitchiking with a group to a faraway beach called Mile 88. We met another hitchiker along the way. His name was Elly and he was just traveling the world for fun. He is German. We all thought, wow it would be cool if we invited this guy to com to the base and hang out and he later became a Christian. So he came and played soccer at the Koan base the next dayand we snuck him some food from the foodline. Never saw him after that day. ...until two days ago. We kept up as facebook friends and I found out he was going to be 45 minutes from where I am at this moment. I caught him online the day beofre he had his plane booked for the mext morning. But he didnt show up at his flight. Instead he caught a bus to come up to our base and see what we are doing. He helped us with the orphans, and got to watch the Judah Ben Hur production that the other half of our DTS team has been performing. He had many questios, and between me, David Sanborn, and Richard Morse, Elly was fed a lot of truth. He stayed for one night, and I cant say that he is a 'christian' but I dont think God would chase him all the way from Hawaii to Thailand for nothing. This guy is going to have an amazing testimony one day of how God followed him all over the world as he was on vacation. Haha yesssss.
Well, there could be much more I could say, but I will save it for later. I am about to be picked up to go to the beach...some of us want to be re-baptized by Art and Sean Sanborn, and I am one of them. It should be a meaningful night off for our team. And tomorrow we start again!
I have today off. The entire team, besides two others and me, went out for the day. I had laundry, journal time and Jesus time, and blogging to do.
Before I continue, Im going to type out a prayer for the Scott family: Father, Lord, this family has experienced a most difficult rough patch in their life. Though it has been some time, maybe 6 months, I know there still lies a daily struggle to fill the gap that has gone missing in their family due to Tom's passing. Hold their hearts, give them strength. Show them your heart and how it aches for those who hurt. You are a God of love, You are love. You can break through anything, even this confusion of 'why did this have to happen.' i have seen the work you have been doing here in Thailand through me and my team. It is humbling to know that without you, we could offer them nothing. But through us you have brought so many hope. Because Tom paved the way financially for me, I have been able to come alongside of many, especially teenage girls that are hurting from broken families. Show the Scotts that this is an impact that Tom has had. He has impacted Thailand. he has impacted children, girls, guys, and their families. Barriers have been torn down that have held these people away from the freedom You offer. Bless the Scotts, give them the same hope that has come to the people I have worked with. Be a friend to Toms mother, a brother to Toms brother, a Father to Tom's children. Thank you for how you have used Tom for Your kingdom. Amen.
Two days ago, we went to a buddhist school and taught English, music, and art to the students from age 12 to 17. At the end, my team performed a dance that one of the students created out of a quiet time she had with God back at the school in Tampa. Its called Chains. We perform that dance often, but this particular time, over half the group of students received Christ. It probably added up to 20 kids. Our host at this location was excited and plans to bring other YWAM teams to the school to be these kids leaders and helpers.
At the last location, we stayed in a nice neighborhood to my suprise. It is a future YWAM base that needed painting, so some of my teammates painted really cool scenes on the walls and made it look like the coolest place to be on the whole street. The ministry that we were involved in consisted of teaching English to the neighborhood kids, and ministering to breakdancers and skateboarders. The first night we visited the dancers, I was talking with two of them and they asked 'you do dance sarla?' I said no, except for maybe a little hip hop. And I meant little. Next thing I know they pushed me into the middle of the dance floor, and I will leave it at that. That happened twice, but thankfully the second time I was able to do a move I had just learned. That satisfied them enough.
The Thai way to go is BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, we were told time and time again. P. Taa, our host, now has crazy amazing relatinships with most the neighborhood kids and even deeper
relationships with the boarders and dancers. Two break dancers receieved Christ after our dance 'Chains' was performed. Praise God! More to come, says P.Taa. And he has just started a
Bible Study in his house on saturday mornings for these students that he has built
relationships with. By the way, this city is Phitsanulok, one of the most spiritually dark
cities in all of Thailand. Almost everyone is Buddhist and there are idols in every yard. Very supersticious people.
Among all the things that have happened, I have to say that this next story amazes me the most. It begins in Hawaii on one of my days of while I was hitchiking with a group to a faraway beach called Mile 88. We met another hitchiker along the way. His name was Elly and he was just traveling the world for fun. He is German. We all thought, wow it would be cool if we invited this guy to com to the base and hang out and he later became a Christian. So he came and played soccer at the Koan base the next dayand we snuck him some food from the foodline. Never saw him after that day. ...until two days ago. We kept up as facebook friends and I found out he was going to be 45 minutes from where I am at this moment. I caught him online the day beofre he had his plane booked for the mext morning. But he didnt show up at his flight. Instead he caught a bus to come up to our base and see what we are doing. He helped us with the orphans, and got to watch the Judah Ben Hur production that the other half of our DTS team has been performing. He had many questios, and between me, David Sanborn, and Richard Morse, Elly was fed a lot of truth. He stayed for one night, and I cant say that he is a 'christian' but I dont think God would chase him all the way from Hawaii to Thailand for nothing. This guy is going to have an amazing testimony one day of how God followed him all over the world as he was on vacation. Haha yesssss.
Well, there could be much more I could say, but I will save it for later. I am about to be picked up to go to the beach...some of us want to be re-baptized by Art and Sean Sanborn, and I am one of them. It should be a meaningful night off for our team. And tomorrow we start again!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Relocated
We relocated yesterday to a new location. This place is in the city and we will be working with break dancers and skateboarders. The man we are teaming with has had a heart for this big city (cant spell it) for 11 years now and I am more than excited to be able to be one of the people that will get to help him.
I am happy about a few differences, and that is the indoor western toilet right outside my room. And I will have easier access to internet. The team is doing well for the most part but please keep us in prayer. We get attacked by the enemy in various ways and sometimes it can be a bit of a burden for my teammates. As for me, I have not been harmed lately. My stomach is cooperating and Im not too dizzy from day to day. Just more praise to be sent up to our Amazing Dad ;)
Praying for you, and praying for the Scotts. If you are reading this, please be another to lift that family up in prayer. Read the blogs description at the top if you are unsure.
Eat something without rice for me!
I am happy about a few differences, and that is the indoor western toilet right outside my room. And I will have easier access to internet. The team is doing well for the most part but please keep us in prayer. We get attacked by the enemy in various ways and sometimes it can be a bit of a burden for my teammates. As for me, I have not been harmed lately. My stomach is cooperating and Im not too dizzy from day to day. Just more praise to be sent up to our Amazing Dad ;)
Praying for you, and praying for the Scotts. If you are reading this, please be another to lift that family up in prayer. Read the blogs description at the top if you are unsure.
Eat something without rice for me!
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